LVMH’s company Essay Example for Free

LVMH’s company Essay Strengths LVMH has a strong brand positioning meaning that the company strongly placed itself as a leader in the luxury sector. The company offers more than 60 brands of high value perception and identity to their customers. Due to high customer loyalty, image of their brands and value perception those brands are less affected by economic cycles. Most evidently, LVMH expressed resilience against the economic conditions specifically in 2009 and 2008. This is an indicator that the strength of their brands enables their revenues to sustain growth even through touch economic situations. This is due to their huge customer base across the globe accompanied by their loyalty; thus, making their penetration to new markets with quick. The associations of LVMH with celebrities and major events have enabled them to enhance their luxury positioning. For example, Charlize Theron represents the J’adore perfume by Dior, while Moet Chandon positioned their communications platform to events like the Oscars and the Golden Globe. Those marketing strategies were aimed in order to increase their brand visibility and recall. Moreover, their customers are targeted successfully through enhancing their brands images. All in all, those associations would eventually augment the luxury and its value that LVMH aims at building. Weaknesses A shortcoming in LVMH’s company is their limited presence in the retail division. This means that the company is highly dependant on sales to retailers. This in turn has caused the company’s luxury goods vulnerable to destocking by their retailers in order to avoid losses. Most evidently, the wines, jewelry, and watches departments were highly affected negatively by the retailers destocking. Therefore, this has made LVMH’s revenues in danger of destocking made by retailers. There is also a weakness evident in the conflict of interest within the company, where LVMH would be categorized into two major segments: fashion vs. liquor markets. However, the company’s broad acquisition of the art  auction market Pury Luxemborg has been questioned due to some criticism that it adds more burden to LVMH. This is yet another criteria to the conflict of interest believed to be internally dealt within the company. Opportunities The luxury market is believed to be a growing market in the emerging economies. The growing high net worth individuals (HNWI) in a lot of countries across the globe is an indicator that the sales of luxury products are estimated to increase. In effect, LVMH has been focusing in increasing their investment in emerging countries, such as the Middle East, in their hopes that higher growth rates will be evident. Moreover, LVMH was able to assess the trends in those markets specifically in Asia’s market in order to succesfully penetrate them. Hence, the growth of the HNWI’s wealth accompanied by the structure of investments to reach to a broader customer base would intensify and diversify LVMH’s revenue flow. LVMH owes a great deal of their market share to their products on women’s accessories. This would include their brands in handbags, jewelry, and watches amongst many others. Although the fashion accessories has seen a downfall during 2009; nevertheless, it is hinting that it is uprising to a recovery into growth since 2010. Most notably, women handbags were the most notable in the accessories market growth inversely reacting to the market’s decrease during the same time. Those leather goods have been a great indicator in both the men and women’s categories in the market share that there is a high growth of sales and revenue. Even if key markets have been experiencing low growth due to the economic collapse and recovery, the accessories market proves as an opportunity to LVMH for growth. Selective retailing provides an opportunity to LVMH in one of the most growing markets in the world: China. Even though selective retailing has seen a decline in growth due to restrictions in spending due to less amount of travelers; however, China tourism is predicted to show a robust expansion. The economic liberalization; as well as, the constant development and transformation in China boosted their tourism industry. Some indicators  have been predicting that China would be a leading tourism destination by 2020. Therefore, LVMH has been focused on launching its selective retailing in China in order to take an advantageous stance from this growing tourism in terms of revenue.

Suicide of Vietnam Veterans :: Vietnam War Essays

Suicide of Vietnam Veterans The deaths that were experienced in Vietnam due to Agent Orange and other jungle diseases have become well known by the general public. However, it is suicide that has resulted in the deaths of over 150,000 Vietnam soldiers during and after the war. An enormous amount of suicides resulted from what most people call â€Å"protecting our country†. The Vietnam War brought more than fifty-eight thousand deaths and is to some one of the darkest battles in United States history. If not killed during the war, many believe any Vietnam veteran would return home great and proud. But this is not the case. Many Vietnam veterans have committed suicide before, during, and after the war. Not only have these men and woman risked their lives for our country, but now, return different people and can not comprehend whether or not to continue their lives. Many people believe we win wars, when in actuality, no one does, especially those who serve in the armed forces (Suicide Wall, 11-10-2000). The Vietnam and other wars have mentally and sometimes physically dismembered many veterans. Another factor that plays a role in a war-related suicide is the addition of many on-site diseases such as defoliants, Agent Orange in particular. Made up of equal parts N-Butyl Ester 2,4,-D and N-Butyl Ester 2,4,5,-T, Agent Orange made many Vietnam soldiers go insane (Vietnam Veterans, 11-10-2000). This atrocious chemical lead and still today leads to death, deformation, and diabetes. Dr. Joel E. Michalek, who deals with statistics for the air force, was the first to notice a link between Agent Orange and diabetes. But the federal government was not willing â€Å"...to spend millions of dollars on such studies†. Dr. Michael Gough, a retired biologist was quoted as saying â€Å"the conclusion I’ve come to is that there is no evidence whatsoever to support any connection between low-level dioxin exposure and any human disease†. Some say they will not do research b ecause it is another thing â€Å"...that will be linked to the health complaints of Vietnam veterans† (Kolata, A16). There is hope still. In 1996, Clinton ordered disability benefits for Vietnam veterans suffering from prostate cancer and nerve disease associated with Agent Orange. Eventually, the government will fund more and more diseases for those who served in the war and were exposed to the substances.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner Chapters 1

THE NEWSPAPER HEADLINE GLARED AT ME FROM a little metal vending machine: SEATTLE UNDER SIEGE – DEATH TOLL RISES AGAIN. I hadn't seen this one yet. Some paperboy must have just restocked the machine. Lucky for him, he was nowhere around now. Great. Riley was going to blow a gasket. I would make sure I wasn't within reach when he saw this paper. Let him rip somebody else's arm off. I stood in the shadow behind the corner of a shabby threestory building, trying to be inconspicuous while I waited for someone to make a decision. Not wanting to meet anyone's eyes, I stared at the wal beside me instead. The ground floor of the building housed a record shop that had long since closed; the windows, lost to weather or street violence, were fil ed in with plywood. Over the top were apartments – empty, I guessed, since the normal sounds of sleeping humans were absent. I wasn't surprised – the place looked like it would col apse in a stiff wind. The buildings on the other side of the dark, narrow street were just as wrecked. The normal scene for a night out on the town. I didn't want to speak up and draw attention, but I wished somebody would decide something. I was real y thirsty, and I didn't care much whether we went right or left or over the roof. I just wanted to find some unlucky people who wouldn't even have enough time to think wrong place, wrong time. Unfortunately tonight Riley'd sent me out with two of the most useless vampires in existence. Riley never seemed to care who he sent out in hunting groups. Or particularly bugged when sending out the wrong people together meant fewer people coming home. Tonight I was stuck with Kevin and some blond kid whose name I didn't know. They both belonged to Raoul's gang, so it went without saying that they were stupid. And dangerous. But right now, mostly stupid. Instead of picking a direction for our hunt, suddenly they were in the middle of an argument over whose favorite superhero would be a better hunter. The nameless blond was demonstrating his case for Spider-Man now, skittering up the brick wal of the al ey while humming the cartoon theme song. I sighed in frustration. Were we ever going to hunt? A little flicker of movement to my left caught my eye. It was the other one Riley had sent out in this hunting group, Diego. I didn't know much about him, just that he was older than most of the others. Riley's right-hand man was the word. That didn't make me like him any more than the other morons. Diego was looking at me. He must have heard the sigh. I looked away. Keep your head down and your mouth shut – that was the way to stay alive in Riley's crowd. â€Å"Spider-Man is such a whiny loser,† Kevin cal ed up to the blond kid. â€Å"I'l show you how a real superhero hunts.† He grinned wide. His teeth flashed in the glare of a streetlight. Kevin jumped into the middle of the street just as the lights from a car swung around to il uminate the cracked pavement with a blue-white gleam. He flexed his arms back, then pul ed them slowly together like a pro wrestler showing off. The car came on, probably expecting him to get the hel out of the way like a normal person would. Like he should. â€Å"Hulk mad!† Kevin bel owed. â€Å"Hulk†¦ SMASH!† He leaped forward to meet the car before it could brake, grabbed its front bumper, and flipped it over his head so that it struck the pavement upside down with a squeal of bending metal and shattering glass. Inside, a woman started screaming. â€Å"Oh man,† Diego said, shaking his head. He was pretty, with dark, dense, curly hair, big, wide eyes, and real y ful lips, but then, who wasn't pretty? Even Kevin and the rest of Raoul's morons were pretty. â€Å"Kevin, we're supposed to be laying low. Riley said – â€Å" â€Å"Riley said!† Kevin mimicked in a harsh soprano. â€Å"Get a spine, Diego. Riley's not here.† Kevin sprang over the upside-down Honda and punched out the driver's side window, which had somehow stayed intact up to that point. He fished through the shattered glass and the deflating air bag for the driver. I turned my back and held my breath, trying my hardest to hold on to the ability to think. I couldn't watch Kevin feed. I was too thirsty for that, and I real y didn't want to pick a fight with him. I so did not need to be on Raoul's hit list. The blond kid didn't have the same issues. He pushed off from the bricks overhead and landed lightly behind me. I heard him and Kevin snarling at each other, and then a wet tearing sound as the woman's screams cut off. Probably them ripping her in half. I tried not to think about it. But I could feel the heat and hear the dripping behind me, and it made my throat burn so bad even though I wasn't breathing. â€Å"I'm outta here,† I heard Diego mutter. He ducked into a crevice between the dark buildings, and I fol owed right on his heels. If I didn't get away from here fast, I'd be squabbling with Raoul's goons over a body that couldn't have had much blood left in it by now anyway. And then maybe I'd be the one who didn't come home. Ugh, but my throat burned! I clamped my teeth together to keep from screaming in pain. Diego darted through a trash-fil ed side al ey, and then – when he hit the dead end – up the wal . I dug my fingers into the crevices between the bricks and hauled myself up after him. On the rooftop, Diego took off, leaping lightly across the other roofs toward the lights shimmering off the sound. I stayed close. I was younger than he was, and therefore stronger – it was a good thing we younger ones were strongest, or we wouldn't have lived through our first week in Riley's house. I could have passed him easy, but I wanted to see where he was going, and I didn't want to have him behind me. Diego didn't stop for miles; we were almost to the industrial docks. I could hear him muttering under his breath. â€Å"Idiots! Like Riley wouldn't give us instructions for a good reason. Self-preservation, for example. Is an ounce of common sense so much to ask for?† â€Å"Hey,† I cal ed. â€Å"Are we going to hunt anytime soon? My throat's on fire here.† Diego landed on the edge of a wide factory roof and spun around. I jumped back a few yards, on my guard, but he didn't make an aggressive move toward me. â€Å"Yeah,† he said. â€Å"I just wanted some distance between me and the lunatics.† He smiled, al friendly, and I stared at him. This Diego guy wasn't like the others. He was kind of†¦ calm, I guess was the word. Normal. Not normal now, but normal before. His eyes were a darker red than mine. He must have been around for a while, like I'd heard. From the street below came the sounds of nighttime in a slummier part of Seattle. A few cars, music with heavy bass, a couple of people walking with nervous, fast steps, some drunk bum singing off-key in the distance. â€Å"You're Bree, right?† Diego asked. â€Å"One of the newbies.† I didn't like that. Newbie. Whatever. â€Å"Yeah, I'm Bree. But I didn't come in with the last group. I'm almost three months old.† â€Å"Pretty slick for a three-monther,† he said. â€Å"Not many would have been able to leave the scene of the accident like that.† He said it like a compliment, like he was real y impressed. â€Å"Didn't want to mix it up with Raoul's freaks.† He nodded. â€Å"Amen, sister. Their kind ain't nothing but bad news.† Weird. Diego was weird. How he sounded like a person having a regular old conversation. No hostility, no suspicion. Like he wasn't thinking about how easy or hard it might be to kil me right now. He was just talking to me. â€Å"How long have you been with Riley?† I asked curiously. â€Å"Going on eleven months now.† â€Å"Wow! That's older than Raoul.† Diego rol ed his eyes and spit venom over the edge of the building. â€Å"Yeah, I remember when Riley brought that trash in. Things just kept getting worse after that.† I was quiet for a moment, wondering if he thought everyone younger than himself was trash. Not that I cared. I didn't care what anybody thought anymore. Didn't have to. Like Riley said, I was a god now. Stronger, faster, better. Nobody else counted. Then Diego whistled low under his breath. â€Å"There we go. Just takes a little brains and patience.† He pointed down and across the street. Half-hidden around the edge of a purple-black al ey, a man was cussing at a woman and slapping her while another woman watched silently. From their clothes, I guessed that it was a pimp and two of his employees. This was what Riley had told us to do. Hunt the dregs. Take the humans that no one was going to miss, the ones who weren't headed home to a waiting family, the ones who wouldn't be reported missing. It was the same way he chose us. Meals and gods, both coming from the dregs. Unlike some of the others, I stil did what Riley told me to do. Not because I liked him. That feeling was long gone. It was because what he told us sounded right. How did it make sense to cal attention to the fact that a bunch of new vampires were claiming Seattle as their hunting ground? How was that going to help us? I didn't even believe in vampires before I was one. So if the rest of the world didn't believe in vampires, then the rest of the vampires must be hunting smart, the way Riley said to do it. They probably had a good reason. And like Diego'd said, hunting smart just took a little brains and patience. Of course, we al slipped up a lot, and Riley would read the papers and groan and yel at us and break stuff – like Raoul's favorite video-game system. Then Raoul would get mad and take somebody else apart and burn him up. Then Riley would be pissed off and he'd do another search to confiscate al the lighters and matches. A few rounds of this, and then Riley would bring home another handful of vampirized dregs kids to replace the ones he'd lost. It was an endless cycle. Diego inhaled through his nose – a big, long pul – and I watched his body change. He crouched on the roof, one hand gripping the edge. Al that strange friendliness disappeared, and he was a hunter. That was something I recognized, something I was comfortable with because I understood it. I turned off my brain. It was time to hunt. I took a deep breath, drawing in the scent of the blood inside the humans below. They weren't the only humans around, but they were the closest. Who you were going to hunt was the kind of decision you had to make before you scented your prey. It was too late now to choose anything. Diego dropped from the roof edge, out of sight. The sound of his landing was too low to catch the attention of the crying prostitute, the zoned-out prostitute, or the angry pimp. A low growl ripped from between my teeth. Mine. The blood was mine. The fire in my throat flared and I couldn't think of anything else. I flipped myself off the roof, spinning across the street so that I landed right next to the crying blonde. I could feel Diego close behind me, so I growled a warning at him while I caught the surprised girl by the hair. I yanked her to the al ey wal, putting my back against it. Defensive, just in case. Then I forgot al about Diego, because I could feel the heat under her skin, hear the sound of her pulse thudding close to the surface. She opened her mouth to scream, but my teeth crushed her windpipe before a sound could come out. There was just the gurgle of air and blood in her lungs, and the low moans I could not control. The blood was warm and sweet. It quenched the fire in my throat, calmed the nagging, itching emptiness in my stomach. I sucked and gulped, only vaguely aware of anything else. I heard the same noise from Diego – he had the man. The other woman was unconscious on the ground. Neither had made any noise. Diego was good. The problem with humans was that they just never had enough blood in them. It seemed like only seconds later the girl ran dry. I rattled her limp body in frustration. Already my throat was beginning to burn again. I threw the spent body to the ground and crouched against the wal, wondering if I could grab the unconscious girl and make off with her before Diego could catch up to me. Diego was already finished with the man. He looked at me with an expression that I could only describe as†¦ sympathetic. But I could have been dead wrong. I couldn't remember anyone ever giving me sympathy before, so I wasn't positive what it looked like. â€Å"Go for it,† he told me, nodding to the limp girl on the ground. â€Å"Are you kidding me?† â€Å"Naw, I'm good for now. We've got time to hunt some more tonight.† Watching him careful y for some sign of a trick, I darted forward and snagged the girl. Diego made no move to stop me. He turned away slightly and looked up at the black sky. I sank my teeth into her neck, keeping my eyes on him. This one was even better than the last. Her blood was entirely clean. The blonde girl's blood had the bitter aftertaste that came with drugs – I was so used to that, I'd barely noticed. It was rare for me to get real y clean blood, because I fol owed the dregs rule. Diego seemed to fol ow the rules, too. He must have smel ed what he was giving up. Why had he done it?

Essay Comparing Work and Employment Relations - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2000 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/09/22 Category Advertising Essay Type Argumentative essay Tags: Fast Food Essay McDonalds Essay Did you like this example? INTRODUCTION ‘Fast food for a fast world’ (Schlosser, 1998) – the fast food industry has, over the years, experienced rapid growth and expanded at a breathtaking rate, with McDonald’s as the main force behind the success of this industry. With over two million people being employed by McDonald’s across 118 countries in the year of 2002, there has to be many employment relations policies and practices in place, to ensure profits despite the huge labour costs incurred. This essay will explore various aspects of work and employment relations on the management, and employees’ side, to compare and contrast the similarities and differences between the fast food industry in Singapore with the fast food industry in Germany and the United States (US). Thesis Statement Basic employment practices was similar amongst the three countries, but Singapore’s employees in the fast food industry get to enjoy more favourable working conditions d ue to its Human Resource Management and laws imposed by its government. This essay will be using the market leader of the fast food industry, McDonald’s, as the key example throughout the comparing and contrasting of work and employment relations across the three countries. THE MANAGEMENT The management of McDonald’s in its origins at the US, enjoys great freedom in establishing the terms and conditions of employment for its employees. This is due to its extremely low rates of unionization and minimal intervention from the federal and state governments. Leidner, 2002) Employers in the US may generally dismiss any employee ‘at will’, at any time, for any reason, or even for no reason, with no legal obligation of fairness to the employees (Leidner, 2002). There is great imbalance in the power of employers and workers in McDonald’s at US, where employers have all the freedom to decide its employment terms and conditions. Some forms of Human Resource Management (HRM) were used in McDonald’s at the US. Work-evaluation sessions, incentive systems etc. work were what they would refer to as employees’ benefits, rather than providing significant material advantages. These policies are intended to promote team spirit, energize workers, yet create the impression that the management is attentive to workers’ concerns (Leidner, 2002). The management in the US takes the unitarist approach and do not believe in trade unions. The management was anti-union, and took on a strong and determined opposition against any acts of unionization within its company. Like the US, McDonald’s management in Germany adopts the same unitarist approach of not wanting the trade unions to be involved in their employment relations. Royle stated that ‘McDonald’s early approach to unions and statutory forms of worker representation was hostile’ (2002, p. 7). This hostility shows a similarity between the German and US managements’ mindsets of being anti-union. Unlike the US, although it was not mandatory for employees to join a trade union, it was a norm in Germany to have works council. Works council were given extensive rights to information, consultation and co-determination supported by the law in Germany, and they can positively determine employees’ working conditions (Royle, 2002). The German system provides workers with statutory rights to representation through works councils at the workplace, and through supervisory boards at boardroom level in larger firms’ (Royle, 2002 p. 1). Work councilors also enjoy some forms of protection against dismissal. These show the strong importance of works councils and trade unions, in other words, employees’ rights and say, in the German employment law and culture, which is different from the US, of being more in favour of the employers. Due to the norms and employment culture in Germany, the stance and measures whic h McDonald’s took in not wanting unions and work councils to be involved, led to many criticisms from the unions and the public. All these criticisms led to unwanted publicity, which eventually made McDonald’s at Germany, despite not being supportive of trade unions and works councils, decide to shift its policy. A new employers’ federation was established, and negotiations for a collective agreement were made. The management was no longer outspokenly anti-union in Germany. Royle, 2002) This change in policy is a significant difference between its management and that of the US and Singapore. However, even with the change of policy, the German management, was still anti-union internally. They often delay works council activities, and employ other indirect means to marginalize employees who join such works council to seek for their rights, and make life difficult for them. Examples are, managers will post threats or actually dismiss those employees, despite the st ate protection from wrongful dismissal of employees (Royle, 2002). Managers would also alter the work hours of such ‘undesirable’ employees such that they can only work a certain particular shift, or be scheduled very few working hours and eventually choose to quit the job due to lack of a stable income. Such a scenario is very similar to the US management, who will not hire â€Å"pro-union† employees, and arrange poor scheduling for such employees. In Singapore, employment laws were generally similar to the US in being â€Å"pro-employer† (Pereira, 2002). The Industrial Relations Act gave more authority to employers in leaving the decision of factors such as promotion, retrenchment, dismissal and work assignment between the employer and employee (Pereira, 2002), with no interference from trade unions. However, employees in Singapore, unlike those in the US, were also protected by the law despite the â€Å"pro-employer† bias. Unlike the law in Germany which protects the rights of employees through their support for works council, the employment law in Singapore directly provided for adequate amount of working hours, leaves and overtime pays of employees. Unlike the US, McDonald’s in Singapore adopted a disciplinary system – company had to initially give one verbal warning, followed by one written warning before dismissal could take place for non-criminal acts (Pereira, 2002). Hence, McDonald’s employees in Singapore are more well-taken care of than their American and German counterparts. Similar to the US and Germany, Singapore’s management took the unitarist approach, whereby collectivism of unions was not preferred (Pereira, 2002). Like the US and Germany, the state did not make it mandatory for employees to join labour unions. Although unionization rates in Singapore, like in Germany, were relatively high, the fast food industry did not contribute to these figures. As such, Singapore was able to introduce its own HRM programme to foster employee loyalty and to keep its employees satisfied through individualizing employee relations (Pereira, 2002). However, in reality, ‘individual bargaining and negotiation of employment terms and conditions is only available to very few who are based at headquarters; otherwise, the corporation determines every aspect of the terms of employment and its broader conditions’ (Pereira, 2002 p. ). This is the same for the US, whereby employees do not have much say over their employment conditions since most were decided by the company. However, Singapore’s management, unlike the US and Germany, was more concerned about keeping the crew satisfied, as they believe that ‘without them the restaurants simply could not function’ (Pereira, 2002 p. 10). Although like the US and Germany, Singapore does not really reward the employees through material advantages, they organized many activities through their HRM programme to make employees happy to work for McDonalds. The stance of the importance of keeping employees satisfied, together with the state’s employment regulations of adequate work hours and leaves, allowed the employees in Singapore to benefit more than the other countries. THE EMPLOYEES A typical worker in an American fast-food restaurant is a young woman who works part-time. The workforce in McDonalds at US was dominated by the young and inexperienced, with 70% of its employees being youth. Fast food job were seen as appropriate first labour-force experience for them. The introduction of the ‘welfare reform’ in the US opened up jobs for many poor single mothers. Employers can earn tax credits for hiring such workers, thus increasing the pool of potential fast food workers. Employees’ working conditions in the US were poor; they were low paid, no benefits, and minimal or poor career advancement opportunities were made available to them. Employee s experience unpredictable work hours and shifts, which affect their daily lifestyle, and results in the lack of a fixed and stable income. As employees do not see their jobs in McDonald’s as one that they intend to work for long, they would leave the job at McDonald’s for a better paying job elsewhere, instead of organizing trade unions to fight for their rights. Hence, labour turnover rates in McDonald’s at US was high. Level of detail in work specification in the US was remarkably high. McDonald’s can be classified under the ‘Post-fordism’ work category with its great precision in the daily duties. Due to the highly specified and standardized routines, the job scopes of employees were generally easy. This led to low expectations for the job, and was one of the reasons why the employees accept the low pay and poor working conditions. However, even with such seemingly easy job routines, employees had to work in pressurized working cond itions, as managers tend to ‘understaff’ their shifts schedules so as to cut down on labour costs. The German workforce, like the US, was made up of part time employees, who are not dependent on the company for livelihood and those who do not intend to stay on the job for long, examples are second income earners and students. Thus, like the US, the Germans experienced high labour turnover rates, whereby employees leave their jobs at McDonald’s for a higher paying job, instead of going through the hassle of fighting for their rights. Unlike the US, the German workforce was made up of large number of foreign workers, economic migrants and guest workers. (Royle, 2002). Employees work conditions are very similar to the US, with low pay, no benefits, and poor career advancement. The workforce in Singapore was made up of teenage crews, who were later replaced by ‘older’ part time crew comprising of the retirees and housewives. This was a different gr oup of employees as compared to the US and Germany. ‘The older crew often stressed that the job needed them more than they needed the job’ (Pereira, 2002). Many of them would choose to leave the company once they were dissatisfied, as the reason why they choose to work, was not so much for financial rewards, but to stay healthy, pass time fruitfully and maintain social relations with others. This group of employees, unlike the workforce in Germany and US, are more likely to keep their job for a long run, as long as they were happy working there. Employees’ work conditions in Singapore were generally better than those in US and Germany. The starting salaries for the crew were slightly higher than the ‘market rate’. Employees were entitled to benefits such as annual paid leave, medical benefits and annual bonuses. This is very different from the employees at US and Germany, who do not receive any benefits. The HRM programme in Singapore also kept cr ews satisfied through its various forms of perks, benefits, incentives and parties. The older crews were well taken care of by the management through special attention and greater patience for them. (Pereira, 2002) This was very different from the US, which do not care for their employees at all. The Singapore management takes effort in promising better career prospects for its employees, such as by making the employees feel more ‘professional’. However, in reality, career advancements were generally poor like that in US and Germany, where limited career advancements to work in the headquarters were given. CONCLUSIONS Basic employment practices and conditions like giving low pay and minimal benefits, and the greater say of employers, was very similar amongst the three countries. The significant difference between Singapore’s employees in the fast food industry and those in Germany and US, is that they get to enjoy more favourable working conditions due to i ts HRM stance on keeping employees satisfied through other non-material advantages means, as well as the laws imposed by its government, which ensure fairer salaries and working hours systems. [ 2000 words ] Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Essay Comparing Work and Employment Relations" essay for you Create order