Archaeology and Prehistory of Cuba

Cuba is the largest of the Caribbean islands and one of the closest to the mainland. People, probably coming from Central America, first settled on Cuba around 4200 BC. Archaic Cuba Many of the oldest sites in Cuba are located in caves and rock shelters on the interior valleys and along the coast. Among these, the Levisa rock shelter, in the Levisa river valley, is the most ancient, dating to about 4000 BC. Archaic period sites usually include workshops with stone tools, such as small blades, hammer stones and polished stone balls, shell artifacts, and pendants. In few of these cave sites burial areas and examples of pictographs have been recorded. Most of these ancient sites were located along the coast and the change in sea levels has now submerged any evidence. In Western Cuba, hunter-gatherer groups, such as the early Ciboneys, maintained this pre-ceramic life style well into the Fifteenth century and after. Cuba First Pottery Pottery first appeared on Cuba around AD 800. In this period, Cuban cultures experienced an intense interaction with people from other Caribbean Islands, especially from Haiti and the Dominican Republic. For this reason, some archaeologists suggest that the introduction of pottery was due to groups of migrants from these islands. Others, instead, opt for a local innovation. The site of Arroyo del Palo, a small site in eastern Cuba, contains one of the earliest pottery examples in association with stone artifacts typical of the previous Archaic phase. Taino Culture in Cuba Taà ­no groups seem to have arrived at Cuba around AD 300, importing a farming life style. Most of the Taino settlements in Cuba were located in the easternmost region of the island. Sites such as La Campana, El Mango and Pueblo Viejo were large villages with large plazas and the typical Taà ­nos enclosed areas. Other important sites include the burial area of Chorro de Maà ­ta, and Los Buchillones, a well-preserved pile dwelling site on the north coast of Cuba. Cuba was among the first of the Caribbean Islands to be visited by the Europeans, during the first of Columbus voyages in 1492. It was conquered by the Spanish conquistador Diego de Velasquez in 1511. Archaeological Sites in Cuba Levisa rock shelterCueva FuncheSeborucoLos BuchillonesMonte CristoCayo RedondoArroyo del PaloBig Wall SitePueblo ViejoLa CampanaEl MangoChorro de Maà ­ta. Sources This glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to Caribbean, and the Dictionary of Archaeology. Saunders Nicholas J., 2005, The Peoples of the Caribbean. An Encyclopedia of Archaeology and Traditional Culture. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, California. Wilson, Samuel, 2007, The Archaeology of the Caribbean, Cambridge World Archaeology Series. Cambridge University Press, New York

International Culture and the Business - 720 Words

International Culture and the Business Culture Culture refers to the sum of integrated learned behavior traits shared by members of a society ADDIN EN.CITE Hofstede2001449(Hofstede, 2001)4494496Hofstede, G.Cultures Negation-Comparing values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organization Across Nation2001USASage Publication( HYPERLINK l _ENREF_2 o Hofstede, 2001 #449 Hofstede, 2001). In the 19th century Edwad Tylor gave the classical definition of culture as the complex whole including; arts knowledge, morals, custom, law, beliefs and any other habits and capabilities man acquires being a member of a society ADDIN EN.CITE Ghemawat2007448(Ghemawat, 2007)44844817Ghemawat, P. Managing differences; The central challenge of global strategyHarvard Business ReviewHarvard Business Review59-688532007( HYPERLINK l _ENREF_1 o Ghemawat, 2007 #448 Ghemawat, 2007). This definition gives us an overall understanding that culture is obtained and observed out of interactions in the society. The international perspective of culture intimates that attrib utes of a given society need to be observed in business operations. Business operation in the international arena highly depends on the cultures observed and, how well the business incorporates those cultures in its operations. Considerations of the cultures observed in the locality where operations are to be started and the companys culture is needful. Compatibility between these aspects acts as the prospect factor for success. TheShow MoreRelatedCulture And International Business Negotiations1188 Words   |  5 PagesCulture and International Business Negotiations Global trades account for more than 60% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (The Economist, 2014, para. 2), therefore, the important role of International Business Negotiations (IBN) in the global economy. Manrai and Manrai article The Influence of Culture in International Business Negotiations (2010) discusses the art and sciences aspects of successful IBN from a cultural perspective. Culture has been classified in innumerable ways and the comprehensionRead MoreCharacteristics Of Culture And International Business1881 Words   |  8 PagesWhat is culture? In the textbook the authors give a simple definition, which is, â€Å"The sum of the beliefs, rules, techniques, institutions, and artifacts that characterize human population.† Though this is a good definition it needs expanded, there is a vast amount of culture in this world and one cannot simply put culture into a few sentences. Many people have dedicated their time to studying culture, these people can be referred to as anthropologists. Thus far they have discovered that culture is somethingRead MoreEffect of Culture in International Business Essay1492 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction Culture is an important part of International Business. Culture is defining the collection of values, beliefs, behaviours, customs and attitudes of the member in the society. Culture is the behaviour that people act in the community. The characteristic of culture is also reflects learned behaviour that is transmitted from one member to another in society. There are also basic elements cultures such as social structure, language and religious. So the foreigner who wants to operateRead MoreInternational Cultural Difference Of Business Culture1234 Words   |  5 Pages Introduction Culture is the social behaviour and integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behaviour that depends upon the capacity fro learning and transmitting knowledge to future generations It is the set of values, goals and practices that characterise an organisation A key to being successful in business internationally is to understand the role of culture in international business.cultural differences will have a direct impact on your profitability in any sectorsRead MoreBusiness Ethics Of International Business : Culture, Consumers And Employees1152 Words   |  5 PagesCourse: INB385 International Business Date: October 11, 2015 Response to Ethical Challenges in International Business: Culture, Consumers and Employees Introduction General business ethics applies in the case of international business. However, international business ethics poses a particularly different difficulty- from domestic business- as a result of the scope of diversity that managers have to deal with: cultural, economic and legal, etc. Although the contents of business ethics are to anRead MoreCulture Shock And The Effect On International Business2714 Words   |  11 PagesCulture shock and the effect on international business Culture Shock as defined by http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture%20shock : A sense of confusion and uncertainty sometimes with feelings of anxiety that may affect people exposed to an alien culture or environment without adequate preparation Kohls (1979) defined culture shock as â€Å"the term used for the pronounced reactions to the psychological disorientation that is experienced in varying degrees when spending an extended periodRead MoreThe Role Of Ethics And Culture On An International Business Environment1508 Words   |  7 PagesAbstract Geert Hofstede is one of many sociologists that studied and emphasized the importance of ethics and culture in an international business environment. He contended how the culture of the leaders and staff can help one to determine the achievement or ineffectiveness of that business. Rue Byars described leadership as an ability to influence people and willingly follow one’s guidance or adhere to one’s decisions (Rue, Byars, 2009). The most successful CEO’s and leaders have a well-definedRead MoreWhy Culture Matters Within International Business1076 Words   |  5 PagesWhy culture matters in International Business The purpose of this memo is to explain why culture matters in International Business and to give you some background information on culture and how this can improve the business once it is expanded abroad. According to Cavusgil, knight, Riesenberger(2014), â€Å"Culture is the learned, shared and lasting orientation patterns in a society. People demonstrate their culture through values, ideas, attitudes, behaviors, and symbolsâ€Å"(p.82). The cultureRead MoreWhy culture is important in doing international business?1513 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction In the business world today, borders are blending and multi-national mergers are causing many company nationalities to become indistinct. As the globalization of markets rapidly increases, many companies are finding international expansion a necessity of competition. The world is greatly affected by this movement towards a global market, and many companies are finding it extremely important to adapt to other cultures. The most considerable obstructions to successful international marketing involveRead MoreAnalysis Of Dbm 700 International Business Culture2281 Words   |  10 PagesDBM 700 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CULTURE Question 1 : Assess critically the meaning of culture of society and its importance to international manager. What culture differences do you notice among your classmates ? How do those differences affect the class environment or your group projects ? Answer 1: Culture of society means the people think and do as the members of the society or we can say in the simple words the way of life of a people live. Culture is basically made up of four things Material

What Really Makes Factories Flexible Free Essays

Introduction: In this literature, â€Å"What really makes factories flexible? † the writer brought out the topic for factory flexibility, which defines as a production  facility  organized  to  respond to customer orders quickly in order to provide  a  full  and varied range  of  operations  or  services, across many  product lines with very short  changeover times and may introduce new products of similar range fairly easy. For example, most modern  automobile plants  are designed as  flexible  factories to build various models. Having acknowledged the importance of flexibility, how would manufacturing managers in a broad array of industries find pathways to improve the process? What are the difficulties of defining flexibility of a plant and how do they measure flexibility in terms of plant productivity? What measurements are needed to show improvement of the process? The author performed a research in a study of sixty-one factories in North America that manufacture fine paper to find out the answer. We will write a custom essay sample on What Really Makes Factories Flexible or any similar topic only for you Order Now Define the problem: Unlike most other industries in which different plants make different products, the paper industry’s products are more comparable across plants since paper are produced by very similar process. There are a few characteristics for the paper industries to be the right candidate. In paper industry, the qualities of products by grades are straightforward numbers which can be able to be measured by the author. These numbers enabled the author to develop both the range of paper a plant could produce and how much time it needed for a plant to switch from making one kind of paper to making another. By using these numbers the author was be able to define the operational flexibility for manufacturing plants needed to measure and find the ways to improve the processes. Defining the problem is the first thing needed by each manager. â€Å"What is flexibility? † Managers are having hard times to define as the term may mean very different for different people. At plant level, it is about the ability to change over or adapt new system, however, specifying and characterizing this ability is not an easy task. As one manager may talk about the flexibility to produce the types of production from up and down depending on what the market needs; another manager may talks about the flexibility to change over from making one type of paper to another with less time and money. In the author’s point of view, flexibility should be emphasized in determining by its competitive environment. The measurement of flexibility can be based on a) product range in different things as a plant can have the ability to produce a small number of products that are very different from one another b) mobility for a plant to change over from making one product to another and c) uniformity of performance as a flexible plant can perform comparably well to make any product within a specified range. Once managers have defined the different kinds of flexibility they are trying to develop, another set of issues had come up as how to measure the flexibility and improvement of flexibility. Also it is often unclear in which general features of a plant must be changed in order to make its operations flexible. The depth and wisdom of experience managers have to be carefully assessing their strategies to define what kind of flexibility they are looking for before embarking on a flexibility program, or otherwise the results can be disastrous. Implication and analysis to select best alternatives: By collecting production data, the author was able to measure the breadth of paper grades that each plant was capable of producing and the changeover time that each plant required to switch between grades. There were additional measurements of flexibility such as workforce by length of service, the level of computer integration (CIM), the change and break frequency, etc. Each plant may emphasize in a whole range of factors from different quality and types of flexibility based on the managers, so end up there are large differences across plants. One major issue covered in this literature is that the degree of computer integration (CIM) does not really help on plant flexibility by increasing range of products produced or improving change over time even though large money was invested in it. Managers often have difficulty justifying CIM projects on the basis of cost savings or quality improvements therefore justify them on basis of improved flexibility CIM will provide. In this case, only the engineers or a few trained employees understand how the system works; most of the plant operators are not trained to operate which create problems. Operators instead decide to perform manual-change over, which in a surprising findings the best manual change system operate much faster than computer. This result shows the serious problem from operators as they have no interest to adapt the change to operate CIM. It hit hard on the managers with thoughts being reluctant that they are doing something right, but actually they are wrong. Implement decision to change the system: For successful manager to figure out the issues of CIM before implementing it in a plant, they should consider building up skills for their operators. As the author denoted, â€Å"Plants become more flexible when managers stress to workers the importance of flexibility. For example, a plant that wants to excel at customizing products will need to develop the capabilities to carry out large range of jobs in the plant. Managers then need to determine what type of workforce or equipment (ex CIM) needs to enhance flexibility. After that managers need to figure out different ways to measure the type of flexibility sought and emphasize the importance of the measures to the employees. Trainings should be added in th e process to build up experienced workforce and eventually to see improvement in flexibility. For example, continuous learning problem such as operational excellence may help management team in different level to control and maintain a flexible manufacturing plant. Evaluate the outcome: By integrating the appropriate steps to a) defining the problem of flexibility, b) implication and analysis to select best alternatives and c) implement decision to change the system, the next step is to evaluate the outcome to see if there is any improvement or if not, further alterations will need to be made. Outcomes that need to be evaluated are not limited to employee training in different level. Employees training based on experience are critical for a manufacturing plant to increase flexibility. More experience workers are not willing to adapting the new systems such as CIM comparing to less experience workers who are more willing to change. Conclusion: A good manufacturing management team designs what is best way for its plant to run, and plants that are flexible in terms of mobility (in terms of change over time) and range (in terms of various productivity) tended to have a clear measures of what flexibility should be developed. Managers have to decide what benefits the plant, how the plant operate, what kind of flexibility they are looking for, select the right decision making tools such as CIM, training for the employees based on different levels of experience, analyzing the data and provide surveys for customers. Managers should provide people the support needed in order to achieve the goal for lower the cost, decreasing change over time, increasing throughput and eventually make more money. Manager should never put too much faith in depending on CIM to complete the tasks in ease. CIM provides critical advantages to improve factory flexibility only if it can be implemented in the right way to fit the system. CIM generally needs experienced operators to control so trainings are critical for employees in different level. CIM could only be one of the alternative tools for managers to use. The flexibility of a plant depends much more on people (manager, field-supervisors, engineers and operators) than on any technical factor (automation, CIM). Managers should never only embraced in CIM as the solution to the growing need to forge new capabilities, instead managers should put more faith in the day to day management of people. Extended Research: I read two other articles which were written within the last three years. It is obvious that both articles talk about how computer integration both software and hardware can help to improve process flow and flexibility of a plant. This is because a more mature CIM system has been established through studies from field experts and universities. In general, employees nowadays understand that continuous learning is the keys to maintain competitiveness in the job market. This doesn’t mean that managers’ job are easier to do, but flexibilities in all level from a plant, a team, or just individual are critical in order to maintain a competitive advantage. Reference: 1. Manufacturing Flexibility – Synchronizing the Shop Floor and Supply Chain by Aberdeen Group 2. Improving Plant Performance and Flexibility in Batch Process Manufacturing: With an Example from the Food and Beverage Industry by Filippo Focacci How to cite What Really Makes Factories Flexible, Essay examples

What Really Makes Factories Flexible Free Essays

Introduction: In this literature, â€Å"What really makes factories flexible? † the writer brought out the topic for factory flexibility, which defines as a production  facility  organized  to  respond to customer orders quickly in order to provide  a  full  and varied range  of  operations  or  services, across many  product lines with very short  changeover times and may introduce new products of similar range fairly easy. For example, most modern  automobile plants  are designed as  flexible  factories to build various models. Having acknowledged the importance of flexibility, how would manufacturing managers in a broad array of industries find pathways to improve the process? What are the difficulties of defining flexibility of a plant and how do they measure flexibility in terms of plant productivity? What measurements are needed to show improvement of the process? The author performed a research in a study of sixty-one factories in North America that manufacture fine paper to find out the answer. We will write a custom essay sample on What Really Makes Factories Flexible or any similar topic only for you Order Now Define the problem: Unlike most other industries in which different plants make different products, the paper industry’s products are more comparable across plants since paper are produced by very similar process. There are a few characteristics for the paper industries to be the right candidate. In paper industry, the qualities of products by grades are straightforward numbers which can be able to be measured by the author. These numbers enabled the author to develop both the range of paper a plant could produce and how much time it needed for a plant to switch from making one kind of paper to making another. By using these numbers the author was be able to define the operational flexibility for manufacturing plants needed to measure and find the ways to improve the processes. Defining the problem is the first thing needed by each manager. â€Å"What is flexibility? † Managers are having hard times to define as the term may mean very different for different people. At plant level, it is about the ability to change over or adapt new system, however, specifying and characterizing this ability is not an easy task. As one manager may talk about the flexibility to produce the types of production from up and down depending on what the market needs; another manager may talks about the flexibility to change over from making one type of paper to another with less time and money. In the author’s point of view, flexibility should be emphasized in determining by its competitive environment. The measurement of flexibility can be based on a) product range in different things as a plant can have the ability to produce a small number of products that are very different from one another b) mobility for a plant to change over from making one product to another and c) uniformity of performance as a flexible plant can perform comparably well to make any product within a specified range. Once managers have defined the different kinds of flexibility they are trying to develop, another set of issues had come up as how to measure the flexibility and improvement of flexibility. Also it is often unclear in which general features of a plant must be changed in order to make its operations flexible. The depth and wisdom of experience managers have to be carefully assessing their strategies to define what kind of flexibility they are looking for before embarking on a flexibility program, or otherwise the results can be disastrous. Implication and analysis to select best alternatives: By collecting production data, the author was able to measure the breadth of paper grades that each plant was capable of producing and the changeover time that each plant required to switch between grades. There were additional measurements of flexibility such as workforce by length of service, the level of computer integration (CIM), the change and break frequency, etc. Each plant may emphasize in a whole range of factors from different quality and types of flexibility based on the managers, so end up there are large differences across plants. One major issue covered in this literature is that the degree of computer integration (CIM) does not really help on plant flexibility by increasing range of products produced or improving change over time even though large money was invested in it. Managers often have difficulty justifying CIM projects on the basis of cost savings or quality improvements therefore justify them on basis of improved flexibility CIM will provide. In this case, only the engineers or a few trained employees understand how the system works; most of the plant operators are not trained to operate which create problems. Operators instead decide to perform manual-change over, which in a surprising findings the best manual change system operate much faster than computer. This result shows the serious problem from operators as they have no interest to adapt the change to operate CIM. It hit hard on the managers with thoughts being reluctant that they are doing something right, but actually they are wrong. Implement decision to change the system: For successful manager to figure out the issues of CIM before implementing it in a plant, they should consider building up skills for their operators. As the author denoted, â€Å"Plants become more flexible when managers stress to workers the importance of flexibility. For example, a plant that wants to excel at customizing products will need to develop the capabilities to carry out large range of jobs in the plant. Managers then need to determine what type of workforce or equipment (ex CIM) needs to enhance flexibility. After that managers need to figure out different ways to measure the type of flexibility sought and emphasize the importance of the measures to the employees. Trainings should be added in th e process to build up experienced workforce and eventually to see improvement in flexibility. For example, continuous learning problem such as operational excellence may help management team in different level to control and maintain a flexible manufacturing plant. Evaluate the outcome: By integrating the appropriate steps to a) defining the problem of flexibility, b) implication and analysis to select best alternatives and c) implement decision to change the system, the next step is to evaluate the outcome to see if there is any improvement or if not, further alterations will need to be made. Outcomes that need to be evaluated are not limited to employee training in different level. Employees training based on experience are critical for a manufacturing plant to increase flexibility. More experience workers are not willing to adapting the new systems such as CIM comparing to less experience workers who are more willing to change. Conclusion: A good manufacturing management team designs what is best way for its plant to run, and plants that are flexible in terms of mobility (in terms of change over time) and range (in terms of various productivity) tended to have a clear measures of what flexibility should be developed. Managers have to decide what benefits the plant, how the plant operate, what kind of flexibility they are looking for, select the right decision making tools such as CIM, training for the employees based on different levels of experience, analyzing the data and provide surveys for customers. Managers should provide people the support needed in order to achieve the goal for lower the cost, decreasing change over time, increasing throughput and eventually make more money. Manager should never put too much faith in depending on CIM to complete the tasks in ease. CIM provides critical advantages to improve factory flexibility only if it can be implemented in the right way to fit the system. CIM generally needs experienced operators to control so trainings are critical for employees in different level. CIM could only be one of the alternative tools for managers to use. The flexibility of a plant depends much more on people (manager, field-supervisors, engineers and operators) than on any technical factor (automation, CIM). Managers should never only embraced in CIM as the solution to the growing need to forge new capabilities, instead managers should put more faith in the day to day management of people. Extended Research: I read two other articles which were written within the last three years. It is obvious that both articles talk about how computer integration both software and hardware can help to improve process flow and flexibility of a plant. This is because a more mature CIM system has been established through studies from field experts and universities. In general, employees nowadays understand that continuous learning is the keys to maintain competitiveness in the job market. This doesn’t mean that managers’ job are easier to do, but flexibilities in all level from a plant, a team, or just individual are critical in order to maintain a competitive advantage. Reference: 1. Manufacturing Flexibility – Synchronizing the Shop Floor and Supply Chain by Aberdeen Group 2. Improving Plant Performance and Flexibility in Batch Process Manufacturing: With an Example from the Food and Beverage Industry by Filippo Focacci How to cite What Really Makes Factories Flexible, Essay examples