Choose two authors writing about either Market forecasting; Competitor analysis or Environmental analysis The WritePass Journal

Choose two authors writing about either Market forecasting; Competitor analysis or Environmental analysis INTRODUCTION Choose two authors writing about either Market forecasting; Competitor analysis or Environmental analysis , 93) The market interaction of a foothold as a new means of doing business or to interact with the consumer base is a response to the competitor analysis of competitive benchmarking.   The competitor rivalry between firms in the market place is purported by Upson et al to be driven by the use of footholds to enter and leave new markets.   â€Å"Foothold moves (attacks and withdrawals) can-have important implications for the nature of rivalry between firms.†Ã‚   (Upson et al, 2012, 93)   The use of foothold moves may   determine competitor reaction when willfully responding to a foothold strategy.   The foothold allows for a reactant, which is a market competitor to create a strategy in response to a market move from a much larger market competitor operating in a parallel market likely in the same industry. The aforementioned analysis is supported by the following past research provided by Upson et al.   â€Å"Karnani and Wernfelt suggested that a â€Å"mutual foothold equilibrium† wherein each of two firms owns a small share of a market that the other dominates can reduce rivalry, because each firm â€Å"has a stick with which to discipline the other firm† (1985: 90).†Ã‚   (Upson et al, 2012, 93) The same logic does apply when two firms own a large share of the market.   If the competitor to the foothold firm makes an attempt to aggregate a larger share of the market, the foothold firm can counter with innovating within the foothold market by adopting a new technique or methodology to the underlying functionality of the technology that is competing in that particular space, for example, server software. The research specific to the contribution of Upson et al is to reduce the space between the knowns and unknowns   known about footholds with respect to potential importance to competition† (Upson et al, 2002, 94†Ã‚  Ã‚   Upson particularly does examine â€Å"how competitor analysis influences foothold attacks and withdrawals.†Ã‚   (Upson et al, 2012, 94) Competitor analysis is therefore a sequential movement of activity between competitor firms that try to gain market share in either their established market or to a foothold market via retaliation. This approach to competitor analysis is interesting to the current business environment due to the focus on entrepreneurialism and on innovation as a means to business success. The second compare and contrast article is entitled ‘Competitor Analysis and Interfirm Rivalry: Toward a Theoretical Integration’, by Chen (1996). The title ostensibly parallels the same framework as the previous study as the interfirm rivalry is likely to refer to direct competitors operating in the same sector within the same industry. The main function of competitive analysis   provides an understanding that allows one to â€Å"predict the rivalry, or interactive market behavior, between firms in their quest for a competitive position in an industry (Caves, 1984; Porter 1980; Scherer Ross, 1990).†Ã‚   (Chen, 1996, 100-101) Chen points to Caves et al research as the primary theoretical approach used to define the causal methodology necessary to identify competitive analysis. The rivalry is therefore considered to be predictable relative to the interactivity of market behavior as firms compete for greater market share in their industry. Chen has chosen the Caves et al research which establishes the rivalry between firms as a means to measure the level of competition through market channel interactions.   The market interactions are analyzed on the premise that rivalries will respond to each move with a more competitive move.   Chen points to competitive analysis research that does not necessarily distinguish the market as either superior or inferior.   The superior market will be the market with larger or the largest market share and the inferior market will be the equivalent of a foothold market or essentially a secondary/auxiliary market. The clumping of market competition will inherently view any move against a rival as relevant to competitor analysis without necessarily distinguishing the response based on the level of market share relative to the market share held by the rival. Porter’s (1980) five force’s is used by Chen to identify the means to which competition is driven.   Porter’s Five Forces, has remained most within academia and out of the perspective of industrial operations. .  Ã‚   Chen isolates the strategic-group approach (Barney et al) as the most relevant to competitor analysis the strategic-group approach (Barney Hoskisson, 1990; McGee Thomas, 1986) is by far the most popular and relevant.†Ã‚   (Chen, 1996, 101) This use of the strategic-group approach within Chen’s theoretical framework   does point to the lack of a market context that researchers apply to the study of competing firms. Competing firms directly engage each other in the market and to the level of direct competition between each competing firm.   The analysis from the research into competitor analysis relative to the findings of Barney et al reveals that a lack of study between the interaction and the direct competitive responses betw een firms. This may have to do with the lack of identification by researchers of the market moves by competing firms in response to interacting market forces and in obtaining greater market share. The focus inherently shifts to areas of competitor analysis that have remained neglected from study.   Areas where researchers previously ignored the market context that drove business decisions relative to rivalries and competitor analysis are inherently under investigation for further clarification. â€Å"Thus far, some of the most fundamental questions in competitor analysis have remained unexplored (Gatignon, 1984; Weitz, 1985). For example, how can researchers studying competition differentiate among players in an industry to explain each player’s market behaviors?† (Chen, 1996, 101) The aforementioned question is inherently the issue with regard to research competitor analysis. Competitor analysis is inclusive of having the ability to differentiate between industry players and their reactions to competitor moves as to whether each move and subsequent move is a function of competitor rivalry. ANALYSIS OF VIEWS The research by Upson et al is essentially subsequent to the Chen research. Upson et al isolates the rivalry response to be within the possibility of the secondary market or the foothold. The identification of the foothold as a means to check the power of a rival firm operating in the primary market of a two-firm rivalry is ostensibly the focus of the Upson et al research which is a complement to the Chen research.   The authors seemingly agree that competitor analysis is a market research based activity that seeks to distinguish the primary, secondary, and tertiary forces.   These forces do enable interlink between industry competitors and further identify industry competitors as possible industry rivals. â€Å"How can a firm, before launching an attack, assess its prebattle relationship with a given rival and the resultant likelihood that this rival would retaliate? How can a firm gauge which opponent is most likely to attack its markets? How can strategists differentiate amon g a set of competitors to allow the firm to allocate appropriate resources and attention to each?† (Chen, 1996, 101) The aforementioned are more relevant to internal firm analysis than external competitor analysis given the weaknesses and threats a firm may face inherent to its industry and market and with respect to the competition. The question posed by Chen of whether a firm will retaliate is interlinked with the Upson et al research regarding the foothold.   The interpretation of the foothold strategy with regard to retaliatory strategy in competitor analysis is that of a leverage tool to have a competitor firm think twice about increasing industry competition in the primary market.   If the rival does not have a market foothold and is inherently weaker in the primary market strategy, a competitor firm may be able to attack the rival firm without retaliation. The importance of establishing a foothold is identified as the primary measure to prevent retaliatory practice and to which a competitor firm does respond to a rival attack.   Ã¢â‚¬Å"Any given foothold is especially valuable as a deterrent in relation to the competitor that has the highest market commonality with the firm that owns the foothold. A focal firm is most vulnerable to rivalrous moves by this competitor; thus, holding a foothold as a hedge against such moves is likely to be seen as useful.† (Upson et al, 2012, 96) The foothold therefore becomes the means of deterrence for rival firms to not pursue attack strategies. The foothold then becomes a defensive tool or mechanism to prevent attacks against the firm from rivals. Even should the foothold lose money, its presence as a possible attack or retaliatory mechanism is perhaps enough of an intrinsic value to protect against losses from an attack where there not a foothold presence in place. Upson et al and Chen draw o n complementary research to provide a contiguous analysis of the issue of competitor analysis. SUMMARY Upson et al and Chen bring to light several issues with respect to competitor analysis. The research presented by the two authors is more comparable than is contrasting with respect to the definition of competitor analysis and the use of competitor analysis in industry and practice. The Upson et al research presents a theory that answers the questions surrounding competitor analysis posed by Chen. The use of a foothold in the market as defined by Upson et al is the retaliatory measure or the gauge to provide a measuring tool to keep the rival from competing too harshly. Chen’s research sought to identify how firms retaliate toward each other as a market move may just be a market move performed by the firm due to the firm seeking to position itself relative to its best interest. Therefore, the move will not inherently be an attack against the rival yet the perception may be that of an attack against the rival to which retaliation may follow. The main comparison between the researchers is the identification of competitor analysis as a direct and indirect means of performing market research relative to the identification of competitive positioning. Upson et al provides the theory of foothold market analysis that complements Chen’s research. Chen will likely agree that use of the foothold is a rival response to a competitor market move as well as use of the foothold as a potential measure of attack to which a retaliatory response in the primary market may follow. The inter market dynamic of competitor firms operating in the same industry and sector is identified by Upson et al and Chen via use of the same scope and measure of framework. The framework of identifying competitor analysis by use of underscoring the firm rivalry and the market moves relative to the market positioning of the rivals is the inter market dynamic that is agreed upon to be the concrete link between the Upson et al and Chen research. The authors share similar business views as they seek to define the underlying causes regarding the rivalry relationship between firms undergoing competitor analysis. The analysis of market activity within the scope of firm rivalries provides a framework to identify market moves and the potential motives behind each market move. Is the firm taking advantage of a market weakness or is the firm attacking a rival? The foothold theory attempts to provide a means to analyze such a question and render an analysis that describes the move with respect to the relationship to the current market position of the rival. The key takeaway is the identification of the importance of market context relative to the firm rivalry interaction and the strategy of each firm as identified by the sequential market move of each firm in the market place. References M-J. Chen, Competitor Analysis and Interfirm Rivalry: Toward a Theoretical Integration. Academy of Management Review Vol. 21. No. 1, 100-134. 1996 http://gatton.uky.edu/Faculty/ferrier/Chen%201996.pdf D Ketchen Jr. A. Ranf, J. Upson, Competitor Analysis and Foothold Moves. Academy of Management Journal Vol. 55. No. 1, 93-110. 2012 http://amj.aom.org/content/55/1/93.full.pdf+html

An Argument in Favor of Using School Funding to Promote Social Studies Instead of Improving Food Service

An Argument in Favor of Using School Funding to Promote Social Studies Instead of Improving Food Service Should school funding be used for promoting social studies or improving food service? There is a famous Korean saying, â€Å"Money doesn’t grow off a tree.† This is a common saying that I have heard all throughout my life from my grandfather. He wanted me to know that people should use their money wisely. Therefore, I believe that school funding should be used for promoting social studies instead of improving food service for the following reasons: occupation and education. To begin with, the promotion of social studies would give students a head start in getting a high-paying job in the future. For instance, my best friend Tony is attending a school where all the funding is spent on providing social studies book for the students. After this policy came into place, the graduates had expressed that the social studies had helped them with their job interviews. These classes also gave the companies the idea that students had a better understanding of the society around them. On the other hand, my sister goes to a school where the entire fund is spent toward improving food service. Because the emphasis is towards food facilities instead of education the students became only enthusiastic in looking forwards to lunch sessions. My sister complains because, she should be learning more about the society so she can get into a better university. She claims that this will help her attain her dream job as a diplomat. Furthermore, spending the school fund on social studies would provide a better education for the students. For example, after my school began getting a fund from the government, we spent the money on hiring the most well- educated teacher from the entire world. This has given our students the opportunity to work with the best teacher and gave up new education opportunities. However, before our school was funded none of the students could keep up with the classes because our social studies teacher was actually an economics professor. Funding helped establish classes for the respective subjects, such as ethics, macroeconomics, geography, that are subordinate in the general social studies subject. Because the general objective of a school is to provide a decent education for students, doing this will make the school superior and true to the idea of a school. Therefore it would open educational opportunities for students if the school were inclined to spend their funding on promoting soc ial studies. Therefore, I believe education and occupation are the reasons I think that the school should spend funding on promoting social studies. There are some people who say that funding for food services would permit the students to keep a healthier diet. However, this is not the role of a school, and it is best for schools to stick to education. Think of the basic roles of whatever should be done, and spend your money wisely.

Critical Analysis of Tourism Websites Assignment

Critical Analysis of Tourism Websites - Assignment Example With that said, I found the official tourist website for Greece and took a look around. The website is mediocre and the web designer must have used a strange layout code because mousing around causes weird changes to the layout. The header has four tabs: Home, Site Map, Newsletter Subscribe, and Contact. The homepage itself offers additional tabs: Greece (which expands to include links to History, Civilisation[sic], Geography, General Info, and Before You Travel), Explore (which expands to include links to Destinations, Culture, Sea, Nature, and Religion), Enjoy (which expands to include links to Activities, Leisure, Touring, and Gastronomy), Specials (which expands to include links to You in Greece, Downloads, and Newsletters), and GNTO (which expands to include links to About Us, Business Newsletter, Links, and Competitions). There is so much information, at first the website can seem a bit daunting. There are all kinds of related links, a plethora of historical information, most w ith links to outside websites that offer tourist trips, and an events calendar (though it didn’t seem to be functioning on the several visits I made to the website). Most notably, the website offers a large column of social networks that they hope you â€Å"like† them on—which seemed distracting, actually. I came to the site to learn more about Greece, not worry about their Google +1 or Twitter status. The website does include some photos of Greece and its monuments, though I was severely disappointed in quality, number, and size. Essentially, this website looked like they took their â€Å"Travel Greece† brochures and turned them into a website. Nothing special, too many choices that lead to the same places, and a distracting layout that makes choosing a tab to visit next confusing. Most frustrating, is that getting into the culture of Greece is nearly impossible, simply from the lack of visual evidence. Over and over I second-guessed this choice as the m ain tourism website for Greece, but GTNO stands for Greek National Tourism Organisation[sic], which is supervised by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Overall, if I hadn’t seen Greece in movies and literature previously, I wouldn’t want to visit there if this were the only site available. The lack of visual evidence is frustrating, and though they offer a large amount of historical information about the cities and monuments, the information is not, ironically, very informative. At just about every opportunity, the website links you away from the main site to give the real information. From this tourism website, I’ve gotten a sick feeling about Greece. I’ll keep it as my destination because I believe the country is far more beautiful than the tourist site lets on, but I was highly disappointed because it seems—at least it should be this way—that the main tourism site’s only function is to attract tourists and visitors to their landm arks. Nightmare Excursion: Israel Sure, it may be the fount of the world’s oldest and most prominent holy site; but it’s guaranteed to be wrought with civil war and unfathomable dangers to the average tourist. With that said, I took a gander at Israel’s official tourism site which bears the promise, â€Å"Israel: Come find the Israel in You.† The Ministry of Tourism’s site is actually quite impressive, not at all what I expected. Obviously, their website wouldn’t be openly promoting their thousand-year-old holy wars, but the aesthetic was far more pleasing than imagined.

Working in teams Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Working in teams - Essay Example As we progressed, there were a series of in-group conflicts especially due to conflict of ideas as some members wanted their ideas to get priority than others. With time, such conflicts were resolved and the members grew closer leading to achievement of great cohesion. ï » ¿Trust was also an important component in our team development as proposed by Bass and Ryterband (1979) since it allowed our team members to slowly learn to accept the group norms, virtues and values thereby enhancing conformity. This move was essential in assisting us to have a common voice as a team and also in minimizing resistance and conflicts while ensuring effective coordination that allowed for successful presentation delivery (Bass & Ryterband 1979). Team Tasks were assigned based on Meredith Belbin’s Team Roles Theory in terms of the behavioural strengths and weaknesses (Henry & Stevens 1999). The content of the presentation was divided among members in small chunks in order to merge it after individual contribution. Members were delegated individual tasks by the leader based on observation of their behaviour to identify who is better in what area. This enabled us to compensate for each other’s weaknesses while improving our strengths. As such, we were able to ensure that each member made a contribution to the final output. Participating in the group taught me a lot of skills and gave me experiences I didn’t have before. I learnt the importance of interpersonal skills, trust, communication skills, empathy, listening skills among others. According to Brooks (1993), teams have emerged to be essential pillars of most organizations and, therefore, relevant skills are required since even the most brilliant person can miss out for lack of such skills. Furthermore, working in teams enabled us to establish a sense of belonging due to formation of

Curbing illegal immigration in the United States Essay examples -- Imm

Immigration, both legal and illegal, has been an issue since the first European set foot on the shores of this country. Approximately 400,000 new illegals enter the United States each year. With an estimated 11,000,000 people currently living in the U.S. illegally, the problem has reached critical mass (Haerens 18). Dealing with this, costs the country an estimated $113 billion annually: $16.4 billion in Texas alone (Barnes C1). According to the Center For Immigration Studies, tax credits paid to illegal immigrants exceeded payments by illegals by $7.3 billion during the period from 2005 to 2010 (Schulkin 2). Education, health, food assistance, police, and municipal support, also contribute to the overall cost. Many experts and politicians, on both sides of the debate, claim to have solutions to the problem. Sadly, most of them address the symptoms and not the cause. For all the rhetoric, current immigration laws and policies have done little to curtail the influx of illegals into the US, over the past ten years (Passal C2). Consequently, immigration control remains a poorly managed problem. By evaluating the reasons individuals enter this country, and how other countries manage their immigration problem, a different perspective and perhaps novel way to deal with the issue may be considered. A significant motivating factor for illegal entry to the USA is the disparity in lifestyles of their homeland compared to America. Life, for people outside the US, can be very hard. For example: indigenous Mayans in Mexico and Central America suffer severely from racial prejudice. Many peasants in Thailand, Vietnam and China, with hopes of a better life for their offspring, unknowingly ‘sell’ their sons and daughters into prostitution. Life... ...migrant-population- brnational-and-state-trends-2010/. Pomfret, James. Out of Africa and Into China, Immigrants Struggle .Reuters UK. 29 August 2009. Print. Schulkin, Peter. Illegal Immigrants Receive Billions of Dollars More From The IRS Than They Pay In. Center For Immigration Studies, 2011. Print. Slevin, Peter. Deportation of Illegal Immigrants Increases Under Obama Administration. Washington Post. Washington Post Company, 26 Jul. 2010. Web. 14 Oct 2010. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2010/07/25/AR2010072501790.html. Steiner, Niklaus. International Migration and Citizenship Today. Routledge, 2009. Print. Tamny, John. Markets Solve the Immigration Problem. Forbes Magazine. 26 Jan. 2009. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/25/immigration-economy- mexico-oped-cx_jt_0126tamny.html

Marriage and Percent Cohabitation Increase Essay

Cohabitation is living together and having a sexual relationship between unmarried couples. Cohabitation is legal in some country and illegal in the others, it is illegal in our country Lebanon. The number of couples who are in cohabiting relationships has steadily risen throughout the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st as the social, religious and political attitudes to cohabitation outside of marriage have changed. Couples live together without marriage for several reasons. According to statistics the percentage of cohabitated couples in Lebanon is increasing â€Å"Recent figures have shown a 12 percent cohabitation increase from 1970 until early 2003,† (The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www. dailystar. com. lb). Cohabitation should be legalized in our country. First of all, cohabitation can be a preparation for marriage or a good experience for the couples. After cohabitating a period with your partner you will be able to decide to break up or to marry him/her. Living together with your partner will let you know all the good and the bad habits of him/her, cohabitation will give you a good idea about your life when you will marry your partner, and it will show you the difference between dating your partner and getting married. The percentage of divorce in Lebanon is increasing in the last years, some couples are married in 3 or 4 months after they met first, cohabitation could be the solution of this problem, these couples can cohabit 3 or 4 months and then they will decide to get married or to end the relationship. Without cohabitating, it is extremely hard for a couple to have an assumption about each others.

MNCs and International Law - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1437 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Law Essay Type Review Level High school Did you like this example? The advancement of this subject has been reflected in a large body of principles and rules that have been incorporated into several treaties, binding acts of international organization, state practices and soft law commitments, applied bilaterally, regionally and globally. Some principles of international environmental law are embodied or specifically expressed in binding instruments, while others are predominantly based in customary law. Among the most supported and frequently endorsed principles in practice are: (i) State sovereign over natural resources, (ii) responsibility not to cause environmental damage, (iii) principle of preventive action, (iv) principle of co-operation, (v) principle of sustainable development, (vi) precautionary principle/approach, (vii) polluter pays principle and (viii) principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.[1] Some of these principles have their origin in the 1972 United Nation Conference on the Human Environmen t and the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "MNCs and International Law" essay for you Create order Both conference produced declarations of principles (Stockholm Declaration[2] and 1992 Rio Declaration[3]), which were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. After the adoption of these declarations, further developments in international environmental law have taken place that affect the definition, status and impact of principles and concepts in international environmental law. In the mid-1970s, the UN Commission on Transnational Corporations considered, for the first time, the idea of a code of conduct. Nevertheless, it was in the 1990s when there was a proliferation of codes of conduct, resulting from an increased international attention on corporate human right abuses[4] and emphasis on corporate responsibility.[5] PROBLEMS WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW The international legal system seems completely inadequate to regulate powerful non-state actors, such as MNCs, as nations battle over sovereignty and are reluctant to give up power to international regulatory bodies, c aring more for the bottom line of economic growth than human rights. MNCs consist of international entities beyond national jurisdictions in terms of economic resources and decision-making responsibility. This legal conundrum has been obvious for at least thirty years, yet there have been only minor improvements in accountability.[6] The outmoded regulation system and the dynamic MNCsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ considerable economic and political power combine to create a problematical regulatory task. The MNC has transcended national legal systems and ignored the feeble international system to make the imposition of human rights norms nearly impossible. The negative impact that the phenomenon of economic globalization has had on state regulation and peoplesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ lives is becoming apparent. The move to more à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“competitive nationsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  often means moving to states that have reduced regulation or lower tax incentives in order to attract the fickle eye of multinational corporations. This in turn means other countries must regulate less in order to attract investment and employment. It has become impossible for nations, even if they are willing, to impose any obligations upon MNCs to contribute to the communities from which they are extracting resources and making vast profits. Any attempt to do so would reduce that nationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s competitiveness. The proceeds of economic development are thus denied to host national governments which are instead extracted as profits for foreign investors. The nation has been weakened in terms of managing human rights obligations and the first to be abandoned are social, economic and cultural rights, as the original provision of these rights directly costs money. The traditional approach to human rights law dictates that they protect the individual against the state. This doctrine was developed in a time when international business was less prominent and international economic interdep endence was far less important. Since international business is now mobile enough to avoid stringent national regulations,[7] or influential enough to persuade against the adoption of such regulation, international law must move beyond the traditional view towards regulating all of the organs of the international community. This historical bias of international law concerning the regulation of interstate relations has begun to give way to emerging trends conferring rights and duties on non-state actors such as supranational institutions[8] and other actors, including insurgent or rebel groups,[9] individuals and corporations.[10] This new type of non-state actor liability and responsibility under international law is emerging in two ways. The first entails indirect accountability through the horizontal application of international law and the other through the application of international law directly to the non-state actors in question. The lethargic response regarding social , economic and cultural rights by the international community has been a failure in its duty to enact laws to regulate for the good of humanity as a whole[11]. This is, in part, due to the fact that law-makers consider the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“globalizationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  phenomena to be a socio-economic problem that they are not capable of dealing with. Politicians are equally loath to alter the status quo, as they fear discouraging profit-maximization and growth, and thereby impairing their nationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s economic competitiveness. Social and economic rights generally imply positive obligations on the part of the state and private actors such as MNCs, which cost money, and therefore reduce profit maximization. Furthermore, multinational financing, operations and joint-ventures have combined with decreasing national control over international commerce to weaken corporation-state relations, thereby making regulation even more difficult.[12] Until recently, this gap in intern ational law was increasingly widening. As both cause and effect of growing corporate economic power, the international and domestic political systems have increasingly relinquished their control over business. Economic power holds political influence. The MNCs dominate national planning on issues such as trade, patent and economic policy. While governments remain divided by conflicting interests, such as competitiveness versus social reform, MNCs have a clear concise purpose of profit maximization, which speaks loudly and clearly to influential members of national populations. Fortunately, international and national laws have begun to adapt in order to regulate effectively in an increasingly dynamic world. There now exists a wealth of international regulation that reflects a move away from the traditionalist view of international law, whereby actions within one stateà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s jurisdiction are subject to domestic sovereignty only.[13] Internationally, these include GATT, Draft Multilateral agreement on Investment (MAI), Anti-corruption, Environmental Regulations, the International Criminal Court and advances concerning individual responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the international tribunals. Regulations within domestic systems have advanced as well with the adaptation of the Alien Tort Claims Act in the US and the relaxation of Forum Non Conveniens rules in Great Britain, which allow for MNCs to be held liable for actions of their subsidiaries committed abroad. However, the gap in international law regarding MNCs, clearly still exists. It is time to move towards solutions. Solutions are imperative in this regard due to the enormous impact of MNCs on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. [1] PH. SANDS / J. PEEL, (note 19) p. 187. [2] See Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (16 June 1972) UN Doc A/CONF.48/14/Rev.1: https://www.un-documents.net/aconf48-14r1.pdf. [3] See Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (13 June 1992) UN Doc A/CONF.151/26 (Vol. I): https://www.un.org/documents/ga/conf151/aconf15126-1annex1.htm. [4] M. MONSHIPOURI / C. E. WELCH / E. T. KENNEDY, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Multinational Corporations and the Ethics of Global Responsibility: Problems and Possibilitiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Human Rights Quarterly, 25, 2003, pp. 965-989. [5] R. JENKINS, Corporate Codes of Conduct. Self-Regulation in a Global Economy, Technology, Business and Society Programme Paper Number 2, 2001, p. 6. [6] Over thirty years ago, Professor Vagts pointed out that the present legal framework has no comfortable, tidy receptacle for such an institution, producing a tension between the legal theory of independent corporate u nits, each operating as a native within the country of its incorporation, and the reality of the economic interdependence of the multinational corporation. Vagts, Detlev F. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The Multinational Enterprise: A New Challenge for Transnational Law,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  83 Harvard Law Review 739, at 743. [7] Blumberg, Phillip I., The Multinational Challenge to Corporation Law: The Search for a New Corporate Personality (1993) p.205. [8] Reparations for Injuries Case ICJ Reports, 1949, pp.149. [9] For Example, Common Article 3 to the Geneva Conventions enjoins insurgent groups and state armies to protect prisoners and to respect prohibitions relating to attacks of civilians, hostage taking, terrorist attacksor the use of starvation as a mode of combat. The Optional Protocal to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, adopted by the UN General Assembly on November 16 2000 also places an obligation on armed groups including rebel forces to prevent children from participating in armed conflict. It also prohibits the recruitment of children into their forces. [10] For example, Autronic AG v. Switzerland, Eur. Ct. H.R. Series A. 178 (1990); 12 (1990) E.H.R.R. 485, para 47. [11] UNCTAD, World Investment Report 1999: Foreign Direct Investment and the Challenge of Development, Geneva-New York, United Nations Publications, 2009. [12] Claudio Grossman Daniel D. Bradlow, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Are We Being Propelled Towards a People-Centered Transnational Legal Order?à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  9 American University Journal of International Law Policy 1, 8 (1993). [13]