Culture

Critical Reasoning Assignment I (Exercise 2) 1. Sappho- The type or style of writing that Sappho used in “To Absent Lovers’” was poetry. This literary work was very familiar to me and was fairly easy to comprehend. The basic subject matter of this story was about two people that seemed to be in love with one another that eventually had to separate in the end. Ban Zhao- In the passage “Admonitions For Women,” it basically tells us about the way of the woman in ancient medieval China. This was a very informative outlook on the way the women were viewed and treated in China.

It is a very recognizable literary work, but it is different from anything I have read. The way the modern woman is viewed today in the U. S. is very different than the way they were viewed in China. They were pretty much expected to do their part and do whatever the men needed done. If a woman was to mess up, they were expected to confess and admit it. If they did something good, they were expected not to mention it. Lady Murasaki- The type or style of “The Tale of Genji” was mainly romance.

I have never seen a literary work that was quite like this. To me, it was hard to understand and comprehend. It did, however, give a good deal of information about the outlook on romance in Japanese cultures. Anna Comnena- The style of writing in the passage “The Alexiad” was basically just describing different people. It went in to great detail of describing every little thing about each person. Marie de France- I honestly did not understand this passage very well. For some reason it was harder to understand than the others.

It obviously was a romantic story but I didn’t get it. 2. After reading the five passages, I found some similarities and some differences in the writers and their work. I found that three of the five passages were about romance. This tells me that these passages were obviously written in a romantic time in history. I think Ban Zhao tended to be more different from any of the other writers. In the passage she wrote, “Admonitions For Women,” she basically described the role of the woman in the ancient medieval China rather than romance. 3.

In my opinion, I think there certainly is a uniquely feminine perspective. The reason for this is most of the time women have a different point of view or mind-set than men. Women tend to view things differently than men and that is just a natural trait. For example, something that means nothing to a man could mean the world to a woman. After reading “A Night’s Tale,” I think the tone is slightly different. I don’t think anyone could draw a conclusion to this simply because there are so many opinions and you couldn’t base your opinions on one passage. . The passage I enjoyed the most was “Admonitions For Women” by Ban Zhao. Something that really appealed to me in this passage was the way she elaborated on how the women of China used to be treated. It gave me a great sense of visualization and allowed me to really see what women had to go through. It also showed me how much different the role of the woman in China was rather than in the U. S. The reason I preferred reading this passage rather than the others was it was easier for me to read and it was very interesting in every aspect.

In Dalton, Macs may find that their decision making Is constrained by the overspent policies and Indeed even the International political environment which may limit certain types of activities or transactions as part of an effort to encourage certain types of behaviors. 2. How Is South African culture deferent from or similar to U. S. Culture? Answer: Both the U. S. And South Africa are home to multiple ethnic groups creating a melting pot of sorts. This melting pot helps to create a richer culture, but tensions between groups and in particular the rights afforded to each group can also create robbers.

Indeed, there have been efforts to create more equality between ethnic groups in the U. S. For decades. This type of effort Is more recent in South Africa, and tensions between blacks and white In particular remain strong. 3. In what ways could South Africa benefit from hosting the World Cup in the long term? Answer: The 2010 World Cup Soccer tournament put South Africa In the global spotlight and brought the country much needed economic growth. More than 160,000 new jobs were created as part of the World Cup.

In addition, to cope with the requirements of the tournament, the country upgraded its transportation infrastructure and its ability to generate power using environmentally-friendly techniques. The skills and training workers received as part of this process are another benefit associated with hosting the World Cup. 4. What do you think are the most pressing social issues in South Africa and how is the country doing resolving them? Answer: Social problems Including poverty, AIDS, crime, and corruption continue to rate challenges for South Africa.

For years, the government failed to address these recent hosting of the World Cup has created new Jobs and provided many people with new skills, but more remains to be done. AIDS awareness campaigns have been implemented to try to address the problems associated with the disease, and in 2010, new guidelines for pregnant women with AIDS were established. The government has also taken steps to curb corruption, and while these efforts have met with some success, corruption remains a problem for the country.

I will also discuss at least one thing that separates them, what stands out most in mind twine the two writings mentioned above, and explain how the story Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell adds to my perspective of Lincoln address and Kings letter. “l have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are at present misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned we may be, our destiny is tied up with America’s destiny”‘ writes Martin Luther King Jar. In Letter from Birmingham Jail (p. 29). “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with ermines in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan-to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations” said Abraham Lincoln in his Second Inaugural Speech (p. 815). So as you can understand, both men wanted best for their country. MILK and Lincoln wanted to heal the pain and suffering that our country has sustained.

Though it took many years for their dream to become reality it eventually did. Their hard work and dedication made an impact on our country. Martin Luther King Jar. Was an activist, preacher and a civil rights leader. Though, during his time in the Birmingham jail he was being categorized as an extremist. He quotes Abraham Lincoln in his letter by writing “And Abraham Lincoln: This nation cannot survive half slave and half free” (p. 826). He is trying to explain that isn’t Abraham Lincoln amongst others “extremist” because they are fighting for something they believe in whether it is love, Christian gospel, or equality.

Lincoln was our 16th President had led our country through the Civil War. Lincoln also wanted equal rights for African Americans. So King fought hard for African American rights even though he Was persecuted and Lincoln led us through a War and abolished slavery. Lincoln states his Second Inaugural Speech “Neither party expected for the war, the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease” (p. 814). Lincoln wanted to build a strong nation after that.

In both Lincoln address and King’s letter they mention God a lot so it seems to me that they both believed in God’s will and power. In Kings letter he writes ‘We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal God are embodied in our echoing demand” (p. 829). Lincoln says in his address”… As was said three thousand years ago, so still must be said the judgment of the Lord are true and righteous altogether” (p. 814). Both men feel that God is someone they highly believe in and that God is a part of what is happening. What stands out the most to me in both

Lincoln address and King’s speech are how many times God is mentioned. I can see in Lincoln address he mentions God at least 6 times. In King’s letter he mentions God at least 14 times. In present day there are so many restrictions on religion. Have never heard any political public figure mention God as much. Like that both have a heavily belief in God. I like fewer restrictions but with so many people having different Gods can see why we have those restrictions. Lastly, the story Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell is about a police officer who is expected to kill an aggressive elephant.

The elephant had got loose because it was in heat but was actually a tamed elephant. The police officer in no way wanted to harm this elephant let alone shoot and kill him. Orwell writes “But at that moment glanced round at the crowd that had followed me. They did not like me, but with this magical rifle in my hands I was momentarily worth watching’ (p. 787). He ends up shooting the elephant but feels terrible because the elephant dies a slow death. “l often wonder whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking like a fool” Orwell writes (p. 89) In this case he didn’t do what e believed in, he didn’t go against what he felt was right, he decided to look like a hero instead of a fool in other people’s eyes. The difference between Lincoln and King is that they fought for what they believed in regardless of what people thought. They did the right thing. Of course so many people didn’t like them but that was important to them. So even though one was our President and the other was a civil rights leader, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther had many things in common. Both men fought long and hard for what they believed in, they both were leaders and they both believed in God.

Music is the most powerful vehicle of human expression. As the embodiment of love, disapproval, happiness, experience – life, music speaks to us, because it comes from us. Each people, in each paradine of the human experience instinctively and systematically change the music of the past to represent the realities of the present. In this century, black music, more specifically Soul music, has been that music that has brought to plain view that which evidences our humanity – hope, hurt, joy and passion – in such a way that the world has no other choice than to feel its power and marvel in its brilliance.

When one discusses the relationship between Soul music and the civil rights movement, it becomes a very akin to that of the chicken and the egg. The period of “Classic Soul” is that period primarily, but not exclusively referenced as the 1950″s, 60″s and 70″s (Stephenson 186). This is the time frame of the American Civil Rights Movement, and the impact of the massive changes going on, are reflected in the music and the culture.

So one would be correct in both assuming that the Civil Rights Movement gave rise to Soul music, as much Soul music contributed to the success of the campaign for civil rights. Soul music during its heyday, did more than simply entertain. For a race of people it served as a source of motivation, strength and education, for a people immersed in turmoil and tragedy. The institution of segregation had effectively inhibited the general populace”s awareness of the great achievements and contributions made by African-americans throughout the history of the United States (Franklin 429).

Inasmuch, Soul music sought to bring that undersight to light. Soul songs like Donny Hathaway”s “To Be Young, Gifted and Black,” was revolutionary, in that they sought to instill pride of one”s history, but at the same time motivate a new generation to reach new heights. As Hathaway says, “We must begin to tell our young, ‘Don”t you know that there is a whole world waiting for you? “”, he is calling for the teaching of black pride to the youth, which was a wide spread trend in black communities of the ’60s and ’70s (Hathaway).

James Brown”s “Say It Loud, I”m Black and I”m Proud,” became an anthem for the movement (Brown). The song”s lyrics like, “…. Don”t quit moving, until we get what we deserve… we”d rather die on our feet, than keep living on our knees,” were words of inspiration for those involved in the struggle for equality. “Whereas the predominant theme of rhythm and blues was love and other kind of human relationships, soul singers voiced concern about the social injustice, racial pride, black militancy, and forms of protest (Southern 517).

Eileen Southern”s statement on Soul music greatly describes the type of works produced by Hathaway and Brown at the time, yet was definetly not exclusive to these two artists. The period wherein Soul intertwined with the Civil Rights Movement, produced music greatly influenced by the environment in which its creators lived. Donny Hathaway”s, “Ghetto,” and Marvin Gaye”s “Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler),” speak of the harshness of life in the Inner City (Hathaway/Gaye).

Societal ills and political unrest were a major theme of Soul music, and Marvin Gaye”s work, almost more than any other artist, was demonstrative of this fact. Gaye”s album What”s Goin On, was his commentary on the social problems of the period, and through its success tremendously impacted the increasing social awareness. Despair within the black community was given voice in Gaye”s “Inner City Blues”. Inflation, taxes, unemployment and police brutality were numbered among the themes addressed in the song.

The sense of hopelesness of the piece can best be conveyed in the line saying, “this life ain”t worth the living…. makes me wanna holler, throw up both my hands! “(Gaye). “Save the Children” goes on to ask: “Who is willing to try and save a world that is destined to die? “, yet goes on to say “live life for the children… let”s save the children (Gaye). So, even in the midst of great despair, Gaye, and other artist of his genre, did believe in the possibility of change. “Ball of Confusion,” debuting in 1970, gave the Temptation’s take on the societal ills plaguing their times.

It explored the white migration to the suburbs, urban riots, politicians, etc. , as it expressed the sense of turmoil experienced during that time which seemed to all come together in a “Ball of Confusion. ” The lyrics state that “the only person talking about love my brother is the preacher… the only person interested in learning is the teacher”(Temptations). These lines express a theme of love and education as the cure to society’s problems. In a deeper sense, it says that people should focus on solutions, not the problems which create despair.

In the spirit of this solution-based songwriting, a strong, no-holds-barred message to youth about the importance of getting an education was given voice in October of 1966. James Brown’s “Don’t Be a Drop Out” is a story of a drop out who compares himself to friends who continued their education. The song says, “they kept on pushing when the going got tough, and now they know that things don’t seem so rough”(Brown). James Brown knew the importance of this first hand having no formal education.

He implemented a program which encouraged kids to stay in school and gave scholarships for those that wanted to go to college. Brown also worked to improve the quality of education in urban areas. He later releases two anti-drug songs, “King Heroin” and “Public Enemy No. 1. ” He had realized the devastation that drugs brought to the black community and the songs were used as the tool to educate blacks about their danger. James had become a role model for black youth not only through his music but through his commitment to the black community, thus serving as a shining example of the lessons of his music.

Brown’s message of change by improving currently existing systems was conservative in comparison to some more radical artists. These artists, like the Last Poets, belived that change would only come around through a revolution. The Last Poets who use a combination of spoken word and music in their song “Niggers Are Scared of Revolution” exemplify this. The song addresses apathy in the black community about black revolution and the lack of participation in the movement (Last Poets). Gil Scott Heron is an artist with a similar message.

His work “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” discuss the media’s purposeful ommitasnce of pertinent black issues, and the manner in which change will occur. The song “Power to the People” by the Chi-Lites was originally the slogan for the Black Panther Party. “Young, Gifted and Black” by Nina Simone, “People Get Ready” by the Impressions and Edwin Starr’s “War” are just a few of the many songs which drew the black community together to raise social consciousness. Black music, specifically Soul music, will never diasppear.

Though the motivation for the music may change nominally, the spirit behind it will always stay the same. Passion, pain, despair, love and hope, will forever remain key elements of the human experience. This truth is the reason in which we have seen Soul music change to fit the times in which it exists. Some hip-hop artists such as De La Soul, Public Enemy and even Arrested Development carried a strong message of social change. Yet, their time too was limited as the black American climate slightly changed.

Today artist such as the crowned king and queen of the newly dubbed category of “Neo-classic soul” bear the torch. D’Angelo and Erykah Badu talk about revolution and the state of the black community and relationships. Badu’s “On and On” expresses her thoughts of how she feels that we are born into the middle of a world in constant struggle as she says, “…. my life keeps going like a rollling stone….. I was born under water with three dollars and six dimes (a metaphor to 360 degrees in reference to her never-ending struggle)”(Baduizm).

D’Angelo addresses the rampant use of marijuana in his “Brown Sugar” as he writes, “I want some more of your brown sugar…. your love makes me high right to the sky…. my eyes are blood burgundy. ” His Devil’s Pie addresses drugs and money (Belly Soundtrack). Both Badu and D’Angelo give their takes on bad relationships in “Tyrone” and “Shit, Damn, Mother Fucker,” respectively. Badu’s “Other Side of the Game” even addresses the issue of being involved with a man who sells drugs.

She writes, “Do I really want my baby….. work ain’t honest, but it pays the bills. The subject matter addressed by Badu and D’Angelo express many of the problems endured by today’s generation, some of which may not have been experienced in the same manner of generations past. Music is an expression of life. Hence, it can only be a reflection of life’s experiences. Soul music speaks directly to the human experience. It attacks the maladies of our existence. It empathizes with our pains, and rejoices in our happiness. Masterfully, has it changed so as that it remains sensitive to our needs today. Only the beat has changed. The Soul of soul, however, the message, will always remain.

How to Overcome a Challenging Obstacle in Your Everyday Living. Amethyst K. Oliver Baker College of Clinton Township Composition I Andrea Nienstedt How to Overcome a Challenging Obstacle in Your Everyday Living. Overcoming a struggle is normal for everyone. People should not be ashamed of what they are not good at; we have to look at the fact that each individual is not going to become good at anything so easily like we want it to be. It is always good for a person that wants to really learn something they believe they will be become stronger at.

It takes take time and patience. I personally believe for the individuals that are the ones that can’t accept the fact when someone makes a mistake they are not understandable. Dealing with difficult people is very common in life, sometimes we have to figure out and understand the ones who tries to criticize others-what makes them behave the way they do. I think being assertive is always the right thing to do. I’m going to discuss what Sedaris’s obstacles in this essay were and also discuss more about my few obstacles that was related to Sedaris, personally.

Reading what David Sedaris was going through in the essay he wrote, called “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” the one thing I can relate to that is that I know how it definitely feels to think that you are so alone in a new environment redundant. Personally, I went to two different high schools and I was afraid of meeting new people at first; I was never used to switching schools. I had always stayed at the same school, but I had realized in the near future I would had to face up my fears and socialize with different individuals, different ethnicities.

At my last high school, I felt so alone. Everyone at the school had their own “cliques;” I was always to myself, from the time I started there until the time I was finished. I would try to socialize with some of the people, but I would have this thought that they probably weren’t going to like me. Honestly, there were some people that I kind of wanted to hang around with but they were too stuck-up. I told myself I would never try to please other people if they don’t want to become my “friend. ” Sedaris went to a school in France just to learn and experience a new language: French.

When he arrived, he was sadly stuck with a teacher who was abusive and said nasty things to him and other individuals. All of the things that she was saying were frustrating him; he tried to not let her vicious words get to him. He thought he was all alone, in this crazy teacher’s world, when one day he came in to see everyone huddled together talking a language to each other. In addition to that, close to the end of the essay he was finally able about to speak their language just because of the contention that happened in the classroom between his teacher and one of his classmates.

I’ve learned from the Golden Rule: “Treat others the way you want to be treated, . ” Basically what this verse in my own personal experience that I’ve dealt with in my life as I am going to explain about is if there was something that I did not know how to do but another individual doesn’t respect nor understand you are learning something for the first time and they judge you so bad just because my learning skills were different than theirs, they don’t understand the true meaning of fairness.

The importance of everyone is not always going to be talented at every single thing, which that does not make them a bad person. Whenever I start learning something that is new to me I always ask someone to help me get through it most will always give back and help me with what they need to do, and majority may not. For the people that would criticize I will not be able to succeed and make it out here in this life. I’ve learned that sometimes it can be hard not letting things get into you, but in order to become stronger you have to believe in yourself and think about the outcomes into figuring out, “What If? Most importantly, collaboration is very important. The more you and that individual collaborate the better you will be as far as reaching for success. Generally speaking, learning a whole new different language is not easy; there are so many concepts to learning a new language for many individuals to understand. Although, learning how to speak a foreign language that interests you is extremely important. You do not have to pay money or travel just to learn a foreign language, where if you go to school and they have a teacher who teaches one of the many foreign languages for free.

When practicing on becoming better at learning a foreign language, there are different aspects into learning a whole new language, which includes with the grammar and pronunciation (the two important ones in composition. ) The pronunciation can become the bigger problem; it can be so hard to pronounce something that is new to you. “You exhaust with your foolishness and reward my efforts with nothing but pain; do you understand me (Sedaris, 2000)? ” What Sedaris meant by that is he was tired of what this rude teacher had said to him, it was time for him defend what was right and let it continue. I know the thing that you speak exact now. Talk me more, you, plus, please, plus (Sedaris, 2000). ” Two of the quotes in Sedaris’s essay, he meant was that he finally understood the language from after all the chaos and commotion that was going in the classroom and he told that teacher if she has something to say to him say it again. He wasn’t afraid to speak what was on his mind. Those were the two major quotes in Sedaris essay that really moved me and it made me realized with he was emotionally suffering with his deceiving teacher.

He was proving his fact toward the teacher and he wasn’t going have her believe that he couldn’t speak out his “true feelings. ” In this essay I’ve read, I believed that Sedaris is a hard worker that is trying his best to accomplish what he was trying to do. I believe that this teacher wanted everyone to get better at the language she was teaching but in my opinion she has to understand that everyone’s person learning skills are way different than others.

Similarly, Sedaris and I had one issue in common and that was feeling like you are all alone in this world but really it does feel that way whenever you are at a new environment. Differences are not good or bad, but it is good to accept the fact that people do things differently is the first step to understanding what how they learn differently and with whom they truly are. Be willing to try new things and avoid criticizing others and not let him or her underestimate your abilities. Reference: Sedaris, D (2000) Me Talk Pretty One Day. Me Talk Pretty One Day (pp. 166-173) New York: Little, Brown.

INTRODUCTION

This paper consists of three parts; organization background, analysis of key success factor, and recommendation. We capture briefly the situation when acquisition happened. Judging from fact that acquisition was succeeded – reaching it goals – we identified that was two key success factors.

Guiding by Kotter’s Model we focused on building guiding coalition and anchoring new culture. As our objectives, we recommend some action to Sampoerna’s new CEO which can improve change management in the organization after acquisition.

ORGANIZATION BACKGROUND PT

Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna (Sampoerna) is the biggest cigarette manufacture in Indonesia. In 2008, it can sell almost 73. 3 billion unit cigarette, valued up to 33. 9 trillion rupiahs. These stats are the highest among other competitors in the cigarette industry.

With terrific product brand like Dji Sam Soe, A Mild, Sampoerna Hijau Kretek, etc, this company became an icon of cigarette industry in Indonesia. Sampoerna’s story of success is inseparable from the history of its founding family. Sampoerna traces its origin to Liem Seeng Tee, a Chinese immigrant who founded the Company in 1913. At his home in Surabaya, Indonesia, he began producing and selling hand-rolled kretek cigarettes, named after the crackling sound they make as they burn. His small company was among the first to manufacture and market kretek as well as non-clove cigarettes on a commercial basis.

Kretek cigarettes quickly grew in popularity. By the early 1930’s, Liem Seeng Tee had changed his family name and the name of his company to Sampoerna (Indonesian term for ‘perfect’). However, by 1959, three years after the passing of Seeng Tee, and in the aftermath of Indonesia’s struggle for independence, Sampoerna was once more on the verge of closure. In that year, Aga Sampoerna was appointed to lead the company, and succeeded in reestablishing and rebuilding the company. Aga’s second son, Putera took over the helm of PT. HM Sampoerna in 1978.

During Putera Sampoerna’s tenure, the company established itself as a public company with a modern corporate structure, and embarked on a period of investment and expansions. During the process, Sampoerna consolidated its position as one of Indonesia’s top-tier companies[1]. Sampoerna’s vision is embodied in the “Three Hands philosophy”. The philosophy embodies the business environment and Sampoerna’s role in this context. The Hands, which represent adult smokers, employees and business partners, and society at large, are the three key stakeholders the Company must embrace to reach its goal of becoming the most respected company in Indonesia.

They address each group through:

• delivering high quality cigarettes with fair value to adult smokers,
• providing good compensation and working conditions to employees and building a good relationship with business partners,
• giving back to the society at large.

There are 225 large (28%) and 585 medium (72%) tobacco related industries in 2004 (Central Board of Statistic, 2004). From those companies, only three players leading the market with 68% market share. In 2004, Sampoerna took second position with 19. 91% market share compared to Gudang Garam 30. 25% and Djarum in third position with 18,26% (GAPPRI in Agnes, 009). These three players are competing directly to become a market leader in industry. Sampoerna is well known as an innovative company with creative marketing strategy. We can see it from it phenomenal product called A Mild, the first low nicotine cigarette in Indonesia. May 18, 2005, Philip Morris International (PMI) acquired Sampoerna by buying 98% stake of the company at a price of Rp. 10. 600 per share or in total value of 18. 58 trillion rupiah. This was not only surprising for the company’s internal community but throughout Indonesia. This acquisition is one of the largest foreign investments in Indonesian history (Taco, 2007).

Even until today, the company’s internal do not know accurately the underlying reason Putera Sampoerna sold this company. Probably, Putera Sampoerna had seen an opportunity to sell his company in high price. Refer to Richter (2001: 341), so we can call in this case, pressure comes from vision of its owner. But, possibly there were several things considered by Putera Sampoerna in making this bold decision. We analyze them comprehensively to identify the pressures faced by the company. Putera Sampoerna realized that heavy pressures were not only occurred in his company but also in Indonesia’s cigarette industry in general.

Those pressures were:

• Government Mandate Pressure – The industry has been experiencing great pressure as public awareness of cigarettes negative impacts and demand to regulate them are increasing. One of the laws which regulate tobacco control is legislation Prov. DKI No 2 / 2005 on the control of air (Tempo, June 22, 2009).
• Geopolitical Pressure – Cigarette industry also faced pressures from many non-government organizations such as “Warga Indonesia Tanpa Tembakau” (WITT) and “Yayasan Lembaga Konsumen Indonesia” (YLKI). This issue has become global.

It is proven by the UN Conventions – 2 Framework Conventions on Tobacco Control/FCTC. Indonesia has not ratified it yet.

Hyper-competition Pressure (ibid, 57) The high competition market was also a strong factor that convinced Sampoerna to let go off the businesses. Although famous for its innovation, the company was not able to overtake the domination of Gudang Garam in the industry of clove cigarettes. Putera Sampoerna concluded that cigarette industry will not stay profitable in the future. One striking fact convinced him was the slow growth of the industry.

According to Adrian Rusmana, BNI Securities’ Head of Research, in the last three years, the revenue growth of tobacco companies in Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSE) was under the level of 10%; – 0. 3% in 2006 rate and 1. 9% in 2007 (Kurniawan, 2009). In the company’s official statement, this acquisition provides an opportunity for it to take advantage from PMI’s knowledge and experience from various countries over decades. In addition, the acquisition also brings resources, as well as new methods and procedures in the company’s management (HM Sampoerna’s Annual Report, 2005).

For PMI, their acquisition could increase market power, avoiding the cost of new product development, increase the speed of penetrating the market, and avoid the barriers to entry (Agnes, 2009). After acquisition, company achieved its success. Within 1. 5 years, they reached first place in the national tobacco industry with 28. 3% market share in the year 2007. In the same year in November 2007, The Indonesian credit rating agency PT. Pefindo upgraded the Company’s credit ratings from id AA+ to id AAA with a stable outlook.

This is the first time the Company achieve an id AAA rating. Revenue also showed a growing trend, accompanied by increased net sales and income of the company (PT. HM Sampoerna Annual Report, 2007). The acquisition also speed the company’s business acceleration. In 2008, Sampoerna added more than eight Cigarette Production Partners, 15. 000 new employees, build a new factory in Jakarta, then “pelintingan” through partners increased by 8. 000 (PT. HM Sampoerna Annual Report, 2008). From those facts we know that the management did the right action to achieve success.

Their action proved to be effective based on result they achieved. In early stages of acquisition, Martin Gray King takes the helm of Sampoerna. With his charismatic leadership style, like Putera Sampoerna did the organization growth rapidly in stable situation. Since May 27, 2009, John Gledhill took leadership role in Sampoerna (www. vivanews. com). Now we can recommend him what else he can do to maintain and improve Sampoerna performance. Before that, we have to analyze what make this acquisition works well.

KEY SUCCESS FACTORS IN ACQUISITION OF SAMPOERNA

The acquisition decision brings fears to Sampoerna’s employee. For most employees, the figure of Putera Sampoerna is not only perceived as a corporate leader, but also as a parent that is worthy enough to be considered as role. The acquisition feared would damage the harmonious atmosphere that had been created. Most of Sampoerna’s management was concerned in the decreasing of employee’s motivation. They were worried that there will be a reduction of employees (Yos Adiguna in SWA, 2007). Worker can produce 350 cigarettes/hour, while the machine is able to produce 8000 cigarettes/min. Thus, one machine is approximately equal to 1,500 people.

Fears of uncertainty and cultural shock are major challenge to management that needs a planned change management action. Based on eight step model by Kotter, there are two main key success factors in this acquisition. First, they succeed in creating guiding coalition. Second, they make cultural change come last not first. On this part, we discuss about what management did align with some concepts developed by Kotter.

• Creating Guiding Coalitions – The change idea in organization usually comes from groups of people who realize the importance of a change to be done by the organization in order to work better in the future.

But the idea is not always accepted immediately by some elements of the organization, such as the employee, the owner, or the CEO. This happens although they already sense the urgency to change. Even the CEO would not be able to make some change if he just fends for themselves without any support from the employees. In Kotter’s Eight Step Process of Creating Major Change, Building Guiding Coalition is one of the early stages of important thing to make a change, because in essence a change who wants to do will not run properly if the plan change will not get support from elements of organization.

If the plan to change is supported by an influential group of the company, the next process will be carried out more easily, especially in expanding the vision, mission, strategy and communication of the change process (Kotter, 1996:51). All top executives considered this thing when decision gets final. Putera Sampoerna summoned all the leaders and gathered them in one big room to announce the acquisition decision. Putera Sampoerna directly builds coalitions to notify changes. All the people obey the Sampoerna family ansd no one questioned the reasons behind the decision.

Putera Sampoerna directly coordinate all these leaders, calling them as ‘change agents’ to transmit the spirit as change agents to all Sampoerna’s internal parties, and ordered them to spread the information to the lowest level within the organization (SWA, 2007). Realized this step should be arranged quickly, he make it quickly executed. Monday, 13 March 2005, the draft notification is made for the acquisition news sent to all employees of Sampoerna promptly at 9 am. Velocity in the notification is critical to prevent the rumors come from outside.

After the information communicated to all employees, then they understand. At the operational level there was nothing really changed, except for expansion. What will they feel may be more adherences to the rules and improved overlooked. That does not mean that once Sampoerna not obey the rules, but the assertion that the rule is an area that could follow it becomes thick, because it is the value of Philip Morris. What makes Sampoerna’s change agent succeed in guiding coalition? Kotter said a strong guiding coalition needed – one with the right composition, level of trust, and shared objectives.

In term of making right composition, first important thing is Putera Sampoerna and PMI’s leader at that time (Martin King) involved, engaged, and committed to the change. If Putera Sampoerna just let go without making a good coalition, maybe realities come contrary. Martin King continued his predecessor becoming the change leader in the organization so Sampoerna will ensure they have leader’s support for change. Putera Sampoerna also selected peoples who have strong position power, broad expertise and diversity, and high credibility within their circle of influence.

When the information has spread, there was resistance from some parties, although a small number, including several directors. Some of them even chose to resign. Most workers accept the decision because management promised no changes in operations; all will still be working as usual. The resistance does not occur because of all the elements felt the certainty of their fate. Kotter (2009: 163) stated that resistance can occur because of fears of status uncertainty. Besides, the lack of resistance is also due to the factors of good communication and high level of trust in employee.

After they had sufficient powerful persons and mutual trust, now it’s time to deal with what new shared visions. In Kotter, we need to create shared vision in coalition when all the members of the group want to achieve the same objective and real teamwork become feasible. Vision in this term is related with Martin King’s vision about Sampoerna in the future. Martin King demanded Sampoerna to improve acceleration, starting from the quantity and quality of products, as well as human resources, considering the very dynamic business changes. This is a key strategy of the future development of Sampoerna.

Continuous improvement being implemented by the Sampoerna with employee development systems, management and control report, reward & punishment, as well as information technology systems / IT (PT. HM Sampoerna Annual Report, 2005). Vision and mission are translated into the main target. One of the targets that best describes the spirit of change in Sampoerna is to become a market leader in the national tobacco industry in the next five years. After building a vision and make measurable targets, then for all elements have to work harder than before achieving it goals.

• Culture Came Last Not First – One of change challenge faced from acquisition is cultural adjustment (Palmer, 2009: 105). In Sampoerna acquisition, the challenge is the cultural adjustment because both of two companies came from different countries, different area, different operating systems and procedures that can often lead to conflicts. The way in which this is managed can be a major determinant of the success or failure of merger. There will be a culture shock if it wasn’t treating properly. The cultural is refers to norms of behavior and shared values among a group of people (Kotter, 1996).

Norms of behavior are common or pervasive ways of acting that are found in the group and that persist because group members tend to behave in ways that teach these practice to new members, rewarding those who fit in and sanctioning those who do not. Shared value are important concern and goals shared by most of people in a group that tend to shape group and that persist over time even when group membership changes. In the big company such as PMI and Sampoerna, one typically finds that some of these corporate cultures affect everyone and that others are specific to subunits.

The culture that exists in the organization is the most powerful forced in change management, because:

• Individuals are selected and indoctrinated so well
• The culture exerts itself through the actions of hundreds or thousands of people,
• It happens without much conscious intent and thus is difficult to challenge.

Because culture so powerful, when the new practices made in a transformation effort are not compatible with the relevant cultures, they will always be subject to regression. Management realized that the culture problem is one of the critical factors in the acquisition of the company.

This will hamper the achievement of goals if the accumulation of it not at the right proportion. Therefore, he will not intervene in the existing culture and prefers to focus on the company’s strategic plan forward. Sampoerna’s cultural remains will be preserved as such because prior to the acquisition, Martin considered that the culture in Sampoerna is already very good and strong – a local company with international workings (SWA, 2007). This is also the reason why he only brought 14 of his staff and entrust some of the top management to the the previous leaders of Sampoerna. PMI, basically from USA, has its American Culture.

The style of American in being outspoken at giving opinion is very different to Javanese culture that tends do the contradictory. In American style, criticism is usually thrown straightforward and sometimes spicy but still in the context of work, not personal. On the other hand, Sampoerna’s staff is very polite, lack of courage in conveying thoughts in mind, and not straightforward. They are not talking about right or wrong, but rather to complement each other. Other Javanese culture will be maintained by PMI. One is in terms of product launch time, raising the selling price, and a meeting with the Javanese calendar system.

Other culture, such as it’s a tradition that Sampoerna always budget cost for the “pawang hujan” at the launch of its products. PMI which is a foreign company, although did not understand, still follows these tradition. This made the PMI headquarters confused when auditing the financial statements because of the ‘unique’ cost. Martin, as PMI representative in Indonesia must explain that this is common in Indonesia. PMI‘s culture was also signed to strengthen the existing Sampoerna culture. The use of English is increasingly common not only in top management but also in the middle management; both oral and written.

In lingual matters, Martin did not have problem because he can speak Indonesian and Sampoerna himself always recommend English to be used by every employee (Hidayat, 2007). Culture acculturation can be seen in [Exhibit 2]. From those, referring Kotter, we can conclude that change in culture come to last not first. But, in this case we see in different point of view that culture problem prevent early. They know it will caused problem, so they prevent it with choosing company (Sampoerna) which has similarity in culture. The fundamental similarity is that both companies have a passion to become the market leader.

Also, both have a behavior and a willingness to improve them to perfection. When judging Sampoerna, PMI found that culture in Sampoerna is good and strong, so they don’t need dramatic change, just little adjustment. Referring to Lewin’s theory of cultural formation (Kurt Lewin in Schein, 2004: 319-329), acquisition of Sampoerna has four phases. Four phases are the explorations phase, unfreezing phase, merge phase, and freezing phase. The first phase, exploration, should already be identified where the cultural similarities and differences between the parties, and goodwill to achieve the best should remain preserved.

The second phase is to dilute the old culture to the parties in the merger. The third phase is merging cultures, or the forming of cultural synergy, usually by defining a new culture, through education or training, coaching, mentoring, and so on. The fourth phase or freezing is realized by various artifacts such as logos, colors, physical appearances of the building, and so forth, as well as organization’s system such as regulation, the definition of a new culture, reward & punishment, and furthermore, the stabilization is continue done by gathering activities, and so on.

The first and second phase faced wisely by PMI so Sampoerna is now in the third stage, and was relatively easy to be done, because the critical point is in the second phase. PMI as the new owners did not implement their culture to be dominant. Similarly Sampoerna with the Javanese culture, that has a desire to become more globally.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The next year, the story of Sampoerna has dramatically taken a new direction; the firm has suddenly moved from an Indonesian family-owned company to an American global company. As results, Sampoerna had to adapt itself and challenged major issues.

The change process has been really successful and Putera Sampoerna passed the relay to Martin Kings and now to John Gledhill, avoiding too much troubles. Nevertheless, we can wonder what can be the reactions of the labor force if the company faced other issues in the future. For sure, even if John Gledhill is very skillful, he doesn’t have the aura of two former CEO. Then, the markets move more and more fast and conduct the company to adapt quickly. So, can the change process be implemented in the same conditions in the future? In other words, how the new CEO of Sampoerna can keep implementing successful change process in the future? Here are our recommendations.

Building the Guiding Coalition The Sampoerna family has a really special place in Indonesian mind; the successful story of the company and the charisma of its leaders had led to create individual governance under the control of monarch-like CEO. Indeed, despite of the increasing size of the company and fast-moving industry, what Putera Sampoerna said, people did. Now, the situation is definitely different in many aspects. First, John Gledhill can’t have the same influence on the employees company as his predecessor.

He is a foreigner, coming from a major global company and could be suspected not to focus on Indonesian interests, unlike Putera Sampoerna. Second, the tobacco industry is obviously an unstable sector. Law pressures, growing health considerations, strong competitions make the market more and more complex. Today’s business environment clearly demands an efficient decision making. Considering these two factors, it appears that leading the new company with the same leadership style could at least be very difficult and most probably impossible.

So, to tackle that issue and build a relevant change governance structure, we can suggest John Gledhill to create a strong guiding coalition that can make change happen. As Kotter said, there are three steps in building strong guiding coalition. We recommend what CEO should do based on these. The first step of this process is to find the right people; that means people with strong position power, broad expertise, high credibility, and overall leadership and management skills. Being sure of leadership skills of the change team members is a key to achieve the goals and special efforts to assure of it must be done.

Considering the structure of Sampoerna [Exhibit 3], we think that John Gledhill must involve each part of the organization to build the next guiding coalition. The first reason is that to be enough efficient, the guiding coalition has to be aware of all the aspects of the company. Indeed, in such a complex and fast-moving market, developing a vision and taking strategic decisions quickly and efficiently become more and more difficult. To succeed in the future, the CEO must lean on the specific knowledge of each department’s top managers.

In fact, with such a coalition, the information would circulate faster and in better conditions. The other reason that supports this choice is the fact that if each division of the different departments are represented in the guiding coalition, then the trust inside the company would be reinforce. We consider that this kind of coalition is able to increase the feeling of sharing the same goals and doing things in the same direction. If people think that the quality of their job is decreased because other departments don’t go in the same way, they would low their efforts as results.

So, concretely, we recommend John Gledhill to build the guiding coalition not only the director of each department but also the head of each subdivision. Considering the organization structure of Sampoerna, the coalition will consist of 25 persons. One obstacle is to assure that the directors and managers have sufficient leadership skills to join the guiding coalition. We suggest John Gledhill measuring their ability to do the job properly and take the decisions required if not. That means don’t hesitate in firing the weakest people and hiring good leaders to increase the efficiency of the coalition.

The next step of building a guiding coalition leans on creating trust among the team. Team building today usually has to move faster and Sampoerna’s CEO must conduct the process efficiently by using carefully planned off-site events with lots of talk and activities. The last step deals with the necessity to develop common goal inside the team work. Typical goal that can be chosen for Sampoerna is a commitment to excellence, a real desire to make their organization performs to the very highest level possible. Indeed, the common goal must be both sensible to the head and appealing to the heart.

The combination of these elements leads to a powerful coalition with the capacity to make future change happen despite all the forces of inertia.

Developing and Communicating A New Vision The success of the change process in Sampoerna must not hide the fact that some employees can feel uncomfortable with the growing uncertainty in the company. An acquisition is a major change in the mind of people, even if processes in operational level don’t change in the first time. Martin Kings had to be aware of this issue and deal with decreasing the potential fears or skepticism inside the company.

Now Sampoerna lead by John Gledhill and he has to aware those concern too. Developing and communicating a new vision is the solution to give to people the answer to their question. In fact, in order to implement future change in the company, vision is definitely essential. If new vision is not built, the feeling of risk and, so on, resistance to change could be an unsolvable problem when implementing a new change. Moreover, it allows simplifying many detailed decisions, it motivates people to take action in the right direction, and helps coordinate the actions of different people.

We can recommend Sampoerna’s CEO assuring that the vision is imaginable, desirable, feasible, focused, flexible, and communicable to be understood and shared by the whole company. For instance, next vision could be becoming a strong global brand able to develop itself on international markets. Then, to communicate the vision, John Gledhill and his guiding coalition have to respect key elements in the effective communication. Metaphor, analogy and example must be preferred to incomprehensible jargon and must be communicated many times under multiple forums (big and small meetings, memos, newspapers, etc).

Furthermore, behavior from important people must be appropriate to reinforce the message: they have to act as examples, try to explain seeming inconsistencies, and listen to people interrogations. To sum up, the new vision or strategy of the company is an essential step to anticipate future change process. People must understand and share the company vision to involve fully in the necessary change.

Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture When Martin Kings took the head of Sampoerna, he underlined the fact that PMI believed in the former corporate culture.

He said that the Javanese company was really adapted to the Indonesian market and that the new orientation of Sampoerna would still lean on the values built by the founders. Philip Morris, as a global company, is experienced in such an acquisition and executives are obviously aware of how anchoring new approach in the culture of a company is difficult. So they decided to take time before dealing with that sensible issue. Therefore, even if Sampoerna’s corporate culture seems to be efficient, PMI has to integrate little by little its own values.

Indeed, being part of a global company means share a common main culture (particularities can obviously survive). We can recommend John Gledhill first to be patient: the acquisition has just happened and people must be really sensitive regarding that kind of change. In fact, culture can be considered as the last step in change management process. Moreover dealing with culture issue is very difficult because of its own nature. Some aspects are almost not visible and some others not at all. Saying that doesn’t mean doing nothing; we suggest John Gledhill to implement few changes in the approach of each step of the change process.

That means he has to give to Sampoerna a “Philip Morris Touch”, especially considering efficiency and results. We think that managers and mid-level managers are able to disseminate the values if they are involved enough. To conclude, anchoring new approaches in the culture would be very difficult, John Gledhill must do it very patiently with a great humility if he wants to success.

CONCLUSION

Overall, the steps taken by management in conducting a post acquisition changes are very good, especially in a guiding coalition and cultural adjustment.

In building a guiding coalition, management can create a coalition based on the right composition based on the strong position power, broad expertise and diversity, and high credibility within their circle of influence. In addition, management has succeeded in creating a level of trust between the members, and has a good ability in shared objectives. Management also can overcome the cultural problems faced after the acquisition, the many cultural similarities that owned by PM and Sampoerna cause the process of cultural assimilation is not working too complicated.

Although in essence PM have a different culture with Sampoerna, Management still retain the the old culture to avoid cultural shock within the organization.

REFERENCES

1. Books Kotter, J. P. 1996. Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press
2. Palmer, Ian., Richard Dunford, and Gib Akin. 2009. Managing Organizational Change. New York: McGraw-Hill
3. Schein, Edgar R. 2004. Organizational Culture and Leadership. USA: John Wiley & Sons. Newspaper and Magazine SWA Magazine. HM Sampoerna: Padukan Budaya Lokal dan Multinasional. Kamis, 01 Februari 2007.
4. Tempo Magazine. Indonesia Pasar yang Menggiurkan Bagi Industri Rokok Asing. Senin, 22 Juni 2009.
5. Sampoerna’s website. http://www. sampoerna. com. Accessed at October 27, 2009.
6. http://berita. liputan6. com/ekbis/200503/97974/class=’vidico’. Accessed at October 27, 2009.
7. http://bisnis. vivanews. com/news/read/61146-john_gledhill__dirut_baru_hm_sampoerna. Accessed at November 5, 2009.
8. Kurniawan, Agnes. 2009. Why Putera sold his Sampoerna. Accessed at October 27, 2009

We are a nation of immigrants who celebrate everybody cultural background. Canadians are extremely conscious of our culture considering our close proximity to the United States. We are unduly aware that we are not American and constantly compare ourselves to America. Canadians forever talk about our similarities and differences socially, economically, politically and religiously. One of the things that Canada is most proud of Is that we consider ourselves to be a cultural mosaic which means that we allow various cultures to coincide and flourish in our communities.

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