Review Of Research Articles About Second Language Acquisition Education Essay

The following are 10 research articles and surveies that address issue we have examined in second phonetic correspondence securing for understudies that are English Language researchers. Toward the start of the class we examined educators ‘ partialities and their lack of proper arrangement and guidance in learning ELL that can affect students that are ELL. These digests approve that there is a vocation with preference. We have other than examined the capacity of social and economics and how it influences the achievement of SLA. During this chase, I saw a few articles turn toing various approaches to go to this issue. The running subject I have seen is that there is no cosmopolitan and exact assault to learning understudies who are ELL. There are numerous factors associated with every scholastic situation. Understudies ‘ requests for larning second phonetic correspondence are each piece single as every student. The assault for SLA relies upon phonetic correspondence procurement for the local etymological correspondence ; economics, social issues, and if there are semantic correspondence holds in the local semantic communication.Gunderson, A L..A ( 2008 ) . The State of the Art of Secondary ESL Teaching andLearning.A Journal of Adolescent and A ; Adult Literacy, A 52 ( 3 ) , A 184-188.A Retrieved November 5, 2010, from Children ‘s Module. ( Document ID: A 1601681651 ) .The 1968 Bilingual Education Act determined that students who â€Å" originate from situations where a phonetic correspondence other than English has importantly affected their level of English semantic correspondence ca pability ; and who, by ground thereof, experience adequate difficulty discourse creation, perusing, forming, or understanding the English etymological correspondence † ought to be furnished with bilingual plans ( Bilingual Education Act, 1968 ) . Understudies who were Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog, or Punjabi talkers had higher vanishing rates and lower classs in scholastic classifications than Chinese talkers on the grounds that there were contrasts in financial position and families ‘ capacities to platform their children ‘s guidance when school plans neglected to make so. It appears that the equivalent astounding finding and purpose could be centered around identifying how logical control, math, cultural surveies, and English educators can adapt effectively in schoolrooms that incorporate expanding Numberss of ESL understudies. As we have learned in a portion of our treatment stations, we have to go to all aspects of our students ‘ foundations when learning a SLA. Culture and economics is an of import bit of this. The way that there is a dropout rate for understudies of various social foundations shows that teachers are non actualizing social affectability and awareness as segment of their bearing. There can non be a cooky shaper assault to learning semantic correspondence to evolving civilizations.Nykiel-Herbert, A B..A ( 2010 ) . IRAQI REFUGEE Students: From a Collection of Aliens to a Community of Learners.A Multicultural Education, A 17 ( 3 ) , A 2-14.A Retrieved November 5, 2010, from Multicultural Module. ( Document ID: A 2176089481 ) .Systematic perceptions of children of arranged social gatherings in their schoolrooms and networks ( Au, 1980 ; Delpit, 1996 ; Gibson, 1982 ; Philips, 1983 ) continually exhibit that children perform better scholastically if the progress of their schoolrooms, incl uding standpoints of proper conduct and instructional plans, mirror the human advancement of their places. The subjects of the overview are 12 displaced person kids from Iraq in classs 3 through 5 ( ages 8 through 11 ) in an Upstate New York urban school, in standard schoolrooms, pulled out for 50-60 proceedingss of ELL directions. Following 12 to year and a half at the school, a considerable lot of the Iraqi students in focus and higher classs were barely at the rising level of proficiency procurement The examination laborers made a different, independent schoolroom for the low-performing Iraqi understudies. The Edison account affirms what some prior surveies of minority student bunches have illustrated, viz. that â€Å" understudies ‘ open introduction in school is straight influenced by the connection between the social structures upheld by the school and those clung to by the students There were those that were against the independent schoolroom for the Iraqi children. They did non want to make a mood of â€Å" separate † or â€Å" isolated † . This can be an admirable statement in some condition of affairss. Be that as it may, students experienced difficulty with acclimatizing to their new milieus. At the point when they were in their independent unit, gives that were affecting them explicitly could be tended to while they were being encircled by a gathering of equivalents that originated from the equivalent enthusiastic and physical topographic point. They were comfortable in a social scene that was recognizable to them while larning their new etymological correspondence and adapting, with their equivalents, to their new location.DelliCarpini, A M..A ( 2010 ) . Accomplishment with ELLs.A English Journal, A 99 ( 4 ) , A 102-104.A Retrieved November 5, 2010, from Research Library Core. ( Document ID: A 1972796791 )Form a shared, interdisciplinary cre w that would be after and build up a fuse course of study that fabricated achievements and met rules for both scholarly themes and the Career Development and Occupational Studies measures created by the New York State Department of Education. Understudies who took an interest in the eight-week resources occupied with an arrangement of solid initiation endeavors, procured data on US showcases, and considered concern history in the United States, planetary markets, flexibly and request, continue creation, conveying achievements, and picking a worry that will win in a given market and monetary clime. The significance of turn toing post-optional closures and achievements when learning a second semantic correspondence is an of import part of SLA. As talked about in one of our resources, intention plays a cardinal factor. Understudies are more put resources into their procurement when they see an existent life application that is of import to their own ends.Rodriguez, A D. , A Ringler, A M. , An O'Neal, A D. , An and A ; A Bunn, A K..A ( 2009 ) . English Language Learners ‘Percepts of School Environment.A Journal of Research in Childhood Education, A 23 ( 4 ) , A 513-526.A Retrieved November 5, 2010, from Education Module. ( Document ID: A 1807801991 ) .This overview examined the perceptual encounters of 123 understudies ( 57 monolingual and 66 English phonetic correspondence researchers [ ELLs ] ) from a country open basic school in North Carolina concerning school clime, course of study and bearing, extracurricular exercises, self-adequacy, and confidence. With respect to ed ucator preparing, Smith-Davis ( 2004 ) contended that teachers are non enough arranged to help ELLs make their maximal scholastic intensity. The examination laborers visited the school multiple times over a six-month duration so as to move up the data. During the meetings with the bilingual and monolingual understudies, the exploration laborers followed an adjusted variant of the survey convention titled â€Å" Measuring accomplishment in ESL plans, † which was initially wrote via Carrasquillo and Rodriguez ( 1998 ) despite the fact that the informations uncover essentially no distinctions in school clime, during the meeting, a few students revealed that they were rebuffed on the off chance that they talked in their local semantic correspondence. In the wake of scrutinizing an entirety of 123 students in kindergarten through Grade 5, the main assurance of this overview is that the perceptual encounters of basic ELLs and monolingual researchers in an impossible to miss rustic school in North Carolina were strikingly comparable. the monolingual students in all classs other than have less confidence than the ELLs at all degrees, kindergarten through class 5. This is one school that obviously had an extremely solid ESOL plan in topographic point. Understudies did non distinguish any distinctions in course of study or extracurricular exercises. This shows teachers were providing a similar level of challenge in all scenes. The review would hold been all the more intriguing on the off chance that they utilized the polls in three or four unique schools with various economics and assorted foundations. North Carolina is by all accounts on the film altering fringe with regards to ESE plans. The colleges appear to make a lot of research with RTI, ESE and Autism Spectrum Disorder. Brice, An A. , A Shaunessy, An E. , A Hughes, A C. , A McHatton, A P. , An and A ; A Ratliff, A M..A ( 2008, An October ) . What Language Discourse Tells Us About Bilingual Adolescents: A Study of Students in Gifted Programs and Students in General Education Programs.A Journal for the Education of the Gifted, A 32 ( 1 ) , A 7-33,139-141.A Retrieved November 5, 2010, from Education Module. ( Document ID: A 1574104461 The goal of this overview was to investigate student talk between bilingual understudies in skilled plans and bilingual students in the general guidance designs in a urban in the middle of school. This review proposes a minor semantic correspondence advantage for the bilingual understudies in the skilled arrangement. The general choice appears to bespeak that bilingualism, etymological correspondence capacities, and talent includes numerous factors and that the connections are non needfully immediate. Members were 16 understudies served openly in the middle of school ( grades 6-8 ) in one of the biggest urban school regions in the southeasterly United States. In sum, the grounds from this study recommends grouped help for the three research requests and a little semantic correspondence advantage for the bilingual understudies in the gifted arrangement. Bilingualism, phonetic correspondence capacities, and talent include numerous factors ) . Apparently a trepidation of bilingualism and second semantic correspondence securing would be

Atlanta Braves :: essays research papers fc

     Many individuals see the Atlanta Braves in various lights, by getting some information about them, you will find some immensely disparate solutions. On the off chance that you ask any youngster who the Atlanta Braves are, you will probably hear something like this: The best in general baseball crew since I’ve been alive. In any case, on the off chance that you ask a more seasoned more shrewd individual who the Atlanta Braves are, here’s the appropriate response you’ll likely get: A baseball crew that has returned unfathomably from they’re not all that amazing past, an extraordinary story of a most exceedingly awful to first baseball crew. Be that as it may in the event that you go to an educated individual, somebody who thoroughly understands the Atlanta Braves and ask them a similar inquiry, I’m sure you’ll find a solution like this: The Atlanta Braves are a group with rich history, extraordinary triumphs, and magnificent auth ority that has permitted them to catch 12 back to back division titles.      The Atlanta Braves’ history is profound and exceptionally intriguing, with 3 moves 3 national titles and various arenas, the Braves have been and will be one of the most captivating groups in baseball.      â€Å"The Braves began in 1876 in Boston, referred to then as the ‘Red Stockings’. What's more, in 1883 they turned out to be then ‘Beaneaters’ and afterward the now scandalous ‘Braves’ in 1912. At that point in 1914 the Boston Braves won they’re first national title, by clearing Philadelphia.† (Atlanta.braves.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/atl/history/atl_history_timeline.jsp)  â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â      In 1953, the Braves moved to Milwaukee Wisconsin, and winning the franchise’s second World Series just 4 years after the fact in 1957. (Atlanta.braves.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/atl/history/atl_history_timeline.jsp)      The Braves moved to Atlanta in 1966. The Braves didn’t have the best groups from 1966-1990, no World Series titles, only not up to where they had been in before years. In 1990 the overcomes had the most noticeably terrible record in baseball, and afterward in 1991, they went from most exceedingly terrible to first, and went to the World Series. They went again in 1992, however shockingly, they lost the multiple times. In any case, in 1995 the Braves went to the Championship of baseball indeed, they spoke to the National League, and the Cleveland Indians spoke to the American League. The Series went six games, and in game six the Braves won, beating the Indians, one to nothing, and winning the World Series.      I myself recall that game, I was in my lounge room with my family watching the game, and David Justice hit a performance grand slam, the main run of the game. Tom Glavine pitched an extraordinary game, I was so energized when they won.

Teaching Appositive Phrases With Newspapers

posted on February 24, 2015 The English Department head at my school, Debbie Self, tells her students that they must add FAT to their essays. She’s not talking about feeding them loads of carbs. Instead, she is referring to  three elements of compositions that will add interest and flow to student writing: Figurative Language Appositive Phrases Transition Words Last week, I started teaching my students about appositive phrases, which I particularly enjoy because we learned to use them extensively in journalism classes. As I prepared for my lessons on the topic, I found a video that introduces  appositives in Safari Montage. If your school has this video streaming system, just search for appositives. If not, you should tell them to get it. One of the things I like to try to do is show my students how what they’re learning is used in the real world. Trust me, this is necessary because students, particularly at the middle school age, don’t always see the value in things like verbs, nouns, or appositives. Heaven help us when we start talking about gerunds and infinitives†¦ Anyway, I had introduced my English Language Arts students to appositive phrases and we had completed a small assignment in the book. Later that day, in my Mixed Media Journalism class, we ended up talking about appositives again. And that’s when it hit me. We use appositive phrases all the time in newspaper! So I had the students pull newspapers from my stack in the back of the room and highlight all the appositive phrases they could find in their section, then share with the class. This is a wonderful way to teach kids to find appositives, and also show them their real-world usage. Two birds, one stone†¦   Videos to teach appositive phrases Before you hit the newspapers, you can use videos as a fun way to introduce your students to the appositive phrase concept. Here is a Cartoon Network compilation featuring appositive phrases. I recommend watching the video through once with your students, then go back to stop and identify each of the appositive phrases. Finally, here is a creative usage of appositive phrases (and a very appropriate song) that will get the attention of high school students, but may not be suitable for younger kids: Worksheets Yes, I do think there is a time and place for worksheets. I do NOT think they’re good for making the kids sit down and shut up. I prefer to give them either a few minutes to work independently on them, or time to work on them as a group. Then we go over the whole worksheet as a group, and I require them to correct their mistakes. I tell them to not erase, I want to see where they messed up and that they were paying enough attention to make their corrections. We talk about these corrections as we’re going over the worksheet together. Then I give the students a participation grade. If I have non-readers in a class with a co-teacher, she takes those students to her classroom where she works with them to complete the same assignment, but with additional supports. My low students have blossomed under this system — participating in the group  discussions when they would have just sat back silently in a full-class discussion. 19 kBphrase_appositive 83 kBappositives-worksheet I’d love to hear your ideas on teaching appositives. Feel free to share below! Michelle WatersI am a secondary English Language Arts teacher, a University of Oklahoma student working on my Master’s of Education in Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum with an concentration in English Education, and a NBPTS candidate. I am constantly seeking ways to amplify my students’ voices and choices.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia †His Life and Death

Although the confrontational style of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Gregory Nino Scalia  was widely regarded as being one of his less appealing qualities, it underscored his clear sense of right and wrong. Motivated by a strong moral compass, Scalia opposed judicial activism in all forms, favoring instead judicial restraint and a constructivist approach to the interpretation of the Constitution. Scalia stated on numerous occasions that the power of the Supreme Court is only as effective as the laws created by Congress. Scalias Early Life and Formative Years Scalia was born March 11, 1936, in Trenton, New Jersey. He was the only son of Eugene and Catherine Scalia. As a second generation American, he grew up with a strong Italian home  life and was raised Roman Catholic.   The family moved to Queens when Scalia was a child. He graduated first in his class from St. Francis Xavier, a military prep school in Manhattan. He also graduated first in his class from Georgetown University with a degree in history. He earned his law degree from Harvard Law School, where he also graduated at the top of his class. His Early Career Scalias first job out of Harvard was working in commercial law for the international firm of Jones Day. He remained there from 1961 until 1967. The lure of academia drew him to become a law professor at the University of Virginia from 1967 to 1971. He was appointed general counsel  of the Office of Telecommunications under the Nixon administration in 1971, then he spent two years as chairman of the U.S. Administration Conference. Scalia joined the Ford administration in 1974, where he worked as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel. Academia Scalia left government service upon the election of Jimmy Carter. He returned to academia in 1977 and occupied a number of academic positions until 1982, including resident scholar for the conservative American Enterprise Institute and law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, the University of Chicago School of Law, and Stanford University. He also briefly served as chairman of the American Bar Associations section on administrative law and the Conference of Section Chairs. Scalias philosophy of judicial restraint began to gather momentum when Ronald Reagan appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1982.   Supreme Court Nomination When Chief Justice Warren Burger retired in 1986, President Reagan appointed Justice William Rehnquist to the top spot. Rehnquists appointment drew all the attention from Congress and the media, and even the Court. Many were pleased, but Democrats strongly opposed his appointment. Scalia was tapped by Reagan to fill the vacancy and he slipped through the confirmation process virtually unnoticed, floating by with a 98-0 vote. Senators Barry Goldwater and Jack Garn didnt cast votes. The vote was surprising because Scalia was far more conservative than any other Justice on the High Court at the time. Originalism Scalia was one of the most well-known Justices and was famous for his combative personality and his judicial philosophy of originalism – the idea that the Constitution should be interpreted in terms of what it meant to its original authors. He told CBS in 2008 that his interpretive philosophy is about determining what the words of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights meant to those who ratified them. Scalia maintained  that he was not a strict constructionist, however. I do not think the Constitution or any text should be interpreted either strictly or sloppily; it should be interpreted reasonably. Controversies Scalias sons, Eugene and John, worked for the firms that represented George W. Bush in the landmark case, Bush v. Gore, which determined the outcome of the 2000 presidential election. Scalia drew fire from liberals for refusing to recuse himself from the case. He was also asked but declined to recuse himself from the case of Hamden v. Rumsfeld  in 2006 because he had offered an opinion on an issue related to the case while it was still pending. Scalia had remarked that Guantanamo detainees dont have the right to be tried in federal courts.   Personal Life vs. Public Life After graduating from Georgetown University, Scalia spent a year in Europe as a student at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He met Maureen McCarthy, a Radcliffe English student, at Cambridge. In 1960, they married in 1960 and had nine children. Scalia was fiercely protective of his familys privacy throughout his term on the High Court, but he began granting interviews in 2007 after years of refusing to do so. His sudden willingness to engage the media was due primarily to the fact that his children had all become full-grown adults. His Death   Scalia died on February 13, 2016, at a ranch resort in western Texas. He failed to appear for breakfast one morning and an employee of the ranch went to his room to check on him. Scalia was found in bed, deceased. He was known to have heart trouble, to suffer from diabetes, and he was overweight. His death was declared due to natural causes. But even this event was not without controversy when rumors began swirling that he had been murdered, particularly because an autopsy was never performed. This was at his familys behest, however  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ it had nothing to do with political intrigue.   His death incited an uproar as to which  president would have the right to appoint a replacement for him. President Obama was nearing the end of his second term in office. He nominated Judge Merrick Garland, but Senate Republicans blocked Garlands appointment. It ultimately fell to President Trump to replace Scalia. He nominated Neil Gorsuch very soon after taking office and his appointment was confirmed by the Senate on April 7, 2017, although Democrats attempted a filibuster to block it.

Descartes’, Spinoza’s, and Leibniz’s Response to the...

Since Descartes many philosophers have discussed the problem of interaction between the mind and body. Philosophers have given rise to a variety of different answers to this question all with their own merits and flaws. These answers vary quite a lot. There is the idea of total separation between mind and body, championed by Descartes, which has come to be known as â€Å"Cartesian Dualism†. This, of course, gave rise to one of the many major responses to the mind-body problem which is the exact opposite of dualism; monism. Monism is the idea that mind and body one and the same thing and therefore have no need for interaction. Another major response to the problem is that given by Leibniz, more commonly known as pre-ordained harmony or†¦show more content†¦They exist as substances and according to Descartes they are the only two substances that exist in the universe. His argument for dualism is, â€Å"†¦on the one hand I have a clear and distinct idea of myself, insofar as I am merely a thinking thing and not an extended thing, and because on the other hand I have a distinct idea of a body, insofar as it is merely an extended thing and not a thinking thing†¦(50)†. Descartes says that we exist insofar as we are unextended thinking things and thus can exist without a physical body (50). Furthermore, Descartes reasons that there are certain things that the mind can do that the body cannot do and vice versa (50-51). For instance, Descartes says that the ability to imagine and understand things must exist solely in the mind because there is no available option for the body to understand on its own (51). Much in the same way he reasons that the mind cannot move or change shape and thus must exist in some other substance (51). It is here that we see Descartes’ distinction between mind and body and how they do not exist in the same realm as one another. Descartes also makes the distinction between mind and body by saying the body is divisible at all times and the mind can never be divided (53). That is to say that he thinks that the body can be split up into smaller sections each of which are then considered in their own right, but the mind, however, is always one substance and cannot be divided up into smaller

Requirement Analysis and Modelling Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Requirement Analysis and Modelling. Answer: Introduction This document seeks to try to solve the problems currently being experienced at Mooroolbark Real Estate. It outlines the various methodologies that can be taken by this agency while addressing its problems. To any business, financial management, inventory management and customer satisfaction are key important issues. This is attributed to good record keeping techniques, that is, having an information system in place in order to maintain these aspects. Agile Methodology As compared to the traditional waterfall model, agile methodology commonly referred to as adaptive approach has recently been considered an effective approach in system development. This is because this approach offers iterative processes until an ideal solution is arrived at. Unlike the traditional approach where the requirements are predetermined, hence, any setback can only be identified at the later stages of development. Agile methodology offers the best approach of system development as one cannot proceed to the next stage unless the current stage has been approved. There are various types of Agile methodology including Scrum, extreme programming, feature-driven development. Scrum With Scrum methodology the owner of the Mooroolbalk agency works carefully with the team members to determine and plan out functionality of the system in the form of product backlog. In Mooroolbalk agency the product backlog will involve system that will solve problems of record keeping, payment issues, redundancy or bulk information among others. Once priorities are driven by the owner manager, teams sign up and estimate to deliver increments that are shippable of the systems during successive sprints, normally lasting thirty days. Upon completion of the sprint additional functionality cannot be carried out except by the team members. Once delivery of the sprint has been done, the product backlog is evaluated and re-planned out, if required, and the next functionality set is chosen for the next sprint. (Stair, 2017). Extreme Programming (XP) XP is a methodology that delivers continuously and quickly systems of high quality. It enhances high involvement of customers, rapid responses loops, continuous planning, continuous testing and close teamwork in delivering system that is working at very regular intervals, usually at every 1-3 weeks. Mooroolbalk agency can use this methodology to solve all their problem as it promotes customer involvement and rapid responses. This methodology is based on feedback, simplicity, communication and courage. (Fujita, 2010). Feature-Driven Development (FDD) FDD is a model-driven involving processes of short iteration. It starts with setting up a general model shape. Then it progresses with a two-week series designed and built by feature iterations. The features are usually small and useful according to the client. Mooroolbalk agency can use this methodology to enhance regular builds of the system and component ownership. However, this system suits well to large teams and so the agency requires to add more working staffs. (Dennis, Haley Wixom, Tegarden, Seeman, 2015) As such the best methodology that could be suitable for Mooroolbalk real estate agency is the extreme programming (XP) as it enhances high involvement of customers and rapid feedbacks. It is also simple and increases productivity. Methodology such as FDD will lead to increase of cost as it requires more team members. Scrum on the other hand can lead to incorrect cost estimation if tasks are not well defined. Comparison between XP methodology and object oriented models XP methodology Object oriented models Definition XP is an agile software development methodology which focuses on improving responsiveness and quality of the system to changing clients needs. Object oriented models aims on capturing information system design and structure into smalls modules that joins both the process and the data. stages Coding, testing, listening and designing Objects search and definition, objects arrangement, description of how objects communicate with each other, definition of the object external behaviors and definition of the object internal behavior. Advantages This methodology will assist Mooroolbalk agency save cost and time for the realization of the project. It helps in elimination of unproductive activities. Encourages Encapsulation: this model if used by Mooroolbalk agency will encourage planning and systems development that dont depend on each other. Disadvantages Several specialists say that XP focuses more on programs than the design which may lead to future bugs occurrence. Ill-Suited to Procedural Applications: this model is hard to practice OOAD methods within logic of non-object business. System Documentation In every system development documentation is a very important for future reference and maintenance. Regarding the simplicity of Agile development that it doesnt require documentation is wrong. In most cases the people developing the systems are actually the once to maintain in the long term. The Agency might decide to hire a system admin to be maintaining the system. This person may not have been part of the development team, yet, he /she wants to understand the system insight. This cannot happen without a documentation. (Dennis, Haley, Tegarden Seeman, 2015). Automation Automation is such an important aspect to any business. It helps to increase agency performance and increase throughput. Also this facilitates easy management of records and information and do away with the manual filing system. Based on the problems that Moroolbark Real Estate Agency are going through, in this case, automation will be the only solution they have. This will help them manage tenants payments record for easy reference and identification of defaulters. It will also aid in financial record keeping that can be used for evaluation on the performance of the urgency. However, automation may bring about laying off of some employees and also too much dependence on an automated system, in case of a system downtime, then the all agency operations are brought to a standstill. (Fish, 2012). Cloud Computing The first choice that Moroolbark Real Estate Agency should consider is the cloud solution. This technology will be convenient for them because many at time they will be out there in the field and still need access to office data and information. (Jamsa, 2013) Cloud based solution offers them this platform and in addition, the security mechanism of cloud is by far the best as compared to any other environment. Also availability of data is guaranteed at all the times even when the clod vendor is upgrading or maintaining the system. All the troubles of system maintenance and troubleshooting are left to the cloud provider. All that Moroolbark Real Estate Agency has to do is invest on access points, that is workstations and internet access points. This will reduce the hardware requirements for the Agency. (Safonov, 2016). Conclusion Every system development approach is constrained by pros and cons. The development team should always choose that with more capabilities of solving the agency problems. Moroolbark Real Estate Agency however, has an option to choose cloud computing services. In system development, thorough planning and design are very important techniques that will lead to successful system development. References DENNIS, A., HALEY WIXOM, B., TEGARDEN, D. P., SEEMAN, E. (2015).Systems analysis design: an object-oriented approach with UML. Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, FISH, A. N. (2012).Knowledge automation: how to implement decision management in business processes. Hoboken, N.J., Wiley. FUJITA, H. (2010).New trends in software methodologies, tools and techniques: proceedings of the 9th SoMeT_10. Amsterdam, IOS Press. JAMSA, K. (2013).Cloud computing: SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, virtualization, business models, mobile, security and more. Burlington, MA, Jones Bartlett Learning. SAFONOV, V. O. (2016).Trustworthy cloud computing. Hoboken, New Jersey STAIR, R. M. (2017).Fundamentals of information systems. Boston, MA, USA : Cengage Learning

Tesco International Learning Experience Essay Example

Tesco International Learning Experience Essay The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at www. emeraldinsight. com/researchregister The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www. emeraldinsight. com/0959-0552. htm Retail multinational learning: a case study of Tesco Mark Palmer Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham, UK Abstract Purpose – This article examines the internationalisation of Tesco and extracts the salient lessons learned from this process. Design/methodology/approach – This research draws on a dataset of 62 in-depth interviews with key executives, sell- and buy-side analysts and corporate advisers at the leading investment banks in the City of London to detail the experiences of Tesco’s European expansion. Findings – The case study of Tesco illuminates a number of different dimensions of the company’s international experience. It offers some new insights into learning in international distribution environments such as the idea that learning is facilitated by uncertainty or â€Å"shocks† in the international retail marketplace; the size of the domestic market may inhibit change and so disable international learning; and learning is not necessarily facilitated by step-by-step incremental approaches to expansion. Research limitations/implications – The paper explores learning from a rather broad perspective, although it is hoped that these parameters can be used to raise a new set of more detailed priorities for future research on international retail learning. We will write a custom essay sample on Tesco International Learning Experience specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Tesco International Learning Experience specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Tesco International Learning Experience specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer It is also recognised that the data gathered for this case study focus on Tesco’s European operations. Practical implications – This paper raises a number of interesting issues such as whether the extremities of the business may be a more appropriate place for management to experiment and test new retail innovations, and the extent to which retailers take self-re? ection seriously. Originality/value – The paper applies a new theoretical learning perspective to capture the variety of experiences during the internationalisation process, thus addressing a major gap in our understanding of the whole internationalisation process. Keywords Learning, International business, Retailers, Multinational companies Paper type Case study Retail multinational learning 23 Introduction International retailers frequently emphasise the cognitive aspects of the retail internationalisation process. Examples of this abound but include Tesco’s utilisation of embedded research teams within Japanese families to monitor consumption behaviour prior to their acquisition of the Japanese C Two chain in 2003. Within the international retail literature, however, there has been limited detailed empirical or conceptual research on international retail learning (Clarke and Rimmer, 1997). Thus, although learning has played an important role in shaping the way retail companies behave in practice, comparatively few studies actually address international retail learning. An absence of detailed empirical or conceptual research on international retail learning is The author would like to thank Dr Barry Quinn at the University of Ulster for his thorough critiques of his ideas on an early draft of this work. This paper has developed out of doctoral work supported by Sainsbury’s. The author is also grateful for the assistance of British Stores Shops Association and, in particular, The George Spencer Trust under individual Research Awards. International Journal of Retail Distribution Management Vol. 33 No. 1, 2005 pp. 23-48 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0959-0552 DOI 10. 1108/09590550510577110 IJRDM 33,1 24 therefore a major gap in our understanding of the whole internationalisation process. It is contended that important insights and valuable lessons have been learned by retailers from their own successful international forays as well as the visible success of other companies in the international marketplace. Not all international retail operations have been successful however, and the dif? cult and highly contested process of scaling back of retailing operations to remedy mistakes may also result in an equally valuable learning process for international retailers (see Palmer 2000, 2002a, b). A number of researchers have called for research to re-examine the ways in which retailer internationalisation has been conceptualised (Dawson, 2001; Howard and Dragun, 2002). The recent critiques of Wrigley (2000), Burt and Sparks (2001) and Burt et al. (2002) suggest that the existing conceptualisations neither adequately capture the multiplicity and dif? ulties in retail internationalisation process, nor suf? ciently explain the variety of approaches to internationalisation being used by retailers. Various explanations of the retail internationalisation process are emerging, but one viable and promising line of inquiry is the area of international retail learning. Notable in this respect is Clarke and Rimmer’s (1997) analysis of Daimaru’s (a Japanese department store) investment in a new outlet in Melbourne, Australia, which provided an initial step towards understanding the cognitive aspects of the international retail investment process. Indeed, this research has drawn a number of important lessons learned from retail market entry and development. Despite the value of this initial research, and although the international retail learning process itself and the outcomes are occasionally referred to in the literature (see Treadgold, 1991; Alexander and Myers, 2000; Evans et al. , 2000; Vida, 2000; Dawson, 2001; Arnold, 2002), its conceptualisation and analysis remains largely under-theorised and under-developed. What is required, according to Clarke and Rimmer (1997), is a research approach that explores â€Å"the way in which a retail ? m re? ects on individual decisions it has made, and how this might in? uence their perceptions and actions†. From this perspective, it is critical to understand international retail experiences through re? ection and analysis, and to identify what has been learned from the internationalisation process. Furthermore, while some researchers in the ? eld have indicated that experienc e is important for many aspects of market entry and development (Treadgold, 1991; Williams, 1991a, b; Evans et al. 2000; Doherty, 2000) it is clear that these studies do not provide detailed empirical or conceptual understanding of this complex learning phenomenon. For example, this work does not directly deal with the questions: What are the components of this experience? What lessons can be drawn from this experience? How does this experience shape or inform the decision-making process of the international retailer? It would therefore appear that the international retail literature is less developed in considering what retailers have learned from their experience of internationalising store operations. This paper aims to probe these issues by providing a more extended debate and considered analysis of the concept of international retail learning within the context of Tesco’s internationalisation process. It should be noted that it is outside the scope of this paper to present a review of the international retail literature (see the excellent reviews by Alexander (1997); Alexander and Myers (2000); and Burt et al. (2003)). This would increase the length of the paper substantially while the theoretical background on international retail learning has previously been laid out in detail elsewhere (see Palmer and Quinn, 2004). In this paper, the discussion will mainly pertain to the empirical case study ? ndings of Tesco. The paper begins by brie? y positioning the case ? ndings by way of a conceptual framework put forward by Palmer and Quinn (2004) on international retail learning. More detailed discussion of this framework can be found in Palmer and Quinn (2004). Following this, an overview of the methodology is put forward. The main part of the paper presents the case ? ndings of Tesco and the paper will conclude with a discussion of the key ? dings. International retail learning framework Palmer and Quinn’s (2004) recent work provides a useful conceptual framework for examining the studies to date on international retail learning. Drawing on the broader management literature on organisational learning and international retailing, Palmer and Quinn (2004) synthesised the various components of international retail learning (see Figure 1). The broad components of Figure 1 frame a series of research questions for studying international retail learning and these include: . What do retail internationalists identify as the most important lessons learned from their experience of internationalising retail operations? . To what degree has this knowledge been absorbed by the internationalising retail company? . What is the locus of international retail learning diffusion or transfer? . What are the outcomes from the lessons learned and how do these shape the future decision-making and learning behaviour of the retailer? For the purposes of this paper, the aim is to explore the dimensions of international retail experience and how hese shape or inform the strategic decision-making process of the retailer. Thus it does not provide an in-depth analysis of the other components of this framework in relation to the international activities of Tesco. The experiences of Tesco are essentially conceptualised under three main broad dimensions. These Retail multinational learning 25 Figure 1. A framework of international retail learning IJRDM 33,1 26 dimensions make a d istinction between the internal corporate and the wider external view of international retail experience. The ? rst critical area refers to the internal strategic processes. The second theme concerns the external strategic processes. This includes the interactive aspects of the retailers’ international environment. The third dimension considers the internal operational functions. These dimensions are especially important when conceptualising experience and interpreting Tesco’s international learning in this paper. The paper now turns its attention to the methodology of the study and this section will brie? y outline the details of the primary research undertaken. Methodology This study employed an interpretative, qualitative methodology to examine the international retail learning. The single case approach has been an increasingly popular methodology within the retail internationalisation literature of late, and it has enabled various authors to provide some very important new insights into the subject area (Sparks, 1995; Shackleton, 1996a, b; Clarke and Rimmer, 1997; Wrigley, 2000). Furthermore, ? eld research that involves investigating the views and opinions of organisations directly and indirectly involved in the decision-making process is receiving increasing support within the literature (Shackleton, 1996a, b; Sparks, 1996; Palmer, 2002a, b; Palmer and Quinn, 2003). These authors have highlighted the limitations of relying solely on the views of the case company under investigation and have highlighted the insights into the retailer internationalisation process that can derive from surveying a diverse variety of organisations and stakeholders involved in the process. Stakeholder parties in the retail internationalisation process should therefore not be underestimated. Indeed it may be argued that a strong interdependence exists between investment banks and ? rms with respect to advising retail executives on strategy, structure, and international retail operations. Eliciting the views of investment bankers would therefore allow the research to gain access to the tacit knowledge and practical know-how gathered through years of experience through the direct interaction with the company via research, consulting and advisory services utilised by retail executives. Multiple and independent sources of evidence, including market research reports, company pro? les, ? nancial statements and so on were also used to corroborate the interview data and, by so doing, develop convergent lines of inquiry (Yin, 1994). The case of Tesco was chosen for three reasons. First, the transformation underway in Britain’s largest retailer has been profound, while its growth has been one of most consistent amongst its international peers (1995-2002), with estimated sales rising to e45. 9 billion in 2003. Indicative of the scale of its international ambitions, Tesco unveiled one of the most radical and ambitious internationalisation programmes that that would involve the development of 200 hypermarkets in Europe and Asia, generating GB? 10 billion sales per annum by 2004 and which, in proportional terms, would be equivalent to that of UK-based food retailers, ASDA and J. Sainsbury sales combined. This strategy, however, has been overshadowed by Wal-Mart’s $10. 6 billion takeover of ASDA in the UK and has gone largely unnoticed in the academic literature. Second, despite the scale and growth of Tesco’s internationalisation, the focus of many researchers has been on the international activity of US retailer, Wal-Mart (Arnold and Fernie, 2000; Palmer, 2000; Burt and Sparks, 2001; Hallsworth and Clarke, 2001; Fernie and Arnold, 2002), or Sainsbury’s capital investment in the US market (Shackleton, 1996a, b, 1998; Wrigley, 1997a, b, 1998; Muskett, 2000). Only modest attention has been attributed to Tesco in the academic literature (see Palmer, 2002b for a recent example). Tesco’s success abroad therefore remains an under-emphasised case within the contemporary academic literature. Third, internationalisation has been a major aspect of the strategy of Tesco over the years. Signi? cantly though, not all of Tesco’s international operations have been successful and this has resulted in some form of divestment. It is argued that divestment is a highly visible case of where learning is likely to have taken place. A total 62 interviews were undertaken during 1999 and 2000 with the leading food sector buy- and sell-side analysts, and international retail merger and acquisition specialists (i. e. those within the corporate strategy unit in the corporate ? nance division of investment banks) and senior executives of the retailer under investigation. In planning the interviews, particular attention was given to the danger of the interviewees presenting biased views and opinions (see Palmer and Sparks (2004) for a wider discussion of the limitations of this method). This research used â€Å"convergent in-depth interviewing† (Dick, 1990 cited in Carson et al. , 2001). In short, it is an in-depth interviewing method that allows the researcher to develop, clarify, verify and re? ne the core issues of the interview protocol. It consists of a number of interviews in which the procedure is both structured and unstructured. During the early stages the content of the interview is unstructured and ? exible during which the interviewee tells a story about key events or episodes and what they have learned about their experiences from these events. The process used in the interview then becomes more structured as the interviewer converges in speci? c issues of the research problem and to disprove the emerging explanations of the data (Carson et al. , 2001). The length of the interviews typically varied from half-an-hour to three-and-half-hours. Rather than concentrating on one or two aspects of the dimensions of Tesco’s international learning, the interview protocol explored learning initially from a broad perspective. In line with the arguments put forward by other researchers (Hallsworth, 1992; Clarke and Hallsworth, 1994; Clarke and Rimmer, 1997; Burt and Sparks, 2001, Dawson, 2001) a broader perspective may be necessary so that these parameters can be used to raise a new set of more detailed priorities for research on international retail learning. That is to say, each lesson is not necessarily an end in itself, but an entry point for a wider discussion. Data collection and analysis were simultaneous. Analysing data involved categorising and triangulating the evidence from the multiple perspectives, and the presentation of ? dings largely followed the most recent interview protocol. However, it should be noted that the analysis of learning is not easily de? ned in terms of beginning or end points and this research identi? ed extreme situations and critical incidents which were transparently observable for data collection. Moreover, Tesco’s experiences were not assessed by any quantitativ e measurement of the amount of learning occurred, but rather by reference to the content of these experiences and the impacts that such learning had on the outcome or trajectory of international expansion. The paper now reports the ? ndings from the in-depth interviews. The key themes from the ? ndings are discussed in the sections that follow. Excerpts from the in-depth interviews are used throughout the ? ndings section in order to illuminate and contextualise relevant themes. For con? dentiality reasons, the identities of respondents will not be disclosed during the remainder of this paper. This case study will be largely formatted in the same way as the dimensions outlined in the framework. The data Retail multinational learning 27 IJRDM 33,1 28 athered for this case study focus on Tesco’s European operations. While Tesco’s investment activities in Asia are strategically important, it is argued that the most insightful aspects of the company’s international investment and divestment activities occurred in the European market. The ? ndings proceed with an initial overview of the case company’s international developments. The main body of ? ndings follows this, and directly examines the lessons learned by Tesco from the internationalisation of retail operations and their impact on the future trajectory of international operations. Tesco’s international background This section provides an overview of the markets chosen by Tesco. The company initially expanded into the geographically close markets of Ireland and France. Tesco’s initial international foray was in 1979 when they purchased 51 per cent of Albert Gubay’s Three Guys operation for GB? 4 million in the neighbouring market of the Republic of Ireland. This expansion proved to be immature given the structural capacity for expansion and the relative strength of the company within their domestic market at the time of the initial international foray. This untimely venture abroad was summed up by one sell-side analyst: The perceived success (or otherwise) of their early venture abroad would have been considered insigni? cant to the company’s fortunes at home, and as a result, this largely undermined the company’s (perceived) efforts in the eyes of the ? nancial markets as being a peripheral and/or even a distraction to the core UK business. The continued realignment, focus and momentum of the company in the UK market provided the context in which internationalisation had taken â€Å"a secondary position† in the company’s corporate development agenda. Tesco subsequently divested the Three Guys operations to the Dublin-based supermarket company H. Williams in 1986. Towards the end of the 1980s, the company embarked on research efforts into possible international growth options and these primarily centred on the US market, but also covered several European countries. The company spent several years investigating the North American market during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The product of this research effort was the company’s move into the French market. Tesco’s ? st foray into mainland Europe with the acquisition of the medium-sized supermarket chain Catteau in December 1992 was intended to be the company’s springboard to international expansion and serve as a platform for European growth in particular. The company’s rationale at the time for acquiring a small regional chain was that they were going to build Catteau into a national chain in France. Tesco acquired an effective 85 per cent holding, leav ing 15 per cent of the ownership in the hands of management as part of an incentive scheme. According to the analysts’ research at the time, the company was attracted by Catteau’s good record and high pro? tability. Group turnover of the chain in 1991 was GB? 340 million and over 80 per cent of this revenue came from retailing (Catteau also had wholesaling and franchise activities). Management felt that Catteau’s impressive net pro? tability re? ected the economies gained from a tight geographical clustering of stores and the strong centralised cost controls, and as a result, the ? nancial markets were largely supportive: At the time the ? ancial markets pointed out that Tesco had done all the classic right things – the lesson learned from UK retailers’ forays overseas has been that it is vital to buy a successful business rather than a â€Å"turnaround† situation and retain strong local management. By the end of the middle of the 1990s, Tesco would begin to question the acquisition of Catteau, and later in 1997 would completely wit hdraw from France. For much of this early expansion, the company focused on structurally mature markets, but with more recent expansion the company has been more disposed toward emerging markets (see Table I). The third phase of the company’s international expansion was in 1995, when management acquired the Global supermarket chain in Hungary for GB? 15 million. This did not represent a particularly expensive entry, and indeed, this was re? ected in the poor quality of the assets purchased – in total 43 small stores. The intention of the company was not to trade the stores in the long-term, but rather to secure a foothold in the market and learn from these businesses, while later building a larger hypermarket business based on their experiences. Using the Hungarian acquisition as a foothold in eastern Europe, the company subsequently acquired Savia SA in Poland for GB? 8 million in late 1995, which was, again, a chain of 36 small supermarkets acquired for relatively little ? nancial consideration and designed to secure a foothold in the Polish market for Tesco from which to develop a hypermarket business. In 1996 the company entered the Czech Republic and Slovakia through the acquisition of Kmart for GB? 77 million, acquiring a portfolio of 13 stores with an average selling space of 72,000 ft2. Essentially the Kmart business geographically was an in-? ll acquisition between Tesco’s Polish and Hungarian investments. Tesco also re-entered the Irish market with the acquisition of ABF’s Irish food retailing business for GB? 630 million in 1997. Following the ABF acquisition, the company secured their position as the largest food retailer in Ireland with 109 supermarkets and annual sales of GB? 1. 23billion. And in addition Tesco captured 17. 5 per cent of the market in Northern Ireland and 19. per cent in the Republic securing number one position in both markets. The initial move into Asia, and the Thailand market in particular, came in May 1998 with the purchase of a 75 per cent majority controlling stake in Lotus, a chain of 13 hypermarkets which cost GB? 111 million for the equity – assuming GB? 89 million as their share of Lotus’s debt. Lotus’ previous owner, Thai CP Group (a major agricultural supplier in the region) retained a 17 per cen t stake, with SHV Makro holding the remaining 8 per cent. Tesco subsequently entered South Korea. In March 1999, Tesco formed a joint venture with Samsung, one of South Korea’s largest conglomerates, into Year 1979 1992 1994 1994 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Country Ireland France Hungary Czech Republic/Slovakia Thailand South Korea Taiwan Malaysia Poland Japan Method of entry Acquisition of The Three Guys chain Acquisition of Catteau Acquisition of 51 per cent of Global Acquisition of K-Mart business Acquisition of 75 per cent share of Lotus Partnership with Samsung (81 per cent) Acquisition of one Makro store Joint venture with Sime Darby Bhd (Tesco share 70 per cent) Acquisition of HIT hypermarket from Dohle Gruppe Acquisition of the C Two (C2) Retail multinational learning 29 Source: Not disclosed Table I. Tesco’s international expansion IJRDM 33,1 30 which the company invested GB? 80 million in cash. Later that year the company increased their share of the joint venture from 51 per cent to 81 per cent at a cost of a further GB? 30 million. Tesco further developed operations in the region when they entered Malaysia in early 2002. In a similar structure to the other Asian operations, the Malaysian operation, Tesco Stores (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, was established as a joint venture with a local company Sime Darby Behad. Tesco would own 70 per cent of the equity, but the operation would be under local control. Tesco later entered Japan during July 2003. Dimensions of Tesco’s international retail experience This section provides an overview of the various dimensions of Tesco’s international retail experience emerging from the in-depth interviews. Important lessons learned are extracted from the company’s international retail experiences. Internal strategic processes Market section experience. Tesco’s internationalisation raises several questions regarding the nature of their market selection decision experiences. Tesco’s decision-making process highlights the contrasting motivational structures that underpin the various paths towards international markets which eventually led to different spatial behaviours. In qualitative terms, the interviewees highlighted a number of important characteristics of Tesco’s market selection decisions: . Retaining spatial focus is more important than capitalising on small-scale opportunities in diverse markets. Competition from local retailers in their chosen markets is virtually non-existent. . Dynamics for the international retailers are relatively level (which is not the case in Latin America where Carrefour has operated for almost 20 years). . Capitalised on oppo rtunistic events unfolding within the existing portfolio of international retail markets. Tesco’s expansion was spatially characterised as being largely regional in nature and less global oriented. Cautiously, Tesco had decided to dominate the smaller central European markets that are unlikely to attract much attention from the large retail multinational peers such as Carrefour and Wal-Mart who preferred to focus on the larger markets. The company incrementally entered markets rather than entering several markets at the same time, limiting the large start-up losses as one executive explained: What is important to us is not the number of countries we are present in but rather that we attain, and/or sustain number one or two position in each of these countries. The aim is to balance the global scale that comes from Tesco with the local strength of being a market leader. Market position gives you market share, which in turn gives you scale, which in theory, should allow you to have the lowest cost base, best buyers, best offers to customers, therefore the best revenues, earnings and dividend growth. That is why retail multinationals aim for leadership in markets and strong regional presence. It’s a virtual circle. The importance of due diligence processes in foreign markets and/or target’s operations is repeatedly inferred from the company’s executives and the corporate advisors. During the interviews, the company’s management suggested that initial phase of expansion via international acquisitions placed too much emphasis on opportunism: Organic growth is, in your hands, acquisition-driven, consolidation is not. Acquisition-driven consolidation is opportunistic, particularly with businesses that are privately owned. It’s not something that is easily predictable. We are not blind to acquisition opportunities, but the nature of the opportunities and when they present themselves is anybody’s guess. Organic store-by-store development allows for a much more strategic approach to internationalisation. Retail multinational learning 31 In turn, this would result in the management placing greater emphasis on store-by-store development that allowed the company to become more strategic in terms of their selection of markets, procurement, distribution and store locations. Based on this evidence, it was apparent that the nature of the market selection decisions would be shaped by the mode of entry used and whether or not opportunities existed. Entry mode experience. Tesco used a combination of multinational entry mode strategies within one country. As previously discussed, Tesco entered the central and eastern Europe by acquiring a relatively small chain of convenience stores in Hungary, a supermarket business in Poland and a department store chain in the Czech Republic and Slovakia (see Table II). It was certainly unusual for such a large public company to become involved in these operations, and even competitors at the time questioned the logic of their approach. However, the use of â€Å"seed† acquisitions with a view to develop knowledge of the market before expanding organically through store-by-store development allowed Tesco to minimise their own human and ? ancial capital in the face of potential economic and political uncertainty. Some of these small stores would later be closed down and replaced by large hypermarkets nearby. Although Tesco faced criticism and, indeed, pressure from the ? nancial markets, there are sometimes comp elling reasons for retaining a small operating presence in a foreign market where international competitors are already established. First, the small presence would facilitate the implementation of an acquisition strategy by securing the necessary contacts and networks into foreign retailers and local suppliers, especially considering the challenges associated with family owned and controlled chains. Second, retaining a direct and small operating presence in a competitors’ major market would lead to important insights into the competitive behavioural dynamics of competition that otherwise would not be possible without a direct presence. During the interviews, management made this point: The reality is that you are not going to learn everything until you either open a store or purchase a chain in the new market. Price (GB? million) 13. 4 8. 0 77. 0 200. 0 80. 0 386 Sq. footage (million) 0. 1 0. 2 1. 0 1. 6 0. 2 NK Country Hungary Poland Czech Republic and Slovakia Thailand South Korea Poland Source: Not disclosed Acquisition Global Savia K-Mart Lotus Homeplus HIT Date June 1994 November 1995 March 1996 March 1999 April 1999 July 2002 No. of stores 43 36 13 13 2 15 Table II. International acquisitions by Tesco in emerging markets IJRDM 33,1 32 Small experiential or pilot stores were an integral part of initial learning phase of expansion, while later might be seen as surplus to requirements to international expansion, and consequently divested. Indeed, after an initial period of understanding these store practices, management decided that the primary development comprised the hypermarket format. The development of the new hypermarket format was primarily driven through two pilot stores. Despite a relatively cautious approach to market selection, Tesco rather mbitiously developed a completely new format in a distant market – a format, moreover, which had not been tested in the domestic market. This approach allowed the company to experiment and radically depart from their existing domestic supermarket format and extend the non-food merch andise content of their international store operations. Tesco’s entry mode experience did not mirror the experiences adopted by manufacturing companies. In the broader international literature Chang’s (1995) ? ndings showed that when Japanese electronic ? rms ? rst acquired an international business, they did so in one in which they had a strong competitive advantage in order to reduce the risk of failure. In stark contrast Tesco entered new markets by acquiring relatively weak target ? rms or by launching into areas where they were less strong in terms of a distinct competitive advantage. Tesco’s initial forays into Ireland and Czechoslovakia clearly illustrate this point. In Ireland, dif? culty with post integration led to the realisation that these â€Å"turnaround† cases were disproportionately demanding for management resources, and in the Czechoslovakia Tesco moved into non-food merchandise lines by acquiring the Kmart department stores. Divestment experience. What surfaced as a main theme from the ? ndings was the intense learning process during international retail divestments. The ? dings indicated that failure or partial failure during the