International Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International Management - Essay Example The firm needs to be restructured to keep up with its international growth and a plan needs to be developed to change the organization to fit its new multinational status. Tossavainen (2005, pg. 1) claims that, "the utilization of an enterprise resource planning system in an multinational enterprise can be explained by the following elements: 1) organizational awareness, 2) imperfect autonomy, 3) change orientation, 4) transformation triggers, 5) Enterprise Resource Planning system impact, and 6) successful performance. The implementing organization defines ERP, it must reflect the MNE strategies and management. Therefore, new organizational capabilities are required for the implementing organization to achieve the promised benefits associated with the ERP." In order to implement effective solutions, careful organization and planning must be followed. A model needs to be developed that can be followed carefully. An ERP must be enabled for long-term use. In order to accomplish this, one way is to implement it through "initial implementation, enhancements, deployment rollouts, support of the use, and upgrades" (Tossavainen, 2005, pg. 1). It is also suggested that organizational mechanisms are updated. Multinational enterprises are fascinating to research due to their state of constant change. The information systems that are used in multinational enterprises make it difficult for uniformity across the board since the branches of the organization are located in many different locations. Fortunately, new information systems are now being developed that solve this problem, such as enterprise resource planning systems. They are designed to "integrate operational data with logistics business processes" (Tossavainen, 2005, pg. 1). Thanks to enterprise resource planning solutions, businesses can now operate comfortably on a global scale. What the Literature Says About the Subject Research is being prompted in this area due to the increasing complexity of multinational enterprise management. It is also being prompted because much enterprise resource planning research that is already in existence is ambiguous in nature and there is much failure in implementation of the systems. According to Tossavainen (2005, pg. 1), "A new permanent organization structure that integrates business and information technology (IT) domains is needed to accomplish variety of tasks related to the ERP system." How a Firm Gains a Status of Multinational Corporation According to Tossavainen (2005, pg. 1), "An MNE has several units across separate geographical locations with different degrees of freedom in their activities. Hence, an MNE is geographically, time-wise and environmentally (both externally and internally) diverse." Part II Introduction This scenario introduces the case of a company that sells underwear for men and women. The manager has decided to invest into a firm in Romania that will produce the product for the company. As such, he is sending a manager for the subsidiary, an accountant, and an engineer for the Romanian firm. A Plan for Organizational Change in a Multinational Enterprise The basic outline for the organizational plan change in this

Story of an Hour Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Story of an Hour - Assignment Example The narrative is just so full of figures of speech, one has to really spend time meditating on the symbolisms to fully understand what the story is all about. Although during the initial reading, the reader could understand the events in the story however, it still requires an in-depth analysis for one to really ‘feel and understand’ the story behind the story. Selina Jamil thinks â€Å"The Story of an Hour† is an expression of emotions which she strongly supports through the symbolisms in the story. For instance, Mrs. Mallard’s heart trouble is perceived as an emotional trouble rather than a physical one (Jamil). While other women might easily be been open to accept their fate as being the housekeepers and even husband and children keepers, it is interesting to note that not all men are created equal and Mrs. Mallard is not the common type who would just be satisfied with her share in life. She was the woman who loved the outdoors and whose dreams are not bound within the four walls of her house rather are far and beyond what her eyes can see as it was then revealed as she was alone in her room thinking about how she would be living after her husband’s burial. Aside from the information directly unveiled in the story, symbolisms help to further picture the desires of the main character. The open window that meets her eyes as she opens her room tells a lot about Mrs. Mallard. The room itself is a picture of her private, unspoken thoughts and desires. Entering it without letting anyone follow her could paint the picture of Louise’s secrets that are not meant to be revealed rather are hers alone. The comfortable, roomy armchair is a representation of the ease she can have with her thoughts and herself in the privacy of her room (Lorcher) and the open window symbolizes the window to herself, her heart. This could be

Concepts of Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Concepts of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Happy customers tell 4 to 5 others of their positive experience. Dissatisfied customers tell 9 to 12 how bad it was Quotes Mark Steven. This quote clearly states how important it is to satisfy and delight a customer in order to grow in business. Its a well known fact that business cant exist without customers. In the business, its important to work closely with your customers to make sure your business is for them and meet their requirements. Because its critical that you form a close working relationship with your client, customer service is of vital importance. Make your customers feel valued, wanted and loved. Customer Relationship Management is combination of people, processes and technology that seeks to understand a companys customer Apple Company is one of the unique companies in todays market. I am taking this company organization to evaluate the opportunities to maintain and increase revenue in their earlier stage. The Apple company was started in 1981and it went through several critical stages to become a unique company now a day. The company faced severe problems due to lack of customer relations and didnt meet the customers expectations as they advertised. The companys first introduced Lisa and Macintosh during 1981 to 1985, but failed to reach the people due to lack of customer relations. They didnt have clear idea what people were expecting and how much they can afford to buy a PC. During this period they introduced their pc with a high price and they didnt have a clue about the people expectations so their product became a failure and they were failing in other tasks due to inner battle with in the company. After learning the lesson they started to learn from the peoples expectations and started to work towards it like introducing Portable versions with networking capabilities and their master piece was SYSTEM 7. but again after this they started to fail in customer relations like failure of proper service centres and even though they introduced several other products like cameras , CD players and other stuffs they failed to involve with the customers when their expectation was to get a Pc with a camera and CD function . But other companies like Microsoft evolved in customer relations and upgraded their products to the customers expectations as possible as they could. So there on apple started to reinvent them what went wrong and they rectified it and moved to a unique company with profit from 1998 by keeping an alliance with other companies and even their rivals and started to evolve. They introduced apple store to have better customer relations, after this the company went on hike by evolving with the customer relations management. OBJECTIVE CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It is a process or methodology used to learn more about customers needs and behaviors in order to develop stronger relationships with them. There are many technological components to CRM, but thinking about CRM in primarily technological terms is a mistake. The more useful way to think about CRM is as a process that will help bring together lots of pieces of information about customers, sales, marketing effectiveness, responsiveness and market trends. CRM helps businesses use technology and human resources to gain insight into the behavior of customers and the value of those customers. KEY POINTS IN CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT: CUSTOMER SATISFACTION Business term is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. It is seen as a key performance indicator within business and is part of the four perspectives of a Balanced Scorecard. If the apple had better knowledge of customer expectations and good knowledge in customer relations they could have become a successful company from the start. They thought that if they introduced a good product they can become successful but that resulted in vain. The CEO should have focused on the customer relation management also to gain knowledge from customers what people were expecting from them CUSTOMER DELIGHT Customers will be back for more and new customers will be introduced by them if your service is good and satisfactory. This will help to distinguish you as unique from the rest. It allows you to sell your product or service for more money than the competition. It allows you to make more return on your investment. It allows you to reward your employees. The apple failed to introduce their product in cheaper price this resulted to loose customer from the start of the introduction of their product .even if the customers bought the product they faced problems in how to handle it and lack of parts for repairs they have to wait for a long time. Normally when a company is introducing a product the people wont expect to spend a huge amount in unknown product if the apple introduced their product in cheaper price with initial discounts and had better service centers they would have done well. CUSTOMER LOYALTY Customer loyalty is viewed as the strength of the relationship between an individuals relative attitude and repeat patronage. The relationship is seen as mediated by social norms and situational factors. Cognitive, affective, and co native antecedents of relative attitude are identified as contributing to loyalty, along with motivational, perceptual, and behavioral consequences. Implications for research and for the management of loyalty are derived. The key to a successful business is a steady customer base. After all, successful businesses typically see 80 percent of their business come from 20 percent of their customers. Too many businesses neglect this loyal customer base in pursuit of new customers. However, since the cost to attract new customers is significantly more than to maintain your relationship with existing ones, your efforts toward building customer loyalty will certainly payoff. If the company is having a regular customer they should give some sort of discount in the new products for them .the apple failed to do so. If the company had looked after their regular customers by giving free Operating system upgrade or discount in their New Operating systems they could have got new customers from the regular customers and retained their market in well shape. Some steps to get customers whether they are regular or new are listed below. 10 WAYS TO BUILD CUSTOMER LOYALTY Communicate. Whether it is an email newsletter, monthly flier, a reminder card for a tune up, or a holiday greeting card, reach out to your steady customers. Customer Service. Go the extra distance and meet customer needs. Train the staff to do the same. Customers remember being treated well. Employee Loyalty. Loyalty works from the top down. If you are loyal to your employees, they will feel positively about their jobs and pass that loyalty along to your customers. Employee Training. Train employees in the manner that you want them to interact with customers. Empower employees to make decisions that benefit the customer. Customer Incentives. Give customers a reason to return to your business. For instance, because children outgrow dress quickly, the owner of a childrens dress store might offer a card that makes the tenth dress half price. Likewise, a dentist may give a free cleaning to anyone who has seen him regularly for five years. Product Awareness. Know what your steady patrons purchase and keep these items in stock. Add other products and/or services that accompany or compliment the products that your regular customers buy regularly. And make sure that your staff understands everything they can about your products. Reliability. If you say a purchase will arrive on Wednesday, deliver it on Wednesday. Be reliable. If something goes wrong, let customers know immediately and compensate them for their inconvenience. Be Flexible. Try to solve customer problems or complaints to the best of your ability. Excuses such as Thats our policy will lose more customers then setting the store on fire. People over Technology. The harder it is for a customer to speak to a human being when he or she has a problem, the less likely it is that you will see that customer again. Know Their Names. Remember the theme song to the television show Cheers? Get to know the names of regular customers or at least recognize their faces. LOYALTY PERCENTAGE A mere 5 % increase in customer retention can result in a 75% increase in customer value according to Fred Reichheld, author of Loyalty Rules. A great reason to pay attention to loyalty. Here are more benefits: grab more sales from existing customer base help spread word of mouth marketing identify product/service problems earlier improve profitability provide a competitive advantage Defining Customer Loyalty Customer loyalty is the practice of finding, attracting, and retaining your customers who regularly purchase from you. Customer loyalty is not customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is the basic entry point of good business practices. Your small business should provide satisfaction to all your customers. CRM, despite all the talk about it being one of the most profitable customer strategies of the decade, still allows room for failure. Top 10 Features to Look for in a CRM System: Sales-cycle analysis Integration to your back-office accounting system Open, industry-standard technology Seamless flow of information between corporate systems and remote employees Real-time reporting and analysis Automated workflow Contact and campaign management Multiple language and multicurrency capabilities to support global business Ability to easily customize your solution to fit your business needs Scalability to accommodate future business growth What are the Problems occur within CRM? Exorbitant Costs One of the problems with CRM is the huge investment needed to maintain a customer database. The additional expense comes because of the money needed for computer hardware, software, personnel etc. The costs involved are enormous and most often than not the resultant ROI from the CRM implementation fail to cover the costs involved. This leads to a negative feeling within the company about CRM and its successes and ultimately results in CRM collapse. Inadequate Focus on Objectives Secondly when starting off on a CRM strategy the objectives are clearly established and followed. Management and employees know fully well what is needed to work towards organizational goals. The goals themselves are clearly laid out after meticulous planning. However midway during the CRM implementation, when hard times hit, the organization loses sight of its goals and ultimately steers away from it. At times goals get interchanged and lose their importance. Companies find themselves work at home directory towards goals that are less important and forgetting the ones that really are. This is one of the fundamental and mostly felt problems in CRM. Insufficient Resources Sometimes in phased implementation of CRM, if conditions worsen within the company or without, organizations start lessening their budgets for the current phase. When funds are less, budgets strained, the necessary costs required for CRM success are not employed. As a result CRM starts failing midway. The most important aspect- that of maintaining consistency is lost. Organizations fail to utilize the necessary resources for success and thus result in failure. Inappropriate Metrics Organizations have basically failed to use the right metrics. Failure to choose the right method of measurement and implement it is one of the chief reasons why CRM fails. Different metrics have to be employed for the calculation of different goals. Companies seldom pause to analyze which metric is needed for which element and ultimately use the wrong one. This results in faulty measurement and CRM disappointments. Complex Systems CRM simple? The hype says so, the experts agree. Is this really the case? Organizations that have employed it though have a different opinion. They are witness to the fact that CRM packages can be highly complex, with vast amounts of intricacies. If this is the case then how do simple employees cope? The answer lies in sufficient training being given in order that they are able to comprehend and deal with the difficulties easily. Business Needs Most Important One of the chief mistakes companies make is letting the technology drive their CRM functionality. Whats happening is that companies are endeavoring to go to the industry leaders, gain the technology needed and then apply it to the business problems only to find that it isnt solving any of them. Instead they need to analyze their business problems first and then find the appropriate CRM solution for it. This backwards step is responsible for CRM failure. No Customer Focus Customer oriented strategy? Yes, CRM does play the part. Customer oriented employees? Now that requires an effort on the part of the organization. It needs to motivate employees to be absolutely customer centric. This involves tremendous effort on the part of the company but is highly essential. CRM problems arise because of employee reluctance to be more customers focused. The result is a highly expensive customer strategy being adopted by the company in an effort to retain customers, with reluctant, unfocussed employees implementing it. Slow Returns Another failure of CRM is its inability to provide quick returns on investment. Organizations find themselves waiting for years before they are able to see actual returns on their investment. Most experts view the low ROI (Return of Investment) as a major problem with CRM but fail to see that the long wait is just as difficult. Waiting for years to see their investments show results, tests patience and leads to both employees and management slackening their efforts in the implementation. The apple started to listen to customers expectations and kept on looking what they can do to improve their customer relations. So they introduced several ways and walk in centres and done what ever they could to satisfy the customer expectation like introducing Ipads Iphone, Mac book and etc if they done these things from the start of the company they could have been a very successful company Once the apple rectified and reinvented by following the above key points by having direct relation ship with the customers the company will grow into a unique company CONCLUSION Most CRM problems can be mitigated, resolved and ultimately obliterated. What is highly required is the ability to focus on the business needs, choose a CRM package that works towards it, employ the right resources and assume the right metrics. Adopting these measures would go a long way in alleviating CRM problems. The world is ready for the business minded people to move further with high aim and warm refreshing ideas to make the world bloom to a lovely spotlight that feels happy to glitter with most obvious and LOVELY Customers. The apple gained their knowledge after several critical stages and gained lot of customers and when they started to look after them the company began to become a challenger and better name in the industry and with in the people

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[English] PDREADME.TXT MATROX GRAPHICS INC. 2001.01.18 Matrox PowerDesk for Windows 2000 Revision 5.32.010 Contents ======== - Description of this release - Installation - More information - Notes, problems, and limitations Description of this release =========================== Matrox PowerDesk software includes a display driver and display utilities. With this software, you can take full advantage of your Matrox graphics hardware and you can access additional Matrox display-related features. Installation ============ To install Matrox PowerDesk, start the "setup" program included with it, then follow the on-screen instructions. The setup program will only install software if a Matrox graphics card model supported by the setup program is installed in your computer. More information ================ For more information on Matrox PowerDesk, see the help file included with it. For information specific to your Matrox graphics card, see your Matrox or system manual. Notes, problems, and limitations ================================ - DirectDraw, Direct3D and DirectVideo support The DirectDraw driver we provide is compatible with DirectX 2 (or later) and includes Direct3D support. For our DirectDraw/Direct3D driver to be called, and benefit from hardware acceleration, Microsoft DirectX 2 (or later) MUST be installed, even for programs originally made for DirectX 1. Also, if a recent version of DirectX isn't installed, some Matrox PowerDesk features may not be available. We provide DirectX on the Matrox CD-ROM. The latest DirectX is available from the Microsoft Web site, and is included with many DirectX programs. IMPORTANT: If the DirectX setup program prompts you to replace the existing display drivers, click "No". Otherwise, the setup program installs display drivers which are not as optimized as the Matrox drivers and which do not support PowerDesk software. Note that depending on the origin of your Microsoft DirectX software, it may not include DirectVideo support. For faster playback of Indeo and Cinepak AVI files, you should install Microsoft DirectVideo support. - Matrox bus mastering This driver supports bus mastering. Bus mastering is a feature that allows expansion cards to perform tasks at the same time as your computer's CPU. If you have a fast Pentium computer (faster than 166 MHz), the display performance of most programs is improved when bus mastering is used. To use bus mastering with 3D (Direct3D/OpenGL) programs, your graphics card needs an interrupt request (IRQ). Most computers automatically assign an IRQ to graphics cards, but some do not. If your graphics card hasn't been assigned an IRQ, programs that use Matrox bus mastering may not work properly. For more information, see your Matrox or system manual. - DirectDraw and Automatic Power Management As stated in "Microsoft DirectX Release Notes", September 30,

Cultural Plunge in African Church Essay

On my way to the university I always passed by this church. I heard reverberations and singing but I had never thought much of the place. When the Multicultural Class lecturer assigned the paper, the place immediately came to mind. I knew it belonged to Africans because I frequently saw some African women standing outside greeting and talking to each other. They were not African- American because they did not speak to each other in English. At first I was apprehensive. I wondered whether I should enter the church. I do not know any Africans nor I do any African friends. Humans have preconceived ideas of life other cultures, which may not necessarily be true. Not even research and an open minded approach prepares one for the misunderstandings and surprises that emerge in cross- cultural experiences (Puffer, 2004, p. 3) I know Africa has a lot of problems with hunger and wars. I know Africa is not as developed as the rest of the world. Africans do not fit the Chinese model of beauty because of their dark skin and their bigger bodies. One Saturday, I was just relaxing at a park nearby and decided to enter that church. I was nervous because I really stood out. I did not want to stand out from everybody else. Everybody would know there was stranger in the place and look. I reached the door, and then I turned back. I was not very comfortable. That next morning around nine o’clock I finally gathered the courage and went into the church. Ushers at the door welcome me in and gave me a program. It was a large sloping theatre hall with a lighted podium. The choir was leading the congregation in song. There were about a 100 worshippers that day. The noise was deafening, loud music from the speakers, shouting, singing, clapping, praying, talking in tongues, dancing, jumping. Apparently I came in the middle of praise and worship. I began observing the Africans in that church service. It was one of the many charismatic churches in the city. I made contact at the church when I decided to enter for the evening service. They sing in both English Swahili (the person I was standing next to graciously offered this tidbit. ) All around me black men and women raised their voices and sang. The white faces were few and far between. There were absolutely no other Chinese in that church hall other than me. At first, I just stood transfixed in one spot. I wondered what was going on. I was overwhelmed because of the noise and the actions. Adult men and women jumping up and down crying and shouting some raised their hands in praise. It took time to adjust to the din. I am not very religious and even if I were I certainly would not make all that noise about it. I had never been to black church before. The congregation seemed to know all the lyrics to the song. I assumed that is because they met regularly and sang them in each service. The people seemed to be happy and declared their joy all the time. There was a constant repetition of name Jesus. They members of the church greeted each other warmly and vigorously, some shook hands, others hugged each other. The choir was dressed in African designs and sang in Swahili. In my view the Africans view religion as a communal event and even though they are in a foreign land they want to hold onto their culture. To them, dancing and shouting is celebrating life. Compared to my own Chinese community, which is very reserved at times, this display of exuberance would be frowned upon. The congregants (volunteered my neighbor again) were mainly from East Africa. At the outset I did not feel as relaxed as them. I just looked around me. Everybody was dancing and shouting. I was still. My neighbor poked me in encouragement. She held my hand and started swaying with it. At first I did not respond. Then she patted my arm in encouragement and I started bobbing and swaying with her. Her face lit up. We danced together and jumped in unison until the praise session was over. The next item on the agenda was a worship session, which was more muted than the praise session. I preferred this to the latter because it was more in tune with my personality. I watched as the Holy Spirit took control over the congregants. I did not really understand it. The songs were very slow but emotional, There was weeping and praying in tongues. Then the preacher said his sermon, which was interpreted into Swahili word for word. I had been in a church before but curiously some of what he said was common sense. There was some religious jargon in the sermon but it did not matter. It was fun to be amidst joyous and expressive people. Later after the service Joyce the lady who was sitting next to me invited me to a church event. There was a lot of African food and drinks. It was almost a party mood as they updated each other on their week. Joyce introduced me to her friends. I was surprised that in five hours I had meet more Africans than I had met in my entire life. After the event, she invited me ago. This is a routine every Sunday. They go for the service and afterwards feast together as one family. Among the cultural patterns I witnessed was a shared communion. First, they worked, worshipped and ate collectively. Secondly, they kept their language and dressing even though they were in a western country. Third, they were more animated than the Chinese in terms of body movement, speech. I was biased about Africa. According to Joyce, Africa does have problems but not everyone is dying of hungry or conflicts. The countries are developing rapidly and democracy is taking root. Africans may not fit the Chinese definition of beauty but are beautiful in their self-expression. I learnt ‘habari yako’ which is Swahili for ‘how are you’ and ‘mzuri sana’ which translates to ‘I am very fine’. I also made new friends that day and I am welcome to attend that church any Sunday. By the end of the service I had a new bounce in my step. I did have misconceptions and I was unsure of whether to enter that church. In fact, I did it just to complete an assignment for my Multicultural Class. Nevertheless, I am glad I went to the church because I have gained much more than I anticipated. Reference: Puffer, S. (2004). International management: insights from fiction and practice. New York: M. E Sharpe Inc.

Unification of Spain

Unification of Spain: the Good, the Bad, and the Really Ugly | Alexis Wilson | The Europeans wanted to expand their minds and their wealth with what the â€Å"unknown† world had to â€Å"offer†. When I say offer, I mean what they could take and run with without consequence. The Europeans wanted to â€Å"expose† and â€Å"enlighten† the new world people with their religion. When I say â€Å"expose† and â€Å"enlighten†, I mean force the new world people to convert to Christianity or they would be slowly tortured to death or burned at the stake.Portugal, one of the all mighty Iberian Sates, was in a hard-hitting competition with Spain, another Iberian State. According to the textbook, Portugal was losing manpower and resources needed to control a vast empire of three continents. Spain on the other hand, depleted their newfound wealth on wars and other unnecessary things when they should have been developing their economy (Wallbank et al. 482). Portugal and Spain were battling for greatness, immortality if you will. They would have done anything to get it, even if it meant eradicating peoples and their cultures.Unfortunately, that was exactly what Portugal and Spain did. Spain and Portugal were trading across the â€Å"known† world. Spain exported olive oil, asparagus, conserved fish and more. That was how they received their funds and their power. The Iberian States had a general idea that there were more lands to discover and more money to make. So they set sail to discover and take over anything that were in their way, with their bibles in their pockets and swords in their hands, fueled by the desire of unthinkable wealth and power.According to Juan Pimentel, Portugal and Spain entered the sixteenth century with an advantage in nautical technology and navigation relative to other European nations (20). â€Å"The overseas enterprises of Spain expanded dramatically following the first voyage of Christopher Columbu s in 1492. Even before this historic Atlantic crossing, Spaniards had begun the conquest of the Canary Islands which served as a base and proving ground for the invasion and conquest of Spanish America, known as the Indies† (Andrien 55).Even though Christopher Columbus was not from Spain, he set sail for them because the King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain were the only ones that agreed to fund for the exploration that made Christopher Columbus famous, the exploration that Christopher Columbus dreamed of. â€Å"Spain became strongly centralized under an assertive and aggressive monarchy in 1479, when Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon began a joint rule that united the Iberian Peninsula except for Navarre, Portugal, and Granada† (Wallbank et al 455).Portugal was known as incredible competition relative to Spain. Columbus wanted to prove that he could find a shorter and cheaper way to sail to India and China by taking the unknown west route. While Columbu s was looking for a shorter route to reach the country of India and China, he inadvertently discovered America. Columbus was oblivious to the fact that he â€Å"discovered† America, and he did not reach his intended destination of India. Columbus called the inhabitants â€Å"Indians†. He had his men capture the â€Å"Indians† and made them slaves.When Columbus came to America he came with diseases. The inhabitants did not have a strong enough immune system to fight off, which decimated the inhabitants of America. Even though the people were sick, it is safe to say that Columbus did not show mercy and still made the slaves work so he would be able to bring gold, spices and other new world items he promised to the King and Queen of Spain, in high hopes that they would fund for more explorations . He did not wish to disappoint the very people that invested in him.After â€Å"discovering† the diversity of the Indies, intellectuals of Spain argued over the hum anity and proper social role of the indigenous people they have come to encounter and the offspring of the men that Columbus traveled and the women of the Americas. Intellectuals of Spain struggled with what to call the indigenous people and their illegitimate offspring. They were not sure whether or not to call them â€Å"beasts†, â€Å"barbarians†, or â€Å"brothers† (Andrien 59). Columbus, being the pocketful of sunshine he is, forced the inhabitants to convert to Christianity to ensure that the land was for Spain, all of Spain practiced one religion.If the inhabitants did not agree to convert they severely punished, as mentioned before (Wallbank et al 482 ). The Catholic Majesties were smart to invest in Christopher Columbus. Without his exploration and â€Å"discoveries† of gold, slivers, spices and slaves, they would not have been able to replenish their wealth and rebuild the broken economy. Back in Spain, Isabella and Ferdinand is working on unify ing Spain and sharing the crowns of Castile, Aragon and Spain (â€Å"History of Spain†). Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon planned on making Spain the best it has ever been.They wanted their beloved country to be unified in everything they did, especially in religion. That is where the legendary Spanish Inquisition comes into action. The â€Å"Catholic Majesties†, as the pope titled King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, set out to establish effective royal control in all of Spain. Isabella and Ferdinand started the Spanish Inquisition, for the pope allowed. Not only did they have power over Spain, they had power over the church also. They were able to have power over the church by making it the law for the monarchs of Spain to have power over the church.The Spanish court of inquisition seized the property of many converters (Jews and Muslims who were afraid of the inquisition and avoided persecution) and terrified the Christian clergy and laity into accepting ro yal absolutism as well as religious orthodoxy (Wallbank et al 455). Not only did they force religion on the peoples of the new world, Isabella and Ferdinand forced religion on their own people as well, without mercy may I add. Spanish absolutism, defined by Isabella herself as â€Å"one king, one law, one faith† (Wallbank et al 455).Terrified but still determined to practice their faith, the â€Å"converters† practiced their religion in secret. Without a doubt, the Spanish Inquisition strengthens the Spanish crown. It also caused many people to leave Spain. Inquisitors made sure the King and Queen of Spain knew that people where performing acts of heretic and suggested to the King and Queen of Spain all those who were unwilling to convert to Christianity must leave the country, needless to say they agreed and the Inquisitors went into action and rid the country of Spain of non-converters (Wallbank et al 455).In 1492, the same year Columbus set out to sail to India and China, about 150,000 Spanish Jews left the country and resided in the Netherlands, England, North Africa, and the Ottoman Empire (Wallbank et al 455). About 10 years later same demands are made for the Spanish Muslims. Spain used to be one the most tolerant of religions, but under the rule of the â€Å"Catholic Majesties†, Spain became the most intolerant country when it came to terms of religion (â€Å"History of Spain†). King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella did not stop there. They set out to clear surrounding countries of non-converters and expand their empire even more.One of the most notable successes of the Catholic Majesties was the completion of the Reconquista with the defeat of Granada, the last Muslim state on the Iberian Peninsula in 1492. With a few more defeats of surrounding countries, the unification of the Spanish nation-state was complete in 1516, right before King Ferdinand died, a dozen years after queen Isabella died (Wallbank et al 456). In my opinio n, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella‘s policies did work for them in the long run, in every sense. Do I agree on how they executed their plans for progressing Spain? No, I absolutely do not agree with the Catholic Majesties tactics.But, they reached every goal they set. Their goal was improving Spain and broadening their empire. With Isabella inheriting the crown of Castile and Ferdinand inheriting the crown of Aragon, the couple had a lot of power that made it possible for them fully convert and unify their empire (â€Å"History of Spain†). In the textbook it explains that Ferdinand and Isabella controlled the church, with the grace of the Pope, and they took control of surrounding countries, rid them of non-converting heretics and converted them to Christianity. King Ferdinand fought against the non-converters until his dying breath (Wallbank et al 456).People lost their lives, their homes and the freedoms to express themselves and their religions because the King and Queen wanted to â€Å"unify† their country and empire. They wanted to do what the rulers before them were not be able to do. They were rough and ruthless in a sense to achieve their goals of expanding their country and spreading their religion. They had to be if they wanted their country to be unified and practicing one religion. I guess it is safe to say that they would agree with Machiavelli’s renowned book The Prince. â€Å"It is better to be feared than to be loved†¦the end justifies the means†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ (Machiavelli’s The Prince).Works Cited Andrien, Kenneth J. , Atlantic History: A critical Appraisal. New York. Oxford University Press. 2009. The Spanish Atlantic System. Print History of Spain Historyworld. net. N. p. n. d. History of Spain. Web. 10 Feb. 2013 Pimental, Juan. The Iberian Vision: Science and Empire in the framework of the universal monarchy, 1500-1800. Vol. 15 issue 1. 2000. Wallbank, Walter T, Alastair M. Taylor, Nels M. Bailkey, C lyde J. Lewis, Palmira Brummett. Civilizations Past and Present. Twelfth Edition. Volume 2. Pearson Education 2008. Spain: Ferdinand and Isabella and the Reconquista, The Iberian Age. Print.