Review of the corporate social responsibility for Siemens Company

Table of Contents Introduction The case against Siemens The case for Siemens Conclusion Recommendation Reference List Introduction â€Å"Corporate social responsibility or CSR in short is also referred to as sustainable business relationship and is an integral integration into a business model to function as a self-regulation mechanism where the business monitors and ensures that it complies with the laws, standards of ethics and norms – both national and international.† (D Wood, Younger).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Review of the corporate social responsibility for Siemens Company specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More For a multi-national corporation like Siemens, the approach of corporate social responsibility is a very important part of their business philosophy. Siemens always has an active participation approach to all their corporate social responsibility activities. Their employees are alw ays willing to give a helping and caring hand to those people who are in one way or another disadvantaged apart from the mere action of giving a fat cheque to cover expenses and serve as funding to the projects. Foote 1999 says â€Å"For Siemens, devoting their time and expertise to assist the needy – children, the youth and the elderly is a part of their identity.† It is what differentiates them from other corporate. Ranging from giving hope to the challenged or caring for the environment, Siemens has always participated in initiatives that require responsibility to be served to the society. Siemens always makes sure to satisfy all their stakeholders. The following are termed as the stakeholders: employees, suppliers, customers, investors, policy makers and the society at large. Brown, Dillard and Russer, Marshall say that, â€Å"To employees, the company â€Å"invests considerable resources in training them, upgrading their professional qualifications, safeguarding their health and assuring their welfare.† To supplier, the company aims to â€Å"promote sustainability by generating long-term value with the help of excellent and innovative suppliers – with a strong focus on economic, ecological and socially responsible operation.† â€Å"To customers, Siemens aims at aligning their business strategies, goals and objectives with the demands of customers as well as with what the customers expect,†(Correst, Nathan Bedford). To investors, the company aims at giving the best return on investments that pleases the investors as well as to maintain a good corporate image. To policy makers, Siemens makes their business decisions based on political decisions and public policy debates. â€Å"In addition to maintaining business relationships with government institutions and agencies which are customers for our products, solutions and services, we also openly contribute to the shaping of public opinion through various means in our capacity as a corporate citizen,† (Davis, Kirk Blomstrom and Dawart, Crowther).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The case against Siemens Despite Siemens terming themselves as being a â€Å"global powerhouse in the electronics and electrical engineering†, Siemens AG has been curbed by some corruption cases. The company was fined 1.6 billion US dollars. This was the largest fine for corruption in the history of the Anti-corruption cases and also in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) history. Evidence was sought signifying that the company was involved in bribing all over the world in several different business sectors. â€Å"The company (Siemens AG) and its subsidiaries in Venezuela, Argentina and Bangladesh were fined $450 million for allegations concerning corruption as per the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).† Dawart (20). Foote adds. Siemens which is listed in the New York Stock Exchange is regulated by the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) despite it being a German company. Siemens further agreed to top up with $350 million to cover charges incurred by SEC. Wills a renown researcher says that, â€Å"The company (Siemens AG) also paid $569 million to Munich Office of the Prosecutor General to whom the company had in October 2007 paid $285 in fines.† The evidence against Siemens revealed that the company bribed public officials in many business sectors and in many countries in order to be awarded large public contracts. Corruption within the company was so rampant and despite the company’s senior officials having this knowledge, they turned blind eye to the corrupt deals and did not do anything to attempt to stop them. Bribery almost became a part of the checklist in all of Siemens’ operations across the world. The agreement also made it that Sie mens had to be checked for a period of four years by an independent compliance monitory and also agreed to co-operate with the Department of Justice in further investigations of corruption within the company by agent and employees. If we examine Siemens’ corporate social responsibility in this case, the company did not stick to their own code of ethics and business conduct. The company also broke one of its core values which are to be responsible. Their value of responsibility states that â€Å"We are determined to meet – and wherever possible, exceed – all legal and ethical requirements. â€Å"Our responsibility is to conduct all business according to the highest professional and ethical standards and practices: There must be no tolerance for non-compliant behavior† (Habisch, Andre and Jan, Jonker. Schmidpeter), †This principle of responsibility is meant to act as a crucial guideline to the making of business decisions so by breaking this value an d encouraging corruption by not stopping it despite being aware of it, Siemens did not meet its ethical obligations here.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Review of the corporate social responsibility for Siemens Company specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More There is no doubt on this. By breaking this principle, the stakeholders were negatively impacted.† The case for Siemens Despite the court cases and fines concerning Siemens and alleging corruption, the company has however learnt its lesson and there have not been any reports of corruption in its operations. At least by correcting where they had gone wrong, the company still showed that they were willing to be responsible by both handling the situation to curb corruption and agreeing to be accountable and responsible and paying fines. Siemens AG also launched a $100 million Integrity Initiative. This initiative has been argued by many to be as a result of the court cases concerning corruption since the initiative was started in 2009 after the huge fines that the company had to pay for corrupt deals. According to Wills, â€Å"The Siemens Integrity Initiative aims to fight corruption and fraud through activities such as education and training.† The company also has a large corporate social responsibility portfolio from all over the globe. They have some corporate citizenship programs in several countries. In South Africa, the company is well known for its AIDS program known as REACH. Siemens collaborates with several partners to support HIV victims by providing cheap health care and providing support to HIV positive employees. The patients receive their medications and/or vaccines and are given counseling and ongoing personal and group support. Grace, Darmoth and Habisch, Andre says that in Egypt, as part of the Siemens Generation 21 education program, the company supports university education with several projects. Some of the pro jects include contest to design energy saving systems and idea workshops on energy conservation and reducing carbon footprints. In Brazil, the company built a high-voltage line round the Brazilian rainforest. The line is 14km long with the aim of keeping to a minimum the project’s footprint and to reduce to the most possible minimum, the impact that the project would have on one of the world’s richest fauna and flora habitats. The project did not involve any heavy machine work. â€Å"Rather, they used laborers to excavate, pneumatic jack hammers and installed cables by hand or if needed, by helicopter.† Wills says. All waste was cleverly handled and no waste was left unprocessed or unmoved.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More According to Donations, employee volunteer work and partnerships 2008, â€Å"Siemens is an equal opportunity employer for the ‘different label’, when it comes to employment. Siemens has always given the challenged people a level playing ground in conjunction with the Ability Foundation, the physically challenged or those with other disabilities to interviews† (Jastram, Sarah and Paluszek, John). These interviewees are given aptitude tests like the others and are not given any special attention or consideration. The development of corporate social responsibility programs demonstrates that Siemens is fulfilling their obligation to the society and to the environment by developing sustainable development. Conclusion Siemens as a company has been involved in both the positive and negative influences in relation to their stakeholders that is the employees, society, suppliers, customers, investors, policy makers and the society at large. On the positive side, Siemens ha d engaged in positive environmental impacts and corporate citizenship roles that have empowered the stakeholders and made Siemens a company that all are ready and willing to be associated with. On the negative side, Siemens showed a lack of care for their core values and their delayed response in finding and handling the situation had a great negative impact to the stakeholders and in the way our society is wired, despite how much the company attempts to make up for the wrongs, it will be the most difficult thing that the company has done since people will always focus on the negatives more than the positives. In terms of its core business, through the rampant corruption within the organization, Siemens demonstrated that in order to please their stakeholders, they were willing to do this by any means be they clean or dirty. This is not a good business approach since it usually destroys businesses especially as seen in the huge fines paid to the courts. Recommendation I would recomme nd that Siemens AG stick to its core value of â€Å"exceeding all legal and ethical requirements and conducting business in the highest professional and ethical standards and having no tolerance for non-compliant behavior† (Habisch, Andre and Jan, Jonker Schmidpeter). In this way, Siemens will be able to give full value to all stakeholders in an honest way without jeopardizing anything. I would also recommend that Siemens AG should continue in its corporate citizenship and in the other good corporate social responsibility initiatives that it has in the past been involved with. Reference List Brown, Dillard and Russer, Marshall. Triple Bottom Line: A business metaphor for a social construct. Portland State University, School of Business Administration. Correst, Nathan Bedford. Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethical Careers. University of Edinburgh Careers Service. 2008. Davis, Kirk Blomstrom Business and Society: Environment and Responsibility. New York: McGraw-Hill. 19 75. Dawart, Crowther, Social and Environmental Accounting. London: Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2000, p. 20. Donations, employee volunteer work and partnerships. 2008 Web. D Wood, Younger. Corporate Social Performance Revisited. (1991) 16(4) The Academy of Management: Review 2005. Foote, Shelby. The Civil War in Corperate Accounting, a Narrative: Red River to Appomattox. New York: Vintage, 1986. Grace, Darmoth and Sorroni, Cohen. Business Ethics: Australian Problems and Cases. Oxford University Press. 2005. Habisch, Andre and Jan, Jonker. Schmidpeter (eds.) Corporate Social Responsibility across the Europe. Heidelberg: Springer. 2005. Jastram, Sarah. The Link between Corporate Social Responsibility and Strategic Management. CIS Papers No.17. Centre of International Studies, Hamburg. 2007. Paluszek, John. Ethics and Brand Value: Strategic Differentiation. (PowerPoint). Business and Organizational Ethics Partnership Meeting. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University . April 6–7, 2005. Web. R Freeman, Strategic management  :a stakeholder approach. Pitman ISBN: 780273019138. 1984. Rowe, James. Corporate Social Responsibility as Business Strategy. CGIRS-Reprint-2005-08. Center for Global, International, and Regional Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz. 2005. Web. Saether, Kim and Ruth, Aguilera. Corporate Social Responsibility in a Comparative Perspective. In Crane, A., et al. (PDF). The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN  0199211590. Wheeler, David and Maria, Sillanpaa. The Stakeholder Corporation: a blueprint for maximizing stakeholder value. London: Pitman 1997. Wills, Brian Steel. A Battle from the Start: The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. This essay on Review of the corporate social responsibility for Siemens Company was written and submitted by user Travis Bennett to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Tablets vs. Textbooks Essay Example

Tablets vs. Textbooks Essay Example Tablets vs. Textbooks Paper Tablets vs. Textbooks Paper Technology is advancing more and more everyday. From phones to Droids the things you can do is endless. These advances are making every day life easier and easier whether its doing your banking from home or keeping up with social media. Technology is becoming so advanced that kindergarten through twelfth grade students will soon be relieved of the burden of carrying books to and from school five days a week, which would be extremely beneficial. However, some people oppose this dea because, tablets are more expensive than print text books, they are dangerous to our kids health, and the tablets may be difficult to use for some students. First of all, those who oppose this idea believe that a tablet is more expensive than a print text book. Technology does not necessarily translate into more expensive though. According to a report from the Federal Communications Commission schools kindergarten through twelfth grade spend on average around eight billion dollars a year on text books. If these schools switched from text books to the ever popularizing E-book these schools can save anywhere from two hundred fifty to one thousand dollars per student per year. If you calculate this an average school has about five thousand to seven thousand students which translates to a 5 to 7 hundred thousand dollar savings that can go towards other things in the school. Most E-books cost about four hundred fifty dollars where as a textbook can cost upwards of six hundred dollars. So, this idea of tablets being more expensive is preposterous, and comes from the common idea of technology means more money which has no factual vidence to back it. Secondly, the opposition will say that tablets are dangerous to our kids health. Those who oppose tablet usage will use the argument that staring at the screen of the tablet will cause irreversible damage to the eyes, but this claim is only a half truth though. There is no permanent damage caused to the eye, but there is a slight strain that can be relieved from a good nights rest. This slight strain however, is nothing in comparison to what can happen to an individuals back from carry all those heavy books all day. Pediatrician and chiropractors recommend that only fifteen percent of ones total body weight should be held on the back, but the weight from all of a childs courses easily out weighs that fifteen percent mark. A report from the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, during the 2011-2012 school year an estimated thirteen thousand seven kids aged from five to eighteen, were treated for some sort of back pack related injury. So where is the real danger to our kids health really at? Lastly, the individuals who oppose these tablets in school will say the tablets may be oo difficult to use for some students. The opposition will argue that with all these books and documents a student will have difficulty with opening any of them and thus make learning much harder for that child, this claim is extremely outlandish however. In the third world country of Ethiopia, the One Lap Top Per Child organization dropped off boxes full of tablets with educational applications loaded onto the device in two rural cities. These children had no prior education up to this point and were able to use the device properly within five days of opening it. Within two weeks these children were reciting the alphabet, and withing five months the children were able to get passed the security systems on the device and customize the background of the tablet. So, if these children who have never even seen the inside of a classroom can easily work the device within five days and become experts with it within five months, there is no telling what the children of modern day America would be able to do with such an educational device. Using a tablet in school over text books is Just so much more beneficial than it is unhelpful. The students of today will be much safer carrying around a one pound tablet everyday than a fifteen pound book. Using these tablets will also save our school districts so much more money as well. Also students today will be able to easily adjust and use these tablets for educational purposes which is Just much more beneficial towards their learning. Tablets are Just so beneficial why would we deprive our students of something so great. Tablets will revolutionize and increase learning ability so much, we can not Just turn our backs to this great opportunity technology has provided for us.

Marriage Gone Wrong Spills Over to WorkView in a new window Assignment

Marriage Gone Wrong Spills Over to WorkView in a new window - Assignment Example ording to the US employment and labour laws, external harassment of an employee, not only possesses a security threat to him or her but to the whole company employees (Bennett-Alexander and Hartman). Thus, it is would be prudent for the company to develop human resource policies (protocols) that could be useful in handling situations like this. These policies are expected to be in compliance with the federal laws and the state laws of the particular state in concern. Some of the policies that could be applied in this particular situation include: As the employee in this situation had clearly put it to her supervisor, the situation in this case is personal. The simplest way to tackle this issue is for the employer to personally talk with the employee. To achieve this, a trusted member of the management team, like her supervisor, could be invited to the meeting in order for her to talk freely without feeling that her personal boundaries, as well as her constitutional rights, are being violated. Through this, the employer may be able to understand her attitude in the workplace and even officially refer her to relevant authorities who handle matrimonial issues. However, this protocol proves less effective especially given the fact that the husband’s audience in the meeting is not guaranteed. In order to avoid unnecessary chaos in the workplace, the supervisor, having been informed of the situation, should immediately alert the security department of the company of this employee’s situation. It is usual that some employees in a company usually feel demystified in the company to the extent that they feel their personal issues may not be addressed. This could be a reason as to why the employee, in this situation, felt that her supervisor should not bother telling anyone of her problem. However, her confrontation with the husband could generate a general disturbance to the company that could lead to even the arrest of the employer on allegations of improper security

Quality Function Deployment of Dell Company Coursework

Quality Function Deployment of Dell Company - Coursework Example The E-Business unit is in charge of running the company’s website, which is the primary source of order information. The Manufacturing department is also integrated into the production system and takes orders from clients through the primary website. Also, Suppliers have a strong partnership with Dell and this enables them to keep various stock levels of Dell products at different time intervals. There is the Customer Service unit that is outsourced and tries to ensure that customer satisfaction is at its maximum(Spulber, 2007). In the UK, like other parts of the world, Dell operates through online sales. Normally, Dell takes orders from its websites. Through these sites, Dell customers give them specifications of what kind of computer they actually want. For orders that are already in stock, the nearest available supplier ships it to the customer and it should arrive in less than 2 weeks. For customized orders that are not already in stock, the details are sent to the nearest manufacturing department, which assembles it and ships it directly to the client in about two weeks. When the customer receives an order, and s/he has some issues with it, the next point of call is to get in touch with the customer care department and present a complaint. This complaint is transferred to the technical and after-sales unit which gets in touch with the customer either directly or through the customer care and makes the necessary move to rectify the problem(Khosrow-Pour, 2004). This process is illustrated in the diagram below: The main competitors of Dell UK are HP and Acer. These two companies also provide similar products and specialize in the same activities that Dell handles. Although this is done with some differences, they are neck-to-neck with Dell in terms of market share and service delivery.  

The Effects of Environmental Change Essay Example for Free

The Effects of Environmental Change Essay A changing environment can have many effects on our lives, being good or bad. The environment can change as a result of many things such as change over time, human intervention or natural disasters. Bushfires are a very significant natural disaster. Bushfires change the environment when they burn through forests and urban areas. They have many effects before they occur such as the way we live and how we prepare for a bushfire, and then there are the after-effects of the destruction caused when a bushfire burns through an area. Living in a bushfire prone area requires us to change the way we live because we must prepare our properties for protection against fires. Gutters must be kept clear and trees overhanging houses must be cut down. Many people also burn off around their land to save leaf litter and bark build-up. For many people living in the Hawkesbury area, these activities are a weekend routine, however, people living in urban areas dont need to make this change to their lives because of the threat of bushfires. When a bushfire burns it releases huge amounts of smoke and ash into the air above and surrounding it. This thick, heavy haze pollutes the air to a major extent, making it hard to breath in, settling on rooves and in gutters of homes with water tanks, and can even effect the operation of engines as their air intake is compromised. Also, pollution can be carried into many areas far from the actual blaze by the wind. This just multiplies the smoke affected area. Read more:  Effect of Haze on Environment Bushfires are one of the most destructive natural disasters in the world, they destroy everything in their paths, most that lies in the way of a bushfire is bushland however bushfires also destroy homes and other buildings such as sheds/garages. Once the fire is upon the owners property, there isnt really much that can be done to protect houses from burning. For anyone to lose their home to a bushfire would no doubt be one of the most  significant turning points of their life, having a major effect on many aspects of their life immediately and in the long term. In the recent fire disaster in California, a total of 2,125 homes were destroyed (as of October 31 2003), including one whole town overnight [Sydney Morning Herald]. Although a rare effect on our lives, Fires are the cause of many deaths to humans and animals. Humans and animals stand no chance whatsoever against a bushfire, the only way that we can survive one is if we get out of its way. Many people have died trying to save their houses and possessions, creating an enormous effect on their families and friends. When and even before bushfires strike, they can have many effects on our lives, especially to many of us who live in rural areas of the Hawkesbury region.

You Can Shave the Beast, But Will the Fur Grow Back? Essay examples --

You Can Shave the Beast, But Will the Fur Grow Back? I live in Brooklyn, New York City. I was born and bred there. I am one of eight million New Yorkers. New York City is sometimes described as a "melting pot," meaning we are like different Kool-Aid powders that dissolve into a uniform color and flavor. My view differs, though. I think we are eight million different insoluble liquids layered one on top of the other, appearing like oil floating on water. When stirred these liquids are rustled from their respective positions, almost coming together, only to revert to their original separated composition a second later. I'm sorry, Dr. King, we haven't all "sat at the same table" yet. This polarization and social indifference, I believe, stems from the ruthless, heart-hardening, cutthroat environment of our city. But underneath this coarseness, I wonder if there isn't a sliver of pillow-soft care and empathy for those wishing to escape the city's coldness. New Yorkers are stereotypically known as a crass and rude group, devoid of compassion. Having visited other places in the world I can frankly attest that I have never experienced apathy so widely spread throughout a populace as I have felt living in New York. The "New York attitude" isn't unique to lower class individuals who are down on their luck; it transcends class, gender, and race. It's evident in the Wall Street white collar, the ghetto rogue, the chubby mothers of three-and me. It's a compelling force. I've been trained, conditioned like one of Dr. Pavlov's dogs, to behave this way; to bark on demand, to push as I'm being shoved, to hate when hated. I was sucked into the vacuum of hate at an early age. When I was twelve years old, I got a taste of the caustic mali... ...form to the street below, I accidentally bump hard into somebody. I offer an apology to this fellow and stick my hand out in good will. He responds with a vile grunt and an ice-cold stare and mumbles, "Fuck off," before hurriedly scurrying away. Predictable, like a hackneyed cliche from the tobacco-chewing mouth of a vociferous Texas football coach in a half-time motivational talk with his players, is the behavior of this rough-hewn New Yorker. I tried leading this horse to water. He refused to drink. This new-found compassion to lead, to rectify, has lifted my soul halfway out of the hostile, rancorous dark New York mire. The remaining half of my soul is being held back by the stubborn horses whose reins I'm holding onto. They refuse to join me, to whinny and trot along the green meadows of tolerance. They keep bucking. But letting go will only pull me back in. You Can Shave the Beast, But Will the Fur Grow Back? Essay examples -- You Can Shave the Beast, But Will the Fur Grow Back? I live in Brooklyn, New York City. I was born and bred there. I am one of eight million New Yorkers. New York City is sometimes described as a "melting pot," meaning we are like different Kool-Aid powders that dissolve into a uniform color and flavor. My view differs, though. I think we are eight million different insoluble liquids layered one on top of the other, appearing like oil floating on water. When stirred these liquids are rustled from their respective positions, almost coming together, only to revert to their original separated composition a second later. I'm sorry, Dr. King, we haven't all "sat at the same table" yet. This polarization and social indifference, I believe, stems from the ruthless, heart-hardening, cutthroat environment of our city. But underneath this coarseness, I wonder if there isn't a sliver of pillow-soft care and empathy for those wishing to escape the city's coldness. New Yorkers are stereotypically known as a crass and rude group, devoid of compassion. Having visited other places in the world I can frankly attest that I have never experienced apathy so widely spread throughout a populace as I have felt living in New York. The "New York attitude" isn't unique to lower class individuals who are down on their luck; it transcends class, gender, and race. It's evident in the Wall Street white collar, the ghetto rogue, the chubby mothers of three-and me. It's a compelling force. I've been trained, conditioned like one of Dr. Pavlov's dogs, to behave this way; to bark on demand, to push as I'm being shoved, to hate when hated. I was sucked into the vacuum of hate at an early age. When I was twelve years old, I got a taste of the caustic mali... ...form to the street below, I accidentally bump hard into somebody. I offer an apology to this fellow and stick my hand out in good will. He responds with a vile grunt and an ice-cold stare and mumbles, "Fuck off," before hurriedly scurrying away. Predictable, like a hackneyed cliche from the tobacco-chewing mouth of a vociferous Texas football coach in a half-time motivational talk with his players, is the behavior of this rough-hewn New Yorker. I tried leading this horse to water. He refused to drink. This new-found compassion to lead, to rectify, has lifted my soul halfway out of the hostile, rancorous dark New York mire. The remaining half of my soul is being held back by the stubborn horses whose reins I'm holding onto. They refuse to join me, to whinny and trot along the green meadows of tolerance. They keep bucking. But letting go will only pull me back in.

HBR case

While MS gained the biggest share in SO market, it could not achieve the same dominance in PC applications. The organization of Office Business Unit (BOB) in MS had departments that were functionally independent. M's initial software development was at a large part decided by technicians who are enthusiastic in programming but less focused on user experience. In mid asses, they formally introduced program management into he development of new products.The project/tech lead, program manager, product manager, online/print-based lead and localization lead worked together in a cohesive endeavor for the office product. Although MS boasted its' small company style which had small teams work together, the problem between product managers and developers was they didn't cooperate very closely. Lack of communication and mutual understanding, they both acted in their own ways. Since M's culture was ‘people know what they are doing and will try to do the right thing, they didn't make enoug h effort to fix it.The development of Word for Windows was behind schedule when it first started. The requirements included too many features regarding the interface and integration with other applications, e. G. Database, spreadsheet, data protection etc. And frequent changes of management, e. G. The absence of technical lead had prolonged the development process. Besides, pressure on the schedule made it even more difficult for engineers to assure quality of the product. Although facing these difficulties, the program finally completed successfully.The market condition was also favorable to the Windrow since the product had fewer bug than expected and its' competitor's products were still under development. Ideas for improving product development in process, management and develop strategies came up based on the postmortem of BOB office development. It is now a consensus that more structured process, especially an early specification, and clear phases for design and implementation would help MS stick to the schedule. Some managers at MS contend that lack of control and focus in management was the major weak-point.I cannot totally agree with that, because if we need the teams to stay small and agile, there are definitely tradeoffs in management control. Last but not the least, it is also said that development strategy has been unsatisfactory for Word development. The share of code between products of different platform was difficult in the initial phases of development, but I don't think we should blame too much on OBI-G'S development strategy since they were already aware of the problem. If they decided to deal with this problem, the release of Word would be even later, and it would probably brought them into unfavorable market conditions.