The Treaty On The Functioning Of The European Union Essay

The Treaty On The Functioning Of The European Union - Essay Example It also explains article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union briefly. Two cases that relate to article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union have been selected for comparison in this paper. One case is related to pharmaceutical industry while other is related to the use of the internet. The cases have been selected from different sectors to present a better understanding of the course. The cases selected in the paper have been decided by the Commission and reached the European Courts and the decisions of the cases have been made by the respective courts. The cases selected are not very old or rather they are recent cases. The facts and decisions of both the cases are presented separately and the decisions of both the cases are analyzed considering their significance, the implications of the decision including academic and political opinion on the case. Formerly Article 101 and Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Uni on (TFEU) were Article 1 and Article 82 of the EC Treaty respectively before the enforcement of the Lisbon Treaty in December 2009. Before the Lisbon treaty the General Court was also called the Court of First Instance (CFI). Background information relating to competition policy Competition  is necessary for any market as it is the basic mechanism of any economy encouraging businesses to offer their products and services to consumers on favorable terms. It is also essential to improve efficiency, to encourage innovation and to reduce prices. The competition can only be effective if companies act independently under the competitive pressure which is exerted by other companies. According to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union there are two central rules which are the foundation of the European antitrust policy: First,  the Article 101 of the Treaty prohibits any agreement between two or more independent companies which restricts competition. This provision of the A rticle 101 is applicable to both horizontal  agreements (between competitors which operate at same level of the supply chain) and vertical agreements (between companies which operate at different levels, i.e. agreement between a producer and its dealer). There are only a few limited exceptions from the provisions of the Article 101. The most reprehensible example which infringes Article 101 is the introduction of a ‘cartel’ which an illegal conduct involving price-fixing or / and market sharing. Second,  the Article 102 of the treaty prohibits  companies from holding and abusing its dominant position on a particular market. The most infringing examples are by charging inappropriate prices, by reducing the amount of production, or by not innovating as per the prejudice of the customers (Cseres, 2010). The Treaty has empowered the Commission for applying these rules of prohibition and investigating the violations of the rules of prohibition. The commission is given a number of powers to investigate those ends by inspecting their premises, both business and non-business and writing for seeking information from them. It is also empowered for imposing penalties on businesses violating the antitrust rules of the European Union. The main rules and the procedures of applying the rules of Articles 101 and 102 of TEFU are described in Council Regulation (EC) 1/2003. The National Competition Authorities (NCA) were given authorities and powers to apply Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty in May 2004 so that the distortion or restriction of competition can be ensured. The Treaty also provides individual rights to citizen which are

Global Matrix Design. Differentiation And Operations Management. ISO Assignment

Global Matrix Design. Differentiation And Operations Management. ISO Certification - Assignment Example The Global Matrix Design is an organized structure where a new organizational structure is superimposed on an existing structure. Global Matrix Design offers an organization a chance to have a fluid organizational structure, and the firm will be able to adjust its operations to suit international needs. By superimposing the new structure on the existing one, the organization has to adjust the various aspects of the existing organizational structures. Once the organization thinks of going international, it will have to adhere to international standards in all its operations. For instance, the products of the organization will have to meet the international standards and the organization may need to be certified. Although not all international organizations have ISO standardization, getting this standardization will be important in that most of the firm’s business will come from customers who will need to be assured that the products of the organization are of international stan dards. As such, any organization that intends to operate in the international market will have to reengineer its operations and make sure that it has met both local and international standards (Gerlrad, 2009). The other area apart from this that the organization will need to restructure its standards is in the way it does its accounting and financial reporting. Once the organization decides to go international, it will have to satisfy the accounting and financial reporting standards of each of the countries it will be operating in. This means that the organization will have to adjust its financial reporting to make sure that it does not violate the local tax laws and requirements. This will call for the organization to change its management operations as well as its production operations in a radical way. To fit in the international market environment, the organization will also have to restructure its human resource so that it meets the needs that will arise from the change. In the long run, the whole organization will have to be changed completely and restructured. How does differentiation relate to operations management? Differentiation gives an organization a chance to access a unique market in the market, whether it is the local or the international market (Gerlrad, 2009). It allows the organization to access a market area where there is no competition or where there is less competition. Once a firm decides to use differentiation as its strategy, it will have to restructure its management functions as well as its operations to help the business to take advantage of differentiation. Differentiation brings new opportunities that the management should be prepared to take advantage of. To be able to take advantage of these new opportunities, the organization will have to come up with new ways that are not in the mainstream management theories. For instance, the organization will need to develop a plan on how it will take advantage of the unique opportunities that may be yet to be taken by other similar firms. The effect of this on the organization is that the organization will have to restructure its resources, both human and economic, to suit these needs. The second way differentiation will affect the organization is by bringing new challenges. Every new opportunity comes with a new challenge or even more new challenges. Differentiation will mean that the organization will have unique challenges that it will have to deal with in terms of management and in terms of operations management. For instance, the firm may have to deal with more challenging logistics operations, and the firm may have