Example Answer On Multinational Corporations And Complexity - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 10 Words: 3129 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Economics Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? Multinational corporations (MNCs), in their effort of globalisation normally face complexity that caused by multiculturalism and geographic dispersion. There are three characteristics of complexity in globalisation. 1) Multiplicity reflects the need of MNCs to be responsive to different viewpoints, public opinion concern and government rules and regulations. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Example Answer On Multinational Corporations And Complexity" essay for you Create order 2) Interdependence will means all operation and business activities are interrelated that can not be treated alone. 3) Ambiguity means the lack of information clarity that will lead to difficulty in interpreting events and people. Complexity in the international operating environment will then lead to various global challenges. It is difficult for MNCs to achieve organizational effectiveness and sustainable competitive advantage locally as well as globally if it is operating without an efficient and systematic HRM practices that align with the business strategy. Paine Co. which is building its international presence is facing some HR issues and challenges that typically will happen in MNCs. From the case study, the following main HR issues had been identified. TABLE 1: MAIN HUMAN RESOURCE ISSUES FACED BY PAINE CO. A. Communication Do not have a clear view of the corporate mission statement and vision set within the group. Lack of communication channel between the management and the employees. Do not have get-together among staff for idea exchange and employees feedback sessions. B. Recruitment, selection and retention Decentralised recruitment policies. Do not have good image branding and company reputation. C. Performance management and reward system Do not have well designed performance review and appraisal system. D. Training and development Do not provide staff intensive training for all new employees. Do not have further on-job or off-job training for improvement of skills and knowledge. Do not have interchanging of staff between subsidiaries. Communication being one of the most important components in human life is also the key of success for HR management. Effective communication is essential throughout an organization to ensure transpire of all information and knowledge sharing can be achieved. Communication is also vital for the organizational objectives setting. Effective communication between the employer and employees can lead to a greater understanding in achieving organizations goal. Study by Lindholm, N. (2000) found that it is important to communicate the company goal and job objective clearly to the host-country employees in MNCs to increase their job satisfaction. Jack Welch, the CEO of General Electric Co. (GE) had introduced the informal culture across the company. The Informal by Jack Welc h means violating the conventional chain of command, creating communication across all layers of the organization and everyone can talk to the boss. During his tenure as GEs CEO, Jack Welch organized a lot of corporate events that provide opportunities to all the employees to get-together and at the same time the management can communicate the company values and vision effectively to the employees. Besides that, Jack Welch also made unexpected visits to plants and offices abroad as well as scheduled luncheons with his managers to achieve good leading, guidance, and influence the behaviour of complex organization. The weakness in communication within Paine Co. can be seen in a few contexts. The communication problems started from their international expansion with some of the subsidiaries running on decentralised basis. There are no common strategies and objectives been set and communicate across all subsidiaries in the overall business operation. There is also no interchange of people between subsidiaries which can help to promote knowledge sharing and team spirit. Collecting workplace feedbacks from employees can facilitate in creating two-way communication which is important in an organization. Annual staff opinion survey is one of the methods that can be introduced to collect feedbacks from employees. In Paine Co., the occasion that consultants from France made direct complaints to their MD bypassing their local manager had shown the lack in proper channel of communication within the organization. Besides that, Ferguson as the MD of Paine Co. did not emphasize on knowledge sharing and team work but only see personal results and performance as the key factors of determining the business success. Therefore, overall synergy can not be achieved for a greater sustainable competitive advantage. Human assets are important for service industry as their people are core part of the source of services that have direct visibility from a customer point of view. Stringent recruitment and selection processes must be implemented to ensure the right people are to be engaged. Employers reputation and corporate branding are other crucial factors that will affect the recruitment and selection process. Highly talented people are always looking for their employer of choice in seeking their job for better career advancement. Singapore Airlines (SIA) for example had been the employer of choice for many educated young people due to their reputation as a service leader in the airline industry. On the other hand, SIA adopts a highly rigorous and stringent selection process which the applicants are required to meet various criteria from outlook appearance, age ranges, academic qualifications as well as physical attributes. The stringent selection process is to ensure the right people bee selected for the right job and at the same time improve the service quality of the organization. In this case, Paine Co. failed to carry out the best-practice in th e recruitment and selection strategies. The company has had problems in developing a brand with a good company image in Germany, both for clients and staff. While facing the problem in recruiting good staffs, at the same time it also fails to retain the talented young employees. These have affected the efficiency and smoothness of the project and business operation and at the same time will incur higher cost for recruitment purpose. As recruitment and retention of employee is another challenging task in IHRM. Employers need to select the right people and put them to the right jobs, as well as managing their performance effectively and at the same time retain the quality employees from leaving the organizations. Only the right people will take the organization where they need to go. Hadhiphanis (2010) highlighted three issues that need to be considered by management when recruiting employees: Value of experience and skills for the proposed position; behavioural and technical competen cies based in making hiring decision; and pre-screen candidates before interview. While for retention of staff, Hadhiphanis (2010) again suggested that three strategies need to be carefully implemented in order to ensure the company provide better value to their employees as compare to their competitors. Options of remuneration, fringe benefits and rewards system to employees. Clear in communicating expectations and ability to gauge the performance against expectations. Rotational assignments, career development and planning as well as financial support (job-related and non-job related) to employees. The implementation of good staff recruitment and retaining strategies will not only build good employees capability for today but also for the future. Paine Co. should identify the needs of their employees and should not assume employees in every country having the same needs. Most of the time, the employees needs are reflected in the social-economy and culture of the count ry. Besides that, employees needs will not be the same all the time and review should be carried out periodically to ensure the HR practices are being implemented correctly to suit the current conditions. As for the performance management and reward system (PMRS) in Paine and Co. Although employees bonus and rewards are performance based, the final decision still subject to the senior management discretions without going through a proper appraisal and performance review system. Therefore their bonus system is not well-regarded. Performance management (PM) was defined as a HRM process involving constant evaluation of individual and corporate improvement progress against the predetermined objectives which are correlated to the company business strategy (Dowling et al., 1999 cited by Lindholm, N., 2000). The extrinsic and intrinsic motivations, understanding of job task and job satisfaction of the employees are mainly influenced by PM practices of a company (Lindholm, N., 2000). PM that is properly planned and implemented will also help in the objectives setting, reducing job errors as well as maximizing employees satisfaction and motivation in achieving not only individual job objectives but also align with the companys business strategy in achieving organizational goals. Evidence from research had shown that cultural differences among countries will affect the elements in implementing PM. PM practices will not be successful if MNCs implement and standardize their PM policies at both home country office and the overseas subsidiaries without consideration the cultural differences among the countries. Hofstedes cultural dimensions theory had been applied by researchers in their studies in relationship between the cultural differences and the transferability of PM as well as job satisfaction in MNCs. Lindholm, N. (2000) suggested that PM system should be modified to suit to the culture of host-country. Modular type PM system that can suit to different culture s in different countries can be developed to improve the job satisfaction and performance of host-country employees. Besides that, the design and implementation of a fair performance evaluation system by taking host-country employees feedback into consideration is crucial to create job satisfaction of employees in MNCs. IHRM issue is one of the greatest challenges for all MNCs. Even world class companies like General Electric Co. and Black Decker Corp. will face some challenges in managing HRM issues when it first going global. Mendenhall, M.E et al, (2003) had identified the following Big Five global HR challenges for MNCs. Enhancing global business strategy Aligning HR issues with business strategy Designing and leading change Building global corporate cultures Developing global leaders The implementation of good IHRM practices has become very crucial in the success of all organization regardless their sizes and industry (Ulrich, 1997, cited by Nicolaou, N. a nd Costea, E.S). The fit of this type of culture HR system shall be given more attention in order to create an effective organization. In todays highly competitive globalization business environment, human resource become the main assets of an organization and therefore the implementation of IHRM strategy is the key to the success of the organization and its continuous competiveness in the global market. ANSWER FOR QUESTION 2: Barlett and Ghoshal (2000, cited by Harzing, A.W and Ruysseveldt, J.V., 2004) highlighted the three types of strategic objectives for MNCs are: meeting the challenges of global efficiency; multinational flexibility, and worldwide learning. Porter (1990, cited by Truong, et al, 2010) pointed out that the most significant source of competitive advantage for an economy is a skilled, flexible and well-educated workforce. While Heneman et al. (2000, cited by Truong, et al, 2010) stated that HR is important for all types of organizational sustainability. Many companies had realised the importance of strategic HR practices but only a few can implement it strategically in conjunction with the business strategy to gain competitive advantage (Schuler R.S MacMillan I.C, 1984). The following table shows the core components of HR practices that had been identified and the proposed HRM strategies in order to help Paine Co. in building their corporate business strategy to gain long-term comp etitive advantage. TABLE 2: CORE HRM COMPONENTS, CURRENT STATUS AND PROPOSED STRATEGIES FOR PAINE CO. HRM Core Components Current Status Strategies Recruitment and Selection Recruitment and selection procedures not regulated or standardised Do not have clear and stringent criteria in selection To use value-based hiring method To carry out proper job analysis and description Specification of minimum criteria in selection Standardisation of recruitment and selection procedures (i.e. interview, psychometric test and social test) Compensation and Benefits Remuneration system not standardised or according to industry standard To carry out industry remuneration review To introduce profit sharing scheme Performance Management and Reward System Do not have proper appraisal review system Rewards do not reflected on the individual performance No relationship between reward policy and corporate business development strategy To carry out KPI as PMRS To create link between goal-setting and performance achievement Training and Development Do not have proper training and development progr am To have intensive training for new staff To provide continuous training throughout employment Retention of Talents Lack of support from management to staff Lack of communication between employer and employees Lack of motivation Do not have succession plan To create multiple channels for information sharing To rewards the staff with innovative ways To carry out employees satisfaction survey To develop career advancement plan for employees Schuler R.S and MacMillan I.C (1984) suggested two ways for HRM practices to help in gaining organizational competitive advantage: by helping themselves and by helping others. They also clarified that good HRM practices should be first be targeted within the company before implement to the external parties (i.e. customers, suppliers, distributors). Strategic HRM practices should be ideally integrated with the business strategy of an organization in building long-tern competitive advantage. Wirtz, J., et al, 2007 believed that The wrong people are liability. Recruitment and selection is an important process in HRM that will decide whether the right person will be doing the right job at the right place. Value-based hiring method can be utilised by Paine Co. in their recruitment and selection process. A detail job analysis and job functions description should be carried out before determining the selection criteria in their recruitment exercise. Other than qualifications and experiences, criteria like physical attributes, social and emotional competency should also be considered when selecting their consultants who are the front-line staff that serve their clients. Therefore, other than structured interviews, psychometric tests and social competency tests should also be included in the screening process to ensure high quality consultants are recruited. By having stringent selection criteria, the uncertainty of hiring the right applicants with the expected qualities will be reduced. In lo ng run, the cost for recruitment and selection process can be reduced due to the increased in efficiency of recruitment and selection process. Besides the selection and recruitment process, Paine Co. also facing problems in managing their compensation and benefits as well as PMRS. It is suggested that profit sharing scheme to be introduced to the consultant advisers and senior consultants. This will encourage employees to be part of the business partners and increase their commitment towards the company performance. While for PMRS, Paine Co. should implement the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) system to ensure fair evaluation of performance review and structured appraisal throughout the whole group. Implement of KPI system will not only guarantee fair treatment to all staff but also make the objectives setting and performance management process more effective. Training is one of the key components of success for service industry like Paine Co. For organizations that are see king competitive advantage through HR, Khandekar, A., and Shama, A. (2005) suggested that they should design their HR systems so that human resources can be utilised efficiently and enabling knowledge been used by employees to maximize their organizational competitive. In this situation, Paine Co. is suggested to plan and provide an intensive training program to all its new employees before they carry out their duties. Intensive training programs are effective HRM tools because it can help the newcomers to master their jobs which probably causing fewer anxieties among them. Besides that, company values, objectives and the expectations from the employer can also be clearly communicated across to the new staff through intensive training. Subsequent off-job and on-job trainings should be planned and provided regularly throughout the employment period to improve knowledge and skills of employees. The training and development program is part of the strategic HR management that is essent ial for Paine Co. to obtain sustainable service excellence and long-term competitive advantage in the industry. Last but not least, the talents retention is another area that needs to be strategically implemented. Tobia, P.M (1999) mentioned that lowering turnover of staff will increase profits of a company. Besides that, only employees who are motivated and satisfied with their working conditions are able to produce good services and products for better competitive advantage in the industry. Many young consultants in Paine Co. left the company by joining the competitors proofed that its employees are not satisfied with their working conditions as compare to the competitors. Paine Co. need to improve the provision of resources to the employees in carrying out their duties. Implementation of some long-term retention programs such as innovative and fair PMRS; people friendly policies and carry out employees feedback survey will definitely help in reducing staff turnover rate. Op portunity for career advancement is another determinant of retention success. Succession plan and career path planning is important to retain talented employees and increase productivity. By implementing all the above proposed HRM strategies will not guarantee the ultimate success of the company in achieving the long-term business competitive advantage if there are no continuous reviews and improvement plans on its strategies. Besides a good HRM systems, products and brand differentiation; focus orientation; global thinking; a sensitive radar system; perpetual spirit of innovations; social and environmental responsibilities are some of the other criteria for MSCs to become a real World Class Company and achieve long-term business competitive advantage. All the above mentioned criteria will need to link people with the strategic needs of the business as people is the most valuable asset of an organization. If the business needs of an organization can be clearly identified and be i ntegrated effectively with the HRM practices, long-term sustainable competitive advantage will not be far from achievable. REFLECTION Planning and formulating the HRM practices with business strategy for competitive advantage will be meaningless if the management do not understand the basic needs of their employees. Therefore, communications play an important role in the analysing and understanding the employees behaviour so that the right HRM practices can be strategized. All employers know what the company goals are, but not everyone is able to articulate their products or services with the market-place effectively to determine the types of employees needed. The needs-matching process to get the right person to do the right job is another great challenge in HRM. Another concern will be the consistency in the implementation of the best HRM practices in an organization. Only long-term consistency in the practices can bring great results and achieve sustainable competitive advantage instead of just short-term success. Commitment from the top management is an important factor that will determine the success. Tot al organizational commitment can not be achieved without starting from the top and working down. If the top management started to demonstrate good practices, concern and commitment to their job and products, the employees will also begin to follow the same practices and further synergizing their contributions to perform for sustainable competitive advantage. END ABBREVIATIONS GE General Electric Co. HRM Human Resource Management IHRM International Human Resource Management KPI Key Performance Indicator MD Managing Director MNCs Multinational Corporations PM Performance Management PMRS Performance Management and Reward System SIA Singapore Airlines

The Wife Of Bath s Prologue And Tale - 2098 Words

After reading ‘The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale’ I can see clear indications and agree that Chaucer was an anti-feminist’ by studying in depth both the prologue and tale I am going to show how Chaucer conforms to a patriarchal perspective in which he believes women are inferior to men making them the weak and unstable sex, who are neither socially, politically or economically equal to a man. In Chaucer’s `The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale’, Chaucer opens the book with the strong opening sentence of ‘Experience, though no written auctoritee’, (Winny, 1999, p. 35, line 1–2) suggests that The Wife of Bath conformed to the societies needs and wants in that era, where women weren’t educated. However, Chaucer is an antifeminist and starts to build The Wife of Baths character as he progresses by representing her as a manipulative man eater who is out to get what she can from a husband, by using her body and her confidence to do so. By doing this Chaucer makes you re-think his text and almost deceives the reader into thinking very little of The Wife of Bath from the beginning. As we as readers know yes she may not have any written experience but she does have a lot of sexual experience. `God bad us for to wexe and multiplye; that gentil text kan I wel understonde. Eek well I woot, he seyde myn housbonde Sholde lete fader and moo der and take to me. But of no nombre mencion made he, of bigamye, or of octogamye; Why sholde men thanne speke of it vileynye?’ (Winny, 1999, p. 35,Show MoreRelatedThe Wife Of Bath s Prologue And Tale990 Words   |  4 PagesThe Wife of Bath s Prologue and Tale is about female empowerment it shows strong protagonists. I believe Geoffrey Chaucer used The Wife of Bath’s Tale to advocate for feminism. Chaucer used a strong female character to expose female stereotypes. It was an oppressive time for women in male-dominated society. 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There have also been questions asked─one being, â€Å"so, did we actually figure out what women really want†, and the answer toRead MoreThe Wife Of Bath s Prologue1134 Words   |  5 PagesThe Wife of Bath uses bible verses in â€Å"The Wife of Bath’s Prologue.† Further, she employs the verses as an outline of her life to find reason in God to justify her actions. Nevertheless, the purpose of the verses differs within each stanza of the poem. The Wife of Bath is a sexually promiscuous, lustful, and manipulative woman. She marries men one after the other as they get older and die. In order to combat and overthrow the speculation and criticism being thrust upon her by societal norms becauseRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem The Wife Of Bath Essay873 Words   |  4 PagesAnalytical Essay on the â€Å"Wife of Bath.† Question One Description of the Wife of Bath in terms of her progressive feminism, rhetoric style, and her prolog tale. Comparison of her as a women attitude towards general medieval attitude towards women. â€Å"Wife of Bath† Tale provides insight and understanding of the women change and their view mainly in matters of family, marriage, authority and marital affairs. The Prolog is double the size of her Tale, a lot of information about marriage group is givenRead MoreGeoffrey Chaucer View and Change on Judgement968 Words   |  4 Pagesthese people, but he actually did something about it. He had problems with some social aspects during the 1300s which included the church, gender differences, and hypocrisy. He wrote about these problems in a set of tales widely known as The Canterbury Tales. The first is The General Prologue which describes a pilgrimage to Canterbury that many people endure, but on this specific journey, twenty-nine different people travel together to Canterbury. He uses two types of satire to relinquish these opinions

Cancer Pathophysiology Free-Samples for Students-Myassignment

Question: Your task is to Describe how a Cell goes from Developing Cancerous Mutations to actually moving to new Sites in the Body. Answer: Biochemistry of cancer The emergence of cancer cells can be traced back to the cell cycle. According to Park, M. T., Lee, S. J (2003) a cell undergoes the interphase and the mitotic phase. In the interphase the cell grows and makes a copy of its DNA while in the mitotic phase the cell separates the DNA into two sets. The interphase includes the three stages that occur before the mitosis phase, that is, G1, S and G2 phase. The cell cycle events occur sequentially in the four stages. During the two gap phases, G1 and G2, the cell undertake active metabolism without any form of division. In synthesis(S) phase, the chromosomes duplicate as a result of DNA replication forming two copies of identical genetic material. During the mitosis phase, the chromosomes separate in the nucleus and the division of the cytoplasm and the organelles occurs. Checkpoints in the cycle at the end of G1 and G2 that can prevent the cell form entering the S or M phases of the cycle .Mutations in proto-oncogenes or in tumor suppresso r genes allow cancer cell to grow and divide without the regulation which is normally done within the cell cycle. Image credit:"The cell cycle: Figure 1"by OpenStax College, Biology (CC BY 3.0). The P53 protein is one of the genes that regulate this process of replication. It is a transcription factor which binds the DNA and activates the transcription of protein p 21. This protein inhibits the activity of a cycline dependent kinase required to enter G1 phase. This particular action allows time for the repair of the genetic material. A mutation that occurs either induced or occurring naturally may lead to formation of cancerous cells since the regulation step is not present. Other proteins involved in tumor suppression besides p53 are p16 and pRB. T work by inhibiting they all work by inhibiting cycline dependent kinases Differentiation Cell differentiation refers to the process through which developing cells mature and become specialized to carry out a particular function in the body. Differentiation is regulated by signals which promote maturation of the cells. In the case of cancer, there is differential differentiation of cells. The much differentiated cells look like the mature normal body cells. The progression of this tumor is usually slow. There are poorly or undifferentiated cells. These can be attributed to failure of response to the differentiation signal. Consequently, they tend to grow very fast. The differentiation of the cells is used to grade tumors into four grades. These are: undetermined grade, low grade, intermediate grade and high grade. Transformation According to the national cancer institute, transformation refers to the process through which cell undergo change and become malignant. Malignancy refers to uncontrolled cell division which has a potentiality of bringing about invasion of the nearby tissues. These cells can also invade other organs by being transported through blood vessels and lymph vessels. The key proteins involved are the tumor suppressor genes: p53 and pRB. Malignant transformation may be caused by diet, chemicals, heavy metals or infections. All these causative agents interfere with the genomic component of the cell. This has profound effects on the particular genes that suppress tumor formation. For stance in human papilloma virus infection, the viral gene E6 inhibits P53 while E7 inhibits pRB gene. In other cases mutation of these genes occurs. According to Hanahan A. Weinberg (2011), the hallmark of cancer consists of six biological changes that are acquired and important for tumor growth. They include: the acquisition of self-sufficiency in growth signals, loss of sensitivity to anti-growth factors, loss of capacity of apoptosis and senescence, sustained angiogenesis, ability to invade neighboring tissues and metastases. These changes are for classical carcinomas since not all tumors may achieve all of them. These biological characteristics are important since they enable it achieve uncontrolled growth with the ability to nourish and invade the tissues. According to clonal selection, mutant cells compete for resources in their micro environment. A clone with a tumor suppressor gene will expand only in a neoplasm were the mutation confers with an advantage over the other clones and the normal cells. Intravasation Intravasation refers to the process through which tumor cells enter the blood or lymph vessels and are thereby metastasized to other areas of the body. These cells move by a process known as diapedesis or trans-endothelial migration since the cells migrate between the junctions of the endothelial cells that constitute the wall of the vessels. Cadherin and adhesins are disrupted during this migration. Intravasation can be divided into active and passive. This classification is based on how it enters the blood stream either directly through a blood vessel or indirectly through a lymph vessel.in active Intravasation the tumor cells use a mechanism similar to that used by immune cells. They respond to chemokines, growth factors and nutrient gradient. Tumor associated macrophages release some of these molecules hence facilitating Intravasation into the blood stream. These molecules include chemokines and pro inflammatory factors. Chemokines aid in chemotaxis towards the blood vessel while the pro inflammatory factors enhance the penetration. The pro inflammatory factors are initially produced in areas around the tumor mass due to hypoxia hence used to counter oxygen deficit by increasing blood vessel permeability. Tumor associated macrophages are also involved in the process of remodeling the matrix surrounding the inflamed tumor sites. This remodeling is crucial in enabling the tumor cells migrate towards the blood vessels and access sites of endothelial wall of the blood vessel where they can invade. This remodeling also significantly affects the pericytes thereby interferes with the integrity of blood vessel wall. A series of interactions occurs between the tumor cells and the stromal cells hence they are able to enter the blood circulation. Extravasation This refers to the process by which cancer cells leave the blood stream and enter a secondary organ where they replicate. This leads to the formation of a secondary tumor in distant organs. Extravasation occurs in three steps. In the first step, tumor cells loosely attach to the endothelial cells of the blood vessels. This consequently results in a rolling motion of the tumor cells on the vascular surface this considerably lowers the movement of the tumor cells since the speed of blood at the periphery is lower than that of blood at the center. The tumor cells have a ligand which binds onto the E selectin on the endothelial cells. In the second step the tumor cells tightly attach onto the endothelial cells. This process can be referred to as adhesion. There is a change in the receptors for those used for the loose attachment and those used for tight attachment. Tight attachment is mediated by integrin activated by chemokine signaling. N Cadherin is expressed both in the tumor cell an d endothelial cells and is important in the final step which is diapedesis. Leucocyte acts as a liker cell linking the tumor through the ICAM 1 which then links to the endothelial cell. Angiogenesis Angiogenesis refers to the formation of new blood vessels. This process involves the migration growth and differentiation of endothelial cells to form new blood vessels to supply the tumor cell. This process is normally regulated by chemical signals produced in the body. Some signals activate this process while other inhibits it. According to M.E.Eichhorn, M.K.Angele C.J.Bruns (2007, Pp. 371379), the balance between the pro angiogenesis genes and anti-angiogenesis genes is upset and thereby promoting angiogenesis. The acquisition of angiogenic phenotype by the tumor cell is an important for tumor progression. Oncogene-derived protein expression and some cellular stress factors, such as hypoxia, low pH, nutrient deprivation, or inducers of reactive oxygen species (ROS), are important stimuli of angiogenic signaling. The factors involved in this process are listed below. Tumor angiogenic factors bind onto receptors on the endothelial cells and initiate a series of activities that promote angiogenesis. It involves migration proliferation and differentiation into new blood vessels endothelial cells release heparanase which digests the basement membrane and allow more angiogenic factors to reach them. The blood vessels spread without organization and the vessels have altered diameters and failure to differentiate. A vascularized tumor has a very high capability of growth and differentiation due to the presence of the necessary nutrients and oxygen for their growth. A non-vascularized tumor can only grow to about 1-2 cubic millimeters. The dependence on diffusion cannot sustain the nourishment requirement of the tumor cells. Migration Cancer cell migration is the process through which cancer metastasizes from the original tumor to other body organs. Cancer cells migrate by degrading the surrounding extra cellular matrix. They follow a leader cancer cell. The cancer cell loses cell-cell adhesion capacity and this allows the cell to dissociate from the primary tumor. The enzymes produced to disintegrate the matrix allow the movement of tumor cell towards the blood vessels. The chemokines attract the tumor cell towards the blood vessels or lymph vessel. They enter the vessels by diapedesis Circulation Cancer cells in the blood circulation express cytokeratins which indicates they are of somatic origin.in the blood stream they have to evade the immune mechanisms of the body. The tumor cells bind coagulation factors on the platelets. This forms an embolus aggregate that protects the tumor cells from by immune cells. This also protects them from shear and turbulence hence enhancing their survival. The tumor cells also activate the coagulation cascade and formation of platelet rich thrombi around the cells. Invasion This refers to the process through which tumor invades body tissues this process involves a series of proteins such as integrin, laminin and fibronectin for attachment. Enzymes are used for matrix degradation while Autocrine Motility Factor aid in locomotion. According to the three step theory of invasion, there are three particular steps: tumor attachment, degradation and dissolution of the matrix and the locomotion into the matrix. Attachment is mediated by the tumor cell plasma membrane receptors.it includes the fibronectin and laminin. In the matrix degradation, the tumor cell produces enzymes which outbalance the natural proteases in the matrix. Locomotion is influenced chemotactic factors such as Autocrine Motility Factor. Invasion takes place as a cyclic repetition of the three stages. References Gupta GP, Massagu J. Cancer metastasis: building a framework. Cell 2006 Nov 17; 127(4): 679- 95. Colotta, F., Allavena, P., Sica, A., Garlanda, C., Mantovani, A. (2009). 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