Quantitative Decision Making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Quantitative Decision Making - Essay Example Decision analysis also makes managers know which decisions are in favor of their companies and which can go against the benefits of the companies. â€Å"An effective decision-making process reduces the possibility of wrong choices or failures† (Ilyas). Let us take an example related to my professional field. I am a sales manager at a hardware company. The company sells all types of hardware products to the customers. A few months ago, I decided to replace all old style products with latest ones in order to achieve high levels of profits and to make the company style oriented. I had in my mind that the company’s sales could be increased by presenting the customers with new and latest styles instead of old ones. However, I did not consider the ratio of high-income people to low-income people while taking the decision. Moreover, I did not make use of six steps included in the process of quantitative decision-making. Therefore, the decision did not result in favor of the co mpany and we suffered major decrease in the profits. I think I should have done a survey of the market before taking the decision. Along with that, I should have listed all possible alternatives regarding the decision. I should also have calculated the expected profit of each combination of alternatives and outcomes.

Bear Stearns Collapse Timeline Essay Example for Free

Bear Stearns Collapse Timeline Essay This week five years ago, JP Morgan announced it would buy Wall Street rival Bear Stearns in a deal worth $2 a share – this ultimately rose to $10. Here, Financial News looks at the events in the run-up to the fall of the 85-year old independent investment bank. Financial News compiled the timeline from press releases, contemporary media reports and William D Cohan’s account of the collapse of the bank, ‘House of Cards’. May 21, 2007 After months of growing instability in the US sub-prime mortgage market, Bear Stearns chairman Alan ‘Ace’ Greenberg offers reassurances that the firm, heavily exposed to the market, is on top of things. â€Å"The sub-prime (issue) has been blown completely out of proportion,† he says, in comments reported by Dow Jones Newswires. Mid-June 2007 Serious problems become apparent at two Bear Sterns hedge funds with a high exposure to sub-prime mortgages. Investors in the High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund, which managed $600m, are informed that the fund has lost 23% of its value over the year to April, reports The Wall Street Journal. The fund begins a fire-sale to minimise exposures. After the failure of a mooted rescue plan involving support from lenders, a new rescue scheme is announced by Bear Stearns, which offers $3. 2bn for a bailout of a second fund the High Grade Structured Credit Fund. The bank previously had only $45m invested in this fund’s equity, according to William D Cohan in House of Cards’. Bear Stearns later says it is providing $1. 6bn to the fund rather than the original $3. 2bn, citing the sale of assets. A decision is made not to rescue the High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund, according to Cohan. August 3, 2007 Standard Poor’s downgrades the bank’s outlook to negative. The bank says that concerns over its situation are â€Å"unwarranted† as the hedge fund fallout represented â€Å"isolated incidents† and â€Å"by no means a broader indication† of the bank’s performance, according to The Wall Street Journal. August 5, 2007 Bear Stearns president and co-chief operating officer Warren Spector resigns from the bank. Alan Schwartz is confirmed as sole president. Days later, the Associated Press reports that the bank sends letters to clients reassuring them of its financial position. September 10, 2007 British billionaire Joseph Lewis expresses his confidence in the future of the bank by acquiring a 7% stake, becoming one of the largest shareholders. October 5, 2007 Federal prosecutors launch an investigation into the collapse of the Bear Stearns hedge funds. November/December 2007 Chief financial officer Sam Molinaro says that the bank has been â€Å"very conservative and aggressive† in its revaluations, according to Dow Jones Newswires. On December 10, MarketWatch reports that the bank has written down $1. 9bn related to mortgage exposure. January 8, 2008 Chief executive Jimmy Cayne steps down after widespread criticism of his hands-off response to the events of the previous year. He remains as chairman. He is replaced at the top by Alan Schwartz. In the same month, the bank announces the closure of a third fund, the Bear Stearns Asset Backed Securities Fund. Bloomberg reports that this fund has suffered a decline of 39% of its value over a year. February, 2008 Hedge fund Peloton Partners, run by Goldman alumnus Ron Beller, collapses following its exposure to asset-backed securities. March 2008 Carlyle Capital, a hedge fund based in Amsterdam, collapses as concerns over exposures to mortgages begin to multiply, causing a squeeze on lines of funding. By March 5, insurance premiums on Bear Stearns debt have risen from $50,000 per $10m of debt at the beginning of 2005 to $350,000 per $10m debt, according to William D Cohan. It soon reaches $700,000. Monday, March 10, 2008 The company’s stock falls 11% to its lowest level in five years following a Moody’s downgrade of portions of its mortgage bond holdings, writes Cohan. The bank denies rumours that it is in trouble. Investors look for ways to bet on further falls in the bank’s stock. Tuesday, March 11, 2008 ING Groep, the Dutch bank, cancels $500m of short-term funding for Bear Stearns, according to The Wall Street Journal, following an example set by Rabobank. According to a press release, the Federal Reserve announces an unprecedented lending facility in which collateral can be exchanged for funding, but the scheme cannot be accessed until March 27. In another important incident, cited by Cohen in ‘House of Cards’, Goldman Sachs refuses to stand in for Hayman Capital in a trade with Bear Stearns, suggesting hemorrhaging confidence among major financial players. Wednesday. March 12, 2008 Overnight markets for funding begin to dry up, while institutions continue to deny short-term lending to Bear Stearns. Hedge funds and other investors continue in their attempts to extract their money from Bear Stearns, which is rapidly approaching a funding crisis. Thursday, March 13, 2008. As customers continue to withdraw funds, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York Federal Reserve begin discussions on the crisis. In a meeting on Thursday night, reported by Cohen, it is discovered that outgoings at the firm can no longer be maintained, with the firm effectively running out of cash during the afternoon. Lawyers are summoned to discuss the options for bankruptcy, while a deal with JP Morgan Chase is sought. After late night negotiations, JP Morgan agrees in conjunction with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York that it will provide secured funding to Bear Sterns for an initial period of up to 28 days. Friday, March 14, 2008 The cobbled-together deal fails to assuage the markets. Investors continue to pull money from the bank over the course of the day. By the evening, it is clear that a solution will have to be devised over the weekend if the bank is to survive. Saturday, March 15- Sunday, March 16, 2008 JP Morgan says it cannot do a deal without support from the Federal Reserve, due to the large number of toxic securities on the books of Bear Stearns. In response, the Fed approves a loan of $30bn saying that it is necessary to avoid â€Å"serious disruptions in the financial markets†. JP Morgan offers just $2 per share for the bank, a large loss for those whose stock was worth $30 on Friday, $60 the week before and over $150 a year before. Bondholders will be rescued by the deal, which is accepted by the board of Bear Stearns on Sunday morning. Wrangles with JP Morgan over a contract situation which potentially leaves the bank liable for funding Bear Stearns without claiming full ownership result in brinkmanship from Bear Sterns. A final price of $10 per share is agreed, with a value of $1. 45bn attached to the equity. March 25 Bear Stearns chief executive Jimmy Cayne and his wife sell 5. 66 million shares in the bank for $61. 34m, which, according to Cohan, represented a $1bn loss on the bank’s stock. May 29 The final Bear Stearns shareholder meeting takes place, at which former CEO Cayne speaks of his sadness at the firm’s demise, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing guests present.

Stephen King :: Essays Papers

Stephen King Man Behind The Horror Controlling Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to, in extensive detail, give you the faithful reader an understanding of one of the world’s most prolific writers. There is a lot more to Stephen King then numerous best selling books and hit movies. He is a true genius in every sense of the word, and I rank him amongst the greatest writers of all time. I feel I can give my opinion on him so freely and bluntly because I have read every published work he was ever had, and most of them I consider to be classics. In the end I hope to show you the true brilliance of Stephen King, and hopefully give you an insightful look at his past history. I. The Life of Stephen King A. Early Years to His First Book B. The Books that made him Famous C. Facts and Tidbits about Stephen King II. Stephen King: The Man and His Works in My Words A. The Writer’s Opinion on Mr. King B. A Review of the Novels The Life of Stephen King A. Early Years to his First Born in 1947, Stephen Edwin King was the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. When he was very young his parents were separated, so he and his older brother, David were raised by their mother. In his childhood he spent time Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father’s family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. As a child Stephen and his brother made frequent visits to his mother’s family in Malden, Massachusetts and the small town of Pownal, Maine. At the young age of eleven, his mother moved him and his brother back to Durham, Maine, this time for good. She did so because her parents had become debilitated with old age, and Ruth had been convinced by her siblings to assume the care of the elderly couple. Other members of the family contributed money and support while others pitched together to supply her with a small house in Durham. When Stephen’s grandparents passed on, his mother found work in Pineland, which was a nearby place for retarded people. King attended grammar school in Durham and then high school in Lisbon Falls High School, from where King graduated in 1966. He attended college at the University of Maine in Orono, and in his sophomore year he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, The Maine Campus. Stephen King :: Essays Papers Stephen King Man Behind The Horror Controlling Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to, in extensive detail, give you the faithful reader an understanding of one of the world’s most prolific writers. There is a lot more to Stephen King then numerous best selling books and hit movies. He is a true genius in every sense of the word, and I rank him amongst the greatest writers of all time. I feel I can give my opinion on him so freely and bluntly because I have read every published work he was ever had, and most of them I consider to be classics. In the end I hope to show you the true brilliance of Stephen King, and hopefully give you an insightful look at his past history. I. The Life of Stephen King A. Early Years to His First Book B. The Books that made him Famous C. Facts and Tidbits about Stephen King II. Stephen King: The Man and His Works in My Words A. The Writer’s Opinion on Mr. King B. A Review of the Novels The Life of Stephen King A. Early Years to his First Born in 1947, Stephen Edwin King was the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. When he was very young his parents were separated, so he and his older brother, David were raised by their mother. In his childhood he spent time Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father’s family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. As a child Stephen and his brother made frequent visits to his mother’s family in Malden, Massachusetts and the small town of Pownal, Maine. At the young age of eleven, his mother moved him and his brother back to Durham, Maine, this time for good. She did so because her parents had become debilitated with old age, and Ruth had been convinced by her siblings to assume the care of the elderly couple. Other members of the family contributed money and support while others pitched together to supply her with a small house in Durham. When Stephen’s grandparents passed on, his mother found work in Pineland, which was a nearby place for retarded people. King attended grammar school in Durham and then high school in Lisbon Falls High School, from where King graduated in 1966. He attended college at the University of Maine in Orono, and in his sophomore year he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, The Maine Campus.

Relationships Between Parents and Children in Poetry Essay

Many poets use poetry to express their feelings on their relationships with their parents or children. ‘Poem at Thirty-Nine’ by Alice Walker is about a girl who has grown into an adult and is thinking back to when she was younger. In the poem she talks about how much she misses her father because he has passed away. ‘Piano’ by D.H. Lawrence is about a man that is reminded of his mother who always played the piano for him because of a woman that he hears singing. ‘A Mother in a Refugee Camp’ by Chinua Achebe is about a woman that is in a refugee camp with her young child who is so sick that he is sure to die soon. ‘Poem at Thirty-Nine’ presents childhood as a lonely, emotional experience. The woman in this poem has many fond memories of her father but she also has a lot of regret. She misses him very much and she is sad because she wishes she could have spent more time with him when she was a young girl. In the poem she says, â€Å"How I miss my father. I wish he had not been so tired when I was born.† She wishes that her father wasn’t too exhausted to spend time with her when she was a young girl. The reader probably feels sorry for the little girl and some people may feel like they can relate to the girl when it comes to spending time with parents. This also relates to ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’ because the man in this poem also misses his father except he isn’t dead yet. He doesn’t want him to die. ‘Piano’ presents childhood as safe, secure and serene. As like in ‘Poem at Thirty-Nine’ the man has fo nd memories of time spent with his mother who he misses so much that it brings him to tears to think back to his childhood. The poem says, â€Å"Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past†. As he remembers his childhood, he begins to cry because he misses the times with his mother. It is unusual for a man to cry and he was embarrassed because men did not cry in the early 1900’s. This makes the reader think back to childhood memories that they miss and they can relate to the poem just like readers can relate to ‘Poem at Thirty-Nine’ because they both stress realistic topics that apply to many people. ‘Half Past Two’ is also similar to ‘Piano’ because it talks about missing childhood and it presents childhood as a carefree time. ‘A Mother in a Refugee Camp’ presents childhood as a time of pain and suffering. The boy in this poem does not have fond memories of childhood because of his difficult lifestyle and he is  very ill. The poem says, â€Å"Now she did it like putting flowers on a tiny grave†. The boy’s mother is being delicate and combing her son’s hair as if she was putting flowers on a tiny grave because he is dying. This makes the reader very sympathetic towards the mother because she loves her son with all her heart but yet she has to watch him die which is very hard for her. ‘A Mother in a Refugee Camp’ can relate to ‘My Parents Kept me from Children who were Rough’ because the parents in these poems are trying to do the best for their son. In ‘Poem at Thirty-Nine’, Alice Walker uses imagery to portray herself as a woman who has inherited qualities and characteristics that her father possessed. This is shown when she uses the simile â€Å"He cooked like a person dancing in a yoga meditation† which suggests that her father is trance-like when he cooks and this shows that although he was often very strict with her, her father had a calm, laid back side. She has grown up to be like him and she believes that her father would be proud to see the woman that she has grown up to be. The metaphor â€Å"seasoning one of my life the same way twice† shows that Alice Walker is spontaneous and her life has no routine and this may be something that she has inherited from her father. ‘Piano’ uses a nostalgic image to emphasize how much D.H. Lawrence misses his childhood. The poem refers to â€Å"old Sunday evenings at home† and â€Å"hymns in the cosy parlour†. This creates a warm, homely image leading the reader to think that the boy comes from a loving home. ‘Piano’ also uses the simile â€Å"I weep like a child for the past† to emphasize how much the poet misses his childhood. He is crying openly because he wants to be a child again. The metaphor â€Å"a flood of remembrance† describes his memories rushing back all at once and this creates an overwhelming feeling for him. When ‘A Mother in a Refugee Camp’ says, â€Å"The air was heavy with odors of diarrhea, of unwashed children with washed-out ribs and dried up bottoms waddling in labored steps† it appeals to the sense of the reader and it gives them an unpleasant image. This gives the reader the idea that the conditions are absolutely terrible and may even make some people sick to the stomach. It gives them a picture of the poverty and illness that is presents in war torn countries around the world. In ‘Poem at Thirty-Nine’ I found it interesting when Alice Walker said, â€Å"He taught me how† because this is saying that her father was a role model for her and she learned a lot from him. This makes the reader think that the father set a good example for her. ‘Poem at Thirty-Nine’ also uses a euphemism for death when it says, â€Å"Though many truths must have grieved him before the end†. She doesn’t actually want to say that he died because it probably makes her sad. In ‘Piano’ I find it interesting when D.H. Lawrence said, â€Å"In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song†. He is trying to fight against the memory of his childhood because it makes him sad. â€Å"Insidious mastery of song† is a powerful tool which is saying that the mastery of the song that he is hearing betrays him back to his childhood. ‘A Mother in a Refugee Camp’ makes good use of ellipsis. It says, â€Å"Her tenderness for a song she would soon have to forget†¦.† This foreshadows the child’s death. This makes the reader feel sorry for the mother and it also makes them sad. The poem also uses interesting vocabulary when it says, â€Å"Before his breakfast and school; now she did it.† The word ‘now’ stresses the mother and her son’s previous normal existence. This probably makes the reader have a lot of sympathy for the mother and feel sorry for her because she is losing her child. This also gives the reader an idea of the life that the mother provided for her son and how the war has completely changed their lives. Alice Walker writes ‘Poem at Thirty-Nine’ in first person. The poem is conveyed as very sad because she misses her father and the main feeling conveyed in this poem is love. The poem opens by saying, â€Å"How I miss my father†. Later in the poem she repeats the phrase â€Å"How I miss my father† to emphasize how much she misses him. At first the mood is regretful but as the poem goes on the mood changed and she thinks that her father would admire the woman she has become. D.H. Lawrence also writes ‘Piano’ in first person and also third person to reminisce and describe himself as a child listening to his mother playing piano. An example of first person in this poem is, â€Å"Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see† and an example of third person in this poem is, â€Å"A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings.† In this quote he refers to himself as â€Å"a child† because he is trying to distance himself from his childhood. This poem is conveyed  as depressing because it can cause readers to reminisce about their childhood and make them realize how much they actually miss it. The person speaking in ‘A Mother in a Refugee Camp’ is the author, Chinua Achebe, and the poem is written in third person. An example of third person in this poem is, â€Å"She held a ghost-smile between her teeth†. Although she was not happy, she put on a fake smile. The main feelings conveyed in this poem are sadness and love. The attitude towards the mother is admiration and how she is taking care of her son is touching. ‘Poem at Thirty-Nine† does not use any rhyming. It is also a free verse poem. This compliments her nature and it allows her to use the poem as an outpouring of feelings about her father. She uses the poem to express how she feels about her father and how she wishes he was around to see how she has grown up. ‘A Mother in a Refugee Camp’ is also a free verse poem. It does not have a rhyme scheme. It makes it seem like the mother’s life is hectic and not very organized because of how much she has to deal with everyday trying to take care of her dying son. Her life is filled with agony and suffering. However ‘Piano’ isn’t written in free verse. Each stanza has the same amount of lines and the poem uses rhyming couplets. The structure of the poem represents the security of D.H. Lawrence’s childhood and how safe he felt when he was sitting under the piano listening to his mother. In my opinion, these poems all discuss the same main topics which are love and sadness. I think that these poems will help many readers to think back to childhood memories that they are fond of and open up readers’ eyes to make them realize how much they actually miss being a child. My favorite poem is ‘A Mother in a Refugee Camp’ because I know a woman that is a close family friend who had to watch her young son slowly die from a deadly disease and that helps me to understand how hard it must have been for the mother in this poem to see her son die.

POLC in the School System Essay

Just like any other organization, a school system would not be able to function properly without an efficient administrator and an effective administration process. In the case of school systems, the administrator would be the superintendent of the school. As the administrator, the superintendent serves as both the leader and the manager of the school. In order to be a successful and efficient administrator, the superintendent should focus on four areas– planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. In the case of planning, the administrator should be able to pinpoint appropriate goals for the whole school system. The goal usually carries prospects for progress, equality, and harmony. As part of the planning process, the administrator should also be able to identify the best courses of action in fulfilling the chosen goals. Such goals should be evaluated at a regular basis so as to assess if they are ion line with the demands of time. After planning the goals and the ways towards its achievement, the administrator should be able to put those plans into action. Organizing is as important as the plan itself. As such, the new administrator should be able to formulate task and authority relations. He should be able to establish an organizational set-up that will allow the school system to efficiently and quickly make the vision, a reality, if he/she may deem the present set-up is inappropriate. As the leader of the school, the new administrator should also be able to influence people- from the students to the teachers, and even the other sectors involved in establishing an effective educational system such as the community, the parents, governmental agencies, and many more. He or she should be able to motivate and unite them, and provide them with a common goal for the educational welfare of the students and for the encouragement of harmony and efficiency of learning and teaching processes. He or she should be able to encourage everyone to work towards a common goal, which is usually the mission and vision of the school. Lastly, after ensuring the plans, the set-up and the people are all set for action; the administrator should be able to control the organization. Control should not be equated with stringent and numerous laws and regulations matched with various sanctions. Instead, it should be associated with the establishment of precise evaluation processes that will allow the administrator to measure and monitor the organization’s development at regular basis overtime, in accordance with the established goals. References: Brennen, Annick M. (n.d.) The Administration of Elementary Schools. Retrieved January 29, 2008 from http://www.soencouragement.org/admin-of-elementary-schools.htm The Management Process Today (n.d.) Retrieved January 29, 2008 from http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0073011223/317076/samplechapter.pdf

Preventing School Violence

Preventing School Violence Introduction Today no special mechanism is standard for preventing school violence due to diversity in social status, economical status, and location. Schools implement various measures to prevent violence such as warning signals, checklists and, policies for zero tolerance but the dangers still persists, because some of these measures end up exacerbating the issue.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Preventing School Violence specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Hypothetically, the school-based violence has a close link to poverty, which is the key factor for discontent and frustration and consequently the anger especially in developing nation. Other cases have a close link to the experiences and development. The domestic violence also has a close link to behavioural and learning problems. During development, a child may feel the need for retaliation. Other possible sources may include discrimination, the societal backgro und, the common school drug related problems, cultural imagery on the television and audio shows, materialism, competitiveness and lack of identity. A good example of the school violence is the April 16, 2007 tragedy at Virginia Tech University, which remains a big sear for the hearts of those who were directly involved as well as those affected such as the victims’ families or friends. On that terrible day, the struggling loss of lives due to one disturbed young man make many people ask what made Cho to act in a beastly manner like he did, and likewise, what can be done to prevent such kind of massacre form happening again. According to Hauser of â€Å"The New York Times† newspaper on the day of the tragedy, thirty-three people were involved in a mass murder at the university after one of the student: Cho went round the bend to a shooting rampage, in a close link to the reports made by federal law enforcement officials at the site. Many of the victims were students s hot in classrooms and dorms. In a close link to Feldman (2009), we can only stop inquiring ways of preventing such scenarios or why they occur if we realize that all the requirements for prevention are within reach. There is need for commitment over the facts and full transparency concerning logical understanding. The universities need to be on the forefront in ensuring they are well equipped with required facilities to handle health related matters. This may include the student’s counselling centres, mental health programs or support groups, procedures for making referrals and, emergency psychiatric services to encourage students to seek and share feelings before they are out of hand.Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Selected Solutions to school violence There is an urgent need for the educators and parents to have the initiatives of pursuing this issue through a co ordinated procedure. It is possible to implement the violence prevention programs based on the specific school setups through solicited funds and, the government or sponsors grants. Secondly, it is promising to utilize the intelligent and well-planned campaigns to stop the violence issue and thus the need for proper and critical considerations over such crusades. This is an awareness program to fight violence especially among the teenagers. Teachers need to consider the strategy of enhancing the responsibility aspects in the minds of the learners in the effort of making them understand the importance of stopping the violence at all costs. The learners should know that the act is illegal and immoral. Today the youth have tightly embraced the extremely dynamic and advancing technology. This means that the â€Å"websites, television and radio programs, public service announcements are some vital aspects the campaigns against violence in schools ought to focus† (Prinstein and D odge, 2008). The government/sponsors also need to tighten use of technology as a teaching aid through ample sponsorship since the youth are today highly conversant with technology. Learning programs or curriculums should avail access to information on bullying prevention and support implementation of activities that support unity at school or community level. Conclusion Violence in schools is an act that erodes the learning atmosphere by impairing the teaching and learning processes. The act is very tactless to individual inner being or conscious and thus often lead to short-term and long-term consequences such as suicide and homicide as experienced at the Virginia Tech a couple of years back. For this reason, it is the responsibility of every person to work aggressively to reduce the wicked act. According to Webb and Terr (2007), healthy and productive education process cannot occur in an environment full of fear. All students have a right to a safe learning environment without the worry of attendance for the fear of unfriendly treatments or worst still abusive acts. Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Preventing School Violence specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The educators cannot fully depend on the government to solve all the cases or provide full protection. It would therefore be wise for everyone in the society to take initiative and commit to the issue. This can highly reduce or better still demise of the offense and the schools will thus be safe and enjoyable for everyone. References Feldman, R.S. (2009) Discovering the Life Span. (First Ed). Pearson/Prentice Hall Publishers Hauser, Christine. (2007, April 16). Virginia Tech Shooting. The New York Times. Retrieved from www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/us/16cnd-shooting.html?_r=1 Prinstein M and Dodge K, (2008), Understanding Peer Influence in Children and Adolescents. Guilford Press publishers, P. 239 Webb N and Terr L, (2007), Play Therapy wi th Children in Crisis: Individual, Group, and Family Treatment. Guilford Press publishers, P. 251Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More

The Marketing Environment Essays

The Marketing Environment Essays The Marketing Environment Essay The Marketing Environment Essay 1. The changing and uncertain marketing environment deeply affects the organization’. Discuss this statement,explaining what is meant by the’marketing environment’ and explaining how it might affect marketing plans and activities with an example. The Marketing Environment The marketing environment refers to all of the internal and external forces that affect a marketer’s ability to create, communicate, deliver and exchange offerings of value. The factors and forces within the marketing environment can be classified as belonging to the internal environment, the micro-environment, and the macro-environment. The internal environment refers to the organization itself and the factors that are directly controllable by the organization. The micro-environment comprises the forces and factors at play inside the industry in which the marketer operates. Micro-environmental factors affect all parties in the industry, including suppliers, distributors, customers and competitors. The macro-environment comprises the larger-scale forces that influence not only the industry in which the marketer operates, but all industries. Macro-environmental factors include political forces, economic forces, sociocultural forces, technological forces and legal forces. This macro-environmental framework has been called the PESTL framework. Micro-environmental and macro-environmental forces are outside of the organization and, while they can be influenced, they cannot be directly controlled. The internal environment refers to its parts, people and processes. An organization is able to directly control the factors in its internal environment. A thorough understanding of the internal environment ensures that marketers understand the organisation’s strengths and weaknesses, which positively and negatively affect the organisation’s ability to compete in the marketplace. The micro-environment consists of customers, clients, partners, competitors and other parties that make up the organisation’s industry. The organization cannot directly control its micro-environment and respond to the current and future needs and wants of their target market. They must understand how each of their partners’ processes work and how their partnerships benefit each party. They must also understand the risks involved in working with partners and the relative power balance between the organization and each partner. Suppliers are a particularly crucial partner. Marketers must identify, assess, monitor and manage risks to supplies and risks to the price of supplies. To succeed, marketers must ensure their offerings provide their target market with greater value than their competitors’ offerings. Thus, marketers seek to understand their competitors’ marketing mix, sales volumes, sales trends, market share, staffing, sales per employee and employment trends. Marketers should analyse total budget competition, generic competition, product competition and brand competition. The macro-environment encompasses uncontrollable factors outside of the industry: political, economic, sociocultural, technological and legal forces. Political forces describe the influence of politics on marketing decisions. Economic forces affect how much money people and organizations can spend and how they choose to spend it. Sociocultural forces affect people’s attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, preferences, customs and lifestyles. Technological forces are those arising from the search for a better way to do things. Technology changes the expectations and behaviors of customers and clients as well as how organisations work with their partners and within society. Laws and regulations are closely tied to politics and establish the rules under which organizations must conduct their activities. The most significant laws and regulations for marketers are related to privacy, fair trading, consumer safety, prices, contract terms and intellectual property. Marketing metrics are used to measure current performance and the outcomes of past activities. A SWOT analysis is used to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The example: Wenzhou Shoes 2004? 9? 17? ,â€Å" † - - ,? 400 , , 800 September 17, 2004, European shoes the eastern town of Elche, Spain, China Shoes City, about 400 Spaniards gathered unidentified street, destroyed a bus carrying Wenzhou shoe container truck and a Wenzhou shoe warehouse, causing about 800 million yuan of economic losses. This is the first ever Spanish Chinese business interests of serious violations of the violence. , ,? 2001 , , In fact, data show that since 2001, Wenzhou shoes incident overseas every year by resistance occurred, and there is an upward trend: 2001? 8 2002? 1? , , August 2001 to January 2002, Russia had seized the incident occurred once, Wenzhou shoes involved. , 3 , The longest that the goods seized, the whole Zhejiang loss of about 3 billion yuan loss of individual enterprises million yuan or more. 2003 ,20 , The winter of 2003, more than 20 products of Wenzhou footwear shoe was burned in Rome, Italy, the specific loss is unknown. 004? 1? 8? , â€Å" †, January 8, 2004, the Nigerian Government issued list of banned imports, Wenzhou shoes one of them. 2004? 2? 12? , â€Å" † , 3000 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦February 12, 2004, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs sent a large number of police raids in Moscow, Aimila big market goods, Chinese businessmen, including China, Wenzhou shoe manufacturers, including business loss of about $ 30,000,000 this , 2001 40%, 30%, 4. 6 Relevant data and background information, Wenzhou shoe production for export as early as in 2001, jumped 40%, close to 30% of total output, only from Wenzhou Customs exit of shoes to the value of $ 460,000,000. 10 ,? â€Å" †? â€Å" †? , â€Å" † , Wenzhou top 10 in several shoe factories to produce shoes for export oriented, such as the East Art, Tema, etc. , including Tema, including several of Wenzhou shoe factory, and also Wal-Mart signed production agreement for the global retail industry hegemony of mass production for supermarkets sell cheap shoes. , , , 10 ~30 , 10 From the product level , at present, most of Chinas export of footwear is still the middle and low variety, low prices, generally 10 dollars to 30 dollars, many even less than 10 dollars. 9 â€Å" † 5 ? Took place in September this year, Spains burning shoes incident was burned average unit price of the shoes only 5 euros. , ( OEM ) Exports of high-end shoes and own-brand share are very small, and exports more products to OEM manner. ? , , â€Å" † , , , For example, most of the production of footwear sales in the U. S. low-end shoe store, while in the United States, the high-end shoe store also can procure the Chinese shoes of the shadow, but the price was lower than Italy, Spain, Brazil and other countries products, and all Chinese-made shoes are not their own brands, trademarks and brands are using overseas. , Some of the same grade shoe prices in foreign markets and products to be lower than the country of origin, and some even lower than Vietnam, and Thailands exports. , ; , , ; , 10 2200? , View from the export enterprises, private enterprises accounted for most; see from the export area, mainly in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, Fujian Jinjiang, Quanzhou, Guangdong, Shandong, Sichuan and other regions, and has established a number of shoe manufacturing base; from the export scale , the current export value of 10 million U. S. dollars more than 2,200 enterprises, accounting for nearly half of the total number of export enterprises. â€Å" † , â€Å" † , â€Å" †? â€Å" , , † The Spanish case, we need to think about the brand. We do not have world-renowned brand, which is the international competition of Chinese shoes in the greatest difficulty. Executive vice president of Cornell, said Zhou Jinmiao interview. Members of Light Industry Import and Export Corporation Wenzhou Foreign Trade Wai seems to know China better than anyone in the international market brand shoes difficult. â€Å" BATA , , 100 , † Well-known supermarket chains in Europe BATA , there are a lot of shoes from around the world, but I never found more than 100 euros over Chinese shoes. Chinese shoe brands in the world, not only to low-end shoes to compete. Spain burning low-end shoes is the result of competition. 2. Describe in detail the five marketing management orientation. Discuss the marketer’s argument for why an organization should embrace the market orientation. Marketing Management Orientation The Marketing Orientation and the Marketing Concept. An organization with a market orientation focuses its efforts on 1)continuously collecting information about customers needs and competitors capabilities, 2) sharing this information across departments, and 3) using the information to create customer value. The market orientation simply defines an organization that understands the importance of customer needs, makes an effort to provide products of high value to its customers, and markets its products and services in a coordinated holistic program across all departments. In what we call the Marketing Concept, the company embraces a philosophy that the Customer is King. † The Marketing Concept is an attitude. Its a philosophy that is driven down throughout the organization from the very top of the management structure. The Marketing Concept communicates that the customer is king. Everything that the company does focuses on the customer. Via the Marketing Concept, a company makes every effort to best understand the wants and needs of its target market and to create want-satisfying goods that best fulfill the needs of that target market and to do this better than the competition. It wasnt always that way. There were other orientations that companies embraced over the years. The Produ ction Concept has been around for years. That concept simply suggests that customers prefer inexpensive products that are readily available. In effect, if we make it, they will come. The Product Concept suggests that companies that build the better mousetrap will gain favor. The thinking here is that customers want products that have higher quality, that offer better performance or do something unique. The Selling Concept proceeded the Marketing Concept. From the 1920s until the 1950s, most firms had a sales orientation. Competition had grown, and there was a need to pursue the scarce customer. Sales could mean everything from sales people to advertising to public relations, but little effort was made to coordinate any overall marketing function. What we often saw in the Selling Concept was the hard sell and the belief that consumers wouldnt purchase unless they were sold. The Holistic Marketing Concept that is embraced in the 21st century results in companies looking at their overall marketing efforts. This includes how their marketing affects society, as a whole. Marketing is also done internally within the company. Without customers, a company will quickly flounder thus the importance of the relationship. Holistic marketing looks at the connectivity of the company, its people, its customers, and the society in which it operates. The Societal Marketing Concept focuses on. Market positioning in the 70s of last century by the American Marketing experts Iris and Jack Trouts, its meaning is an enterprise based on existing products on the market competitors, the location of the products for a customer These characteristics or attributes of the emphasis, create unique products for the enterprise, giving the impression of a distinctive image, and to pass such a vivid image to the customer, so that the products in the market to determine the appropriate location. Market positioning of a product itself is not what you do, but you do the eyes of potential consumers. The essence of market orientation to the enterprise and other enterprises strictly separated, so that customers clearly feel and recognize the difference, which the customer occupies a special place in mind. Another argument is the product positioning, target market positioning, competitive positioning. Market positioning is the key enterprises should try to find their products more competitive than the competitions features. Competitive advantage is generally two basic types: one is price competitive, that is, under the same conditions set lower prices than the competition. This requires companies to take all efforts to reduce unit costs. Second, competitive preference, which can provide certain features to meet customer specific preferences. This requires companies to take every effort to work on the product features. Therefore, the whole process of the enterprise market positioning can be accomplished through three steps: 1) Analysis of the status of the target market to confirm the potential of this business a competitive advantage 2) The exact choice of competitive advantage, the initial positioning of the target market Competitive advantage that the ability of companies to outperform its competitors. This capability can be either existing, may also be potential. Select a competitive advantage is actually a business and competitor strength compared to all aspects of the process. Indicators should be a relatively complete system, the only way to accurately select the relative competitive advantage. The usual method is to analyze, compare companies and competitors in business management, technology development, procurement, production, marketing, finance, and what kinds of products is the strength of seven areas, which are weak. To select the most suitable for the business advantages of the project, initially set to target enterprise market position. 3) Shows a distinct competitive advantage and re-positioning The main task of this step is the enterprise through a series of publicity and promotion activities, the competitive advantage of its unique and accurate communication to potential customers and impress in the minds of customers. To this end, companies should first understand the target customer, know, know, identity, love and preference of the companys market position, established in the minds of customers is consistent with the positioning of the image. Second, companies target customers through a variety of efforts to strengthen the image and maintain understanding of target customers, target customers attitude stability and deepening the feelings of the target customers to consolidate in line with the markets image. Finally, enterprises should pay attention to the target customers understand their market position or because of deviations propaganda enterprise market positioning errors caused by target customers fuzzy, chaos and misunderstanding, and promptly correct the inconsistencies in the image and market positioning. Companys products in the market positioning even if it is appropriate, but in the following circumstances, should consider re-positioning: (1) Introduction of new competitors, product positioning in the vicinity of the enterprise products, enterprise products occupied part of the market, so that the decline in market share of enterprise products. 2) Consumer needs or preferences change, so that the enterprise product sales plummeted. To avoid the strong positioning strategy: trying to avoid is the most powerful business or other enterprise directly place a strong competition, while positioning their products in another market area, to make their products with certain characteristics or attributes the strongest or strong opponents are more significant differences. Head-positioning strategy: is an enterprise based on its own strength, to occupy a better market position, at the market on the dominant, most powerful or compete head-strong competitors, leaving their own and rival products into the the same market position. Looking for new but not yet occupied the position of the potential market demand to fill vacancies on the market, production market, not, with some characteristics of products. Such as Japans Sony Corporation Sony Walkman and a number of new

Deciphering 7 Job Ad Phrases and What They Really Mean

Deciphering 7 Job Ad Phrases and What They Really Mean Sometimes reading a job description is a bit like trying to decipher The Matrix. While some phrases are literal, others are more cryptic, leaving you to wonder, â€Å"Is this really the right job for me?† This handy crib sheet can help you understand what employers really mean when they write job descriptions. 1. â€Å"Multitasking†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Multitasking† sounds like a great skill, right? Being recognized for your ability to do many things at once is, on the surface, a positive one. However, while the job description may simply mean that you will be expected to balance, prioritize, and complete work in order of importance, it can also have an underlying meaning: that your employer will expect you to do anything and everything - whether or not it actually falls under the roles and responsibilities of your job.If you like to have understanding of what your job will entail, and prefer to stay within those guidelines, then the â€Å"multitasking† keyword may set off alarm bells for you.2. â€Å"Team Player†In our increasing era of collaboration, the need for team players goes without saying. So what does it mean when a job description highlights this fact? Along the same lines as â€Å"multitasking,† this may cloak what employers are really looking for: someone to do the dirty work in the form of the department’s most untenable work. Or, you may be asked to put aside your own work to help a teammate who dropped the ball. Over time, this can become a major frustration.3. â€Å"Entrepreneurial†Entrepreneurial skills are highly prized in today’s business world. While some companies may be looking for movers and shakers, others may be cloaking an unclear or irregular job description.Rather than being given a firm set of responsibilities, you may be expected to intuit where you need to be and when, which can be a recipe for disaster in uncertain situations.4. â€Å"A Fast-Paced Job Environment†This one m ay sound like a thrilling opportunity. After all, who wants a job that’s slow and boring? But this description may be a hidden warning that you’ll be working in a pressure-packed environment. While this may work for you if tight deadlines and frenetic work hours help keep you motivated, if you prefer a more stable environment, think twice.5. â€Å"Must have a good sense of humor†A sense of humor is an addition to any office, but that goes without saying. However, if a good sense of humor is requisite for the job - and the job doesn’t involve working in comedy club - then more likely than not this may indicate that the company culture leans toward the off, unusual, inappropriate, or even alienating.It may also mean that they are looking for an employee who will laugh in the face of adversity†¦and thereby that adversity exists.6. â€Å"Perfect for stay-at-home moms and students.†Stay-at-home moms and students may be looking for flexible hours, so job descriptions which put these words front and center may be particularly appealing to them. However, this may also be a way of suggesting that both experience requirements and pay are minimal.Many people in need of part-time work are also willing to work for less so the competition may be surprisingly steep.7. â€Å"Passionate†It’s good to be committed to your job, but not if â€Å"passionate† means â€Å"willing to work for much less to do what you love.† It may also mean that an employer expects candidates to be willing to put their jobs above all other commitments.As the competition for the best candidates becomes fiercer, employers are getting savvy about crafting job descriptions that catch the attention of potential applicants. Savvy applicants, meanwhile, can be prepared to decode job description lingo and find a job description that matches their expectations when it comes to a real-world job.

ATRIAL SEPTAL DEFECT (ASD) AND VENTRICULAR SEPTAL DEFECT (VSD) Assignment

ATRIAL SEPTAL DEFECT (ASD) AND VENTRICULAR SEPTAL DEFECT (VSD) - Assignment Example Although most of the children with smaller ASDs appear healthy and grow normally, those with larger ASDs habitually exhibit reduced appetite and growth, frequent fatigue, shortness of breath and persistent lung infections. Additionally, such children are highly susceptible to conditions such as pneumonia. Treatment: Treatment of ASD in children similarly depends on the age of the child, size of the ASD and its location (Adler et al., 2014). Small ASD defects routinely close on their own as the child grows while there is always the need to perform open-heart surgeries and cardiac catheterization in order to rectify the condition in case the defect is large. Symptoms: Cardiovascular specialists are often able to detect VSD over the first few trips the infant makes to the hospital because of an irregular murmur within the heart (Penny et al., 2011). Apart from that, children who suffer from the condition often fail to thrive because they do not eat due to lack of appetite. Similarly, such children regularly tire quickly and suffer several instances of breathlessness due to faster breathing rates. Treatment: Treatment of VSD heavily relies on the size of the hole and, the age of the child and its location. Health experts routinely carry out open-heart surgeries to remedy the condition. The same applies to cardiac catheterization. Symptoms: In adults, the indicators of the condition are shortness of breath, notably when exercising and recurrent fatigue. The victims will similarly exhibit swelling of various body parts including the abdomen and legs, skipped heartbeats, frequent lung infections, and stroke. Treatment: Health providers recommend the use of anticoagulant drugs and medications that keep the heartbeat regular. For medium and large sized defects, doctors routinely recommend open-heart surgeries, for that ensures no future complications. Symptoms: Adults who suffer from VSDs experience

The Rule of Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Rule of Law - Essay Example During the last decades a lot of money has been spent trying to apply the Rule of Law in countries with undemocratic societies and in underdeveloped countries. The People’s Republic of China is one of those countries. As we can see, the Rule of Law is a very conflictive topic for a lot of people in our present society. We really think that the Rule of Law is very important in order to establish democracy and development in any country. But first let’s see what the Rule of Law is. Tom Glass defines the Rule of Law according to the following concepts: â€Å"Government decisions are made according to written law and rules; Government sanctions cannot be made up after the fact (ex post facto); Rules are applied as much as possible consistently to all; Courts provide citizens consistent, written process (due process) before life, liberty, or property is taken; Courts provide reasons based upon the law for their decisions.† Chinese people couldn’t get the ideas behind these points due to the fact of their Confucian background in which there was a heavy dependence upon the clan or the group. As the UN China puts it: â€Å"Under the philosophy that the government represents the people, internal government procedures regulated conflicts between the government and the individual, not laws.†

What good life is Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

What good life is - Essay Example At some cases, the trip is such a rapid process one hardly realizes to have not gotten anywhere interesting in the end. Readers get a good time they hardly care. However, repeatedly, the poem ask s a lot from the reader and very few given for compensation. Subjects also limit pay-offs, inchoate and too minor, puzzles with gears can complicate churning and might finally reveal the clunk and clink of dullness of mind. The emotionally and spiritually flat dressed up information in technician is some type of poetry, but this is not to a large extent. Poetry with a few conviction and clear voice is more interesting, even when it is not formally accomplished. In the poem entitled â€Å"love† by Michael Dickman, he expresses how people fall in love. This is mostly in weddings and restaurants as they take wine. He analyses various environments where people often like making love and happiness as a sign of love. These occasions are naturally a symbol of good life. They make friendship with strangers as they watch movies. In this poem Dickman, explains how men fall in love with girls in restaurants. He brings out the issue of thighs, how it contributes to love. He uses an example of a boy who sold them popcorns meets a girl who was selling tickets. Dickman explains how love without care come. He compares it with how teeth are in the mouth. That he loved her the way his teeth loved the mouth. He compares his love to that of a boy he knew would attempt to have a purple dinosaur who loved him for real. He says that there is no one who can account for it. That in fact there are no people to do the accounting to balance the books love. He argues that there are even no one to measure the speed and distance between two loving hearts. As Dickman explains about happiness in love, he explains how S&M goddess love her husband. He puts clearly how the goddess brings him to a mall, leading him through the court of food by a leash. This is all because of strong feeling of love.

Kodak and Fujifilm Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Kodak and Fujifilm - Research Paper Example Kodak, however, would retreat into 327th in the year 2011, filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protections in 2012. Kodak’s failure to adapt to the digital age was cited as a major cause for this. However, Kodak had invented the first digital camera in 1975 and aggressively immersed itself into this new business, promoting M&A, but was unable to use the strategies for profit. Kodak began struggling with numerous problems from the late 70s; this included the challenge brought by the instant camera and increased competition in the Polaroid camera with Fujifilm. While a succession of CEOs attempted to deal with these problems in order to improve the company’s business, they were largely unsuccessful (Elkins, 2011). This can be explained by Clayton Christensen’s â€Å"innovator’s dilemma†. Fujifilm Co. Ltd. began, on the other hand, as a producer of cinematic film and grew into a manufacturer and marketer of information and imaging products. It grew into t he largest photographic filmmaker for the Japanese market and competed with Eastman Kodak for market share on the global stage. Fujifilm, on top of pushing a variety of still camera film, color paper, photo-finishing equipment, motion picture film, and color paper chemicals, also entered the digital sphere, making flat panel display materials, medical imaging products, media for digital recording, office printers and copiers, as well as digital cameras (Elkins, 2011). They derived approximately a half of their revenues from Japan with 20% in North America, 14% in the rest of the Asia-Pacific region and another 14% in Africa (Elkins, 2011). However, the company’s focus diversified greatly from negatives, with its imaging solutions unit being the smallest. Its photographic paper chemicals, photofinishing equipment, digital cameras, as well as photographic papers and films, are its biggest investment in the last 20 years. The main business in Fujifilm that accounts for over 40% of sales includes; information related services and products as well as document operations. Its document business involves a joint venture with Xerox to offer printers, copy machines, and production services. Its information unit handles flat panel and optical display components, recording media, large scale printing, and medical imaging (Elkins, 2011). Comparing and contrasting the approach to management that each company has pursued in order to embrace innovation. Kodak faced criticism for its slow response to the digital age because of a conservative culture, coupled to a complacent monopolist nature that affected its ability to embrace its own innovations, like the digital camera that it invented in the mid-70s (Baron, 2010). Clay Chandler, the CEO at that time promoted a culture of innovative diversification. However, CEOs that came after him denied the policy and did away with many promising ventures for the future by taking to resource selection and concentration. By stickin g to film, they ignored the innovation of digital printers and cameras, categorizing itself as an imaging company. The main reason that Kodak faced bankruptcy had to do with its concentration on narrow business field that prevented it from developing on innovations (Baron, 2010). Fujifilm, in many aspects, had a common business trajectory to Kodak on its founding. However, the major changes that came with the digital age and the dangers portended by this innovation to the film industry saw Fujifilm attempt to find new businesses, especially as it was vertically oriented,

CALL research review Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

CALL research review - Assignment Example In addition, the results depict the role of CALL in using technology available to increase foreign language learning effectiveness in students. The article then develops the conclusion that CALL system increases the effectiveness of foreign language learning programs. In addition, students tend embrace the CALL system learning program more than other learning approaches (Nerbonne & Katushemererwe, 2014). From the article, the results obtained depict that the use CALL increases the effectiveness of foreign language learning programs. The conclusion is accurate based on that the results from the research realized that students found it simpler and effective to use CALL system rather other teaching techniques in learning of a foreign language. From the results, one may ask the question on what qualities are available for CALL that makes it effective? The system main unique property is the use of technology such as online learning approaches (Stockwell, 2012). This property allows the tutor to develop modernized curriculums. In addition, the student are provided with more appealing and interesting learning programs (Stockwell, 2012). In an argument by Beatty (2013) the CALL system has to its exposure the use of the online methods learning techniques. The author further points out that information sharing and dissemination on this approach is more effective (Beatty, 2013). Consequently, the learning experience is made more effective for both the tutor and the students. In regards to foreign language learning, the CALL system increase the scope of research that could done to enhance the learning experience. In addition, through research the tutor is able to understand trends in a particular foreign language that may increase the effectiveness of the student to attain the objectives and goals of the foreign language learning programs (Stockwell, 2012). One major strength of the article is that the text

Kodak and Fujifilm Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Kodak and Fujifilm - Research Paper Example Kodak, however, would retreat into 327th in the year 2011, filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protections in 2012. Kodak’s failure to adapt to the digital age was cited as a major cause for this. However, Kodak had invented the first digital camera in 1975 and aggressively immersed itself into this new business, promoting M&A, but was unable to use the strategies for profit. Kodak began struggling with numerous problems from the late 70s; this included the challenge brought by the instant camera and increased competition in the Polaroid camera with Fujifilm. While a succession of CEOs attempted to deal with these problems in order to improve the company’s business, they were largely unsuccessful (Elkins, 2011). This can be explained by Clayton Christensen’s â€Å"innovator’s dilemma†. Fujifilm Co. Ltd. began, on the other hand, as a producer of cinematic film and grew into a manufacturer and marketer of information and imaging products. It grew into t he largest photographic filmmaker for the Japanese market and competed with Eastman Kodak for market share on the global stage. Fujifilm, on top of pushing a variety of still camera film, color paper, photo-finishing equipment, motion picture film, and color paper chemicals, also entered the digital sphere, making flat panel display materials, medical imaging products, media for digital recording, office printers and copiers, as well as digital cameras (Elkins, 2011). They derived approximately a half of their revenues from Japan with 20% in North America, 14% in the rest of the Asia-Pacific region and another 14% in Africa (Elkins, 2011). However, the company’s focus diversified greatly from negatives, with its imaging solutions unit being the smallest. Its photographic paper chemicals, photofinishing equipment, digital cameras, as well as photographic papers and films, are its biggest investment in the last 20 years. The main business in Fujifilm that accounts for over 40% of sales includes; information related services and products as well as document operations. Its document business involves a joint venture with Xerox to offer printers, copy machines, and production services. Its information unit handles flat panel and optical display components, recording media, large scale printing, and medical imaging (Elkins, 2011). Comparing and contrasting the approach to management that each company has pursued in order to embrace innovation. Kodak faced criticism for its slow response to the digital age because of a conservative culture, coupled to a complacent monopolist nature that affected its ability to embrace its own innovations, like the digital camera that it invented in the mid-70s (Baron, 2010). Clay Chandler, the CEO at that time promoted a culture of innovative diversification. However, CEOs that came after him denied the policy and did away with many promising ventures for the future by taking to resource selection and concentration. By stickin g to film, they ignored the innovation of digital printers and cameras, categorizing itself as an imaging company. The main reason that Kodak faced bankruptcy had to do with its concentration on narrow business field that prevented it from developing on innovations (Baron, 2010). Fujifilm, in many aspects, had a common business trajectory to Kodak on its founding. However, the major changes that came with the digital age and the dangers portended by this innovation to the film industry saw Fujifilm attempt to find new businesses, especially as it was vertically oriented,

Alcohol-related Motor Vehicle Trafic Crashed Essay

Alcohol-related Motor Vehicle Trafic Crashed - Essay Example It has been decreasing owing to the efforts by patrol police who have worked hard to bring sanity. From 2009, the police have seen the number of death toll from university students. This made the Florida Highway Patrol to provide the names of all the students that have lost their lives in such bizarre incidents. Sixty percent of these deaths were caused by drunk driving (cited in SAMHSA 45). However, the police and hospitals have noted with concern the influence of other substances that the students use alongside alcohol. Students consume alcohol alongside marijuana thus putting them to extreme risks. SAMHSA (substance abuse and mental health services administration in their report, gives the names of students who have lost their lives in the since 2009. A good number comes from the University of Florida that is situated in the Miami De County (cited in SAMHSA 47). These statistics can be compared to the recent trends as from the year 2012. In the year 2013, a 30-year-old was sent to hospital (cited in SAMHSA 45). Officers found out that he was driving while drunk. In the year 2010, approximately 2,220 people were convicted of drunk driving. They were irresponsible enough, putting their lives and that of passengers at risk. According to high department, they recorded close to 228, 000-accident cases in the year 2011. Of these accidents, 108,000 were alcohol induced. Fatal accidents were 850 with 900 casualties. Statistics also show that many students have fallen victims of drunk driving. Most of them are from the Universities and the University of Florida is mostly affected. These students live the high life, go to parties, get drunk and choose to drive themselves. It is so painful to see the large list at the high department, which states that all of these students... This essay approves that the nurses must develop empathy before embarking on helping the victims. It helps them develop passion to help the victims. A nurse must have a positive attitude towards helping accident victims. In most cases, reckless drivers are receiving limited attention from the nurses. Nurses should also receive training from the top management to enable them develop a positive attitude towards their work. Care must also be taken to control the overacting personnel like the ones who develop compassion fatigue. This report makes a conclusion that the Miami De County is facing road accident nightmares. The county is recording a worrying trend in the alcohol-related road crashes. This is attributed to the drinking habit of the county. Statistics show that the county did record high accident numbers between the years 2010 and 2012. Recently the numbers have been increasing with alcohol contributing to almost a third of the accidents. The traffic police have worked endlessly to salvage the situation to no avail. There is a new group of drinkers: the teenagers in university. These groups lead affluent lives occasioned with drinking. The resulted is many road accidents and death tolls. The only professionals that can handle this situation are nurses. This paper recommends that nurses can use their influence on the patients they attend to reduce these road accidents. They have a variety of intervention stages, from the education sector to the alcohol advertising companies. Throughout this paper, i t is notable that nurses have less intervention with regard accidents. This paper also should bring awareness to the nurses and encourage their participation in reducing alcohol-related road crashes.

The Holy Virgin Mother Mary Essay Example for Free

The Holy Virgin Mother Mary Essay The Holy Virgin Mother Mary,by Chris Ofili, is one of the many controversial pieces of artwork to rise to fame in the late nineties. Taken as highly offense to the religious community due to the portraits exposed breast, hints of pornographic material,elephant dung and seemingly downgrading use of the sacred image of Mother Mary. Due to Ofilis inappropriate interpretation of real art, he received countless criticisms about his work including threats and vandalism against The Holy Virgin Mother Mary. The portrait has a 2D shape,very flat with little to no depth. My eye is drawn directly to the blue rosebud in the center of the portrait,which turns out to be the breast of the Holy Virgin Mary,after reading a little into the background of this portrait. Multiple round putty-like splatters are spread out around the painting. If you look closely you can determine that these are pornographic cutouts pasted all along and around the painting. The foreground of the painting tends to blend with the background and the only thing separating the Virgin Mary from the bright yellows and oranges is a soft thin line. The Holy Virgin Mary depicts a woman of African descent and clothed in turquoise blue robes in a similar manner as mother Mary. Small round objects float about the painting in a random and unorganized manner,which represents an ironic reference to the putti that appear in traditional religious art. The Holy Virgin Mother Mary sit centers around a yellow and orange background. Ofili started using dried-out elephant dung for the first time after a visit to Zimbabwe in 1992, his first ever trip to Africa. He was so taken by this experience that he wanted to import something of the African landscape into his paintings. In order to compensate for the foul nature of the dung, however, he took special care to make the overall effect of his paintings especially attractive. He did so by making richly-layered decorative surfaces. Ofili employed mixed media, including oil paint, glitter, and polyester resin,and collaged pornographic images in this painting, incorporating colored dots, sparkling glitter, polyester resin, map pins, collage cut-outs, all carefully combined into a dazzling display of vibrant folksy energy. A lump of dried, varnished elephant dung orms one bared breast, and the painting is displayed leaning against the gallery wall, supported by two other lumps of elephant dung, decorated with colored pins. The pins on the left are arranged to spell out Virgin and the one on the right Mary. (BBC News) In an interview, the British artist Chris Ofili discusses his work. He asserts that his paintings are part of hip-hop culture, and states that his work operates on multiple levels and is open to interpretation. He explains his intention of transforming everyday junk and aspects of contemporary culture into thought-provoking images, noting the importance of his identity as a Londoner. He discusses his techniques and current projects, and explains the importance of music, drawing parallels between his concerns and those of contemporary hip-hop and soul artists. He considers his painting The Holy Virgin Mary with reference to issues including the stereotyping of black women, the paradox of the virgin mother, and notions of beauty and caricature, and concludes by asserting that art can be constructed from anything and should be unrestricted by cultural norms(Miller, Paul D). It is perhaps Marys role as virgin and mother that best captures the paradoxical character of her identity and her imagery. Mary has often been cast as the counterpoint to Eve,as the agent of sin and death versus woman as vehicle of redemption. Yet, remember, Mary also bore a son. In one fourteenth-century book, the Annunciation scene is surrounded by cats, rabbits, monkeys, and flirtatious girls and boys to contrast the Virgins chastity with worldly carnality and simultaneously to offer a message of fertility(College Street Journal). I think that Ofilis imagery must be seen against this,contradictory visual history and in terms of the personal and universal that has underlain much of art connected with the Virgin. Ofili depicts her features and uses elephant dung to connect her in a basic way to the African earth and its people. To depict the The Holy Virgin Mary as a beautiful piece of art, is a bit of a stretch for me. It is a unique work of art that expresses the artists views on certain religious phenomena and worldly stereotypes.

Supplier Relationship Importance And Supply Chain Management

Supplier Relationship Importance And Supply Chain Management In todays increasing economic environment, organisations are looking for new techniques to improve their competitive advantage. The focus of my research is in the area of purchasing which have now become a strategic function and a key reason in positioning competitively among all other competitors. The paper discusses that in recent years, the relationships between buyers and suppliers have been continuously receiving a considerable attention for effective operations within organisations. Traditionally, supplier-buyer relationships were regarded as adversarial, arms length transactions. However, the approach towards managing this relationship is changing and moving towards a more collaborative approach due to the fact that now suppliers are important sources to gain competitive advantage to operate in global markets in terms of their expertise, knowledge and ability of sharing risks. [Research paper Journal] The research aims to provide an understanding of supplier relationship management, factors of supplier evaluation and selection process, and the elements that contribute to the establishment of a productive customer/vendor relationships. Such a study is important for buyers to build and maintain effective relationships with their suppliers for consistent cost reductions while working together to mutually create revenues and other benefits. The paper recommends that this information may work as a reference guideline for buyers when initiating cooperative relationships with their supply sources resulting in advanced purchasing and strategic supply chain management in their organisation. The research method adopted in this dissertation is secondary exploring various business journals, business websites, textbooks and articles. Due to continuous new product developments, product innovations and increase in costs, managing supplier relationships will further become crucial in the near future. Due to this reason, therefore, this paper discusses the requirement of supplier relationships and how this shift in organisational strategy towards building relations has and will going to change the employees role, companys processes and organisational goals. The findings from this research provides an evidence of how companies have improved their supply chain operations through understanding the importance to develop effective supplier relationships as part of their core business activity for not only to achieve success within procurement department but also to successfully complete other supply chain cycle such as maintaining production flow at all times, planning accurately, inventory handling, logistical issues and achieving financial benefits. Examples included findings from large organisations of Hong Kong, Rolls Royce, GE, and Japanese firm Toyota. The main conclusion that can be drawn from this research is that every organisation must emphasise the need to actually develop world class suppliers that helps in building long-term relationships, reduction in costs, improved QCDS (quality, cost, delivery and service) criteria, improved customer service, mutual information sharing, reducing the NPI (new product inspection) costs and becoming world class organisation in the market. Introduction Nowadays, the majority of Organisations believe that their companys real assets are embedded in the quality of the relationships shared between the business and their stakeholders such as clients or customers, employees and suppliers. Developing and managing supplier relationship will be the main subject throughout this project. The objective of this research is to investigate the importance of the need to focus more on building collaborative relationships with their strategic suppliers by large manufacturing companies. With increase in globalisation and restructuring of several organisations, procurements role has changed focusing more towards costs, quality, flexibility and technology. [Herbig and OHara, 1995; Goh and Lau, 1999] In the previous years (traditionally), purchasing was considered as a secretarial function in which the buyer-supplier relationships were viewed as being adversarial and unsurprisingly results in a win/lose outcome. Before, business operations from manufacturing to assembling the finished goods were prepared in-house but now many organisations have moved towards a more combined approach where manufacturing firms have started concentrating more on their core competencies only and rest outsourcing nationally and internationally to satisfy their customer expectations. Organisations are going lean i.e. working towards continuous improvement, adopting just-in time and total quality management and eliminating wastes. This highlighted the requirement for most of the lean organisations to grow cooperative supplier-buyer relationships to achieve real productivity, improved design and quality that are unattainable unless the supplying partners assist in product innovation. Hence, several manufacturers have recognized their ability to become world class competitors based on establishing high levels of trust and cooperation among their suppliers. [They and Briggs (1994)] For example, highlighting the case of Rolls Royce, the engine manufacturer, that outsources 70% of their material from external supply chain and thats the reason Rolls Royce try to encourage their suppliers to work openly and jointly contributing to their performance. Rolls Royce belief in building good supplier relationships assures quality and competitiveness to their product offerings and helps to achieve customer standards. The growing face of domestic and global competition has led to understand the manufacturing companies to practise global sourcing which is a strategy to improve companies competitiveness in the international market through reducing costs, improving quality, increased exposure to universal technology, and improving delivery and reliability. A connection or association is known as a relationship. Relationships are said to be when individuals, organisations and internal or external groups to an enterprise interact. At recent times, relationship marketing describes long-term marketing strategy that emphasise on building and maintaining long-term relationships with customers rather than just focusing on one-time sale approach. At business level, relationship marketing is applied to variety of purchasing supplier relationships in the context of a broader network of interconnected purchasing, supplier and competitor organisations. Supplier relationship is defined as a systematic approach to supplier evaluation, selection and ongoing relationship management with the goal of cutting the costs of goods and services boosting profits? Supplier relationship management is a proactive approach of an ongoing business links to secure a competitive advantage within the organisation, focusing more on overall relationships between the supplier and the customer (buying organisation) rather than focusing on specific contracts. The idea is to develop trust and understanding of each others requirements and interests while providing assistance to each other. For example, Rolls Royce sends their experts to their sub-contract suppliers to improve their technology and performance standards. Such relationships bring profit and provide competitive advantage. [http://www.ogc.gov.uk/process_supplier_performance_and_contract_management_6368.asp] Today, most of the companies have realised that doing business jointly with their strategic suppliers will enhance their organisational ability to respond quickly to demand changes, focus on core business only and hence, results in implementing best practises. For example, Rolls Royce believes their supplier make very essential contribution to their business performance as over 70% of their manufacturing costs comes from external supply sources. focus more on their core competencies such as encouraging suppliers to work with transparency, openly and together to enhance continuous improvements. rather than Small to Medium size Enterprises and many local businesses use Transactional Purchasing whereas Large Enterprises use Relationship Purchasing to compete strongly in this economic climate. Transactional Purchasing Relationship purchasing Focus on short, discrete purchasing Focus on supplier retention Short-term orientation Long-term orientation Arms length Closeness Simple buyer-seller relationship Complicated, including internal relationships Emphasis on price, quality and delivery in the offered product No Innovation Emphasis on price, quality, delivery other factors, like innovative design as a collaborative exercise b/w purchaser and supplier Moderate supplier contacts High level of supplier contact with each contact being used to gain information strengthen the relationship Little sharing of information Significant sharing of information, including cost information and transparency Introducing Supply chain management The project is focused on process for choosing world class suppliers, importance of building supplier relationships, various supplier development approaches and process of negotiation required in purchasing that plays a vital role in todays supply chain management. Explaining what is supply chain management and its various elements that are necessary for the movement of goods and services within the business. Supply chain management consists of the intra and inter-organisational co-ordination of business functions that act as both transformative and support functions. This emphasises managing supply chain effectively must be a key activity within the businesses. [Mentzer et al. (2001)] Supply chain combines flow of materials, goods, and information (includes money) that floats within and between organisations linking with a variety of tangible and intangible facilitators, e.g. relationships, processes, activities and integrated information systems. Different views of supply chains are implemented in terms of a process when operations are emphasised, a logistical channel when emphasises marketing, a value chain whey looking at value added activities, and a demand chain when considering customer satisfaction. [Peck H. (2006)] Key elements of supply chain The key elements of supply chain are that links with each other by the movement of products. The following explains that supply chain starts and ends with the customer: [http://logistics.about.com/od/supplychainintroduction/a/into_scm.htm] Customer This is the customer that starts the value chain by deciding to make a purchase of a particular product for example, in an aviation industry procuring turbine blades or a fan shaft which is offered for sale by an organisation. At this stage, the customer contacts the sales team and places purchase order with a right quantity and delivered on a right date. If in case, this product needs manufacturing then the purchase order includes a requirement that must be fulfilling by the production facility. Planning The requirement for planning occurs when customers purchase order is received and processed with other existing orders. Production plans are created by the planning department to generate products to accomplish the customers order. If manufacturing requires, then raw materials are purchased to complete the process. Purchasing The list of materials e.g. raw materials and services is obtained which is required by the production department to complete the purchase order. Then purchasing team issues purchase orders to procure raw material from selected suppliers on their manufacturing site on a requisite date. Inventory The raw materials that are received from suppliers are checked for quality and moved into the warehouse. The invoice is received for the parts that are delivered by the supplier and then materials are stored until there is a demand from a production area. Production According to the production plan, the raw materials from the inventory are moved into the production area where product manufacturing takes place and creates the finished product. Once the parts are completed, they are again sent back to the warehouse and stored prior to delivery to the ultimate customer. Transportation Logistics department then finds the most efficient shipping method in order to achieve on-time delivery at the right date mentioned by the customer. After goods are received by the customer, an invoice is sent by the organisation (supplier) for delivered products. Outlining Case study: GE-Aviation In this project, there will be discussion on relationship purchasing within aviation industry considering GE Aviation as a case study. Suggesting methods of procurement and ways of maintaining GEs existing and new relationships with suppliers. On-line procurement is one of the major processes that I will be focusing in my project which GE adopts within their business that not only reduces the cost and saves time but also provides the right amount of communication with its suppliers at the right time. For example, GE-Aviation has its own department for RB211 jumbo jet engine where there are teams responsible for engineering, operations, purchasing and billing. The engine gets repaired and maintained on site. For RB211 engine type, GEs biggest supplier is Rolls Royce who is the OEMs and can provide material many times. Using SAP software within the whole organisation saves a huge amount of time for purchasing transactions and also makes easy for GE purchasing team to analyse demand raised and provide forecasting to their suppliers for each product by just looking into the system and working through its historical past. GE uses Relationship Purchasing in which they believe to maximise their revenue it is very important to have good supplier relationships. Some of the key approaches/strategies required before working towards building relationships are as follows: Selecting a world class supplier Companies that outsources internationally their materials opens the opportunity to identify potential suppliers, evaluate and reasonably short list them that result with the best supplier. This is considered as one of the most important process to perform by the procurement team that aims to choose the best supplier that ensures reliable supplies with low risk involved and maximises the overall value to the buyer. The following are the seven key steps involved in supplier evaluation and selection process: (Fig 7.5 Supplier evaluation and selection process [pg 163]) Recognise the need for supplier selection The first step is to recognise the actual need for selection of supplier. Purchasing team must work with new product development department in order to recognise future buying behaviours. Purchasing groups proactively select suppliers and anticipate demands rather than wait until a demand rises. The process to start this evaluation arises due to the following scenarios: Through new product development Poor performance received from existing internal and external suppliers Closure of the contract Procuring new tools and equipments Thinking to expand business into new markets or products Due to inadequate capacity of existing suppliers Throughout outsourcing and re-engineering analyses Deciding to reduce the size of the supply base Identifying the main sourcing requirements All the way through evaluation process, procurement team must keep an eye on what they are intended to do. Acquiring materials is not just important but also focus to meet specific requirements set by the other internal customer and indirectly by other supply chain members. For example, an aviation company like GE that makes engines has to buy all the machinery and spare parts along with buyers taking care to ensure a perfect quality products are delivered on time. Establishing sourcing strategy Developing purchasing strategies results in long term alliances that buyers look each time to compete in todays growing competition. Several vital strategic decisions that affect the selection of suppliers are: Picking single or multiple suppliers Creating short-term or long-term contracts Suppliers wish to develop working partnerships rather than arms length relations Working with suppliers that can provide support with product designs rather than those who cannot modify designs Having choice of local, domestic, foreign or global suppliers Therefore, sourcing strategies and policies must be carefully re-evaluated during supplier selection as requirements changes frequently in shorter times because of changing market conditions, changing consumer preferences and accustomed corporate goals. Identifying potential suppliers This stage identifies a list of suppliers that can actually have the capability to deliver of what is required by the customer. Buyers can use various numbers of sources to develop the preliminary list of supply sources by a quick search of company websites as well as long and detailed search for companies that can support with design and make specialised products. A rule of thumb must take place to determine the effort to be used into supplier selection by comparing the existing suppliers efficiency and strategic importance of an item because too much effort and expensive resources are wasted; too little effort and potential suppliers might be missed in this initial search criteria. Following are the sources of information widely-used to identify potential suppliers: Current suppliers Using existing suppliers who are already on the preferred list which are consistently meeting buyers requirements that reduces the purchasers time and effort in evaluation of supplier capabilities. But at the same time, existing supplier may not always provide the world class long term results and that is the reason why organisations scan information continuously to recognize potential new sources. Sales representatives and agents Marketing information received from these individuals can become a valuable source of information for new product offerings. Buyers keep this information in their file for future reference even if there is no urgent requirement for a supplier service. Internet searches Nowadays suppliers launch customer websites as part of their marketing approach and help the buyers with detailed information from a simple search of possible suppliers. Various other websites can also help in discovering and assessing important information like reviews, comparisons, comments, analyses and case studies of potential suppliers. Experience Experienced individuals working within purchasing team generally carries a wide knowledge about various capable suppliers as experienced buyers have already worked in a particular industry for many years and familiar with the main suppliers and their features. Internal sources Operating different business units within large organisations, each may have their own procurement department. Therefore, other units in the same organisation becomes a valuable source of information exchange to buyers through informal meetings, formal team sessions, an internal database, purchasing newsletters, etc. Limit suppliers in the selection pool At this stage, the procurement team must consolidate and analyse the information gathered on potential supply sources that helps them to make informed decisions. Getting a long list of suppliers is just the initial task but buyers then have to eliminate the weakest suppliers until they attain the strong shortlist. Therefore, the final supplier is then selected from this list. The following are the entry qualifiers features that influence buyers final decision [Howard (1998)]: Financial strength Appropriate business strategy Strong supportive management Proven manufacturing capability Design capability There are also many reasons that influence buyers decision to procure material on the following basis: Buying directly from the original manufacturer or distributor Original equipment manufacturers mostly offer lower prices that avoid the costs of wholesalers and retailers along with profit margins. The final choice must be considered on the basis of four factors including the size of the purchase, the manufacturers policies of direct sales, availability of storage at buyers facility, and the required additional services. Local, national, international and global suppliers Choosing international suppliers are more favourable as they usually offers the best price along with technical support but these have to be balanced by higher shipping costs, stocks, communication problems and common risks involved. Also, choosing local suppliers are considered more responsive to fluctuating demands, small deliveries and regular changes in purchase orders using Just-in-time method that not only supports local suppliers and allows the buyers to enhance local economy but also helps in building community goodwill. Large or small suppliers Usually buyers focus on suppliers capability to do the work rather than selecting on the basis of its size. But a buyer must keep in mind the unexpected increase in demands that can only be dealt by larger firms providing extra capacity to overcome these fluctuations. At the same time, in order to create a diversified supply base, buyers intentionally deal with smaller suppliers. Multiple or single sourcing When there are numerous different suppliers available then it becomes very difficult to make a decision of how many to use? Most of the organisations have chosen a trend to reduce the supply base that will benefit them accordingly. Determining method to select supplier This is the last stage where buyers are left with four to five suppliers in their shortlist and decide to evaluate these remaining organisations by looking at the alternatives in more detail for example, using supplier-provided information, supplier/customer visits, preferred list of suppliers and third-party information. Supplier-provided information Detailed information can be acquired through requesting price quotations. Information received from quotations are then used to understand the product description and supply which is then followed by another requests of a detailed cost breakdown of the price quoted by suppliers initially that must include the costs of labour, materials, overheads and profit as buyers also require operational details to finally evaluate them. Supplier visits One of the most efficient ways of getting an overall view of suppliers capabilities and performance is to visit suppliers facilities by a cross-functional team. Generally, these visits are expensive and time consuming so a buyer must balance their desire to gather as much information as possible confidentially. The following table shows important information points that a buyer must collect during its visit: Management capability Quality management Technology levels Planning and scheduling effectiveness Financial strength Personnel relations E-business capabilities Sophistication and efficiency of operations ISO certifications Skills, knowledge and experience of workforce Evidence of good management and housekeeping Types of inventory Nature of the goods inwards, stores and outwards areas Environmental practices Employee employment contracts Any significant changes planned or expected Contact details of key decision makers Use of preferred suppliers This is a list of suppliers created by the purchasers to reward their best suppliers that consistently meets their strict performance criteria. The list can also be used as an incentive to improve the existing suppliers performance and assessed accordingly. External or third-party information This consists of all the other information available about a potential supplier. For example, Total quality management is a system that insists suppliers to meet the quality standards as similar to buyers and generates a flow of related information throughout the supply chain. Selecting supplier and signing agreement This is the final step to choose the supplier followed by signing a contract. This includes different purchasing orders required for routine and major items, i.e. using standard purchase orders for routine items whereas, detailed negotiation is required to agree on specific details for major items that increases the complexity in the purchase order. Supplier evaluation criteria After considering various steps in selecting suppliers, the buying organisation must analyse the following questions with the supply organisation in order to progress outside their traditional purchasing relationships and possibilities for long term relationships with them: [Spekman (1988)] Has the supplier signified a dedication or willingness for a longer term relationship? Is the supplier enthusiastic to perform resources to develop this relationship? Is the supplier willing or able to participate at the early stage or throughout the stage of product design? Has supplier brought any unique service to the business? Is the supplier showed their interests or commitment towards customers problems and effectively solving them together? Is the supplier is interested in improvements and innovations in the operations? Is there any openness of sharing and exchanging information between both companies? How much knowledgeable is the supplier about the customers industry and business? Is the need for confidentially exchanged information taken seriously? Supplier management and development In todays time, the need to improve supplier performance is open in large or small organisations and for this reason; the purchasing teams must introduce a supplier relationship management (SRM) approach to achieve their organisational goals and success in global purchases of technology. Therefore, this calls for managing resources efficiently throughout supply chain collaborations, dedication required from supply managers, creating standardised best practices effectively and tools required for tracking and evaluating the results. The process must begin with effective supplier performance measures required to undertake strategic supply or procurement decisions for the organisation. [Minahan T. And Vigorose M. (2002)] Effective supplier performance measurements What to measure The factors important to assess the performance includes: Delivery performance The purchase orders that are sent to suppliers involves all the appropriate information on deliveries, with quantities, lead times and due dates. Therefore, it is buyers responsibility to check regularly that how well a supplier actually meets their expected conditions. Cost performance There are many ways that can measure cost performances for example, monitoring real price delivered by the supplier after adjusting increase in the prices (inflation). Quality performance In order to measure quality, the best criteria for buyers is to check that products are delivered in 100% perfect condition with no defects. This also includes comparing previous performances, latest performance with mutually agreed standards and various other figures. Other qualitative factors in supplier performance Factor Explanation Problem solving Suppliers attention to provide solutions to the problem Technical skills Comparing suppliers manufacturing capacity with other business suppliers Reporting progress Suppliers incomplete reporting of existing problems and identifying and communicating other potential problems Corrective action Suppliers timely response to requests for corrective actions and requests for changes Cost-reduction plans Suppliers enthusiasm to find techniques that helps to reduce the total purchase cost New-product development support Suppliers capability to reduce time and cost required for new product development Buyer/seller compatibility Rating subjectively how well a purchasing firm and a supplier work together Therefore, the above are various other factors that help the buyers to measure the suppliers technical ability and closeness of both parties relationships. Reporting frequency This includes preparing reports to provide a clear feedback to supplier on their performance. Purchasing management must communicate with their buyers to send these reports by reviewing them weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually which is then followed with more face-to-face team meeting that reviews their actual performance, discussion on targets, identify potential improvements, examine changes, and so on. Any problems (for example, supplier fails to meet the required standard) occurred during crucial time must be addressed with special reports and meetings to avoid any financial and operational problems. Use of measurement data Procurement staff can make use of data collected from its measurement systems in many ways including: Identifying suppliers which are not meeting the performance goals and highlighting areas that calls for improvements, followed by corrective actions taken to raise the performance to acceptable levels or else finding new suppliers. It helps in discovering excellent performances achieved from supplier which then helps identify preferred suppliers that qualify for long term alliances. It also recognises the worst performing suppliers that are continuously not improving and needs to be removed from supply base whereas offering more work to superior suppliers. Supplier measurement techniques There are three techniques discussed for evaluating performance of suppliers, each differs in their use, level of subjectivity, resources required and implementing cost. Categorical techniques These techniques considers a particular aspect of performance, for example lead time and classifies a set of categories for performance rating as excellent, good, fair or poor and therefore, helps buyers in deciding which supplier is good or bad. This is an easiest system of measurement, easy to use, comparatively inexpensive and also the most subjective. There are some drawbacks of using this technique as they do not provide a clear analysis of performance, slower than automated systems and regarded as the lowest of the three techniques in terms of reliability. Scoring model This method overcomes the subjectivity of categorical technique by calculating a weighted score for different performance categories. This is more reliable and requires reasonable implementation cost providing flexibility for buyers to change the categories included as well as weights allocated to each. Cost-based techniques -This technique is the most comprehensive that can help the buying organisation to look for the total cost required for doing business with a particular supplier by identifying the lowest purchase price is not always the lowest cost of acquisition. Hence, this technique works through collecting data from the purchasing firms information system, analysing the total cost including the additional occurring costs whenever a supplier fails to perform as per expected by the buyer. This can be calculated using formula of supplier performance index (SPI) SPI = Total pur Supplier Relationship Importance And Supply Chain Management Supplier Relationship Importance And Supply Chain Management In todays increasing economic environment, organisations are looking for new techniques to improve their competitive advantage. The focus of my research is in the area of purchasing which have now become a strategic function and a key reason in positioning competitively among all other competitors. The paper discusses that in recent years, the relationships between buyers and suppliers have been continuously receiving a considerable attention for effective operations within organisations. Traditionally, supplier-buyer relationships were regarded as adversarial, arms length transactions. However, the approach towards managing this relationship is changing and moving towards a more collaborative approach due to the fact that now suppliers are important sources to gain competitive advantage to operate in global markets in terms of their expertise, knowledge and ability of sharing risks. [Research paper Journal] The research aims to provide an understanding of supplier relationship management, factors of supplier evaluation and selection process, and the elements that contribute to the establishment of a productive customer/vendor relationships. Such a study is important for buyers to build and maintain effective relationships with their suppliers for consistent cost reductions while working together to mutually create revenues and other benefits. The paper recommends that this information may work as a reference guideline for buyers when initiating cooperative relationships with their supply sources resulting in advanced purchasing and strategic supply chain management in their organisation. The research method adopted in this dissertation is secondary exploring various business journals, business websites, textbooks and articles. Due to continuous new product developments, product innovations and increase in costs, managing supplier relationships will further become crucial in the near future. Due to this reason, therefore, this paper discusses the requirement of supplier relationships and how this shift in organisational strategy towards building relations has and will going to change the employees role, companys processes and organisational goals. The findings from this research provides an evidence of how companies have improved their supply chain operations through understanding the importance to develop effective supplier relationships as part of their core business activity for not only to achieve success within procurement department but also to successfully complete other supply chain cycle such as maintaining production flow at all times, planning accurately, inventory handling, logistical issues and achieving financial benefits. Examples included findings from large organisations of Hong Kong, Rolls Royce, GE, and Japanese firm Toyota. The main conclusion that can be drawn from this research is that every organisation must emphasise the need to actually develop world class suppliers that helps in building long-term relationships, reduction in costs, improved QCDS (quality, cost, delivery and service) criteria, improved customer service, mutual information sharing, reducing the NPI (new product inspection) costs and becoming world class organisation in the market. Introduction Nowadays, the majority of Organisations believe that their companys real assets are embedded in the quality of the relationships shared between the business and their stakeholders such as clients or customers, employees and suppliers. Developing and managing supplier relationship will be the main subject throughout this project. The objective of this research is to investigate the importance of the need to focus more on building collaborative relationships with their strategic suppliers by large manufacturing companies. With increase in globalisation and restructuring of several organisations, procurements role has changed focusing more towards costs, quality, flexibility and technology. [Herbig and OHara, 1995; Goh and Lau, 1999] In the previous years (traditionally), purchasing was considered as a secretarial function in which the buyer-supplier relationships were viewed as being adversarial and unsurprisingly results in a win/lose outcome. Before, business operations from manufacturing to assembling the finished goods were prepared in-house but now many organisations have moved towards a more combined approach where manufacturing firms have started concentrating more on their core competencies only and rest outsourcing nationally and internationally to satisfy their customer expectations. Organisations are going lean i.e. working towards continuous improvement, adopting just-in time and total quality management and eliminating wastes. This highlighted the requirement for most of the lean organisations to grow cooperative supplier-buyer relationships to achieve real productivity, improved design and quality that are unattainable unless the supplying partners assist in product innovation. Hence, several manufacturers have recognized their ability to become world class competitors based on establishing high levels of trust and cooperation among their suppliers. [They and Briggs (1994)] For example, highlighting the case of Rolls Royce, the engine manufacturer, that outsources 70% of their material from external supply chain and thats the reason Rolls Royce try to encourage their suppliers to work openly and jointly contributing to their performance. Rolls Royce belief in building good supplier relationships assures quality and competitiveness to their product offerings and helps to achieve customer standards. The growing face of domestic and global competition has led to understand the manufacturing companies to practise global sourcing which is a strategy to improve companies competitiveness in the international market through reducing costs, improving quality, increased exposure to universal technology, and improving delivery and reliability. A connection or association is known as a relationship. Relationships are said to be when individuals, organisations and internal or external groups to an enterprise interact. At recent times, relationship marketing describes long-term marketing strategy that emphasise on building and maintaining long-term relationships with customers rather than just focusing on one-time sale approach. At business level, relationship marketing is applied to variety of purchasing supplier relationships in the context of a broader network of interconnected purchasing, supplier and competitor organisations. Supplier relationship is defined as a systematic approach to supplier evaluation, selection and ongoing relationship management with the goal of cutting the costs of goods and services boosting profits? Supplier relationship management is a proactive approach of an ongoing business links to secure a competitive advantage within the organisation, focusing more on overall relationships between the supplier and the customer (buying organisation) rather than focusing on specific contracts. The idea is to develop trust and understanding of each others requirements and interests while providing assistance to each other. For example, Rolls Royce sends their experts to their sub-contract suppliers to improve their technology and performance standards. Such relationships bring profit and provide competitive advantage. [http://www.ogc.gov.uk/process_supplier_performance_and_contract_management_6368.asp] Today, most of the companies have realised that doing business jointly with their strategic suppliers will enhance their organisational ability to respond quickly to demand changes, focus on core business only and hence, results in implementing best practises. For example, Rolls Royce believes their supplier make very essential contribution to their business performance as over 70% of their manufacturing costs comes from external supply sources. focus more on their core competencies such as encouraging suppliers to work with transparency, openly and together to enhance continuous improvements. rather than Small to Medium size Enterprises and many local businesses use Transactional Purchasing whereas Large Enterprises use Relationship Purchasing to compete strongly in this economic climate. Transactional Purchasing Relationship purchasing Focus on short, discrete purchasing Focus on supplier retention Short-term orientation Long-term orientation Arms length Closeness Simple buyer-seller relationship Complicated, including internal relationships Emphasis on price, quality and delivery in the offered product No Innovation Emphasis on price, quality, delivery other factors, like innovative design as a collaborative exercise b/w purchaser and supplier Moderate supplier contacts High level of supplier contact with each contact being used to gain information strengthen the relationship Little sharing of information Significant sharing of information, including cost information and transparency Introducing Supply chain management The project is focused on process for choosing world class suppliers, importance of building supplier relationships, various supplier development approaches and process of negotiation required in purchasing that plays a vital role in todays supply chain management. Explaining what is supply chain management and its various elements that are necessary for the movement of goods and services within the business. Supply chain management consists of the intra and inter-organisational co-ordination of business functions that act as both transformative and support functions. This emphasises managing supply chain effectively must be a key activity within the businesses. [Mentzer et al. (2001)] Supply chain combines flow of materials, goods, and information (includes money) that floats within and between organisations linking with a variety of tangible and intangible facilitators, e.g. relationships, processes, activities and integrated information systems. Different views of supply chains are implemented in terms of a process when operations are emphasised, a logistical channel when emphasises marketing, a value chain whey looking at value added activities, and a demand chain when considering customer satisfaction. [Peck H. (2006)] Key elements of supply chain The key elements of supply chain are that links with each other by the movement of products. The following explains that supply chain starts and ends with the customer: [http://logistics.about.com/od/supplychainintroduction/a/into_scm.htm] Customer This is the customer that starts the value chain by deciding to make a purchase of a particular product for example, in an aviation industry procuring turbine blades or a fan shaft which is offered for sale by an organisation. At this stage, the customer contacts the sales team and places purchase order with a right quantity and delivered on a right date. If in case, this product needs manufacturing then the purchase order includes a requirement that must be fulfilling by the production facility. Planning The requirement for planning occurs when customers purchase order is received and processed with other existing orders. Production plans are created by the planning department to generate products to accomplish the customers order. If manufacturing requires, then raw materials are purchased to complete the process. Purchasing The list of materials e.g. raw materials and services is obtained which is required by the production department to complete the purchase order. Then purchasing team issues purchase orders to procure raw material from selected suppliers on their manufacturing site on a requisite date. Inventory The raw materials that are received from suppliers are checked for quality and moved into the warehouse. The invoice is received for the parts that are delivered by the supplier and then materials are stored until there is a demand from a production area. Production According to the production plan, the raw materials from the inventory are moved into the production area where product manufacturing takes place and creates the finished product. Once the parts are completed, they are again sent back to the warehouse and stored prior to delivery to the ultimate customer. Transportation Logistics department then finds the most efficient shipping method in order to achieve on-time delivery at the right date mentioned by the customer. After goods are received by the customer, an invoice is sent by the organisation (supplier) for delivered products. Outlining Case study: GE-Aviation In this project, there will be discussion on relationship purchasing within aviation industry considering GE Aviation as a case study. Suggesting methods of procurement and ways of maintaining GEs existing and new relationships with suppliers. On-line procurement is one of the major processes that I will be focusing in my project which GE adopts within their business that not only reduces the cost and saves time but also provides the right amount of communication with its suppliers at the right time. For example, GE-Aviation has its own department for RB211 jumbo jet engine where there are teams responsible for engineering, operations, purchasing and billing. The engine gets repaired and maintained on site. For RB211 engine type, GEs biggest supplier is Rolls Royce who is the OEMs and can provide material many times. Using SAP software within the whole organisation saves a huge amount of time for purchasing transactions and also makes easy for GE purchasing team to analyse demand raised and provide forecasting to their suppliers for each product by just looking into the system and working through its historical past. GE uses Relationship Purchasing in which they believe to maximise their revenue it is very important to have good supplier relationships. Some of the key approaches/strategies required before working towards building relationships are as follows: Selecting a world class supplier Companies that outsources internationally their materials opens the opportunity to identify potential suppliers, evaluate and reasonably short list them that result with the best supplier. This is considered as one of the most important process to perform by the procurement team that aims to choose the best supplier that ensures reliable supplies with low risk involved and maximises the overall value to the buyer. The following are the seven key steps involved in supplier evaluation and selection process: (Fig 7.5 Supplier evaluation and selection process [pg 163]) Recognise the need for supplier selection The first step is to recognise the actual need for selection of supplier. Purchasing team must work with new product development department in order to recognise future buying behaviours. Purchasing groups proactively select suppliers and anticipate demands rather than wait until a demand rises. The process to start this evaluation arises due to the following scenarios: Through new product development Poor performance received from existing internal and external suppliers Closure of the contract Procuring new tools and equipments Thinking to expand business into new markets or products Due to inadequate capacity of existing suppliers Throughout outsourcing and re-engineering analyses Deciding to reduce the size of the supply base Identifying the main sourcing requirements All the way through evaluation process, procurement team must keep an eye on what they are intended to do. Acquiring materials is not just important but also focus to meet specific requirements set by the other internal customer and indirectly by other supply chain members. For example, an aviation company like GE that makes engines has to buy all the machinery and spare parts along with buyers taking care to ensure a perfect quality products are delivered on time. Establishing sourcing strategy Developing purchasing strategies results in long term alliances that buyers look each time to compete in todays growing competition. Several vital strategic decisions that affect the selection of suppliers are: Picking single or multiple suppliers Creating short-term or long-term contracts Suppliers wish to develop working partnerships rather than arms length relations Working with suppliers that can provide support with product designs rather than those who cannot modify designs Having choice of local, domestic, foreign or global suppliers Therefore, sourcing strategies and policies must be carefully re-evaluated during supplier selection as requirements changes frequently in shorter times because of changing market conditions, changing consumer preferences and accustomed corporate goals. Identifying potential suppliers This stage identifies a list of suppliers that can actually have the capability to deliver of what is required by the customer. Buyers can use various numbers of sources to develop the preliminary list of supply sources by a quick search of company websites as well as long and detailed search for companies that can support with design and make specialised products. A rule of thumb must take place to determine the effort to be used into supplier selection by comparing the existing suppliers efficiency and strategic importance of an item because too much effort and expensive resources are wasted; too little effort and potential suppliers might be missed in this initial search criteria. Following are the sources of information widely-used to identify potential suppliers: Current suppliers Using existing suppliers who are already on the preferred list which are consistently meeting buyers requirements that reduces the purchasers time and effort in evaluation of supplier capabilities. But at the same time, existing supplier may not always provide the world class long term results and that is the reason why organisations scan information continuously to recognize potential new sources. Sales representatives and agents Marketing information received from these individuals can become a valuable source of information for new product offerings. Buyers keep this information in their file for future reference even if there is no urgent requirement for a supplier service. Internet searches Nowadays suppliers launch customer websites as part of their marketing approach and help the buyers with detailed information from a simple search of possible suppliers. Various other websites can also help in discovering and assessing important information like reviews, comparisons, comments, analyses and case studies of potential suppliers. Experience Experienced individuals working within purchasing team generally carries a wide knowledge about various capable suppliers as experienced buyers have already worked in a particular industry for many years and familiar with the main suppliers and their features. Internal sources Operating different business units within large organisations, each may have their own procurement department. Therefore, other units in the same organisation becomes a valuable source of information exchange to buyers through informal meetings, formal team sessions, an internal database, purchasing newsletters, etc. Limit suppliers in the selection pool At this stage, the procurement team must consolidate and analyse the information gathered on potential supply sources that helps them to make informed decisions. Getting a long list of suppliers is just the initial task but buyers then have to eliminate the weakest suppliers until they attain the strong shortlist. Therefore, the final supplier is then selected from this list. The following are the entry qualifiers features that influence buyers final decision [Howard (1998)]: Financial strength Appropriate business strategy Strong supportive management Proven manufacturing capability Design capability There are also many reasons that influence buyers decision to procure material on the following basis: Buying directly from the original manufacturer or distributor Original equipment manufacturers mostly offer lower prices that avoid the costs of wholesalers and retailers along with profit margins. The final choice must be considered on the basis of four factors including the size of the purchase, the manufacturers policies of direct sales, availability of storage at buyers facility, and the required additional services. Local, national, international and global suppliers Choosing international suppliers are more favourable as they usually offers the best price along with technical support but these have to be balanced by higher shipping costs, stocks, communication problems and common risks involved. Also, choosing local suppliers are considered more responsive to fluctuating demands, small deliveries and regular changes in purchase orders using Just-in-time method that not only supports local suppliers and allows the buyers to enhance local economy but also helps in building community goodwill. Large or small suppliers Usually buyers focus on suppliers capability to do the work rather than selecting on the basis of its size. But a buyer must keep in mind the unexpected increase in demands that can only be dealt by larger firms providing extra capacity to overcome these fluctuations. At the same time, in order to create a diversified supply base, buyers intentionally deal with smaller suppliers. Multiple or single sourcing When there are numerous different suppliers available then it becomes very difficult to make a decision of how many to use? Most of the organisations have chosen a trend to reduce the supply base that will benefit them accordingly. Determining method to select supplier This is the last stage where buyers are left with four to five suppliers in their shortlist and decide to evaluate these remaining organisations by looking at the alternatives in more detail for example, using supplier-provided information, supplier/customer visits, preferred list of suppliers and third-party information. Supplier-provided information Detailed information can be acquired through requesting price quotations. Information received from quotations are then used to understand the product description and supply which is then followed by another requests of a detailed cost breakdown of the price quoted by suppliers initially that must include the costs of labour, materials, overheads and profit as buyers also require operational details to finally evaluate them. Supplier visits One of the most efficient ways of getting an overall view of suppliers capabilities and performance is to visit suppliers facilities by a cross-functional team. Generally, these visits are expensive and time consuming so a buyer must balance their desire to gather as much information as possible confidentially. The following table shows important information points that a buyer must collect during its visit: Management capability Quality management Technology levels Planning and scheduling effectiveness Financial strength Personnel relations E-business capabilities Sophistication and efficiency of operations ISO certifications Skills, knowledge and experience of workforce Evidence of good management and housekeeping Types of inventory Nature of the goods inwards, stores and outwards areas Environmental practices Employee employment contracts Any significant changes planned or expected Contact details of key decision makers Use of preferred suppliers This is a list of suppliers created by the purchasers to reward their best suppliers that consistently meets their strict performance criteria. The list can also be used as an incentive to improve the existing suppliers performance and assessed accordingly. External or third-party information This consists of all the other information available about a potential supplier. For example, Total quality management is a system that insists suppliers to meet the quality standards as similar to buyers and generates a flow of related information throughout the supply chain. Selecting supplier and signing agreement This is the final step to choose the supplier followed by signing a contract. This includes different purchasing orders required for routine and major items, i.e. using standard purchase orders for routine items whereas, detailed negotiation is required to agree on specific details for major items that increases the complexity in the purchase order. Supplier evaluation criteria After considering various steps in selecting suppliers, the buying organisation must analyse the following questions with the supply organisation in order to progress outside their traditional purchasing relationships and possibilities for long term relationships with them: [Spekman (1988)] Has the supplier signified a dedication or willingness for a longer term relationship? Is the supplier enthusiastic to perform resources to develop this relationship? Is the supplier willing or able to participate at the early stage or throughout the stage of product design? Has supplier brought any unique service to the business? Is the supplier showed their interests or commitment towards customers problems and effectively solving them together? Is the supplier is interested in improvements and innovations in the operations? Is there any openness of sharing and exchanging information between both companies? How much knowledgeable is the supplier about the customers industry and business? Is the need for confidentially exchanged information taken seriously? Supplier management and development In todays time, the need to improve supplier performance is open in large or small organisations and for this reason; the purchasing teams must introduce a supplier relationship management (SRM) approach to achieve their organisational goals and success in global purchases of technology. Therefore, this calls for managing resources efficiently throughout supply chain collaborations, dedication required from supply managers, creating standardised best practices effectively and tools required for tracking and evaluating the results. The process must begin with effective supplier performance measures required to undertake strategic supply or procurement decisions for the organisation. [Minahan T. And Vigorose M. (2002)] Effective supplier performance measurements What to measure The factors important to assess the performance includes: Delivery performance The purchase orders that are sent to suppliers involves all the appropriate information on deliveries, with quantities, lead times and due dates. Therefore, it is buyers responsibility to check regularly that how well a supplier actually meets their expected conditions. Cost performance There are many ways that can measure cost performances for example, monitoring real price delivered by the supplier after adjusting increase in the prices (inflation). Quality performance In order to measure quality, the best criteria for buyers is to check that products are delivered in 100% perfect condition with no defects. This also includes comparing previous performances, latest performance with mutually agreed standards and various other figures. Other qualitative factors in supplier performance Factor Explanation Problem solving Suppliers attention to provide solutions to the problem Technical skills Comparing suppliers manufacturing capacity with other business suppliers Reporting progress Suppliers incomplete reporting of existing problems and identifying and communicating other potential problems Corrective action Suppliers timely response to requests for corrective actions and requests for changes Cost-reduction plans Suppliers enthusiasm to find techniques that helps to reduce the total purchase cost New-product development support Suppliers capability to reduce time and cost required for new product development Buyer/seller compatibility Rating subjectively how well a purchasing firm and a supplier work together Therefore, the above are various other factors that help the buyers to measure the suppliers technical ability and closeness of both parties relationships. Reporting frequency This includes preparing reports to provide a clear feedback to supplier on their performance. Purchasing management must communicate with their buyers to send these reports by reviewing them weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually which is then followed with more face-to-face team meeting that reviews their actual performance, discussion on targets, identify potential improvements, examine changes, and so on. Any problems (for example, supplier fails to meet the required standard) occurred during crucial time must be addressed with special reports and meetings to avoid any financial and operational problems. Use of measurement data Procurement staff can make use of data collected from its measurement systems in many ways including: Identifying suppliers which are not meeting the performance goals and highlighting areas that calls for improvements, followed by corrective actions taken to raise the performance to acceptable levels or else finding new suppliers. It helps in discovering excellent performances achieved from supplier which then helps identify preferred suppliers that qualify for long term alliances. It also recognises the worst performing suppliers that are continuously not improving and needs to be removed from supply base whereas offering more work to superior suppliers. Supplier measurement techniques There are three techniques discussed for evaluating performance of suppliers, each differs in their use, level of subjectivity, resources required and implementing cost. Categorical techniques These techniques considers a particular aspect of performance, for example lead time and classifies a set of categories for performance rating as excellent, good, fair or poor and therefore, helps buyers in deciding which supplier is good or bad. This is an easiest system of measurement, easy to use, comparatively inexpensive and also the most subjective. There are some drawbacks of using this technique as they do not provide a clear analysis of performance, slower than automated systems and regarded as the lowest of the three techniques in terms of reliability. Scoring model This method overcomes the subjectivity of categorical technique by calculating a weighted score for different performance categories. This is more reliable and requires reasonable implementation cost providing flexibility for buyers to change the categories included as well as weights allocated to each. Cost-based techniques -This technique is the most comprehensive that can help the buying organisation to look for the total cost required for doing business with a particular supplier by identifying the lowest purchase price is not always the lowest cost of acquisition. Hence, this technique works through collecting data from the purchasing firms information system, analysing the total cost including the additional occurring costs whenever a supplier fails to perform as per expected by the buyer. This can be calculated using formula of supplier performance index (SPI) SPI = Total pur