Value Chain Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Value Chain Development - Essay Example Citing at Borg,W.D.,& Gall,D.W.(1963).Educational rsearch prooject   it is a good   idea for The managers to   leverage on existing M&E systems in each organization branch to track project indicators and milestones. For this project, steps to measure progress towards achievement of outputs will be validated by the stakeholders during the inception workshops and the surveys and baseline serve to further strengthen this. The monitoring framework will capture both qualitative and quantitative results of the project. The qualitative information is very important in measuring changes in perceptions among beneficiaries. The project already has outlined some of the quantitative outputs, the results will be measured periodically,   such as the number of producers who have enlisted to join   and participate in the project.Key indicators of the project will be tracked by project staff M&E team. Information collected will be fed back to implementing teams for incorporation and knowled ge sharing. In cases where project indicators and milestones are not being met, the managers will jointly come up with corrective measures. The project team will support continuous learning through the development of lessons learnt as well as success stories on a periodic basis  Other outputs such as use of locally available materials and its success will be documented as well as the modification in the design of the technologies to suit the local conditions in the   country Oso,W.Y.(2002). The managers will hold a preliminary planning meeting.

Political science Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Political science - Research Paper Example an Glover persuasively argues that the propensity of people in the West to attempt to explain the genocide in Rwanda by harking back to tribal divisions and historic tribal animosities is an oversimplification which does not do justice to the conflict. Accordingly, by focusing on the inevitability of such tribal animosity Western scholars have ignored important preconditions to the outbreak of genocide in Rwanda in 1994. As the poorest country in data set #9, the world-wide movement to atone for the historical injustices faced by the Tutsi people is alive and well in post-genocide Rwanda (CIA, 2009). Genocide in Rwanda did not â€Å"just happen†. The Belgian colonial experience shaped the artificial â€Å"ethnic† divisions in Rwanda which shaped politics for years to come, culminating in the genocide of 1994. Accordingly, the conflict in Rwanda was more than a civil war or short-term conflict. While estimates vary, up to one million people – largely Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in an incredibly short period of time. The Rwandan genocide was not a standard civil war and was an orchestrated full-scale genocide perpetuated against the Tutsi minority but extremists within the Hutu camp. A hate campaign against Tutsis and moderate Hutus was conducted through a variety of means by gà ©nocidaires intent on eradicating the Tutsi presence in Rwanda. Fearing a Tutsi-led invasion in the aftermath of Habyrimana’s death, the genocide planned by â€Å"people wanting to keep power† (Glover, 121) and a variety of means were used to coerce the Rwandan population to engage in the genocide. Instead of a mere tribal hostility, Glover argues for individual agency in attempting to account for the emergence of the genocide and argues that key players within the Hutu extremist establishment were responsible for the events that transpired after Habyrimana’s plane crashed. Instrumentalism is a theoretical paradigm which argues that things â€Å"don’t just happen†, events

Professionalism and ethics Essay Example for Free

Professionalism and ethics Essay The episode presented in this case study give rise to Moral Sense Test directed to analyzing human moral judgments. The issue of saving a large woman to save 22 tourists behind her, driving a boat faster to save life of five people from drowning and at the same time letting one person to fall of and drown, failure to give a drug to a terminally ill person in knowledge that he may die without it and his organs may be used to safe some other three persons, and suffocating your baby with aim of averting an enemy from finding both of you and kill and other eight hiding with you presents a moral dilemma situation directed towards scrutinizing psychological mechanism basic to social moral judgment. Situation leading to moral dilemma has been capturing human attention towards how people judge certain affairs, deciding on justified and unjustified situations as well as social views on right and wrong action. Debate on moral decision has been has been a contentious issue with philosophers speculating how people have been making moral decision in the society. Scenarios presented by this paper give a situation which has for long been pondered by philosophers as well other professional on whether to sacrifice one for a greater good. Utilitarian ethical theory support option of sacrificing one to protect many. Many societies seems to value the utilitarian option but there is a considerable emotional element given that verdict involves harming a human being. Any of decision made on these scenarios results to a moral tug of war between whether to kill one person as in the case of killing huge woman to save 22 tourist, sacrificing one person to save five from drowning, sacrifice on ill person to save three and sacrificing a child to save you and others with sympathy of killing a human being. Moral theories Egoism as an ethical theory entails individual’s self is the motivation and the goal of individual’s own accomplishment. Egoism has two folds i. e. descriptive and normative. Descriptive also called positive variant, define egoism as explanation of human affairs meaning individuals are motivated by self interest and desires while normative ethics elaborates that people should be motivated. Ethical egoism an individual have no duty anyone but to him/herself. Meaning that, every person should strive satisfy his or her individual interests maximizing own welfare. According to egoism, each individual has a goal of his own†¦This diversity of goals may endanger conflict. This is not an objection to ethical egoism, however. When people have goals in conflict, each individual ought, according to egoism, to maintain his or her goal. Ethical egoism is a consistent ethical theory, in competition with other ethical theories,† (Tannsjo 2002 pp 42). From the above quote we can say that according to egoism theory you act wrongly when if you do not strive to maximize your interest. Maximizing of interest means that an individual can go to an extent of doing harm in order to protect his/her interests. The egoist is prepared to kill, not only in order to save many lives but in order to save his or her own life. Therefore, in the scenarios presented in our case study when considering egoism ethical theory means that when doing any act you should consider your interests. For example an egoist would consider saving digging a woman and making 22 tourists to perish and sacrificing woman life to save tourist will depend on different interests according to egoism theory. That is can sacrifice the whole group or to save large woman according to whom we have interest in and vice-versa. Being a subject of Moral Sense Test based on egoism moral theory I would drown person in the falling from the boat to save other five based on my interests. If I am more affiliated to the falling person, according to egoism I would let five to perish and save the one I have interest in. In case my interest is more to the five people I would work to save them making the falling person to die. In the case where am to suffocate my screaming my screaming baby to save myself and other eight hiding with me would be a better option considering egoism theory. This is due to individual interest of living taking more priority than that of the baby hence saving other eight people. Faced with scenario of sacrificing failing to give drug to a terminally ill patient knowing that he will die but his organs could be used to save other three patient considering egoism theory would mean to fall the self interest in this scenario. Saving three persons to the expense of sacrificing one terminally ill patient means that my interest for example if patient is my relative. On the other hand if I have more interest to a more terminally ill patient I would not fail to give drug making other three to die according to egoism theory of maximizing of interests. Conventional morality can be described as a morality of established local practice or a part of morality that directs people day to day life. â€Å"Conventional morality defines responsibilities, gives direction to action, helps to organize social life. It establishes expectations and thereby give guidance for personal development† (DeMarco 1994 pp. 24). This means that it is a fixed pattern of individual or a professional governing a particular role, giving boundaries of action, dependencies as well as patterns of authority. That is society or individuals have moral responsibility based on conventions and violations of conventions mean individual actions are immoral. In the three scenarios presented in case study in this context conventional morality theory would looking at different laid down standard in trying to save different dilemmas. Incase of saving a five from drowning to the expense of saving the one falling and vise versa would depend on morals raid down. If my society moral dictates that saving many would be the most moral, according to conventional morality I would strive to save the five and let the falling person to die even if it is my relative since these are set convention and must be followed. In case it is refusing to give terminally ill patient drug making his to die and use his organ to save the three will depend on convention set by the hospital and act according to them. Suffocating my baby so that I can save myself and other eight persons from attacks of an enemy would depend on set societal convention which may favor suffocating my baby or letting all to die all together. For example if conventions dictates that I should strive to save many, suffocating of my baby may be an option and this would be morally upright according to conventional theory of morality. Moral dilemmas have presented various arguments making some of philosophers to argue that â€Å"†¦doing the right is whatever produce the greatest balance over evil†¦This view has been called ‘utilitarianism’ or ‘consequentialism. ’ ‘Utilitarianism’ tends to be associated with the view that ‘good’ means a balance of pleasure over pain†¦or perhaps some more sophisticated ‘happiness’†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Hallquist, 2008 para. 5). According to Hallquist (2008), when applying utilitarianism theory of morality to moral dilemma where you have an option of killing one person to save many, an individual is requires to kill one and save many. This situation presents a greater evil or prevents a greater evil according to Utilitarianism theory of morality. There have been options when you can consider killing many and save one for example if killing the five would prevent a deadly riot would allow for saving one person instead. According to utilitarianism, killing someone harvest organ to save the five individuals would be a better evil. This means that the case presented in the case study in the context of this paper about refusing to give drug to terminally ill patient letting him to die and using his organ to heal other persons would be a better choice according to utilitarianism. Letting the falling person to die and save and saving five droning persons would be the better evil instead of saving one and letting five to die. Suffocating a my screaming baby according to utilitarianism theory of morality would be a better evil than letting myself and eight people accompanying me to die. Theory of duty ethics also called deontological morality theory view morality through probing the nature of actions and will of agents instead of results achieved i. e. looking at input instead of the outcomes. Incase of killing one person to save many for example a situation where the doctor would sacrifice life of one person and use his organ to save five, duty of ethics opposes this. â€Å"†¦the agent should not kill the one person because if he does that he will produce worse state of affairs, as seen from his position. That he should not kill is the result that deontologist endorse as well† (Kamm 1993 pp. 5). According to duty ethic correctness of an accomplishment is not simply reliant on exploiting the good, if that accomplishment goes in opposition to what is consider moral. This means that the scenarios where am require not to give drug and to let terminally ill person to die and save three from his organ would be immoral from duty ethics. This is because by refusing to give drug is immoral no matter the good it can contribute of saving three persons. Letting the falling from the boat to save the five persons from drowning is immoral according to duty of ethics. On the issue of suffocating my baby it may be immoral to do that because in the first place is illegal to do that hence letting the worst to strike. Virtue of ethics emphasizes that; morality should be guided by character rather than established rules or procedures. This theory is greatly dependent on wisdom to direct an individual to do what he/she feel is moral. Virtue of ethics encompasses trait like honesty and generosity in performance of a moral duty. In the case of moral dilemma of killing on person to save many will be judged from what the person in this situation feel is morally upright. Moral principles The above analysis of the moral theory do not give define solution and are inadequate when giving solution to various situations for example moral dilemma episodes. Seven moral principles give an alternative in trying to get solution on moral decision. Moral principles define the right and wrong accepted an individual or a society to a certain situation or are universal rules that guide an individuals or a society on what to do. That is, they are standard for good behavior in the society. Moral decision making process is the process in which an individual tries to implement a balance of the seven moral principles in a given situation. The seven moral principles are; Respect, Non-Malevolence, Benevolence, Integrity, Justice, Utility and Double Effect. The lists of moral principle incorporate many cultures to serve purpose of morality. According to the principles of morality a moral action should be guide by the application of the most appropriate principle(s). Principle of respect calls for treating everybody with respect together with application of dignity and importance of a person(s) not matter the diversity. Non-malevolence principle calls for avoiding harming people or even causing pain to them. Benevolence principle tries to promote well-being of others. That is it emphasize on responding in the needs of other. This should be consistent to promoting spiritual and cultural belief and values. Principle of integrity advocates for maintaining personal standards for example in the professional environment. In application to the episode of killing one to save many, moral principle provides with a range choice in coming with appropriate action. Conclusion Application of moral theory and moral principles should be directed by the intention of being morally upright in the social operation. There intention is to guide person and society at large to have a common way of handling their affairs for common good. Moral theories and principles are motivated greatly by the social need toward an upright society. Social life presents different circumstances in life and hence many moral theories and principle geared toward giving moral solution to different social circumstances.

Case Studies Of Companies Supply Chain Management

Case Studies Of Companies Supply Chain Management Dell was incorporated in 1994 by Michael Dell while he was a student at University of Texas, Austin. From its very first initiatives, direct selling model was adopted. In the beginning PCs were sold over the phone and they were customized according to customers specifications. Dell returned to its direct selling model after using the retail channel from 1990 to 1994. In mid 1990s, the company grew rapidly, thus becoming number one PC seller in the US and number two worldwide in 1999. Dells success continued over the following years, but it was not able to avoid the crisis in PC industry in the new millennium. Dells growth rate fell, resulting in the fall of its stock price. However, over the time, Dell managed to remain a highly successful company, and its growth rate continued to outperform the industry as a whole. Dells strategic choices and ways of realizing those choices have played an effective role in story Dells success. The supply chain management of the company is the key element in its successful business model. The core element of the companys business model is its direct sales model, referred as direct mode, with the build to order strategy. In this work we have a look at an organisation with its sheer strategy and competitive view of the future created a giant in the industry. It has developed a business model which has a very little requirement of controlling variables, but with few efficient and critical models it has created an industry leader. It shows how Dell Inc has changed the dynamics of the industry and how it has helped in evolved with the industry. It is an $80 billion company which is created in just in time frame of 23 years. The strategy was to bypass the dealers in the field of personal computers and sell directly to the consumers. What will urge customers to buy online? The answer to these is to make the product build to order and provide them customization. This business model gave Dell some great cost advantage over it peers. This strategy has given Dell- Information about the customer dell has leveraged that to create with its partner an infrastructure which is a global giant. The power of customer information has given Dell competitive advantage in the value chain as a result of which much of the competition is now turning to becoming partners across the value chain. Virtual integration has harnessed the needs of two very different models. The IBMs and Compaqs and HP of the world subscribed to the view that we have to develop everything. This was an engineering centric era, in this era dell was of the view why we should we make everything; we can just buy and collaborate as per our requirement. This view gave them flexibility and coupled with the excellent supply chain that they created- they became what they are. In this model there are fewer things which can go wrong because there are only fewer things which can go wrong. There is no drag effect of 50000 people working with you. The only critical problem with this business model is to establish partnership model with suppliers so that at customers end everything should seem completely integrated. The key challenge is to make money by reducing the inventory cost to the bare minimum and Dell has done that by using excellent partnership models and also building up an excellent supply chain. They have leveraged the knowledge of value chain in the process. 9.1.2 Partnership with Sony With Sony the partnership has created excellence for both of them. For Dell there is zero day inventories holding if we look at an excellent partnership model with Sony. Lets examine what Dell said to Sony- oh we are looking to buy two or three million of those monitors, why we dont just pick them up as per our need. If you cannot provide us this convenience we dont keep any of your products. They go to Sony and say-The distance between demand and supply has totally shrunk, hence we pick as per our need. The Evolution of a faster Business Model This differentiated model of dell help it creates a niche in the distribution channel and eliminates the entire mid channel members to arrive at cost leadership position in the industry. The basic principle of Resource based view is that the competitive advantage for any particular organization completely depends upon the resources which are available at any companys disposal. It is a management tool to determine the important resources available for any organization. It is very important for success of the organization that these resources are valuable and are not imitable. The two houses of strategy namely Resource based view competitive positioning had their fare share of critics. After studying them in detail it can be seen that there are certain inherent weakness in both of them and both of them are not sustainable in long run if isolated. In a long competitive environment a firm needs to invest in either product differentiation or cost leadership and then utilize the competitive positioning which will be sustainable because of our ability to defend it on the base of cost advantage. 9.1.3 Value Chain Analysis 9.1.4 Strategy for profit oriented industry in 21st century Both the views of strategy are equally strong and have their sets of critics. A competitive positioning in a competitive market is not sustainable if they dont have adequate resources available to them to maintain the cost advantage. For e.g.: Telecom industry in Singapore is an industry of price wars. Competitive positioning is effective but is only sustainable for bigger players like Bharti Telecom Vodafone International because they have valuable resources with them which allow them to sustain themselves in price wars. A profit oriented industry in 21st century should create adequate resources and develop capabilities to use them properly. On the marketing front if the environment is competitive than the firm should develop competitive positioning or till then it should enjoy healthy margins. Lets take an example of Apple Incorporation. It had the resource of great Inventions a great leader in there CEO-Steve Jobs. They utilised it with their capability to position themselves in the market. Its a highly profitable firm now. 9.1.5 Supply Chain Management The Supply Chain Market (SCM) in Asia is poised for a robust growth. (Balsmeier, 1996)The Supply Chain Management is the set of frameworks and processes helping organizations in development and delivery of products. The supply chain represents the complex relationships of an organization with its trading partners through whom it sources materials, manufactures products and delivers products or services to the customers. The supply chain links all the activities in the procurement, transformation and storage of raw materials and intermediate products, and sale of finished goods. Figure 1: Generic Configuration of Supply Chain in Manufacturing The entire Supply Chain (Figure 1) is looked across my Supply chain management, rather than a single entity or level. The SCM aims to increase alignment and transparency of supply chains configuration and coordination, regardless of corporate or functional boundaries. The growing competition among the manufacturers to retain and attract customers has compelled manufacturers to serve customers effectively by maintaining long-term relationships with the customers. In the late 1980s, organizations were looking for ways and means to improve their process efficiency, and for this purpose they revamped their internal processes. After they succeeded in making their internal processes efficient, businesses needed to make their external processes efficient so that they could reduce the time and money needed to market and distribute. For this, they had to redefine their relationship with their suppliers, retailers, distributers, and customers. An effective relationship with these entities increased the need for information sharing and made them mutually dependent. This caused a paradigm shift in competition from manufacturer VS manufacturer to supply chain VS supply chain. Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) systems, developed in early 1990s works on the principal of relating information to different entities in a supply chain- manufacturers, suppliers, business partners and retailers- and making it available to all entities. These applications are aimed to reduce the inventory levels of a company through accurate forecasting, reduced cycle times and near perfect scheduling. Customer levels are increased as the goods are delivered on time due to efficiency in the distribution process. 9.1.6 Direct Sales The direct sales model refers to the fact that the company does not use any retail channels for selling its products, but sells its products directly to its customers through its corporate website, Dell.com. The above figure shows hot the direct model of Dell was different from the indirect distribution channel of the rest of industry. In its direct sale model, the intermediary steps that add cost and time are eliminated, and the company is directly able to link with its customers. Dell directly sells to all its customers, regardless of a home-PC to worlds largest corporations. The direct relationship with individual customer creates a great source of competitive advantage for Dell. This creates a valuable information about the end customers, and thus Dell knows who are the end users of their product, what they have purchased from the company, what are their future preferences, a fact that allows the company to stay closer to their customers by offering add-on products and services. Company distinguishes three customer segments, namely large organizations, medium and small businesses and personal consumers; and the revenue of the company is not concentrated as no customer of Dell represents more than 2% of total revenues. This provides a wide mix of customers served. The focus of the company is majorly on large customers, accounting of 70% of the Dells revenues. Dell has been improving its segment from past years and with the combination of direct sales model, gives them the ability to better forecast demand. In the case of large customers the direct relationship by the company is upgraded to virtual integration. With the help of IT, customers work with Dell as partners. Dell employs two main facilities that bring them and their customers closer. Premier Councils and Premier Pages. Premier Councils are the regional meetings of the company largest customers, where salespersons, technicians and the executives discuss their experiences with Dell, and their future expectations from the company. Premier pages, now known by Premier.Dell.com, are customizes support and procurement sites for their big clients, which allows them to manage and decide their purchases from the company, thus making the role of a sales person a more consultative role. This represents Dells customized sales channel and the company has increased its premier pages manifold in these years. 9.1.7 Build in Order and Integration with Suppliers Build-to-order Supply Chain as a strategy is defines (Gunasekaran et al.)as a value chain that manufactures quality products or services based on requirements of an individual customer of a group of customers at competitive prices, within a short span of time, by leveraging the core competencies of partnering firms or suppliers and information technologies, such as the internet and WWW, to integrate such a value chain. Thus, a computer is build after the customer places and order, then just-in-time production and lean manufacturing takes place. This means when an order is placed, its configuration details reaches the manufacturing department and the assembly begins, and once the PC is configured it is shipped by a 3PL to the corresponding customer. The choice of JIT and build to order has several advantages for the company. Firstly, the level of inventories remains very low, leading to faster responses to demand changes and low inventory costs. For instance, if a new microprocessor comes into the market, the company can immediately place an order with its suppliers, as the company need not get rid of the excess inventory. Also, in case of Dell, customers pay in advance. That means the customer pay for the order prior to when the company pays its suppliers for the products, thus giving Dell the opportunity of operating on Negative cash flow cycle. The special thing about the company is its relationship with its suppliers, which is the major reason for facilitating build-to-order model. In Dell, Suppliers are viewed as the integral part of operating business and a key variable for success. This helps Dell to adopt an approach of the extended enterprise. According to Dell their supplier effectively becomes their partner. The company selects suppliers that show experience, expertise and ability to deliver value. The performance of suppliers is regularly evaluated against the pre-set parameters. A quarterly meeting is held between the company and its suppliers to discuss the quarterly performance and future expectations. The performance of each supplier is evaluated by comparing a scorecard consisting of quality, cost, and reliability with that of their competitor. The companys suppliers are also provided with the support and training to improve their processes. The company demands from its suppliers that it should provide them with inventory at a high speed. This helps Dells effort of minimizing its inventories. So instead of orders like deliver 4000 to warehouse every week, the form of orders is like tomorrow evening we need 7.25 to be delivered at door D3 of the warehouse by 6 pm. This notion of Dell, has introduces inventory velocity, and it focuses on maximizing the speed and minimizing the inventory. Dell holds an average inventory of less than 6 days, while the corresponding industry average is of 6 weeks. In dealing with these rhythms, main supplier does have to maintain inventory near or in the companys plants. All the practices above require close collaboration between the suppliers and the company; sophisticated data exchange and mutual trust are the key variables to achieve it. The information sharing facility of the company is the website ValueChain.Dell.com. Through this website, the companys suppliers get informed of the level of inventory in the companys supply chain, demand and supply data, new part transitions with customers and component quality metrics. This way the company share production, demand and supply forecasts with its suppliers. These help suppliers in deciding on production levels, avoiding bullwhip effect. 9.1.8 Use of E-Commerce Introduction to E-Commerce Though E-commerce was there since long, since 70s in the form of electronics transfers of documents and transactions between banks the boom of E-Commerce was evident in 90s after the introduction of WWW Platform and this was further fuelled by increasing Broadband connectivity along with increasing trust of consumers on this platform thanks to certifying agency like VeriSign ad Payment Gateways like PayPal. Amazon and EBay have been there since its inception and have survived all ups and down of industry and also have been pioneers of new concepts in industry. The technology that supporting this platform constitutes the backbone for industry. Trust of consumers of this platform is very important and it is estimated that around 40% of consumers still do not trust the platform despite using it for their purchases. In coming times this technology will be further dive deep and move from E-Com to M-Com i.e. more and more purchases will be made through mobile phones as connectivity issues become lesser and lesser and more trust gets build up among users. Since 2000s the new concept what we call as Web2.0 or Social Networking is in evolution and has completely changed dimensions of industry with more and more users demanding better and innovative technology and application to make them buy and more and more reviews and wisdom of crowd ruling the purchases made, all E-Commerce retailers have been paying much attention to leverage it and is becoming an hygiene factor for future profitability and growth. In this era of Web2.0 enabled E-Commerce application and more and more social content being the driving force behind it, its worthwhile to have a look at what products/services was being offered by the initial E driven commerce and the present E-commerce, better call it as E-commerce2.0. Let have few points comparing E-Com1.0 and E-Com2.0 and talking about what changes have taken place and why have they taken place and to what have these changes led to. Those making purchases online includes a set of users who are confident of the technology and trust the platform through which it is being offered. Such users are generally people using WWW Platform for more than two year and are generally educated at least or above college graduate. The important thing being that around 80% of E-commerce consumers trust the site through which they make their purchases. In the last decade, many start-up e-commerce companies have rapidly stolen market share from traditional retailers and service providers, pressuring these established traditional players to deploy their own commerce websites or to alter company strategy in retaliation. This effect is most pronounced in travel services and consumer electronics. According to comScore, online leisure travel bookings reached about $51B in 2005, or 44% of all online sales, which were around $122B in the same year. Either an organisation can score on cost leadership or differentiation. In this business cost leadership is not an option; hence only feasible option is to differentiate and survive. With ecommerce capabilities the organisation can differentiate. about two competitive positioning strategies -differentiation or cost leadership. A differentiator invests in creating high offering value while a cost leader has the lowest costs of the product in the market. If a firm can provide a differentiated product in the market it will create a niche for itself, while if it provides same product then it should do that at a lower cost. If the case is involving a niche then this strategy is termed as focus. Hence this strategy creates a trade off for the firm -either invest in offering higher value or invest in lower cost. The e-commerce business is characterized by large volumes of transactions, small value of individual orders, odd place of delivery, speed in internal movement, wider product portfolio, and a large number of customer spread over a wide geographical area. Manual operations have no scope in e-commerce logistics operations. The component of logistics, such as order processing, transportation, inventory management, packaging, and delivery require close coordination using IT solutions. Electronic commerce logistics solutions need to be based on the following design considerations: Online facility for organizing and tracking shipment Online order status and documentation Online dispatch documentation and invoice Auto reminder for payments Seamless interface with existing SCM or ERP systems Online alert for critical information through WAP/Mobile MIS reports on the past data analysis, delivery history etc. E-commerce logistics systems, based on the above considerations, ensure the following benefits to sellers, buyers, and 3PL service providers: Improved Communication Transparency in supply chain Improved customer satisfaction Cost reduction Improvement in efficiency On time delivery Dell computers represent one of the successful e-commerce, logistics and supply chain stories. To compete with the giants like IBM, Apple, and Compaq, Dell has adopted a different strategy to market their PCs. They chose the e-commerce route. For ordering a PC with desired configurations and specifications, the customer has to log on to the Dell website, place an order and complete the outline commercial formalities. Very often the customer gets his PC very next day, if he happens to be in USA. The electronic commerce system installed on the Dell website registers an order after online completion of commercial formalities. The system estimates the demand of the various components going into commercial formalities. The system estimates the demand of the various components going into the computer and place orders for parts with the various suppliers. The supplier delivers the parts to predetermined supply centres wherein the computer is assembled. The system, while registering the orde r, communicates to its logistics partner, the details of the customer and the delivery location as well as the assigned supply chain for picking up the consignment. The logistics partners office nearest to the Dell supply centre is activated for material pickup and delivery. The result of this efficient process is nearly zero inventory and total customer satisfaction. 9.1.9 Security Trusted Computing base or TCB is the sum total of the protection mechanisms within a network system which includes firmware, hardware and the software. It consists of one or more component which together enforces a unified security policy for the whole system. The company that I have chosen contains lot of sensitive data which is very important for national security. As expected the company will have a highly secured system for database management and security. A TCB system is expected to meet users requirements for security, reliability and effectiveness. Because no single user is responsible when it comes to data which is nationally important, operating system which manages this data uses a policy of mandatory access control. In MAC no individual takes a decision, the whole decision is based on the reference framework and the decisions are taken by the system itself. This is the case with XYZ limited which storehouse such sensitive data. 9.1.10 Other Interesting Approaches Apart from build order and direct model supply chain strategies, analysts believe that there are also some other issues that contribute to the companys success. Dells secret concerning its SCM is the appropriate matching of people and process elements. This was obvious from Michael Dells statement that our RD focuses on process and quality improvements in manufacturing and one of our biggest challenges in finding managers who can share and respond to rapid shifts. (Global retail Business) There are three central points in the companys value web model: Dells potent role in control and coordination of a value network, Its close integration with its business partners and suppliers and the importance of IT, internet and electronic communications. Analysts view the company as a zero-time organization identifying four key features apart from direct sales model and build in order, which are described in the following table: Competitive positioning is all about creating a brand for your product. Wal-Mart, the brand indicates adequate quality and low price, attracting price sensitive buyers. This is something which in long run help a firm leverages its brand equity. Firms with strong reputations are better positioned in markets involving inter firm cooperations than firms with history of failed partnership. If a firm can create a brand then it need not differentiate on any particular matter. It only needs to sustain the brand image and leverage the brand premia that it can enjoy. Let us have a look at how Nokia have created a competitive advantage. The above charts set the theme for both the views in motion. They are so well interrelated that there is a common goal that can create a competitive advantage. There are five critical blocks (Green cells are RBV while violet ones are for Competitive positioning) for RBV which when practiced can lead to two quality positions- Superior market position or Defendable market position, which in turn is key component to position a product or service competitively.. These two strategies work in junction and neither of them can be sustainable in isolation. The differentiation among these two perspectives lays in the fact that one talk about capabilities and the other does not. Competitive positioning talks how the capability of an organisation allows the firm to be competitive in the market, while RBV only stresses on the resource. Competitive positioning shows the angle of marketing deciding the strategy of the firm while RBV is more from the side of manufacturing. (Strategy Formulations) The two houses of strategy namely Resource based view competitive positioning had their fare share of critics. After studying them in detail it can be seen that there are certain inherent weakness in both of them and both of them are not sustainable in long run if isolated. In a long competitive environment a firm needs to invest in either product differentiation or cost leadership and then utilise the competitive positioning which will be sustainable because of our ability to defend it on the base of cost advantage. If a company develops a sustainable cost advantage in the industry it can kill its competitors and rules the market. Sustainable differentiation helps an organisation charge brand premia to the customer. Either of the strategy in modern days scenario will not work in isolation. A developing organisation needs to realise that in such a globalised scenario no differentiation or cost leadership can last for long. Baring an example of some technological innovation no strate gy in isolation has created a lasting organisation. Dells Supply Chain Management The company supply chain management system handles pieces and information and enormous transactions, and includes many core components necessary in keeping the operation run smoothly: Configuration management: This component of the company manages up to 1 million of Dells part numbers every year across 200 product families approximately. It also handles over 2 million BOM (Bills of materials) every year. BOMs part numbers are created for facilities manufacturing in building assemblies and its sub assemblies for the companys products. Procurement: The procurement component of Dell manages almost 1.8 million purchase orders line per year from more than 6000 suppliers worldwide. To further streamline the procurement process, the company uses an automated application including the workflow and vendors approvals and communications and enabled services like defective parts replacement. Cost: The batch mode is used to calculate the costs to the company for BOMs. All the cost components run mostly in the batch mode. The batch jobs runs daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly, and each job aggregating total material costs. Inventory: Inventory component of the company manages over 3 million movements daily from the factory floors in all Dell sites to the stock rooms, along with over 3 million messages transmitted to multiple systems for analyzing, reporting and factory scheduling. Accounts Payable: The accounts payable component of the company handles about 15,000 items per day, which includes payments to the companys invoices, receipts and all suppliers. Vendor information includes vendor id, contact info and negotiated terms. Along with these order related transactions of the company, the Supply Chain Management system also runs several other process jobs to aggregate data in intervals of week, month and quarters. (Cohen Shoanen, 2004) The SCM database consists of 3,000 database objects including packages, functions, procedures, triggers, views in the North American region. The SCM of Dell is supported by Power Edge 2650 server applications (6), internally developed web based applications (5), almost 20 system-to system integrations, and around 125 batch jobs with almost 500 user interfaces. Previous System: UNIX-based servers The earlier Dell system used Sun E6000-Class UNIX servers operating the Sun Solaris 8 OS with Sun Cluster 2.2. The Servers, within 16 processors at 336 MHZ with 11GB of memory, managed the production database on Oracle database 8.0.6. The companys disaster recovery server had 12 processors running at 336 MHz with 6 GB of memory. To make the systems readily available, the companys information technology used Sun Cluster to cluster primary and secondary servers with an active/passive configuration connecting to a shared disk storage, enabling its database to fall over to the passive node if in case the active one is failed. Conclusion Dell via its partnership model has completely changed the industry methods. It has integrated the value chain by its access to information. Industry is facing stiff competition and in such a competitive scenario Dell has differentiated at cost and also at offering. The inventory management policy and supply chain excellence has become a part of discussion for all the Ivy League Business Schools. The offering that Dell provided its suppliers has left less room with the suppliers to negotiate. This has led to excellent partnership model which has benefited everyone across the value chain. Dell has created excellence in personal computer industry and it is a pioneer in process management for this industry. The healthy competition and brilliant innovation in this industry has helped in its evolution. Customer is the ultimate one to benefit. The IBMs and Compaqs and HP of the world subscribed to the view that we have to develop everything. This was an engineering centric era, in this era dell was of the view why we should we make everything; we can just buy and collaborate as per our requirement. This view gave them flexibility and coupled with the excellent supply chain that they created- they became what they are. In this model there are fewer things which can go wrong because there are only fewer things which can go wrong. There is no drag effect of 50000 people working with you.

The Recommendation To Improve Market Research Marketing Essay

The Recommendation To Improve Market Research Marketing Essay Nike, Inc. is engaged in the design, development and worldwide marketing of footwear, apparel, equipment and accessory products. It sells its products to approximately 18,000 retail accounts in the United States and through a mix of independent distributors, licensees and subsidiaries in nearly 200 countries. Despite the fact Nike carrys out everlasting, basic research that benefits a number of facets of the sports and fitness industry, their primary focus is to deliver which in turn is directed towards applied research. Applied research emphasises on short-term action such as successfully bringing about a new product lines. This proves to be a strength as this method of research is less costly than basic research and less risky due to the short-term nature. Successful projects can feature instant profitability while unsuccessful projects may be abandoned without facing large losses. Focus Weakness Applied research can be a weakness as well. Many new, inventive ideas come into existence as a result of basic research. Nevertheless more risky and expensive, Nike would gain from the rise in the basic research which would strengthen the organization with potential opportunities and proper discoveries of which Nike could take advantage. Posture Strength Nike as a brand gives its posture a cutting edge over its other competitors, at the same time adapting to securing a place and at other instances to make an approach to secure a position. Nike self-satisfaction is of late being a premiere provider of high quality sports footwear and apparel. Variation in the product has been the key to support Nike in achieving its position as the leader in the market. Due to this very position of Nike in the footwear industry, it can afford to look ahead giving more emphasis on new products it wants to develop as compared to other companies with attempt to improve upon existing products and services. From time to time, it needs to adjust its posture in relation to a particular product line or area of products. Nike may also choose a defensive strategy to find a solution of some problem at that instant it may might as well use the strategy of using an idea which is well worked out for other companies and may implement the same for its own which in ot her words is mimic what is working well for other companies in the industry. Marketing Research Strength of Marketing Research Nikes core is depended on marketing research on a continuous basis to benefit in keeping up the companys position as the leader in athletic footwear and apparel industry. The result of such analysis enables Nike to make decisions regarding its different divisions. Its decision is benefitted to recondition the apparel division, an area where the company offers a number of possibilities. Nike will be arranging the internal business by gender instead of the sport category they are using now. They also plan to carry out more experiment concerning the buying habits of men, who are frequently item-driven and women who are more collection-driven. Limitations of Marketing Research Focusing on applied research can be a weakness as well. Many new, innovative ideas come into existence as a result of basic, unspecific research. Though more risky and expensive, Nike would benefit from increasing the amount of basic research we conduct with hopes of uncovering potential opportunities of which Nike could take advantage. Accurate, up-to-date information obtained by marketing research can be of enormous value to Nike as an organization in gaining and/or maintaining its competitive edge. However, there are a number of reasons why, in reality, these potential benefits may not be realized: Budgetary constraints   gathering and processing data can be very expensive. Nike may lack the expertise to conduct extensive surveys to gather primary data, whatever the potential benefits, and also lack the funds to pay specialist market research agencies to gather such data for them.   In these cases, Nike may be forced to rely on data that is less than perfect but that can be accessed more cheaply, e.g., from secondary sources. Time constraints   Nike are often forced to balance the need to build up as detailed a picture as possible regarding customer needs etc. against the desire to make decisions as quickly as possible, in order to maintain or improve their position in the market. Reliability of the data   the value  of any research findings depend critically on the accuracy of the data collected.   Data quality can be compromised via a number of potential routes, e.g., leading questions, unrepresentative samples, biased interviewers etc.   Efforts to ensure that data is accurate, samples are representative and interviewers are objective will all add to the costs of the research but such costs are necessary if poor decisions and expensive mistakes are to be avoided. Legal Ethical Constraints The Data Protection Act (1998) is a good example of a law that has a number of implications for market researchers collecting and holding personal data.   For instance, researchers must ensure that the data they obtain is kept secure, is only used for lawful purposes and is only kept for as long as it is necessary.   It must be made clear as to why data is being collected and the consent of participants must be obtained. In addition to this, there are a number of guidelines, laid down by Nike as the Market Research Society, that, although not legally binding, encourage Nike to behave ethically when dealing with members of the public. Recommendation to Improve Market Research: Nike should make a make a proper budget before implementing a market research. Nike should be give appropriate time to each market research. Nike should follow all the legal rules laid down to improve the market research. Nike should stay away from un ethical marketing research. Nike should identify it target market before each research. SWOT Analysis of Nike Strengths Nike is a very competitive organization. Phil Knight (Founder and CEO) is often quoted as saying that Business is war without bullets. Nike has a healthy dislike of its competitors. At the Atlanta Olympics, Reebok went to the expense of sponsoring the games. Nike did not. However Nike sponsored the top athletes and gained valuable coverage. Nike has no factories. It does not tie up cash in buildings and manufacturing workers. This makes a very lean organization. Nike is strong at research and development, as is evidenced by its evolving and innovative product range. They then manufacture wherever they can produce high quality product at the lowest possible price. If prices rise, and products can be made more cheaply elsewhere (to the same or better specification), Nike will move production. Nike is a global brand. It is the number one sports brand in the World. Its famous Swoosh is instantly recognizable, and Phil Knight even has it tattooed on his ankle. Weaknesses The organization does have a diversified range of sports products. However, the income of the business is still heavily dependent upon its share of the footwear market. This may leave it vulnerable if for any reason its market share erodes. The retail sector is very price sensitive. Nike does have its own retailer in Nike Town. However, most of its income is derived from selling into retailers. Retailers tend to offer a very similar experience to the consumer. Can you tell one sports retailer from another? So margins tend to get squeezed as retailers try to pass some of the low price competition pressure onto Nike. Opportunities Product development offers Nike many opportunities. The brand is fiercely defended by its owners whom truly believe that Nike is not a fashion brand. However, like it or not, consumers that wear Nike product do not always buy it to participate in sport. Some would argue that in youth culture especially, Nike is a fashion brand. This creates its own opportunities, since product could become unfashionable before it wears out i.e. consumers need to replace shoes. There is also the opportunity to develop products such as sport wear, sunglasses and jewelry. Such high value items do tend to have associated with them, high profits. The business could also be developed internationally, building upon its strong global brand recognition. There are many markets that have the disposable income to spend on high value sports goods. For example, emerging markets such as China and India have a new richer generation of consumers. There are also global marketing events that can be utilized to support the brand such as the World Cup (soccer) and The Olympics. Threats Nike is exposed to the international nature of trade. It buys and sells in different currencies and so costs and margins are not stable over long periods of time. Such an exposure could mean that Nike may be manufacturing and/or selling at a loss. This is an issue that faces all global brands. The market for sports shoes and garments is very competitive. The model developed by Phil Knight in his Stamford Business School days (high value branded product manufactured at a low cost) is now commonly used and to an extent is no longer a basis for sustainable competitive advantage. Competitors are developing alternative brands to take away Nikes market share. As discussed above in weaknesses, the retail sector is becoming price competitive. This ultimately means that consumers are shopping around for a better deal. So if one store charges a price for a pair of sports shoes, the consumer could go to the store along the street to compare prices for the exactly the same item, and buy the cheaper of the two. Such consumer price sensitivity is a potential external threat to Nike. PESTLE Analysis of Nike Political Analysis The government must create economic policies that will foster the growth of businesses. Nike, fortunately, has been helped by the US policies which enable it to advance its products. The support accorded to Nike by the US government, particularly in the general macroeconomic stability, low interest rates, stable currency conditions and the international competitiveness of the tax system, form the foundation critical to Nikes growth. Economic Analysis In economy, the biggest threat for Nike would be economic recession. During recession, Nikes growth will be adversely affected. The US economy is experiencing a downturn right now. Consumer purchases are slowing down. Currently, Nikes feeling the pinch of the economic recession. The Asian economic crisis also affects Nike since its goods are manufactured in Asia. The labor costs socially responsible   and material prices are going up. Nikes growth is not just affected by the local economy but also in the international economy. A weak Euro and an Asian recession could mean weak sales for Nike. The overall results in the sales generated by Nike in athletic footwear, however, remained stable. The global market makes up for the variances in sales particularly between peak and lean seasons. Society Analysis People are more health conscious nowadays. Diet and health are getting more prominence. Consequently, more and more people are joining fitness clubs. There is an accompanying demand for fitness products particularly exercise apparel, shoes and equipment. Nike is at the forefront of this surge in demand as people are looking for sports shoes, apparel and equipment. Nike, however, failed to foresee problems brought about by a sweatshop expose pertaining to labor and factory conditions at production locations in Asia. This caused bad publicity and declining sales as society and consumers demand more  companies. Technology Analysis Nike uses IT in its marketing information systems very effectively. Nike applies marketing information systems to the economics of innovation, segmentation and differentiation for most of its businesses. Nikes leadership status owes in large part to the use of extremely valuable Information Technology, and applying it to every aspect of the product from development to distribution. Nike, being the world leader in the athletic footwear industry, is able to effectively harness its environment to boost its marketing efforts. This strategy has translated into robust sales of Nikes products.

Recycling Laws: Eco-Unfriendly? Essay -- Environmental Issues

Out of all the growing problems in the world, the massive accumulation of garbage seems to be the least of the people’s worries. Countless landfills are being satiated by trash of all shapes, sizes and composition; many now being paved over to serve as foundation for housing, airports, businesses, etc. If the situation were as simple to resolve as paving over the putrescent landfills, then there wouldn’t be debates or research about the environmental effects of pollution associated with improper discarding of waste materials. A majority of the types of waste can be recycled, but at what cost? Many will argue that recycling is the only way to eliminate such landfills and protect the environment from further damage. Several environmentalists groups and politicians seek to make recycling a legal responsibility, while the technology for recycling has progressed in recent years, the ratio of cost to practicality has remained essentially the same. If recycling were to be man dated, then there would have to be a paradigm shift in the circulation of products, from creation to redistribution, in order to make regulations practical. In previous generations, recycling was very limited in its capabilities and effectiveness. Several studies from the time period actually support the claim that more trash was produced than salvaged. The collection of a stack of papers left behind mounds of gloves, trash bags, food wrappers and water bottles that couldn’t be used. With that in mind, it is completely understandable as to why groups of people in the past were against salvaging materials. Since then, the ability to process raw or reused materials has increased tenfold. Now, almost everything from wastewater to the toughest polymers can be recycl... ...law wrapped around them. Without the combined contributions of all three of these major groups, the system will continue to be flawed, while money, resources and time, shall continue to be wasted trying to salvage from an ever growing junk pile. If any laws need to be emplaced then they should be limited to an initiating push, much like the ignition on a vehicle. Once the trifecta begins to pick up speed, any regulations used to propel the movement should be immediately relinquished and replaced with maintenance and education in order to promote a self-perpetuating behavior. Works Cited Esterl, Mike. â€Å"Plastic Recycling Falls Short as Too Few Do It.† Wall Street Journal. 19 Aug 2011: B.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 01 Apr 2012. Koch, Wendy. â€Å"Cities Turn Deeper Shades of Green.† USA TODAY. 30 Jun 2011: A.3. SIRS Issue Researcher. Web. 06 Mar 2012.

Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein and Confessions of a Justified

The Gothic Novels of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein and Confessions of a Justified Sinner      Ã‚  Ã‚   The word 'Gothic', taken from a Germanic tribe, the Goths, stood firstly for 'Germanic' and then 'mediaeval'. It was introduced to fiction by Horace Walpole in 'Castle of Otranto, a Gothic Story', and was used to depict its mediaeval setting. As more novelists adopted this Gothic setting; dark and gloomy castles on high, treacherous mountains, with supernatural howling in the distance; other characteristics of the 'Gothic Novel' could be identified. The most dominant characteristic seems to be the constant battle between the good and the dark side of the human soul and how that, given a chance, the dark side of human nature will gradually develop, through the actions of the character in question, until it has engulfed the good, and also raises the theme of suffering and isolation. Other keynotes of 'Gothic Novels' seem to be the misuse or abuse of technology. For example, science is used to create new beings, the characters turning against or abusing nature and/or God, w here the character may take on the role of God, the forbidden attraction of evil, the thrill of the kill, and death.    The novels Frankenstein, Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Confessions of a Justified Sinner all contain important truths about human nature and mankind. By looking into these three texts, I am going to explore exactly how they fit or do not fit into the various interpretations of 'Gothic' I have laid out. The two most prominent themes in Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde are those of the 'misuse of technology'and 'the dark side of man and all its attractions.' These two themes are, in fact, directly linked with each other as it is as a r... ... Making monstrous. Frankenstein, criticism, theory. Manchester University Press, 1991. Boyd, Stephen. York Notes on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Longman York Press, 1992. Mellor, Anne K. Mary Shelley. Her Life, her Fiction, her Monsters. Methuen. New York, London, 1988. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. Edited with an Introduction and notes by Maurice Hindle. Penguin books, 1992 Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. New York:Dover Publishing, Inc., 1991.   Stevenson, Robert Louis.   The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.   1886.   The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Stories.   Harmondsworth: Penguin,1979.   27-97. Svilpis, J.E.   "The Mad Scientist and Domestic Affection in Gothic Fiction."   Gothic Fiction: Prohibition/Transgression.   Ed. Kenneth W. Graham.   New York: Ams, 1989.