Best Buy Company Incorporation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Best Buy Company Incorporation - Assignment Example As a global company, it operates in Mexico, Canada, China, United States, and Puerto Rico. Best Buy is a public company traded on NYSE: BBY(S&P 500 Component). SWOT Analysis Strengths: No. One Electronic Retailer The company is the largest Consumer Electronic Retailer in the US holds a market share of about 20% (2011) and it’s ranked in position five on the Interbrand's Best Retail Brands 2012. Knowledgeable personnel In order to maintain its competitive streak in the market, the company recruits, trains, and retain qualified personnel. Their end-end type of customer service differentiates Best Buy from online retailers and discount electronics retailers. Smart Acquisitions In FY03 Best Buy Co. Inc. acquired Greek Squad Inc. This was specifically done in order to enhance support for customer services. The Greek Squad service is now found in all the US branded the Best Buy stores. Additionally, in FY12 Best Buy acquired mindSHIFT Technologies, Inc. a company providing data cent er and cloud services. Weaknesses: Physical stores The cost of personnel and overhead associated with the physical stores poses a challenge when comparing Best Buy with other online retailers. Customers in most cases use the physical store as â€Å"showroom† and then make the purchases of the products from the other online retailers at a lower cost. Reorganization Diluting Customer Experience The company has over the years undergone various restructuring activities in an effort to smoothen their in-store models of business.

What are the main causes that lead to monopoly Essay

What are the main causes that lead to monopoly - Essay Example The producer should have the necessary infrastructure that includes technology and other requirements which enable them to produce the specific goods or services and sell them at a reasonable price. This situation can be construed as a natural monopoly because the competitors cannot produce such commodities with patented technological capability, which they cannot acquire. The producer will have an exclusive control over a patent with regard to the manufacturing process of a specific product. Moreover, a company may be granted a right to produce a commodity or service by the government (Peterson, Monopoly, 2005). Monopoly bestows upon a producer an exclusive possession of the market. Since, the producer controls the production it is possible for him to reduce production and increase prices with the sole aim of maximizing profits. Monopoly exists whenever the market has barriers to prevent the entry of competitors. The government creates such barriers in the case of natural monopolies. Further, the government itself provides some specific services or goods through local governmental bodies or franchises the same to a company and it regulates the production and prices of goods or services. Moreover, patents also create barriers in the market (Monopoly, 2003). Technological advancement or the necessity to use a particular variety of machinery to produce commodities also serves to discourage competitors. Furthermore, large scale production and integrated operations enhance efficiency, and cost effective measures reduces prices. Adopting such measures will be beneficial to companies to cut down costs and provide goods to the consumers at reduced rates. Monopoly arises when a company indulges in anticompetitive activities which create barriers to trade (Monopoly, 2003). In order to avoid abuse of the status of monopoly and to protect the consumers from monopolistic behaviour of companies, most nations

Development of E-Recruitment Software

Development of E-Recruitment Software 3.7 Advantages Disadvantages of E-Recruitment There are many benefits both to the employers and the job seekers but the not also free from a few shortcomings. Some of the advantages and the disadvantages of e –Recruitment are as follows: Advantages of E-Recruitment (For the Proposed System) are: Lower costs to the organization. Also, posting jobs online is cheaper than advertising in the newspapers. No intermediaries. Reduction in the time for recruitment (over 60 percent of the hiring time). Facilitates the recruitment of right type of people with the required skills. Improved efficiency of recruitment Process Gives a 24*7 access to online collection of resumes. Online recruitment helps the organizations to weed out the unqualified candidates in an automated way. Recruitment websites also provide client companies with valuable data and information regarding the compensation offered by their competitors which helps the HR managers to take various HR decisions like promotions, salary trends in industry etc Disadvantages of E-Recruitment Apart from the earlier named benefits, e-recruitment has its own demerits/ disadvantages. Some of them are: Screening and checking the skill mapping and authenticity of millions of resumes is a problem and time consuming exercise for organizations. Internet access is yet to become a household need and not a want as there is still little or no awareness in many locations across Nigeria. In Nigeria, the employers and the employees still prefer a face-to-face interaction rather than sending e-mails. Other users can have access to the system provided he or she meets the pre condition Unacceptable changes can be made to any of the editable information details i.e. updating false records. Unauthorized staff are banned from getting access to the facility as the case may be ENTITY RELATIONSHIP DIAGRAM OF THE APPLICATION (ER DIAGRAM) DATABASE DESIGN FOR THE E-HIRING APPLICATION Chapter Four System DESIGN 4.1 System design is change from a user oriented document to programmers or data base personnel. The design is a solution on how to approach the creation of a new system. This is composed of several steps. It provides the understanding and procedural details necessary for implementing the system recommended in the feasibility study. Designing involves the logical and physical stages of development, logical designs reviews the present physical system, prepares input and output specification, details of implementation plan and prepare a logical design walkthrough. The database tables are designed by analyzing functions involved in the system and format of the fields is also designed. The fields in the database tables should define their role in the system. The unnecessary fields should be avoided because it affects the storage areas of the system. Then the design of the input and output screen should be made user friendly. The menu should be precise and compact. 4.2 ANALYSIS OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM The newly designed system should improve the workability of the existing system. It would take care of the shortfalls i.e. problems encountered using the manual system of recruitment. It will have a self service module for the applicant’s registration. The proposed system will be user friendly which makes it easier, faster, and more reliable to use. For this project, the platform will have a web site which any user of internet can access. Once the applicants have registered they can send their details and the system will automatically store them in the respective fields. The user should be able to: Login to the system through the first page of application Centralize and automate administration of the application at the departmental level. Use self-service and self-guided services (applicants registration) Consolidate recruitment activities on a scalable web-based platform Support portability and standards Personalize content and enable exchange of applicants Manage applicants Handle applicant selection and sending of mails to successful applicants Display scores and transcripts 4.1 SOFTWARE DESIGN: ARCHITECTURE OF THE NEW SYSTEM In designing the software certain principles are followed: 1. Modularity and partitioning: Software is designed such that, each system should consist of a hierarchy of modules, partitioned to carry out specific functions. 2. Coupling: Modules should have little dependence on other modules of a system. 3. Cohesion: Modules should carry out a single processing function. 4. Shared use: Avoid duplication by allowing a single module to be called by others that need the function it provides. 4.2 PROCESS REQUIREMENTS USE-CASE MODELLING The main objective of constructing the requirements use-case model is to elicit and analyze requirements information which helps to prepare a model that communicates what is required from a user perspective but is free of specific details of how the system will be built and implemented. Cockburn, A (2001), notes that â€Å"a use case captures a contract, describes the system’s behavior under various conditions as the system responds to a request from one of its stakeholders†. In essence, a use case explains in a nut shell how a user (who can play a number of roles) interacts with the system under a specific set of circumstances. Pressman, S.R (2010), describes Use Case as how a user interacts with the system by defining the steps required to accomplish a specific goal. Using this approach will produce a more robust design that will be in three modules database, business logic and interface. The use of the waterfall system, RAD (rapid application development) with iterat ive and incremental development allows for the introduction of new requirements later in the project without seriously affecting the development of the final solution. The steps required to produce this model are the following: Identify business actors. Identify business requirement use cases. Construct use-case model diagram. Document business requirement use-case narratives. The project is expected to address the following areas:- Applicants Registration job category creation job Information Management Module shortlisted applicants Information Management Module The registration and management of the Company asset will contain the following unique information items: Name of applicants, Applicants details Application id, emails, discipline, job description grade ARCHITECTURE AND DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW SYSTEM Because the proposed system is web based and is going to be an ERP (enterprise Resource planning), application staff can Login at anywhere to gain access to the system. The graphical interface that would be adopted for this testing system is one whereby there is a comparison with the conventional login system where one user is permitted to login to the system at a time, multiple user login is impossible. The new system is more reliable and secure, and because it is a web based application, it can be deployed on the central server, where other work stations can be connected to it once they are on the network and users will be able to view the application. This explains the nature of the flexibility of the testing system to be developed. 4.5 INPUT DESIGN The applicant registration form will be designed such that it will include all information required about the staff job duties. The contents of this form will be similar to the hard copy form currently in use for staff appraisal A sample of some of the fields in the applicant Reg form interface is depicted below: CHAPTER FIVE: IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROJECT 5.1 PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION OVERVIEW The development of the recruitment (E-hiring) system for the HR department of Visafone Company is made up of three layers namely: The Interface Layers. The Middle tier Layers(Business Logic) The Database Structure(Housing the database tables and stored procedures) This n tier approach to the construction, design and implementation of the project is to ensure that the application is stable and consistent such that any changes on any of the layers will not affect the other layers. For instance, if the database is changed from Microsoft SQL to Oracle, all that needs to be done is a change in connection and not a change in the entire three tier application. The key called â€Å"HR† (located between the two ) is the connection string while the key â€Å"SMTP† is the server configuration that connects to the internal mail server to send mails. A Class (Human.cs) was created as a container for all the methods that will be used by the application because the concepts of object oriented programming was used. 5.1.1 HARDWARE Windows 7 operating system Visual studio embedded on Windows 7 operating system for development Laptop 60GB HDD 2GB RAM 5.1.2 SOFTWARE Visual studio 2010 C# programming language SQL 2008 server as back end database Microsoft Visio 2007 5.2IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURE Implementation of the web based recruitment application (E-HIRING system) went through many stages which are: 5.2.1 Database Construction After the installation of Microsoft SQL 2008 server, a new database named HRManagement was created using the SQL Enterprise Manager. The database was constructed using the flowchart designed in the previous chapter such that columns and table attributes needed for the application were created. The following tables and their corresponding parameters were created for this database. tbl_vaccancy tbl_HR tbl_Applicant tbl_ApplicantRegistration tbl_event tbl_department tbl_interviewer tbl_RegisterUser tbl_AllRequest 5.2.2 Web server Configuration To configure the web server, Microsoft Internet Information Service (IIS) was installed on the machine to be used for hosting the web pages to be accessed. This is done by: Click Start – Click Control Panel – Click Add/Remove Program – Click Add/Remove Windows Component – Check Internet Information Service – Insert Windows XP CD – Click Next – Click Finish and Reboot the machine. Click Start – Right Click My Computer and Select Manage – Click Services and Application – Expand the Internet Information Services Icon – Expand Web sites – Right Click Default Web Site – Click on Properties and configure the parameters. 5.2.3Business layer Creation and Referencing After the installation of Microsoft Visual Studio 2003, the business layer (which has to do with the business logic behind the research project) was created using the namespace FIRSBusinessLayer and the Visual Studio application gives us the Microsoft.ApplicationBlock.Data which is used for the connection to the database. In order to make them usable, they were referenced in the application by doing the following: Start Visual Studio – Click on HRManagement – Click View and select Solution Explorer (which opens at the side of the page) – Right-click References under HRManagement and click Add Reference which opens the Add Reference box. Click on Projects button – double click the FIRSBusinessLayer and click ok to add the reference as shown below: Also double click on the Microsoft.ApplicationBlocks.data and click ok to reference it. A screenshot of the created methods and properties is shown below: 5.2.4Creation of Interfaces These were created as modules to give the various methods the expected parameters. Visual Studio was used for designing the interfaces using the control toolbox which consists of textbox, image, buttons and labels. The following interfaces were created and viewed using Windows Explorer: CHANGEPASSWORD.aspx createApplicant.aspx CreateChannelmanager.aspx RegisterUsers.aspx setupInterviewers.aspx aboutus.aspx AllallocatedApplicant.aspx AllRegsisteredApplicant.aspx StaffLogin.aspx careers.aspx HOME.aspx HRADminframe.aspx HRlogin.aspx HRmanagement.aspx HRrespond.aspx listofjobsforRRespondr.aspx RecoverPassword.aspx StaffLogin.aspx Under Set up folder createApplicant.aspx createDepartment.aspx createHRstaff.aspx CreateVacancy.aspx StaffLogin.aspx SearchAndRequstForApplicant.aspx SearchAndRequstForvaccancy.aspx SearchAndRequstForvaccancyByVcancyNo.aspx StatusOfApllicant.aspx 5.2.5Debugging the Application The debugging tool is used essentially for testing the application to see if the three tiers (i.e. the database structure, middle tier and Interface) are properly connected. The debugging tool was used severally to see if the application can compile, many errors were displayed and break points were created at suspected sources of error and they were corrected accordingly. To confirm that the application is error free, the following was done: Open the Project in Visual Studio (i.e. HRManagement in this case) and Click Build solution on the Build button. After successful compilation, it will show â€Å"Build Succeed, 0 Skipped, 0 failed†. See screenshot below: Home.aspx is configured as the start up page for the application and all pages are linked back to the main site by clicking the HOME button on page. To run the application, Click on the Debug button and Click Start, this opens the main site through the browser. 5.3 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS In order to effectively run this application, the required minimum hardware specifications are: Processor Speed: Pentium V, 1.4GHZ RAM Size: 512MB A USB port or CD Drive Display Settings: 1024X768 pixels Operating System: Windows XP, Windows 2000 or 2003 Server 5.5USER GUIDE/MANUAL This application is to be used by three groups of people namely: Registered users: These are registered users e.g. staff, interviewers, HR assistant, Admin. etc they can request, check Applicant status, and subsequently view and allocate applicants once they have been properly authenticated by the system. The Administrator manages the software application. He performs administrative tasks such as configuring the application to automatically send mails to selected applicants generate summarized reports and create personnel. He can also Create HR Managers, Create Registered Users and Create Interviewers etc. HR personnel: These are also the soul of the software they can see all Applicants application on the system, they can also authorize/select, delete, hire, they can also create other users in the system, can close vacancy, create applicant, create interviewers and allocate interviews. Applicants: This is the person that applies for a vacancy or one that has chosen to apply into the various jobs vacancies advertised. He uses the application by applying for the various openings, and when applied a reference number is generated .With the reference number he/she can check the status of its application .i.e. hired, rejected and if vacancy is still available. Once he has submitted its application into the system, he/she can also edit some of its profile. CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 6.1 ACHIEVEMENTS The following were achieved by the project: Uncover savings through business process improvement and support for strategic decision making Gained control of the Recruitment process Increased accountability to ensure compliance Enhanced performance of assets and the life cycle management Risk reduction through standardization and tracking, proper documentation, loss of records ,detection of employees records Align IT with business goals to support business decisions 6.2 LIMITATIONS AND CONSTRAINTS The limitations encountered in the course of this project are as follows: Because this project has to do with recruitments, the various security measures put in place by other companies visited and this made it difficult to get more information. No company wants to divulge its security information i.e. personnel records Limited materials available to specifically address the project goals Limited time to develop the application Lack of enough programming skills to come up with something better than this in terms of project delivery 6.3 AREAS OF FUTURE DEVELOPMENT While I believe a great work has been done in the development of an e-hiring recruitment processing systems for the HR department, the following still needs to be addressed: The system should be integrated with an SMS alert system using a third party provider system The application needs to be tested by so many users to ascertain its durability It database needs to be upgraded to SQL 2008 full version The system should provide high level-based approval process in order to improve security and hasten requisition process. It should provide capabilities to aid IT infrastructure staff knowing what IT assets they have, where they are and their status. Provide an avenue for easy IT Asset movement and assignment. An encryption algorithm was not used for the database as it’s not designed for commercial use and resident only on my system for project purposes. However the research work is open to further development by whoever deems it fit. 6.4 RECOMMENDATIONS Due to the deficiencies of the current method and the need to improve the method, there is a need for a web based recruitment processing system, that reduces or totally eliminates paper involvement, providing accurate inventory status report, ease decision making, and provides an avenue where by each IT asset can be tracked, assigned and re-assigned. 6.5 CONCLUSION It is expected that the E-hiring (Recruitment) system should help to increase productivity to the organization through sourcing for qualified job seekers. It should help eliminate the burden of space that is needed to store the hard copies of Cvs. Thus, different organizations (governmental and nongovernmental) are expected for source for candidates through the online requirement system. ORS should be the determinants of recruitment due to its benefits which has astounding advantages.

Our Schools Need Community Service Learning Programs Essay -- Communit

"I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve." - Albert Schweitzer Each community is like a human body, it requires a constant life force to survive. Volunteers and community service workers are the blood that maintains our communities. It fortifies our foundations. A community is only as strong as the weakest link. We must empower those weakened by poverty, discrimination and other social injustices. Compassion is a learned behavior. We obtain it through our parents initially teaching us morals such as empathy, kindness, and fairness. Secondly, we can reinforce it through school-based service learning projects. Mandatory school-based community service learning will benefit our country by an increase in volunteerism from the heart and social skills in our children and teens in the future.Service is your engagement in the relationship of the act of giving. Service is its most sincere when we help through whom we are not by what we do. We have to have compassion in order to serve correctly to be in the situation with someone not just for them (Wade, Rahima C., 1997). Volunteerism is embedded in the fibers of Americans. For centuries we have aided our society in all aspects of volunteerism. Harvard University, in 1636, formed the first academic library which was staffed with volunteers. In 1736, the first Volunteer Fire Department was established; in 1857 the American Red Cross was organized using volunteer labor(Megan 2011). As volunteers, will we promote charity or solidarity? Charity exhibits as insincere, superior, and often views the poor as sub-human. Solidarity presents ... ...g-Youth O’Sullivan, Theresa A., Community Service in The United States, Alternatives to improve volunteerism among Americans, Tallahassee, FL August 2004 Vessels, G., & Huitt, W. (2005). Moral and character development. Paper presented at the National Youth at Risk Conference, Savannah, GA, March 8-10. Retrieved [date], from http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/papers/chardev.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris_Wofford Wade, Rahima C. "From a Distance: Service- Learning and Social Justice." Integrating Service Learning and Multicultural Education in Colleges and Universities . Ed. Carolyn R. O'Grady. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2000. Youth helping America educating for active citizenship: service learning, school-based service and youth engagement 3/2006 Publisher: Corporation for National and Community Service. http://www.nationalservice.gov/

Saint Patrick

Saint Patrick was born in Kilpatrick, Scotland, in the year 387. His parents are Calphurnius and Conchessa. When Patrick was sixteen, he was carried off into captivity by Irish marauders and was sold as a slave to a chieftan named Milchu in Dalriada. In Dalriada, he tended his master’s flocks in the valley of the Braid and on the slopes of Slemish. When he was working the fields, he acquired a perfect knowledge of the Celtic tongue. His master was a druidical high priest, in which gave Patrick an opportunity to become familiar with all the details of Druidism from whose bondage he was destined to liberate the Irish race. Warned by an angel after six years, he fled from his cruel master and bent his steps toward the west. He traveled about 200 miles to Westport. He found a ship ready to sail and after some rebuffs was allowed on board. In a few days he arrived in Britain, but now his heart was set on devoting himself to the service of God in the sacred ministry. After wandering in dense forest for twenty-eight days they were found by others and eventually Patrick made it home to his family. He remained with them for a few years, and then decided to pursue the priesthood in answer to dreams he had about returning to Ireland. After a number of years, while he was on a short visit to the continent, probably Gaul, his name was proposed to lead a missionary expedition to Ireland. He set out around the year 432 as a bishop, and went to the headquarters of the Ulaid in Emain Macha, and there established his first church at what is now Armagh. From there he traveled predominantly in the north and west and made many converts, and trained many priests. After some time, his integrity was questioned, resulting in an inquiry at the hands of the British bishops, but he was subsequently vindicated. As the Ulaid were pushed out of more and more territory, Patrick moved with them to spend his last days in Down, from which he wrote his Confession. He died March 17, 461, in Downpatrick, Ireland. Kilpatrick still retains many memorials of Saint Patrick. His feast day, St. Patrick’s Day, is March 17, or the day he died.

Mobile Technology Evolution and Its Influence on the Society

Mobile phones have long ago ceased being mere means of communication. Nowadays they quite successfully perform a much greater number of functions and as they evolutionize their impact on the society grows. Over the past few years mobile technology has shown steady and significant improvement. Mobile evolution has introduced new revolutionary features, some of which were unimaginable not too long ago. Driven by the slogan â€Å"If you can dream it, you can do it†, the 3G mobile phone manufacturers strive to make their products as sophisticated as possible, constantly updating the software, features and multimedia services (Take, Sopan). At this point it seems that there’s always way to perfection. The fact that mobile phones at this point are already saturated with impressive features makes further improvement challenging, and therefore even more desirable. The fact that one can get seemless and fast Internet connection on his phone is very appealing and much appreciated by the mobile phone users. GPS service is also among the latest and the most popular features available in 3G mobile phones (Willison, Simon). Another feature which seems to be a must for any phone is built-in camera. The quality of the pictures and video taken with the help of a tiny camera integrated in the mobile phone seems truly extraordinary and at times can even beat the quality provided by bigger cameras. As mobile evolution continues, the phones become more and more compact at the same time providing an increasing number of fascinating features. Constant struggle for improvement manifests the desire of mobile phone manufacturers to keep up with the relentless progress, which brings under the spotlight the most revolutionary and innovative products. There’s no denying the fact that such impressive improvements in mobile technology infallibly evoke acute interest not only in those, who closely monitor every technological invention, but also in the general public. Efficient marketing programs and overall popularity of certain mobile phone manufacturers, such as Nokia, lead to strong enthusiam among the people when a new model is about to be released. An illustrative example of the ultimate excitement over a new mobile phone model is the release of the Apple iPhone (Barylick, Chris, Honan, Matthew). The fact that hundreds of people spent days and nights in the street led by the desire to be among the first to get the dream-phone is very telling of the great place mobile phones have secured for themselves in our hearts and minds. Nowadays, a mobile phone is far more that a way to stay in touch. It is a symbol of status, taste and fashion consciousness of its owner. A new impressive mobile phone evokes respect while an obsolete one may call status into question. In conclusion, as mobile phones become more and more complex, their influence increases. People depend on their mobile phones for much more than just calls and text messages. One can hardly deny the importance of mobile phones, which have become an inseparable part of our everyday lives. They have even gone as far as to define their owner as a person. Works Cited 1. Barylick, Chris, Honan, Matthew. iPhone release brings out the crowds. June 26 2007. 2. Emily. Samsung, Armani to Launch ‘Armani Phone'. July 24, 2007 3. Richardson, Michael. Mobile Phone Becomes Status Symbol. 6 May 1994. Herald Tribune/News. 4. Take, Sopan. Evolution of the Mobile Technology. July 19 2004. Science and Technology. (http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/7-18-2004-56792.asp> 5. Wellman, Steven. Take 5: The Evolution Of The Mobile Phone User Experience. April 24 2007. The Information Week/Consumer/Personal Tech: Mobile. 6. Willison, Simon. New A-GPS service for Nokia phones. 6 August 2007.

Much Ado About Nothing Coursework

Much Ado About Nothing Coursework Much Ado About Nothing Coursework Much Ado About Nothing Coursework Much Ado About Nothing is the comedy written by the genius of writing, William Shakespeare. The comedy presents Claudio and Hero, a pair of lovers, who are going to married in one week. Nevertheless, their wedding is planned to be sabotaged. Writing Much Ado About Nothing coursework, you need to decide on the specific topic and explore is thoroughly. Below are several themes of the comedy you may want to explore. In addition, down this page you will the links to the reliable sources of information on the comedy. Moreover, there is a short excerpt from the custom written Much Ado About Nothing coursework. Finally, you may rely on our professional coursework writers and get a customized help with writing. In other words, you may request our writers for professional individual assistance with Much Ado About Nothing coursework writing. Much Ado About Nothing Topic Ideas Opposite Sex Infidelity Deception Trust/Distrust Much Ado About Nothing CourseworkExcerpt If the tale of Hero and the slanderous tongues is structurally the backbone of Much Ado About Nothing, it is none the less clear that it is far from exhausting the dramatic interest of the play. Side by side with the tragicomic theme arranged to trap your emotions, there is also a theme of pure comedy lying in wait for your laughter in the paradox of the relations between Hero's cousin Beatrice and Claudio's friend Benedick. In the working out of the action Beatrice and Benedick come to figure even more largely than Claudio and Hero themselves; and from their names, it may be noted, the play seems at an early date to have derived an alternative title. Beatrice and Benedick are jesters at love, caught in the net of love and condemned in the face of all men's mockery to betray themselves as the inconceivably ready victims of the divinity, whose colours they have flouted and whose reasonable service they have forsworn. Such are the chosen sport of the comic spirit, whose virtue it alway s is, through the garlands of laughter with which it bedecks the surface of life, to lay its finger upon the follies and absurdities of those who hold themselves aloof from the natural and wholesome laws which lie at the foundations of life. Shakespeare had handled the theme before, when he drew in Love's Labour's Lost the picture of the Eveless Eden of Navarre, whose flaming bulwarks fell at the first flutter of a troop of approaching petticoats. Berowne and Rosaline are but faint sketches beside Benedick and Beatrice. Shakespeare came to Much Ado About Nothing, which some believe to be Love's Labour's Won, with a far finer sense for the delicious entanglements of intrigue, and a ripened humour which makes the eaves-dropping scenes in Leonato's orchard a joy for ever. This one may maintain, and yet be willing to admit that the wit-combats of the protagonists sometimes leave one aghast at the Elizabethan notion of repartee, and inspire a firm conviction that no element in human cult ure is quite so fleeting in its transformations as the sense of what is funny in the give and take of dialogue. Benedick entreats Beatrice to remain obdurate in her desire never to hear a man swear he loves her, since 'so some gentleman or other shall 'scape a predestinate scratched face'; and the lady retorts, 'Scratching could not make it worse, and 't were such a face as yours were.' With such subtle quart and tierce of mind did they cross the dialectic foils in Messina If you found this post useful, you may proceed to read anotherreligious coursework: Read also: English Literature Coursework Drama Coursework Help AS Biology Coursework Write a College Term Paper Student Essay Help

Free Essays on A Pair Of Tickets

â€Å"A Pair of Tickets† This particular literary work utilizes the theme of Chinese-American life, focusing mainly on a mother-daughter relationship where the mother is an immigrant from China and the daughter is thoroughly Americanized- yellow on the surface and white underneath. The mother tries to convey their rich history and legacy to Jing-Mei, who is almost completely ignorant of their heritage, while the daughter attempts to understand her hopelessly old-fashioned mother, who now seems to harbor a secret wisdom, who in the end, is right about everything all along. Although she is not born and raised in China, as her mother, Jing Mei Woo now has a better understanding of she and her mother’s life. When her mother tells her that she would come of a realization of her Chinese blood, she does not believe it. Living in San Francisco, she had at age fifteen, â€Å"vigorously denied that I had and Chinese whatsoever below my skin†(pg. 168). When her mother speaks of Jing Mei someday understanding where she comes from, Jing Mei as a teenager has vivid imaginations of herself somehow mutating into someone of Chinese orientation. Now she is thirty-six years old. As in real life, maturity occurs from adolescence to adulthood. Jing Mei’s mother has passed away. It isn’t until then that she finally realizes that, â€Å"I have never really known what it really means to be Chinese† (pg. 169). It is at this point that the reader begins to see that Jing Mei is becoming a dynamic character. She has waited a long time to connect with her Chinese heritage. It is only after learning that she has two half-sisters, and of her mother’s wish for them to som eday be united, that Jing-Mei is willing to visit China. Her demeanor transforms from not wanting to know of her Chinese heritage growing up, to possessing a profound interest in the matter as an adult. When they arrive in China, Jing Mei starts to feel that, â€Å"Maybe it is ... Free Essays on A Pair Of Tickets Free Essays on A Pair Of Tickets 1. â€Å"A Pair Of Tickets† 1989 2. Born in Oakland, CA 1952, author Amy Tan wrote her very first novel â€Å"The Joy Luck Club†, which went on to become a critical success and a best seller. 3. During the war in 1944, Suyuan Woo was subjected to great tragedy. With her twin infants she fled on foot from their home in Kweilin as soon as she learned the Japanese were coming to invade and capture. For many torturous days Suyuan carried her babies with the hope of reaching ChungKing where her husband was stationed. Injured, ill, and exhausted Suyuan knew her body would soon give up and die. She did not want to see her babies suffer and slowly die so she forced herself to abandon the girls, not even a year old, on a road with hope of some caring person finding them to give them the life that she felt she could not. She continued walking with death beside her until she fainted. When she woke she was in a truck driven by rescuers headed toward ChungKing. She went to her husband’s station only to learn that he had been killed two weeks earlier. She become delirious and mad. Hospitalized, she met her future husband Canning Woo. They would later movie to the United States a nd bore one daughter, Jing-Mei. Over 40-years had passed since 1944 and Suyuan was still in search of her Chinese twins. Suyuan passed away without ever knowing her twins, but her hope never died. 4. Descriptions of other character’s in â€Å"A Pair Of Tickets† are as follows:  « Auntie Lindo is an old friend of Suyuan. Auntie Lindo, Auntie Ying, Auntie An-Mei, and Suyuan were all members of The Joy Luck Club.  « Chwun Yu and Chwun Hwa are the twin daughters abandoned by their mother Suyuan in 1944.  « Canning Woo is 72-years old and Suyuan’s current husband. Together they have one daughter named Jing-Mei. Canning’s aunt Aiyi nicknamed him â€Å"Little Wild Goose† when he was a boy. In China the nickname serves as a baby milk name, which is used to discourage ghosts... Free Essays on A Pair Of Tickets â€Å"A Pair of Tickets† This particular literary work utilizes the theme of Chinese-American life, focusing mainly on a mother-daughter relationship where the mother is an immigrant from China and the daughter is thoroughly Americanized- yellow on the surface and white underneath. The mother tries to convey their rich history and legacy to Jing-Mei, who is almost completely ignorant of their heritage, while the daughter attempts to understand her hopelessly old-fashioned mother, who now seems to harbor a secret wisdom, who in the end, is right about everything all along. Although she is not born and raised in China, as her mother, Jing Mei Woo now has a better understanding of she and her mother’s life. When her mother tells her that she would come of a realization of her Chinese blood, she does not believe it. Living in San Francisco, she had at age fifteen, â€Å"vigorously denied that I had and Chinese whatsoever below my skin†(pg. 168). When her mother speaks of Jing Mei someday understanding where she comes from, Jing Mei as a teenager has vivid imaginations of herself somehow mutating into someone of Chinese orientation. Now she is thirty-six years old. As in real life, maturity occurs from adolescence to adulthood. Jing Mei’s mother has passed away. It isn’t until then that she finally realizes that, â€Å"I have never really known what it really means to be Chinese† (pg. 169). It is at this point that the reader begins to see that Jing Mei is becoming a dynamic character. She has waited a long time to connect with her Chinese heritage. It is only after learning that she has two half-sisters, and of her mother’s wish for them to so meday be united, that Jing-Mei is willing to visit China. Her demeanor transforms from not wanting to know of her Chinese heritage growing up, to possessing a profound interest in the matter as an adult. When they arrive in China, Jing Mei starts to feel that, â€Å"Maybe it is ...

A Balanced Scorecard Model For Project Management Information Technology Essay

A Balanced Scorecard Model For Project Management Information Technology Essay For a long time organizations are have been trying to use performance measurement methods in their system due to the fact that most time of managers is consumed by gathering, controlling, analyzing or reporting out data. Over time, it has been recognized that a valid performance measurement system can help organization to define its expectations and priorities, set strategies with goals and finally planning and decision making. Project Management Office, managers, program managers and project managers, as well as other organizations can use performance measurement benefits to evaluate project team performance, process effectiveness, client perception, resource management and leveling in a single or multiple project organization. By adding performance measurement to the project managers’ skills, they can accurately evaluate project performance against the mission and vision of organizations. Moreover, it helps project managers to find and assess risks and determine the value l evel creating for stakeholders. These papers will focus the issues of the performance of a project, and integrity of performance measurement and project management. The research objectives for this research study are identifying performance metrics for project management integrated to balances scorecard system; development of a balanced scorecard system with perspectives of project management; studying of use of created balanced scorecard system to evaluate projects. Any previous work in the area of project and project management, and performance measurement will be illustrated in literature review. The approach of how the balanced scorecard and project management methodologies will be integrated is shown in methodology section. Literature Review Project and Project Management Project A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service with a definite start time and end (PMBOK @ 2004). This uniqueness is a consequence of the difference in some way from the â€Å"normal† product delivered by an organization. Furthermore, every project is constrained in different ways by scope, time and cost and is defined by discrete activities which are related to each other and linked together over the project lifecycle. Figure 1 shows the constraints of a typical project. Moreover, a project consumes limited resources such as human, time, money, machines, facilities, and materials and requires specific skills to manage and execute and finally produces tangible deliverables according to stakeholder’s requirements. Figure 1 – Project Constrains Source: James Norrie,  Ã‚  Derek H T Walker., â€Å"A Balanced Scorecard Approach to Project Management Leadership†,  Ã‚  Project Management Journal.   Sylva: Dec 2004.   Vol. 35,   Iss. 4,   p.  47-56  (10  pp.) Project Stakeholders The project stakeholders are the parties who have positive or negative impacts on project performance and outcomes. The major sta keholders have direct authority to change the elements of the triple constraint. The Figure 2 illustrates the major stakeholders of a typical project. The figure also shows that, an internal part of an organization can recognized as stakeholders. Figure 2 – Project Main Stakeholders Source: Adopted from: PMI, (2004), PMBOK @ 2004 Project Management Keeping projects on-time, within budget and achieving a high level of quality of scope is difficult. Problems are due to poorly conducted analysis and design, but many also suffer from poor leadership and management. Project management is the planning, execution and controlling of project activities to achieve project objectives. Objectives include time, cost and scope or managing the triple constraints. Based on PMBOK @ 2004 definition, project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs or expectations from a project.

Bureaucratic problem by Human Resource Managers Essay

Bureaucratic problem by Human Resource Managers - Essay Example Bureaucracy, Taylorism, Fordism, and Post- Fordism and the shift towards post-bureaucracy Taylorism was concerned with applying principles of scientific management as propounded by Frederick Winslow Taylor was considered too inhuman. Fordism meant applying the mass production way of manufacture as originally envisioned by Henry Ford. The features of this type of management were specialization, formal management-labor relations (labor unions), low skill, low adaptability, uniformity of production etc. This too was thought unfit in a dynamic and competitive consumer market. Post-Fordism is explained by Brusco as â€Å"the emergence since the mid-1960s of a significant demand for more varied and customized gods, produced in short series†. It can be defined as â€Å"a system of administration characterized by specialization of functions, action according to fixed rules, and hierarchy of authority†. But as the above-mentioned definition denotes, the concept required high lev el of specialization, and adherence to rules and procedures, along with a strongly defined and elongated hierarchy with many layers between the worker and the top management. Post-bureaucracy, on the other hand, is a concept that removes these disadvantages in functioning as seen in the earlier management concepts. One of primary proponents of this theory was Heckscher and Donnellon, who argued that modern-day challenges of competition, cost reduction, and innovation cannot be met with the bureaucratic style of functioning.

Instruction and Assessmrnt plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Instruction and Assessmrnt plan - Essay Example This paper puts forth some writing and reading learning activities to enhance the same in 5th graders. (Hurley, 2001) Day/Dates Lesson Objective Instructional methods Material Needed Reading Activity 1 Monday Start Reading the story â€Å"Because of Winn Dixie† It will be a read-aloud method in class for the first day followed by some home-reading To get the students geared up for what is to follow ; develop their reading habit and ability to appreciate good literature A brief introduction on the story to be given by the teacher followed by READ-ALOUD sessions of the story and prospect discussions. Get the students to introspect on the characters that they might encounter in the story and what do they expect the plot to be like. White board Marker Flash cards Reading Activity 2 Tuesday Follow-up session on the reading home-assignment given on Monday. To develop the thinking skills of the students and their ability to comprehend the context and predict plots. Preview. Predict G et the students to discuss: 1. What part did Winn Dixie had to play in what happened at the library? 2. Is it possible for a girl to be on friendly terms with an elderly librarian White board Marker Flash cards Reading Activity 3 Wednesday Reader Groups will be made Centered activity and reading would be of : 1. Something to Do Help Students sequence the story, to summarize, and develop story board. 1. Students will be put in leveled groups. 2. During the class, the teacher will put forth story board activities related to sequencing and vocabulary. 3. Students will be expected to take part in the story board activities on rotational basis. White board Marker Posters for story board activities Reading Activity 4 Thursday Reader groups will again be made. Reading would be of: Child of the silent Night Help students In sequencing and vocabulary comprehension. 1. Participation during the entire group discussion. 2. Get students to infer meaning of vocabulary words like grand, memorial, pitfalls etc. 3. Students will be expected to attend to questions put forth by the instructor : What experiences bring forth people from diverse culture together. ; How did Laura recover (Describe the sequence) 4. Words will be read from the context and pictures will be provided to give cue to their meanings from the context. 5. Students will be expected to solve practice work sheet page 4 White board Marker Posters for story board activities Reading Standards: To inculcate an understanding of figurative language in students. Students at grade 5 level are not pro at their understanding of figurative language. They find it difficult to draw inferences and meanings given the context at this level. They still tend to delve on the literal meaning of words. So the idea would be to develop their understanding of figurative language. Secondly, it would also aim at inculcate student understanding and ability to connect different ideas and arguments, in a given context. In general the abilit y to understand and comprehend information will be developed at this level. Day/Date Lesson Objective Instructional Method Materials Needed Writing Activity 1 Monday Narrative Prompt The objective of this activity is to help students put in words what they feel about a certain aspect of their life/life in general. It is simply

Leadership & Professional Development Term Paper

Leadership & Professional Development - Term Paper Example Additionally, I am currently pursuing an advance qualification so it really becomes difficult to balance timings between family, friends, business and studies. According to John (2007), life truly becomes hectic if it is not scheduled in an appropriate manner, and from the current proceedings, I believe one point where I am lacking is time management, and this essay aims at my plan for developing my skill set towards overcoming this weakness. Barth (2005) states that time has an ‘irreversible’ aspect or feature associated with it, and at the same time, it cannot be substituted, nor can it be brought back. Leaders are more booked for time than any other individual as they tend to have more concerned parties demanding their respective time. Subsequently, leaders often realize that 24 hours is a very less sum of hours in a day and there is a lot more that is to be done. Subsequently, time management skills gain extreme importance for leaders in scenarios whereby tasks are more and time is less; leaders, like any other individual, cannot stop time nor can they reduce the speed of it, and neither can they enhance the pace of it. Therefore, effective time management is critical in today’s world for leaders. An extreme example of attaining efficacy is that often leaders give more time to ‘time management’ rather than managing the time; they would give more time to creation of priority lists, exc el sheets, coding tasks with various colors and so on. This, though enhances the effectiveness of managing time, but at the same time it also takes a lot of time in developing such documentation; leading to individuals realizing that wasting time without such hassle is better than doing so with it. Leadership gains success by means of aspiration and inspiration as stated by Kousez (2003); if a leader cannot manage the time well, then a similar expectation cannot be laid towards the followers of the same. This inspirational trait,

Photographic Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Photographic Industry - Essay Example Photography begins with the actions of photojournalists. They produce images for publications using cameras. Moreover, photo documentarian and photojournalist both capture issues of current affairs around the world (International Center of Photography, 2009). However, photojournalists specifically do the work of publications. Besides, journalists are witnesses of specific events and translate events into visual images that are normally recognizable and emotive without any interpretation. Developments in landscape photograph advances than portrait photography. Photojournalists’ must be aware of the current issues around the world, research specific topics and accept the responsibility of current culture. Therefore, the history of photography has many developments that include the actions of photojournalists and photo documentaries. They help in developing photographic industry through the research and study of current cultures across the world (Vartanian, Crump, Blahnik & Olymp ia, 2011). In fashion photography, the photographer normally tells a story. The main fashion photographers are Tim Walker and Cecil Beaton. They develop photographs in professional ways that catch the attention of contemporary society in broad and diverse ways. The two fashion photographers give stories that enhance the experience of the viewer and client. Moreover, from the business point of view, storytelling with the use of images gives the opportunity of selling more client books, prints and making more of shoot experience.

Research methods for business and management Essay

Research methods for business and management - Essay Example In a good research, the abstract should represent what the research entails. The abstract provides an adequate summery of the research in term of the used literature, the methodology, findings, analysis techniques, and an aspect of conclusion with respect to the research findings. The introduction introduced the entire research and shows what the researcher intends to do through research questions and objectives. The article, â€Å"Factors influencing the transition to university service mathematics: part 2 a qualitative study,† by Miriam Liston and John O’Donoghue, is a research whose abstract is clear as it specifies the type of study as qualitative. It also clarifies what the researchers intended to find out. The study in the article was carried out to establish the influence of effective variables, role of mathematics conceptions, and students’ approaches to learning (COHEN, MANION, and MORRISON 2000). The abstract also indicate the placement of the research study by pointing out that the study was done at the University of Limerick, in the service mathematics transition. The abstract explains further the nature of the study as a follow-up to an earlier study, which was quantitative. It goes further to point out the focus group as part of the methodology (LEEDY and ORMROD 2001). Other sections of the research, which are pointed out in the abstract is the tools used in data collection. The Abstracts points out the major sections but fails to introduce the research findings (Center for Civic Partnerships 2007). The research findings are critical at this section for the readers to follow up how the researchers got into the given conclusion. It only indicates what the findings and the respective consequences would enable the researchers to envisage the possibility of future problems as far as Ireland mathematic education is concerned (LISTON and O’DONOGHUE 2010). The introduction section introduces the research context in an inadequa te way. The introduction connects the abstract by further indicating that the study is a follow-up research to an earlier conducted quantitative study. It repeats some aspects of the abstract such as the location where the study was conducted, the focus group, and time of the study without providing future elaborations on the same research aspects (Crossman 2013). The problem is however elaborated as being the â€Å"The Mathematics Problem,† in which case students fail in mathematics thus facing problems to pursue mathematics courses and careens as their of choices. The introduction lacks the respective research question. This aspect could make the research lost somewhere within the research process. The researchers introduce a case of worrying findings specifically from recent reports, which in contrast should have been placed in the literature review section. The introduction indicates the uniqueness and originality of the research. The thesis statement is also indicated bu t it hardly addresses what the research intends to do adequately. The researchers indicate that the qualitative aspect of the study with respect to the previously conducted quantitative research helps the researchers to determine the strengths as well as the depths of the affected variables’

Leadership & Professional Development Term Paper

Leadership & Professional Development - Term Paper Example Additionally, I am currently pursuing an advance qualification so it really becomes difficult to balance timings between family, friends, business and studies. According to John (2007), life truly becomes hectic if it is not scheduled in an appropriate manner, and from the current proceedings, I believe one point where I am lacking is time management, and this essay aims at my plan for developing my skill set towards overcoming this weakness. Barth (2005) states that time has an ‘irreversible’ aspect or feature associated with it, and at the same time, it cannot be substituted, nor can it be brought back. Leaders are more booked for time than any other individual as they tend to have more concerned parties demanding their respective time. Subsequently, leaders often realize that 24 hours is a very less sum of hours in a day and there is a lot more that is to be done. Subsequently, time management skills gain extreme importance for leaders in scenarios whereby tasks are more and time is less; leaders, like any other individual, cannot stop time nor can they reduce the speed of it, and neither can they enhance the pace of it. Therefore, effective time management is critical in today’s world for leaders. An extreme example of attaining efficacy is that often leaders give more time to ‘time management’ rather than managing the time; they would give more time to creation of priority lists, exc el sheets, coding tasks with various colors and so on. This, though enhances the effectiveness of managing time, but at the same time it also takes a lot of time in developing such documentation; leading to individuals realizing that wasting time without such hassle is better than doing so with it. Leadership gains success by means of aspiration and inspiration as stated by Kousez (2003); if a leader cannot manage the time well, then a similar expectation cannot be laid towards the followers of the same. This inspirational trait,

Research methods for business and management Essay

Research methods for business and management - Essay Example In a good research, the abstract should represent what the research entails. The abstract provides an adequate summery of the research in term of the used literature, the methodology, findings, analysis techniques, and an aspect of conclusion with respect to the research findings. The introduction introduced the entire research and shows what the researcher intends to do through research questions and objectives. The article, â€Å"Factors influencing the transition to university service mathematics: part 2 a qualitative study,† by Miriam Liston and John O’Donoghue, is a research whose abstract is clear as it specifies the type of study as qualitative. It also clarifies what the researchers intended to find out. The study in the article was carried out to establish the influence of effective variables, role of mathematics conceptions, and students’ approaches to learning (COHEN, MANION, and MORRISON 2000). The abstract also indicate the placement of the research study by pointing out that the study was done at the University of Limerick, in the service mathematics transition. The abstract explains further the nature of the study as a follow-up to an earlier study, which was quantitative. It goes further to point out the focus group as part of the methodology (LEEDY and ORMROD 2001). Other sections of the research, which are pointed out in the abstract is the tools used in data collection. The Abstracts points out the major sections but fails to introduce the research findings (Center for Civic Partnerships 2007). The research findings are critical at this section for the readers to follow up how the researchers got into the given conclusion. It only indicates what the findings and the respective consequences would enable the researchers to envisage the possibility of future problems as far as Ireland mathematic education is concerned (LISTON and O’DONOGHUE 2010). The introduction section introduces the research context in an inadequa te way. The introduction connects the abstract by further indicating that the study is a follow-up research to an earlier conducted quantitative study. It repeats some aspects of the abstract such as the location where the study was conducted, the focus group, and time of the study without providing future elaborations on the same research aspects (Crossman 2013). The problem is however elaborated as being the â€Å"The Mathematics Problem,† in which case students fail in mathematics thus facing problems to pursue mathematics courses and careens as their of choices. The introduction lacks the respective research question. This aspect could make the research lost somewhere within the research process. The researchers introduce a case of worrying findings specifically from recent reports, which in contrast should have been placed in the literature review section. The introduction indicates the uniqueness and originality of the research. The thesis statement is also indicated bu t it hardly addresses what the research intends to do adequately. The researchers indicate that the qualitative aspect of the study with respect to the previously conducted quantitative research helps the researchers to determine the strengths as well as the depths of the affected variables’

Body Image Essay Example for Free

Body Image Essay Ones body is what makes one who one is. Every inch of someone is what sets a person apart from everyone else. Even though everyone has an opinion about what his or her perfect body would be, changing ones personal features would take away from individuality. I personally would never have plastic surgery because when I look at myself, I do not see a young woman with a funny looking nose and big bug eyes, but I see a beautifully sculpted masterpiece that God has made just for me. It is a body that gives me character, individuality, and confidence. In my personal opinion, and I say this as humbly as I can, I am a beautiful young lady. I have a very animated face that goes well with my personality, which is humorous, but in a mature fashion. I can be serious and stare at others with my endless snowflake hazel eyes, but if I get too drastic for the mood, it is easy to look at my nose and then laugh to lighten the air. I take pride in the fact that there is no one else on this earth exactly like me. Not just my inner beauty, but my outer beauty makes me different from everyone else. Life would be so boring if everyone looked exactly the same, but what is inside oneself makes one beautiful, not only inside, but outside as well. I personally could not be more content and happy with who I am. If I were to walk down the street, there would be many different comments going through peoples heads as I passed. Some people would find me attractive, and some would find me ugly. Some people might find me beautiful, and others might find me weird looking. The bottom line is that it does not matter what they think. It only matters what I think because I am the only one in the whole world that has to live with myself. I am proud to be me, and no surgery could make me any more confident, or any happier to be me. In conclusion, unless I had a huge rock fall on my face, which made it difficult to eat or breathe properly. I would never have plastic surgery done to any part of my already existing body. I would never second-guess my own character, individuality, or confidence. I am perfect just as God made me.

The logisitics and supply chain of Dell

The logisitics and supply chain of Dell This is the era of globalisation which means that individuals are living in one world. There are no more limitations, and boundaries are diminishing in every possible ways. Moreover, trading worldwide has become very common now. This scenario leads us to have greater and detail knowledge on managing international operations and the supply chain. The subject tends to be much more complex than it may sound. Appropriate logistics and supply chain help companies to save huge amount of costs and generate greater revenue. In this report, I have analysed, applied academic modules and put my best effort to deliver the logistics and supply chain system of Dell Inc. Dell Inc. is one of the largest IT companies providing information technology and business related services, support and solutions worldwide with 100,300 employees. It was established in 1984 with only $1,000 capital in Texas, United States. The unique strategy of Dell to sell custom built PCs (Personal Computers) directly to customers, eliminating middlemen to enhance customers savings was practiced at the initial stage of its establishment by Michael Dell. However, as per the sources, the company now operates in four global business segments; Large Enterprise, Public, Small and Medium Business, and Consumer. The focus of this case study is the supply chain management practices of Dell. Dell has been following its unique direct build-to-order sales model for more than 20 years. Customers can plan their own configuration and place orders directly with the company via the phone or its Web site. Over the years, Dells supply chain efficiencies and direct sales gave it a competitive advantage. The nature of logistics and international trade: Globalisation or international trade has become a common ground for most traders now. It is a general rule for businesses to enhance their potential growth by increasing revenues and cutting down costs. In implementation of this rule, logistics plays an important role in any kind of business operating globally or locally. However, the proper management of logistics is even more crucial when it comes to international traders. In earlier period, logistics was only described as warehousing or trucks and sheds. However, warehousing is one of the fundamental components of logistics. The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) in the UK define logistics as, Getting the right product to the right place in the right quantity at the right time, in the best condition and at an acceptable cost. The above definition makes us clear that logistics involve getting everything right in the process to meet customers requirements and expectations from beginning to the point of consumption. In general, 8R are followed in order to define and implement logistics. They are; right product, right place, right quantity, right time, right customer, right way, right cost, and right quality. Our Dell Global Logistics Teams aim to develop and sustain a global transportation and logistics network that uses the most efficient and effective means for us and our transportation providers to distribute our products to our customers. Our job is to get the right stuff, to the right place, at the right time. Furthermore, our Dell Logistics Teams must do this at the right cost. We continue to optimize transportation costs while improving quality and striving to exceed the service expectations of our customers. In fiscal year 2009, many dynamic changes within the Dell fulfillment model challenged our Dell Global Logistics Teams. During the past year, our Dell Logistics Teams continued to do the following: Optimize our inbound and outbound transportation networks, focusing on using the most efficient use of air, land and ocean modes of transportation Work green initiatives that demonstrate that we recognize our roles and responsibilities in being good stewards of the environment Collaborate with the best logistics and transportation providers, who are focused on providing our customers with timely and damage-free deliveries, and operate their businesses within the principles of environmental stewardship. Supply chain strategies: Supply chain strategies are the approaches related to logistics and supply chain that are influenced or related with the organisations strategy. Corporate strategy Business Unit Strategy Functional Strategy As discussed in Pascal Renet (2010), Supply Chain is one of the most crucial parts of an organisation and its strategy lies on aligning and developing it according to the nature of an organisation. The figure below demonstrates the alignment and development of supply chain strategy. Many Supply Chain strategies are formed by using the above mentioned variables. However, there are two principle strategies practiced widely in the real world situation. They are; lean and agile. Lean strategy has been a huge success from the early years of 1930. Its main aspect is to add value (which includes efficiency and effectiveness) at each stages and steps of the process and eliminate processes that do not contribute in value adding of the system, services or product. Some of the most popular processes used in lean strategy are; Just In Time (JIT), Pull based system, Make-To-Order (MTO). Agile strategy is practiced to effectively deal with uncertainties caused by various factors, which may include terrorism, natural calamities, demand system of the market and many more that vigorously affects a business environment. The main technique in agile strategy is mass customisation which follows the production philosophy known as principle of postponement. Leagile strategy is the combination of lean and agile strategies. Michael Dell (2007) states, As we continue to grow worldwide, it is important that we increase our ability, via the direct model, to manufacture close to our customer and fully integrate our supply chain into one global organization. This will allow us to drive for even greater excellence in quality, cycle time and delivered cost. We will innovate and adapt our supply chain model to help drive differentiated product design, manufacturing and distribution models. Directs Sales The direct model refers to the fact that Dell does not use the retails channel, but sells its PCs directly to customers through its website, Dell.com, as Figure 4 shows. This way the intermediary steps that may add time and cost are eliminated, and Dell is directly linked to its customers. Indirect Distribution Channel of the PC Industry Dells Direct Distribution Channel Areti Manataki (2007), In fact, Dell sells directly to all its customers, from home-PC users to the worlds largest corporations [54]. This way it creates a direct relationship with each individual customer, which turns out to be a great source of competitive advantage. As Michael Dell has stated, this direct relationship creates valuable information about the customer, thus Dell knows who the end users are, what they have bought from Dell and what their preferences are, a fact that allows Dell to offer add-on products and services, and stay, in general, closer to the customer [27]. As Lawton et al [29] suggest, this provides Dell with a wealth of marketing and product development information. Especially in the case of large customers, the above-mentioned direct relationship is upgraded to virtual integration. With the help of information technology and traditional face-to-face human contact, customers work with Dell as partners; this means that Dell is not going to be just their PC vendor anymore, but their IT department for PCs, as Michael Dell claims. There are two main facilities that bring Dell and its customers closer: Premier Pages and Platinum Councils. Premier Pages, now called Premier.Dell.com, are customised IT procurement and support sites for big clients, which let them decide and manage their purchases from Dell, thus leaving to salespeople a more consultative role. Premier.Dell.com represents a customised sales channel and as Dell has realised how beneficiary that is, it has increased the number of Premier Pages from 1000 in 1998 to 50,000 in 2000 [36]. Platinum Councils are regional meetings of Dells largest customers, where executives, salespeople and technicians discuss their experience with Dell and their needs and expectations from technology. Additionally, Dells Customer Experience Initiative, Dell Forums [55], the Direct2Dell blog [57] and the IdeaStorm [56] illustrate the importance that Dell places on its customer relationships. in the case of Dell, a computer is built only after a customer has placed an order; then lean manufacturing and just-in-time production take place. This means that once an order is placed, configuration details are sent to the manufacturing floor and the assembly begins; once the computer is built and the requested software is downloaded, it is shipped by a 3PL to the customer. The choice of a build-to-order and JIT manufacturing procedure has several advantages for Dell. First, the level of inventories is very small, leading to low inventory costs and faster response to demand changes for instance, when a new microprocessor comes out in the market, Dell can immediately order it from its suppliers, as there is no excess inventory to get rid of first. Also, it is common that customers pay for an order before Dell pays its suppliers for the products components, thus letting Dell operate on a negative cash conversion cycle [27]. Not to forget the fact that this way customized products are offered, and instead of guessing, Dell knows exactly what its customers want before producing it. What is special in the case of Dell is its relationship to its suppliers, which also facilitates its build-to-order model. Dell fully adopts the approach of the extended enterprise by viewing its suppliers as an integral part of doing business and a key factor for its success. The supplier effectively becomes our partner, as Michael Dell states [15]. Logistics service providers: Third Party Logistics Service Providers both at global levels and local levels form major partners to manage and offer Supply Chain services and the second major factor being the internet and IT technology which helps manage information and data ahead of or along with flow of materials and goods. Dell has manufacturing facilities located in Austin-Texas, North Carolina, Miami, Florida that service US Markets. European Markets are serviced from its plants in Ireland and Poland. Asia and other sub continents are supported by its manufacturing facilities in Penang in Malaysia and Xiamen in China along with the latest factory setup in Chennai in India. South America is serviced from its Eldora do plant while the new plan in Brazil supports the African continent. One can imagine the complexities involved in designing procurement systems. Dell does not buy raw materials and components and maintain inventory. Dells vendors use third party service providers to setup logistics parks and distribution warehouses close to Dells plants and deliver materials just in time to the plant against an order for production which is triggers based on an order confirmed by the customer on the internet. Under procurement Logistics in this case, there are number of logistics service providers who play major part in ensuring smooth operations. Vendors are based out of Europe, Taiwan, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan etc. Our Dell Logistics Teams continued to explore the use of every mode of transportation and sought opportunities to ship more freight using modes that offer greater reduction in fuel consumption and carbon emissions. Our regional teams examined the ability to upgrade the attach rates for freight that was best moved by sea instead of by air. Feasibility studies are planned for various transportation modes, such as rail from Asia to Europe, sea/air from Asia to Europe and rail network from China to South Asia. In Asia-Pacific/Japan (APJ), the optimal mode of transport is ocean shipment to countries such as Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Logistics Operations in Supply Chain Network (2011). Management Study Guide. http://www.managementstudyguide.com/logistics-operations-in-supply-chain-network.htm Procurement and outsourcing: Dell outsources its supply chain reinvention 14 JUNE 2010 Guy Clapperton As part of the reinvention of its business model, the computer maker handed the support and operation of its supply chain to a third party Dell was the hardware manufacturing success story of the 1990s, thanks to such innovative business practices as selling to customers directly and assembling devices to order. The past ten years, however, have seen Dell rather lose its edge to Apple in the consumer space and to Hewlett-Packard in business. That has prompted an attempted reinvention at the company. One of the most conspicuous facets of this has been Dells acquisition of ITservice provider Perot Systems in the second half of 2009. Just as significant, though rather less visible, has been the expansion of its global supply chain to include both retailers and so-called original design manufacturers, which sell complete devices for Dell to rebadge. This transformation placed a significant new burden on Dells supplier engagement processes, and the disparate systems that supported them. The company therefore decided to outsource these processes and systems to Inovis, a US-based business-to-business outsourcing provider. http://www.information-age.com/channels/it-services/features/1261013/dell-outsources-its-supply-chain-reinvention.thtml Inventory, warehousing and materials management: Transport planning: While the shipments are in transit, the freight forwarders electronically transfer shipment information and documentations to their overseas offices or agents at the destination and keep Dell and vendors informed of the status of shipments. Freight forwarders at the destination ports file advance shipment documents with customs and on arrival of cargo, complete customs formalities and custom cleared cargo is then transported to freight forwarders warehouse or customs bonded warehouse or to another designated third party warehouse which houses all inventories meant for Dell. The third party service provider who manages the inventories in his warehouse receives the cargo, unpacks the shipments from bulk skids to individual carton level and completes inbound formalities including up dating of inventories in its system and stocks the materials in designated rack locations. Both vendors and Dell are continuously kept informed of the data regarding shipments and stocks. The warehouse stocks inventories in the name of various vendors at SKU level. Most of the times these warehouses are situated adjacent to the plant or at close proximity. Upon receiving a production order from Dell, as per Bill of Material received through DELL ERP system, items are picked up, loaded into the supply cages and trays as per pre determined design and delivered to the plant after completing documentation and system entries to remove inventory from its system held in vendors name, invoice raised and physical delivery accompanied with documents completes the supply chain cycle of Ra w material supply. The revenue recognition happens when material is transferred out of the warehouse and its system and invoiced to Dell.

Love and Freedom Essay -- Love Freedom Psychology Philosophy essays

Love and Freedom What is love? Is it something we do or something we can know? Some classify love as something that you feel for some people sometimes. It is often linked or used interchangeably with lust. Others feel that it is something that is constant and untouched by judgement and feeling. The only common denominator for love is that it is something that is desirable; it is something that we want. So what do people want? Many philosophies pose answers; but those answers frequently lead to more questions. Examining Sartre’s idea of love from Being and Nothingness, we find a love that is an action in the form of a project. The goal of the project is to attain a totality of being through the use of another. This differs from the love outlined by Socrates in Plato’s Symposium. Through Socrates, Plato characterizes love as a desire to partake in the beautiful for the purpose of gaining happiness. Sartre states that love is an engagement in an impossible project. Plato, whil e agreeing that the task is not easy, feels quite differently that love is attainable. This paper seeks to find they areas where the two philosophies overlap, hoping that an even better definition or goal of love can be reached. In order to understand Sartre’s idea of love, we must first examine his ontology. This will lead us to why love is sought. First, there is a distinction between what is free and what is determined: our consciousness exists as a freedom, for-itself, that can transcend any element that is not part of the present consciousness. The human being is a freedom that is able to detach itself through a â€Å"nihilating withdrawal.†[1] This means that the person who talks with others and lives in the world with people can choo... ...rans. Hazel. E. Barnes, Washington Square Press Pub., 1965, specifically term â€Å"nihilating withdrawal† pp.58 and 61, discussion in between [2] B&N, p. 68 [3] B&N, p. 72 top [4] B&N p.69—parenthesis added [5] B&N p. 72-73 [6] B&N p. 99 [7] B&N p.106 [8] B&N p.138 [9] B&N p. 139 [10] B&N p. 144 [11] B&N p. 475 [12] Plato, The Symposium, from The Collected Dialogues of Plato, trans. Michael Joyce, Princeton Univ. Press,1989, p.555 or 203 b-d [13] Symposium, p. 556-57 or 204 b-e [14] Symposium, p. 557-58 or 205 d-e [15] Symposium, p. 558 or 206 e [17] Symposium, p. 562 or 210-211 c [18] Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism, excerpted from Walter Kaufman, Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre, Meridian, 1989, p. 348 [19] B&N p. 136 [20] B&N p. 364 [21] B&N p. 534 [22] B&N p. 358

Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Issues - Same-sex Marriage Laws Violate Gay R

Laws Violate Gay Rights When I was in third grade, I learned that there are certain "inalienable rights"-- the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- all of which the United States government is committed to protecting for every human. Last week, I learned this government feels that these human rights are limited to some people, based on how they choose to practice sex. In two separate legislations last week, the United States Senate sanctioned discrimination against homosexual Americans. The issue recently surfaced in Hawaii when the state denied marriage privileges to a lesbian couple. In May 1993, the State Supreme Court ruled in a 3-1 decision that the state's exclusion of same-sex marriage was sexual discrimination and thus unconstitutional unless there was "compelling evidence" for it. In 1995, a governor's commission recommended the state grant marital rights to homosexuals. The "full faith and credit" clause of the U.S. Constitution says that states must accord reciprocity to laws (and contracts) of other states. Thus a couple could get married in Hawaii, move to another state and demand that the state recognize their marriage contract unless laws in the new state conflict directly with laws in the former state. This led the House to pass the Defense of Marriage Act (DoMA) this July with the Senate concurring on Sept. 10. Social Security, Veter-an's and other federal benefits such as married tax status will simply be denied to Americans who do not conform to a sexual pattern preferred by others in society. I don't know where in the Constitution Congress is permitted to legislate the morality that a man must marry a woman. Furthermore, DoMA permits states to... ... other may make some people uncomfortable. But their union does not infringe on anyone else's life, liberty or pursuit of happiness, and they have a claim to pursue their human rights and marry each other. What has Congress to gain by passing this restrictive law? It is only election-year politics to woo the radical right. The United States government is unfairly discriminating against a portion of the United States population and we should not stand for this public "gay bashing." Discrimination is still legal because the measure failed 50-49. Senator Pryor (D-Ark.) was attending his son's cancer surgery; otherwise, he would have supported the bill. Vice President Al Gore had promised to break the tie in support of the bill, but the motion failed. Now it is legally OK to not hire someone based on his or her sexual preference.

James Dickey Essay

James Dickey (1923 – 1997) is one of the outstanding modern American poets. His criticism provides a scope of ideas on what humanity has gained throughout the twentieth century. His viewpoint is likely to amaze an observer by constant critical notes on what is universally called â€Å"amenities of life.† Thus, the figure of James Dickey cannot be underestimated in terms of his poetical style and criticism of perpetually developing progressive life of the mankind during the twentieth century. His inclinations to make people understand the charms of primitivism and animalism were straightforward. He could put his reasoning over the entire life through the eyes of animals and nature. Thus, the environmental problem of humanity and morality worried him much. It is reflected in his poetry by making emphasis on the significance of return to the nature in order to think like a â€Å"child of nature.† Dickey’s main motivation for claiming the importance of return to primitivism was not spontaneous. He had got through participation in World War II and Korean War (Thesing and Wrede 151). In this respect the poet was highly depressed by losing his older brother. In fact, it turned into a cycle of poems on the main themes of family, survival, spiritual rebirth, love, war and some other (Vaughan 115). With multiple poems included in the compilation The Whole Motion, Dickey described war as the source for cruelty and disfigured estimation of humanity at large (Thesing and Wrede 153). In this very collection one embraces the evolution of Dickey as a poet. The author followed a specific for Modernism feature of the stream-of-consciousness technique. He introduced it in personal evaluation of human civilization, as a self-destructing unity of people. Moreover, Dickey was trying to make a set of interrelated topics interwoven in terms of their collision and approach toward the concept of a â€Å"natural man.† Attacking the problem of civilization, James Dickey is likely to blame world’s progress on the example of his best-known poem The Firebombing: The enemy-colored skin of families Determines to hold its color In sleep, as my hand turns whiter Than ever, clutches the toggle – The ship shakes bucks Fire hangs not yet fire In the air above Beppu For I am fulfilling An ‘anti-morale’ raid upon it (Kendall 511). Based on this single excerpt from the poem, Dickey brings the main problem of the mankind to notice. It is grounded on misunderstanding of where the edge between morality and violence takes place. The author perceives an enormous and ominous power of violence supported by humanity. He understands personal helplessness. Thus, he had no choice but to reflect his rumination in the form of a holistic criticism of the civilization and its consequences. Hence, Dickey is constantly critiquing civilization, and it feels like he never repeated the same theme colored by a banal estimation. It is also included into The Sheep Child. His poetic language was easy to comprehend. Thus, the readers and followers can easily take Dickey as he is. As a matter of fact, born in Atlanta, Georgia, Dickey was loosely related to the concept of nature as he lived, studied, and worked for some period of time in the south of the USA (O’Briant 158). His â€Å"southern† origin and what he once experienced in person gave him motivation for teaching the audience being glowering toward what the civilized life had fallen into (James Dickey 1). In this respect the primitivism and the concept of the â€Å"natural man† are the paramount alternatives represented in his poetry.

Beer Game Analysis Essay

* Introduction: The beer game is a simulation first developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management in the 1960s. This game was made in other to experiment how real organisations functions, where the consequences of every decisions play out as clearly as possible in the game as they would in a real organisation (Senge, 1990). Narayanan Arunachalam (2006) described the game as a popular classroom exercise for business schools conceived at MIT with the primary purpose of demonstrating industrial dynamics. The beer game is a â€Å"laboratory replica† of a real organisational setting, helps to highlight the possible disabilities and their causes of an organisation. The beer game however in this case was created to fail and highlight possible problems which an organisation may face in its supply chain which is the bullwhip effect. The game includes four players which include the retailer, the wholesaler, the distributor and the factory which is in an upli nk setting. After playing the game, below we will be giving a detailed report of the events that took place at the course of the game. * Data analysis: The objective of the beer game is to minimize the total cost for everyone in the supply chain by maintaining low stocks and managing to deliver all orders (http://supplychain.mit.edu/games/beer-game, 2011). However, the game was created to fail and below is a summary of events that took place during the game. Figure 1: Inventory/Backorder of the supply chain During the course of playing the game, we followed the zero strategy which stated that â€Å"place zero orders upstream when your individual inventory is higher than demand†. This rule was largely what shaped the game and influenced the results in terms of inventory and backorders. The retailer had a considerable good start in the game with a good record in inventories of 12 units till week 5 when demand rose from customers and this caused the inventory rate to fall. In week 6, due to no shipments and the bullwhip effect, the retailer started having back orders from the customers. Although the demand stayed the same from week 6, the retailer continued to experience  backorders till week 21 when the wholesaler sent a lot of supplies at once; this made the inventories to rise to a peak of 113 units in week 24. The wholesaler started with an inventory of 12 units which remained the same in week 2. However, due to incoming shipments from the distributor and a lack of demand from the retailer, the inventory rose to 16 units in week three and 20 units in week 4 and remained the same till week 6. Due to an increase in demand from the retailer and a lack of shipments from the distributor, the inventories fell to 6 units and in week 7 and at week 8, the wholesaler was having back orders. Backorders keep reoccurring and fluctuating until week 21 when it rose to 16 units of inventory and reached a peak of 136 units in week 25. The distributor during the game had the same inventory rate for the first two weeks. The distributor maintained similar inventory rates till week 9 when the distributor started recording backorders this was due to the inability of the distributor to meet the orders of the wholesaler. The distributor continued to experience fluctuations in backorders until week 25 when it got a lot of supplies from the factory the inventories at the end of this week was at 40. The factory had started the game with an inventory of 12 units which remained the same till week 10. This was largely due to a lack of huge demands from the distributor. The factory however started experiencing backorders at week11. Backorder rates kept fluctuating during the weeks due to the inability of the factory to meet the needs of the factory on time. At week 25, the factory got a huge sum of supplies from the brewery which made its inventory to reach a peak of units. The high rate of back orders was caused by long lead times, the bullwhip effect and the effects of the zero strategy. This made backorders to be on the rise for all the supply chain operators. Increase in demand also played a great role in causing the high number of backorders which in turn made the total cost to rise at a higher pace th an it should. Figure 2: Order chart Above is a chart showing the order levels of the Retailer, wholesaler, distributor, factory and customer. At the course of the game, due to the zero strategy, all supply chain operators had to make zero orders from week one to week 4, because demand was less than the inventory. The customer  demand remained the same at 4 units until week 5. In week 5, demand from the retailer’s order rate had increased from zero to 16 while demand rose to 8 units compared to previous weeks. The orders of the wholesaler, distributor and factory remained zero in this week because they had high inventories. The decrease in inventories of the retailer resulted in the increase in order rates which was caused by a decrease in shipment which is a bullwhip effect. By week 11, all the supply chain operators had increased their order rate because their inventory levels were down. And back orders followed alongside changes in order changes which are all caused by the bullwhip effect. In week 21, the bullwhip effect were decreased which resulted to increased inventories and the zero rule coming in. * Issues that you encountered using the zero strategy: * Increase in Backorders: The biggest challenge we faced during the beer game was the challenge of constantly increasing backorders which can be seen in figure1. The retailer had a peak backorder rate of 49, the wholesaler 90, the distributor 85 and the factory 72 backorders. Backorder means a distribution term that refers to the status of items on a purchase order in the event that some or the entire inventory required to fulfill the order is insufficient to satisfy demand leading to a waiting period for the organisation to meet this demand (Donovan, 2010). After using the zero strategy for a few weeks, we found the backorder like a chain reaction star from retailer up to the factory. * Zero inventory and Safety stock: We know that in the real business, zero inventories and stock means that the company’s ability of resisting the risk of backorders and shortage of supply is reduced. But this is the case in the beer game where we went on with zero inventory and safety stock for weeks. This showed that the company was incompetent in meeting its own standards. * High rise of cost: Cost control is very important for a company, high cost operation is unacceptable. During the beer game, due to the high cost of back orders, we were running on an outrageous cost per week. This was either due to enormous  inventory or massive backorders. The cost of the backorders $1.00 and inventory cost $0.60. After we finish this game, we found that the cost of each supply chain operator was high and a total cost of $2, 862. At the initial stage, the increase in cost was little and similar when back orders rose, the cost became tremendous. * Delay in shipment (Long lead time): During the game, it took two weeks for the retailer to get supplies from the wholesaler and twice as long if the wholesaler has not enough resources for the retailer. That means that it took two weeks to receive from the wholesaler, when the wholesaler is out of stock, it takes four weeks, and when the distributor is out of stock it takes six weeks for the distributor to get stock from the factory and finally, when the factory is out of stock, it takes seven weeks for the retailer to receive supplies. This shipment delay makes it difficult to meet customer demands and causes high cost due to backorders. * Lack of communication: During the beer game there was no communication of any sort between the supply chain operators and this led to so many misjudgements. The lack of communication led to the bullwhip effect which cost us a lot by resulting in back orders, and high costs. * Challenges encountered in beer game: * Bullwhip Effect: The â€Å"bullwhip† effect was coined in by Proctor and Gamble (P&G) when the company experienced extensive demand amplification for their diaper products (Lee et .al, 1997). The bullwhip effect is a phenomenon in the supply chain whereby unpredictable elements introduced by human behaviour in the lower part of the chain becomes more pronounced the higher up the chain they move (Baugher, 2012). By synchronizing the supply chain the bullwhip effect can be eliminated. The bullwhip effect describes how inaccurate information, and a disconnection between production and real-time supply chain information result in loss of revenue bad customer service, high inventory levels and unrealised profits (Agarwal, 2009). With reference to figure 1 above, we can observe that the bullwhip effect did occur during the beer game  simulation. An example of such a situation is in week 5 when the consumer demand increased from 4 units to 8 units. The retailer then made an order of 16 units upstream in week 5, when the wholesaler got the figures the wholesaler then made an order of 20 units in week 7. This continued with the distributor, who ordered 25 units upstream in week 9, the reaction of the factory was similar with an order of 26 units in week 11. This shows a spike in demand upstream as illustrated in figure 3. The major cause of the bullwhip effect was the increase in consumer demand in week 5 and 6. Which later came to a normal state in week 7 at 8 units as illustrated in figure 2? The individual demand forecasts from the supply chain operators also caused the bullwhip effect. Lack of communication is also very common when the supply chain operators may not provide sufficient or accurate information up the supply chain on the subject of current market conditions causing improper levels of inventory (Coyle et.al, 2003). This was the case during the beer game which can be seen that with time, the demand was interpreted differently as it went upstream. This the entire supply chain faced backorders due to the bullwhip effect from week 6 onwards even though the demand remained the same from week 8 onwards. The implications of the bullwhip effect includes excess inventories which was the case at the closing weeks of the game, problems with quality, increased raw materials costs, overtime expenses, increased inventory costs, increased backorder costs and increased shipping costs (Bowersox, D.J, 2007). * Long lead time: Lead time delay occurs when the time it takes to obtain, make and deliver the finished goods to a customer takes longer than the time the customer is prepared to wait for it to reach them (Fawcett et.al, 1992). During the beer game, it takes 2weeks for the wholesaler to get information from the retailer and vice versa. It takes the distributor two weeks to get information from the wholesaler and it takes two weeks for the wholesaler to get information from the distributor. It also takes two weeks for the factory to get information from the distributor and two weeks for the distributor to get supplies from the factory. It takes the brewery one week to get information from the factory and one week for the factory to get information from the brewery. So like it was experienced in the beer game,  when all the supply chain operators are dried out, doing the math, it takes seven weeks for supplies to go from the brewery down to the consumer, and six weeks for information to go from the retailer to the factory. The longer the lead time, it creates negative impact on the firm as it reduces the customer’s responsiveness and reactions (Stock, J.R and Lambert, D.S, 2001). * Zero strategy: The zero strategy which is a rule for playing the game clearly states that we as the operators place zero orders uplink if demand is less than inventory. This went along way to cause a lot of delays in shipments because of long lead times. This is because when the inventory of the retailer as seen in figure 1 becomes less than demand, it took 5 weeks for the factory to have such an effect. This made the lead time even longer and caused the bullwhip effect as well as enormous back orders. * Neglect orders to reduce inventory: During the course of the game, we had to neglect backorders in order to reduce inventory and save costs. This can be seen in figure 3 below where the retailer did not dramatically increase demand to meet back orders but did this on a gradual basis in order to reduce inventory and holding cost. However when the supplies finally came, the effects were just as bad with inventory rates skyrocketing overnight. Figure 3: Inventory and Demand of retailer * Ways to improve the zero strategy: * Improve communication: By improving communication levels among the supply chain operators will help to solve the problem of assumptions, inappropriate decisions and reduce the bullwhip effect. In both actual supply chains and supply chain simulation, we can cut supply chain fluctuations by 80% by cutting order-to-delivery time by half (Simchi et.al, 2003). Improvement in communication will help to improve the efficiency of the system by eliminating assumptions and stimulating a synchronized supply chain which will help in getting all the partners to operate in a way that is mutually supportive, corporative and transparent (Gà ©rard P. Cacho et al.) * Point of Sale (POS) system: Point of Sale system is a means or can be referred to as a system which is meant to deal with the sales of goods. Point of sale system is software that works with hardware in order to inspect and monitor sales in order to give accurate demand and sales information (http://www.gofrugal.com/pos/ point-of-sale.html?gclid=CPyHobrW-q4CFQ8b6wodkDXwwg,2004). By implementing this system, the company can be able to get accurate demand which will help the company in eliminating sudden demand spikes like seen in the beer game. An example of a company which uses such a system is Wal-Mart and the system works well for the company helping to monitor all sales and demand, reduce the risk of inventory shrinkage, manage special demands, maintain control, improve efficiency and help the company make timely and accurate reports (http://www.carolinabarcode. com/run-my-store-a-36.html, 2012). * Just in time inventory system: Just in time (JIT) also known as just in time inventory system manages the inventory and lessens the costs of inventory control and the cost of maintaining the inventory of a business. This helps the company to reduce a substantial amount of its inventories, reduce ordering and save warehousing costs (Bowersox, D.J, 2007). A real life example of a company using the Just in time inventory system is Dell computer corporation which uses the just –in –time system so that an order for a customized personal computer that comes in over the internet at 9am can be delivered by truck to the customer by 9pm. This system allows dell to save costs and with this, the company under prices its products compared to its rivals by about 10% to 15% (McWilliams, 1997)(Source: Gray McWilliams, â€Å"Whirlwind on the web, â€Å"Business Week, April 7, 1997.). This system would lead to more efficiency of the bear game eliminating backorders and keeping just enough stock for the company to produce when needed. This strategy will by many supply chain operators such as the distributor and the wholesaler leaving just the factory and the retailer making products available quickly and almost eliminating the bullwhip effect. * Push and Pull Boundary: The push boundary process is a forecast and execution driven in anticipation for demand, while the pull process is demand driven and is initiated in response to real demand (Chopra and Meindl, 2001). The present trend around the world is a swing from a push system to a pull system this is because the pull system helps in reducing inventory levels. Push and pull boundary occurs when the demand intersects expectation of future demand. Pull systems are based on real demands and production and manufacturing of goods done in relationship with the demands of the consumers (Bowersox, D.J, 2007). Figure 3: Push/pull boundary in Dell’s supply chain The above diagram shows the push and pull boundary of Dell’s supply chain. The company combines both push and pulls boundary systems in running its operations. The company by-passes a lot of areas in the supply chain by manufacturing and selling directly to its customers. The process starts with consumer ordering and then the manufacturing cycle which are known as pull boundary systems. The inventory of the company will be stocked up following the demand of customers in order for the product to be made. All the processes included in the procurement of a product is implemented by Dell and this is regarded as a push approach primarily because it reacts to future demands effectively making products available in time and keeping low inventories. This system will be of great help to the beer game helping in making raw materials readily available for production and keeping inventories and costs low. * Eliminate gaming in shortage situations: During the beer game, the gaming shortage situation was experienced when there was a shortage in raw materials and inventories for the manufacturing of these products. When shortages occur, instead of allocating products based on orders, it is allocated in a proportion to past sales record. This will make customers have no need to exaggerate their demands because it will cause them negative results. General motors’ has used this method for a long time in the allocation of its supply. This will help to make the beer game have more reliable demand data. * Continuous system (fixed –order-quantity): In the beer game, order time is the same which is once a week. This makes it easier for the retailers to make quick orders for products required. However, the quantity of the product differs and it would be easier if the demand rate was fixed with adjustments made to make the order rate cater for inventory, buffer stock and demand. This will go a long way in making things easier and decreasing the bullwhip effect which can be seen to be predominant in the game. * Adopt the Vendor Managed Inventory Strategy: The vendor managed inventory strategy is a strategy which manages the quantity of goods produced by a manufacturer allowing the manufacturer to decide the quantity to keep and how much to ship to the retailer. This is a strategic move for manufacturers in order for them to be able to increase profitability by eliminating stock while improving on sales and overall performance. * Avoid multiple demand forecast updates: As can be noted in the beer game, the bullwhip effect causes the demand forecast to be multiplied as it goes uplink. Instead, making same orders from downstream been the retailer to the supplier to be the same will make things much easier eliminating high inventories and the bullwhip effect. * Reasons for Changes made to the Zero Strategy: The zero strategy is considered as a bad strategy due to its failure during the simulation test. While we obeyed the zero rule of the zero strategy while playing the game, we noticed that the game started to fail with a dramatic fall in inventory rate, lack of buffer stock, increase in backorders and a rise in the total operations cost. This led to the total failure of the game because the zero strategy did not allow us to meet the needs of consumers because of too many uplinks in the supply chain and long lead time. The bullwhip effect also posed a great disadvantage to the strategy because it contributed greatly to the failure of the game. * Impact on the outcome of the game: * Decrease in cost as a result of little inventories and no backorders. * Elimination of some supply chain operators which will reduce lead time and results in quick flow of information and supplies. * Decrease or eliminate the bullwhip effect. * Decrease lead times and make delivery quicker. * Have safety stock for risky situations. * Conclusion: Having conducted the above analysis on the zero strategy, it is important that I stress that the bullwhip effect can take a high toll on a company with reference to the game. The game however was a tremendous failure with poor results which includes increase in backorder rates, lack of inventories, rise in cost and long lead time. These issues can however be overcome by using the POS system, just in time inventory system (JIT), improve communication among supply chain operators and the push and pull boundary system. With example of success from companies that have tried these systems and its success in the beer game, I think these changes will go a long way in making the beer game simulation a success.