Online Reservation and Ordering System

Section I INTRODUCTION Clothes are the things that have the attributes of color, size, pattern and cut. They are usually comfortable to wear. Clothes are usually being shopped in malls, boutiques and tiangge. An online shopping is an electronic shopping of products that are available online through internet. Clothing is one of the basic needs for humans of all ages. They bring with them the feeling of comfort. This is also a way for you to express your personality and emotions. Thus clothing is important to human existence. Since it is the time of new millennium malls have faced the increasing needs to adapt and sustain the needs of man. By means of the internet, shoppers can now browse the available items on the web. Online shopping has been dominant in every corner of life. This could help the customers buy the product they want, when they want in the convenience of their own time. For some, shopping can be associated with their identity. Most of the middle to high class society shop online for their own convenience. One of the marketing strategies that Online Reservation and Ordering System should have is to make sure of the products availability. They also provide wider area for shoppers. Thus encouraging the customers to visit and patronize the store. The purpose of proposing this Online Reservation and Ordering System is to help Salad Dressing in gaining more income and publicity. Purpose of Project Plan This study aims to design and develop the Online Reservation and Ordering System for Salad Dressing Iloilo Branch. This would benefit the boutique since it will be one of the ways that the shop would gain profit. The proposed system will help Salad Dressing Iloilo Branch by providing: 1. Less time in purchasing an item and no need for a personal transaction. 2. Customers can now view all the available products since browsing the website would be in their own convenience. . The boutique would be more exposed to the majority of the public since the proposed system will be online. Project Scope and Objectives The project scope covers the online reservation and ordering of available items. Customers can reserve or order the products they want. They can also pay their bills online because of the accessible mode of payments which is by the use of credit cards. Customers can also browse the website and be updated on the latest products that are available in the boutique. The supervisor or the cashier will be the one who will update the product list on the website. The project team’s main objective is to develop an online reservation and ordering system for Salad Dressing. The system has a web administrator account which can access the content of the system and manage the updates of the product list on the web. Only the supervisor or the cashier can access the said account. This system was proposed to help Salad Dressing Iloilo Branch only. Other than the above mentioned are not part of . researcher study. Major Functions Online Reservation and Ordering System is a way for the customers to browse or access the items available in the boutique. This is made easy by the use of the internet. Our system would have the following functions: †¢ Browse Product Availability With the use of the system, customers can browse or search available products on the boutique. †¢ Products can be Reserved/Ordered Using this system, it would be hassle free for the customers to buy the product online since it will take less time and they can do it without personal transaction. †¢ Easy Mode of Payment The customers can pay their due amount through credit cards. †¢ Updates the Latest Trend Since this will be online the customer knows the latest products that were available. †¢ Printing of Reports Data retrieval would be more convenient and time saving. Performance Issues The store where the project team conducts the study has problems with the availability of a certain product that the customer needs for an occasion. Since the boutique is not that popular to the public because of their limited publicity. To prevent this incident, the project team proposed an Online Reservation and Ordering System. With the use of this system it would be more convenient for the customer to check on the products availability and reserve a product that he/she needs. This system will also help in their publicity as well.

Multi-National Corporate Rewards Program

Multi-National Corporation Rewards Program Tammy Engel CTU Online MGM336 March 19, 2012 Professor Moutaz Abou-Robieh Abstract Designing a rewards program that will be an attraction for new employees and a reason to stay for existing staff can be difficult for any corporation, but is made even more so when the company becomes international. There are several factors that influence employee motivation and these may be affected by culture, environment, socio-economics, and politics.A study of the motivating factors for employees located in the United States, France, and Japan will be presented, along with effective leadership characteristics for those respective locations. A preliminary rewards program for each division of the company will also be presented. Multi-National Corporation Rewards Program A rewards program or benefits package is always a large part of an employee’s decision to apply with, accept, or keep a job with any organization.The program must hold appeal to the employee and be appropriate for the location, especially if the company is a multi-national organization. Some benefits may not work in other countries, for example employee recognition in America usually consists of singling an individual out for kudos, while in Japan this type of recognition would be extremely uncomfortable for the employee. Influencing factors for the creation of appropriate rewards programs for our multi-national corporation (MNC) will be discussed. These will include employee motivation factors and successful leadership characteristics.Understanding Motivation There are several internal and external factors that can motivate an individual. There have been many studies by psychologists that focus on these factors including Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, the ERG theory, the motivator-hygiene/intrinsic-extrinsic need theory, and the achievement theory. There is one overriding problem with all of these theories; they are based on Western European and the Unite d States and therefore may not be applicable to employees that are not from these locations.Even within these areas there will be some variation in the motivational factors for any employee. Since these theories do offer some valuable insight into the psyche of two-thirds of our MNC, we will discuss their implications. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is based on the premise that an individual’s needs are grouped into five main categories; these categories are contingent upon one another in that Maslow believed the one could not move on to achieving or being motivated by the next category of needs until the previous ones had been met. Phatak, Bhagat, & Kashlak, Motivating and Leading across Borders and Cultures392, 2009) These categories are physiological needs such as food, shelter, and health; safety needs – shelter and security; belonging needs, feeling part of a group, love; esteem needs such as self-esteem and the respect of others; and finally self-actualizatio n needs which would indicate achieving one’s ultimate potential. Similar to Maslow’s hierarchy is the ERG theory developed by Clayton Alderfer.The ERG theory classifies needs into three intertwined categories; existence needs (think physiological and safety needs), relatedness needs (similar to belonging and respect needs), and growth needs (this relates to self-esteem and self-actualization). Other theories categorize these needs differently, but all are very similar. While there is some credence to these theories, as stated there is one overriding problem: they are based on an Eastern European/American individual.There may be some applicability to the employees of our MNC from North American, less applicability for those from France, and little applicability to our Japanese staff. All of these theories are based upon higher order needs such as individual achievement, self-actualization, and affiliation. Individuals from the Japanese division may be more concerned wit h lower order needs such as safety, security, and physical comforts. Phatak, Bhagat, & Kashlak, Motivating and Leading across Borders and Cultures392, 2009) Other theories are based on process theories rather than psychological aspects of behavior. One such theory is called the expectancy theory. This concept states that employees are motivated by expectations from management, linking behaviors with outcomes, and basing behavior on a reward system. The equity theory is similar to this in that employees will attempt to balance their work behavior according to what they see others do (or not do). Phatak, Bhagat, & Kashlak, Motivating and Leading across Borders and Cultures392, 2009) There are three norms associated with this theory: the norm of equity, the norm of need, and the norm of equality. This theory is especially applicable to our American division. Another aspect of motivating employees is the relationship between managers and their respective employees. These individuals mus t be able to work closely to formulate realistic goals for the employees based on the clear communication of the company’s mission and vision.Application of Motivational Theories As stated, our managers need to be very careful about how the motivate our employees based upon the physical location of the employee, the cultural background of the individual, and the other intrinsic and extrinsic factors that may influence that employees behavior. Employees located in more individualistic countries such as America and France will be more motivated by intrinsic factors and self-actualization needs. These individuals are more concerned with equitable treatment as compared to earning similar pay for similar work.Other appealing rewards or benefits may include paid time off, insurance, and consistent salary increases. These individuals will be concerned with the comforts that the work environment has to offer including roomy office spaces; comfortable break rooms; amenities like gyms, lunch service, and childcare; these employees value their individualism and will appreciate being publically recognized for a job well done. Conversely, our Japanese employees will be more concerned with extrinsic and basic safety/physiological needs. Phatak, Bhagat, & Kashlak, Motivating and Leading across Borders and Cultures392, 2009) These individuals value family and loyalty. Many generations of a family live together, so they may not feel that childcare is a worthy benefit as they have family available to take care of children or elderly relatives. Culturally Appropriate Reward Programs The rewards programs for our company will consist of a base package that will be appropriate and applicable to all divisions. Salary will be based on experience and company subsidized insurance will be available.Recognition awards for milestone achievement will be given to our American and French employees at monthly staff meetings, while these same types of awards will be given to our Japanes e employees privately and with little fanfare, respecting their privacy. Working environments will be clean and meet the highest safety standards available for all branches. Individuals will be provided access to all managerial staff along with some appropriate autonomy depending upon position and duties. Employees will also be strongly encourages to participate in a team culture within the workplace, with an emphasis on collaboration and cohesion.Each employee will be provided a generous allotment of paid time off; this will be highly valued by each division. (Phatak, Bhagat, & Kashlak, International Human Resources Management, 2009) Employees in France will be allowed the use of company owned vacation property. The US division will be provided with company subsidized legal and financial aid, while the Japanese employees will be given a monthly family allowance based upon the number of individuals in their family. These additional benefits are specific to location and monetarily eq uivalent between divisions.Leadership Types Each division will be led by individuals carefully chosen from the native locale. This will help to ensure that communication is clear and precise and that cultural moires are familiar and followed. All managers will be required to cross-train across continents so that they are aware of and familiar with the workings of each respective division. Our American managers will be specifically chosen for their abilities to set goals, interpersonal skills, and proven leadership history. The French management staff will be chosen for similar characteristics.The Japanese leadership will be chosen for proven leadership roles and ability to be available to the employees as well as to promote a team atmosphere. Our leaders will be encouraged to set clear goals for our employees and to meet individually with employees directly under them to communicate these goals. Upper management will be encouraging staff under them to be innovative and to communicat e those ideas throughout the business. While magnetism and charm will draw employees to a management figure in the US and France, this characteristic is not appropriate in Japan. (Phatak, Bhagat, &Kashlak, International Human Resources Management, 2009) Another characteristic that should be inherent in our managers is the ability to promote workplace and task pride. This is an important factor for motivating all employees, regardless of the location. Leaders should be trustworthy and possess excellent communication skills, good team building capabilities, and exceptional bargaining abilities. Conclusion It is extremely important to evaluate several aspects of the environment and culture prior to entering into a business relationship with any international location.This is especially important when the culture that you are entering is unique and unfamiliar to you and your company. Many factors can affect how employees from these varied locations will work and how they are motivated t o work; careful study of these can help to increase the likelihood of success for your business. Most importantly, hiring good leadership to oversee these areas is vital. Good leaders will help to promote and build the existing business, encourage cohesion among employees and divisions, and will be able to successfully communicate the prevailing mission of the business.References Phatak, A. V. , Bhagat, R. S. , & Kashlak, R. J. (2009). International Human Resources Management. In A. V. Phatak, R. S. Bhagat, & R. J. Kashlak, International Management: Managing in a Diverse and Dynamic Global Environment (Second ed. , pp. 436-468). Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Phatak, A. V. , Bhagat, R. S. , & Kashlak, R. J. (2009). Motivating and Leading across Borders and Cultures392. In A. V. Phatak, R. S. Bhagat, & R. J. Kashlak, International Management: Managing in a diverse and Dynamic Global Environment (Second ed. , pp. 392-435). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Annotated Soap Note Hair Loss

Relevant history positive for family history of hair thinning on both sides. Relevant history negative for anemia, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, rheumatoid arthritis, vitiligo or ulcerative colitis. The patient is not currently pregnant. Associated symptoms include intentional weight loss of 50 lbs over 10 months. Pertinent negatives include anxiety, depression, dry scalp, fever, heat intolerance, itchy scalp, rash, scalp kerion, scalp tenderness or skin sores. Noticed hair thinning for about 5 months. No bald spots, lesions on scalp or skin. Estimates she has lost 25% of hair thickness. Chronic Problems Past Medical/Surgical History 1996 (R) Shoulder arthroscopy Obstetric History G1P1. Not pregnant. Family History Disease Detail Family Member Age Cardiomyopathy Father67 (cause of death) Cancer -lungMother59 (cause of death) HypothyroidMother Social History Employment: Property Management, no exposure to chemicals. Marital Status / Family: Currently single, previously divorced once, not in relationship since divorce. Has an 11-year-old daughter. Tobacco: Never smoked. Alcohol: Occasional beer. Caffeine: coffee- 3 cups a day. Lifestyle: Moderate activity level. Exercises 3-4 days per week and takes care of horses daily. Medications (Active) Medication Name Mirena IUD, placed in 2012. Aleve as needed, taking several times a week over winter. Allergies: NKANo Known Drug Allergies Review of Systems Constitutional: Positive for: Weight loss. Has been following a very low carb diet and has lost 50 lbs. since July. No protein, nonstarchy vegetable or calorie restriction. Negative: fever and night sweats. Respiratory: Negative: cough, dyspnea. Cardiovascular: Negative: chest pain and irregular heartbeat/palpitations. Gastrointestinal: Negative: abdominal pain, constipation and diarrhea. Genitourinary: The patient is pre-menopausal. No menses with IUD. Negative: dysuria. Metabolic/Endocrine: Positive for hair loss, see HPI. Weight loss from diet and lifestyle changes. Negative: heat or cold intolerance. Neuro/Psychiatric: Negative: anxiety and depression. Negative: extremity weakness, headache and numbness or weakness in extremities. Dermatologic: No hirsutism or signs of virilization, nail changes, rash, or skin sores. Scalp without pruritus, burning, or lesions. No new hair products. Shampoos daily. No chemical hair treatments. No hair loss on other parts of body. Hair lost has roots, no hair breakage. Does not put hair into braids or ponytails on regular basis. See Chief Complaint and HPI. Musculoskeletal: Negative: joint pain and joint swelling. Hematology: Negative: easy bleeding, bruising or history of anemia. Vital Signs. Height: 5’8† Weight: 237 BMI: 36 Blood Pressure: 130/75 Pulse: 80 Physical Exam Constitutional: Well developed, no distress. Eyes: PERRLA, no injection, bilaterally. Neck / Thyroid: Symmetric, trachea midline and mobile. No thyromegaly or thyroid nodules. Lymphatic: No cervical or supraclavicular adenopathy. Respiratory: Chest symmetric. Lungs clear to auscultation. Respiratory effort is normal. Cardiovascular: Regular rate and rhythm with normal S1, S2. No murmur or rub. Abdomen: Nontender. No masses or organomegaly, exam limited by obesity. No bruits. Integumentary: No skin lesions present. Nails appear normal. No scalp erythema, scales, papules, pustules, erosions, or excoriations. Hair loss most noticeable in temporal region, equal bilaterally. Extremities: No edema is present. Psychiatric: Oriented to time, place, person, and situation. Has appropriate mood and affect. Assessment: Telogen effluvium (704. 02) Hair loss is classified into 3 classifications, cicatricial alopecia (inflammatory), nonscarring alopecia and inherited and acquired structural hair disorders. In evaluating hair loss it is important to assess duration and rate, location and pattern, extent of loss, associated symptoms, hair care practices, and differentiation of hair shedding from breakage. Medical and family history, diet, and medications need to be assessed (Shapiro, Otberg, Hordinsky, 2013). Telogen effluvium is diffuse hair loss that is reversible caused by a significant stressor such as significant weight loss, pregnancy, major illness or surgery (Goldstein Goldstein, 2012). As the patient has lost 50 pound in 10 months, this is the most likely cause of her diffuse hair loss. She will stop her very low carbohydrate diet for a more moderate, varied diet. If the hair loss continues she will need further evaluation. Differential diagnosis 1. Endocrine related hair loss: Hair loss may be caused by several endocrine disorders, presentation is typically with non-scarring alopecia that is diffuse (Olszewska, Warszawik, Rakowska, Slowinska, Rudnicka, 2011). †¢Hypopituitarism, not assessed, needs serum cortisol (Synder, 2012), will order if symptoms continue. †¢Hypothyroidism, ruled out, TSH normal. †¢Hyperthyroidism, ruled out, TSH normal. †¢Diabetes mellitus, ruled out, fasting glucose normal. †¢Growth hormone deficiency, unlikely obese adult of greater than normal height. †¢Hyperprolactinaemia, ruled out, prolactin normal. †¢Polycystic ovary syndrome, unlikely. No hirsutism, virilization, acne, infertility, or history of menstrual irregularities (prior to amenorrhea from IUD) (Barbieri Ehrmann, 2012). †¢Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (late onset), unlikely, no hirsutism or menstrual irregularities (Merke, 2013). 2. Alopecia areata : Diagnosis is unlikely, as alopecia areata is considered an autoimmune disease, with significant associations with vitiligo, lupus erythematosus, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, autoimmune thyroid disease, and allergic rhinitis. ESR was normal, and this patient has no symptoms of inflammation due to autoimmune disease (Chu et al. 2011). 3. Drug related alopecia areata : NSAIDs have been associated with hair loss (WebMD, 2012). Patient reports taking regular naproxen, for the last few months due to muscle aches from exercise and taking care of her horses in the winter. However, this was not until after hair loss started, so may be a contributing factor but not direct cause. Recommended to stop all NSAIDs until problem is corrected. 4. Excess vitamin A: Vitamin A is toxic above daily intakes of greater than 25,000 IU for more than 6 years or more than 100,000 IU for at least 6 months (Penniston Tanumihardjo, 2006). This patient’s largest source of vitamin a has been leafy greens almost daily. Two cups of spinach has under 20,000 IU of vitamin A. She is not taking a vitamin a supplement. Therefore vitamin a toxicity is unlikely. 5. Syphilitic alopecia: Unlikely as patient tested negative for syphilis during her pregnancy, and has remained celibate since her divorce, several years later. Syphilitic alopecia occurs in only 4% of patients with syphilis (Hernadez-Bel, Unamuno, Sanchez-Carazo, Febrer, Alegre, 2012). 6. Nutritional deficiencies: Although this is a likely cause, it difficult to determine if hair loss is from significant weight loss or nutritional deficiencies from a very low carbohydrate diet lasting 10 months. Deprivation of several components, such as proteins, minerals, fatty acids, and vitamins, can lead to structural deformities, changes in pigmentation, or hair loss. One example, Acrodermatitis enteropathica, is caused by zinc deficiency (Finner, 2013). As the patient was eating a high protein, moderate fat, very low carbohydrate (vegetables only), a zinc deficiency is unlikely as it is closely related to protein intake. She also ate a large amount of vegetables daily. A vitamin or mineral closely linked to grains only would be a likely cause. Plan Telogen effluvium (704. 02) 1. FERRITIN HGB ESR TSH PROLACTIN all normal. 2. The loss of 50 pounds is overall very beneficial and will improve your health. However, this can cause hair loss, which is temporary and reversible. Regrowth should occur over 3 to 4 months. 3. I recommend a more moderate low carbohydrate diet and slower weight loss to lower the stress on your body. 4. As NSAIDs, such as Aleve, can cause hair loss, I would also advise to avoid them until the symptoms have resolved. 5. Return for further evaluation if hair loss does not resolve in three to four months. If no improvement or if your symptoms progress, follow up with a dermatologist. ? References Barbieri, R. L. , Ehrmann, D. A. (2012). Clinical manifestations of polycystic ovary syndrome in adults. Retrieved from http://www. uptodate. com/contents/clinical-manifestations-of-polycystic-ovary-syndrome-in-adults? source=search_resultsearch=pcosselectedTitle=4%7E

European Union Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

European Union Law - Essay Example However, the Act excluded liability for loss of wages and required the victim to establish the liability of the manufacturer. The Directive and the Act were to replace the existing national laws of negligence in relation to the Product. In May 2004, Byrd has prescribed a Product, manufactured by Omnia Pharma PLC (â€Å"Omnia†) a company registered in England, for relieving stress. After using for two weeks, Byrd developed suppurating psoriasis as a side effect of this product. This led to frequent absence from work and the resultant dismissal from service. Byrd unsuccessfully attempted suicide due to these developments. The Product continues to be covered by UK patients with the result that Omnia has a monopoly on sales of the Product in the UK. The doctrine of direct effect, which is applicable to individuals as well as institutions, permits individuals to file a case in national courts if an EU Directive is incorrectly implemented by that Member State. Rights under direct effect have to be honored without any reference to domestic law. As such the doctrine of direct effect is an intrinsic part of the notion of the supremacy of European Law and no discretion is permitted to the Member States or Community institutions. Regulations always have a direct effect but Directives obtain direct effect only on the basis of the merits of each case (direct effect, 2006). The Community law provisions require the Member States to compensate any loss caused to individuals due to the non – implementation of a Directive. In the case of Francovich and Others v Italy, the ECJ made it clear that in order to make a Member State liable for the damages caused to an individual as a result of none – implementation of a Directive, three conditions must be fulfilled.  

Aspects of contract and negligence for business Assignment - 1

Aspects of contract and negligence for business - Assignment Example Chen-Wishart (2012), explains that the process of making and an offer and its acceptance follows the â€Å"mirror image† rule. This implies that the other party accepts the terms of the contract just as stipulated in the offer. Consideration is yet another element of a contract that refers to a substance of value the two parties promise to exchange in the course of the transaction. The consideration validates the existence of a contract. Also known as, the â€Å"meeting of the minds† mutuality refers to the consensus the two parties must have about the terms of the contract. Before creating a legally binding agreement, the two parties must understand and agree to the unique terms of the contract. The terms are vital aspects of a contract since they influence the entire process of undertaking the activity. The two parties must, therefore, understand the terms of the offer. At the acceptance stage, the second party promises to undertake the activity as stipulated in the terms. The offering party, on the other hand, promises not to change the original terms since the contract laws bar changing such terms unless the two parties agree to. This makes mutuality an important feature in contracts (Frey & Frey 2001). The terms that Joe and Dilon set for their contract have some aspects of ambiguity. As explained earlier, in the creation of a contract the terms must always follow the mirror image rule. The mirror image rule dictates that the offer and the acceptance must never vary the terms of the contract. In the case, Dilon’s terms dictate that Joe must sell the products at the original quoted price. After filling the form, which indicated his acceptance of the offer, Joe provides his terms in which he indicates that the prices may increase. Such is a bargain, and the terms of the contract between the two parties are ambiguous. Despite the ambiguity between Joe and Dilon, the two form a legally binding contract. Joe must make the running

The Impact Of Economic Globalization And The Rise Of The MNCs On The Essay

The Impact Of Economic Globalization And The Rise Of The MNCs On The Developing World - Essay Example This report stresses that the phenomenon of globalization not only includes rise of global trade, internationalism of economic markets, development of advanced information and communication technologies, increased number of MNCs, increased mobility of people, capital, goods, ideas, and data but also pollution, infections, and diseases. On a precise note, the United Nations has defined economic globalization as the process that facilitates the increasing independence of global economies in consequence of the expanding scale of cross-border trade of services and commodities, rapid and wide spread of advanced technologies, and increased flow of international capital. The rapid advancement of science and technologies and the growing marketization are the two primary triggering forces for economic globalization. This paper makes a conclusion that the increased number of migrants is fuelling economic and social burden on destination countries but it is providing a growing source of foreign exchange for the origin countries. The temporary migration of low-skilled workers has offered positive effects for less developed countries, especially in terms of brain circulation, skills upgrading, and remittances. Remittance plays a crucial role as a source of comparably stable foreign funding. It is reported that remittances to developing states went well above $166 billion in 2005. Many less industrialized countries, like Bangladesh, Lesotho, Cambodia, Nepal, Yemen, and Sudan have become heavily dependent on remittances as a major source of foreign exchange.

How to support a Gifted and Talented child in the classroom in Essay

How to support a Gifted and Talented child in the classroom in Mathematics - Essay Example The common notion is that gifted children, having abilities superior than the rest, need less assistance in terms of education. However, what is often overlooked is the fact that these children are not necessarily, â€Å"academically gifted†, so to speak. Intelligence is not restricted to academics. As such, a gifted child may be exceptionally adept to reading but poor in arithmetic. In other words, giftedness does not encompass all fields, contrary to common belief. In fact, psychologist Howard Gardner has proposed Multiple Intelligence theory, postulating that there are actually eight intelligence domains – among them are music, linguistic and logic and mathematics (Visser, Ashton & Vernon 2006, p.487). Of these mentioned domains, an important subject of interest is Mathematics, which, as pointed by several researchers such as Mji & Makgato (2006, p.253), most students are poor at. Nevertheless, given that the aspect of giftedness in terms of intelligence is multi-fac eted, it is necessary to establish at this point how the concept of giftedness would be used in this paper. The subject of argument is the gifted children who, regardless of their astuteness in other aspects of intelligence, exemplify high prowess in Mathematics. Moving on, it was mentioned that a lot of students perform below average in Mathematics; thus, in response to this, various steps are taken to improve teaching skills of instructors in educating students in this subject. But then again, given the common misconception on giftedness, gifted children are often overlooked in the classroom, with their special needs neglected. Diversity of Experience & Learning In the book written by Kennedy, Johnson & Tipps (2008, p. 40), it was argued that the point in dealing with gifted children is not to make them reach an achievement level that is established for all average students. Instead, support should be geared towards meeting the needs specific to these children. This is to say that children have varying experiences which may affect learning and performance (Bowman 1994). Overestimating the abilities of gifted children which may lead to unintentional neglect of their needs may hinder them from achieving their full potential. The present curriculum in most educational system is designed for average students. In this scenario, the average students are benefiting more in the curriculum because they are learning things while the gifted students are just left listening to concepts that they have already mastered. The average students are compelled to study and practice in order to hone their skills. In contrast, the gifted students do not need to struggle to learn. In most cases, this experience has taught them that everything comes out way too easy; hence, they may not be as receptive to new ideas as average students do. Since gifted students can easily understand and acquire skills due to the average pace of teaching, they usually suffer from boredom and frustrat ion (Collins 2001, p.xiv). Further, since they are not challenged, most of them gradually lack motivation resulting to underachievement (Diezman, Faragher, Lowrie & Bicknell 2004, p. 8). As a matter of fact, there are gifted students who do not perform well simply because they lack interest or are occupied with perfectionism (CCEA 2006, p.6). In the long run, this lack of motivation may result to being left behind, achieving things below their levels. Therefore, it is important to

Engineering Design Practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Engineering Design Practice - Essay Example 1) As per the requirements of the Approved Document B it is must for the architect to plan and design a structure in a manner that it should comprises of ample necessities like early conflagration caution apparatuses and proper, secure and efficient evacuation passages. 2) To control the intensification of inferno in the interior of a structure it is necessary to utilize the material that can bear and defy the blazes distribution over it and in case it catches fire, there should be a sluggish rate of temperature release, reasonable as per situation 3) The indoors are ought to be constructed in a way that in case of fire it is supposed to be steady for the utmost period and it must defend against the fire dispersion among two buildings with an tolerable system for the smoke discharge 4) The outside walls and roof of construction must defend against the fire to reach over from a construction to any more having stared to operation, height and pose. The blueprint of structure must be well architected to ease fire-fighters in shielding lives A performance oriented process for structural inferno design is akin to the modus operandi of devious structures to wind masses and seismic effects. The role of a structural component will be definite and a set of objective tests will be prearranged that allocates the assessment of fire recital in relation to the key practical decisive factor on the other hand, Prescriptive method characterizes a structural conflagration design moderately accurate in requisites of the resources involved, contour and extent of structural rudiments, depth of fire safety materials and construction detail etc. The design proposals are mostly based on the practice with matching or analogous standard inferno tests. It is necessary to carry out more than one test for a specific perimeter in array to verify the results obtained from the previous test as in earlier investigations by experts it is revealed

Comparing and contrasting Beyonce Knowles and Kelly of Destiny child Essay

Comparing and contrasting Beyonce Knowles and Kelly of Destiny child - Essay Example Since these two popular artist started in the same group of singing, therefore, their close relationship that can be determined from their past to present through comparison and contrasting their current popularity and new ventures. Remaining relevant in the music industry is a key issue for both artists. The two artists have remained relevant in the music industry in different ways. From their group of four, they are the two popular artists who can still be identified from the group. Despite remaining relevant, Beyonce has hit the music industry in a major way. This can be seen from hits after hits that she releases annually when compared to Kelly. Although Kelly also has some hits to identify with, they cannot be compared to the number of hits that Beyonce has had since the group broke up. Beyonce is currently known at least to have released hits that are not yet even been performed. Some of the music that Beyonce has recorded has hit the airwaves before she has even performed the songs to her funs. It is thus vital to note that, Beyonce remains to be more popular than her childhood friend Kelly whom they formed the popular group with and went on separate ways after deciding to go for single records. Over one millions likes in the media like facebook, twitter and you-tube videos for Beyonce are evident unlike those of Kelly Rowland. Marriage, relationship and venture into different career paths are also a key role that has determined the relevance of Kelly and Beyonce in the music industry. For Kelly, she has taken more of a different path in popular music when compared to Beyonce. Kelly has taken advertisements of major industries as her major. She has done more advertisement related gigs from her music talent when compared to Beyonce. In her music career, she remains relevant in most instances due to the adverts and the reality shows that she takes part in. More so, both have been involved in one or two movies that have been aired globally. Beyonce has the main actress in the ‘dream girls’ while Kelly has also been part of American black films that has maintained her relevancy in the popular music industry. For Kelly, nothing much has been heard of her successful relationships after the singles while Beyonce has hit a record of being a wife to a well represented artist globally called Jay-z. Beyonce has maintained a good marriage relationship when compared to Kelly who has no clear records of dating or marrying anyone through her music life (Arenofsky 5). Therefore, both have diverse preferences when it comes to marriages and ventures in to other forms of careers. Did their singles make a hit or collaboration was the main idea as to why they have remained relevant after their separation from the group? Well, it is evident that for Knowles, she had single hits that made her even more famous after her going single. She has had albums that have not featured any famous popular singer but still remaining very popular to her fu ns. For example, even after releasing songs like, ‘If I was a boy’ and ‘all the single ladies’ alone, she still attracted a large crowd of funs who could demand for more and more of her single album. She has given her funs the best of hits ever since she parted from her group. From my perception, it is like her being in the group was suppressing her talents and popularity. She could not have been known to be such a famous popular

Roles of Women Essay Example for Free

Roles of Women Essay The configuration of a womans identity consists of the expectations that society places on her. Such expectations are still in existence today. Authors from the nineteenth and twentieth century are using literature and poetry as a vehicle for the new role and passion of the woman. Such authors as Kate Chopin, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Marge Piercy, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Henry James evoke a new sense of expectations for women in their use of literary language. One must acknowledge the differences in the expected roles of women and those the authors are portraying in order to penetrate the effect the author is trying to convey. These authors go beyond the norm and give women hope for the future. Kate Chopin creates a female character in At the Cadian Ball and The Storm that is vivid and defiant. Calixta is the image of hope that an authentic woman dares to embody. Chopin challenges society in her literature. She tests the roles of women. For instance, the female character she depicts in The Storm and The Cadian Ball is sexually overbearing, an adulterous, and presumptuous. Radek suggest that women of the nineteenth century were not supposed to have any real sexual contact before their marriage. The characteristics that Calixta possesses are dissimilar to the expected roles of women. The women of this time should be reserved, subservient, compliant, and gentle creatures. Henry James paints a picture of a similar vixen in Daisy Miller, although Daisy is innocent and naive in her promiscuity. James, no doubt being male, depicts women in a role outside of that of society. He portrays Daisy as innocently flirtatious. While this is not completely immoral, it is defiant of a placid nature. Mary Wilkins Freeman does not create as much controversy as Chopin, although she does create characters that embody independence rather than subservience. In The New England Nun, Louisa encompasses the typical homemaker characteristics, but she withstands independence when she rejects submission to Dagget, while declining to marry him. Wilkins expresses the hindered spirit of rebellion in The Revolt of Mother. She uses her words to convey the rebellious attitude the woman feels and is dared to communicate. She expresses the anger and uprising women are mandated to keep silent. Poetry is a vehicle for thought provoking expression that flows gently. Such poets as Edna St. Vincent Millay and Marge Piercy communicate their thoughts through the flow of language. Edna St. Vincent Millay writes in an emotional upheaval. In I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed, she transmits her despairing and vulnerable attitude. Marge Piercy writes from the corner in which women confine themselves. She portrays the loneliness that one feels because of the expectations that society places on them. The character in Barbie Doll is driven to suicide because she falls short of these expectations. This poem plays out the helplessness of the woman, while Whats That Smell in the Kitchen portrays the womans rebellious nature. This wife is tired of being socially correct and acts out in fits of rage. Kate Chopin, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Marge Piercy, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Henry James are writers of today. They innovate the true desires, passions, and frustrations of the American woman. While many of them are unable to articulate their inner desires and frustrations through physical expression, due to social restraints, they are able to express these emotions through their writing. This vehicle of emotion is a channel for the mind, body, and soul because of societys secluding forces. These authors are able to play out the roles that they desire, those roles that are unmentionable, through their words. Their words are the true expression of a womans mind and feelings, while society believes that women are not suppose to behave or feel these ways. Hartman says that a womens God-given role was as wife and mother, keeper of the household, guardian of the moral purity of all who lived therein. In conclusion, through the years, it is prevalent that the inner woman bears similar characteristics. Women are consistently making a way through life to gain equality to men. They desire to express the emotions and passions they possess while stepping outside of the societal standards. Chopin uses Calixta as a symbolic representation of the womans sexual emotions that are forcibly in suppression. Freeman symbolizes independence in the character she creates. Millay, simply, expresses her emotions and frustrations as a woman. Piercy articulates the bondage that a woman is under due to the roles and appearances they are expected to maintain. Henry James, not being a woman, creates Daisy, a woman filled with innocent flirtation. This is a characteristic outside of the reserved, subservient expectation. Though these authors may be the initiation of controversy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, their rebellious illustrations are, no doubt, compelling to readers today. Works Cited Chopin, Kate. At the Cadian Ball . Chopin, Kate. The Storm . Freeman, Mary W. A New England Nun . Freeman, Mary W. The Revolt of Mother American Literature, vol 2, 6th ed. William E. Cane. New York: Pearson Longman, 2004. 145-159. Hartman, Dorothy. Womens Roles in the Late 19th Century. 10 Aug. 2005 http://www. connerprairie. org/historyonline/1880wom. html. James, Henry. Daisy Miller http://ci. moc. edu/webapps/portal/frameset. jsp? tab =coursesurl=/bin/common/course. pl? course_id=_367_1. Millay, Edna St. Vincent. I Being Born A Woman and Distressed American Literature, vol 2, 6th ed. William E. Cane. New York: Pearson Longman, 2004. 575. Piercy, Marge. Barbie Doll American Literature, vol 2, 6th ed. William E. Cane. New York: Pearson Longman, 2004. 1453. Piercy, Marge. Whats That Smell in the Kitchen? . Radek, Kimberly. Women in Literature. 9 Aug. 2005 http://www. ivcc. edu/GEN2002/Women_in_the_Nineteenth_Century. htm. Victorian Lace. 12 July 2005 http://www. geocities. com/victorianlace10/women. html. Wyatt, Neal. Biography of Kate Chopin. 1995 http://www. vcu. edu/engweb/eng384/katebio. htm

Nature of Globalisation

Nature of Globalisation Critically Consider The Nature Of Globalisation. In So Doing, Identify And Examine The Various Elements Associated With The Process Of Globalisation. It would be fair to say that globalisation had its beginnings just after the 2nd world war, in December 1945, when 15 countries entered discussions to end blind customs tariffs (World Trade Organisation). The aim of this move was to end the years or protectionism which had led up to WWII (World Trade Organisation). It was believed that the terrible economic status of countries after WWI led to WWII. It was thought that if countries trade and economies were more interlinked it would be possible to avoid war in the future (European Commission). This was the basis for creating the European Community (EC), where the aim was to create a common market economy. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was also created at about this time following a first round of negotiations. This step was a relatively small one as the agreement only affected 1/5 of the world trade (World Trade Organisation), however it was an important first step in trade liberalization. There were further discussions in an attempt to create the International Trade Organisation in conjunction with the Havana Charter; however this was not supported by the United States, spelling its end (World Trade Organisation). GATT was the only means of governing world trade until the creation of the World trade organisation. Although GATT was relatively limited in its powers, its reductions in tariffs and general trade liberalization helped to spur on world trade growth by 8% a year between 1950 and 1960 (World Trade Organisation). A good sign that this GATT was working was that trade growth continued to outpace production growth (World Trade Organisation). This means that countries were trading, not because they had a giant surplus of product but because the future benefits around economic growth were clear. However GATT was not without its problems, economic recessions between 1970-1980 caused Governments to use other methods to protect sectors facing increasing foreign investment (World Trade Organisation). With the closure of factories and an increase in unemployment, the governments of America and Western Europe set out to subsidise agriculture in order to maintain large trade (World Trade Organisation). This practice made it economically undesirable to export agricultural produce to these subsidise d countries as the price of the local goods was largely brought down by the government, meaning it would be very difficult to attract consumers to the same, more expensive product. This was effectively a barrier to world trade and would have been damaging to the GATT agreement. With increased globalisation, the limitations of the GATT started to be seen. The trade in services was not governed by the GATT, but it was increasing in importance to world economies. Loop holes were being exploited in The GATT agreements (World Trade Organisation), and this led world leaders to believe that there was a need for a more unilateral agreement. The World trade organisation was born and has become the unilateral trade governing body. The GATT was not the sole point of this global push, another organisation, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), started in 1961, with the aim to ‘Supporting sustainable economic growth, boost employment, raise living standards, maintain financial stability, assist other countries economic development contribute to growth in world trade (Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development). These initiatives are a summary of the political will of the time which had such a driving force on globalisation. The speed of change has been facilitated by rapid technological change. Technological change has had a number of steps. The first satellite-delivered basic cable service was called the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN); later The Family Channel was launched in 1977. From 1981 to 1985, the â€Å"big-dish† C-Band satellite market began to take off. System sales soared as hardware prices fell. The increased access that this brought around the globe allowed TV images to be transmitted to the world (Marples, 2008). This process allowed one nations culture and principles to be transmitted very quickly around the globe, therby changes in one country, typically the USA would influence changes elsewhere, where people perceived others to be living better. The demand for information and growth in telephonic communication led to a growth in the 1970s of the telecommunications network, with more ‘trunk lines linking major countries. This both facilitated and satisfied the growing need to communicate across countries (Webb Associates). IBM introduced the desktop personal computer (IBM PC) in 1981. This led to the explosive growth in the computer industry which facilitated the development of global supply chains, where computers linked together in a network could control the management of stock worldwide. The benefits of this were quickly recognised and required the infrastructure to support large data transmissions (Webb Associates). This caused a huge expansion in the 80s of fibre optic cables required for rapid data transmission. As a result many companies invested in the manufacture of this new cable (Ivan P. Kaminow, 2002), however with the sheer number of companies producing the cable its value dropped enormously, which in turn caused more of the cable to be used in networking (Ivan P. Kaminow, 2002). The next step in this chain reaction was the introduction of faster computers to deal with this massive increase in data transmission; Moores laws states that the ‘number of chips in a computer doubles every 18 months (Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica). This ever increasing demand and supply of faster computers has driven the development of centralised computer facilities which in turn has promoted the use of faster broadband. This is known as the network effect which drives technology (Nordhaus, 2000). This led to the development of the World Wide Web in the early nineties which gave a further boost to rapid g lobal communications and the need for faster data transmission. The internet spawned a new generation of on-line businesses that traded across the globe, eg Amazon in 1995 (Internet Story). In order to get the most benefit from technology it is best if everyone has it. For example the social networking site Facebook, would be useless if only a few people used it. Similarly technologies such as mobile phones require a high degree of integration as the technologies become useless if limited to those who have the same handset as each other (Dix). One markets use of a given object drives another through seeing the use of it and wanting it themselves (Dix). These technological changes created greater awareness in one market of what was available in another and eventually giving direct access to it via on-line trading. This was creating what has been referred to as ‘The Global Village (Absolute Astronomy). McLuhan describes how the globe has been contracted into a village by electric technology and the instantaneous movement of information from every quarter to every point at the same time. In bringing all social and political functions together in a sudden implosion, electric speed has heightened human awareness of responsibility to an intense degree. Alongside this technological development was the opening up of China in 1978, with the launch of its economic reform program (Huchet, 2006). This allowed China to become the global source of manufacturing (Huchet, 2006). Many companies saw the opportunity to manufacture high value, small electrical items at a low cost. This brought down the price of technology overall, which helped to bring popular electrical items like computers to the masses. It is important to see why the opening up of China was such a large world event in the process of globalisation. China had been isolated from the international world from 1949-1979 (Woo, 2003), so 1/5th of the worlds population had not participated in world trade and investment systems (Woo, 2003), leaving a large void to be filled. This caused the massive relocation of labour intensive industries to China to take advantage of this sudden new opportunity. It is the suddenness of this opportunity which has really caused the dramatic increase in the rate of globalisation. To highlight this increasing rate of globalisation the direct financial investment of a country can be examined. In 1997 China had $44.2 billon of direct investment, in 2002 this figure had risen to $52.7 billion (Woo, 2003), this dramatic increase shows that in the space of 5 years the amount of investment entering China has increased dramatically, showing that growth is not slowing. Due to Chinas massive population, it is also responsible for a large number of world imports, with the growth in Chinese importing between 2002 and 2003 growing by 30% (Stetten, 2005). Arguably culture has been most affected by globalisation. Peoples culture is affected by what they see every day. The export of American movies has dramatically changed some cultures by the assimilation of elements of western culture (Flynn). This exposure particularly affects attitudes to women, birth control and the demand for certain products (eg Coca Cola). The exposure to global media has also caused world fads to arise through product exposure (Lechner); products such as Pokà ©mon and Tamagotchi are a good example of this. Massive increases in the amount of international travel and tourism have caused countries to learn the culture of another through greater exposure to their people (Freesun News, 2009). Immigration from one country to another has introduced one countrys culture to another, which is then passed down to subsequent generations (The University of Iowa Centre For International Finance and Development). The popularity of World sports events such as the Olympics or The Football World Cup are definitely due to increased global communication and generalised culture attracting support from around the world (Freesun News, 2009). In conclusion the process of globalisation was underpinned by the belief that to avoid future wars it was beneficial to promote sustainable economic growth and thereby boost employment and raise living standards, whilst maintaining financial stability to assist other countries economic development and thereby contribute to growth in world trade. This mindset led to the creation of world trade governing bodies, such as the World Trade Organisation and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and The European Union. These organisations set out to liberalize trade through the removal of import/export tariffs and protectionism by governments. The rapid increase in the rate of globalisation has been facilitated by the introduction of technology which has allowed fast communication and transport between geographically distant places. The admission of China into the world trade market has increased supply and demand for finished products which is further boosting industry around the world. References Dix, A. (n.d.). eBulletin. Retrieved 11 17, 2009, from Network Effects and Market Engineering: http://www.hiraeth.com/alan/ebulletin/network-effects/ Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica. (n.d.). Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica. Retrieved 11 17, 2009, from Moores Law: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/705881/Moores-law European Commission. (n.d.). EUROPA. Retrieved 11 17, 2009, from The history of the European Union: http://europa.eu/abc/history/index_en.htm Flynn, D. A. (n.d.). Retrieved 11 17, 2009, from Revisiting Globalisation through the movie and digital games industries: http://web.mit.edu/cms/Events/mit2/Abstracts/KerrFlynn.pdf Freesun News. (2009, 09 29). Travel Tourism: Unity through Diversity in the Age of Globalization. Retrieved 11 17, 2009, from Travel Tourism: Unity through Diversity in the Age of Globalization: http://www.freesun.be/news/index.php/travel-tourism-unity-through-diversity-in-the-age-of-globalization Huchet, J.-F. (2006). Social Research. Retrieved 11 17, 2009, from The emergence of capitalism in China: an historical perspective and its impact on the political system: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2267/is_1_73/ai_n26878471/ Ivan P. Kaminow, T. L. (2002). Optical Fiber Telecommunications IV: B. Systems and impairments. London: Academic Press. Lechner, J. B. (n.d.). Globalization and World Culture. Retrieved 11 17, 2009, from Globalization and World Culture: http://www.sociology.emory.edu/jboli/isb408026.pdf Nordhaus, W. D. (2000, June 13). Technology, Economic Growth, and the New Economy. Retrieved 11 17, 2009, from http://www.econ.yale.edu/~nordhaus/homepage/sweden%20061300c.PDF Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development. (n.d.). About OECD. Retrieved 11 17, 2009, from Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development: http://www.oecd.org/pages/0,3417,en_36734052_36734103_1_1_1_1_1,00.html Stetten, M. D. (2005). China and Globalisation. Intereconomics , 40 (4), 226-234. The University of Iowa Centre For International Finance and Development. (n.d.). Immigration Globalization. Retrieved 11 17, 2009, from Immigration Globalization: http://www.uiowa.edu/ifdebook/issues/globalization/readingtable/immigration.shtml Woo, W. T. (2003, 12 04). The Economic Impact of Chinas Emergence as a Major Trading Nation. Retrieved 11 17, 2009, from The Economic Impact of Chinas Emergence as a Major Trading Nation: http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/woo/Woo.US-China%20statement.1Feb04.pdf World Trade Organisation. (n.d.). The GATT years: from Havana to Marrakesh. Retrieved 11 17, 2009, from World TRade Organisation: http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/fact4_e.htm Select A Multinational Company That Has Existed For At Least 20 Years. Assess How The Process Of Globalisation Has Influenced The Development Of Your Chosen Company Unilever is one of the largest global players in the fast moving consumer goods sector with annual sales of â‚ ¬40,5bn (Company Accounts 2008). However, it started from humble beginnings in Bolton in 1886 when William Lever established a soap manufacturing company called Lever Brothers with his brother James. In this essay I will attempt to set out how the process of globalisation has influenced this company. Unilever was started in the 1890s by the Lever brothers, who introduced Sunsilk Soap to Victorian England. Within a short time Lever was selling soap throughout the UK, as well as in continental Europe, North America, Australia, and South Africa (Unilever). Lever began a tradition at this time that lasted well into the 20th centurythat of producing all its raw components. Lever Brothers, a vertically integrated company, grew to include milling operations used to crush seeds into vegetable oil for margarine as well as packaging and transporting businesses for all of its products, which then included Lux, Lifebuoy, Rinso, and Sunlight soaps. In the early 1900s, Lever was using palm oil produced in the British West African colonies. Lever was therefore an early example of a global company (Unilever). In 1914, as the German Navy began to threaten the delivery of food importsparticularly Danish butter and Dutch margarine, the British government asked Lever to produce margarine. This was eagerly accepted as the margarine business was thought to be compatible with the soap business because the products both required oils and fats as raw materials. Lever Brothers successful diversification, however, put the company in competition with Jurgens and Van den Bergh, two leading, long established Dutch margarine companies. This is an early example of global competition (Unilever). Jurgens and Van den Bergh merged to form the Margarine Unie and after two years of discussion, Lever Brothers and The Margarine Unie decided that an ‘alliance wasted less of everybodys substance than hostility and merged on September 2, 1929 and Unilever was born. This was an early example of cross border mergers. The reason for this merger being that both companies used animal fats and oils as their raw materials. The end result of the merger was a company that bought and processed more than a third of the worlds commercial oils and fats and traded more products in more places than any other company in the world an early example of global scale. The decade following World War II was a period of recovery for Unilever, culminating by the early 1950s in rapid economic growth in much of the Western world with the development of the various global trade bodies discussed earlier. Until 1955 demand in Unilevers markets continued to rise and competition was not a major issue. However as markets grew the demand sucked in global competitors, particularly from the USA and Germany and profit margins dropped and success was less assured. Unilevers strategy through this period was to use its global financial scale to acquire companies in new areas, particularly food and chemical manufacturers. Among the postwar acquisitions were U.K. frozen foods maker Birds Eye (1957) and U.S. ice cream novelty maker Good Humor (1961) (Jones). The advent of the European Economic Community created new opportunities for Unilever. Since the late 19th century, when the companies that comprised Unilever had set up manufacturing facilities they had been located in various European countries to avoid tariff restrictions and where it was most economical. Under the Common Market, many of the tariff restrictions that had spawned the multinational facilities were eliminated, giving the company an opportunity to consolidate operations and concentrate production in lower-cost countries and thereby reduce its overall costs. During the 70s Unilever progressively consolidated its manufacturing operations across Europe, taking advantage of the economies of scale of the larger European Union Market (Unilever). As the world economy expanded during the sixties and seventies Unilever set about developing new products and entering new markets. It was Unilevers management and technological capability allied to great financial strength based on its success in Europe that made it possible to enter these markets. It developed a global management structure facilitated by improved communications and the growth of air travel (Unilever). Throughout its history Unilever has grown through acquisitions, using its global financial scale to purchase local or regional companies that gave additional scale or access to new markets or adjacent markets, Ponds, Calvin Klein and Ben Jerrys to name a few. These acquisitions all represent foreign investment which without the process of globalisation would never be possible (Newinternatiomalist). As individual markets blurred and a more international view of markets was taken we can see the emergence of global brands such as Sure deodorant, known as Rexona globally. This emergence of global brands required Unilever to restructure its business to remain competitive. In the 1980s Unilever undertook a massive restructuring (Unilever). The company sold most of its service and ancillary businesses, such as transport, packaging, advertising, and other services that were readily available on the market, and went on a buying spree, snapping up some 80 companies between 1984 and 1988 (Unilever). The restructuring was designed to concentrate the company in those businesses that we properly understand, in which we have critical mass, and where we believe we have a strong, competitive future, Unilever PLC Chairman M.R. Angus told Management Today in 1988 (International Directory of Company Histories). Specifically, Unilevers core businesses were detergents, foods, toiletries, and special ty chemicals. This was followed in late 1990s by a comprehensive review of Unilevers wide-ranging businesses in an effort to focus on the strongest core areas: ice cream, margarines, tea-based beverages, detergents, personal soaps, skin care products, and prestige fragrances with several other areas identified as developing core areas: frozen foods, culinary products, hair care products, oral care products, deodorants, household care products, and industrial cleaning products (Unilever). Businesses outside of these areas were sold including its largest disposal the selling of its specialty chemicals business to Imperial Chemical Industries PLC for about US$8 billion. As the pace of globalisation increased, Unilever had to focus more on global brands and in 1999 Unilever announced that it would eliminate about 1,200 of its brands to focus on around 400 regionally or globally powerful brandsa group that accounted for almost 90 percent of 1998 revenue. This sweeping overhaul of the product portfolio was aimed at increasing annual growth rates from four percent to six to eight percent and at eventually reaping annual savings of  £1 billion. Unilever has focussed further in the 21st century on 12 â‚ ¬1bn global brands (Unilever). Like with most multinational companies Unilever manufactures many of its products away from the destination market, in order to reap the benefits of cheaper labour and increased profit margins. It operates a global supply chain and, for example, a forecast planner in the UK will control the output from factories in Germany or France and a planner in Singapore may control a plant in China. It is due to the technological synchronisation of the worlds telecommunications and broadband systems that this has become possible, coupled with the ability to send expatriate managers out to foreign countries to develop new operations and transfer management know how. International organisations also have had an effect on the development of Unilever. In 2008 Green Peace targeted Unilever for obtaining palm oil for its soap from non sustainable sources (Jones). Unilever responded by announcing it would source all palm oil from sustainable sources. It is this flow of information from geographically distant countries, facilitated by international organisation, which has undoubtedly forced Unilever to develop to remain in the public good. International competition has always been an issue for Unilever, with international competitors like Proctor and Gamble (USA), Nestle (Switzerland), Kao (Japan) to name but a few. This international pressure has shaped Unilever and its markets. This kind of international competition shows how the world is no longer working on a country level, the entire globe is seen as a single market in terms of competition and as such Unilever faces many different competitors depending on which country it is marketing a product towards. References International Directory of Company Histories. (n.d.). Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 11 17, 2009, from Unilever PLC Unilever N.V.: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2840600220.html Jones, G. (n.d.). Working Knowledge. Retrieved 11 17, 2009, from Unilever—A Case Study: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/3212.html Newinternatiomalist. (n.d.). Newinternatiomalist. Retrieved 11 17, 2009, from History of Unilever: http://www.newint.org/issue172/simply.htm Unilever. (n.d.). History. Retrieved 11 17, 2009, from http://www.unilever.com/aboutus/ourhistory/

Essay example --

BUSINESS MODEL The business model of an organization is its means of earning revenues and recovering costs. It is the mode of value creation, value delivery and value capture followed by the organization. Its essence is the value proposition to consumers that allows the company to make money from its business. The Fast Retailing Group is a holding company with specialty retailer UNIQLO as its mainstay operation. The SPA business model (Specialty Store Retailer of Private Label Apparel) of core UNIQLO operations is the key to its rapid growth and profitability, integrating and controlling all stages of the supply process, from product planning, through design and manufacture, inventory control and production adjustment, to distribution, marketing and final sales. UNIQLO’s business model enables it to balance relatively low price of its products with high quality. This relative product value is unparalleled even by the world’s leading apparel retailers, offering world-class quality clothing in world-class quality stores. By continuously refining its SPA model, UNIQLO differentiates itself with its unique, original products and low costs. Its consolidated supply chain facilitates quick alteration in production, rapid response to changes in the sales environment, and minimizes store-operation costs. UNIQLO’s business model also upturned the trend with large-scale stores in the apparel industry. Typically, with increase in sales floor area, sales and profitability per square meter decreases. However, UNIQLO is able to promote sales and reduce costs with its rich product mix, particularly for women. Rivals like Zara and H&M offer latest fashions to the masses, entailing multiple ordering of new lines to match the ongoing ‘fast-fash... ...REAMS: The Company’s sales revenue results from sale of merchandise to customers. Marginal revenue also comes from leasing of real estate. KEY RESOURCES: Management, Infrastructure (financial resources, Group know-how, etc.), Personnel, Foreign (avail of manufacturing capacity and marketing capabilities through strategic alliances). KEY ACTIVITIES: M&A activities, CSR activities, Overseas activities, Monitoring activities, UNIQLO Japan. KEY PARTNERSHIPS: †¢ Partner factories in China, †¢ Partnerships with material manufacturers, †¢ Strategic partnership between TORAY and UNIQLO since June 2006, resulting in successful product innovation, HEATTECH, †¢ Feb 2011: Global Partnership Agreement with UNHCR COST STRUCTURE: Purchasing costs, Store-operation costs (personnel costs and rent), Promotional costs, Procurement costs, Acquisition costs, Costs of opening new stores. Essay example -- BUSINESS MODEL The business model of an organization is its means of earning revenues and recovering costs. It is the mode of value creation, value delivery and value capture followed by the organization. Its essence is the value proposition to consumers that allows the company to make money from its business. The Fast Retailing Group is a holding company with specialty retailer UNIQLO as its mainstay operation. The SPA business model (Specialty Store Retailer of Private Label Apparel) of core UNIQLO operations is the key to its rapid growth and profitability, integrating and controlling all stages of the supply process, from product planning, through design and manufacture, inventory control and production adjustment, to distribution, marketing and final sales. UNIQLO’s business model enables it to balance relatively low price of its products with high quality. This relative product value is unparalleled even by the world’s leading apparel retailers, offering world-class quality clothing in world-class quality stores. By continuously refining its SPA model, UNIQLO differentiates itself with its unique, original products and low costs. Its consolidated supply chain facilitates quick alteration in production, rapid response to changes in the sales environment, and minimizes store-operation costs. UNIQLO’s business model also upturned the trend with large-scale stores in the apparel industry. Typically, with increase in sales floor area, sales and profitability per square meter decreases. However, UNIQLO is able to promote sales and reduce costs with its rich product mix, particularly for women. Rivals like Zara and H&M offer latest fashions to the masses, entailing multiple ordering of new lines to match the ongoing ‘fast-fash... ...REAMS: The Company’s sales revenue results from sale of merchandise to customers. Marginal revenue also comes from leasing of real estate. KEY RESOURCES: Management, Infrastructure (financial resources, Group know-how, etc.), Personnel, Foreign (avail of manufacturing capacity and marketing capabilities through strategic alliances). KEY ACTIVITIES: M&A activities, CSR activities, Overseas activities, Monitoring activities, UNIQLO Japan. KEY PARTNERSHIPS: †¢ Partner factories in China, †¢ Partnerships with material manufacturers, †¢ Strategic partnership between TORAY and UNIQLO since June 2006, resulting in successful product innovation, HEATTECH, †¢ Feb 2011: Global Partnership Agreement with UNHCR COST STRUCTURE: Purchasing costs, Store-operation costs (personnel costs and rent), Promotional costs, Procurement costs, Acquisition costs, Costs of opening new stores.

The Great Departure :: Great Departure Essays

The Great Departure Daniel Smith’s, The Great Departure illustrates very well the United State’s evolution from a traditionally isolationist nation to an interventionist nation. WWI literally dragged the U.S. out of its isolationist shell and placed the U.S. at the forefront of international politics. The pressure to join WWI was resisted greatly by the Wilson administration and the country as a whole. Smith does an excellent job at presenting the factors that influenced the U.S. to enter the war and at conveying the mind set of American leaders during this time and the issues they faced pertaining to the war. The author illustrates the factors of interest or the eventual causes involvement in WWI in chapters II, III, IV. He offers good points to the issues and now I would like to discuss some of the issues he has mentioned. Propaganda was a tool used by Germany and the allies to influence the U.S., whether that propaganda was used to keep the U.S. out of the war or to try and draw the U.S . into the war makes no real difference. The extent of propaganda in the U.S. is shown by the Dr. Albert’s briefcase affair and the German execution of Nurse Edith Cavell and other atrocities of war carried out by either side. The author, while recognizing the importance of these propaganda stories and the heterogeneous culture of the U.S., underestimates the actual impact on public sentiment it actually had I feel. The U.S., "the great melting pot" had an enormous immigrant population, to underestimate the effect of propaganda on a population that had close personal ties to their homeland, and their ability to influence the actions of government in a democratic republic is a mistake. President Wilson was operating under this assumption that the people would influence the government when he neglected to accept any of the Senator Lodge’s changes to the peace treaty. While I agree with Smith that this is not the reason the U.S. joined the allies in WWI, I feel the heterogenous makeup of the U.S. population is possibly the major influence the U.S. had to move away from an isolationist state. Balance of Powers was another great factor that influenced the U.S. in its views of WWI. The U.S. and the world had come to rely on the principle of balance of power to ensure peace, security and trade throughout the world, and it was no doubt that a victory by the Central Powers would catapult Germany to superpower status and upset the balance of power in Europe and thus the rest of the world.

White Collar Crime vs. Street Crime :: Crime Violence American Society Essays

White Collar Crime vs. Street Crime One problem that plagues our society is crime. Crime is all around us in our everyday lives. Daily we hear of murders, robberies, and rapes. These are categorized as "street crimes." For many people, such crimes are the only "tragic" crimes, the ones that are senseless and preventable. In Finsterbusch's book, Taking Sides, another variety of crime is exposed. This other form of crime is "white collar" crime. Both have victims, and the effects of both can be devastating to the individuals involved and to the community. The views of the two arguments proposed in the text do reach one common conclusion. Both street and white collar crime have severe consequences. In most instances, white collar crime is, financially, more costly. This does not mean that white-collar crime does not inflict bodily harm upon people. Multi- million dollar corporations can be twice as deadly as a gang member. When a woman dies of lead exposure from her job, it is murder. Whether a man is murdered by a gun or by an unsafe gas tank in his car, it is still called murder. In both scenarios, there is a defined victim. The one answer that our politicians give for solving street crime is more money for the Justice system. More cops, more judges, and definitely more jails and prisons. There are shows, such as "Cops," that shows America the "truth" about crime in the US. All the attention is given to street crime. Unless it is a huge scandal, you will seldom hear of white collar crime through the media. When white collar crime is reported, it gets little publicity compared to a gang shoot-out that killed a mother and her three kids. There is a reason for this. Since violent street crime is predominantly an urban problem, there is no better scapegoat than the lower class that live in these inner-city communities. Since urban communities are concentrated with people of color, the image of minorities soon becomes that of a criminal. By creating the idea that its "us against them," the justice system convinces voters that street crime is the evil of all evils. This allows money to be justifiably funneled into the justice system. This mind set says that its acceptable for people to be murdered by unsafe working conditions, and unsafe products. In addition, its unacceptable for murder to be committed by means of a gun, knife, or weapon. As well as supporting isolation from other people, such policies cause racism and stereotyping. Police have pictures of "criminals" in their minds. White Collar Crime vs. Street Crime :: Crime Violence American Society Essays White Collar Crime vs. Street Crime One problem that plagues our society is crime. Crime is all around us in our everyday lives. Daily we hear of murders, robberies, and rapes. These are categorized as "street crimes." For many people, such crimes are the only "tragic" crimes, the ones that are senseless and preventable. In Finsterbusch's book, Taking Sides, another variety of crime is exposed. This other form of crime is "white collar" crime. Both have victims, and the effects of both can be devastating to the individuals involved and to the community. The views of the two arguments proposed in the text do reach one common conclusion. Both street and white collar crime have severe consequences. In most instances, white collar crime is, financially, more costly. This does not mean that white-collar crime does not inflict bodily harm upon people. Multi- million dollar corporations can be twice as deadly as a gang member. When a woman dies of lead exposure from her job, it is murder. Whether a man is murdered by a gun or by an unsafe gas tank in his car, it is still called murder. In both scenarios, there is a defined victim. The one answer that our politicians give for solving street crime is more money for the Justice system. More cops, more judges, and definitely more jails and prisons. There are shows, such as "Cops," that shows America the "truth" about crime in the US. All the attention is given to street crime. Unless it is a huge scandal, you will seldom hear of white collar crime through the media. When white collar crime is reported, it gets little publicity compared to a gang shoot-out that killed a mother and her three kids. There is a reason for this. Since violent street crime is predominantly an urban problem, there is no better scapegoat than the lower class that live in these inner-city communities. Since urban communities are concentrated with people of color, the image of minorities soon becomes that of a criminal. By creating the idea that its "us against them," the justice system convinces voters that street crime is the evil of all evils. This allows money to be justifiably funneled into the justice system. This mind set says that its acceptable for people to be murdered by unsafe working conditions, and unsafe products. In addition, its unacceptable for murder to be committed by means of a gun, knife, or weapon. As well as supporting isolation from other people, such policies cause racism and stereotyping. Police have pictures of "criminals" in their minds.

Market Entry Strategy Essay

Limited Brands, parent company to Bath and Body, currently employs an integrated marketing plan for its distribution of the Bath and Body product line (L Brand International Strategy 2014, Para 1). This strategy could be combined with the prospect of a joint venture for a successful expansion into the United Kingdom market. Integrated marketing channels can be challenging to manage but they are the most effective way to connect marketing and customer service, providing benefits for both company and consumer (Ellis, 2011). A successful integrated market entry strategy starts and ends with a focus on customers. The needs of the customer must be the top priority, because the success of the company depends on the loyalty of the customers it attracts (Ellis, 2011). Bath and Body is already a well-recognized brand in many different parts of the world, providing a starting point for market entry (L Brand International Brand, 2014, Para 2). It is also important for this strategy to be effective that all aspects of the company from manufacturing, distribution, and sales are operating together. This step requires effective constant communication. Each channel to the customer has strengths and weaknesses, using the strengths of one to offset the weakness of another will assist the company’s customer effectiveness while reducing overall costs (Ellis, 2011). Bath and Body has a well-established product chain that provides products at many price points. This allows for the expansion to test different markets with smaller trials, then capitalize on the areas where customers purchasing. SWOT Analysis The method of measuring a companies strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is SWOT analysis. This method assist companies in making decisions by providing decision makers a straightforward way to analysis both internal and external information pertaining to company operations or potential expansions (SWOT Analysis, 2014). Analysis of potential expansion to the United Kingdom by Bath and Body provides potential strengths of recognized brand imaging, reasonable price points compared to current options, customer loyalty, and providing of job opportunities in a recovering market. Weaknesses include competitive market, department stores  carrying similar products, and the lack of a green product line. Market opportunities include the availability of e-commerce, social media, and understanding of the market. Threats include outside competition, lower priced products in market, and a recovering economy. References Ellis, D. (2011, September 7). 5 components of a successful integrated marketing strategy. Social Media Today. Retrieved on February 28, 2014, from http://socialmediatoday.com/debraellis/352405/5-components-successful-integrated-marketing-strategy L Brands. (2014). International Strategy. Retrieved on February 28, 2014 from http://www.lb.com/international/strategy/default.aspx SWOT Analysis. (2014). Investopedia. Retrieved on February 28, 2014, from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/swot.asp

Anonymous

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AHMEDABAD INDIA Research and Publications The Logistics Sector in India: Overview and Challenges Pankaj Chandra Nimit Jain W. P. No. 2007-03-07 March 2007 The main objective of the working paper series of the IIMA is to help faculty members, Research Staff and Doctoral Students to speedily share their research findings with professional colleagues, and to test out their research findings at the pre-publication stage INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AHMEDABAD-380 015 INDIA INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AHMEDABAD INDIA Research and Publications The Logistics Sector in India: Overview and ChallengesPankaj Chandra Nimit Jain Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad Vastrapur, Ahmedabad 380015 [email  protected] ernet. in, [email  protected] ernet. in Abstract The logistics industry in India is evolving rapidly and it is the interplay of infrastructure, technology and new types of service providers that will define whether the industry is able to help its customers reduce their logistics costs and provide effective services (which are also growing). Changing government policies on taxation and regulation of service providers are going to play an important role in this process.Coordination across various government agencies requires approval from multiple ministries and is a road block for multi modal transport in India. At the firm level, the logistics focus is moving towards reducing cycle times in order to add value to their customers. Consequently, better tools and strategies are being sought by firms in order to enhance their decision making. In this paper, we provide a perspective on these issues, outline some of the key challenges with the help of secondary information, and describe some interesting initiatives that some firms & industries are taking to compete through excellence in managing their logistics.IIMA INDIA Research and Publications 1 Introduction The Indian economy has been growing at an average rate of more than 8 per cent over the last four years (Srinivas, 2006) putting enormous demands on its productive infrastructure. Whether it is the physical infrastructure of road, ports, water, power etc. or the digital infrastructure of broadband networks, telecommunication etc. or the service infrastructure of logistics – all are being stretched to perform beyond their capabilities.Interestingly, this is leading to an emergence of innovative practices to allow business and public service to operate at a higher growth rate in an environment where the support systems are getting augmented concurrently. In this paper, we present the status of the evolving logistics sector in India, innovations therein through interesting business models and the challenges that it faces in years to come. Broadly speaking, the Indian logistics sector, as elsewhere, comprises the entire inbound and outbound segments of the manufacturing and service supply chains.Of late, the logistics infrastructure has received l ot of attention both from business and industry as well as policy makers. However, the role of managing this infrastructure (or the logistics management regimen) to effectively compete has been slightly under-emphasized. Inadequate logistics infrastructure has an effect of creating bottlenecks in the growth of an economy, the logistics management regimen has the capability of overcoming the disadvantages of the infrastructure in the short run while providing cutting edge competitiveness in the long term.It is here that exist several challenges as well as opportunities for the Indian economy. There are several models that seem to be emerging based on the critical needs of the Indian economy that can stand as viable models for other global economies as well. Chandra and Sastry (2004) have pointed towards two key areas that require attention in managing the logistics chains across the Indian business sectors – cost and reliable value add services. Logistics costs (i. e. inventor y holding, transportation, warehousing, packaging, losses and related administration costs) have been estimated at 13-14 per cent of Indian GDP which is higher than the 8 per cent of USA’s and lower than the 21 per cent of China’s GDP (Sanyal, 2006a). Service reliability of the logistics industry in emerging markets, like India, has been referred to as slow and requiring high engagement time of the customers, thereby, incurring high indirect variable costs (Dobberstein et. al, W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 3 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications 2005).However, the Indian logistics story is one with islands of excellence though there has been a general improvement on almost all parameters. It is this aspect that we explore further in this paper. The paper is organized as follows: the next section gives a brief introduction of some of the peculiarities of the Indian logistics sector. In section 3 we discuss the determinants of growth in this industry. In section 4 we prov ide some interesting initiatives that point towards a renewal of the sector. The challenges facing the sector are discussed in the last section. 2 Some Peculiarities of the Indian Supply ChainsThe Indian logistics sector has typically been driven by the objective of reducing transportation costs that were (and often continue to be) inordinately high due to regional concentration of manufacturing and geographically diversified distribution activities as well as inefficiencies in infrastructure and accompanying technology. Freight movement has slowly been shifting from rail to road with implications on quality of transfer, timeliness of delivery and consequently costs except for commodities which over long distances, predominantly, move through the extensive rail network. More on the infrastructure issues later.Figure 1 shows the relative value of transportation costs vis-a-vis other elements of the logistics costs in India. The transportation industry is fragmented and largely unorga nized – a large number of independent players with regional or national permits that carry freight, often with small fleet size of one or two single-axle trucks. This segment carries a large percent of the national load and almost all of the regional load. This fragmented segment comprises owners and employees with inadequate skills, perspectives or abilities to organize or manage their operations effectively.Low cost has been traditionally achieved by employing low level of technology, low wages (due to lower education levels), poor maintenance of equipment, overloading of the truck beyond capacity, and price competition amongst a large number of service providers in the industry. Often, one finds transportation cartels that regulate supply of trucks and transport costs. However, the long run average cost of transport operations across the entire supply chain may not turn out to be low. W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 4 IIMAINDIA Research and Publications Figure 1: Elements of Logistics Cost in India Trans por tation 40 War e hous ing, Pack aging & Los s e s 24 26 Inve ntor y Or de r Pr oce s s ing & Adim ins trative 0 5 10 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 percent contribution Source: Sanyal (2006a) Table 1 gives a breakup of the logistics cost across different sectors of the Indian industry and the changes therein over the last five years. It shows how the logistics spend is increasing, sometimes dramatically, across various industrial sectors. Steel, harmaceuticals, food & agro-business, and auto have also been the sectors that are growing most rapidly in the national economy – it is no surprise that their logistics costs have been increasing at a faster rate. A few observations are in order here. The low change in order processing & administrative costs in the cement sector could possibly be due to the use of call centers by various producers for order processing and dispatch planning. Steel and pharmaceutical sectors have seen maximum changes in compon ent costs.The distribution practice of pushing goods down the channel might be responsible for high increase in the inventory and warehousing costs in the pharmaceutical industry. Investments in new cold chains and losses might be the causes of high change in the warehousing, packaging & losses related costs. Warehousing, has also been typically dominated by small players with small capacities and poor deployment of handling, stacking and monitoring technologies. While it has had detrimental effect on almost all sectors, the food sector has been the one that has suffered the most due to low investment in cold chains and allied machinery.Erratic power outages have also meant low dependence on technology and a more manual operation. Another fact that has affected both the location as well cost of operating a W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 5 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications warehouse has been the â€Å"octroi tax1. † Firms have been locating warehouses outside city limits. Ta ble 1: Distribution of Logistics Costs across Some Sectors (2000-2005) Logistics Cost Components (in US $ mn) Transport ation Inventory holding Warehousing, packaging & loses Order processing & administrative Total Logistics cost SectorAuto Cement Consumer Durables FMCG Food Garment Pharmaceutical Steel Source: IAEIS 2000-01 2005-06 Avg. Change 2000-01 2005-06 Avg. Change 2000-01 2005-06 Avg. Change 2000-01 2005-06 Avg. Change 2000-01 2005-06 Avg. Change 2000-01 2005-06 Avg. Change 2000-01 2005-06 Avg. Change 2000-01 2005-06 Avg. Change 285. 0 406. 5 20. 3 50. 6 55. 4 4. 8 331. 9 398. 9 11. 2 201. 5 280. 7 13. 2 398. 7 524. 5 21. 0 337. 3 454. 4 19. 5 174. 0 310. 0 22. 7 438. 3 693. 6 42. 5 171. 0 243. 9 12. 2 30. 4 33. 3 2. 9 199. 1 239. 3 6. 7 120. 9 168. 4 7. 9 239. 3 314. 7 12. 6 202. 4 272. 11. 7 104. 4 186. 0 13. 6 263. 0 416. 1 25. 5 185. 3 264. 3 13. 2 32. 9 36. 0 3. 1 215. 7 259. 3 7. 3 131. 0 182. 5 8. 6 259. 2 340. 9 13. 6 219. 2 295. 3 12. 7 113. 1 201. 5 14. 7 284. 9 45 0. 8 27. 7 71. 3 101. 6 5. 1 12. 7 13. 8 1. 2 83. 0 99. 7 2. 8 50. 4 70. 2 3. 3 99. 7 131. 1 5. 2 84. 3 113. 6 4. 9 43. 5 77. 5 5. 7 109. 6 173. 4 10. 6 712. 6 1016. 4 50. 6 126. 5 138. 5 12. 0 829. 6 997. 3 27. 9 503. 8 701. 8 33. 0 996. 8 1311. 2 52. 4 843. 2 1135. 9 48. 8 434. 9 775. 0 56. 7 1095. 7 1734. 0 106. 4 They delay moving goods into retail network as late as possible.It has also led to the development of a unholy business-government nexus to avoid the tax and extract rents. Use of technology is quite limited – both IT and engineering equipments in order to increase productivity and service. An in-appropriate evaluation of the diverse benefits of technology has led to higher usage of manual labour across the logistics industry whether An entry tax on goods coming into a city. The tax is a major source of revenue for city municipal corporations. W. P. No. 2007-03-07 1 Page No. 6 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications it is in the distribution activities or within pla nts.Many firms try to compete through the factor advantage of low wages which have necessitated hiring low or no skill personnel thereby sacrificing productivity related gains in the long run. Understanding the linkage between inventory and transport planning is a key to reducing operational cost of distribution. Chandra and Sastry (2004) identify transport & dispatch planning as an area of concern in a survey of manufacturing firms in India. Ninety eight per cent of sample firms in that survey have a contract with trucking companies for making dispatches and only 11 per cent own their own fleet of trucks.While 36 per cent of these firms use third party logistics (3PL) service providers for making dispatches, about 30 per cent use 3PL service providers for procuring their material from their suppliers. Somehow, transport planning has remained a unglamorous area within Operations despite the fact that about 10 per cent of the cost of sales comes through physical distribution (Sanjeev i, 2003). Transport planning (e. g. , optimal dispatch quantities & frequency of dispatch, vehicle routing, loading pattern in the trucks etc. ) does not appear to have received the required attention.For example, in the same survey, only 21 per cent of sample firms report the use of some software for scheduling dispatches. It is worth understanding the structure of the Indian supply chains, in aggregate, to get a better appreciation of many of the issues raised earlier. In Figure 2 Chandra and Sastry (2004) present the structure of the supply chain of a sample of firms. It can be seen that about 4 per cent of firms have less than five suppliers, about 85 per cent of firms have less than five plants, about 14 per cent of firms have less than five regional distributors, and about 9 per cent of firms have less than five retailers.A similar statistics is obtained for other ranges of suppliers, plants, distributors, and retailers. What is worth noting is that 63 per cent of firms have m ore than 100 suppliers, about 39 per cent of firms have more than hundred distributors, and 77 per cent of firms have more than hundred retailers. In addition, about 17 per cent of firms claim to have more than 500 suppliers. The same for distributors and retailers is 22 and 54 per cent respectively. This is perhaps where difficulties in managing logistics in India lie – larger the number of suppliers or distributors, higher is the cost of coordination.W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 7 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications Figure 2 : Structure of the Supply Chain of Sample Firms 90 80 70 Percent of Firms 60 50 40 30 20 10 5000-10000 1000-2000 2000-5000 500-1000 100-500 50-100 10-15 15-25 25-50 0 5-10 0-5 more than 10000 Range Suppliers Plants Approved Retailers Regional Distributors Source: Chandra and Sastry (2004) When we look at the spatial distribution of both plants and suppliers, the above statement becomes even stronger. Of the sample firms that operate more han one plant , 48 per cent of these plants are located more than 100 kilometers away from each other, 33 per cent of these plants are located more than 500 kilometers away from each other and 18 per cent of these plants are located more than 1000 kilometers from each other. Similarly, on an average, only 4 per cent of suppliers are located within 5 kilometers of the manufacturing plant, about 13 per cent are located within 5-25 kilometers of the plant, 16 per cent are located within 25-100 kilometers of the plant and about 67 per cent of suppliers have facilities that are more than 100 kilometers away from the plants.Location policies of the past may have forced some firms to locate plants away from each other. However, this may be coming to haunt today as the cost of coordination increases and the ability to provide quick response to customer requirements might reduce. This problem gets exacerbated with suppliers. Manufacturers have to either develop suppliers separately for each location (ther eby increasing the number and affecting consistency in quality, price & delivery times) else material has to travel longer distances if there is a common supplier to all plants. W. P. No. 2007-03-07Page No. 8 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications The logistics challenge in such an environment is immense – build the infrastructure, manage the requirements of a changing structure of various sectoral supply chain, change industrial policies to facilitate efficient production and movement of goods and services, deploy effective managerial practices and technology to enhance the competitiveness through better management of logistics networks, and develop new models for new sectors especially in the service sectors as well as traditional areas like agri-business etc.It must be mentioned that the logistics industry in India is transforming itself very interestingly despite its peculiarities by developing innovative business models and by chipping away at the such structural and polic y based rigidities. In a later section, we discuss some of these innovative initiatives that are leading the renewal of the logistics industry in India. 3 The Changing Logistics Infrastructure With rising consumer demand and the resulting growth in global trade, the role of infrastructure support in terms of rails, roads, ports & warehouses hold the key to the success of the economy.In this section we provide a quick overview of the status of the logistics infrastructure in India and the current initiatives, both private and public, in that area. Goods are transported predominantly by road and rail in India. Whereas road transport is controlled by private players, rail transport is handled by the central government. With the second largest network in the world, road contributes to 65 per cent of the freight transport (Rastogi, 2006). Road is preferred because of its cost effectiveness and flexibility.Rail, on the other hand, is preferred because of containerization facility and ease in transporting ship-containers and wooden crates. Sea is another complementary mode of transport. Ninety five per cent of India’s foreign trade happens through sea (Deccan Herald, 2006). India has 12 major ports, six each on the West and East coasts and 185 minor ports. Table 2 maps the various modes on different performance indicators, clearly indicating the vitality and importance of road transport in Indian economy. There is also evidence of an, across the board, increase in freight traffic for all modes indicating an increased logistics activity.For instance, the per cent change in road, rail, air and sea cargo traffic has increased, between 2001 and 2005, from 5 to 14 per cent, 4 to 7. 5 per cent, 6 to 20 per cent and 3. 5 to 11 per cent respectively (CMIE Database, 2006). W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 9 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications Table 2: Comparison Chart for Various modes Rail 214760 10. 66 0. 11 Road 3487538* 5. 12* 3. 34 Sea 806 7. 9 12 Number (wagons, tr ucks, ships) Freight Capacity(mn ton) Route Length (mn km) /Number of major ports Freight Revenue (US $ bn) 7. 00 coal, steel, petroleum, primary metals 38. 64 automobile, electronic items, garments etc. 304 iron ore, coal, petroleum (and industrial and consumer products on the outbound export) Major Products Source: IAEIS, 2005-2006, Financial Express, 2006a *This figure is for 2002-03 1 US$ = Rs 44 In keeping with the increasing demand for road transportation, the National Highway Authority of Indian (NHAI) has been strengthening and widening national highways in multiple phases. As part of the National Highways Development Project, the work on the development of golden quadrilateral (connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata) and the North-South and East-West links were started in 1998.It will build 13000 km expressways that would connect the nation (Surabhi, 2006). NHAI is investing about $650mn towards the development of an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) which will make transport services on the highways (like reducing congestion, advance signaling, medical assistance, accident management, etc. ) efficient and automating many processes like toll collection etc. (Sanjai, 2007). Because of the growing opportunity and potential for high revenue, the Ministry of Railways has been taking measures to expand the rail connectivity and recapture the market share of freight business.By focusing on improving wagon utilization, the Railways have managed to reduce the freight cost from 61 paise2 per net tonne km (ntkm) in 2001 to 56 paise per ntkm in 2005 (Rastogi, 2006). At present, goods train run on same 2 100 paise = 1 Rupee W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 10 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications railway tracks as passenger trains at an average speed of around 25 kmph (Gill, 2006). With the proposed dedicated west and east freight corridors, the goods trains are expected to run at 100kmph. The West and East rail corridor of 1469-km and 1232-km will be bu ilt with an investment of $2. 0 bn and $2. 40 bn respectively and will be equipped with the latest centralized traffic control systems (Acharya, 2006a). Indian Railways has also decided to collaborate with bulk users of freight transport to build the rail network in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. The first project on this line comprises nine public and private sector companies that are building a 82-km rail line between Haridarpur and Paradip at a cost of $ 120mn (Telegraph, 2006). Recently several steel companies have also shown interest in linking iron and coal mines in Orissa with a 98-km rail line (Business Standard, 2006).Multi-modal transport in India was a monopoly of the Container Corporation of India till 2005. With licenses being given to 13 new private players (Acharya, 2006b), rail trade should improve considerably. In order to encourage trade by small scale industries, Indian Railways has started a â€Å"road-railer†system where container vehicles are c apable of running both on highways hauled by trucks and on rail (Guha and Sinha, 2006). In 199899, the Konkan Railway (one of the railway zones in South-Western India) pioneered the ‘roll-on, roll-off' (‘RO-RO') concept between Mumbai (Kolad) and Goa (Verna).Privately owned trucks are loaded with their goods which are driven on to a rake of flat cars and are carried (trucks and their cargo) to the destination. In 2005-06, the ports handled 456. 20 million tonnes of cargo traffic. This is expected to increase to 700 million tonnes by 2011-12. In keeping pace with the growing demand, the government plans to increase port capacities to around 1 billion tonnes per annum in the next six years (Raja, 2006). Under the National Maritime Development Programme (NMDP), the government is encouraging public-private partnership to build and maintain ports.This scheme will cover 276 port related projects at an investment of $12. 40 bn (Raja, 2006). With rising congestion levels at majo r ports and with high average turnaround time, the government has decided to develop minor ports in seven states to ease the traffic of major ports (Financial Express, 20006b). Tables 3 the operational performance of various ports in India – while there is an improvement in performance, the pace is slow. The estimated cost of this development is expected to be around $350 mn. Further, private sector is likely to invest $ 7. 67 billion over the next six years.W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 11 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications Table 3: Average Turnaround Time At Ports (in Days) Port Chennai Cochin Haldia Jawaharlal Nehru Kandla Kolkata Marmugao Mumbai New Mangalore Paradip Tuticorin Vishakhapatnam Average Source: IAEIS 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 CAGR 6. 40 5. 80 5. 30 3. 70 4. 60 3. 80 (9. 90) 3. 23 3. 10 2. 37 2. 19 2. 22 2. 33 (6. 32) 5. 21 3. 96 4. 01 3. 02 2. 87 3. 00 (10. 45) 1. 72 2. 48 2. 34 2. 28 2. 04 1. 84 1. 36 6. 15 4. 72 6. 55 5. 94 5. 06 4. 62 (5. 56) 6. 59 5. 50 4. 71 4. 47 4. 29 4. 7 (8. 75) 4. 30 4. 25 2. 04 3. 86 4. 47 4. 35 0. 23 5. 60 5. 20 5. 47 5. 06 4. 10 4. 21 (5. 55) 3. 80 2. 89 2. 73 1. 90 2. 35 2. 96 (4. 87) 3. 89 4. 16 3. 99 3. 37 3. 42 3. 41 (2. 60) 6. 39 4. 10 4. 11 3. 59 2. 59 2. 66 (16. 08) 4. 75 3. 71 3. 51 3. 72 3. 33 3. 20 (7. 60) 4. 84 4. 16 3. 93 3. 59 3. 45 3. 38 (6. 92) Currently, fifteen private sector projects are operational at various major ports and four more projects are under implementation (Raja, 2006). One of them aims to build the deepest port in the world at an investment of $ 1bn (Financial Express, 2006c).This project is handled by a three-firm Chinese consortium with a Mumbai-based partner, Zoom Developers. Interestingly, firms like Ambuja Cement have been using barges for transport of clinkers from their factories to crushing and packaging plants all over the coast, thereby, reducing transport costs considerably. It can be seen that there is a fury of activity in enhancing the in frastructure capacities in the country. 4 Determinants of Logistics Growth in India The Indian logistics business is valued at US$ 14bn and has been growing at a CAGR of 7-8 per cent.As mentioned earlier, the logistics cost represents 13-14 per cent of the country’s GDP. The market is fragmented with thousands of players offering partial services in logistics; it is estimated that there are about 400 firms capable of providing some level of integrated service (Mahalaksmi, 2006). The economy is expected to grow around ten per cent over the next ten years and sectors like chemicals, petrochemicals (especially distribution), pharmaceuticals, metals and metal processing, FMCG, textile, retail and automobile are projected to grow the fastest.New business models are emerging as new firms, both domestic and foreign, enter the market. As a result of the ensuing competition, linkages with global supply chains and domestic market growth W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 12 IIMA INDIA Resea rch and Publications promise to change the face of logistics industry beyond recognition. In this section, we discuss how these are going to determine the growth of the sector. The scale of operations in manufacturing is changing and so are their markets and sourcing geographies.Growth in manufacturing in India has happened across clusters that are located in different parts of the country, e. g. , Ludhiana, NCR, Baddi and Dehradun in North, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Pune and Mumbai in West (along with Ankleshwar, Vapi, Aurangabad, and Kolhapur and most recently Kutch), and Coimbatore, Vishkahpatnam, Bangalore, Hosur, Chennai, Pudduchery and Sriperumbudur in the South. Assembly plants at these locations are being fed with raw materials and intermediate products from all over the country and abroad (as well as these locations).Moreover, distribution networks with emerging hubs in Indore and Nagpur (i. e. , Central India) supply all over the country and abroad. This is going to increase the n ature and extent of movement of goods and services across the country. This has been accompanied by the expansion of domestic production capacity (e. g. , ORPAT in Morbi has added capacity to produce 40,000 units of quartz clocks and time pieces at a single location) as well as a big MNC entry into the Indian manufacturing scene (e. g. NOKIA’s new factory at Sriperumbudur produces 1 million mobile phones per month). As the volume of production grows, so will the extent of movement of goods either to the ports for export or to the rest of the country. Some of the large players to enter (or expand significantly) the Indian market recently have been Reliance Retail, Big Bazaar Hypermart, Pantaloon and RPG in Retail; Nokia, LG, Samsung, Motorola, Sony, Blue Star in Consumer Electronics; Bajaj, Hero Honda, Maruti, Honda, Toyota, Audi,Volkswagen, Renault, Volvo in the Automotive sectors; Holcim in Cement; etc. It can be expected that their operations will drive the growth of logist ics industry. The liberalizing Indian economy is experiencing entry of large domestic and global firms in new businesses as well as enlargement of distribution network of many regional Indian firms. The announcement of large retail projects by Reliance and Bharti (in collaboration with Wal-Mart) will bring new technology, add additional warehouse capacity and will require fast and reliable movement of goods across the country.Reliance is thinking of establishing large warehouses in Thailand to take advantage of low cost sourcing from South-East Asia once the Free Trade Agreement with Thailand (as well as ASEAN) gets finalized. Similarly, regional food & grocery retail leaders like W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 13 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications Subhiksha who are present very extensively in the South Indian market are now entering the rest of the country with more than 600 new retail stores in 2007. Their logistics strategy and needs are transforming very significantly with this nationwide expansion.New retail chains are entering the non-metro towns and non-State capitals. It may be mentioned that the growth of the courier industry post-liberalization has helped change the parameters of service evaluation in the industry from cost alone to cost, time, and reliability. This sector has also seen a number alliances between regional and local players especially in the small package (less than 500 grams) market thereby creating networks of small players who are not only cost effective but also more flexible than the large national players.This segment of the industry has taken advantage of the large manpower and is gradually moving away from â€Å"Angadiyas† or manual inter-city couriers to a more organized network that shares transport infrastructure (and even consolidates sub-packages from various small couriers in a single large courier bag to be transported by air cargo or road transport rather than these sub-packages being carried by several manual couriers on the train; the courier firms are gaining on service and are sharing fixed costs).The entry of large third party logistics (3PL) carriers like Federal Express and DHL and the expansion of domestic networks of Indian firms like Gati and Shreyas Shipping is also transforming the nature of services and the business practices across the sector. Table 4 gives an idea of the investment plans announced by the various firms for the coming financial year and gives a sense of their increasing activity. Another trend driving growth in this sector has been the consolidation amongst the logistics player.Mergers & Acquisitions amongst Indian and MNC logistics firms is starting to increase the reach of MNC 3PLs in the domestic Table 4: Investment Plans of Major 3PL Service Providers Firms DHL TNT Gati *Shreyas Shipping and Logistics Investment Details/ Plans (2007-08) (in US $ mn) 260 115 200 350 Source: Baxi (2006), Sanjai (2006a) W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 14 IIMA INDIA Research an d Publications market while consolidating the business (e. g. , DHL acquired Blue Dart, TNT acquired Sppedage Express Cargo Service, Fedex bought over Pafex etc. ).Consolidation is expected to be beneficial to both the service providers as well as the consumers. Initially MNC 3PL firms were providing only custom clearance and freight forwarding facility to their international clients. With the logistics market growing we should see a shift in this trend. The complexity of managing the supply chain in the pre-consolidation era is illustrated through the following scenario at Nokia (Figure 3) . Logistics activity for Nokia’s India Hub was maintained by a large number of Figure 3: Typical Logistics Supply Chain of NokiaDHL, Panalpina Inbound logistics Nokia Hub in Sriperumbudur Gati, Blue Dart Domestic Outbound logistics UPS Warehouse in India Export Market International Outbound logistics DHL Source: Mishra et al. (2006 service providers. Coordination and handover was a problem at times. With DHL acquiring Blue Dart, it is now able to provide seamless end-to-end integrated supply chain solutions. Downstream distribution channels have also seen some consolidation.Manufacturing firms, particularly, in the FMCG sector have started to reduce the number of wholesalers (and at times, distributors) so as to increase the reach and consequently the returns to each wholesaler. This also induces them to invest in new productivity enhancing technology and effective managerial practices. Technology in the logistics chain is being upgraded bringing better visibility on customer off-takes (though an absence of cash registers and the accompanying regulatory discipline to avoid tax evasion stand in the way of automated data updation).Introduction of more efficient transport technology and mobile communication has the potential of changing the logistics practices in the industry. Increasing competition and the low penetration of IT also implies that the scope for change is immense and imminent. The agri-business sector’s supply chain, for example, has changed significantly with increasing investment in coldchains across the country. With this, fruits and vegetables are being transported long distances (often more than 1500 kms) and milk grid is able to pickup and deliver liquid W.P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 15 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications milk from and to remote areas more frequently. Here the role of cooperatives like AMUL has been exemplary both in increasing the size of the distribution network and also in reorganizing the supply network very efficiently along with enormous buildup of social capital – a pre-requisite for growth in emerging economies (Chandra and Tirupati, 2003). Low penetration of hand eld technologies for order processing and tracking, product tracking and material handling accessories, as well as IT for improved decision making can be seen as opportunities for growth. Mobile technologies also hold the potent ial for rapidly using information for real time decision making as well as for coordinating both the inbound and outbound logistics. Indian customers exhibit strong value and variety seeking behaviour hence developing capabilities in the process of product and service delivery will induce loyalty (i. e. , process loyalty).Government policies have been another driver of change in the logistics industry. The trend towards a higher road cargo traffic as compared to rail is going to require better logistics control and coordination. The golden quadrilateral road project and the east & west rail corridors are expected to change the reactiveness of Indian firms through shorter lead times as well as lower maintenance costs on the transport equipment. They also have the potential of reducing the procedural delays on highways by reducing the number of checks and related stoppages of vehicles.Its impact on perishable good will be most significant. Thirteen States and three UTs have already am ended the State laws allowing private sector participation in direct purchases of farm produce from farmers (Ahya, 2006) which is making procurement more efficient and is bringing better technology as well as products in the rural production and distribution network (e. g. , see ITC echoupal in the next section). Banks have developed venture capital funds for logistics players. Small Industries Development Bank of India or SIDBI, for instance, has invested $ 2. mn in the Mumbai based firm Direct Logistics (Baxi, 2006). The unbundling of the logistics supply chain (both the physical pickup, storage and movement of goods as well as allied services like invoicing, order management, freight forwarding, customs clearance, octroi tax management etc. ) will lead to business opportunities and add value to the customers. An interesting example is that of Reliance Connect Service Centres that have been established on Indian highways by Reliance industry along with petrol stations.The Connect Centres provide a place for truckers to relax (sometimes with overnight stay facilities), send information (including data) to parent firms on their location, completed transactions etc. , receive material/instructions from the firm, remit money to parent firm, W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 16 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications etc. It has become a one-stop shop for truckers and their companies to keep in touch. Similarly, once VAT is introduced, it will simplify the process of goods servicing and will lead to rationalizing of many operational decisions.The implication of the emergence of a strong service industry on logistics performance is not well understood. Perhaps, a new business segment will emerge that is technology driven and will help coordinate activities across business channels. For example, there is a need to integrate the flow of information, goods and services between a medical physician, a diagnostics center, hospitals & nursing homes, and retail medical outlets à ¢â‚¬â€œ all of which are un-coordinated independent entities at the moment.This could range from digital transmission of MRI scans from a diagnostics center to a computer to blood collection and delivery from physician’s various city centers to nursing homes/blood banks or directly to dispersed operation theatres. The role of a coordinating agency becomes, organizationally, valuable in such an environment. The need is to link physical logistics processes with communication technologies –building on the strengths of the IT and mobile communication industries. 5 The Renewal of the Sector: Some Innovative ExperiencesThere have been several instances of firms undertaking innovative re-design of their logistics systems or deployment of interesting business models to enhance the effectiveness of their networks in order to deliver value to their customers. Sometimes it was done to overcome an inherent disadvantage that may exist in the supply chain. In this section, we presen t a few such experiences both at the firm level and at the industry level, through brief caselets highlighting their innovative contribution. They also represent the renewal process that is transforming the logistics sector and the distribution strategy of firms.GATI3 Established at a time (in 1989) when firms in India hardly outsourced their logistics requirements, Gati has transformed itself from a cargo movement company to become one of the leading end-to-end logistics and supply chain solutions provider in India. Continuous innovation and high end technological investments to improve service 3 Source: www. gati. com, Sharma and Thakur (2006), Prowess (2006), Reddy (2007) W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 17 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications quality, speed and efficiency can be ascribed as the reasons behind their success.It is staring to connect with mass retail market in several cities through 1500 Customer Convenient Centres. It is also the first Indian company to operate in th e far-east market with its own subsidiary in Hong Kong. On the service front, there have been several firsts in India by Gati – a money back guarantee on cargo services, cash-on-delivery and a tollfree number for convenience of customers. Gati operates one of the largest road networks linking 594 districts out of a total of 602 districts in India at a turnover of $104mn in 2005-2006. It covers 3. 2 lakh4-km every day with a fleet size of 2000 trucks.Its automated shipment tracking ability has brought it closer to the customers – for example, the SMS based tracking system has allowed the customers to continuously get an update on the status of their consignment. Another feature also enables customers to get email based conformation of any delivery. Gati has also transformed the warehouse management practices in India with its modern system, WMS – a web based warehouse management system that provides both functionality and flexibility to customers in managing thei r warehouse operations. WMS enables Gati and its customers to track inventory status in real time.Along with its transportation related capabilities, this has allowed Gati to manage the entire outbound logistics (i. e. , warehousing, transport and dealer/retailer replenishment) of Blue Star for his home air-conditioning division. Order processing times and shipping errors have decreased and customer service levels have improved, as a consequence. Currently, Gati operates with 10 warehouses and plans to setup another 25 over the next three years at an investment of $100mn. It is designing these new warehouses with mechatronic systems that could lead to a paradigm shift in warehouse management in India.It has implemented CRM and ERP systems, using IT to full advantage delivering value to the customers. AMUL5 The Kaira District Milk Cooperative Union or better known as AMUL was established in 1946 in Anand in the western State of Gujarat with an aim to remove the intermediaries in the milk procurement and distribution process and thereby increase return to milk farmers. The milk farmers were mostly marginalized members of the society and most of 4 5 1 lakh = 100,000 www. amul. org; Chandra and Tirupati (2003) W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 18 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications hem barely poured a few litres of milk each day. They, however, depended on this for their livelihood and any money lost to the middleman or to uncertainty in the environment meant a threat to their existence. Thus was born AMUL (which means invaluable in Hindi)! The Story of AMUL is an extraordinary story of vision, effort and power of networks for the benefit of the poor. From being a net importer of milk in 1947 when India became independent, India has now emerged as the largest milk producer in the world. This remarkable story has been scripted by a network of cooperatives called AMUL.The AMUL network is coordinated by the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (or GCMMF) which markets milk and milk products that are produced by 12 Milk Unions (each having several factories) one of which is AMUL at Anand. The Unions are spread in twelve districts of Gujarat. Each Union collects milk from farmers through cooperative Village Societies. (This structure is now replicated in almost all the States of India. ) In 2005-2006, GCMMF had a sales turnover of $860mn through milk and milk products (its Unions or plants produce 15 categories of milk products with several products in each category).The 12 Unions collect about 6. 3million litres of milk every day from 2. 5 million farmers through 11,962 Village Societies. (with an annual collection of 2. 28 bn litres in 20052006). Each village society may have 100 to 1000 member farmers who pour milk twice a day. Twice daily, about 500 trucks collect milk from these Village Societies and bring them to either of the five chilling centers or the processing plants (or Unions). The Unions process the liquid milk – produ ce milk of various types for consumption, convert some to powder as inventory and use both powder and liquid milk for producing milk products.These products are distributed to consumers through a channel comprising 4000 stockists (or distributors) and 5,00,000 retailers. It is not difficult to imagine the complexity of coordinating such a network of perishable products with an explicit social objective, in addition to a commercial one. The network realized the need for a unique model to deliver value to customers and through that serve the key objective of setting up of the cooperative – making a producer out of a poor consumer and helping her get better returns. W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 19 IIMA INDIA Research and PublicationsBriefly, we will illustrate the unique mechanisms used by this network to coordinate the complex supply chain through the intervention of a number of third party service providers (distributors, retailers, logistics service providers and IT support groups). The network practices frequent delivery and works with low inventory levels in the chain, supported by extensive information network and IT kiosks at the milk pickup locations that provide a variety of services. Payment to farmers for RM procurement is instantaneous (well, almost! ) – during the same or in the next pouring shift by the Village Society staff.Milk is carried in cans by trucks (twice daily) or in chilling trucks, once in a day, to the plants. The routes of the trucks are well established and the arrival timetables at each Society well known and rarely is there any delay. This helps provide visibility to every member of the chain and improves the return on investment in the channel. The network operates with a zero stock out through improved availability of products and quick delivery. Disciplined planning to reduce variability at each stage helps in maintaining timeliness in the channel.GCMMF coordinates the production plan between the twelve Unions and ensures matching of geographic markets with supplies. TQM and Hoshin Kanri are the key tools used to plan and implement daily production and change programmes – these have facilitated a six-sigma performance throughout the network and has led to a doubling of sales revenue in the last ten years. Most interestingly, AMUL has the largest market share in every product category that it competes in – its competitors are both large MNCs and large & small Indian firms.AMUL illustrates how good managerial practices can help bridge the gap between profits for the supplier and low cost, highy quality products for consumers – all through exceptional coordination of logistics operations across an extensive network. AMUL operates with one umbrella brand for products from all its member Unions – a testimony to strong quality and cost coordination across all Unions and Village Societies. In addition, its has been singularly responsible for pulling out several million o f its members from poverty, ill health and illiteracy through its business model (called Anand Pattern) and social programmes.For details on this case study see Chandra and Tirupati (2003). W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 20 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications The DABBAWALLAHs of MUMBAI6 The â€Å"dabbawallah’s† or the ‘lunch box delivery people’ of Mumbai pickup and deliver lunch boxes from homes or restaurants and deliver it to the customer’s office – all within a specified time frame – and then deliver the empty box back to the place of pickup. It is an example of how processes can play an important role in coordinating logistics of an important service industry in India.The Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Charity Trust of Mumbai was established in 1891 to provide pick-up and delivery of lunch for Britishers working in Mumbai. Since then it has become the leading lunch delivery cooperative in the city. It picks-up and delivers 200,000 lunch boxes in a standard container every day and returns the same to the place of pickup. The firm has an annual turnover of about $12 mn and employs 5000 people for pickup and delivery – almost all of them are uneducated. However, there are less than 10 boxes mis-delivered or un-picked in a month!We discuss, briefly, the processes that help make this logistics network errorproof and deliver such an astonishing performance. The operations of the group has attracted global attention and won them many awards. They represent a growing group of service providers that exist as an element of the logistics network, provide niche service and generate value in return for the customer. The Trust which is organized as a cooperative is operationally organized in hierarchical teams – pick-up teams, consolidation teams, delivery teams (and then the reverse logistics for empty boxes with reversing of the functions for the teams).Typically, each dabba or the lunch box passes through more t han four pair of hands and may be transported up to 60 km each way. Pickup is done between 7. 30am-9. 00am, delivery between 12. 00 and 1. 00pm and return between 2. 00-5. 00pm. These represent tight time-windows where a team of 20-25 members (and supervised by a team leader who also fills in as a pickup person in case of any absence) pick-up lunch boxes from homes – about 30 per pick-ups person. The boxes are carried in a specialized fixture on a bicycle to the nearest train station where the boxes are consolidated by destination.A consolidation team performs this task and carries the boxes (which may have been picked by members of different teams but need to travel to the same destination geography) into the train. Often tiffin or lunch boxes are un-loaded at intermediate train stations – re-consolidated with boxes coming from other locations (i. e, cross-docked) and carried on a third train to its 6 Lecture of Mr Megde, President of the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppl iers Charity Trust at IIM Ahmedabad, 2003; Chandra (2004) W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 21 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications estination station. At the destination station, the lunch boxes coming from various origins/cross-docking destinations, are once again segregated by the building where the delivery is made. Finally, a delivery team picks up their boxes, i. e. , boxes that they will deliver to specific owners in specific buildings, carry them on their bicycles and deliver them in the office of the owner of the box. Later in the afternoon, the same person picksup the empty box and pursues the reverse logistics and the box is ultimately delivered at its point of origin – either a home or a restaurant.With this as the complexity, what may be plausible reasons for such low errors? Contextually, the group members see their role as very important – they are responsible for delivering food to their customers – socially, it enhances their commitment to their tas k and establishes a critical customer-service provider link. Operationally, the handoff is done successfully through simplification or breaking down of tasks, codification and repetition. The designed process is simple and easy to understand for each operator.More important, each operator has a limited yet definite role. This role is one of pickup, consolidation & transfer and delivery (and the similarly for reverse logistics). Each pickup operator does not pickup more than 25-30 boxes as that is the number of addresses etc. that he can remember accurately which helps in avoiding mistakes. The lunch box is enclosed in a standard container which carries a unique code for the destination station, the building where the box is to be delivered and the floor number in that building where the office of the customer is located.Each operator recognizes a limited set of codes that are relevant to him (and does not have to learn the entire coding scheme). And finally, repetition of the task ( i. e. , same pickup location, same place for cross docking, same delivery location etc. ) helps in making the task foolproof. Of course, what helps is the linear geography of Mumbai, the punctuality of trains, relatively stable demand and strong inter-dependence between operators. It is an example of how manual logistics systems can be organized to effectively deliver value to the customer.ITC e-choupal7 The e-choupal project was launched by ITC (a large diversified company with strong FMCG presence) in 2000 in the central Indian State of Madhya Pradesh (MP) to reorganize the distribution of soyabean in rural markets. Today e-choupal reaches out to Source: www. echoupal. com, Talk by the eChoupal CEO S Sivakumar at IIMA, 2003, Mitra (2004), MBS CS (2006) W. P. No. 2007-03-07 7 Page No. 22 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications more than 3. 5 million farmers in 31,000 villages through 5,200 internet enabled kiosks and now covers a variety of agri-business products.The e-choupal was a u nique venture which aimed to eliminate the middlemen from the agricultural commodity supply chain and reduce information asymmetry for the farmers. It is an extremely profitable rural distribution system with its unique design features. The e-choupal was started with an objective to re-organize the soybean trade which was operating in an inefficient manner. Farmers used to sell their produce through government mandated markets called â€Å"mandis. † Mandi trading was conducted by commission agents who bought and sold the produce.As the produce was sold through auction by these traders, farmers would find out the market price only upon arrival at a mandi. If the buyers had purchased enough for the day at this mandi then either the auction prices fell dramatically or the farmers had to wait for the next day’s auction. While all this may have been happening at one mandi, the farmers were unaware of the auction status at other mandis where there could have been shortages. The decision regarding the quality of the produce was also dependent on the trader.Similarly, distortions in price and quality effected agro-business trading firms like ITC who were, by government law, required to purchase from the mandi and through these traders and not directly from farmers. Under the e-choupal model, kiosks were setup in villages providing farmers information in local language on agricultural inputs, best practices in farming, market price realized at various mandi auctions, weather details etc. Nevertheless, it enabled ITC to purchase products directly from farmers (through a change in the law), enhancing quality of products and significant cost reduction (e. . , it saved $5. 40 per tonne on soyabean). The e-choupal now has just two service providers in its procurement chain – the sanchalak, a person between the kiosks and the farmers who inspects the produce and based on his assessment of the quality, the price of the commodity is decided (he gets 0. 5 p er cent commission on the volume sold) and samyojak, a person who manages the ITC warehouses (he gets 1 per cent commission on transactions). Samyojaks also handle much of the logistics at the procurement hub like storage management and transportation from the hub to processing factories.ITC was able to overcome the hurdles posed by infrastructure inadequacy in villages. It uses solar energy to power the batteries of the computer kiosks and has shifted from W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 23 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications dialup connection to satellite based technology (VSAT). Farmers are now able to make informed decisions as they understand the market better leading to higher productivity. Various seed and fertilizer companies are now able to reach wider market with lesser transaction cost.The e-choupal has provided a market for more than 64 companies (to name a few, Monsanto and Nagarjuna Fertilizers). This innovative direct procurement channel is a win-win mechanism for all the involved parties. ITC is now building a rural retail infrastructure on the foundation of the e-choupal network thereby changing the rural distribution landscape. Transforming the Auto-Component Replacement Supply Chain With changing government policies and consumer preferences, the distribution supply chain of Indian companies has been effected significantly. This poses new challenges for various channel partners.We illustrate this transformation process through the lens of the auto component replacement market supply chain and discuss its implications. We surveyed 21 manufacturers and 22 channel members (distributors, wholesalers and retailers) spread equally in Northern and Western clusters of auto component Industry in India for this purpose. The auto component industry produced parts worth $6. 7 billion (2004-05) with 57 per cent of the demand coming from the replacement market (ACMA, 2005). Low entry barriers have led to a large number of players in the replacement market.T here are about 400 firms in the organized sector and more than 5000 in the unorganized sector. Another feature of this sub-sector is the long duration of ownership of vehicles in India which leads to high requirement of parts. It is also found, anecdotally, that willingness to pay for parts decreases with the length of ownership. This has led to an intense segmentation of the parts market by price. Pre–1991, this industry was still in a nascent stage. It was characterized by few manufacturers and low demand. Consequently, the distribution network was flat (Figure 4a).Availability of spare parts was a key issue with long delivery lead-times and manufacturers sought large order sizes. This also led to the growth of un-branded parts or parts branded by regional producers (often supplied by small firms) in the replacement market. The product was sold chiefly on personal relationship with the buyer; quality, brand and price were not the selling propositions. Maruti Udyog Limited h ad created a W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 24 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications network of suppliers of quality parts for its vehicles.Hero Honda had done the same for its motorcycles. Post-1991, the liberalization of the automotive industry led to an entry of many foreign auto players. Because of the impending automobile industry boom and high margins for distributors, the demand for spare auto-parts was expected to grow. The distribution channel was modified with the entry of two more channel members, i. e. , wholesalers and semi-wholesalers (Figure 4b). The latter were smaller versions of the former and locally oriented. The period 1994-2007 saw a major transformation of the distribution structure (Figure 4c).OEMs started to operate in the replacement market through a parallel supply chain selling parts through their service stations. Additionally, the entry of large number of channel members caused semi-wholesalers to move out of the supply chain – they either moved up the chain to become wholesalers or moved down to become retailers. To strengthen the coordination of this extended supply chain and to buffer against the differential tax structure across states, companies started to operate with Carry and Forwarding Agents (C&FA). Transportation related activities are carried out by all the members of the supply chain.Manufacturers use services of 3PL for transferring their stock to C&FA and distributor locations. But thereafter, the transportation activity is solely managed by channel members themselves. An analysis of the available IT infrastructure and its usage pattern for all the channel members in our sample survey indicates that there is a high deviation in the usage of IT in the replacement market supply chain. Eighty seven per cent of the sampled firms use an ERP package – most of which is customized and developed locally. The main impediment in the use of a branded packages is the high cost of purchase and mplementation. These pac kages are used to generate sales report, order from suppliers, account for the financial transactions and track the level of inventory at plant and C&FA. Manufacturers order the stock from suppliers mostly through emails. In order to track inventory in the channel, firms also made IT investments both at C&FA and within the firm. Linking the C&FA to the company website enabled firms to check stock status at the C&FA and reduce the order processing and customer response times. Larger firms are also providing a similar setup to their distributors.Since the C&FA is mostly owned W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 25 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications and managed by the firms, manufacturers are also able to check the inventory status, dispatching status and customer records. Distributors have invested primarily in computers for keeping track of the inventory and updating accounting details. On the other hand, rest of the channel partners (wholesalers and retailers) don’t even own comp uters. Parts are ordered primarily on the phone. Interestingly, most distributors were found to be following periodic review olicy while the rest of the channel members were following continuous review policy because of their low sales volume. Post 2007, with the implementation of a uniform tax structure across all states, there will be some changes in the way firms operate. The C&FA will, perhaps, become redundant as most manufacturers will prefer to deal directly with distributors. The concept of an exclusive distributor is expected to vanish. It is expected that with the increase in variety of components, distributors might become wholesalers and will stock multiple brands for the same product.Two parallel distribution channels are expected to be in operation – the OEM chain and the non-OEM chain (Figure 4d). OEM network will primarily handle the passenger car replacement parts and the non-OEM distribution network will sell parts for Light Commercial Vehicles, Heavy Commer cial Vehicles, 2-wheelers and 3-wheelers as the car customer is becoming more brand conscious even while replacing parts which comes along with superior service. Further, we perceive that the more advanced automobiles, Free Trade Agreement with other Asian countries and VAT are going to change the way the replacement market operates.There will be a rationalization of this market in terms of number of firms competing thereby leading to an improvement in quality, delivery time and availability of parts. The size of the firms is expected to increase with an emergence of large national players (in addition to OEMs). This may reduce the number of producers exclusively focusing on the local markets. W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 26 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications Figure 4a Manufacturer Figure 4b Manufacturer Distributors Distributors Retailers Institutional Buyers SemiWholesalers Wholesalers Institutional Buyers RetailersGovernment Agencies & Transport Companies Garage-station Govern ment Agencies & Transport Companies Garage-station Vehicle owners Vehicle owners Figure 4c Manufacturer Figure 4d Manufacturer Institutional buyers C&FA OEMs Institutional buyers OEMs Wholesalers Distributors Authorized Service Stations Authorized Service Stations SemiWholesalers Retailers Wholesalers Vehicle Owners Vehicle Owners Retailers Government Agencies & Transport Companies Garage-station Government Agencies & Transport Companies Garage-station Vehicle owners Vehicle owners W. P. No. 2007-03-07 Page No. 27 IIMA INDIA Research and Publications Challenges Ahead Several challenges remain before the Indian logistics sector and its future success will depend on the ability of the industry to overcome these hurdles. Some of these impediments are at the firm level while others are at the policy level. At the policy level, the issues of infrastructure and integration of the nation’s logistics network remain the two most critical areas that require attention. The growth of inf rastructure, since 1991, has been quite extensive (covering a wide geographical area) as well as strategic – linking the key industrial, consumption and transshipment centers.However, some imminent weaknesses need be addressed. Movement beyond the golden quadrilateral is required to bring goods from upcountry production sources to main shipment centers. The rate of growth of expressway has to increase. Poor road conditions increase the vehicle turnover, pushing the operating cost a