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buy custom Business Integration essay Introduction Due to the increase in competition within companies, managers and commercial analysts are adopting different strategies to curb commercial rivalry and outshine their competitors. Among these methods, Business Process Integration (BPI) has gained prominence as it has proved to be not only practicable, but also easier and faster to implement. BPI basically refers to the process of synchronizing the entire companys internal operations together with those of its other divisions as well as its other trading partners by joining up incongruent systems in real-time. Due to the constant advances in technology, change in management is inevitable and it is at this particular point that Business Process Integration comes in handy. Business analysts and managers who aspire to be success in future must therefore seek and adopt strategies such as BPI which are executable. SAP plays a big role in aiding different companies to achieve their aspired goals and hence succeed in their endeavors. SAP is a German software company that is a renowned dealer in enterprise software that is used to run business operations and at the same time reinforces the customer relations. This document discus in detail how SAP helps businesses to flourish in a threefold manner: firstly, it makes a general overview of the company; it secondly surveys the distribution, adoption and implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) by SAP and finally it considers the critical issues that surround implementation of an ERP system. Piece 1: A Brief Overview of SAP As earlier mentioned, SAP is software company in Germany that is interested with the management of business operations as well as customer operations. Its headquarters are in Walldorf, Baben-Wurttemberg and other minor offices around the globe. SAP is leading the market in enterprise application software. The company was founded in June 1972 as System and Analysis Program Development by some former IBM engineers. It is the largest software company in the world and ranked third highest sole software provider (SAP 2012). SAP operates in mainly four geographical regions: America which include the United States and Canada; APJ which includes Asia, Pacific and Japan; LAC which includes Latin America and Caribbean and EMEA which is composed of Europe, Middle East and Africa.APJ represents the great nations like Japan, Australia, Korea, India, New Zealand, Greater China and other Southeast Asian nations. Additionally, SAP operates in other 115 subsidiaries and has research and development facilities in the United States, India, Germany, Canada, Brazil, France, China, Turkey, Hungary, Bulgaria, Israel and Ireland (SAP 2012). Other than wasting energy while working on many fields, SAP mainly focuses on six different industrial sectors. These include discrete industries, process industries, consumer industries, financial services, public service and service industries. Despite limiting itself to six major industry sectors, SAP offers not less than twenty five industry solution assortments for the large institutions. In addition it offers more than 550 micro-vertical resolutions for the average sizes and other small premises. In such kind of an operation, SAP is able to deliver its products and services to all its potential customers, something that heightens its prominence and efficiency (Woods, Roland, Broady 2008). Delivery of quality products and services is undoubtedly one of the major reasons that SAP has managed to capture and sustain the loyalty of many customers which in turn has enabled it outshine its competitors. This follows the obvious notion that customers will always run for the best products and services with the most affordable prices (SearchSAP 2012). SAP Community Network This is the collection of the SAP partners, customers, employees and the influencers who collective share knowledge on JAVA, NET, SOA, ABAP, and other technologies (SAP 2012). This community mingles in roles such as consultation, business analysis and integration. Other topics that prompt interaction among this community include cloud computing, big data, practicable processes in businesses as well as plus analysts and dashboards. These and a range of other topics are tackled through blogs, exclusive downloads and code samples, discussion forums, technical library and training programs. The SAP community network is composed of not less than two million members who are representatives of a wide range of duties and businesses and territories all over the world, in 24 respective industries. This kind of a network is widely viewed as the most appropriate for a social networking in business (SAP 2012). Organization SAP strategically organizes its functional units across various for research and development needs, customer support, and field activities. Labs are primarily for the development of products whereas field institutions set in various nations across the globe are for field activities such as consulting, sales and marketing among many others. The head office located at the headquarters is responsible for the overall management of all the other institutions. Additionally, it is also expected to monitor all the engineering activities connected to company development. The companys customers support which is also known as the Active Global Support (AGS) supports SAP customers worldwide. SAP Products and Services SAP offers a wide range of products and services. There are many products offered by this company but its products mainly focus on Enterprise Resource Management (ERP). As such, SAPs major product is SAP ERP whose current version is SAP ERP 6.0. Other main products by this company include Government, Risk and Compliance (GRC) solutions; performance management solutions, RFID and Duet which is offered in conjunction with Microsoft. In addition, SAP offers service-oriented architecture capabilities (SOA) in form of web services connected to its applications. Despite its products initially being designed for the Fortune 500 companies, SAP is currently targeting the small businesses as well as the medium sized enterprises (Word Woods 2011). SAP Cloud solutions is yet another product that enable businesses to run better. This means that the businesses will be much secure as well as get more cost effective. SAP NetWeather Portalplays a significant role in the companys user communication approach to heighten peoples productivity via inventive solutions. SAP Solutions for Public Sector empower the authorities to optimize the scarce resources in public administration while rendering responsive services. SAP Business Objects Analytic applications is another product by SAP. It confronts professionals across disciplines to deliver both context and insight that crucial for success today (SearchSAP 2012). SAP also provides Enterprise Information Management (EIM) solutions which manage structured and unstructured data as well as events that are used in data warehouses, Business Intelligence, analytics and Operations applications. Finally, SAP offers Customer Relationship Management which helps businesses to not only helps business es address short term essentials but also minimize cost and heighten the decision making levels (Shields 2001). Benefits Derived From Large Enterprise and Small/Medium Sized Businesses It is indubitable that SAP has transformed many business premises through the supply of its products. This follows the notion that in the todays fast growing business competition, managers are under more pressure to act faster and make more achievements, normally with fewer resources. It is for this particular reason that SAP products are designed to assist combat with these challenges through comprehensive functionality (Norris, Dunleavy, Ballis 2000). From its end, SAP has benefited from the businesses it transacts with through various ways. To start with, large enterprises provide the largest market for the companys products. Such are also sources of raw materials some of which are required by SAP to manufacture their products. Among other enterprises, IBM is the leading business enterprise that has been in the forefront to provide some of its technologies to the corporation. The other set of institutions that benefit the company include the Small and medium-sized institutions (SMEs). These are companies whose turnovers fall below various limits. Despite this fact, SMEs are the most common type of companies in numerous economies and hence worth some attention by the already flourished corporations. The sole reason as to why SAP enters into business with such companies is because they often drive to innovation and competition in many sectors. Piece 2: The impact of Internet Technology on the Delivery of ERP systems Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a software product by SAP. It is a business management software that enable companies to apply a system of incorporated applications to manage the business. Due to its uniqueness, it fuses all the facets of a process including manufacturing, development, sales and marketing. As such, ERP software consists of several enterprise software modules that a given company would purchase in align with their specific requirements and technical capacities. Each module concentrates with one area of the business such as marketing or product development. Since time in memorial, Information technology have had some impacts and actually transformed many sectors of businesses enterprises. This effect has also been felt in the delivery of ERP systems. As earlier mentioned, ERP is a business management software. Bearing this in mind, it is obvious that its delivery will be much influenced by the growth information and communication technologies which are consequently driven improvements of computer hardware, microelectronics and software systems (Rashid, Hossain, Patrick 2012). The development of the internet has had a significant impact on all the aspects of information technology sector including the ERP systems getting more internet-enabled. This system of accessing system resources from anywhere has enabled ERP vendors to expand their legacy ERP systems to include newer exterior business components such as Sales Force Automation (SFA), supply chain management, advanced planning and scheduling (APS), customer relations management, e-business capacities and business intelligence. Indeed, ERP is becoming the e-business stamina for companies doing the transactions online over the internet. Internet-oriented institutions are designed to improve customer satisfaction, extend distribution channels, boost sales and marketing opportunities, and provide more efficient payment and billing methods. This consequently facilitates effective tri-party interactions between the customers, suppliers and the company itself. Successful management of the supply chain permits a business to deliver the appropriate products to the buyers. This enables the company to anticipate demand and distribute the right products at the right time and place as well as at the lowest cost possible to satisfy the wants of its esteemed customers. Adoption of the e-commerce is a channel of future extension of the long-established ERP systems of many small, average and large vendors. This will in turn facilitate interactions between the suppliers, customers and organizations to take place instantly in less time and cost effectively. Due to the adoption of various information communications technological by SAP and integrating it with ERP systems, avenues such as cloud computing, the tri-party interactions have become cheaper, fast and efficient. Cloud computing refers to the technological use of central remote servers and the internet to preserve data and applications. This service permits businesses and consumers to use applications without any installation and access their files at any computer that can access the internet (Cleveland Khannan 2012). Software as a service (SaaS) is yet another software distribution form in which the service provider or the vendor hosts applications and later avails them to the customers through a network which is normally the internet. ERP systems have adopted SaaS due to the advantages that are associated with it. To start with, the SaaS model facilitates easier teamwork and administration, compatibility where all the users have the same software version, and automated updates as well as patch management. In addition, this model facilitates global accessibility which is undoubtedly the major feature that customers search for (Search Cloud Computing 2012). Finally, Active Server Pages abbreviated as ASP was the very first Microsofts server-side script engine that was used to dynamically generate web pages. It was a special tool that was used as an add-on to offer internet infoormation services. From the above account, it can be inferred that both SaaS and ASP were designed to facilitate cloud com puting. Piece 3: Examples of businesses that sell on-line to retail customers There are many companies that sell their products online but this document will mainly consider Swreg and Nissan. Swereg Inc is a company in the United States that that is inclined to payment processing and particularly serving service and software publishers. The companys products provide shareware and software authors both of which are methods that are used in selling products online. Swreg offers a number of alternatives in which payment can be made, flexibility, customization and distribution into the global markets. Their online payment strategy allows its clients to use Eurocards, VISA, Mastercards, JCB, Solo, Delta, American Express, Diners club, Discover, International Money Orders, Paypal, Bank wires and Personal Check. The other company that has adopted online marketing for the selling of its products is Nissan. This is an automotive company that sells cars and its other products to customers online. It connects the clients with their retailers who are in different parts of the world. The activities they carry out online include advertising their products, communicating with the clients and showing their products to the clients. Payment is also done online. Dell is yet another company that has been so successful in online marketing. It is a global company in America that deals with computer technology. It does not only develop, but it also develops and supports computers and other products that are related to the computers. The success of this company is attributed to online marketing. Piece 4: Issues that surround implementation of an ERP system Despite the major benefits of implementing ERP systems, there are great changes that are brought about after the implementation of the system and they need to be effectively catered for in order to reap the potential benefits of the system. Though the issues may sound minor, they are so critical that if no attention is taken, they can seriously maim the business. Firstly, the system demands top management commitment. The implementation process is not just a matter of replacing the software systems, instead it involves repositioning and changing the business practices. Following the huge impacts on the competitive advantage of the business, the management has to consider the potential implications of implementing the system. The management must therefore ask itself several questions and adequately plan for the ERP system implementation not to hurt the business. The second issue is reengineering. Implementation of the ERP system involves absolute renovation of the existing company processes. All the business processes must be in align with the ERP model which can increase the benefits as well as the costs of the ERP model. This is normally practicable if the business wishes to roll out the system around the globe. Despite this fact, it is not always so easy to convince everyone to accept the model. At times, business processes are quite unique that they have to be preserved and the appropriate steps to be taken which will customize those steps. It is important to note that whenever a company customizes the software in order to fit its needs, the cost of implementation is likely to rise. As such, companies should try maintain their systems as possible, if they are not completely replacing them, in order to evade future upgrade and maintenance expenses as well as reduce customization cost. Integration is the third issue. Many organizations have the feeling that adopting a single vendor means having a common view which will be necessary for serving customers and system maintenance in future. It is however very difficult to operate with a single system and hence other software have to be bolted with the ERP software. This is where the problem arises as some software is not compatible with the ERP software (Auerbach Publications Inc 2012). Finally, it is so challenging to train and update the employees on ERP. This has one of the major hidden costs of working with the system. If no proper training is done, approximately 30 to 40 percent of the leading employees will not be in a position to handle the demands of the system. Though it is possible to train the workers within a short period of time, it is extremely difficult to constantly transfer knowledge to them especially if the workers have inadequate computer skills or are computer phobic. Piece 5: My ERPSim experience During my groups participation in the ERPSim game, I gained some experience which will undoubtedly have a great impact in my future endeavors. To start with, the aim of the game was to enhance profitable distribution of water in Germany. Since the aim was to cut the cost for providing water and hence maximize the profits, the group adopted a strategy that would reduce the cost of supplying clean piped water to homes. The strategy started by creating an online shopping of all the plumbing materials that would be required. This encompassed visiting websites of the renowned plumbing corporations and buying their products online. After carrying out the entire transaction, delivery of the materials would be done by the company or the group would be directed to a nearby retailer who would supply the goods. This strategy aided in saving time, energy and resources. The reasons as to why the strategy was a success is because it saved money that would have otherwise been used in search of plumbing materials, hiring of professionals would be online and there was of course reduction of cost of the materials as compared to when middle men would be involved. Conclusion As observed above, increase in competition within organizations has prompted top managers and commercial analysts to adopt different strategic management techniques that will enable them succeed in future and outshine their competitors. Due to the inevitable impacts posed by the growth and development of information technologies, many enterprises are adopting advanced technologies to boost their sales and marketing. SAP is undoubtedly the worlds leading software company which has transformed many businesses through its products and mainly the ERP systems. There are some advantages and disadvantages of this system all of which have been discussed above. 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Wind Turbine Design and Construction Lab Report

Wind Turbine Design and Construction - Lab Report Example In its very basic nature, the wind turbine consists of the rotating blades, a component that points the turbine to the wind, a system to convert the mechanical rotation of the blades into other forms of energy, the control system, as well as the start and stop mechanisms. There are two main wind turbine designs, the horizontal axis and the vertical axis designs (Spera, 2009). Specifications of the Wind Device For this project, the horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) is considered. The horizontal axis machine is preferred due to the fact that less cost is incurred in the foundation (as a fraction of the total cost) of the structure compared to its vertical axis counterpart (Veritas, 2001). This essentially makes HAWT cheaper in cost. The design is also preferred since it does not need to be pointed at the wind direction especially where the wind direction varies almost constantly. The wind turbine is expected to operate at room temperatures (between -200C to 400C). Operating beyond these temperatures may cause the wind turbine generator to work inefficiently or cause structural damage. Furthermore, at extremely low temperatures, the generator may need external power to internal heating. The wind turbine should be ale to work efficiently at different wind speeds and directions. Very high wind speeds (beyond the survival speed) often lead to wind turbine damages according to Veritas (2001). In order to reduce the speed of rotation, a mechanical (disc) braking system will be used. The design will take into consideration the three modes of operation of the turbine; beyond rated speed, around rated speed and below rated speed operations. In order to ensure that the wind turbine operates efficiently at different wind directions, a wind vane will be fitted at the rear of the devices. The vane which also forms the tail of the wind turbine is made of a thin steel plate welded to a slender metal strip. Steel is suitable for its strength and low cost. According to past studies, the mass of a wind turbine for the survivable wind speed is best proportional to the blade length cubed (Stiesdal, 1998). The square of the blade length is also proportional to the power of the wind tha t is intercepted by the turbine (Stiesdal, 1998). The Rotor Unit As a matter of fact, the most visible and most vital part of the wind turbine is the bladed rotor. The rotor is the part that transforms wind energy into mechanical energy. This energy in turn causes the rotation of the turbine’s main shaft. The turbine blade is designed in such a way as to allow the streamlined flow of wind, the material at best remaining inflexible. Considering this need, the blades will be made of steel sheets. The thickness, twist and width of the blade is a compromise between the need for strength and for the streamline flow of wind (Stiesdal, 1998). Considering that the more the number of blades the greater the aerodynamic efficiency but with reducing return, the turbine to be constructed will have three blades. The transmission system The transmission system of the wind turbines acts as the link between the rotor system and the generator. The transmission system of the wind turbine is bas ically presented in the following figure. Fig. Transmission system The hub is made of cast iron. The complicated shape of the hub makes casting the most appropriate method for its production according to Stiesdal (1998). The material for the hub is cast iron, the material’s desirable property being its high resistance to fatigue. For such a small turbine, normal cast iron, although the material is fragile and may fracture if exposed to extreme blasts. Fig: The Wind turbine hub The main shaft of the wind turbine is commonly made of hardened steel that is tempered. For this project, hardened steel will

Benito Mussolini and Italian Fascism Research Paper

Benito Mussolini and Italian Fascism - Research Paper Example His beliefs in socialism began when he fled to Switzerland, for purposes of escaping being drafted into the army. However, in 1904, Benito Mussolini returned to Italy, and decided to serve in the army, in return of being pardoned. It is important to understand that after his service in the army, Mussolini became an editor of various socialist newspapers in Italy, advocating for the principles of socialism. During the First World War, as an editor of socialist newspaper, Benito Mussolini strongly advocated for neutrality. However, after accepting a series of bribes, notably from the French, Mussolini advocated for Italy to support the cause of the allied forces. Deakin (2000) denotes that Italy made a poor judgment in the war, and this made the country to experience an economic downturn, leading to massive loss of jobs, inflation, strikes, riots, etc. Mussolini took advantage of this chaos, and built a nationalist party referred to as Fasci di Cambattimento. This party was named after the Italian revolutionaries of the 19th century. This party, commonly referred to as the Fascist party of Italy strongly advocated for Italian nationalism, and it used violence and intimidation against its opponents to advocate for its ideals. It is important to denote that while intimidating its opponents, the Fascist party claimed that it was crushing the violence and riots that were taking place in Italy during the time (Painter, 2000). This made Mussolini to have the respect of King Emmanuel the 3rd who later on invited him to form a government. It is important to understand that it was the Fascist party that was promoting anarchy, through its violence activities targeted at opposition parties. On this basis, the King misjudged Benito Mussolini, and his party, the Fascist Party. Deakin (2000) denotes that the Fascist party appealed to the war veterans, and this is because it advocated for the protection

The Pros and Cons of Employee Drug Testing Essay Example for Free

The Pros and Cons of Employee Drug Testing Essay Drug abuse in the workspace is a popular, global problem if we believe in an American research study done by William F. Current. He quotes, that 75% of all drug addicts who are older then 18 years work within an organization. Again, 75 % of them consume drugs at work. He assumes, that if you test everybody from the working society between 18 and 40 years of age, 25% would be drug positive. The Chicago association of commerce and industry, has an even more dramatic view on that topic. They say that 93% of all organizations have problems with drug addicted em-ployees. The American National Institute of Drug abuse says that one out of five employees be-tween the age of 18 to 24 has drug problems and one out of eight people between the age of 26 and 35.Lower achievement and accidents is the direct cause of drug abuse. Most of the time, in fact 80% of the accidents caused by drug abuse the people who get harmed are not doing drugs. 2. Signs of Drug abuse in the workplaceWe are able to classify the sings of drug abuse into five different categories:1.Efficiency is not reached anymore, for instance: a lot of mistakes, neglectfulness, low work quality, lack of concentration, tiredness, unable to do dispositions. 2.Reduced attention and absence, for instance: not showing off for work, arriving late very often, often absent on Mondays and after holidays, long lunch-brakes etc. 3.Attitude and physiological appearance, for instance: apathetic behavior against rules and regulations, unattended appearance and hygiene, sleazy work, bloodshot and watery eyes etc. 4.Health and Security, for example: often involved in accidents, disinterest against safety rules, disregardful use of dangerous machines etc. 5.Problems within the family, for example: marriage issues, divorce, money problems, bankruptcy. Consequences of Drug abuse in the WorkplaceDrug abuse, is not only harming the addict himself, its also harming the colleagues, the organization and the industry!Consequences for the consumer:•slow reaction•bad motor function•bad cooperation with colleagues•reduction of the brain work•cause of accidents and injury•higher disease sensitivity•smaller gains•less possibilities to move the career•unemploymentConsequences for the colleagues:•bad working atmosphere•low employee morale•more misunderstandings and disputes•more accidents and injuriesFor the organization:•bad product and service quality•more product mistakes•unsatisfied costumers•inefficiency•higher absenteeism•lower productivity•worse working conditions•burglary•higher employee turnoverFor the Industry:•lower productivity•worse service•scarceness of assets and liabilities•higher pricesFive steps to set up Anti Drug Programs in companiesIn the past years, drug testing became more and more normal within american compa-nies. Already 98% out of the 200 biggest US-companies use drug tests. To do Drug tests in companies, you have to look at these five points:1. The Anti-Drug Policy of the company has to be clear and easy to understand in a written form•The company has to inform employees and former employees about the strict prohibi-tion of drugs in the company•The organization has to explain the reasons for this embargo (security, health, trust-worthiness etc.)•The Company has to inform its employees about the consequences if this rule is not respected2. A special training for the supervisors of some compartments•These are the people who have to be suspicious about drug abuse3. All employees have to be aware of the seriousness of the anti drug rules in the company4.Implementation of Programs to help employees with their problems before they start using drugs5.Implementation of a drug test  programAssumptions to accomplish employee drug testingThe European Union supports drug testing in companies since 1996/1997. The EU recommend to take a look at the following points:•the probation has to be retraceable and the privacy of the donator has to be assured•the cut-off levels for drug screening and confirmatory tests has to be defined•a positive screening test, has to be assured by an official laboratory•permanent training for the test performing employees•external quality assurance and accreditationThe Pros of Drug testing on employeesTest of Job candidate:One of the most used form is the testing of a new candidate for a job. Like this, the company is able to avoid drug problems from the beginning!Test of Security sensitive jobs:President Bush, singed in 1991 the so called Omnibus contract, which allows companies who are in the aircraft,bus and other public transport to test their employees without further knowledge. This, of course is the absolute correct way of doing it. A second highly security sensitive job, is the military,! Here, everyone who wants to work with the military has to get tested. Testing by suspicion:Here, the addicted person, gets tested because colleagues are suspicious and tell it to the supervisor. Like this the necessary actions can be taken immediately after a positive out-come. Testing after an accident:The drug test after an accident is made if there was an accident where machinery or people of a company got hurt. This, then can be used in the court to find out if someone is guilty or not. Non- announced random tests:Other then the tests by suspicion, are the people who get tested selected randomly.Sometimes even a computer is taking the action of selecting. Continuous announced tests:This, is the first form of a drug test in the workspace. In some companies, the yearly drug test is as mandatory as the yearly health check. Cut-off testing:More unusual is this sort of testing, where only the people of a certain compartment get tested. Tests after Rehabilitation:It is absolutely necessary to test people, who got caught once and came back from Rehab. Like this you can find out if the employee is still clean. Testing because of public adjustment:Drug testing again in high-sensitive jobs, but adjusted by the government. Good, because like this mistakes are rarer. Testing before advancement:Some companies, make an advancement dependent on an foregoing negative drug test. Very goo, because this keeps a lot of people away from drugs for sure. Tests in the upper management. Drug-testing of the upper management happens mostly shortly before the whole branch or company is getting tested, like this there are no rumors about fairness of the testing because everybody has to take it. CONCLUSION: Drug-testing is a very important and necessary thing within a company. I dont think that we can find anything that really is a contra on employee drug-testing. The cons of drug testing on employeesAs you can hear from my upper conclusion, i cant really think of anything that really is a hitting argument against drug-testing. Except the fact maybe that if you start testing your employees, then you show them that you dont really trust them. This can end up, so the people within the organization are not as motivated anymore. Of course, compared with the stress that you dont have if you fire all your drug-using employees this one fact is nothing. Eventually, it is the case that everybody has to decide individually what he or she does. But on the other hand, is our society based on a very tight working network.  So if some people come tint the danger of drug using and the harms have to be paid by the society then its is not only an individual problem anymore. BIBLIOGRAPHY www.wikipedia.comwww.roche.comwww.google.dewww.drogentest.dewww.drogen-heute.com

By the end of the play Rita having a mind trained to think, has developed :: English Literature

By the end of the play Rita having a mind trained to think, has developed a confidence that enables her to make her own decisions. How far do you think that Frank was solely responsible for this development. By the end of the play Rita having a mind trained to think, has developed a confidence that enables her to make her own decisions. How far do you think that Frank was solely responsible for this development, or do you think that Frank was simply' the key that unlocked Rita's mind In Educating Rita, the audience sees the wilful struggle of a working class woman's thirst to be educated .A literature professor takes on the challenge, because she is like 'a breath of fresh air'with a totally uncluttered mind. He teaches her many things as well as instils in her the self confidence to relate to almost anyone. However; as she learns and grows, she not only becomes influenced by others, she loses that part of herself that makes her unique and individual; which makes her like all the rest. Our first impressions of Frank and Rita are that they appear to be complete opposites. They come from two contrasting social backgrounds; Frank is a well educated man of middle upper class. Rita is an uneducated working- class girl. Their jobs go from one intellectual extreme to the other. Frank being a university professor while Rita works as a hairdresser. Rita is discontented with her present life, she feels incomplete, like she's missed out on something. She feels that the so-called 'working class culture 'she was brought up in is hollow and meaningless. Rita is determined to get the education she never got, to raise the standards of living, and also to raise her from her state of ignorance to one of intellectual and social confidence. She looks down on herself and the culture she belongs to, but is optimistic that she can learn her way into a better way of life. She believes that freedom will come with education; therefore Frank can give her this freedom by educating her. Frank is also unhappy with his existence. He has everything Rita wants from life but wishes he didn't. He turns to drink to make living in the culture he hates more bearable. He doesn't want Rita to experience the same thing, which is why he doesn't want to teach her. He doesn't want to be the one to take away her simple, down-to-earth way of life and replace it with the kind of life he has. In my opinion this shows that Rita's determination played a greater deal in the development of

Li&Fung

Summary Li & Fung, which is a long-standing Hong Kong based company, has evolved from an export trading company to a coordinator of value-added services across the whole supply chain in a global, open manufacturing circumstance. Its corporate culture has enabled it to keep pace with the current trend of global business. The successful acquisitions and the venture capital make the company grows stably and rapidly. However, the company now faces some challenges coming from Asian financial environment and related policies.High sensitive of the change in macro environment is essential for the company to success. At the same time, keeping Asia in an important position could take long time competitive advantages. Finally, the update of information and technology may bring more efficiency and effective within the organization. Introduction Li & Fung was the first export company that solely funded by Chinese capital in Chinese trade history. Fung Yiu-hing and Li To-ming founded it in 1906 in Guangzhou, China. The firm grew to be a limited company in Hong Kong on December 28, 1937.The company expanded quickly to globalize by the leading of the second generation from the Fung family. The high-speed growth of Li & Fung Limited started when the third generation of Fung’s family took over the organization. The core parts of the company’s business are foreign trade, logistic, distribution and retail. Victor and William tried to restructure the company, use the modem human resource management, and utilized professional management skills to control the company without eliminating the Chinese style management.Li & Fung Limited made use of acquisition to take over the competitors and expanded their suppliers and clients all over the world. The most famous and successful one is the acquisition of Inchcape Buying Services (IBS), which helped Li & Fung Limited to open the European market. At the same time, the brothers establish a venture capital corporation to accomp any the suppliers and stable its supply chain. According to one anonymous (1999), Li & Fung is the world’s largest trade sourcing company and it pioneers a new model for multinationals.By now, William and Victor want to expand the company from Asia based company into a region closer to their target market. With the new trend of the global economy, Li & Fung Limited will encounter more challenges and find a way out of a difficulty. Since its foundation, the company has establishes a culture that incorporates pragmatism and innovation. According to Msmith (2008), the progressive corporate culture, which blends traditional pragmatic reasoning with entrepreneurial innovation, has enabled adaptability and growth in a dynamic market.Additionally, it combines the Chinese business culture (â€Å"Chineseness†) with the foreign operations. Not only is it expects loyalty and reward diligent, but it also has a reasonable and transparent bonus system, where bonuses were based solel y on profit performance. Generally, the company is employee-concerned, where the workers and managers are treated as family. As is the vision of the corporation, they strive to use resources efficiently; to add business value for our customers and their suppliers; to focus on the health and wellbeing of our colleagues; and to positively impact our communities and societies (2013).Analysis of Li & Fung Li & Fung’s outsourcing matrix suits particularly well to its global position and activity: To begin with, outsourcing teams are firstly divided into two main product categories: soft and hard goods. Since they â€Å"specialized† in a certain kind of good, they develop a certain expertise, which is an asset in their discussions with external agents. Besides, inside each category, the teams are divided depending on their geographical market. This organization displays an advantage in satisfying specific local needs.Furthermore, connection and communication is established a nd fostered between the divisions, which know exactly whom to contact for each particular issue. Finally, Li & Fung is able to efficiently master the â€Å"4Cs† (connections, communications, control of quality, and consolidation of shipments), and obtain a competitive advantage because of their organizational chart. In terms of Li & Fung’s business model, it is â€Å"a virtual factory† or â€Å"private label manufacturing program†. This means that it specializes in providing product itself, not brand or promotion.Although there is big scale merit in production of textile industry, it is difficult that each company has a big factory as there are lots of competitors and fashion of the clothes are always changing, as is thought by Swan (2008). As to company which has a talent of designing or marketing, it is better not to have its manufacturing and outsourcing. Maybe this is why Li & Fung is always required from many customers. Also, Li & Fung has developed the relationship through its network so that it can get such soft goods as textiles at high speed and excellent quality with the lowest cost.Successful acquisition Li & Fung’s mergers have been the main way of expending their business. Among all the mergers, the biggest merger during 1994 to 1997, which is acquiring IBS, is the most successful and famous one even in the global range. The main reason why Li & Fung can get so many benefits from merger is based on the following reasons. The first reason is that, Li & Fung knows which company to merge. When Li & Fung choose companies, they will look for what the company is having at that time, the sourcing, the customers and the employees.In this way, Li & Fung can complement the blank its current business. For example, although the margin of IBS was only 0. 8% and the combined average was 2. 2%, the sourcing supplement brought by IBS has make up the blank of Li & Fung’s South Asia, Europe, the Mediterranean and Latin Amer ica. The second reason is that Li & Fung knows how to merge. At that time Li & Fung is the largest world’s supplier of retailers and IBS was the second largest. So the merge was very difficult and was treat as an elephant eat elephant merger.Especially for the huge difference between the two companies, Li & Fung was a U. S. – style Chinese-family business, While IBS was a British company. There would be a lot of unaccustomed and conflicts as expected. So Li & Fung created a transition team to review organizational processes and implement a unit-by-unit transition. Instead of doing the transition after the merger, Li & Fung did it ahead of the merger, in order of saving accustoming time. When the scale of the company increases, the operational mode of the company has to keep changing as well.After the merger, Li & Fung’s scale is twice as big. Li & Fung changed its mode into a more efficient and suitable one. It assigned managers to customer groups and not countr ies. This has made the management to be more professional and make the production more efficient. The merger has made the sourcing matrix of Li & Fung more mature. The margin of Li & Fung was higher than those of other companies due to their regionally coordinated sourcing services. Small Venture Capital Arm In 1986, Li & Fung established a small venture capital group in order to improve and perfect the whole supply chain.LFI invested in companies, which could assist the Li & Fung’s sourcing services. Magretta (1998) indicates that Victor said â€Å"A big piece of our corporate development is plugging those holes-the phrase we use is â€Å"filling in the mosaic† – and we use venture capital to do it. † LFI pay the same attention on the companies’ management system as the product when they were choosing the company to invest. Biers (2000) said, â€Å"Its venture activity has remained modest by industry standards, with just two or three new investme nts a year, each typically of just a few million dollars or less. The CEO of LFI mentioned that they only invested in companies that had at least $3 million profit, lack of resource and kept the control of the company. At the same time, they were looking for the young and creative companies that owned by people with design and marketing talent. The most successful capital injection is the investment to a promotional company; Cyrk Inc. LFI spent $200,000 in order to take 30% shares in Cyrk Inc. during 1990. At the very start, Cyrk Inc. provided service of T-shirt print.Three year after the capital injection, the sales volume raised 20 times more than before through capitalized on its logo and promotional design capabilities. In this case, they made contract with Philip Morris to produce a full line of promotional clothing. Five years later, LFI sold their shares of Cyrk Inc. for about $65 million. After spending a great deal of investment in America, LFI transferred their sight to th e European market. As a result of diverse culture and language, it was more difficult to invest in several companies to cover the whole European market.The complex situation required the managers in European have more experience and different strategies for different countries. During the process of helping these companies, they gain experience about the selection of the collaborate companies and create more opportunities to broaden their business fields. At the same time, Li & Fung can gain high reputations among the growing companies, because the goal of the LFI is not acquire these companies. In this case, these companies could unconstrained develop themselves. And Li & Fung could not only maintain the good relationship with both potential partners and current partners.Challenges & Recommendations For Li & Fung, although it is already the largest export company in the world, it is still facing a lot of challenges. According to the trend of international Economics, Asian Financial Crisis will be gone. By then, the labor cost of Li & Fung will not be as low as now. So margin will be lower in the coming future. But even if the Asian market has recovered, its labor cost is still lower than other countries; also the gap between the wealthy and poor is huge. Most of people are living under average level, which will bring a low cost of labor.Also Asian has a large population, which will involve a large number of rich people, whose price sensitivity is low and needs are high. They can purchase the products, which have been produced in Asian. So Li & Fung could give more attention to Asian Market, instead of giving it up. Policies of trade protection, which have been published by governments in different countries, will also be a huge challenge to Li & Fung. Under this circumstance, all that Li & Fung can do is to prevent before it or actively adjust after the coming of policies.Li & Fung should do market research and macroeconomics analysis regularly in order to ch oose the very best sourcing places. Also, it ought to try to find outstanding suppliers in different economic regions and different fields, so that the risk will be shared. Thereby, Li & Fung should closely monitor the changes of economics and adjust it in time. With the development of technology, information system is playing an important role in supply chain management. In this case, Li & Fung could establish a proprietary information network that enabled clients to view the status of an order.This will improve their customer relationship management. At the same time, they could set up a powerful database to do data mining, which could collect the data of suppliers and consumers, in order to calculate the shortest time and distance and lowest cost in operation. Also they can collect the data of customers, so that they can know better of market needs and offer better service. Overall, for Li & Fung, challenges and chances are coexisting. If it could continue to reflect, to improve, it would keep up with the trend of world economics and update information and technology timely.References 1. Biers, D. (2000). Thinking small. Far Eastern Economic Review, 163(46), 48-48. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/208225120? accountid=9744 2. Li & fung pioneers a new model for multinationals. (1999). Strategic Direction, 15(6), 24-25. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/218626878? accountid=9744 3. Li & Fung: Beyond â€Å"Filling in the Mosaic†, 1998-1998(HBS Case 9-398-092). 4. Magretta, J. (1998), Fast, global, and entrepreneurial: Supply chain management, hong kong style: An interview with victor fung.Harvard Business Review, 76(5), 102-114. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/227758445? accountid=9744 5. Mismith068 (2008, 12). Li and Fung Case Analysis. StudyMode. com. Retrieved 12, 2008, from http://www. studymode. com/essays/Li-Fung-Case-Analysis-185365. html 6. Swan (2008, 9). Agri-Future; trendspotting & futu re thinking. Retrieved 9, 2008, from http://swan-futurethinking. blogspot. ca/2008_09_01_archive. html 7. Sustainability (2013, 3). Retrieved March 14, 2013 from http://www. lifung. com/eng/csr/csr1. php

History Term 2 Paper - 1825 Words

Yalta Conference The Yalta conference took place on February 1945, in a Russian resort town in Crimea, which was recently annexed by Russia in 2014. However the before the conference took place there was tension building up between the Allies and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was an ally with Germany for 2 years when they signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact; â€Å"this led the west to believe Stalin was cynical, opportunistic, power hungry, expansionist† (lecture, 1/8/16). It also took the allies a while to open up a western front, and this angered Stalin as the Soviet unions causalities kept on mounting. The conference was attended by the big three, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and U.S. President†¦show more content†¦A series of unrest between nations created tension between the main European powers, Germany, Britain, France, and Russia, which ultimately led to WWI. In early society there was very little interaction between people and state. Peo ple were more or less born into their social classes; there was not much of a legal system. Before the French revolution there really was no sense of national identity, however after the revolution people were able to forget the pain of the revolution as Ernest Renan himself had put it. â€Å"Forgetting, I would even go so far as to say historical error, is a crucial factor in the creation of a nation, which is why progress in historical studies often constitutes a danger for [the principle of] nationality† (Renan). Napoleon improved the lives of daily citizens through his civil code or later known as the Napoleonic code. The civil code, which dealt only with the rights and relationships of private individuals, was the first and most powerful of six law codes promulgated by Napoleon† (textbook, 639). This was a major step in closing the gap between state and individuals. Governments started to create better living situations for its citizens. 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