Managing People and Organisations

Introduction Organisations develop and implement management concepts that enable them to operate efficiently. These concepts are also called functions of management. They help managers to make tactical and strategic decisions to enhance efficient management of an organisation (Griffin and Moorhead 108).Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Managing People and Organisations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Functions of Management Planning This is the major function of management. It acts as a pillar upon which other functions are built. Planning enables managers to evaluate the present position of an organisation and decide in advance possible future developments. It provides a plan of action that elaborates what should be done and at what time. Moreover, it enhances drafting of the means and ways of achieving predetermined goals. It is vital in management because it ensures that human and no-human resources are u tilized properly. Moreover, it helps the management to avoid uncertainties, risks, possible wastes, and confusion (Keller 109). Organising Organising helps the management team to assemble human, finance, and physical resources. As a result, a productive relationship is created between the resources that enhance realization of set goals and objectives. Organising involves the identification of available resources, allocating and delegating duties, and coordinating both non-human and human resources. This ensures that resources are organised properly to enhance the achievement of goals developed during the planning phase (Griffin and Moorhead 108). Directing Directing involves influencing people to work efficiently. Influence to achieve goals is attained through motivation, communication, supervision, and leadership (Keller 109). Motivation inspires, stimulates, and encourages employees to work with determination. It can be in the form of job promotion, gifts or recognition of individ uals who perform excellently. Supervision entails monitoring the workforce and providing necessary directions and support.Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Leadership entails guiding the workforce in a desired direction. Finally, communication entails passing information, opinions, and/or experience within an organisation. It promotes teamwork and understanding. Controlling Controlling is the last function of management that entails measurement of the organisation’s accomplishments and correction of possible deviations. This is meant to ensure that the organisation achieves its goals systematically. Moreover, controlling ensures that the plans of an organisation occur according to predetermined standards. It investigates whether the company is aligned towards achieving its goals and objectives. In addition, it involves taking appropriate actions when necessary to correct any deviations from standards (Keller 109). Controlling entails the following steps: setting standard of performance, measuring actual performance, comparing actual performance with standards, and taking corrective actions (Griffin and Moorhead 108). Effective Management Traits For a person to manage an organisation effectively, he/she need to possess effective management traits. These traits will enable the person to control system processes and drive an organisation towards success. According to Jonathan Scott (79), effective management traits include the following: Integrity A good manager has integrity. This trait enables workers to build trust on the manager. To effectively manage people and organizations one need to be honest and follow rules. Integrity deters corruption which is dangerous to organisation development. Self-motivation A good manager is self-motivated. He/she does not need to be monitored to deliver. He/she must be capable of understanding the goals and objectives of an organisation. Furthermore, he/she should be ready to develop strategies for achieving those goals and objectives.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Managing People and Organisations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Team Player To effectively manage a business or people, one should be ready to work with a team. This means that a manager should corporate with the staff to achieve business goals and personal satisfaction. Ability to Solve Conflicts A manager acts as a bridge between top management and workers. He/she should be capable of solving conflicts between management and employees. In addition, one should be able to solve conflicts between the organisation and outside rivals diplomatically. Dependability An effective manager should be dependable such that the employer or employees can counted on him or her any time. Reliability helps one to gain people’s trust. Optimism Effective m anagement requires a person to have an optimistic attitude. This enables one to be visionary i.e. looking into the future with determination and hoping for the better even if the situation seems hopeless. Optimism inspires employees and makes them feel good about their work. Leadership Skills Effective managers have good leadership traits. He/she must be confident with his/her abilities to lead a team, provide directions, delegate duties appropriately, and command actions where necessary. Moreover, one must be capable of influencing others to achieve business or personal goals and objectives. Effective Communication Effective communication is vital in today’s business world. To manage an organisation effectively, one need to have efficient communication skills. This will enable him/her to communicate with prospective clients/customers. Providing Feedback Effective management requires that both negative and positive feedback be provided to respective parties. Feedback helps in dividuals to reflect on their performance and adjust accordingly.Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Intelligentsia An effective manager should have a good understanding of his/her field of study and be able to show what he/she knows. This trait entails other characteristics such as intelligence, creativity, and humor (Keller 109). Fairness Managers should demonstrate fairness when formulating policies or delegating duties. This trait is vital in any organisation because it encourages teamwork and loyalty. Ability to Remain Calm Being able to remain calm and composed in all situations even when things are not working according to plans is not easy. However, a good manager should be able to cool down when circumstances get worse, employees become nuisance, and strategies fail to work. How to Achieve Effective Management Traits Effective management traits can be achieved through many ways. Some of the traits are inborn while others are learnt through several processes (Guido and Nueno 56). To achieve these traits one need to do the following: Investing in his/her Strengths People hav e natural strengths that permit their skills and capabilities. Investing in these strengths through training can enhance their perfection and refinement. For instance, if one is naturally good in negotiation, he/she should take negotiation classes to improve his/her negotiation skills. Invest in Knowledge Investing time to acquire the right knowledge and intelligence enhances one’s career development. For instance, to acquire better leadership skills, one may need to invest in leadership trainings to be perfect (Keller 109). Having the right relationship Keeping the right relationship with people who have management skills may help one to learn similar skills. Having a personal advisory board can enable one to achieve management traits. For instance, one may attain teamwork trait by having right networks or relationship. Investing in a Coach A coach can help one to achieve some traits such as self-motivation or provide one with tools to keep him/her focused. Coaching is one o f the mostly used methods of attaining effective management traits. Through Experience When one is chosen as a manager of an organisation, he/she can learn effective management skills while working. For instance, he/she can learn how to give feedback, treat each employee, and get employees motivated to achieve goals. Sharing with other Managers Sharing gives a person an opportunity to reflect on his/her management traits. This helps him/her to takes appropriate action to improve. For instance, if one becomes emotional very first, he/she can learn how to control his/her temper through colleagues (Keller 109). Seminars and workshops One can achieve management traits by attending seminars and workshops presided over by management experts. The experts will teach how to develop and nature management traits. Works Cited Griffin, Ricky and Gregory Moorhead. Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations. Oxford: Cengage Learning, 2009. Print Guido, Stein and Pedro Nueno. Managi ng People and Organizations: Peter Drucker’s Legacy, Bingley: Emerald, 2010. Print. Keller, Andreas. What is Effective Leadership? Managing People in Organisations. New York: GRIN Verlag, 2011. Print. Scott, Jonathan. Fundamentals of Leisure Business Success: A Manager’s Guide to Achieving Success in the Leisure and Recreation Industry, New York: Haworth Press Incorporated, 1998. Print. This assessment on Managing People and Organisations was written and submitted by user Maria A. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Follow the Guidelines is Not a Cliché

Follow the Guidelines is Not a Clichà © Agents say it all the time. Editors believe in it and cant wait for an excuse to delete a submission when someone ignores it. Websites and writing guides everywhere say, Follow the guidelines carefully, or Become familiar with the publication. Yet I dare say half of todays submissions do not do either. If you DO follow the guidelines, the person youre pitching will instantly give you better consideration. Im serious. Thats all it takes. There are that many submissions that fail to adhere to the rules that finding one that does is refreshing. Recently several places noted FundsforWriters as a paying market. FFW indeed pays up to $50 for   a solid 550-600-word piece for the newsletter. The flood gates opened and in came the submissions. I was excited. I love opening a query from a writer who obviously read the guidelines at https://fundsforwriters.com/submissions . Instantly, I see that author as serious, attentive to details, and understanding of FundsforWriters needs. Some pieces just arent quite what Im looking for. Maybe a little lightweight. Maybe there are nonpaying markets involved (I dont do nonpaying in FundsforWriters). Maybe its a story so far out there that it wouldnt apply to many of my readers. Thats okay. A rejection is in order, but I explain why and thank them for submitting. Then there are others. Some of them present a concept I like, but the effort of editing makes it not worth the payment. Every editors time is precious. If a writer submits a piece that needs work, regardless the subject, an editor cant use it. FundsforWriters is always open to submissions. Ive booked articles as far as six months out, but I dont close down submissions. But while Ive got your attention, Ill post a few of my pet peeves, items that require me to email back and forth with a writer. Trust me, an editor prefers a clean package all in one submission, requiring minimal back and forth. 1) Academic writing. All theory. No anecdotes. No takeaway, practical value. No personality. 2) ESL writing. I do not mind submissions from around the world, but if I must clean up the grammar to make it work, regardless the topic, I wont. 3) Elementary topic, commonly read on many blogs. 4) How-to without links, resources, and examples. 5) Assorted fonts in one article. Editors format. Writers write. 6) No

Integrated Marketing Communications Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Integrated Marketing Communications - Essay Example Nevertheless, the integration of communication tools helps overcome both challenges, as the mix helps create the brand awareness and enhance the brand recall as well as enhances the brand recall. Companies use different communication tools also known as the promotional mix such as: PR, sales promotions direct marketing and personal selling (Luxton & Mavondo, 2008). These communication tools differentiate among each other; however, the companies use them for the same reasons, such as to maintain the brand awareness, as well as to enhance the relationships with its stakeholders (Fill, 2009) The following report will evaluate the functions of the various marketing communication tools and compare the effectiveness of them. The report will also construct the marketing campaign for Cadbury corporation in order to deeply understand how those tools are used in practice. Advertising is one of the effective methods to promote the increase awareness of the brand in the mass media (Egan, 2007) (Table 2). The main advantage of the advertising is that the numerous channels are able to reach large audience, such as TV or print ads in magazines (Baines & Fill, 2011). Fill (2009) suggested that people who show a positive response to advertising are more likely to purchase a product than those whose attitude is neutral. Therefore, advertisers are particularly interested in creating an extraordinary with the â€Å"wow effect† message in their campaigns in order to make the customer’s experience memorable (Jo, 2004). Advertisers are able to use numerous features to enhance the appeal of the advertising, for example, some brands decide to use logical appeals that simply explain the â€Å"reason-why† its product outshines everything else in the market and attract the customer by functional reasoning (Miller, 2011). However, mass marketing is not useful for creating the long term relationships with the customer, as the

Marxist Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Marxist Analysis - Essay Example he Destructors â€Å"by Graham Greene tells of the exploits of a group of adolescent boys who call themselves the Wormsley common gang and the scene to bring an old and elegant house down. They meet daily in a parking lot near the area where they lived that was bombed during World War II. More or less, everything got destroyed in this area except for one house which stood proudly among the rubbles of the other edifices surrounding it. This belonged to Mr. Thomas whom the boys call ‘Old Misery,’ an old man who lives alone. A new recruit of the gang opened up to his plan of destroying this house from the inside upon learning that Mr. Thomas would be away long enough to enforce the plan.In the story, Trevor’s plot to destroy Old Misery’s house explains its very title â€Å"The Destructors.† We can relate this in a sense that it gives the post-war tone where the house reflects the prevailing capitalist system that survived the effects of war but became shoddy and hollowed from the inside. It reflects the growing uncertainty of the nation and economic depression and the so-called casualties of war. Trevor represented a new idea, radical from the rest and simultaneously exciting which aroused everyone’s curiosity into helping him carry out his plan. In the short story, the young gang of youth expresses their idealism in contrast to the established norms of the grown-up world which were destroyed in the onslaught of the War and its devastation. They felt that new order must be in store because the old one is no longer working and that despite all the luxuries and the aesthetic beauty it represents, it served no true value. This was what the house was all about and this became the central idea which triggered a single idea to spark a group of young boys into action. Since the story takes place after the German bombing of World War II in London, the new generation reciprocated the adults’ actions by taking reprisal on the many things for which the world has made

Greek tragedy Essay Example for Free

Greek tragedy Essay The hero in a Greek tragedy I want to compare with the hero Dante in the Divine Comedy is Oedipus in Sophocles Oedipus the King. Concerning their respective process of self-knowledge acquisition, we find some differences: their original recognition of self is dissimilar, and so are their method and result of self-pursuit. First, Oedipus and Dante have different perceptions of self. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus confidently knows who he is and where he comes from-a exiled wanderer saving the Thebans from the Sphinx. On the contrary, in Canto 1 of the Inferno in the Divine Comedy, the author/the protagonist Dante gets lost in the forest of darkness, a symbol of human vice. He is in the dark and perplexed at who he is. Comparing with Oedipus the Greek hero who daringly does his will (he believes human intelligence can compete with God), Dante the Christian hero rather hesitates about himself and thus follows the guide Virgil. Second and accordingly, their method to explore self-knowledge is different: Oedipus does this with human reason whereas Dante with pious belief in God. Oedipus does not intentionally pursue self-knowledge, but just tries his best with intellect to find the truth one after another about the murderer (himself) of the then king Laius-which can be seen as his process to find self-knowledge. Contrarily, through a sacred journey, Dante acquires self-knowledge by following Virgil and Beatrice, and in person seeing the sins and punishments in the Inferno, the redemption in the Purgatory, and the Providence in the Paradise. Paradoxically, the way for Oedipus to gain self-knowledge (truth) drives him into affliction when he step by step gets to know his identity-a patricidal murderer and the cause of plague while Dante acquiring self-knowledge knows that the happiness of eternal life lies in true faith and Providential Love. While Oedipus self-truth is acquired from his downfall (the physical blindness), Dante the protagonists self-knowledge is sublimated into a will in contact with God. All in all, as a tragic hero in search of self-knowledge, Oedipus reflects reason and humanity. It is because in the 5th century B.C., the Sophoclean age, people questioned the nature of everything with reason and thereby faces the dilemma of believing human reason or praying God. But in the theocentric Middle Ages, as a Christian hero, Dante, whose thinking and conceptions are based on religious beliefs, resorts to Gods Infinite Mercy to find self-knowledge and the meaning of life.

Company Profile of Sainsbury

Company Profile of Sainsbury SAINSBURY is one of the leading food retailers in UK. It is a public limited company and is registered with LSE and FTSE 100. The company is the oldest food chain retailers in UK being established in 1869 by J.J Sainsbury. At present the company owns around 800 stores including supermarkets and convenience stores. The company is the third largest food-retailer in UK and has a share of around 16.3 percent of the total market. The company after leading the UK food retail market for decades faced a downfall during the 1990s. At present, the company is trying to retrieve its position in the UK market and expand its global market share. In this report, an attempt has been made to analyse the different business strategies used by the company at different times and to compare its strategies to that of its competitors in order to assess the effectiveness. The first section of this report deals with the company profile of Sainsburys and a recap of its early establishment. This will help in understanding the activities of the business and the business strategies adapted by it. The second section analyses the different strategies adapted by the company. The third section deals with the competitors of Sainsburys i.e. Tesco and Asda and a short analysis of the strategies adapted by them. And finally, the report has been concluded in line with the different activities carried on by Sainsburys and the strategies that should be followed by it in order to be more competitive. REPORT ON BUSINESS ANALYISIS In this report, an analysis of the business strategy of an organisation is required to be carried out. Business strategy refers to the various activities carried out by an organisation at different stages of its growth and expansion plan. (Tayeb, M. 2000) All the stages of a business growth commencing from the start up involves some type of business strategies. A business strategy can be defined as a long term plan designed to attain a specific organisational goal. The strategy acts as a guide for the business to reach its target. A successful business strategy will design and plan all the activities to be or required to be carried out in order to reach the organisational goal successfully. (Source: Rapid Business Intelligence Success; http://www.rapid-business-intelligence-success.com/definition-of-business-strategy.html, Accessed on 23.05.2010; 16:15hrs). Therefore, from the above discussion on business strategy it can be concluded that a business strategy plans the growth of a business and describes the pathway for attaining it. Business strategy involves analysis of various factors involved with the organisation (i.e. external and internal organisational environment, market size, organisational structure, economy of the market, local and regional economy, target customer, income of the local people, customer preference, socio-cultural issues etc.). All these factors help in forming a business strategy suitable for an organisational. A business organisation aiming at growth, expansion and value creation is an outcome of the vision of an entrepreneur. Once the entrepreneur locates the opportunity in a society, he/she tries to implement some innovative ideas in order to exploit that opportunity and gain profit. The process relating to the implementation of the innovative idea and bringing the opportunity into reality is termed as business. (Kuratko, 2009) A business plan is required in order to bring the business into reality. Similarly, a business strategy is required for attaining the business goal. The strategy gets involved from the beginning of a business i.e. early start-up. But the strategy involved in the different stages of organisational growth will be distinct from the other. The following diagram will help us in further understanding the different business strategies involved in different stages of organisational growth. (Adapted from: HIT; Business, organisation and information architecture; http://www.hit.nl/Product_BusinessStrategy.asp) In this report, I am going to analyse the various business strategies of Sainsburys and have made an attempt to compare those strategies with that of Tesco and Asda, the two famous competitors of Sainsburys. I have chosen Sainsburys, Tesco and Asda for this report. An attempt has been made to analyse and compare the different strategies adapted by these companies. All the organisations dealt with in this report are multinationals based in UK and are continuously growing. Moreover, Sainsbury has been selected because of its diversified ownership structure, different strategies adapted by it in the recent days which have helped it to gain its market share and increase its profitability besides being a sluggish growth in the economy and the main reason being its history. COMPANY PROFILE: SAINSBURYS is a public limited company registered in the London Stock Exchange and FTSE 100. It is one of the leading UK food retailers and had been part of the financial and property sector. The retail food chain is the main business accounting for the major turnover of the company. Sainsburys group employs more than 145,000 people and therefore, is one of the major players of the economy. Sainsburys its known for its quality and service besides its price. Sainsburys success can be traced back in 1869 when the company was founded by J. J Sainsbury. It started with the aim of providing its customers the ‘best butter in the world at an affordable price. Sainsburys started with the fresh foods and later enter the market for packaged food products. It mainly focused on the dairy products, however, it was the first retail food chain to improvise, petrol stations, fresh food and poultry counter in their retail stores. Since inception, Sainsburys tried to aim at providing best quality at low prices. At present Sainsburys retail food chain consists of more than 800 stores including supermarkets and convenience stores. It started its journey from London and is now spread all over UK with stores in Scotland, Ireland, Belfast and North east United States. Sainsburys used to be the largest grocery chain in UK till 1995 whereby, Tesco overtook the first position and Asda became the second largest chain in 2003. The company started its activities in 1869 as a business owned and operated by the Sainsbury family. It carried on its culture till 12 July, 1973, when the organisation became public. However, the major shareholding of 85% was with the family and therefore, after becoming public also, the organisation carried on its legacy and the traits of a family business. But, the company started facing some managerial issues with the new management in 1993 and since then, the family has divested their ownership. At present, Qatar Holding LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qatar Investment Authority is the major stakeholder owning around 26 percent of the companys share. (Sainsburys Corporate Website; http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/index.asp?pageid=229, Accessed on: 25.05.10, 10:15hrs) Sainsburys was among the first few organisations, which hired women employees during the World War, since most of their male employees had to b there in the war front. They develop a separate and exclusive training programme for their women employees who will help them work effectively in this new environment. Though, Sainsburys has lost their position of being the market leaders but still it is one of the biggest names in UK food retail chain and moreover, in the recent years it has achieved a remarkable growth. ANALYSIS OF THE DIFFERENT STRATEGIES The business strategies as discussed before, is an inseparable part of a business and is linked with all the activities of a business organisation. The companies adapt several strategies for the start-ups, entering a new market, growth strategy, marketing strategy. COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES Sainsburys started its journey as a grocery chain aiming at producing quality goods at affordable price. The organisations aim of producing â€Å"quality goods at affordable prices† can be treated as its market entry strategy. On further analysis of this strategy, it has been noted that its market entry strategy possess the qualities of a low-pricing strategy. Low-pricing strategy is an integral part of the business-level strategy. It helps the organisation enjoy a competitive advantage over its competitors. Low-pricing strategy aims at producing quality goods but at lower prices than offered by its competitors. It is mainly followed in a competitive commodity market where the products are more or less similar. The low-pricing strategy leads to lower profit margin and therefore, it is not adapted by all the organisations. The business has to be confident about the product and service offered by it. Moreover, has to develop a cost structure which will help the business sustain in this low price strategy. Low prices and lower product quality is something normal, and thus can easily be followed by the competitors. However, producing similar quality goods at a lower price is a challenge as it requires a developed cost structure. Moreover, the cost structure has to be developed in such a way that the competitors cannot easily follow it. Therefore, the key challenge lies in structuring the cost in a manner that will help the organisation to enjoy a sustainable advantage following the low pricing strategy. In regard to this scenario, Sainsburys has developed a unique cost structure by developing close relationships with its suppliers and by irradiating the agents in between. Both these policies helped the organisation enjoy a cost advantage over their competitors. Moreover, the companys manufacturing and packaging cost are developed in a way to keep the product cost lower than its competitors. The company being the market leader also enjoyed the volume of the quantity produced and thus, enjoy the economies of scale. (Johnson, G., 2002) Low-pricing strategy adapted by Sainsburys helped the organisation to become the market leader whereas, its in-house product variants helped it to develop a wide market and attract customers from all the strata of society. The product variants are the result of the product differentiation policy adapted by the company. Sainsburys has a varied chain of in-house products. Moreover, it has also differentiated its in-house products and brands in such a way that it can reach all the segments of the market, this strategy helps Sainsburys to capture a large share of the household market. Sainsburys differentiation strategy helped it to come up with different lines of similar products. The differentiation was done on the basis of the cost and the product quality. The product differentiation was done in several stages. The company came up with a basic product line followed by superior quality products. The basic line of product is cost effective but maintains the quality. With the higher line of product the company brought in higher variants of similar by adding value to it. The higher variants not only has added value in respect of the quality of the product, but also the product packaging and marketing. For the basics, Sainsburys has adapted minimalistic packaging cost and marketing structure. The differentiation strategy is really important for an organisation aiming at growing its market share. The differentiation strategy helps the organisation to provide products and services different from those offered by its competitors in terms of quality, uniqueness and value addition. The differentiation strategy helps the organisation to increases its market share and thus enabling it to enjoy a cost advantage. Therefore, cost function can be termed as a function of product differentiation. (Johnson, G. et. al, 2002) Sainsburys product differentiation has enabled it to gain a major market share of the lower and the middle income group. It has introduced product differentiation in all the product lines offered by it, may it be, dairy products, meat and poultry products, fresh and packaged vegetables and fruits, spices, household products etc. For e.g. The oatmeals and cornflakes comes in several variants. The range of basic oatmeals and cornflakes range between 48 pence and 64 pence whereas the higher end product variants of the similar line range between 150 190 pence. The above example, helps us to understand not only the product variants and product differentiation but also that the company follows a focused differentiation strategy. In order, to aim the higher strata of the society, the company came up with products with better packaging, added quality and thus adding on to the value of the products. Moreover, the higher variants not only come up with added quality but also innovative products which them to differentiate from the similar kind of products offered by its competitors. For e.g. Sainsburys raisin-filled oatmeals, raspberry-filled oatmeals differentiate its products from the other competitors The company with its own differentiated line of products comes up with several other products offered by leading retailers and therefore, gives its customers a varied choice of products. The varied products attract customer base and thus enabling it to increase the market share. In addition, the company has incorporated several innovative ideas in its supermarket model like petrol stations, fresh bakery items, fresh meat, cooked meat and fish selling counters which makes them different from its competitors. This idea has not only differentiated them from their competitors but as helped them to act according to their value of providing healthy and quality foods. The different competitive and strategies in order to be competitive and gain the market share has enabled it form a hybrid strategy comprising of the main elements of low pricing, differentiation and focussed differentiation strategy. All these strategies merged together helped the business grow at a faster pace. LOCATIONAL STRUCTURAL STRATEGIES Since early period, Sainsburys built in the concept of departmentalisation in its stores. Its early food stores were divided into 6 departments, dairy products, ham and bacon, poultry and game, fresh meats, cooked meat and groceries. It was an unique concept at the 1900s which shows its innovative thinking from its inception. The use of mosaic floors, marbled topped counters, uniformed staffs, white tiles background not only enabled to have a comprehensive and similar looks through the stores but also shows their innovativeness and capability of thinking ahead than others.(The Sainsbury Archive; Accessed on 25.05.2010; The Design Journal 1966. Further, a companys store location plays an important role in its business. In the case of Sainsburys, it has always chosen a central position in the parade for a larger display and better connectivity to overcome the constraints relating to limited vehicles for home delivery. It was the first retail store chain to bring in home delivery service in UK. All these strategies helped the business to grow and become a pioneer in its field. The organisation also pioneered in the self service supermarket in UK between 1950s and 1960s. All these add up to the locational and structural strategies adapted by the company since its inception to be a market leader. ORGNISATIONAL STRUCTURAL STRATEGY The organisational upbringing of Sainsburys has been pretty different from that of its competitor e.g. Tesco. Unlike, Tesco, Sainsburys relied on the family mode of business. The company went public in 1973; however, the major shareholding has always been within the family till 1990s when the major shareholdings by the family were divested following a strategic downfall. Unlike Tesco, which was mostly depended on the market wealth and capital generated from the equity market for its expansion and growth, Sainsbury mainly focussed at the inner source of capital and reserves for its expansion. Following the diversification of the shareholdings in 1995, the major share holding is with QIA, a foreign investment company. The companys early strategy of not involving market equity capital has helped the organisation to maintain cohesiveness in the organisational activities and has enabled the initial growth and expansion. Employee employer relationshiphas always been an advantage for the company. The company has always given preference to the organisational and personal requirements of its employees. The employee policy designed by the organisation has helped it in its success. It is rated as one of the leading recruiters of UK at present. It has a very large yet strong organisational base which has evolved with time. The organisational structure of the company has always been subjected to a change. The hierarchal set-up during the early stages evolved into a much flatter organisational set up with time and changing society. This proves the adaptive strategy followed by the company. Supplier retailer policyadapted by Sainsburys since its inception, has helped the organisation to enjoy a lower cost and better quality. The supplier management strategy is very essential for a growing transnational organisation like Sainsbury. The company has always aimed at maintaining a good relationship with supplier, thus enabling them to be a market leader. However, the companys downfall during the early 1990s has been an effect of a major relationship difference between the reailer and supplier. Building up a supplier-retailer relationship and maintaining it is the role of a successful organisation. STORE FORMATS The company adapted the hyper-market policy during the early 1970s following its competitors. The company operated this format of stores through bigger outlets (over 45000 sq.ft ) and varied range of products under the brand Sainsbury Savacentre. But, later it got incorporated into the main channel being a part of the integrated sales and back office operations unlike, Tesco. The product distribution followed the policy of equal distribution between groceries and non-food items as followed by Tesco. The supermarket (average of 34000 sq.ft) the hypermarket store format only differ in the size and the quantity of product variants offered by the two types of stores. The company also followed the concept of convenience stores followed by the other food retailers like Tesco, The Cooperative store, etc. This store format is also be termed as local store and is meant for a local market, much smaller in size (between 2000-6000 sq.ft) with limited variants offering top-ups and go and grab deals. Asda, did not follow the concept of convenience stores. The store formats helped us analysing the customer serving strategy and the customer base of the organisation. FRANCHISING Unlike its competitors, Sainsburys does not involve franchising. Tesco recently has planned to go for a franchising in order to enter further into this multi-billion dollar market of retail groceries. Its considering the franchising scope followed the step taken by its French competitor Carrefour. Franchising will help Sainsbury to reach a broader customer base and reach further corners which is no possible through direct acquisitions and mergers. Further, acquisitions involve managerial constraints which can be easily avoided in case of franchising. MERGER ACQUISITION In line to the discussion Mergers and acquisitions it can be rightly pointed out that the company is rightly catching up the growing model of business UK and worldwide. Its acquisitions of Bell supermarkets which operate in north east England and a merger with Shell stations will help it to grow the number of convenience stores and petrol stations in UK. (Food Drink Europe.com http://www.foodanddrinkeurope.com/Retail/Sainsbury-s-image-takes-another-knock). The company went for a merger with Shaws Supermarket Inc. a leading super-market chain in U.S and later acquires the company accompanied by its acquisition of Star Markets. These acquisitions have helped Sainsburys to control competition in the foreign market. However, a detailed analysis has pointed out that the business acquisition decisions and deals have not been of much success and therefore, affecting its worldwide turnover. OTHER MODES OF OPERATION Sainsbury has started providing financial services through Sainsbury Bank which is joint venture between Sainsbury and Lloyds Banks. Its property management team is helping its property management business to reach new heights. The company has started diversifying its portfolio and its activities bt it will take time in attaining the aimed success. COMPETITORS Sainsbury is the UKs third largest food retail chain trailing behind Tesco and Asda. TESCO, the leading retail food chain has started its operation since 1919 as a surplus grocery store in East End of England under Jack Cohen. The first TESCO store came into existence in 929 after being a limited company in 1924. Tescos growth was mainly through acquisitions along with organic growth. During early 1970s TESCO group owns around 700 stores nationwide. Tesco was the pioneer in offering the customers several facilities like customer rewards and club points which were previously unheard of. It introduced in internet shopping for the customers that help in growing the business and building up its brand image among its customers. During 1980s and 1990s it went through couple of successful takeovers including that of William low, a Dundee based firm competing with Sainsbury. In 1997, Tesco also went into a business alliance with esso in order to get a lease of its several petrol filling stations. In July 2001 Tesco became involved in Internet grocery retailing in the USA when it obtained a 35% stake in GroceryWorks.In 2002 Tesco purchased 13 HIT hypermarkets in Poland. It also made a major move into the UK convenience store market with its purchase of T S Stores, the owner of 870 convenience stores in theOne Stop, Dillons and Day Nite chains. At present, Tesco is leading the UK retail food chain though its 27 hypermarkets all over UK. Tesco and Sainsbury growth structure mainly differs. Tesco has mainly focused on the growth through takeovers, acquisitions and mergers on the other hand; Sainsburys growth was mainly based on organic growth. Growth through takeovers, acquisitions and mergers has helped Tesco to gain better and more market knowledge, technological knowledge and management knowledge. Whereas, organic growth for Sainsburys has taken through a longer period of time and through the evolution of the own management and acquired knowledge. On analysing, the growth factors, it can be pointed out that the growth strategy adapted by Sainsbury has been a major reason for its slower growth rate. ASDA STORES LIMITED was founded asAssociated Dairies Farm Stores Limitedin 1949 in Leeds. However, the present name of Asda came into existence following a merger with Asquith chain of three supermarkets and Associated Dairies in 1965. The company however, parted with its dairy department on a management buyout. The company followed the growth policy similar to that of Tesco in order to grow and provide different kinds of products. The newly focused food retail group in order to expand its activities beyond the north England, went for buyout in the south where it took over the large format stores ofGateway Superstoresin 1989. On 26 July, 1999 Asda was purchased by the US retail-giant Wal-Mart. Since then the company, has operated as a subsidiary of the Wal-Mart group. However, Asdas management has gone though a restructuring when it was sold to a Leeds based investment subsidiary of Wal-Mart, Corinth Services Limited in 2009. Asdas marketing campaigns has always been in limelight. The major strategic similarity between Asda and Sainsbury is that, both the organisations aim at low pricing. Therefore, the low pricing strategy that helped Sainsbury, to attract more customers and a major share in the market needs to be revised. Moreover, being an US subsidiary, it also followed several managerial set-ups those were previously unknown. A global growth of the Wal-Mart group, helped Asda gain its position as the second largest food-retailer in UK. Both Tesco and Asda have structural, organisational and managerial differences with Sainsburys but on comparing the whole set-up, it can be concluded that Tesco and Sainsburys have some structural similarity. On the lines of structural strategy, it can be concluded that Tesco follows a more diversified activities by using several variants like, Express, Metro, superstore, Extra and Homeplus which helps them to reach larger number of customers with different kinds of variants.   CONCLUSION While concluding this report, it can be said Sainburys has several strategical differences with its leading market leaders Tesco and Asda, however, it has started working on its set back and is currently responding to the organisational and social needs in a better way. Instead of a sluggish growth of the economy post 2008 it has recorded an increase in the total turnover thus, showing its organisational and managerial strength. On analysing the retail food market and the activities of the major market leaders, it can be predicted that Sainsburys will enjoy a fast and steady growth following the path of organisational mergers, takeovers and most recently franchising. All these will help Sainsbury to grow at a faster pace. All the discussions, that have been done in this report are not absolute and are subject to limitations regarding the information, word limit and time.

Environmental Science Essay

Gagandeep Rai Period 3/4 Criteria air pollutants assignment​ Multiple Choice 1. A pungent reddish ­brown gas often associated with photochemical smog. (C) NO2 2. A corrosive gas from burning coal often associated with industrial smog. (d) SO2 3. A dangerous indoor air pollutant. (A) CO 4. Emitted from diesel and burning fuel. (E) PM10 5. All of the following are examples of primary air pollutants except. (c) tropospheric ozone 6. The greatest emission of sulfur dioxide comes from (C) Industrial processes 7. The least amount of nitrogen oxide emissions comes from (A) on ­ road vehicles 8. The accumulation of tropospheric ozone at night depends mainly upon the atmospheric concentrations of (B) volatile organics 1. What are they? The six criteria air pollutants are sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon oxides,lead,particulate matter and tropospheric ozone. These six pollutants significantly threaten human health, ecosystems and/or structures. 2. How is each produced? Sulfur dioxide is mostly produced from the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil. It can also be released during volcanic eruptions. Nitrogen oxides are produced from vehicles as well as stationary fossil fuel combustion. Some is also released through lightning and forest fires.Carbon monoxide is formed by incomplete combustion of most matter. Vehicle exhaust and many other combustion process produce Carbon monoxide. It is also a indoor pollutant when exhaust systems on natural gas heaters misfunction. Carbon dioxide is produced from complete combustion of most matter such as biomass and fossil fuels. Particulate matter is released when fossil fuels and bio fuel is burned. Also it is released with activities that involve movement of dust or sand. Lead is released from old paint, gasoline additive and combustion of fossil fuels.

EBusiness Opportunity for HK Logistics Ltd. Essay

Company Service and Product: Excellence Logistics Ltd (ELL) is a privately owned logistics company specialising in the delivery of Business-to-business items within throughout Europe. The company was founded in 1992 to provide an efficient logistics service specially targeted to manufacturing firms from their network of suppliers. The emphasis for the company at this initial stage was speed and efficient service as a result of regional efficiency. At start up, the company’s headquarters was in Hong Kong with a regional distribution centre in Shanghai, China. Presently the company has 5 major distribution centres all over the world, however our strategy to be a strong player in the Asian market is still core to our operations.. Our warehouses provided storage and logistics support for our clients which at inception were mostly Chinese companies but have extended throughout the world. Our Warehouse services have continued to be a vital aspect of our business as we support clients who do not wish to own their facilities, a trend which had become popular in the late 1980s. This aspect of the business still represents a significant part of ELL’s revenue. Apart from our warehousing services, ELL is involved in contract logistics services, freight management, and logistics consulting. However, the company extended to the offering logistics support for end products and distribution to our clients’ retail and wholesale outlets which increased our freight handling requiring new skills and expertise. Size and Scope of Influence: The Company’s new goal is to be the premier logistics company serving manufacturing companies globally with a strong base in Asia. ELL’s new goal was to take the company from being seen as a logistics company primarily in the Asian region to being a global player leveraging on the use of technology to do this. The company’s employee figures have also increased from 2,300 to over 4000 within the last 2 years due to our efforts in expansion. Revenue, Ambition, Strengths and Weaknesses: HK’s profit last year was $5.7M after tax as the year marked the beginning of huge investments in technology as a result of the need for the company to be more responsive and to implement major e-commerce and parcel tracking initiatives. The company’s strength in Europe offered it huge benefits and market growth in the region despite stiff challenge from global operators. It however became obvious that the company needs to expand globally in order to benefits its corporate clientele most of whose operations required freights to other continents. This need was very important also as we extended our business to the shipment of end products form our clients to various distributors creating a new challenge. Company’s attitude and goals regarding e-commerce: Last year the company transformed its website into a portal as first steps towards new integrated e-commerce initiatives. The company is now fully aware that this is the way to go to ensure that it benefits its growing customers and stay competitive. The major challenge for ELL is to coordinate its operations and ensure the integration of its services throughout the business from collection to delivery stages. To do this, it was essential to provide real-time visibility of our operations and parcel progress to our clients to ensure efficient management. Section 2: Internet Business Scope The e-commerce Project: As previously explained Excellence Logistics Ltd has evolved a new strategy to position it as a global player through the potential opportunities that e-commerce can provide. This is important because we believe that it will also enhance our ability to collaborate effectively with other global players who will wish to tap into the Asian market. In line with this our warehousing solutions have been enhanced with four new distribution centres to give our growing client base flexibility and wider range of locations closer to their manufacturing plants. This is guaranteed to optimise cost savings, lower liabilities, increased speed-to-market and enhanced freighting and shipment services. Our fulfilment services are aimed at providing specialised services including postponement, inspection, returns and salvage to our clients who require these value-adding services. The increasing importance of Asian companies in global manufacturing supply chain has put ELL in a strategic position and we aim to optimise our advantage. Our Present Position: Our use of technology before this project was not spectacular as with most Asian companies. Like every standard company, we maintained a central database of our operations without the ability to track goods in real time. Information was shared with customers on stock levels on a weekly basis and updating of data was done manually from information received from our customers. Standard EDI transactions included advance ship notice and notice of shipment and payments by our customers was done through electronic funds transfer. This was not good enough and it became obvious that we were loosing customers who wanted to know the condition of their shipments in real time which we presently could not do. It was therefore clear that we would be limited in providing good customer service and could loose most of our valued clients. So this e-commerce project was essentially important to move EEL to the next level in terms of our global strategy Goal Setting and Corporate Communication: The importance of the internet project was clear to management as it was important in the growth of the company and new global initiatives for expansion. However, the huge financial commitments required meant that it had to be effectively explained to shareholders for approval. To do this, an internal team headed by the CIO was set up to articulate the goals and cost of the project. They were also given the responsibility for communicating this to all the stakeholders and drawing up an implementation plan. New Opportunities/Necessary Changes: It was clear that to move forward, e-business was crucial to helping us get real time information necessary for our operational efficiency. The implementation of e-business was mainly driven by the growing demands on our business. This process started with the company streamlining its operations with the intention of transforming itself from a traditional bricks and mortar logistics company to a company using e-commerce and technology strategically to enhance service quality and delivery. It also had become necessary to extend beyond Hong Kong to serve companies in Europe and United States and these regions were increasingly sourcing for products from Asia which was our primary market. Secondly, technological development in the logistics sector had advanced with the possibility of clients being able to ascertain real time locations and condition of their shipment. New software applications implementation meant that we had to expand our IT section and employ more staff. It also meant that we had to downsize in some areas of the company that increasingly became irrelevant. In terms of strategy, the e-commerce project aimed at extending our frontiers giving us the ability to compete on a global scale hence our new positioning to be a global player. The project’s twin focus was: Enhanced Value through Channel Integration: We required the integration of our distribution network with our warehousing and transportation management systems to drive overall freight costs down by consolidating orders for multiple customers.   This integration of systems also provides customers with immediate access to information with reduced order cycle times and transit times insuring that materials are in the right place at the right time. Automated Services through Integrated Technology: Our transportation management service was developed to reduce freight costs and increase on time deliveries. Transportation management services include carrier selection, pricing negotiations, real-time shipment status (via website) and automated communication.   Automated communication includes: exceptions performance management and exception reporting claims resolution reporting Section 3: Knowing the Enemy (3) One critical factor for our internet project as already expressed is the need to catch up with global competition and ensure that we offer our customers what they require. It is clear that our biggest inspiration in terms of competition is Exel, a global company originating from the United States. Exel is a global leader in supply chain management with significant interests in the Middle East and China. The company’s reputable has attracted global companies like Sun Microsystems, Ericsson, Motorola, Hitachi, and Nokia as some of the companies that it services. In a way, our service offerings are similar as we target manufacturing companies as our client base which is similar to what Exel does. Just over three years ago, the company faced a similar situation as what Excellent Logistics now faces; there was need to provide an integrated global supply chain management systems as the company had clients in every continent and serviced their clients from delivering components for manufacture to the distribution of end products. In order to achieve this, the company hired the service of Agilisys to design a web-based supply chain integrator system that aimed at offering their corporate clients an integrated view of inventory and delivery status of goods at every point in time. In the project for Exel, the company listed the deliverables expected from Agilisys as follows: Intelligent interface design to enable re-use of purchase order and inventory data Integration of disparate systems for clients and third-party logistics suppliers Ability to track stock through the entire supply chain In-depth methodology to work on the look and feel of the site Multi-tier messaging architecture, extraction and middleware technologies to enable integration with incompatible systems No doubt, the result of this project was that Exel became more able to respond to their challenges of expansion globally. This project no doubt portrayed Exel as a technologically driven company responsive to providing great services to its customers and increased its market share all over the world. We can surely say, its recent partnership with global giants DHL is a statement of the status Exel has gained over the years as a result of its e-business adoption. Our focus has been explained in section 2 is similar to that of Exel while we desire to ensure that we continue to play a strong role in Asia. The figure below shows the critical areas the e-business project was meant to address: Figure 1: E-business project concepts identified as crucial by collaboration team. Excellence Logistics Ltd. is clearly interested in using this as a relevant pattern in our quest to implement our own e-business initiative. We are conscious of this and have extended our scope with our e-business consultants to include the following: Investigation of the use of RFD technology in logistics as we intend to be one of the first companies to implement this. Integration with third party suppliers like DHL and UPS for extended services and direct deliveries to our clients’ customers. This is very essential in the delivery of end products from our warehouses. It is clear that we are essentially a Business-to-Business logistics company with particular interest in manufacturing firms particularly in the technology sector. Our target customers are likely to have the following characteristics: Be Manufacturing Companies usually in the Technology sector. With significant partnerships and interest in Asian market. Companies requiring specialised logistics services including warehouse facilities. We shall be extremely focused to concentrate on our target sector and to be the best in our sector and will look for opportunities to better understand our customers and their needs. The approach is to ensure full empowerment and information sharing with our customers and partners with constant feedback on possible areas of improvement. Section Four: eBusiness Strategy Project Procedure: To achieve our goals as a company, it is essential to articulate clearly our e-business strategy as a company. Initiation Phase: A cross-functional team headed by the Chief Information Officer (CIO) looks at our needs and in conjunction with our consultants, produce a framework for the project. Planning Phase: This involved communication with management and evolution of a time-table with which the project will be guided and also explaining the process to our partners, staff and clients to understand our aims with the project. An extended collaboration team including representatives from operations, finance, IT, customer service, and human resources department was inaugurated at this stage to help with the process to ensure company-wide participation. Execution Phase: This involves the stage by stage implementation of the project including necessary skills training and workshops. Control Phase: The objective during the control phase is to closely monitor the performance measures agreed to by the collaboration team. Any service exceptions or performance measures not met will be reviewed with the CIO who was the head of the project and reported to management on a monthly basis. Process Improvement Phase: This involved the analysis of the project and improvements on initial design based on any shortcomings found. The objective of this phase is to meet the required service levels as originally agreed for the project. These initiatives will enable us to capitalize on past successes and allow us to take our supply chain to the next level of innovation, to effectively monitor operational capabilities, improve performance levels, measure cost accurately, and develop world-class processes. Supply Chain Strategy: Our Supply Chain Management Strategy is to develop and manage a preferred supply base that enhances the success of our customers and their long term competitiveness. It is now clear that efficient supply chain management clearly impacts on the profitability of our clients. We shall therefore employ the following: Just-in-time supply management. Developing and maintaining long-term client relationships. Strong organizational and process integration to leverage on technology. Reduction in cycle times and reduction of total costs. Global Collaboration and outsourcing to reduce overhead costs. Legal Framework: Legal issues with the e-business project include the following Privacy concerns for individual customers who want to ensure that their data, communication and information is secure. Global trade issues and legislations affecting the industry. Intellectual Property protection. Security of payment transactions. Marketing Strategy: We aim to maximise our new e-business strategy and initiative be deploying online promotions, search engine strategies, co-marketing branding with customers and partners, new media advertisements and global brand development. Section Five: Public Image Organisational Goal: Our primary goal is to be a global logistics provider and the premier logistics company providing specialized services to manufacturing firms with a strong base in Asia. We have however clearly defined four essential areas that this project is focused on with supporting performance measures:  §Ã‚   Improve management efficiency  §Ã‚   Virtual meetings and collaborations.  §Ã‚   Reduced logistics cost  §Ã‚   Increased Time Deliveries  §Ã‚   Reports and event management  §Ã‚   Security and trust issues  §Ã‚   Provide secure login for partners, customers and employees.  §Ã‚   Controlling access levels.  §Ã‚   Better Customer Service  §Ã‚   Provide Online Enquiry  §Ã‚   Online viewing and real-time tracking of parcels.  §Ã‚     Provide remote consultation services  §Ã‚   Online registration and bill payment  §Ã‚   Bigger Participation and Future Opportunities  §Ã‚   For other logistics companies and potential Partners.  §Ã‚   Identifying consolidation opportunities or possible global mergers.  §Ã‚   Supports RFID technology. Our foundation as an efficient and reliable logistics provider is built on the hard work and integrity in our operations which we have emphasized from the inception of the company.   We would continue to utilize this while we aim at being responsive to new technology needs in order to improve our efficiency and keep the trust of our clients. With regards to software capability, it was important that it was customized to meet our specific needs with our focus on a paperless system based on flexibility and reduction in freight costs and increased delivery times. Security and Privacy Issues: The following issues form the framework for our policy on security and privacy issues: Data Protection: This is an important law gaining global attention with regional legislations particularly in the US and European commission. Our goal will be to ensure that all private information is obtained by obtained by fair and lawful means; relevant to the purposes for which they are to be used; should be protected with reasonable security measures to prevent unauthorized access, destruction or modification. Financial Transactions: It is essential that all payments and transfer of money is done securely and that is in line with the company’s goal of transparency and fairness. Intellectual Property: Trademark and intellectual property of our customers will be adequately protected. E-mail and communication: We would use secured e-mail communication and create effective firewalls to protect both incoming and outgoing e-mail. It is essential that communication is sent to the right department and our collaboration software ensures this with the encryption of sensitive communication. Risk Assessment: Clearly the major risk issues is Security and Technical faults . Our desire however is to turn this to a strategic marketing tool by ensuring emphasis on secure transactions. To mitigate these risks, we have done the following We have engaged IBM, a global player and foremost e-business consulting company. Ensuring that Technology used is relevant, secure and flexible to support future business changes. We have put offline software capabilities and procedures to deal with possible downtimes and internet failures. We are aware of lose of revenues by companies due to technical faults and will preempt this. Developed efficient service levels and procedures for timely intervention. Communication Strategy: We would effectively communicate and educate our customers, suppliers and partners as to the effective use of our systems for maximum benefit and ensure that responsibility is taken for our technology. We would emphasise the convenience, efficiency and the interactive experience that our e-commerce initiative provides. Section Six: Information Strategy (2) Information Gathering: As important as technology is, information is the basis and information is essential to make the business successful. As part of the initial process, the company has looked at what information is necessary to ensure we operate efficiently and provide the quality of service that we desire. It is therefore essential that information is carefully designed and assess should be monitored to ensure that it is used only for official purposes. Privacy is very important to also protect confidential information as some of our clients are competitors to each other to ensure that we operate ethically. It is also necessary to ensure proper reporting and performance measurement to enhance the future direction of this project. The figure below shows the major enterprise units and some sample information needs. Figure 2: Our Value Chain As a result of our position in the supply chain business, it is important that we ensure efficient use of information between the interacting organisations and units as shown in the figure above. A typical situation is to get an order from our customers’ manufacturing locations to our central warehouse where the order is confirmed based on inventory availability. Inventory is also automatically connected to our supplier chains who supply components once the set reorder level is reached. This same process occurs with the product retailers and individual customers who order our customer products. The essence is to maintain a just-in-time supply chain that maximises the efficiency of the value chain and reduces cost associated with poor forecast. Whenever a product or component is shipped based on an order, an invoice is automatically issued which is settled through online transactions and transfers. On the other hand, the supply chain system links with the company’s relevant departments particularly the accounts and logistics supports units.    Problems with Information Flow Dealing with different companies in the chain presents bottlenecks that hinder communication. Privacy Constraints and Data Protection differences across countries.    Strategy to enhance Information flow efficiency Work with companies, suppliers and partners who understand the value of efficient Technology and accept our strategy. Build a Customer Service Team to handle Information Keep communications from management to front office staff open at all stages of the project and with implementation. Make Excellence Customer Service the basis of our e-business project. Give ownership to everyone so that all employees can be part of improving the project and contributing to future changes. Section Seven: Future Operation and Development RFID Integration: In the long term, our business strategy is to maximize the opportunities that are available for global partnerships with other logistics providers in areas where we are not too strong, while we provide similar support in our primary area. One major benefit of the project is its suitability and implementation of RFID which is gaining global attention particularly for the logistics sector. We are conscious that this is a trend that will be the standard for the future and with this project have positioned ourselves for its implementation in a year’s time. What makes the RFID technology interesting and important?   Whereas barcodes only identify the product, RFID tags can tell what the product is, where it has been, it’s expiry date and any other information required for the product. This makes information retrieval and access automatic and complete on its own. It’ will produce adequate information about when and where merchandise is manufactured, picked, packed and shipped so that data can be stored, transmitted in real-time and shared with warehouse management, inventory management, financial and other enterprise systems. Another benefit of RFIDs is that, unlike barcodes, RFID tags can be read automatically by electronic readers. Imagine a truck carrying a container full of widgets entering a shipping terminal in China. If the container is equipped with an RFID tag, and the terminal has an RFID sensor network, that container’s whereabouts can be automatically sent to Prime Technologies without the truck ever slowing down. It has the potential to add a substantial amount of visibility into the extended supply chain. The only issue in its implementation is the cost and the fact that it will still take a couple of years before it becomes a global standard. This project has increased the potential of possible collaboration through the use of web services through which data is shared and transmitted to enhance communication between companies. Our positioning to enhance our future strategic goals will be in line with the following: Our initial strategy aimed at expanding globally will result in the implementation of our e-business project that is aimed at ensuring that we can track goods in transit and provide our customers with real-time information. The implementation of RFID to help efficient tracking of parcels and increase our efficiency at warehouses. The four major groups that our company has include: Customers that we provide complete logistics solutions for including shipping, transportation to and from factory. Customers that we provide warehousing services alone. Customers that we provide warehousing and shipping of components and materials to their factories but who handle their own distribution. Customers who handle their own warehousing but leave transportation and logistics to us. It is clear that our e-business project is essential to all these groups but will be more critical to the companies that use our operations completely. We are certain that this will enhance our ability to effectively increase our customer base in all these sectors. Strategy to Enhance Future Value While e-business benefits may be difficult to measure, we will keep working on performance measurement of the project to ensure that value is generated and sustained. That we utilise simple technology that will be easily scalable and flexible to enhance future possible changes using open-source technology as much as possible. Sensitive to cultural and language barriers in the use of technology. Employee participation, training and motivation to make everyone involved in project development. The project must continue to improve convenience, efficiency and security for all users and stakeholders. References Kendra Bonnett, An IBM guide to doing business on the internet. Mcgraw Hill. 2000. Charles Trepper, E-commerce Strategies. Microsoft Press. 2000. Charles Trepper (2000) E-Commerce Strategies. Published by Microsoft Press. 10 – 11, http://www.cio.com/research/scm/edit/012202_scm.html#scm_emerging (assessed February 18) http://www.forfas.ie/publications/ebus_ict_leg02/021029_ebusiness_ict_leg_pressrelease_s.pdf (assessed February 21) http://www.usherproject.org.uk/support/scenarios/legal.pdf

Google Management and Google Essay

Google Management and Google Essay Google: Management and Google Essay Assignment Option #1: Case Study Analysis- Building a Better Boss Jason Roberts Course Number & Course Name Instructor Name 10/5/2014 Google has been a successful company and has been among Fortune Magazine’s Top 50 Best Places to Work since 2008 (Solomon, 2008). For much of its 13 year history, particularly the early years, Google has taken a pretty simple approach to management: Leave people alone. Let the engineers do their stuff. If they become stuck, they’ll ask their bosses, whose deep technical expertise propelled them into management in the first place. Laszlo Bock, Google’s vice president for â€Å"people operations,† which is Google-speak for human resources embarked for change with Project Oxygen. Mr. Bock’s group found that technical expertise, the ability, say, to write computer code in your sleep, ranked dead last among Google’s big eight. What employees valued most were even-keeled bosses who made time for one-on-one meetings, who helped people puzzle through problems by asking questions, not dictating answers, and who took an interest in employees’ l ives and careers (Bryant, 2011). â€Å"In the Google context, we’d always believed that to be a manager, particularly on the engineering side, you need to be as deep or deeper a technical expert than the people who work for you,† Mr. Bock says. â€Å"It turns out that that’s absolutely the least important thing. It’s important, but pales in comparison. What is much more important is just making that connection and being accessible† (Bryant, 2011). Henry Foyal was the first person to identify elements or functions of management in his classic 1916 book Administration Industrielle et Generale. According to Fayol, commanding as a managerial function concerned the personal supervision of subordinates and involved inspiring them to put forth unified effort to achieve objectives. Fayol emphasized the importance of managers understanding the people who worked for them, setting a good example, treating subordinates in a manner consistent with firm policy, delegating, and communicating through meetings and conferences (Anderson & Pulich, 2002). Google quickly determined this approach did not work for the type of organization they wanted. History and the manifestation of new theory have shown functions of management as described by Fayol and others of the process school of management were not an accurate description of the reality of managers' jobs. Chief among the critics of the functional approach was Henry Mintzberg (Anderson & Pulich, 2002). Mintzberg argued that the functional or process school of management was "folklore" and that functions of management such as planning, organizing, leading, and controlling did not accurately depict the chaotic nature of managerial work. He felt that the functional approach to the managerial job falsely conveyed a sense that managers carefully and deliberately evaluated information before making management decisions (Anderson & Pulich, 2002). Based upon an observational study of five executives, Mintzberg concluded that the work managers actually performed could best be represented by three sets of roles, or activities: interpersonal roles, informational roles, and decision-making roles. He described the interpersonal roles as consisting of figurehead, leader, and liaison. He identified three informational roles: monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson. Finally, he described four decision-making roles that included entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator (Robbins & De Cenzo). Mintzberg’s roles are not intended to be prescriptive. Instead, they serve as a looking glass, providing manager with insight into how they spend their time and, drawing attention to problems can go a long way towards remedying them (Have

Free Essays on George Washigton

#1 George Washington is best known as the â€Å"Father of our Country.† He cared for this country much like a parent would care for a child. During his presidency, he solved many noteworthy problems. His achievements led to a democratic, wonderful country we like to call The United States of America. Although he’s not thought of as glamorous, George Washington is looked upon with the utmost respect and awe by all countries of the world. George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia on February 22, 1732. He was the oldest son of a Virginia farmer. Washington received most of his education at home. When he was 17 he was appointed surveyor of Culpeper County, Virginia. In 1752 Washington inherited Mount Vernon, in Fairfax County. The same year he was appointed adjutant of the southern district of Virginia, a full-time salaried appointment, carrying the rank of major. He wanted to eventually secure a commission in the regular British army. In 1753, Virginia was alarmed when a French expedition from Canada established posts on the headwaters of the Ohio River. Conflict over this area eventually erupted into the French and Indian War, in which Washington played a major military role that established his reputation as a commander. In the fall of 1758 the French were defeated. In 1759 he married Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy young widow. Washington matured into a solid member of Virginia society. From 1759 to 1774 he served in the House of Burgesses. By 1774 Washington had become a key supporter of the colonial cause. That same year he was elected to the First Continental Congress. In 1775 the Second Continental Congress elected Washington commander in chief of its army. In July Washington arrived in Massachusetts, where the battles at #2 Lexington and Concord had been fought. The British pulled back most of their troops to winter in New York City, leaving scattered garrisons of German mercenaries in New... Free Essays on George Washigton Free Essays on George Washigton #1 George Washington is best known as the â€Å"Father of our Country.† He cared for this country much like a parent would care for a child. During his presidency, he solved many noteworthy problems. His achievements led to a democratic, wonderful country we like to call The United States of America. Although he’s not thought of as glamorous, George Washington is looked upon with the utmost respect and awe by all countries of the world. George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia on February 22, 1732. He was the oldest son of a Virginia farmer. Washington received most of his education at home. When he was 17 he was appointed surveyor of Culpeper County, Virginia. In 1752 Washington inherited Mount Vernon, in Fairfax County. The same year he was appointed adjutant of the southern district of Virginia, a full-time salaried appointment, carrying the rank of major. He wanted to eventually secure a commission in the regular British army. In 1753, Virginia was alarmed when a French expedition from Canada established posts on the headwaters of the Ohio River. Conflict over this area eventually erupted into the French and Indian War, in which Washington played a major military role that established his reputation as a commander. In the fall of 1758 the French were defeated. In 1759 he married Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy young widow. Washington matured into a solid member of Virginia society. From 1759 to 1774 he served in the House of Burgesses. By 1774 Washington had become a key supporter of the colonial cause. That same year he was elected to the First Continental Congress. In 1775 the Second Continental Congress elected Washington commander in chief of its army. In July Washington arrived in Massachusetts, where the battles at #2 Lexington and Concord had been fought. The British pulled back most of their troops to winter in New York City, leaving scattered garrisons of German mercenaries in New...

Management accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

Management accounting - Essay Example Those are financial perspective, customer perspective, internal perspective and learning and growth perspective. Financial perspective focuses on long term shareholder value. It is driven by cost efficiency and revenue growth. Performance of an organization towards the customer can be assessed on the price, service, brand, availability and quality. Regarding the internal perspective, it is based on the customer management process, operations management process, innovation process and regulatory and social process. For learning and growth, an organization should take care of human and organizational capital along with informational capital. Balance Score Card measure can be of four types. The lead indicator is an early warning measure, mainly used in learning and growth perspective. Lagging measure provides past data e.g. the data of previous year or previous quarter. It may not be reliable for future performance. The third measure is that of efficiency measure. It provides a clear vi ew about the functioning of a process. An example of this is the productivity measure. Last one is that of effective measure. It identifies the lack on the production and subsequently provides instruction on the quality. Management accounting is the process of preparing accounts and present all statistical and financial information required by the managers to take any short term decision. In case of management accounting, the targeted audience is the internal management unlike financial accounting that mainly serves for the external audience such as shareholders, creditors etc. It is also known as managerial accounting (Business Dictionary, n.d.). The management accountants are mainly involved in designing the business process, forecasting and budgeting and monitoring internal control. They even synthesize all the information to derive the economic value (IMA, 2008). Veolia Water is a leading water providing company in North

Technologies Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Technologies - Assignment Example Recently gaming is being developed to run on web based platforms usually through cloud frameworks. All these are just but a few of the approaches the web dimension is availing to provide alternative solutions to stand alone systems. Overview The Sanix case study Sanix is a major accounting firm with that deals with auditing of accounts for both medium and small scale enterprises (SME). At the moment they rely in their distributed branches situated in major cities in United Kingdom. These branches are more specifically located in Bristol, Chester, Derby, Leeds, Westminster and London which is the company’s headquarters. At the onset of automating its accounting business, Sanix outsourced development of its accounting software from Brists Software, a company that is a major software developer for large enterprise system. The software was fully licensed to Sanix and it was to facilitate the processing of accounting figures, generate graphical reports and charts, carry out financi al analysis and keep track of all audited contracts. A copy of the software was distributed to all branches and performed its roles independently. Because the system was incorporated almost 10 years ago, Sanix have felt that the system has fallen short of addressing its new challenges. This has been greatly outweighed by new taxation policies and rates that have been introduced in the recent times by U.K government and which its legacy accounting system does not support. Furthermore Sanix have been outstretched by the accumulated data they handle that works beyond the system’s capacity which demands not only a scalable system but also a networked environment. Recently Sanix have also spread its operations to four other smaller towns in remote U.K and mangling these new centers has become rigid and cumbersome. This is accrued to the lack of real time based accounting systems. All these have created bureaucratic tendencies in how they track contracts as well as added costs in e mploying more IT personnel to support their systems from distributed points. Convectional organization of current system The diagram below describes how Sanix’s present accounting system operates Analysis of the problem From Sanix problem statement, with regards to the use of their convectional desktop based software, there are several needs that present itself. These are: the need for scalability that is the need for a system that accommodates flexibility as requirements evolve over time. Secondly is the need for control (Grove, 2009 ). This requires a system that supports a distributed operation but one which can be handled from a centralized point of view. Also the need for a cost effective solution that is affordable to acquire and maintain. Web-based Application as a solution Suitability of web based approach Web based approach comes along with immense solutions that justifies itself as the best option to Sanix’s operation challenges. These are as follows: First o f all web based applications are cross platform. This is unlike the use of traditional installed software that has to be developed exclusively on given operating system. In this case Sanix have been running their accounting software on windows XP platform (Vincent Wade, 2006). This has often forced the company to rely on window based operating systems in order for its systems’ to run. With the adoption of a web based applica