Marketing Plan for a Mobile Application Business Plan Coursework

Marketing Plan for a Mobile Application Business Plan - Coursework Example There is extensive requirement of a holistic time management applications in the market, which Personal Time Manager would be able to fulfill. It would be able to assist people to plan out their official and personal activities (Blythe, 2009). Apart from managing the office projects, the time management apps would be also helpful in tracking progress and reminding the user, whether his/ her daily goals are met or not. A single app capable of managing, tracking and reminding every detail would be surely a unique selling proposition (USP) for the company. Moreover, this app would be able to grab the customer base of those apps which do not have multiple usages. This section would be including a comprehensive analysis of the marketing plan for Personal Time Manager. Aspects like market segment, target customers, competitors, buyers, and strategies would be also included in the domain of this marketing plan. 5.1 Marketing Segmentation Market segmentation is a part of the marketing strate gy which assists in segregating the consumers in homogeneous groups based on their needs, preferences, and other criteria. Though there are many products for which segmentation is not required because these are manufactured for the mass, but in this case the product or service is a paid time management application for Smartphone users, such as for customers using Iphone, Android based phones, Mac or iPad. Segmenting the market would assist the company to choose and identify the segment that they want to target for their product or service. However, users of mobile applications can be segregated on the basis of their age, gender, income level, as well as usage (Brassington and Pettitt, 2007). The users or customers can be segregated on the basis of their income level, need for time management, and frequency of usage. Income level is considered because generally students do not prefer to buy apps for mobile phones. They rather download freeware from internet; while professional prefer to have paid services because they find them secure, original and convenient. Further, they also extensively require time management apps to fit in every function within scheduled time. The frequency of usage in such cases is high. Even companies buy such apps for their employees, and it is used consistently in the organizations for scheduling daily operational functions (Buono, and Savall, 2007). 5.2 Competitor Analysis The market of mobile applications is extremely competitive because there is abundant availability of mobile apps. Even when there are various freeware in the market, there is a wide user base for paid time management and productivity apps. In such a scenario, Personal time Manager will face difficulty in the market (Evans, Ahmad, and Foxall, 2009). Personal Time Manager would face competitors like Microsoft OneNote, SmartTime, Microsoft CloudOn, OmniFocus, SpringPad, Wunderlist 2, Google QuickOffice Pro HD, MediaFire, Astrid tasks, Google Docs, Evernote, Remember t he Milk, Any. DO, Toggl Online Timer, TeamWeek, Spotify, Checklist Wrangler, Shopper, Remind You, Things, and many more (Mobi Thinking, 2013). Most of these applications assist the mobile users to keep track of their time, tasks, documents and online files, but none of them can claim to be

Quoting & Paraphrasing (dp4) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Quoting & Paraphrasing (dp4) - Essay Example One should always explain the quotes after using them. A proper analysis of the quotes should always be given in the text. In relation to the above, one should avoid using the quotes as padding. Whenever one omits unnecessary words in a quote, it is important that he or she uses ellipsis in the text. This use of ellipsis should be followed by a space before starting another word. Other than the above, the material has successfully shed light on how to set up a quotation as well as follow up the same quotation. This involves providing contexts for each quotation as well as attributing each and every quotation to their sources. Another way to set up and follow such quotations involves elucidating the importance of such quotations as well as citing those quotations. The material has also exhaustively suggested ways to embed quotations in sentences. These involve attributing the quote to the speaker. This can take the form of either introduction or conclusion. This should be followed by the use of grammatically correct words within the sentence quoted. The material has also dwelt exhaustively on how to combine quotation marks with other punctuation marks. The second material talks about the issue of paraphrasing. This comprises of some of the ways to paraphrase as well as what needs to be considered in order to avoid plagiarism when paraphrasing. According to the material, some of the ways or methods of paraphrasing involves writing whatever one has understood after reading a source. This involves identifying the key ideas or kernel sentences. These should be effectively combined into new sentences without losing the meaning of the original source. These two documents have exhaustively concentrated on the field of paraphrasing as well as the use of quotation marks. The contents within these two materials are very good. They have good information that contributes a great deal towards informing the readers of some of the

Histroy week1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Histroy week1 - Assignment Example Furthermore, history is important to individuals and society given that it harbors the immense beauty of the world. Besides, through numerous ways, history is discussed in order to understand real functions of subjects; in fact, this based on the talents and paths towards understanding meaning of history. Therefore, various definitions in history are utilized to understand fundamental facts identified in the present world. History is also considered a laboratory, where data that was gathered during past event can be accessed, and this can be applied in the quest to understand complexity of occurrences in the present. For instance, history has been applied in understanding of complexity among different species and their behaviors in social settings. History is unavoidable and it offers all-embracing ground that is evidential based on analysis of different functions regarding specific people. Therefore, understanding history help in embracing and acknowledging simplicity of the way peo ple live or coexist in the world. 2. What have been some important events in your personal history? Some of the most important events in my personal history regard to transitions from one way of life to another. For instance, moving out from home and living in order to earn a living and live independently. Though this was accompanied by challenges such as boredom due to change of environment, I was able to recover and proceed to live a good life. Besides, the day that I joined the university was a significant day that marked achievement of my academic objectives. Therefore, I consider my personal history to be important since it offers a basis of evaluation. Moreover, history helps me to determine the extent to which I have managed to achieve my personal objectives. I consider fundamental reasons of studying history to be based on diverse application of in my life. History serves a real purpose through its grounds based on human understanding of events in peoples’ lives. For instance, a story about a person’s live can be done in a way that reveals their functionalities and societies. In this way, history has prompted my thoughts regarding my experiences in life in terms of time and places. Therefore, my goals are sources of inspiration to make effort in reconstructing remote past, which is withdrawn from immediate present day utilization. To me, the encounters are very good as they nurtured my talent, hardened me to be able to handle challenging situation that do arise during my undertakings. This is because both positive and negative challenges we encounter offer an ample ground for learning various aspects of life interaction. 3. What do you know about your family’s history? I was unable to gather information regarding my ancestors due to lack of relevant sources of information. However, some of the relevant information concerning our family’s history regarded, where my parents lived after they got married and before I was born. I managed to access may family’s history of medical records, which indicated a number of significant issues; therefore, history has a great benefit in understanding various occurrences in the present. For instance, I wondered why I ended up to live in the neighborhood that I live in now; in fact, I realized that my ancestors were living in the same area. The historical information gathered can be very

Operations Management in Daimond Manufacturing Essay Example for Free

Operations Management in Daimond Manufacturing Essay Definition Operation Management is the activity of managing the resources which produce and deliver goods and services (Slack et al, 2010). These activities commences from the very initial production stage of information gathering right up to the final stage of consumer consumption of the product. Every organization does operation management even if they do not notice it. All organizations produce goods and/or services and to create goods and/or services, the organization must perform a number of operations which must be effectively and efficiently managed. 1. 2 Role of Operations Management Operations Management is of prime importance in all sectors, cells, functions, units and groups within the organization. An organization is a system and according to the business dictionary, (http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/system. html) a system is ‘An organized, purposeful structure that consists of interrelated and interdependent elements (components, entities, factors, members, parts etc. ). These elements continually influence one another (directly or indirectly) to maintain their activity and the existence of the system, in order to achieve the goal of the system’. Read more: http://www. usinessdictionary. com/definition/system. html#ixzz2QSyXAP1f . All employees are part of this system and have a common interest in making the consumer to receive goods and/or services in the best way possible. So I will say every manager in every part of the organization is to some extent an operational manager. According to James (2011), the role of operations manag ement is to manage the transformation of an organization’s inputs into finished goods and services using processes. Processes are actually present in all areas of the organization from Human Resource to Finance to Marketing to Procurement etc. 1. The ‘Input – Transformation – Output’ process Resources can either be transforming resources or transformed resources. After the transformation process is complete, transforming resources give rise to transformed resources. According to James (2011), there are 2 main types of transforming resources: * Facility which comprises of land, building, plant and equipment. * Staff which comprises of everyone involved in the operation process. There are 3 main types of transformed resources: * Material. Transformation can be physical (manufacturing), by location (transportation), by storage (warehousing), or by ownership (retail). Information. Transformation can be by property (accountant’s information), by p ossession (market research), by storage (libraries) or by location (telecommunication). * Customer. Transformation can either be physical (plastic surgery), by storage (hotel accommodation), by location (airline transport), by physiological state (hospital), or by psychological state (entertainment). Input Output Input that will be transformed * Material * Information * Customer Input that will transform * People * Facility * Goods * Services Transformation Input Output Input that will be transformed * Material * Information * Customer Input that will transform * People * Facility * Goods * Services Transformation Figure 1: The ‘Input-Transformation-Output’ process 2 Operations Strategy 2. 1 Definition Strategy is defined by Johnson et al, (2008) as ‘the direction and scope of an organization over the long term: ideally, which matches its resources to its changing environment and in particular its markets, customers or clients so as to meet stakeholder expectations. ’ 3. 2 Levels of Strategy Strategy can be viewed from 3 levels which are: The Corporate level: This level looks at the long term position of the company. It answers questions like ‘where will the organization be in 10 years? Or are we going to launch a new product in a new market? ’ The Business level: This level looks at the market and is concerned with the goods and services which the organization has to offer. It answers questions like ‘how do we compete? ’ The Functional level: This level deals with the functional aspect of the organization like finance, marketing, human resource etc. It answers questions like ‘how do we manage our financial resources’. . 3 Operations Strategy Operations strategy is the total pattern of decisions which shape the long-term capabilities of any operation and their contribution to overall strategy, through the reconciliation of market requirements with operations resources (Slack and Lewis, 2011). A 5 step structure has been designed by Hill (2005) so as to design and understand a goo d operation strategy. The steps are as follows: 1. Define Corporate Objectives Here, long term objectives are set-up so as to give the company balance and a good direction. At this stage, Sparkle does environmental scanning and the company also looks at its core competences, core processes and its global objectives. Performance Indicators (KPIs) are also established here so as monitor the accomplishment of these objectives. Top management uses a number of models which includes PESTEL, SWOT and Porter’s 5 forces. See appendix A. 2. Set Marketing Strategies Here Sparkle identifies the market it wants to compete in and then it looks on how to compete in these markets. Ansoff’s matrix is used. | New Product| Existing Product| NewMarket| Diversification| Market Development| Existing Market| Product Development| Market Penetration/ Market Growth| Figure 5: Ansoff Matrix. Source: Kaplan Financial Ltd, 2008. Sparkle uses the market penetration/market growth pathway for now. With time, they will start manufacturing out of the UK thus implementing the market development strategy. It is yet not known if they are thinking of one day starting up the production of a new product. 3. How do we gain competitive advantage? At this stage of Hill’s structure, the organization is to find ways to make its product win other products in the market. For this to happen, the organization must have a base to make its competition and this base is usually one or more of the following performance objectives: speed, quality, cost, dependability and flexibility. See chapter 3. Sparkle uses the above performance objectives to gain competitive advantage but it must be noted that, competitive advantage must: * Be real * Add value (to the consumer) and * Be difficult to imitate. 4. Choose a delivery system Here, the organization has to choose an appropriate delivery system so as to meet up with speed and maybe dependability. In Sparkle, most orders are icked up by the customer but if not, Sparkle uses their vans which have a high level of security for close distances or they post the jewelry for faraway distances. 5. Choose your Infrastructure The company at this phase has to choose all necessary infrastructures that it has to obtain so as to gain an edge over its competitors in the market. Different organizations in different industries wi ll need different types of infrastructures. But in the diamond manufacture industry, the infrastructures are almost the same and can hardly give competitive advantage. 3 Performance Objectives In the present congested and very competitive business environment, companies must do something extra so as to stand out of the crowd. For them to do this, they must react to what customers value and these fall into the following category. They are called performance objectives. 1. Cost 2. Quality 3. Dependability 4. Reliability 5. Speed Sparkle is aware of the tight competition in the diamond market and it takes its performance objectives very seriously so as to gain competitive advantage. Before achieving the above performance objectives, they must achieve the 4 Cs (see appendix B). * Cost. The principle of cost is doing things cheaply. Sparkle changes its processes, its materials and its suppliers every now and then so as to operate on a lower cost scale. They buy rough diamonds directly from the companies who buy them from the mine and sometimes the make orders directly from the mine so as to reduce cost because the more intermediaries there are, the higher the final price. They sometimes buy more rough diamonds than what the actually need so as to gain discount for bulk buying. They automate most of their processes to reduce the number of hours worked by human beings thus reducing total wages. Quality. This involves producing durable high standard error-free goods that consumers perceived to the good. In the fashion business, quality is king because consumers are becoming more conscious of what they wear. One can say that everything in the diamond industry is of good quality so in this kind of high standard industry, quality is not the issue but superb quality. Spark le buys the best of the rough stones which are hand-picked one after the other so that their final product will be of the best quality and they will have very little waste during production. * Dependability. This is doing everything on time so as to keep commitments and promises made to customers. Sparkle has a track record and reputation of never keeping its customers waiting. Customers’ diamonds are always fully processed before the pick-up date. Customers love coming to this organization because they know they can rely on them when it comes to delivery. There was a scandal in March 2008 in Real Diamonds where a couple arrange for their wedding rings costing thousands of pounds to be manufactured but the company was unable to meet up with the due date so the couple had to use different rings for the wedding. Flexibility. This is being able to change what you produce or how you produce it. Sparkle is very flexible in regards to their products because they produce apparently anything requested by the customer. We pride ourselves on being different, you won’t find our jewelry just anywhere, we appreciate that you want something special to you (Source: sparlediamonds. com/abo ut). They manufacture dressing rings, marriage rings, engagement rings, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, bangles and designers jewelry out of diamond. Over the years, they have come up with different diamond designs thought by others as impossible and have now gained a name as being the company that uses diamond to manufacture anything and everything. On the other hand, their production process is flexible too but not very flexible. They change little bits of their production process all the time to cut down cost and to increase the quality of the diamonds but this change is never a big change (process improvement). Figure 5: Different items made out of diamond. Source: * Speed. This can be described as how responsive an organization is to the customers’ demands and complain. It is a measure of the time between a customer’s order or complain to the time when that customer’s order or complain is sorted out fully. Sparkle is very fast in dealing with complains. Any customer who comes to the company with a complaint is not allowed to leave when the matter concerned has not been resolved. Complains made online take a maximum of 2 working days to be dealt with and those by post takes a little more time. Figure 5: Different colors of diamond. Source: 4 Product Design . 1 Definition Product/service design is the process of defining the specification of products and/or services in order for them to fulfill a specific market need (Slack et al, 2009). According to Russell and Taylor (2009), new product designs can provide a competitive edge by bringing new ideas to the market quickly, doing a better job of satisfying customers’ needs, or be ing easier to manufacture, use and repair. Product design is of great importance in any organization because consumers are becoming more and more conscious of the products they consume and their contents. Almost everybody in the organization is involved in product design because bringing in a new product design is not just about the market requirement but it is also about anticipating future demand and this needs imagination and creativity. In coming out with a good product design, market requirements, technical issues, cost, quality, investment information and the target market must be considered and dealt with appropriately. Diamond design ‘step by step’ Various steps are followed when coming out with a good diamond design. 1. Generating Ideas Ideas to bring up a new diamond designs can come from anywhere and comes from everywhere. Some organizations look only within the organization and come up with a diamond design but this approach is very dangerous because it can easily back fire leading to a poor design. Ideas in Sparkle usually come from: * The customers who will use the product. Most at times, the customer comes to the organization with a design in mind. The design team in the organization then sits with the customer and adds ideas to perfect the customer’s request. * The employees who serve the customers. These groups of persons know exactly what customers wants because they are the people who take customers specifications, demands and complaints. They play an important role in the creation of a new design. * Competitors and any new technology. Sparkle sometimes looks at the designs of its competitors like Avi Paz and tries to modify it so as to create something better than theirs. * Research and Development (Ramp;D) Department. One of their major roles in the organization is to look for new possible designs which will entice customers. It is at this stage that the diamond color, size, weight, cut grade, clarity grade, carat weight, laser inscription and shape is decided. Figure 4: Computer simulated diamond designing in progress. Source: www. sparklediamonds. com 2. Product Screening According to Slack et al (2009), not all concepts and ideas generated will be capable of being developed into products and/or services. Each idea generated is taken and examined to see whether or not they are acceptable, feasible and vulnerable. Fig 5 illustrates. Figure 5| Some typical evaluation questions for marketing, operations and finance. | Evaluation Criteria| Marketing| Operations| Finance| Feasibility| Is the market likely to be big enough? | Do we have capabilities to produce it? Do we have access to sufficient finance to develop and launch it? | Acceptability| How much market share could it gain? | How much will we have to reorganize our activities to produce it? | How much financial return will there be on our investment? | Vulnerability| What is the risk of it failing in the market place? | What is the risk of us being able to produce it acceptable? | How much money could we lose if things do not go as planned? | Fi g 5: Slack et al (2009) Some typical evaluation questions for marketing, operations and finance [e-book] p. 89 3. Preliminary Design At this stage, the design is reviewed by the cutters and polishers to see if the can really produce the diamond and any unnecessary complexity in the diamond’s design is eliminated because such complexities can build cost. For example; there are some unnecessary and unnoticed cuts in a diamond’s design but these cuts could split the whole diamond if not done carefully. Because customers will not even notice the additional cuts and even if they do, they will not be willing to pay an addition for it so the cuts are eliminated. Figure 4: Different diamond designs (drawing). Source: Figure 4: Different diamond designs. Source: 4. Final Design After all the above has been done, a prototype is then created out of glass and tested to see if it meets market requirements, technical requirements and the financial limit. Tangible prototypes are created and virtual (computer simulations) model too to properly assess the diamond before production goes any further. Sometimes, customers are called in to see the prototype and give their feedback from which some adjustments may be made on the product’s design. An after acceptance, diamond cutting commences. Figure 5: Prototype diamond made out of fine glass. Source: 5 Process Design 5. 1 Definition Process design is Sequence of interdependent and linked procedures which, at every stage, consume one or more resources (employee time, energy, machines, money) to convert inputs (data, material, parts, etc. ) into outputs. These outputs then serve as inputs for the next stage until a known goal or end result is reached (www. businessdictionary. com). Read more: http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/process. tml#ixzz2QTQAtoBi When deciding a product design, it is advisable to simultaneously come up with a matching process design. This will entail the flow of the process and Barnes (2008) said that the design of processes is different in all organizations and these designs will be based on the volume and variety of the demand for the product in the market. He further categorized the processes under project, jobbing, batch, line and conti nuous. Types of Processes There are different production processes namely project, jobbing, batch, line and continuous. See Appendix C. Sparkle is in a business of very expensive products which are very small in size so they do jobbing. Customers usually give orders which are produced by the company (make to order). They usually hold little or no fully-processed inventory. The Production Process Diamond ore is sorted by density using X-rays. Before that technology became available, grease belts were used to separate diamonds from the rest of the ore, due to the diamonds greater tendency than other minerals to stick to grease. Rough diamonds are then set to be cut as gemstones in the cutting laboratory. A diamond has different cuts and different professional specialize on different cuts. This is the most daunting task of diamond production because a bad cut will cost the company a fortune. Figure 5: Diamond plan before cutting. Source Cutting produces the facets associated with a diamond. The angles of the facets maximize light, giving the diamond its greatest possible luster (dispersion of white light). The cutting process can take as much as 50% of a rough diamonds weight. Figure 5: Illustration of diamond facets. Source: A number of factors come into play when deciding how a diamond should be cut. X-rays are employed to analyze the stones crystallographic structure, its hardness and ability to cleave. The diamonds flaws are considered, and the cutter decides which to remove and which can remain. Either a hammer or a diamond saw can be used to split the diamond – the hammer is quicker, but the saw is surer. Figure 5: Diamond cutting. Source: A number of institutes in the diamond industry offer courses for diamond cutters, but the bulk and most crucial part of the training for this delicate trade take place during the cutters apprenticeship. A diamond may get its final cut from many skilled hands: the diamond marker or designer; the diamond sawyer; the diamond cutter or brute; the cross-worker; and the brillianteer. After the initial cutting, diamonds undergo the polishing stages, usually performed by a technician as the process is a standard one. Polished diamonds are reexamined for flaws, which can be addressed through enhancement techniques or disguised when set in jewelry. Figure 5: Diamond Polishing. Source: Finally, the polished diamonds are sold to individuals, retailers, wholesalers and jewelry shops. Figure 5: Diamond quality check. Source 6 Planning, Control ;amp; Innovation In any good type of project or manufacture to be successful, it must be planned at the very beginning and at the end, it has to be controlled to make sure that the planned processes and cost is not very different from the actual. Businesses must also continuously innovate so as to move line to line with the changing tastes of consumers and to beat numerous designs from competitors. 6. 1 Planning Eur says this about planning â€Å"It lists the phases and encapsulates all the main parameters, standards and requirements of the project in terms of time, cost and quality/performance by setting out the ‘Why’, ‘What’, ‘When’, ‘Who’, ‘Where’, and ‘How’, of the project. † Planning therefore looks at the entire process, product and project but in an imaginary form which has not yet happened but it is wished that it should happen that way. 6. 1. 1 Advantages of Planning 1. It gives direction of what has to be done and how it has to be done. 2. It assigns responsibilities on every person thus answering â€Å"Who does what? 3. A good plan will see problems a project, product or process will encounter before the problem strikes. 4. A plan helps us to manage cost, quality and design side by side with the profit we will want to make on the product. 5. Plans are used to assess how well a product, process, p roject or person has done. 6. 1. 2 Disadvantages of Planning 1. It is usually made up by top management and given to the employees down the management ladder who just follow it. 2. Plans are usually followed to the latter. Even when some changes have to done, it is not because a plan is being followed. 3. Plans are usually just estimates and it has no use in turbulent economic environments as the plan and the actual are usually very different. 6. 2 Control Control involves measuring the actual results against the plan and then taking action to adjust actual performance so that it moves in line with the plan. So in other words, control is only possible when we have a plan. Control has a feedback phase and this involves adjusting the actual to move in line with the plan or reporting differences between actual and budget so that there may be no such discrepancies in the future. 6. 3 Innovation Innovation is defined by the oxford dictionary as â€Å"changing something established by introducing new methods, ideas or products. † Just like there is no control where there is no plan, there is no innovation where there is no control. They all rely on one another. After control has been done, feedback is sent back and improvement or innovation is made. But in the complex business environment operating now, innovation just not just come from within the company but from outside the company like from competitors and especially from the consumers due to the rapid change in customers taste, design and fashion. In the diamond manufacture industry, there are many different innovative ways manufacturing diamonds and Sparkle has had the following innovations: 1. The Supercut design Sparkle has introduced the innovative supercut design into the industry: a patented ideal emerald cut, with more than twice the facets of a traditional Emerald – providing unparalleled brilliance and fire. The culmination of three years of research, the supercut gives extraordinary brilliance and reflection and this innovation gives Sparkle competitive advantage in terms of having good designs with extraordinary glittering. 2. Precision cutting Since 2010, Sparkle has brought in a technology of cutting the diamonds using computer software and this cut is so exact that less than 0. 000002% waste is created from diamond cutting. Waste use to be about 0. 5% during diamond cutting and this innovation has caused drastic cost saving making Sparkle to be more competitive in terms of cost. 3. Sparkle offers a wide range of jewelry manufacturing processes, including design, modeling, prototyping, grooving, setting, finishing and meticulous quality control; all featuring our own fine diamonds, and designed for clients to sell under their private labels. . 4 The ‘Planning – Control – Innovation’ Cycle. From the above notes, it can be seen that planning, control and innovation work together. Sparkle’s cycle looks like this. Plan Procurement of unrefined stones. Process the stones into fine diamond. Sell and make a reasonable gain. Actual Procurement of unrefined stones. Process the stones into fine dia mond. Sell and make a reasonable gain. Control Looks at the difference between what was planned and what actually happened. External Information Customer specific design New tastes and fashion Design from competitors Market Research (Ramp;D) Feedback and Innovation Plan Procurement of unrefined stones. Process the stones into fine diamond. Sell and make a reasonable gain. Actual Procurement of unrefined stones. Process the stones into fine diamond. Sell and make a reasonable gain. Control Looks at the difference between what was planned and what actually happened. External Information Customer specific design New tastes and fashion Design from competitors Market Research (Ramp;D) Feedback and Innovation Figure 7. The ‘planning-control-innovation’ cycle. 6. Changes happening in the diamond industry. * Researchers are on the verge of bringing in new materials which reflect light better than diamond and these materials are stronger and more durable than diamond. But, they will be far cheaper than diamonds and this is going to be a big problem to diamond manufacturers as the demand for diamond will surely drop. An example is synthetic stones. * In response to growing concern over illicit trade in conflict or blood diamonds, the United Nations General Assembly established the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme in 2003. This scheme is going to make sure of the source of every single diamond so as to ensure that they are from a genuine source. This happening will increase the price of diamond because more than 55% of diamonds are from Africa and the mines there are operated by very cheap labor and sometimes by slaves, women and children. The UN will come in and stop this practice thus increasing the cost of labor, working conditions and ultimately the price for diamonds. 7 Quality Management Quality is one of the performance objectives and it is taken very seriously by all organizations because if achieved, may give them competitive advantage. Some organizations rely on quality more than others and the fashion and health industry takes quality as primary considering the fact that people want to look good and in good health. Quality is a matter of perception so what can be called quality for A might not necessarily be called quality for B. According to Garvin (1984), the attributes in quality for a product are: * Performance * Features * Reliability * Conformance * Durability * Serviceability * Aesthetics * Other perceptions Parasuraman et al. (1985), on the other hand listed 5 attributes in defining what is quality of a service? nd they are: * Reliability – Are we always going to get on time delivery? * Responsiveness – Are the always going to respond quickly to our demands and complaints? * Assurance – Are we assured of their competence? * Empathy – Does the organization feel and understand customers’ needs and concerns? * Tangibles – Is the physical surrounding conducive? 7. 1 Qu ality in the Organization But in relation to Sparkle, the best definition of quality is that as per Slack et al. (2009) â€Å"quality is consistent conformance to customers’ expectation† and I will say and even surpassing those expectations. Sparkle uses total quality management as their quality management technique. They look for means and ways to maintain and continuously improve quality at each stage of the production process. All employees meet once a month to discuss on how to improve the organization’s present performance. Books by Deming, Crosby, Juran, Hill and other total quality management gurus are in the company’s library and research department for employees to read and be motivated to contribute into the organization’s performance. All employees are made to know that quality and customer’s requirements being met comes before any other thing. The organization has a suggestion box where employees can write any inspiring idea that comes in mind and this box is emptied every day and read by the research staff and it is summarized and sent to the manager examine. 7. 2 The Cost of Quality Quality has a cost which is like a double-edged sword meaning that good quality will have a cost and bad quality will also have a cost. 7. 2. 1 The Cost of Good Quality This is also known as the cost of quality assurance. Sparkle has a lot of this cost because they are continuously always trying to get better in quality all over the organization so as to better serve customers’ needs. The cost of quality assurance is further divided into prevention cost and appraisal cost. * Prevention cost is the cost of trying to make everything right on first attempt and some of this cost are: * Sparkle does not give a command for precious stones and wait for the stones to come. They go to the supplier’s premises and pick the stones one after the other and not in groups to ensure the best stones are taken. The supplier charges more for this. * The cost of designing the jewelry in a computer automated system and running several checks with other very expensive bespoke software before the design is confirmed. Sparkle trains its employees every 6 months and buys books to update them on new technologies and to keep their skills up and awake. * All employees are taught a wide variety of skills so that if a certain employee is not available to do a specific thing, there will always be another to do it. * Appraisal cost is concerned with controlling quality and this is achieved by testing the process before the product is manufactured and testing the product before it gets to the customer. Some of these costs are: * The cost incurred in testing all equipment, machines and ensuring staffs are fit and able before any diamond is processed. The cost of checking the diamond after manufacture by employees and with the use of a computer aided personalized software which is very expensive to make sure that the diamonds are flawless. * The time spent in testing the diamonds ensuring the pass all the set of test before and after manufacture. 7. 2. 2 The Cost of Bad Quality All organizations including Sparkle wants to evade this cost because it is very dangerous and it can even bring down the entire organization in a blink of an eye. The cost of bad quality is divied into internal failure cost and external failure cost. Internal failure cost is cost incurred before the product reaches the customer. Some of this cost are: * The cost of scrap. Diamonds are very expens ive so any little scrap of badly shaped diamond is worth a whole lot. So Sparkle makes sure the best quality diamond is procured and diamond cutting should be not less than perfect. * The cost of reshaping ill-shaped diamonds and gluing broken once. * The resources lost in repairing diamonds. Labor, machine time, and electricity are used which should have if the diamonds were made right the first time. External failure cost arises after the product has been received by the customer and some of this cost include: * The cost listening to customer complaints and responding to them. * The cost of replacing a defective diamond which a customer has rejected. This can cause the organization a fortune. * The customer might have to take the company to court and the organization will pay a huge sum if the lost the lawsuit. Some compensation may run to millions of pounds and could bring the organization to its end. * One of the most dangerous costs is that which we don’t see. An example is the lost sale and contribution. When a customer is dissatisfied, he will most at times not want to come back and he will discourage a potential customer who will discourage another customer to come to us. Saying all this, quality should be treated like an egg in the midst of rocks. 8 Supply Chain Management 8. 1 Definition Supply Chain is the management of the interconnection of organizations that relate to each other through upstream and downstream linkages between the processes that produce value to the ultimate consumer in the form of products and services (Slack et al. 2010). A supply chain is a holistic network starting from the sourcing of material, through its transportation to the organization’s premises, to manufacturing, to storage and warehousing and finally to consumers. So it is a whole system and it works as one therefore is one part of the chain is broken, the whole system will fall apart and consumers’ will not be satisfied. 8. 2 Sparkleâ⠂¬â„¢s Supple Chain Stage 1 Sparkle’s supply chain starts from the diamond mines in Africa which produce more than 50% of total diamonds to mines in India, Russia, Canada and Australia. The mines usually dug very deep but the deepest diamond mine runs for about 160km passing through sand, rocks, and gravel to be blasted drilled, crushed and processed. It should be noted that only 20% of diamonds from mines can be polised and used for jewelry; the rest is used for industrial use. The stones picked here are very rough still with no beauty (see figure 10). Stage 2 Companies and independent buyers go to these mines and buy the rough stones from the mine owners and take them to their premises for processing. These stones are then processed to make them a little bit more presentable so that diamond manufacturers can then buy them and further process them into diamonds. Diamonds at this stage looks like that in figure 11. Figure 8: Trapping stones to look for diamonds in an African mine. Source: Figure 9: A typical unprocessed diamond. Source: Figure 10: Unprocessed diamonds directly from the mine. Source Figure 11: Diamonds which have been slightly processed. Source: Stage 3 Sparkle buys the diamonds in fig. 11 and examines them with the use of a computer aided personalized software. After a series of checks, rejected diamonds will be sent back to the suppliers and the good ones will be cut into different shapes so as to give the greatest value. After cutting, the diamond goes through computer aided software to confirm its perfection and after this, it is polished and cleaned. Sparkle will also buy what the diamonds are going to be fitted on because people will scarcely buy a chunk of diamond. Diamonds are usually fitted on rings, pens, earrings, belts and many more (see figure 14). These things are usually bought from top manufacturers with good design and quality and they are usually very expensive. Figure12: Diamond cutting in Sparkle. Source: Figure 13: Diamond polishing in Sparkle Source: Stage 4 After polishing and the diamond have an unblemished shine, shape and color, it is then taken by the customers. Some of the customers ordered just a few and sometimes even just one special diamond while other big customers like jewelry shops order bigger quantities at ones. It is either Sparkle delivers the diamond to the place agreed by the customer or the customer comes to the organization’s site on an agreed date and after a phone call to pick up the diamond. The supply chain ends after the diamond has reached the customer. Figure 14: Finished diamond ready for the customer. Source: Figure 15: Diamonds bought by jewelry shops. Source: The Mine The Cutting Company Polishing Customers Jewelry Shops Manufacturing The Mine The Cutting Company Polishing Customers Jewelry Shops Manufacturing The supply chain of Sparkle is a good and effective. Its success can sometimes be attributed to the information technology they use. They use the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system which brings in data from all sources and this is used to know when suppliers have diamonds and the variouse categories, to know when jewelry shops are running short of iamonds, and many more (all discussed in chapter 9). Figure 16: Sparkle’s Supply Chain 9 Information Systems As seen in chapter 1, â€Å"Operation Management is the activity of managing the resources which produce and deliver goods and services† (Slack et al, 2010). For these activities to be properly managed, it needs the help of automated process and compu ter aided techniques. Information systems are found throughout an organization and if used well reduce costs and can be a source of gaining competitive advantage. 9. 1 Computer Aided Techniques Sparkle uses information systems in many ways in its business. Listed below are some specialized computer aided programs used. 1. They use Computer Aided Process Planning (CAPP) which gives an optimum layout of the cutting steps and their sequence (this is different for different diamonds). There are many diamond cutting machines and they all have different cutting styles and they are operated by specialist in the different cutting sectors. So the CAPP examines a diamond and gives different possible steps on which machine to use first and which not to use so as to minimize waste and give the diamond the best possible cuts so as reflect light in an optimal way. 2. They use Computer Aided Designs (CAD) to design the shape of diamonds on a computer and finished diamonds can actually be seen even before processing starts. If an error is made in the design, it can be corrected but this could have been impossible without CAD. 3. The also use Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) which takes the drawings and designs from the CAD and test them for perfection. Different test are administered and the flawlessness of a diamond can be confirmed even before manufacture. 4. Automated Material Handling (AMH) system is also used. Diamonds are very expensive and so care must be taken at each step. The AMH system improves efficiency in diamond movement, storage and retrieval. 5. The Laser Security System (LSS) is used where diamonds are kept be it rough stones, semi-processed diamonds and fully processed diamonds. Invisible laser rays crisscross the diamonds and it needs a password to be deactivated. Only top managers have the password and the password of each of them is different making it easy to know who accessed the diamond safe. If someone tries to pass through the laser rays, it can kill or paralyze them and the security alarm is automatically triggered and an automated call goes to the nearest police station. . Security Camera Systems (SCS) make use of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) at all times to monitor the whole building especially where inventory is held. 7. The Inventory Control System (ICS) gives detail information about each diamond rough, semi-processed or fully processed held in inventory at any point in time. Management must no go into the safe to see what t hey have in stock because the ICS does it all. This system is also used online to make customers see the diamonds, its specification and all other relevant information. Figure 16: The CAD system used to design a blue diamond. Source: Figure 17: The virtual version of the diamond in fig 16. Source: 9. 2 Pros and Cons of Information Technology (IT) IT is a very necessary tool in any organization be it a big or a small one. IT has advantages and disadvantages. They are listed in Appendix D including ‘Why IT cannot replace Human Beings’. 9. 3 Information Systems ‘Information system can be defined as a set of interrelated components that collect, process, store and distribute information to support decision making and control in an organization’ (Laundon amp; Laundon, 2006). Most organizations use some form of computer-based technology to accumulate, organize and distribute information’ (Ted, 2011) and Sparkle is not an exception. They use a set of interrelated information systems. 9. 3. 1 Transaction Processing System (TPS) This system is used to account for day by day transactions of Sparkle. It records all sales, purchases, expenses, income, tax, bills paid, equipment bought and all other transactions performed by organization. This system is also used to account for employee’s attendance, absences, pay, overtime, bonuses, remuneration, and all other things concerning the employees. . 3. 2 Supply Chain System (SCS) This system deals with customers and suppliers. It monitors the stock in the jewelry shops so as to know when to give the shops an offer. It monitors the stocks which are demanded more and those demanded less so as to know when to produce. It tracks frequent and valuable customers and grades them into groups so as know how to give discounts. This system also monitors the stock in the cutting companies. It looks at the new stocks and compares price side by side quality so as to know which supplier to order rough diamonds from. 9. 3. 3 Knowledge Management System (KMS) In Sparkle, all manufacturing processes are recorded and stored in the KMS. Any ideas gotten either by inspiration, customer’s requirement, employees’ suggestions or business intelligence are stored in the KMS for future use. Sparkle is said to be very innovative and has this edge over its rivals because of its mastery of the KMS. When a new employees is recruited, he has 2 weeks probation where he is taught how to operate in the organization and how processes function. Before the implementation and use of the KMS, probation was 3 months so this system has greatly reduces learning time. 9. 3. Management Information System (MIS) This system takes all the information from the above systems and summarizes them into financial statements and reports. It is used by management to make decisions on how to run and control the business. 9. 3. 5 Decision Support System (DSS) This system looks like an advance of the MIS. It takes data from all sources (internal and external) and su mmarizes them for top management to make decisions on the long term plans of the organization. Information from this system appears as statements, reports, charts, graphs, ratios, statistics and trend analysis. . 3. 6 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) This can be called the overall system. It takes information from all sources of the organization and brings them together in one large database. From there, required information is taken out and implemented or used to make decisions in Sparkle. It should be noted that all other systems deposit their information in ERP. Figure 18: Example of ERP. Source: LSBF MBA Intake 14, SOM Lecture 3, Session 9, Slide 34. 9. 6 Intranet and Extranet Sparkle uses intranets to deal with its employees and management. Staffs all have a particular passcode which the use and your code depends on your position within the company. Some passcodes can access some areas which other codes can’t. They also use extranets to communicate and share information with customers, suppliers, some competitors and the government. This system is more secured and less vulnerable to attacks as compared to the internet. 10 Job Design It is said that the blood stream of any organization is money and I will say the skeleton holding an organization and making it stand up straight is its workforce. An organization manages resources so as to be able to deliver acceptable goods and services to its customers and one of these resources is its workforce. An organization’s workforce is its most valuable and the most complicated of all its resources because unlike other resources, humans have a mind of their own. To be able to deal with human beings, you must know what they like and this is different for different people but these needs though different are similar. In providing this, it motivates the employees and when motivated, they produce better output eventually yielding higher profits, quality and flexibility. 0. 1 Motivation Motivation is the urge to take action to achieve something or to avoid something (BPP, 2010). Motivation can either be intrinsic (wanting to satisfy an internal urge like being happy to be able to help others) or extrinsic (reliant on tangible rewards like money, fame and power). Continues in Appendix E. 10. 2 Empowerment This is the act of delegati ng work to employees making them feel more superior because of the added responsibility and new accountability. This is good motivation for many employees. ‘Job design is about how people carry out their tasks within a process. It defines the way they go about their working lives. It positions the expectations of what is required of them, and it influences their perceptions of how they contribute to the organization. It also defines their activities in relation to their work colleagues and it channels the flows of communication between different parts of the operation. But, of most importance, it helps to develop the culture of the organization – its shared values, beliefs and assumptions’ (Slack, 2009). In designing any job, the following have to be put into consideration. * Safety. Jobs should be design in a way that it will bring no harm to the employee be it physical, psychological, mental or emotional harm. Workers in the mines especially those in Africa are exposed to a lot of risk and still earn less than the minimum wage. The mine owners wanting to make more profits cut down on cost by reducing expenditure on employees’ safety. The employees of Sparkle all have safety equipment like hats and new ideas are being implemented to make the process safer. The organization has also fully insured its entire staff. * Legal and Ethical Issues. Jobs should be design in such a manner that those doing the job will not go against the law or their code of ethics. * Own time. Job design should create time for the employees to catch up on something other than work. For example visiting new places, being with their families or performing other social activities. Employees working in the mines have little of this, but Sparkle’s employees all have right to a paid holiday and taking permission to be out of work if the need arises. * Employee’s Ability. An employee’s ability to do the job or a range of task should be considered before designing the job. For example; only heavy built men carry cargo from the trucks into the warehouse because of their physical ability to carry heavy weight unlike their colleagues. * Wage and Benefits: In designing any job, the wage and benefits to be paid for the job should be considered if not the employee can be over-paid or under-paid for the job. 10. 3 Division of Labor Unlike traditional production approaches that stipulated that one person should know everything in the company so that he can serve any function, Henry Ford came in with the idea that one man should only know one thing and should be an expert in that thing. He suggested that with specializing in a particular function, the whole organization will be specialized and will give the best quality goods and services. So jobs should be broken down into smaller portions and given to different individuals who will specialize and bring forth quality cost-effective products. 10. 3. 1 Advantages of Division of Labor (Slack, 2009) * It is easier to learn. Short and simple tasks are easier to learn compared with long and complex tasks. This will be very advantageous when training new recruits because training will take a shorter time and it will be better mastered. Automating. Short and simple task are easily automated as compared to long and complex task. * Time. More time is spent on one long task compare to time if that task was broken down. This extra time is as a result of picking different tools up and putting them down, looking for equipment, thinking of what to do next etc. 10. 3. 2 Disadvantages of Division of Labor (Slack, 2009) * Monotony. The same small task will be repeated every hour, week, month and year. This will make the job boring and less fulfilling thus resulting to absenteeism, staff turnover and errors. Over-reliance. If one employee is absent, no other will be able to perform his duty and this may bring the whole production process to a halt. * No flexibility. Employees let to do one particular thing over the years turn to lose the skill of being able to learn another thing. So if the production process was to change, many employees will not be able to cope with learning how to perform a new task. * Physical Injury. The repetitive use of one part of your body let’s say arm or wrist will in the long run cause pain to that part. This is known as Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). Sparkle teaches their employees a wide range of task during their probation but the employees are assigned to do just one thing when they fully start work. Teaching them a wide range of task is to expose them to the processes of the whole organization so that they can contribute ideas in the development of a department or process which does not involve them. Another reason for giving employees holistic training is to make an employee being able to do an absent employee’s work. This tactic was also implemented because the organization did not want an employee to feel indispensable. 0. 4 Job Design Approaches In coming out with a good job designing, the following approaches should be implemented:- 1. Job Simplification: The organization tries to the range of task and their complexities. Polishing diamond use to be a very complex task at Sparkle but with the introduction of DiamondShines TM a specialized software where diamond polishing is programmed with exact details. 2. Job Ro tation: This is periodically interchanging employees performing different task to do the task of the other. Sparkle does a lot of job rotation and this makes the employees’ job more exciting. Job rotation is successful in this organization because they train their employees to perform a number of task but if division of labor was strictly implemented, this approach could have been impossible because employee A will not have a clue of employees B’s task. 3. Job Enlargement: This involves integrating same level tasks to the ones already performed by the employees to make the job more exciting. This is not practiced in Sparkle. 4. Job Enrichment: This involves integrating different level tasks to the ones performed by the employees. The new tasks are usually higher level tasks giving employees more responsibility and decision making power. Sparkle once a week picks an employee randomly and gives him the power of a supervisory manager so as to see the changes and innovations he is going to bring to the organization. Sparkle also makes employees work in small teams and the organization creates a competitive strain amongst the teams. The competition amongst the teams brings a lot of hard work, efficiency and effectiveness.

The Weimar Republic of 1919 | Analysis

The Weimar Republic of 1919 | Analysis The Weimar Republic of 1919 characterised the struggle and failure to establish democracy in Germany following World War One. Despite possessing near-identical elements required to govern as successfully as the Federal Republic of 1945, the government was fragile and short-lived (Smith, 1991). Those in authority neglected to increase the power of the parliament or commit fully to the system, choosing instead to stumble along forming weak coalitions that did not stand the test of time (Conradt, 2009). Weimars constitutional weaknesses allowed Hitler to come to power and the dark reign of the Third Reich began in 1933. By contrast, post-WWII democracy was successfully implemented and maintained because the policy makers of the Basic Law ensured a politics of consensus dominated (Slagter and Loewenberg, 2009). Roberts (2009) further believes they were influenced by the material, political, and ethical legacy of the two world wars Germany was a part of. Germany was divided into the dem ocratic West and the communist East, before achieving unification in 1990. Despite the brief history given here, it is easily recognised that Germanys political history is a complex story of a country struggling to achieve a stable democracy in an unconventional way. The Federal Republic of 1949 distinguished itself from Weimar through its constitution and electoral/party system, which are key factors when explaining democracys success. This essay will specifically contrast the constitutions and electoral/party systems of Weimar and Bonn, as well as other factors such as the economy briefly, to explain why democracy succeeded after 1949. The Federal Republic demonstrated clear changes from Weimar, but also contained elements of continuity from the past both in its constitution and party system (Roberts, 2000). Both federal systems had similar institutions in place, such as the Constitutional Courts to resolve disputes, and the representation of 16 LÃ ¤nder (federal states) at a national level through the Bundesrat (federal Council). Their constitutions were quite advanced, with a Bill of Rights guaranteeing every German citizen the freedom of speech, religion and equality. Both governed through coalition parties; no party has been able to govern alone in Germanys history save one (Gordon, 1991). This demonstrates that permanently built into the system is the need for different political groups to reach out across the political chasm and co-operate in a politics of consensus. With such similarities, why did the Weimar government collapse a few years later? Pulzer (1994) believes that if it had been dealt a better dec k of cards, [the Weimar Republic] might have survived longer (1994, p. 4). The answer is also that it is institutions and everyday practices that promote stability in the system, and in Weimar, neither was stable. The Federal Republic distinguished itself from Weimar through the governing framework of its constitution. The Basic Law bolstered the parliamentary system by downgrading the president, who became a largely representative, indirectly elected head of state, and by enhancing the stature of the chancellor (Smith, 1991, p.48). This was a clear reaction to the dual executive in Weimars constitution which authorized the president to act autonomously of the Reichstag (Conradt, 2009). Although the president of the Weimar Republic was given more power to avoid political paralysis in the Reichstag, Article 48 allowed Hitler to come to power in the end. Hence the Basic Law made the presidential role more ceremonial than anything else. By using the failings of Weimar to measure the effectiveness of the present democracy, the policy makers of Bonn achieved to still fears of a second Hitler (Paterson, 2000). The constitution of 1949 also helped democracy by dispersing power from the centre of German authority. The Basic Law worked against centralised power, guaranteeing autonomy of responsibility to Germanys different regions, and thus preventing the rise of authoritarian rule (Paterson, 2000). In the Bonn Republic power was diffused to institutions, not the general population, despite the frequent invocation of the phrase Die Staatsgewalt geht vom Volke aus, [the government authority emanates from the people] the famous Article 1 of the Weimar constitution (Paterson, 2000, p.25). This diffusion of power ensures institutions must operate together during the decision-making process, thus promoting a democratic atmosphere. The Constitutional Court, for instance, exemplifies the separation of powers by upholding the Basic Law and defending civil liberties, in contrast to Weimar, whose court was easily subverted and unstable. It can be argued that such diffusion of power might negatively aff ect governing by creating too many agencies and actors. Alternatively, if one institution decides to create paralysis in the system, fragmentation could occur. However, the systems stability has not been greatly threatened. This is testament to Germanys constitutional strength and determination to uphold democratic rule (Paterson, 2000). The reforms to the party system after 1949 also aided in democracys success. Consensus among the political parties in the Bundestag (Federal Diet) ensured institutional stability after 1949 (Slagter and Loewenberg, 2009). In contrast, stable majorities could not be formed in Weimars Reichstag (parliament) due to the existence of proportional representation (Conradt, 2009). The republic was therefore a polarised pluralist system of numerous small parties, with no consensual decision-making taking place. The hyperinflation of 1923, for example, fuelled new political parties which the Reichstag was unable to socialise to its norms (Slagter and Loewenberg, 2009, p.470). Orderly parliamentary procedure disintegrated once the centre parties came under the assault of the radical extremists. By contrast, the success of post-WWII democracy can be explained through consensus promoting institutional stability, because this was absent in the Reichstag. After 1945, there was co-operative federali sm and consensual decision making among the political parties, especially with the issue of comparable living standards in all regions. Democracy also succeeded because of the modifications made to Germanys political/electoral system after 1949. In the Reichstag, consensus was neglected because radical groups pursued electoral votes, not caring that it lost them all effectiveness within the chamber as they contributed to its paralysis (Slagter and Loewenberg, 2009, p.471). After 1949, however, parliament developed into a moderate pluralist system. Parties could only enter with more than 5% of the national vote or 3 constituency seats without. New parties which entered the Bundestag were therefore socialised to the parliamentary customs (Slagter and Loewenberg, 2009).Through this measure, consensus dominated because it encouraged stable, moderate politics while discouraging extreme politics. This helped democracy succeed, because fewer parties meant more stability, the establishment of a co-operative opposition and prevention of anti-system parties (Paterson, 2000). Therefore, the electoral system, as with all other a spects of the system, encourages moderation and consensus. Other factors such as economic conditions after 1949 might also explain why democracy succeeded. With democracy stabilising around the 1950s, Germany also experienced full employment. This is vastly different to the economic and democratic situation in 1919, because the existence of a weak government with limited policy making skills meant there was no active labour policy and millions were unemployed (Schmidt, 1992). However, with Marshall Aid speeding Germanys economic recovery, the 1950s showed rapid progress both in terms of the economy and democratic governing. The German Model further developed the state after 1945, in contrast to poorly-developed welfare state of Weimar (Schmidt, 1992). Modell Deutschland, with the concept of the managed firm and co-determination, became renowned throughout the world (Smith, 2005). Products made in Germany demonstrated that it had become an economic force to be reckoned with, especially with its car industry. It can therefore be argued that un precedented economic stability after WWII also helped ensure democracys popularity. Another factor explaining democracys success after WWII emanates from the national and foreign policies Germany has implemented. This country presents a complex and layered picture which is revealed through the challenges it has dealt with in the past. Germany promoted itself as a responsible power and avoided an aggressive foreign policy so reminiscent of Hitler, choosing instead to join NATO and promote pro-European policies at the height of the Cold War (Glees, 1996). Chancellor Brandts policy of ostpolitik (Change through Rapprochement) exposed the conflict surrounding national identity following unification, where East Germans continued to feel like second class citizens in their own country (Wiesenthal, 1998). The 1970s saw the upsurge of the extreme Left, but despite these negative impacts, the structures of the German political and social systems remain strong. Therefore, Germanys promotion of European integration and the political culture of the time ensured democratic rule succeeded. In conclusion, it is clear that despite what some may see as an abnormal path taken by Germany towards normalisation, it seems to have worked (Smith, 2005). It is argued that the countrys first attempt at democracy failed due to a specific set of circumstances facing interwar Germany, coupled with defects in the Weimar constitution [] (Conradt, 2009, p.7). It can certainly be agreed on that important evolutions in the system to the constitution and party/electoral system, coupled with better economic and social conditions were vital in sustaining democracy after WWII (Smith, 1991). The Basic Law remains largely the same as in 1949, which is a testament to its success in founding and maintaining a democratic Germany. In addition, Germany also recognised a politics of consensus is a pre-requisite for federalism to work. Its decision to take this unconventional path and follow the federal political system with a consensus democracy demonstrates that sovereignty may not always be the a nswer; homogenising such a large country with different regions and practices would be impossible. It is institutional stability and every day practices, coupled with the politics of consensus, which established democracy successfully in Germany. Bibliography: Conradt, D. (2009). The German Polity. 9th ed. USA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Glees, A. (1996) Reinventing Germany: German political development since 1945. UK: Berg Paterson, W. E. (2000). From the Bonn to the Berlin republic. German Politics, 9(1), 23-40. Pulzer, P. (1994). Unified Germany: a normal state? German Politics, 3(1), 1-17. Roberts, G.K. (2009). German Politics Today. 2nd ed. UK: Manchester University Press. Slagter, T.H and Loewenberg, G. (2009). Path Dependence as an explanation of the institutional stability of the German Parliament. German Politics, 18(4), 469- 484. Schmidt, M. G. (1992). Political consequences of German unification. West European Politics, (15)4, 1-15. Smith, G. (1991). The resources of a German chancellor. West European Politics, 14(2), 48-61. Smith, M. P. (2005). Introduction From Modell Deutschland to Model Europa: Europe in Germany and Germany in Europe. German Politics, (14)3, 275-282. Wiesenthal, H. (1998). Post-unification dissatisfaction, or why are so many East Germans unhappy with the new political system? German Politics, 7(2), 1-30.

Contributing factors of airline industry globalistion

Contributing factors of airline industry globalistion This report vividly covers the factors which drive airline industry to globalization. Critical analysis of external and internal environment using strategy tools has also been considered. For internal environment a particular firm, i.e., British airways has been taken into consideration on which the assignment task is based. Research for the report includes a review of academic books, journals, articles and websites. It also covers the critical account of globalization on British Airways stating its strengths and weaknesses .The concept of core competencies is also explained briefly and applied on the chosen firm. Airline industry is a large and growing industry. It facilitates economic growth, international investment and world trade and is therefore central to other industries as well for globalisation. There are various forces which lead to globalisation in airline industry. Yip provided some major key drivers of change. Key drivers of change are forces likely to affect the structure of an industry; sector or market (Johnson, G et al 2005).Yips model provides a good example of the drivers that are increasing the globalisation of industries. Market globalisation Similar customer needs Global customers Transferable marketing Cost globalisation Scale economies Sourcing efficiencies High Product development costs Country-specific costs Globalisation of government policies Trade policies Technical standards Host government policies Global Strategies Globalisation of competition Interdependence Competitors global High exports/imports (Source: Johnson, G et al 2005) Market globalisation in airline industry is a increasing trend because of various reasons of customer needs and preferences as globally they are becoming similar (Johnson et al 2005).For business or leisure customers do move outside their origin. In past decade, air travel has grown by 7% per year. Travel for both business and leisure purpose grew strongly worldwide. Scheduled airlines carried 1.5 billion passengers last year. In the leisure market, the availability of large aircraft such as the Boeing 747 made it convenient and affordable for people to travel (adg.stanford.edu).As market globalise, those operating in such markets become global customers and may search for suppliers who operates on global basis (Johnson et al 2005).Business travel has grown as companies are becoming increasingly global in terms of their investments, their supply and production chains and their customers. The rapid growth of world trade in goods and services and international direct investment are als o main drivers of globalisation in airline industry (www.scribd.com). The development of global communication and distribution channel may also drive globalisation-the obvious example being the impact of internet.(Johnson et al 2005).Online booking of tickets and advertising may all be developed globally. This further generates global demand and expectations from customers. Airline industries are subject to similar trends. Cost globalisation gives potential for competitive advantage through economies of scale. There might be cost advantages from the experience built through wider scale operations. It can be achieved by central sourcing efficiencies from lowest cost suppliers across the world (Johnson et al 2005). The activities and policies of government have also tended to drive the globalization of industry. Changes in macro environment due to government policies are increasing global competition which in turn encourages further globalization. Technology innovations in industry li ke the invention of Jumbo jet in 1950 for commercial use also gave a push to globalization. Although there are various enabler of globalisation in airline industry, paradoxically the airline industry itself remains subject to highly restrictive national controls on cross border competition and investment. Government to government bilateral agreements often limit the routes that international air carriers can fly, the number of flights they can schedule and the fares they can charge.(Hamilton and Quinlan 2005).The global airline industry operates in an international regulatory environment that ranges from strict regulation and protectionism in some countries or region to almost complete deregulation in others. The long-term trend would seem to be in the direction of further deregulation and liberalization, with the unified market created by the EU and the proliferation of bilateral and multilateral open skies agreements marking major advances in this direction since the early 1990s.National ownership requirements, even in the economically developed regions on the world, pers ist an important barrier to a full globalization of the industry. There is also a strong trend toward privatizing the many Government-owned national carriers that had long dominated air travel outside the boundaries. There has also been concern expressed that the airline industry is moving from a being highly regulated one to one dominated by global alliances and co-operation amongst airlines, both of which are a priori anti-competitive structures.( Belobaba et al 2009 ) Answer 2: In todays contemporary organisational environment, the external marketplace is dynamic and rapidly evolving. PESTLE analysis, which provides a framework from which to consider the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factors which influence an organisation (Worthington and Britton, 2006) has been undertaken. In addition, Porters five forces model analyses the structure of the industry and the relative attractiveness of a particular industry in terms of its potential to generate superior economic returns and its framework considers the impact of the power of buyers and suppliers, the threat of substitutes, barriers to entry and the degree of competitive rivalry (Porter, 1980; 1995; Barney and Hesterly, 2008). The airline industry has been subject to a number of changes and dynamic forces in the external environment. In recent times, the airline industry has undergone a turbulent history which has led to bankruptcies, mergers and acquisitions and an increase in costs and therefore a reduction in the profit margins (Berry and Jia, 2008). Over the past five years, the rising cost of fuel, which saw oil prices reach around $100 a barrel is one of the major reasons why airlines are filing for bankruptcy. In 2005, Delta Airlines and North West Airlines, the third and fourth largest US carriers filed for bankruptcy (CNN, 2005). The US Airport Transport Association estimated that between 2001 and 2004, the US airline industry faced losses of over $30 billion. In addition, in 2008, the UK airline carrier, XL collapsed leaving 85,000 holiday makers stranded (BBC News, 2008). This occurred because the rising costs make it unviable for smaller carriers to operate efficiently. As a result, industry an alysts predict a period of consolidation will occur within the industry (BBC News, 2008). Social factors include changes in consumer behaviour. This is largely attributable to technological changes, which includes the emergence of airline websites and multiple price comparison websites, which provides consumers with increased availability of prices and therefore reduces information asymmetry. This therefore, increases the power of buyers (Porter, 1985; Barney and Hesterly, 2008). In addition, the global downturn in the economy has placed an increased financial strain on the industry. This is especially the case amongst business travellers who are less willing to pay premium prices for business and first class travel. This has placed a strain on the financial viability of airline operators within the industry. An additional change amongst consumer behaviour is the decline in customer loyalty. This is partly due to the spread of information and the increased price sensitivity of consumers, which means that the most important factor when making a purchasing decision is price and has little to do with the differentiation strategies implemented by any given airline (Porter, 1980; 1986; Barney and Hesterly, 2008). In terms of political factors, post 9/11 a number of security measures and regulations has been implemented in an attempt to avert any future threats from terrorism. This has added increased the costs of airline operators in terms of training and providing the necessary training and personnel to deal with these rules and regulations. In addition, the initial period following 9/11 saw a decrease in passenger and consumer demand which had a negative effect on the profitability of the airline industry. The degree of rivalry within the airline industry is high. Since the 1980s the industry has undergone a period of deregulation and privatisation which has increased competition within the industry and reduced the barriers to entry. Privatisation is essentially involves changing the structure of the industry from public to private ownership. This has had a negative effect on market incumbents, such as British Airways, which has undergone periods of financial turmoil as a result of deregulation, privatisation, reduced barriers to entry and increased competition (Barney and Hesterly, 2008). ). Deregulation is the removal of government rules and regulations, which are said to constrain an industry. In the past decade, the industry has seen the emergence of low cost airline carriers (Cho et al., 2007; Centro, 2008). These include companies such as easyJet and Ryanair, which operate low-cost flights to a wide variety of European destinations. Low cost airline carriers have had a significant impact on changing the structure of the industry, which has meant that consumers are increasingly price sensitive when it comes to airline travel (Cho et al., 2007; Centro, 2008). ). The low cost sector appears to bucking industry trends and is expanding at a rapid rate. Low cost airlines focus on short-haul flights and try and pack in as many passengers as possible to increase turnover. These companies also generate savings, which are passed on to the consumer by providing customers the ability to book their flights directly over the Internet. As a result, the degree of rivalry within the industry is high (Porter, 1980 1985; Barney and Hesterly, 2008). Despite the deregulation which has occurred and the opening up of the market, barriers to entry are still relatively high. This is because the capital, skills and expertise required to set up an airline company are relatively high (Porter, 1980; 1985; Berry and Jia, 2008; Barney and Hesterly, 2008). As such, airline operators need to be able to compete both in terms of cost leadership and differentiation in order to incentivise consumer purchasing behaviour (Cho et al., 2007; Centro, 2008). Airline operators also need to operate a delicate balance between maintaining a tight control over costs and implementing cost saving measures whilst maintaining high standards of customer service and safety (Cho et al., 2007; Berry and Jia, 2008). Overall, there exists opportunities and threats in the external market environment, which affects the overall profitability and industry attractiveness of firms operating within the airline industry. Therefore, the level of profits that firms can earn a re based on these factors, nonetheless, the internal management of a firm is also critical to organisational performance, which will be discussed in further depth in the next section. Answer 3: The airline which has been chosen in order to address the key themes and issues highlighted in this section is British Airways (BA). BA is the largest airline operator in the UK, flying to over 150 destinations across the globe. BA started out life in 1975 and was the national airline for the UK, as such, the company operated a monopolistic structure before it was privatised in the 1980s. The purpose of the privatisation was to make the industry more competitive by exposing the company to completion and external industry forces to improve the operational efficiency of the company as well as improving the overall customer experience. However, since changes such as privatisation and industry deregulation, BA has had undergone periods of turbulence, which has been characterised by major successes and major weaknesses. During the 1990s, BA was hailed as one of the most admired and most profitable airlines in the world. However, by the late 1990s BA experienced a massive reduction in prof its as a result of decreased demand, increased economic pressures and employee disputes and poor relations. In the period between 2008 and 2008, BAs turnover was  £9 billion. However, overall, the company made losses of  £401 million. This is the greatest loss ever reported by the company and represented a massive loss compared to the previous year when the company made a profit of  £922 million. The airlines major hub is situated at London, Heathrow, the busiest airport in the world in terms of the number of passengers, which pass through daily. BA operates around 220 aircraft. Within the last few months, BA made a preliminary announcement that it was to merge with Spains largest airline, Iberia (Rothwell, 2009). The purpose of this merger is to mitigate weaknesses within the internal operations at BA and develop its strengths through capitalising on synergies which can be obtained through the merger with Iberia airlines (Barney and Hesterly, 2008; Rothwell, 2009). In order to address the current issues facing BA, including the highest ever reported losses, the company has been forced to undertake significant cost cutting measures, which includes reducing the salaries of existing employees as well as reducing the overall firm headcount. However, this has resulted in a number of problems for the company. One of the major weaknesses of BA is its history of industrial disputes and tentative history in terms of employee relations. In December, 2009 cabin crew announced a 12 day strike over the Christmas and New Year period, however, this was postponed as it was found to be an illegal strike as the ballot system implemented by the trade union was not considered to be fair. At the time of writing, the industrial dispute is still an ongoing issue which represents a major weakness to the airline (Milmo and Webb, 2009). The cost of such a strike would run into hundreds of millions, as well as the impact on the damage on customer and employee relations. This represents a critical weakness for the company. Nonetheless, BA has a strong brand and is renowned for safety and customer service. The brand is also trusted across the globe and is a popular choice with business travellers. The heritage of the brand has a strong resonance in the mindset of the British and indeed global consumer. This represents a unique strength, which is difficult for competitors to imitate. Therefore, this represents a source of sustainable competitive advantage for the company (Barney and Hesterly, 2008). This is based on the notion of core competences and how an organisation is able to deploy its resources to develop a distinct set of core competences and strategic capabilities (Barney and Hesterly, 2008). If these resources are distinct, rare and difficult to imitate then this will lead to a source of sustainable competitive advantage (Barney and Hesterly, 2008). As a result, these core competences will translate into superior economic performance when co mpared with rivals. In the case of BA, external market conditions, as well as internal weaknesses have contributed to recent poor financial performance. However, in the long run, the company will be able to leverage its strengths and core competences to remain competitive within the industry and obtain a source of sustainable competitive advantage.

Risk Taking Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In our lives, it is important to exercise self-command. However, we should not be so concerned with the future that we stifle the present. The question becomes what balance should we strike between self-command and risks? What kinds of risks are acceptable or unacceptable? In this essay, we will use two examples of risks to show the distinction between the two and arrive at a conclusion as to the balance one should have between risk and self command. The first example we will use is of a person who spends his life savings on a lottery ticket and does not win the lottery. The second is of a person who spends his life savings on a hunch regarding a cure for AIDS, a hunch that is false. Before we make this distinction, however, it is necessary to define the terms acceptable and unacceptable risks. Acceptable and Unacceptable Risks   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are several ways in which one could define which risks are acceptable. One could say, for example, that the only acceptable risk is one for which the odds of success are greater than the odds of failure. Another definition of acceptable risk might be a risk that does not harm one's future. We might also say that the only acceptable risk is one where the aggregate happiness is increased, thus increasing the moral good of the risk, an idea which is based on John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism. Finally, we might define a morally good ris... Risk Taking Essay -- essays research papers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In our lives, it is important to exercise self-command. However, we should not be so concerned with the future that we stifle the present. The question becomes what balance should we strike between self-command and risks? What kinds of risks are acceptable or unacceptable? In this essay, we will use two examples of risks to show the distinction between the two and arrive at a conclusion as to the balance one should have between risk and self command. The first example we will use is of a person who spends his life savings on a lottery ticket and does not win the lottery. The second is of a person who spends his life savings on a hunch regarding a cure for AIDS, a hunch that is false. Before we make this distinction, however, it is necessary to define the terms acceptable and unacceptable risks. Acceptable and Unacceptable Risks   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are several ways in which one could define which risks are acceptable. One could say, for example, that the only acceptable risk is one for which the odds of success are greater than the odds of failure. Another definition of acceptable risk might be a risk that does not harm one's future. We might also say that the only acceptable risk is one where the aggregate happiness is increased, thus increasing the moral good of the risk, an idea which is based on John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism. Finally, we might define a morally good ris...