Tesco

Value Chain Analysis According to Lynch (2003), value chain is defined as the links between key value adding activities and their interface with the support activities. Value chain has been implied as a strategic evaluation tool used for distinguishing the strengths and weaknesses in value adding processes (Audrestsch, 1995). The value chain of Tesco has been demonstrated in the following diagram: Fig 6: Value Addition in Value Chain of Tesco Inbound LogisticsThe overall cost leadership strategic management of Tesco is exhibited in its lean and agile inbound logistics function. Drawing upon Abeysinghe (2010), the company uses its leading market position and economies of scope as key bargaining powers to achieve low costs from its suppliers. The analysts have also highlighted the constant upgrading of their ordering system, approved vendor lists, and in-store processes to induce effectiveness and efficiency into the company’s inbound logistics operations.Operations Management T esco has been praised by a number of supply chain management critics for its effective use of IT systems that facilitate the company’s low cost leadership strategy. According to Tesco (2010), the company has invested over ? 76 million in streamlining its operations through their Tesco Digital program, which is a third generation ERP solution for the company. The company has achieved ? 550 million in increased profitability during 2009 alone due to the introduction of this system.This company -wide ERP system has also facilitated the minimisation of stock holdings within the company. Outbound Logistics Tesco holds leadership position in online and offline food retail segments, which is due to its efficient and effective outbound logistics. Drawing upon Mintel (2010), the company has developed a range of store formats and types, which are strategically placed to achieve maximum customer exposure. These formats include Express, Metro, Superstores, Extra and Homeplus, which are s egmented according to the target population.Marketing and Sales Loyalty programs like Tesco Clubcard are being introduced through information technology advances which dissuade the customers from switching over to their competitors. Tesco has introduced its Greener Living Scheme to give consumers advice on environmental issues, including how to reduce food waste and their carbon footprint when preparing meals . Services Tesco has been pursuing a dual strategy of cost leadership and differentiation, which has led to an increased importance placed on customer service.Drawing upon Keynote (2010), this dual strategy is exhibited through the development of self-service kiosks, financial services, focused direct marketing and promotions. In order to put Tesco’s value chain analysis into perspective, it should be noted that despite cost leadership strategy the company has been able to create a high degree of value in comparison with its key competitors. The relative analysis of the value created by the big four supermarket chains, i. e. , Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons has been provided as follows: Fig 7: Benchmarking Analysis: Cost as a Percentage of Sales Tesco For this report the organization that I have chosen is Tests and I will be explaining how they use deferent types of business communication to run their organization. I will be looking at all of the functions used by Tests to get an entire observation on the business communication used and the reasons why. I will Identify advantages and disadvantages of different methods used and Investigate strategic decisions made by Tests and what Information they used.Types of Information Example Description Purpose Sources Verbal Detects verbal Information could be a Tests Sales Assistant Interacting with a customer by trying to persuade the customer to buy one of their products and another example could be Tests staff making an announcement over the Tanana system about a lost child. Verbal communication is information that is shared between individuals by talking. It can be done in may different ways such as telephone, face to fact and meetings. The purpose for verbal communication inTests is t hey must respond quickly to any action that is needed to be sorted. The sources for Tests verbal information could be description of products or service. Written Deco's written information could be surveys and questionnaires for the customer service like What you think about fruit and vegetables? Another example is Tests displaying posters promoting their latest offers. Written communication can be interactive communication that is used in words or symbols to convey a message eke memos, emails, letters, reports, leaflets etc.The purpose of written information is that this will help Tests to understand how the customer feels about their services and products and also to understand where they are achieving and where they are failing. The sources for Tests written information are completed customer questionnaires, where Tests can review and make changes and adjustments to meet their customers' needs, for example customers requesting a bigger variety of fruit and vegetables. Tesco For this report the organization that I have chosen is Tests and I will be explaining how they use deferent types of business communication to run their organization. I will be looking at all of the functions used by Tests to get an entire observation on the business communication used and the reasons why. I will Identify advantages and disadvantages of different methods used and Investigate strategic decisions made by Tests and what Information they used.Types of Information Example Description Purpose Sources Verbal Detects verbal Information could be a Tests Sales Assistant Interacting with a customer by trying to persuade the customer to buy one of their products and another example could be Tests staff making an announcement over the Tanana system about a lost child. Verbal communication is information that is shared between individuals by talking. It can be done in may different ways such as telephone, face to fact and meetings. The purpose for verbal communication inTests is t hey must respond quickly to any action that is needed to be sorted. The sources for Tests verbal information could be description of products or service. Written Deco's written information could be surveys and questionnaires for the customer service like What you think about fruit and vegetables? Another example is Tests displaying posters promoting their latest offers. Written communication can be interactive communication that is used in words or symbols to convey a message eke memos, emails, letters, reports, leaflets etc.The purpose of written information is that this will help Tests to understand how the customer feels about their services and products and also to understand where they are achieving and where they are failing. The sources for Tests written information are completed customer questionnaires, where Tests can review and make changes and adjustments to meet their customers' needs, for example customers requesting a bigger variety of fruit and vegetables. ï » ¿Tesco Tesco is a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Chechens United Kingdom. Tesco is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues. It has stores in 14 countries across Asia, Europe and North America and is the grocery market leader in the UK. In Tesco stores we can buy a huge range of food products and some non food product. Every successful business there is aim and objective behind them. Aims and objectives are the marketing targets that must be achieved for company to achieve its overall goals. The main aims of Tesco for 2012 are: 1.Offering customers the best value for money and the most competitive prices 2. Meeting the needs of customers by constantly seeking, and acting on, their opinions regarding innovation, product quality, choice, store facilities and service 3. Providing shareholders with progressive returns on their investment improving profitability through investment in efficient stores and distribution depots, in productivity improvements and in new technology 4. Developing the talents of its people through sound management and training practices, while rewarding them fairly with equal opportunities for all 5.Working closely with suppliers to build long term business relationships based on strict quality and price criteria 6. Supporting the well-being of the community and the protection of the environment Each objective needs to be SMART so that they are practical objectives that are capable of being monitored and achieved. SMART is an acronym, standing for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time specific. Specific objectives need to have precise description. For example Tesco set an objective of at least 70% of people spent more than ?10 in Tesco. It needs to show clearly what the aim is.Measurable is an objective able to measure correctly so the manager knows their aim has been achieved or not. For example Tesco club card can record the money which customers spent at a period of time and what product do they choose. Achievable is an objective which not beyond the reach of the organisation and individual employee. For example Tesco mangers need to estimate the aim is feasible for Tesco. Relevant is an objective which able to help to achieve the aims of Tesco. For example open new stores can help achieve the aim of growth for Tesco. Time specific is an objective which set a time for finish and start.For example Tesco manger tells their employee to achieve the sales target in this week. Survival Survival means generating on aim at enough revenues to cover all the business expenses and so to break even. Survival is usually an aim at the start of the business. I am sure Tesco UK don’t make survival as an aim any more. This is because Tesco has been running since 1924 in UK. I believe when Tesco starting to break into the Northern Ireland market, their biggest aim is survival. To survival of Tesco has done lot of promotion to attract customer to build t he loyalty of the customer such as window displays, discount etc.As we see Tesco group sales is ?72bn this has grow from 7. 4% from last year. I think Tesco has been survival successfully in UK is because they have focused on 6 key points. They are service staff, stores formats, price value, range quality, brand marketing and Clicks Bricks. Those are the key point make customer has a nice shopping trip. Clicks Bricks is other option for customers to shop which is online shopping. Customers can use internet to enter online shopping wed side easily, also Tesco has offer Tesco online shopping app for customers. This can achieve Tosco’s objective of meeting customers need and starting to use new technology.However Tesco in the USA market started trading in 2007. Their brand name in USA is fresh & easy. I find this name is very good because it is assonated with health. Healthy eating is becoming a popular social trend. So this name can attract those people come to their supermarke t. This can achieve their aim of participating in the formulation of national food industry In March 2011 Tesco opened first stores in Northern California around San Francisco and the Bay Area. For those stores their aim for now is to survival, which means they destroyed by other competitor such as Kroger.After a Tesco has achieved the aim of survival, this shows Tesco has growth successfully. Tesco has set an objective of to be an outstanding international retailer in stores to help them to achieve the aim. Maximising stakeholder needs Maximising Stakeholder needs mean taking account of the different needs of people involved in the business. A stakeholder is anyone who is interested in the business. This could be the owner, manger, employees, bank, investor, suppliers. For Tesco maximising stakeholder needs means they need to meet the customer needs, having good relationships between suppliers and pay its employees a decent wage.Customers are very important for the Tesco business. Tesco must keep them happy, so Tesco can achieve their aim of maximising sale. If Tesco doesn’t satisfy make, the customer will complain about Tesco and not return to Tesco again. Also they will spend their money in other retailers. To attract and make those customers happy, Tesco has made an objective be to be a creator of highly valued brands, which means Tesco has own label appeals to different customer needs. Tesco has providing them with the quality products, the best value and the most competitive price.To achieved this aim Tesco done well in customer service. Their staff always help customer when they need to keep them happy. This help Tesco to achieve offering customers the best value for money and the most competitive prices. They also set the objective of build team so that create more value foe customer. There jobs is keep thinking how to create more value for them. They also use self check out services to give customers a new experience. Tesco also use the club ca rd system to give customer best value.For example if you collected 150 point on your club card, you will get ?1.5 to spend this money in Tesco. For Tesco club card use to know customer when, where spent their money in Tesco. Club card help Tesco achieve the objective of to be a creator of highly valued brands. And achieve their aim of offering customers the best value for money and the most competitive prices Also Tesco can see which product is most popular. To attract different groups of customer and give offer them good price. For example Tesco set up Baby & Toddler Club’s. This club is aim for parent, so they can get easier and save lot of money in exclusive offers.To get easier mean Tesco will help them every step of the way from bump to toddler with useful advice. Tesco also provide the cheapest price of product ‘Tesco Value’. This is very good for low income family. However the quality of product is not very good. If high income family want to buy high qual ity product, they can buy ‘First range’ product. As we know First range product are more expensive than ‘Tesco Value’ product. For example a Tesco Value tissue cost 65p and the first range tissues cost ?1. 25. Tesco has the objective of meeting the needs of  customer and create more value for customers.Tesco has well trained customer service staff. Also Tesco build teams to create more value and keeping up to date the need of customer in different area. Moreover Tesco has provided a user friendly website for customer to find out more information about Tesco. They have well trained staff to answer customer questionnaires. Tesco always continues to improve the customer service and meet customer needs by acting upon feedback. Those can help to keep sales of Tesco up. The staff in Tesco has many benefits. They are not just having good pay.Also Tesco offer a whole package of other ways to help staff make more of their money, safeguard their future and look aft er their health. For example, Tesco is offers flexible working hours, offering part-time roles and encouraging job-sharing opportunities and shift-swapping. Tesco also provide a Training Options Development Programmer, offering an Apprenticeship or encouraging the studying for a qualification whilst at work. Currents in Tesco there are 7,000 members of staff taking part on development programmer which is designed to help them gain the experience and skills they need to move on to the next Tesco challenge.This can help Tesco to achieve developing the talents of its people through sound management and training practices, while rewarding them fairly with equal opportunities for all. The other important stakeholders are investor and shareholders. Tesco can’t grow without them. For example if Tesco want to open a Tesco store in overseas country. They must have local investor put money in it and look after them. The benefits for the shareholders and investor in Tesco are Tesco is a successful business and I am sure they are making profits. This shareholders return will increase.Also the investors get good and fair dividend each year. This has achieved Tesco aim of providing shareholders with progressive returns on their investment improving profitability through investment in efficient stores. Maximizing sales revenue Maximizing sales revenue is an ambitious aim in which the business seeks to generate as much income as it can. For Tesco when it aims to maximize sales, Tesco make some products half prices to attract more customers to buy it. Tesco also use club card to do promotion. Customer use club card to get more points, so they buy more products and discount.Tesco also use TV advertising to increase revenue the product. TV advertising is expensive and needs lots of people to make an advertisement. However there are many people watching the TV. Now there are very useful and very popular promotions, which are mobile apps. People can use mobile everywhere. M obile apps allow people to find the nearest Tesco store from the customer and show how to get there. People also can use this app to shop for 1000’s product from Tesco direct. If people use club card, they can scan the club card to see vouchers and order club card Rewards.When people have free time they can sit at home to so the shopping online. This can make the sales of Tesco higher. This can achieve their objective of outstanding international online retailer. In Belfast Tesco offer petrol in one of the biggest stores. It can maximize the sales of shop. It can increase sales of product because customer must buy the petrol. Also it can achieve the objective of meeting customers need. Tesco has created their brand, so all brands under Tesco name all profit will be return. Tesco offer a wide range of products for customers to choose.From increases choice can increase the sales because customer can buy more kind of product than other supermarkets. When Tesco sell the chicken, they will show us how they cook the chicken. It makes the customer want to buy it. The layout of stores is very important. The most people come to supermarket to buy bread, so Tesco sell their bread at the end of the shop. This make customer walk thought the shop. Maybe the customers just want to buy bread, but come out with a lot of products in the check out. There also place their products at the front of the store or points of sale in order to increase sales revenue.This also achieves the objective of to be as strong in everything we sell as we are in food because food product helps increase the non food product Tesco always continues to improve the customer service and meet customer needs by acting upon feedback. Service can upgrade the value of Tesco for example Tesco provide good customers service, customers will shop more happily and customers would like to return to Tesco. If customers buy lots of products or large product Tesco will offer delivery services. More over custom er buy online product will get delivery servers as well.In every Tesco stores there are boards in the air show customer what kind of product in that area. This make customer easier to find the product they want. Tesco has service like Club card Helpline, Customer Service, the Tesco Direct Flowers & Wine Telephone Ordering Service and the early Grocery Home Shopping service. Those services can upgrade the value of Tesco and make customer want to buy more product. Moreover those service cam help Tesco increase their sales to achieve their aim of maximizing their sale. This can increase sale to achieve the aim of maximising profit.Maximizing Profit Maximizing profit means Tesco is attempting to make as much profit as possible, so this make the total revenue of the business exceeds all the total costs. Tesco going global, it can maximize its profits as its services and sales are greatly sort across the world. To be able to do it that Tesco need to retain loyal staff and customer. Tesco need to loyal of staff to create a good working environment between staff and the owner. So staff will be happy and they will work harder for the owner. Tesco also need to keep the shareholders happy by putting money in their pocket.And the most important thing is get their customer happy, so Tesco has keep their profit rising. Tesco group sale is ?72bn this has been growth 7. 4% from last year. This shows Tesco are growing lot of profit. Tesco can use their objective to achieve their aim of maximizing profit. Tesco can use the following objective of create of highly valued brands, growth, be strong in everything they sell as they are in food. Increase sales prices Tesco can increase sales prices on the product which is high demand product, for example Tesco could increase milk from 65p to 75p. Although it is only slight increase, it wills a big effect on profit making.However if Tesco increase prices for many product, they will start losing customers. This will be losing profit. Th erefore before setting new pines Tesco needs to take such issues who careful consideration. Decreasing cost of product Tesco can maximise profit by decreasing cost of product. Tesco can open more stores, so Tesco can get cheaper price on economic of sales by order more products. Tesco need to get good relationship with supplier. They can pay all the product or ingredients by cash, so it can save bit of money to maximise. Tesco can use all the ingredients to which they order.For example order a chicken or cow use all part of those animals to cook a dish. Tesco have their own brand product, so they can sell those products straight away after the production. This can save time, so Tesco have more time to sell those products to maximising profit. Sell a range of products Tesco need to sell as many kinds of product as they can to attract as many customers as possible to maximise their profit. Tesco have the objective of be strong in everything as in food. For example maybe there is a cus tomer just looking for milk in Tesco. Suddenly he sees a good TV then he decided to buy it.This shows range of product can attract customers to buy more products. Some product Tesco has provided different size to maximise profit for example there are different size of 7up which give customer to choose. If a customer wants to drink the 7up immediately they will buy the small bottler of drink. This show size of product can meet customer different needs and they will buy more, so Tesco can maximise their profit. Growth Growth means a business is increasing its size, either by employing more people, increasing it product range and opening more branches. This show Tesco has been growth strongly.Tesco has growth up to 13 countries. They have stores in China, India, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, Czech Republic, Hungary Ireland, Poland Slovakia, Turkey, and USA. Also there are over 500,000 employees’ works for Tesco. Tesco has become third biggest retailer in the world. In 1997 is the time Tesco start to growth the core business and diversify with new products and services in existing and new markets. From 1998 Tesco has expanding the range of product that sell, for example by stocking clothes, household products and electrical. During those years Tesco starts to offer car and house insurance, loans and credit card.In 2003 Tesco has entering to telephone market. This shows the new range of products has attracted new customers. This suggests that it will be easier for Tesco to achieve it aim of growth In 1924 Tesco start growth in UK. In 1995 Tesco started trading in Hungary and now there are 212 stores in Hungary. Tesco has achieved their objective of being an outstanding international retailer, new technology and protection of the environment. For example In Hungary Tesco has developed range of technologies to reduce our carbon emissions including solar panels on stores, natural refrigeration  systems and energy efficient lighting systems.The most success ful international business is in South Korea call Home plus. This business first opened in 1999 and now has more than 450 stores consisting of both large hypermarkets and small Express stores. Home plus has employed more than 27000 people. In each week there are more than 6m customers go into the shop to buy things. I think they have growth so successfully around the world because they give very good value for the customers and provide a big range of products. In the UK Tesco operates a home shopping service on the Tesco.com wedside.In May 1984, Tesco has become the world's first recorded online home shopper. Tesco has operated on the internet since 1994 and was the first retailer in the world to offer a robust home shopping service in 1996. Tesco has entered online music in 2004. In 2011 Tesco has brought Binkbox which is an online movie streaming. This has achieved the objective of to be an outstanding international online retailer and growth in UK core. It shows the increase of T esco’s selling space during the last decade. This chart also shows the growth of Tesco.(Source: Tesco annual reports) Tesco use quantitative and qualitative information to measure the degree to which they are achieving their aims and objective. In quantitative information, Tesco is looking for some number or figures. For example actual, target sales figures over time, number of people went to Tesco in a week, percentage of customer use the self check out service etc. Tesco will use club card data to find out the information. After find the information Tesco will know they have achieved the aim or objective or not.In qualitative information, Tesco is looking for some opinion from stakeholder. Tesco can done by questionnaires to customer ask them what they feel about Tesco and how Tesco meet their needs. Also Tesco can use consumer panels involves taking response from people who regularly sit on panels and give Tesco opinions on given products. That information can help Tesco t o achieve their aim and give some information about improvement. Overall Tesco is a very successful business. In 1924 only one person start the business of Tesco and now Tesco become the world third largest retailer.Before we only can find Tesco in UK, but now we can find Tesco across the world. This shows Tesco has achieved the aim of growth successfully. Most of Tesco stores have achieved the aim of survival which is very good. We also find Tesco try very hard to achieve fully to their aim of maximising profit and sale. Tesco also meet the stakeholder needs very well. They always find their way to make their employees, investor, suppliers and the most important stakeholder customer very happy. This is the reason why Tesco is the world third largest retailer.

Report Writing on a Paintball Game

Yesterday at 3:30 pm was Jonny’s last strike as he had shot his mother. This action had only seemed as an accident, but as we confronted him it would only seem as an unlikely act that had taken place because of the objective of the game, or is it? Tune into the rest of this article to find out the real objective behind this setup. The legendary twenty-first century game of paintball co-exists as a way of enlightening the players of the dangers of being at war. The fun loving sport is a thrilling experience one should have if he is able to.The sport requires excellence in agility and the ability to make decisions on a quick note, as well as teamwork risking the life of others. Paintball technology is also used by military forces, law enforcement, Para-military and security organizations to supplement military training, riot response, and non-lethal suppression of dangerous suspects. Jonny Kapalo, the amateur paintball player, from West Kentucky had his eyes set on the joy of sh ooting in the mexcian home grounds of paintball, as one of the best ten places for paintballing.The game started at the crack of dawn when the teams split up. There were the Rottweilers and the meerkats. The players were to play in the paint-stained quagmire. The first game was ‘capture the flag’ and the meerkats (also known as Jonny’s team) had a good run since the game was theirs for the taking. The win was won by for his heroic dash for the flag which was quite a cheeky move, as his teammates distracted the adversary by covering for him. The second game was search and destroy, which consisted of four targets.The seekers of the game had a terminator of a man code name the ‘Predator’. The imprudent Jonny took the game as a joke and a couple of his teammates took into account of his plan of shooting the Predator. The error of this childish prank is that the Predator takes no hostiles even if it is caused by mutiny among his own teammates. At the coun t of three, with the predator in front of the scouting group, Jonny and his friends made their move, consequently, the more experienced player got the best of them and Jonny’s team was disqualified on the account of the uprising to the Predator.The third and final game was the team death match. This game has obvious objectives which are that you get terminated if you run out of paintballs or if you get shot. Each player was low on ammo and the last thing they wanted was to end the game. So each player had to examine their surroundings to look for places that could not be seen by the enemy. Jonny had thought of hiding behind a bush, to stalk his next victim. The unsuspecting detail of his hideout was unseen by the enemy.The next victim was to be his very own mother which was to be the most unlikely person to walk by. The poor woman was shot head to toe with suppressing shots. When she declared herself to be out of the game, Jonny crept back into hiding to wait for his next vic tim. But shortly afterwards the game was over and the Rottweilers won 2-1. We asked a few comments from Jonny and here is what he said, â€Å"The game was a game and I did not know that my mother would come out of cover and I would shoot her which was actually pretty awkward considering how well she could use a gun. Jonny’s mother had also shared her comments with us on how the game appealed to her. â€Å"The game was quite exciting, as an ex-marine I was born to be on the front line. The experience was a good one and it was great to see Jonny walking up my footsteps. † To me as a viewer the game was exhilarating and thrilling to watch, and informs me on the aspects of war and arts. This can stimulate a great experience which cannot be missed if one is able to afford. In my opinion Jonny’s mother forfeited the win to her son by exposing her cover.

Impact of Transnational Corporations Essay

A transnational corporation (TNC) is a firm that has the power to coordinate and control operations in more than one country, even if it does not own them. There has been a movement of industrial activity from Developed Countries (DCs) to Less Developed Countries, due to the lower production costs in LDCs, allowing TNCs to maximize profits. Less Developed Countries can be further categorized into two different types, namely Newly Industrializing Economies (NIEs) such as China and India, and Least Developed Countries (LDCs). TNCs have the ability to take advantage of geographical differences and to switch and re-switch its resources and operations between locations at an international, or even a global, scale. Thus, it is undeniable that TNCs have great economic, social and environmental impacts on the host country. However, whether the benefits outweigh the drawbacks depends on the level of the development of the country. TNCs bring about more economic and social benefits to NIEs but cause more environmental and socio-economic harm to LDCs, where there is a lack of legislative powers to protect workers and the environment from exploitation. TNCs provide economic stimulus and create employment in host countries through the multiplier effect and theory of cumulative causation. The injection of capital widens the economic base of the host country. TNCs often help LDCs climb the ladder of economic development. When the host country receives new investment, the economy is able to develop, increasing demand for labour. Increased personal income not only increases standard of living and quality, but it generates higher purchasing power for consumer goods which can lead to the growth and development of service industries as well. TNCs invest in China due to its labour ‘controllability’, competitiveness and the cheap labour of about US$0.60 per hour for long working hours of about 12 hours. Only one-third of the corporations in China are state-owned enterprises, showing the huge amount of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by TNCs in China, which has benefitted them positively as investments of TNCs have helped to lift more than 200 million Chinese out of poverty due to the opportunities for growth. The large scale investments in  the research and development industries also lead to a lateral technology transfer to the local population. Tetra Pak, a Swedish packaging firm, used to send an â€Å"army† of Swedes around the world to open and manage its factories. But now it is encouraging more local executives to step up into important roles and build up talent and experience in local â€Å"clusters†. Thus, there is training and skill acquisition for the locals, leading to technology tra nsfer. As such, TNCs bring about economic and socio-economic benefits for the host countries. However, the above scenario may just be a wishful thinking. Highly skilled managerial positions are often still dominated by expatriates, leaving only menial jobs for the locals, which are low-paying yet labour intensive. Also, many manufacturing plants are capital incentive so few jobs are provided in reality. Even if they do employ locals, they only employ low grade cheap labour. TNCs often ignore human rights too, exploiting labour. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for very low pay, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labour laws may be violated too. One 1981 study of an electronics firm in Asia employing 85 percent women showed that after one year of work, 80 percent of women suffered from chronic conjunctivitis, and the women who assemble microchips often lose their sight after four years. Similarly in China, the working conditions of the cheap migrant labour is poor as many are cooped up in rooms of high temperatures like those involved in the casting to iron to produce small metal parts. In addition, the lack of intervention of and enforcement of policies by the government of China will result in more harms than benefits for the country. These harsh conditions will definitely outweigh the economic benefits brought about by TNCs to the host countries, and thus TNCs does not necessarily improve the standard of living and quality of life for citizens in the host countries despite the increase in salary. TNCs can also cause significant environmental damage to host countries where environmental laws are not enforced. In order to attract TNCs to invest in their countries, there would be a reverse auction among host countries, where they try to be less restrictive on TNCs’ operations. Environmental laws are often relaxed despite being present, resulting in over-extraction of natural resources in the host country. In China, there is urban-bias to economic development and a large portion of the land use for farms is being taken over to build factories and  facilities. Another example would be in Nigeria, Africa’s leading oil producer. Deforestation, the clearing of land to produce oil and gas for Shell had greatly reduced the local forests used to supply foodstuffs and fuels in Nigeria. Furthermore, Shell uses gas flaring, a practice which burns gas that cannot be collected, leading to huge air pollution. Before 2008, legislation to eliminate this practice is non-existent. There were also 4000 recorded oil spills since 1960, which exemplifies the little regard for the environment. These negative environmental impacts are also worsened as Nigeria has an oil-based economy, and the large oil TNCs such as Shell had considerable power and influence in this politically unstable country. Therefore, it can be seen that TNCs like Shell bring much environmental damage to host countries, which lack governmental support in terms of negotiating with TNCs for FDI to be tied together with environmental protection practices. TNCs can help to generate wealth and provide jobs for the host country, as the injection of FDI is an economic stimulus for economic development. However, TNCs may still bring more harm to LDCs which do not have the political clout to establish firm legislative frameworks to protect their workers and environment from exploitation. On the other hand, more advanced economies such as NIEs are more adept in the negotiation process with TNCs and thus bring about maximum benefits for the country. Hence, whether the benefits of TNCs operating in Less Developed Countries outweigh the negative impacts depends on the level of development of the host country.

Changing Stereotypes of Arab and Muslims That Link Them to Terrorism Essay

Changing Stereotypes of Arab and Muslims That Link Them to Terrorism And Extremism - Essay Example Everyone has a tendency to stereotype in order to simplify his or her lives. Stereotypes are the maps of the world and aptly demonstrate the very human need to categorize. People like to stereotype to serve a fundamental need to preserve their own safety and well-being. Therefore, people end up making presumptions about persons and groups that say how they will end up affecting these people. However, sometimes that need transforms into a vehicle to elevate one’s own status as compared to the stereotyped group. Muslims and Muslim-Americans are currently experiencing this very phenomenon. After the attacks of September 11, Muslims and Arabs have been subjected to increased scrutiny and racial profiling at airports. In a poll carried out by the Boston Globe, 71 percent black people and 57 percent whites expressed the belief that Arabs and Muslims should be put through special, intensive security checks before they are allowed to board aeroplanes. ("Terror fears hamper,†) It is considered quite acceptable and even necessary to hold Muslims without any explanation and then subject them to hours of questioning and even arrest without a cause. The American Civil Liberties Union is sorting out many lawsuits of the kind. Mike Gallagher, a Fox News radio host has even gone on to say that, "Its time to have a Muslims check-point line in America's airports and have Muslims be scrutinized. You better believe it, its time." (Cowan, 2001) ("Fox news airs,†) In a sixth-grade social studies book, the Muslim culture is portrayed as oppressive and patriarchal. The book displays pictures of camels, tents and veiled women. The authors say that Muslim girls do not go to school and women cannot own property. In the end, the authors ask, â€Å"Would you like to be a Muslim woman in the Middle East?† There are many examples like this one, of stereotyping Muslims, based on the culture and traditions prevalent in one country. (Shaheen) It is a glaring assumption to presume that Muslim women

Unequal Distribution of Property and Factions Research Paper

Unequal Distribution of Property and Factions - Research Paper Example The government must, therefore, protect these rights as they develop on the identified individuals with the abilities and the talents, as the key responsibility of the state is to protect its entire citizen and their wealth (Mill and Ryan, 2006). The government will tend to do this by enacting policies and rules that are geared towards the protection of both talent and ability. Talent and ability are one of the greatest resources of any given country since as the individuals become creative in the efforts to enrich themselves resource wise, they, in turn, lead to the growth and development of the whole country and its inhabitants. It is certain that property in the society is not divided equally and the property that is not divided equally exist in different forms which include the following:- there is the category which involves either land or business property. Some of the property owners in the society own property in form of land and indeed large tracts of the land depending on their ability to acquire the land (Rousseau and Cress, 1987). The other groups in the society own property in form of business ventures and franchises operating them jealously and zealously practices that are normally unfair and unjust. Moreover, it is coupled with a lot of irregularities and unfair practices; some of these practices are either ethical or unethical in nature. The round objective though is one that of acquiring property; hence, protection from the government of the abilities and the talent if called for (Mill and Ryan, 2006). The other reason that individuals in the society own wealth or property in an unequal manner are because of the sole reason that there are many injustices in democratic governments of the day.  Ã‚  

Two Events Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Two Events - Essay Example It acted as a wakeup call for USA to defend its citizens. The following paper looks at the above two events and how they have contributed to the current state of America. Attack on Pearl Harbor On 7th December 1941, the United States of America was intentionally and abruptly ambushed by the air and naval forces of the Japan Empire. The location of the bombing and sinking of American ships was the Pearl Harbor Naval and Army base in Oahu, Hawaii. The US eventually entered World War II due to this homeland assault (Takaki, 2008). I believe that the effects of Pearl Harbor were mostly positive for Americans. Even though the attack terrified the nation, it also united a nation that had been divided due to the war in Europe. After the attack, there were various drives launched such as scrapped iron drive, united paper drives and recycled items. These were used to make items vital for the war such as machine guns, flame throwers, binoculars, and hand grenades. Even the youngest were helpfu l as school children had coin drives in which they gathered coins to purchase war bonds to support the government (Dower, 2011). The second positive effect is that it assisted in ending the Great Depression which had started in 1929. It brought a great need for an industry that provides materials for war-times like ammunition, guns and uniforms for the troops. At the end of the war, citizens purchased all they could not during the war period. There was also a decrease in the rate of unemployment as ten million men and women joined the army while those left at home took jobs in factories. Another positive outcome was that as a resolution not to permit a repeat of World War II, the United Nations was born. The Senate that had declined to sanction the membership of America in the League of Nations following World War I, eventually irresistibly sanctioned US membership in the UN after World War II (Stone, & Kuznick, 2012). There however were some negative elements of the attack in that over 2000 citizens died and 21 ships were sank or damaged seriously. Japanese-American citizens were placed in relocation camps as a measure to ensure that there was no risk of a Japanese descendant acting as a spy for Japan (Takaki, 2008). They were forcefully evicted from their homes within 48 hours and lived in poor conditions. However, in 1988, congress gave a formal apology to the affected and gave the survivors compensations of $20,000 each (Stone, & Kuznick, 2012). After this gesture, America has now turned to be one of the most democratic nations in the world. Its citizens and government became more appreciative to human rights of foreigners and citizens. Conclusion It is clear that if we forget the past then we are bound to repeat its mistakes. The two attacks, even though devastating, shaped USA in their own capacities. They served to bring the nation together in times of crisis. We would not be the strong united superpower we are today without such occurrences. As a count ry, we should take precautionary measures in future and also arrest perpetrators of such attacks while still maintaining socially correct honor to the opinions and rights of mankind. It is right for us as a country to defend ourselves against future attacks but we should do so without destroying our civil rights and values as we do. References Didion, J. (2003). Fixed Ideas: America Since 9.11. New York: New York Review Books. Dower, J. W. (2011). Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor / Hiroshima / 9-11 /

Organizational Change Model Assignment Term Paper

Organizational Change Model Assignment - Term Paper Example While reductionist and normative approaches have their uses in managing projects, it is vital for managers in charge of implementing any type of change to learn of more responsive processes such as those involved in action research to improve their efficiency as project managers (Gustavsen, 2003). Understanding action science also helps in developing interpersonal within the organization. In larger contexts, such as that of XYZ Inc.’s expansion into Shanghai, China, action research is more political as well as complex, and tends to be coordinated across several change processes. In such a context, action research also includes a variety of stakeholders who have are invested in the organization. Kurt Lewin is believed by many to be the man who came up with the first form of an action research model (Gustavsen, 2003). The action research model is mostly used to implement organizational change in multifaceted social situations where the workers and customers whose lives or circum stances will be affected ought to participate in creating and implementing the change that will affect their lives. The action research also is being increasingly used for expansion objectives in international settings. In this case, XYZ Inc. is creating a branch in a developing nation with a thriving economy. The changes involved do not just mean relocating operations to a different geographical location, but also include taking into account new customer demographics, and cultural work values of workers from a different nation. In addition, the action research model is rooted in American notions of what change entails. For instance, the action research model actually perceives change in a different way from Eastern cultures such as that of China. Implementing this model of change will thus mean that a more deep-seated foundation is laid when the Shanghai branch is being created, as the action research model will even have to have its basic doctrines revised to fit in more with its society. In order to achieve success in such settings, the action research model is created to address different cultural assumptions when necessary. This model can also be applied to promote innovation and social change, as is evidenced by successful global social change projects. Its suggestions are also meant to rectify imbalances in resource allocations and power structures across different groups. This will be vital in traditionally bureaucratic societies such as the Chinese society as it will deal with any feelings of disgruntlement among workers. In recent times, the action research model has made adaptations such as the involvement of workers in any organization’s change process. This is referred to as ‘participatory action research’ in corporate circles. This is a big contrast from traditional approaches towards change where change practices are created and then implemented by hired consultants (Gustavsen, 2003). While XYZ Inc. is not headquartered in a nation that has bureaucratic leanings, it still has to change its structure so that it changes from being too management oriented to being more of a customer-centric institution. This can be made possible through the action research model. In addition, action research, as a method of organizational change, is likely to be accepted in the Chinese society which has a systemic understanding of the world. Nations with a large majority of Buddhist adherents, such as China, tend to be

Twelve Angry Men Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Twelve Angry Men - Essay Example It is about the group dynamics of the jury and how they change throughout the movie. To start with, the group comes from a wide range of backgrounds and beliefs, but what is more important is how they view the purpose of their task. Most want to just â€Å"get it over with† regardless of the outcome. Because it does not affect their lives in any significant way, they do not apply much critical thought to the evidence. Instead, they assume because the police and courts are prosecuting the young man, he must be guilty. Thankfully for the defendant, one man, Juror #8, uses critical thinking and takes the instructions from the judge seriously. Twelve Angry Men can be divided into five sections of group development. The first stage, known as â€Å"forming,† begins the dynamic and usually involves working out of purpose, structure, and leadership. In the movie this part of the group development is portrayed at the beginning of the jury deliberations. Juror #1, the jury forema n (Martin Balsam), is ready to start and seems unclear on how to proceed. He clearly demonstrates that he is not really a leader type. He politely asks two of the jurors to have a seat so they can get started without seeming the least bit managerial. Then when the men assemble around the juror’s table, the foreman hesitantly discusses the various ways to proceed. He says he is not sure which is best and readily accepts the suggestion of one of the other men, a much more authoritarian type, that they take a vote so they â€Å"can all get out of there† (Henry Fonda). The foreman readily concedes and the vote is eleven to one in favor of guilty with Juror #8 (played by Henry Fonda) being the holdout. One of the more extroverted jurors says, â€Å"Boy oh boy, there’s always one,† which seems to imply that Juror #8 is only voting not guilty to cause trouble, gain attention, or for some reason other than the fact that he truly believes the defendant is not guil ty. The juror who implies this accusation acts passively aggressively to bully Juror #8. He wants Juror #8 to feel like everyone is against him, so that he will change his vote and then they all can â€Å"get out of there.† Yet, he does not come right out and say it directly. This leads directly to the next stage of group development, â€Å"storming.† Storming involves intergroup conflict and disagreement over who should be in control of the group even if it is not blatantly exerted. Juror #10 (played by Ed Begley) challenges the authority of Juror #1, the jury chairman, and Juror #3 (Lee J. Cobb) tells Juror #2 (John Fiedler) "to keep silent." Both Jurors #3 and #10 intervene when Juror #9 (Joseph Sweeney) wants to give his opinion. Then, Juror #6 (Edward Binns) physically threatens Juror #3 because he does not think he is showing Juror #9, who is the oldest of the group, due respect. Another instance that reveals the personalities of the group occurs when Juror #11 ( Georg Voskovec) says, â€Å"I beg pardon. To which Juror #10 says, "I beg pardon? What are you so polite about?† And, Juror #11 answers, â€Å"For the same reason you are not: it's the way I was brought up† (Henry Fonda).  This clearly demonstrates that there are vast differences in background and personality in the group. From the revelation of these differences and likenesses, as with any group, small cliques begin to form. â€Å"Norming† is this clique forming stage and occurs when the group begins to develop close relationships among its members. Most of the group participants are encouraged to participate. In Twelve Angry Men, even the more silent members of the group (Jurors 2, 5, 6) were encouraged to contribute their opinions to the discussion. During norming, groups will generally demonstrate cohesiveness, yet in the movie, total unity never quite develops. In

Ten Critical Steps for Risk Managers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Ten Critical Steps for Risk Managers - Essay Example These may include services like having political risk intelligence. Next, risk managers as a way to protect their business in Congo DRC should make a list of the expected political risks and combine them in order to reduce the premiums to be paid for them as a way of protection whether in insurance protection or any other form of protection offered for the business in that country. Communication as another step is very important. This is communication by the risk managers to other stakeholders of the company on issues to do with the company including liability and property coverage, regular updates of the political situation and other logistics issues that may come in handy in prevention of losses from political chaos (Cook, Alston and Raia, 2004). Contract on the issue of risk coverage and any terms of payment in that line should be constantly reviewed and updated. This is a necessary step to be taken by the risk managers who really aim at protecting the business and preventing any form of political loss in this foreign country. Other than contract reviewing, it is necessary for a risk manager to have political risk intelligence which incorporates aspects like political risk insurance of economic and also political events that may occur in that country anytime and that may disrupt the business. This may require working with national intelligence services outside Congo DRC and other trade associations to make this step effective. The country has its own market standard policy conditions and rates that have to be followed if political risk is to be avoided for the business. These may include among others policies on currency conversion or licensing. Export market has its shares of risks that have to be addressed by the risk manager and especially in such a politically unstable country. This includes risks like nonpayment or even frustration of contracts and which may prove detrimental to the business if not effectively addressed by the risk

Research paper on Masaaki Suzuki Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

On Masaaki Suzuki - Research Paper Example The World War II was a disaster for his family, as his father’s music factory was bombed and he also tragically lost his brother in the war. Left penniless and without his teaching job, his family moved to a nearby city, where Suzuki started constructing wooden planes to raise some money. However, he continued teaching orphaned kids and later on adopted one of his students, developing teaching strategies and methodologies with his assistance. He combined the practical teaching applications of his, with traditional Asian philosophy concepts. His contributions to the field of pedagogy are worth mentioning. Suzuki also collaborated with other thinkers of his time, like Glenn Doman, founder of The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential, an organization that studied neurological development in young children. â€Å"Suzuki and Doman agreed on the premise that all young children had great potential† (jameslogancourier.org). Suzuki was also a national patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity. For his many contributions, the Emperor of Japan appointed Suzuki to the order of the National Treasure. He died in the year 1998 at the age of 99. His Contributions Suzuki developed his ideas through "Talent Education", a method of instruction which he developed. Basing his method on the role of mother tongue in any learning process, he remarked, â€Å"Though still in an experimental stage, Talent Education has realized that all children in the world show their splendid capacities by speaking and understanding their mother language, thus displaying the original power of the human mind†( qtd. by Behrend 3). He believed that native language method holds the key to human development, and noted that children, whether they are born in German or Japanese households, will naturally learn to speak their mother tongue in a more effective manner. This is because, children will be mainly influenced by what they are exposed to or learn in their childhood. On the same lines, he concluded that all the children can exhibit and develop musical ability, and the environment in which they live and thrive, will mainly influence that development. Suzuki has applied this method through Talent Education to teach music to children. That is, children were taken without previous aptitude or intelligence test of any kind, and are brought into a learning environment. Through this process, he understood that everyone will not be able to achieve same level of proficiency and achievement, however, each one can achieve developments and skill that will be equivalent of his language proficiency in other fields. With this hypothesis, Suzuki believed that talent is not something that is inborn, but that can be created or developed. He felt that children can learn music the same way they learn their mother tongue. He called this process a Mother Tongue method. According to him, through this method, children will not only be able to learn music, but will be able to play music at high standards. His motive was not only training but also overall development of the child as an individual. His Methodologies He explained that he does not train children who are prodigies, neither are they gifted with an inherent talent nor their parents are professional musicians. He stated that if parents adopt his approach of music learning, and keep on repeating in

The Metamorphosis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

The Metamorphosis - Essay Example He is motivated by his need to fit into the role of being a family man. However, once Gregor is inexplicably transformed into an Ungeziefer— which is roughly equivalent to â€Å"vermin†Ã¢â‚¬â€ he is no longer capable of taking care of his family in a traditional capacity. Instead, he is relegated to being a blind, wilting creature. All of his energy goes towards looking out the window, even as his vision and perception deteriorate. He devolves from desiring to care for his family and retain his job to desiring nothing more than to delude himself into believing that his sister is playing the violin for him. He scurries out into their midst, no longer conscious as his familys need for him to remain hidden. He confronts his mother with his shriveled form and terrifies their lodgers with his uncleanliness. Ultimately, Gergors nature as a man is completely destroyed. As his family —however horrid they might be— points out, â€Å"If [this creature] were Gregor he would have seen long ago that its not possible for human beings to live with an animal like that and he would have gone of his own free will.† Gregor has lost his ability to place his family above himself, but he still retains his ability to feel affection as evidenced by the â€Å"emotion and love† he holds for his family. The obligation that he held as a traveling salesman, however, has long since faded away, taking with it the satisfactions and desires that mark him as

Cb Prepartions Essay Example for Free

Cb Prepartions Essay Social character traits have shown that inner and other-directed consumers may have different preferences in terms of promotional messages. Inner-directed people prefer advertisements that stress personal benefits while other-directed people seem to prefer advertisements that feature social acceptance. (a) HIGHLY DOGMATIC CUSTOMERS: It is a personality trait that measures the degree of rigidity (versus openness) that individuals display towards unfamiliar and towards information that is contrary to their own established beliefs. Dogmatism: general tendency to be open or closed to new ideas and innovations. A person who is high in dogmatism approaches the unfamiliar defensively while the person who is low in dogmatism will rarely consider unfamiliar or opposing beliefs. * more receptive is Ads for new products or services that contains an appeal from the authoritative figure. Marketer uses celebrities and experts to their new product advertising for making it easier for the potentially reluctant customers. * Highly dogmatic consumers are likely to respond favorably to a new product when the advertising message is presented in an authoritarian manner (e. g. celebrity endorsement or expert testimonials). * prefer traditional or established products rather than innovative ones. close minded towards unfamiliar and untoward information that is contrary to their own established beliefs * approach such information with considerable discomfort and uncertainty. promotional message most suitable would be endorsement or appeal from an authoritative figure. * New products need to be presented in an authoritative manner and that celebrities could be employed to reach dogmatic consumers who are more closed minded. For example: Colgate Dental Cream with Doctors and Experts endorsements. Anti-Polio Campaign featuring Amitabh and Sachin Tendulkar also useAuthoritative statements. The Cadbury’s brand took a beatng in sales after the worms were found in somepackets. Dogmatic Consumers stopped purchasing the Brand. Amitabh Bacchhanwas then used as Authority figure to reestablish Brand. b) Inner-directed consumers * tend to use their own values and standards in evaluating a new product * ads aimed at them should depict the attainment of personal achievement and satisfaction. ads that stress product features and benefits, which enable them to usetheir own values and standards in evaluating products * rely on their own inner values or standards in evaluating new products and are likely to be the consumer innovators. * other directed customers tend to look to others for guidance a s to what is appropriate or what is inappropriate. * be prefer ads that stress product features and personal benefits ( enabling them to use their own values and standards in evaluating products whereas the other * For example: Surf Ad showing Shabana Azmi saving two buckets of water is an example of the same. The latest from Surf Excel is currently running on television. This is the ad where many people are seen walking with two buckets full of water. They then pour it into a large reservoir. At this point none other than Shabana Azmi informs you what a great thing thissaving of water is for the country and implores you to use Surf Excel. * manufacturer of cameras who advertises to inner-directed consumers should stress the ability to take better pictures and the resulting personal satisfaction. c) Consumers with a high optimum stimulation level * more open to risk-taking, more likely to be innovative have a greater willingness to take risks, try products with many novel features, and shop in new retail outlets. * likely to respond favorably to promotional messages stressing more rather than less risk, novelty,or excitement. * to seek purchase related information and to accept new retail facilities. * For example: The exciting and exotic Vacation Campaign of Malasia-Truly Asia is position ing of  Airways to sell the Asian Adventures. These enjoy thinking. They are responsive to that part of Ad that is rich in Information. The individuals representing this group are adventurous and often related to entrepreneurial environments. The innovators run the risk that the innovation does not catch on, and thus subject themselves to a potential loss they must be prepared to absorb. Therefore innovators have to live with the uncertainty about the potentials of the technology, which can be viewed upon as the price to pay for being pioneers in a new field catalyzing the diffusion of new technologies. The early adopters are ready to adopt a new technology when they observe that other individuals has started adopting, and sees the potential for being some of the first adopters of a new and promising technology. These individuals are often a more integrated part of the local society than the innovators, and their adoptions are crucial for the technology to take off and get hold of the broad public. For the early adopters the uncertainties about the merits of the new technology are strongly diminished, and can therefore adopt the new technology without running the risk of buying a young and untested technology. This group accounts for about one third of the total number of adopters, and provide the link between the progressive early adopters and the more skeptical later adopters. In the latter half of the spectrum the late majority also represent about a third of the adopters. This group is skeptical to new innovations, and is not willing to adopt, until a lot of other people have adopted before them ensuring the success of the technology and possibly massive network effects. The last 16 % of the adopters, the laggards, often focus on traditional values and base their decisions on past events. They are suspicious of any new inventions to change the way life are traditionally lived, and must be 100 % certain that the technology will prevail before they are willing to adopt. From a consumers’ point of view it is essential to think about the decisions of future adopters when choosing what technology to go with. The decisions of previous adopters are on the other hand a know factor and plays a role for the decision also. So does the structure of the market, i. e. which technologies are available at the time of adoption, compared to potential superior technologies that could be available in the future. Recent findings indicate that there is a lack of willingness to wait by the early adopters. 11 This high priority of being among the very first users of a new technology is said to inflict negative externalities on the later adopters. These later adopters can be forced to adopt an inferior technology to make sure that they are compatible with the technologies of the early adopters, or they might be forced to give up compatibility to get a superior technology. That said the diffusion of new technologies is often strongly dependent on the choices of the early adopters.

McDonalds Future Policies and Strategies

McDonalds Future Policies and Strategies Introduction In this assignment we will discuss the business, its environment, factors affecting the environment, current market conditions and the affect of the current market on the the business. Identify the stakeholders of the company, strategy, policies used by the business that helps them to gain competitive edge over its customers. Strategic Review Strategic review helps to analyse and review the strategies used by the business for survival and sustainability. It helps us to understand the decisions taken by the management to increase the sales, market share and hence maximising profit. The Company I have chosen for this assignment is McDonalds which market leader in fast food industry is. In this assignment we will discuss McDonalds stakeholder and their current market position of McDonalds. We will also discuss the environment, strengths and the weaknesses along with the strategies used by McDonalds which affected the position of McDonalds either to increase market share or maximising profit. Task 1.1 Identify the importance of environmental factors affecting the organization or sector. We will discuss the factors affecting McDonalds. I have chosen Mcdonalds as a company having worked for McDonalds for about Four years make me understand the culture, structure and the environmental factors that affect the organisation directly and indirectly.Mcdonlads follow the plan to Win and being the Market Leader in the fast food industry with having restaurant in more than 119 countries with more than 31,000 restaurants in operation. The factors that affect the organisation are the political, social, economic, technological and legal .Apart from those Factors like Globalisation, Diversity and Ethics affect the organisation. Globalisation: Globalisation helps in developing a closer contact between different parts of the world, and have increased the possibility of personal exchange, mutual understanding and friendship among world citizens. Corporations are expanding their businesses to world market. Corporations go global for the Survival and sustainabilty.Mcdonalds are operating in more than 119 countries with over 31,000 restaurants in operation. Diversity : McDonalds s follow diversity by employing local people and having local suppliers for the restaurants. It also have the different menu for different countries and follow the culture of the countries. Like not serving beef products in India and having different Entries for ladies in Arab Countries respecting the cultural and religious beliefs of people. Global marketing decisions are no different than those made domestically but the decisions are unique to each country (Sister Sister, 2005). McDonalds realises diversity as an asset that enhances in the profitability of organisation. Diversity directly reflects the interpersonal relationships. Ethics: McDonalds Promote the RMHC(Ronald McDonald House Charity ) which provide room and board, food and sibling support at a cost of only $10 a day for families with children needing extensive hospital care. McDonalds sponsor Olympic athletes. Ronald McDonalds Houses are located in more than 259 communities worldwide and support Mobile care programs which offer cost effective medical,dental and educational services to children.In addition to their community involvement, McDonalds has a long-standing commitment to environmental protection. Restaurants around the world have innovative programs for recycling, resource conservation, and waste reduction. Mcdonalds also help the African farmers by buying fairtrade coffee beans and also the Rainforest Alliances. Task 1.2 Analyze the needs and expectations of all stakeholders involved. McDonalds is a people business-Ray Kroc Person, group, or organization that has direct or indirect stake in an organization because it can affect or be affected by the organizations actions, objectives, and policies. (Businessdictionary, 2010) Customers: McDonalds provide its customer with the nutritional value of the food and tend to innovate new food for its customers and have loyalty options of drink to retain its customers .It also provide healthy food options like salads, water,delli roll and fruits . Franchise holders (franchisees) Franchisees are crucial to McDonalds success; they deliver its brand promise straight to the customer. Nationwide, approximately 85percent of their restaurants are franchised. The sites for the restaurants and either own or leases the land and buildings. The franchisee then, in turn, leases the building from McDonalds by paying a percentage of sales. The franchisee also purchases the cooking equipment, furniture, play land and signage to complete the fit out of the restaurant. Shared investment and shared risk helps to achieve sustainable growth. Employees: Employees are the internal stakeholders and directly affect the working of organisation. McDonalds provide national qualification to its employees and helps to gain work experience. Mcdonalds follow equal opportunities for its employees. Suppliers: McDonalds supply chain benefits the countries economy. As Mcdonalds lay emphasize on the local suppliers. But the suppliers have to maintain the promise of quality for the customer, the ation, including rigorous quality control in all areas of operations-including animal welfare, health and safety, handling procedures and cleanliness. By providing local supplies Mcdonalds generate employment in the countries and supporting economies of thes to be company. This also enhances the growth perspectives of the countries as New Zealand exports beef to United States for beef patties. Community groups: RMHC(Ronald McDonald House Charity ) which provide room and board, food and sibling support at a cost of only $10 a day for families with children needing extensive hospital care. McDonalds sponsor Olympic athletes. Ronald McDonald Houses are located in more than 259 communities worldwide and support Mobile care programs which offer cost effective medical, dental and educational services to children. In addition to their community involvement, McDonalds has a long-standing commitment to environmental protection. Restaurants around the world have innovative programs for recycling, resource conservation, and waste reduction. Mcdonalds also help the African farmers by buying fair-trade coffee beans and also the rainforest alliances. It also is promoting the national Olympics in 2012 . Shareholders: According to the Annual report 2010 Mcdonalds have increased it growth 3.8% and the earning per share of the shareholders have increased by 9% and also the total dividend distributed to shareholders between 2007 -2009 amounted to 16.6 million dollars. Task 1.3 Conclude the major changes taking place in the environment that will affect the strategy. Economy is going through the downturn .It is very tough for companies to survive and sustain in the market. Every organisation follow the internal and external environment to plan any strategy .Profit Maximisation is the main aim of the organisation apart from organisations do plan for the environmental and the social factors that help in achieving the objectives and goals of the organisation. PESTLE Analysis: Political factors: Company is controlled by the policies and regulation of operations .Specific market focus on different areas of concern such as health, worker protection, and environment .McDonalds while operating in India will follow the rules and regulations of India relating to the tax, trade laws and the rights. For example selling of the meat is said to be offensive relating to Hindu community particularly that of beef. Economic factors:- Economic factors are those factors where in the economy of the business is affected it has a major impact on the business these factors such as interest rate , exchange rates could have a devastating effect on the business special when it a multinational business. McDonalds will have to charge customer in the local currency than the standard currency and the price should be within the purchasing power of individual. Social Factors: Social factors are factors originated generally due to the internal stakeholders in the organization, their health and safety. The culture in the organization can have varied effects on the output of the business and the cost of the company is lot more affected due social factors. Technological factors: McDonalds use television advert for the for the marketing purpose. Celebrities and animated depictions are used as an endorsement for I m loving it campaign. McDonalds use inventory system and the management of the value chain allow the easy payment foe their suppliers and other vendor which an individual stores in respective markets deal with. Legal Factors: McDonalds is proving nutritional information of the food on the packaging and the website of McDonalds. McDonalds is using fruits, oatmeal, salad, water and orange juice to promote healthy food habits and fight the obesity. In the Muslim countries McDonalds is using the concept of Halal Food for the target Customers. Other legal concepts like tax obligations, employment standards, and quality requirements are only a few of important elements on which the company has to take into consideration. Otherwise, smooth operations shall be hard to achieve. Environment: McDonalds is using the bin it logo to promote clean society so that the rubbish packaging should not be dumped by the roadside. It is also promoting going green to save energy and reducing wastage to save the environment and showing their responsibilities towards society. Through careful planning and working with The carbon rust we ensure that we use the most efficient equipment for our restaurants according to the technology available(Katie Saunders ,Environmental Manager, McDonalds UK) Mcdonalds is also using contributing in the environmental impact by reducing the energy consumption in restaurants, miniming the use of water in restaurants like using waterless urinals in the restaurants. Mcdonalds is trying to save the environment by reducing waste and reducing the size of the trayliners by 10cm which results in 84 tonnes of paper saving. It is also recycling the used cooking oil for the bio diesel. (McDonalds, 2010) Balance Scorecard Approach: The Balance Scorecard method was given by Kaplan and Norton .It is a strategic approach and the performance management system that enables organisations to translate companys vision and strategy into implementation and take into consideration four perspectives: Financial Perspectives: From the Financial Perspectives Mcdonalds like to focus on the Profitability and sales. For Increasing the sales employees are trained to sell large meals. For the Profitability emphases is laid on the waste reduction and drive thru which is having trained staff to do the job properly. Hand held are used to less the queues on the drive thru as it lessen customer order processing times. Customer Perspectives: Mcdonalds relate to Quality ,Service and value to customers. It target to serve front counter customer in 90 secs and the drive thru customers in 180 sec.Speed and quality is of utmost important to customers. Therefore, customers, like to friendly,fast and quality service every time.New Product like snack wrap, tasty and Great Taste of America is been brought to menu after sometime to retain the customers. Business Process Perspective: From the Business processes Mcdonalds is getting to expand its business by getting global. Also Mcdonalds is adding new product line to its business by opening McCaffes to expand its business. Learning and Growth Perspective: Employee Commitment is very important in the fast food industry. Employee turnover affect the business as retaining the employees is cost effective as recruiting and training is costly. McDonalds provide qualification to its managers from the hamburger university.(maxipedia,2010) Value chain Analysis: Firm Infrastructure: Brand Recognition: Mcdonalds is globally recognised brand. No.1 in Retail food industry. McDonalds is the market leader and exists at number no. 1 in fast food industry. Franchising: About 85% of the restaurants are franchised. Company Image: Company hold a strong image in the community because of the fresh and universal taste. Financial strength: Inspite of the economic downturn Mcdonalds annual sales increased by 3.8 % in 2009. Human Resources: Job Applications: Mcdonalds follow the online application system for recruitment. 2nd largest U.S employer Technology: Just in time order Delivery: Mcdonalds use the refrigerated trucks for delivery as the temperature of the frozen meat patties should not be less than -18 to -22 degrees to be served when cooking. Procurement: Sustainable packaging: Mcdonalds have reduced the size of tray liner and also use the packaging that can be recycled in their concern to protect environment. Renewable resources: 82% of the packing material is from renewable resources. Oil recycling for the bio diesel. Quality Control: For delivery freight truck inspections are inspected and random audits take place for quality control. Inbound Logistics: Operations: Corp. Guidelines for franchisees. Outbound Logistics: Distributor agreement Marketing and Sales: Product: Health and wellness campaign and product offering Price: Providing value to customer e.g. Pound menu, party pack for kids. Promotion: Coca cola endorsement Sponsor of Olympics and feeding the athletes .Mcdonalds is sponsoring Olympics 2012 along with coca cola and Cadbury. Service : Friendly customer service. Clean Environment for customers. Fast food service target to serve front counter customer in 90 sec and drive thru customer in 180 seconds. { Adopted from Harbott.com,2010} Task 2.2 Summarize the position of the organization in its current market. According to The Times In spite of the economy downturn McDonalds is still pushing ahead with the discounting menu. Figures shown by The Times state that McDonald position in the current market is unaffected by the economy downturn .It is following the strategy of the discounting  £or $ 1 menu making it to increase its profit. It has reported the increased sale as 4.2% of the global rise McDonalds share rose from.38 % in early trading of 1950 to  £70.61 in 2010.Mcdonalds is following a low prices strategies on fries,burgers.drinks and the sale of McCafe drinks.(Frean,2010) Mcdonalds is holding strong position in market as it holds more than 32,000 restaurant in operation in more than 117 countries and it has also added to the new product line McCaffes in 2008 providing cappuccinos and frappacinos. And other drinks. Working towards the environments and Children welfare and the organic food and also feeding the Olympics allows them to fulfil their responibilty towards society. Mcdonalds have planned to open around 1,000 more store in 2010 and invest in $2.4 billion to enhance the brand. Mcdonalds have planned to Reimage the exterior and interior of the existing stores to improve seating, lighting and dà ©cor and by doubling drive thru stations to improve speed and convenience.(Yousuf,2009) Task 2.3 Evaluate the competitive strengths and weaknesses of the organizations current strategies. Strengths Weaknesses Opportunity Threats 1) Glo Globalization: 32,000 restaurants serving in more than 117 countr117 countries. 1) Advertisement techniques that target children 1) Innovation: Continued adaptation such as adding on new menu such as snack wrap and great taste of Amaerica to retain the existing customers. 1) Current world economic standing: the companys revenue streams are diversified, but depending on the the length of this recession, they will inevitably be negatively impacted by the trickle down effect. 2) Active Childrens Charity: The Ronald McDonald House helping families with children in hospital. 2) Consumers use disposable income to purchase fast food meals so when the budget it treatened, consumers redirect these funds 2) Conservation: Researching green energies and green packaging solutions Recycling of the waste oil to form Biodiesel.. Using Water less urinals in store to save water consumption. 2) More Casual Dining Restaurants increasing their burger offering and decreasing the price. 3) Adjusted Ingredients and product offerings to comply with upgraded health standards deemed necessary by the USDA:Mcdonalds provide the universal taste in its menu. 3) Public perception: McDonalds has been impacted by negative press like the documentary Supersize Me by Morgan Spurlock in which he contributed our societies obesity to McDonalds and other fast food chains. 3) Exploration: Create new product offerings. Continue to use technology to influence revenue strategy: possibly use text messages to deliver specials offers to individuals who sign up for such services. 3) Public Health Crisis.: people are more foccussed on the dietry needs. 4) Earns revenue not merely by fast food sales, but also as a property investor, a franchiser of restaurants.: More than 85% of the restaurants are franchised throughout the world. Mcdonalds using low price strategy Or the  £1 menu which led t increase in sales by 4.2 % globally in 2010. Task 3.1 Use a range of tools and models to develop strategic options. Turnaround Strategy: Turn around Strategy is used by underperforming companies to normal in terms of acceptance levels of profitability, solvency, liquidity and cash flow. Therefore turnaround strategy is used to manage, stabilise, fund and fix the underperforming and distressed companies. The components of the Turnaround strategies are: Managing the turnaround: Managing in terms of leadership, stakeholder management. Stabilising by ensuring the short term future of the business through cash management. Funding and Recaptilising the company. Fixing the company in strategic, operational and organisational term. Mcdonalds adopted the turnaround strategy in 2003 when the sales declined, ,Measures for the service and quality of the chain continued to fall behind its rivals.To fight back the Company started to follow a turnaround from the corporate level by bringing back the James R Cantalupo former vice president under who the company bloomed from 1990 to 2000 and gained 32,000 franchisees. With the coming back of Cantalupo he started the redesigning by emphasizing more on the quality , friendliness and speedy service of staff and laid emphasis on the increased sales and expanding the more on business. The Mexican Grill and The Boston which was acquired by the Mcdonalds were let out .McDonalds set out new Product line to its Menu By opening McCaffes around the world as expansion in 2003. Breakfast new menu was added as pancakes with the combination of bacon, sausage and egg which was a great success along with the breakfast coffee drinks. It also added healthy food as salads, drinks. Company also added new logo I m loving it in the TV Adverts using Justin Timberlake to target teenagers instead of the kids to endorse Mcdonalds which turnaround a great success for the company and company started to increase its sales following the strategy.(scribd,2010) The changes in the external environment of the business can also be determined by the Porter five force model which exactly shows the real picture of the competition in the market. The model of the Five Competitive Forces was developed by Michael E. Porter in his book à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors in 1980. Since that time it has become an important tool for analyzing an organizations industry structure in strategic processes. Porters model is based on the insight that a corporate strategy should meet the opportunities and threats in the organizations external environment. Especially, competitive strategy should base on and understanding of industry structures and the way they change. Competition: Since the time Mcdonalds started in 1940 it is providing excellence service to its customer. Market is tough and tight for fast food industry. Opening up of cafe to the product line and serving breakfast has provided tight competition with Starbuck and other breakfast serving restaurant. Burger king and KFC are the two great competitors for Mcdonalds. Ease of entry: it is hard for new entrants to enter the market because of the high cost of entry and research and development cost. Established brand names like Mcdonalds make it even harder and new entrants have to face price competition. Substitutes: there are many products available in the market for substites.People can go to Burger King And KFC and Starbucks looking for substitutes. Power of suppliers: products are not readily available from suppliers so the power of suppliers is relatively low. Power of Buyers :Power of buyer is low. {Adopted from: marketing teacher,2010} Task 3.2 Develop a comparative understanding of activity from organizations in the market. Mcdonalds is the market leader in the fast food industry .Fast food business fluctuates with the economy rise and doom, customer taste, cultural differences, climatic conditions and the buying behaviour of customers. Mcdonalds is a customer oriented business focuses on the service, quality, processes and the accuracy of the service delivered to customer. McDonalds tends to provide universal taste of food to customers despite of their regional differences. It promotes diversity among its employees and believes in equal opportunities to its employees. Regular Training and development of the staff at the operational and management level gives it a stand out position in the market. Innovation and the TV Endorsement and its target market and motto I m Loving it makes it a standalone brand among the customers. To retain Customers Mcdonalds is regularly adding new menu its list and to adapt to cultural differences it follows the culture of the country Like having separate entrances for la dies in the Muslim Countries., to respect religious beliefs of the people it is adapting religious beliefs of the community as serving Halal food in the Arab Countries and Not serving Beef in India. To reduce Carbon Emission promoting Recycling, to save water use recycled water in toilets, to save trees reduce the packaging paper and tray liners and also recycle paper for packaging. For survival and sustainability it follows the local wage rate, local suppliers, local legal and taxation system, and local ethics. Task 3.3. Create a range of feasible options as the basis of future organizational strategy. Mcdonalds strategy is about the fresh and quality food to customer with friendly service. Mcdonalds plan to win and target customer with the universal taste respecting the religious and cultural beliefs. With the environmental issues Mcdonalds is helping to promote cleaner streets by sponsoring bins in conjunction with the council and also initiating people to get the Rubbish in Bin By Using Bin it motto. McDonalds is also getting in recycling revolution by using the waste oil to get bio diesel .In its motive to Save energy and water it is getting waterless urinals in the washrooms to save water and are trying to use the recycled water. For the packaging of the food it is using more than 82% of the recyclable material and trying to cut the 10 cm of the trayliners used to serve customer which eventually is saving about 84 tonnes of paper every year. McDonalds is also working for the animal welfare so that that animals are given the free field to roam around and is using free range eg g for its breakfast menu. ,it is also using the organic food to promote healthy food and also using fair trade coffee beans to help the farmers of Africa.Last but not the least Mcdonalds is sponsoring the london 2010 along with the coca cola and cadb ury. Mcdonalds will still follow the strategy of plan to win and keep on improving its quality, service , speed and accuracy .along with the training and development of employees . Conclusion :In the above assignment discussion has been made over Mcdonalds and its policies and strategies over the future which will them to sustain in the future. Though it is a market leader but by showing its concern over the carbon emissions and the work ethics it is showing the great deal of responsibility towards to society . The moral duty is fulfilled by employing diversity and proper training and development. It believes in the equal oppurtunities to everybody And require great commitment from its people to maintain the standards of service ,quality and friendliness so that people can say I m loving it!!!!!!!!!

Lean Manufacturing In Automobile Industry Of Pakistan Commerce Essay

Lean Manufacturing In Automobile Industry Of Pakistan Commerce Essay The objective of the lean manufacturing is to reduce the lead time and cost of production. In competitive markets, the issue of lead-time is of great importance, it is the main driving factor for business profitability but people are less aware of the lean manufacturing its importance that can bring drastic improvement in Automobile industry of Pakistan. Lean manufacturing is the production of goods using less of everything compared to mass production. It focuses on less human effort, less manufacturing space, less investment in tools, and less engineering time to develop a new product. Lean manufacturing is a generic process management philosophy derived mostly from the (Toyota Production, 1991) Toyota Production System (TPS) Womack, James P., Jones, Daniel T., and Roos, Daniel (1991). In the simplest form, lean manufacturing means producing goods with less; it applies fewer resources without affecting the quantity or quality of the goods produced. Toyotas purpose in developing the system was the elimination of waste, and TPS is focused on seven sources of it: over-production caused by emphasis on supply rather than demand; wasted motion due to poor processes; waiting time generated by tuning the production system to the fastest rather than the slowest process; conveyance waste caused by poorly designed supply systems that delay the transit of goods; processing waste from badly designed systems; raw material waste from inefficient design or ineffective supply strategies; correction waste caused by reworking badly made products. (Toyota Production, 1991) Toyota Production System (TPS) Womack, James P., Jones, Daniel T., and Roos, Daniel (1991). The results of TPS have included enormous advances in robotic manufacturing systems and factory design, just-in-time inventory management, the kanban system of visual inventory replacement cues, demand-pull management of manufacturing planning and others. But lean manufacturing also has evolved into a business philosophy based on a unique set of practices, and the resulting business culture demonstrates how to use these to create a lean approach to other aspects of business; one area ripe for this lesson is supply chain management. Lean manufacturing is the systematic elimination of waste from all aspects of an organizations operations, where waste is viewed as any use or loss of resources that does not lead directly to creating the product or service a customer wants when they want it. In many industrial processes, such non-value added activity can comprise more than 90 percent of a factorys total activity (Simon Caulkin, 2002). The supply chain permeates every face of the enterprise, and if a lean approach to managing it is to succeed, the entire organization has to focus on removing waste and adding value. As a part of this change it requires everyone to involve for looking beyond the boundaries of the company to relationships with customers and suppliers at all levels. The change in focus is essential, but implementing it can be difficult in todays international supply chain environment. Nevertheless, the principles of lean business are straightforward and can form the foundation for an organizations new approach to its supply chain. (Ventana Research , Europe). First, product value has to be defined from the customers point of view, not the companys. This seemingly simple principle is the key to eliminating waste caused by such things as making the wrong product (one that nobody wants), making the product at an unsuitable quality level, making too much or too little of it, or delivering it too slowly or through the wrong channel. A second principle is that the supply chain should flow continuously, and so should the information that supports it. Delays and discontinuities in the supply chain process are often caused by starting and ending processes or information streams that could smooth things out if they were operated continuously. Product should be pulled by the customer, not pushed by the company. That is, no part of any supply chain process should be started without a complete understanding of the demand destination of the final product that will complete the cycle. Finally, the entire organization needs to continue to manage toward perfection, concentrating on the elimination of waste and the addition of value in all of its supply chain processes. This is a continuous process that starts with the launch of a lean supply chain management strategy and it continues. Purpose:- The main purpose of this thesis is to determine the importance of lean manufacturing and create its awareness amongst the automobile industry of Pakistan, which then can be applied by the whole manufacturing sector of Pakistan to make them more competitive in terms of price as well as in speeding the delivery time. The thesis is to draw together the evidence about the benefits of lean manufacturing in automobile industry of Pakistan. It has been noticed that automobile industry is concerned about the cost delivery time, which are the key success factors for this industry. At present, the whole automobile sector is suffering from losses, which has led many businesses to shutdown. Problem discussion: Pakistans automobile industry is losing its competitiveness in the market due to the intense competition faced from world markets in terms of cost delivery time. Buyers get low quality products which reduces their confidence in Pakistani products. Up till now Pakistan automobile industry has been unable to meet the lead time demanded by highly profitable automobiles and is also unable to fulfill the low price expectations of western markets. Until and unless any initiative to reduce the cost and delivery time of product will not be taken, any improvement in the industry would not take place. In order to bring improvements in this industry, it is important to direct this industrys attention towards lean manufacturing. This thesis has been done to focus in this area to check that why lean manufacturing has not yet been implemented in the automobile industry of Pakistan. De limitation of the study:- There are some limitations of this thesis. The work focuses on Manufacturers and assemblers of Automobiles industry located in Pakistan and which has the sales volume more than 10 million. Due to the limited time only top few Manufacturers are included in the research work, which are Indus Motor Company -Toyota Motor Co Pak Suzuki Motors. Al-Ghazi Tractors Further the work doesnt include interview with supplier customer which requires detail research so it is limited to the organizations internal boundary only. Research Question:- This thesis is an attempt to answer the following question:- Q: What is the knowledge level of production people about the lean manufacturing? Q: Are the production manager of automobile industry aware of lean tools? Q: Are the production manager of automobile industry aware of lean manufacturing benefits? Q: To understand the issues of adoption of lean manufacturing in automobile industry in Pakistan? Implication of the study: The purpose of this thesis is to find how much the management of this industry in Pakistan is aware of lean manufacturing and then highlight the obstacles that exist in its implementation. This thesis also provides the benefits of lean manufacturing to the automobile industry of Pakistan, which is facing troubles in these days due to higher cost of production delay in delivery dates. Hence, this thesis is beneficial for the automobile manufacturers so that they can realize the importance of lean manufacturing and then implement it to gain the competitive advantage in terms of lower costs and on time deliveries. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Lean manufacturing is a technique that allows companies to be more responsive to quickly changing markets and more sophisticated demanding customers. (Dohse, JurgensMalsh,1985,p.118). History of Lean Manufacturing Toyota is often considered one of the most efficient manufacturing companies in the world and the company that sets the standard for best practices in Lean Manufacturing. (James Womack Daniel Roos, 1992). Lean Manufacturing has increasingly been applied by leading manufacturing companies throughout the world, lead by the major automobile manufactures and their equipment suppliers. Lean Manufacturing is becoming an increasingly important topic for manufacturing companies in developed countries as they try to find ways to compete more effectively against competition from developing countrie. Starting about 1910, Ford and his right-hand-man, Charles E. Sorensen, fashioned the first comprehensive Manufacturing Strategy. They took all the elements of a manufacturing system people, machines, tooling, and products and arranged them in a continuous system for manufacturing the Model T automobile. Ford was so incredibly successful he quickly became one of the worlds richest men and put the world on wheels. Ford is considered by many to be the first practitioner of Just in Time and Lean Manufacturing. Beyond large scale production 7 categories of muda or waste:- Overproduction producing more unit than customers are demanding or producing them earlier than customer order them. (Taiichi Ohno, 1988) Waiting people waiting for machine or process; product waiting for people, machines or processes. Transportation moving product from one place to another. Inventory Raw material, work in process (WIP), finished goods in excess of direct customer requirement. Motion: Any movement people or machines that does not actually transform product from one state to another. Over processing Performing operation that are unnecessary. Defect creating or passing along product which contains error in material or processing. Definition of lean manufacturing Lean manufacturing is the systematic elimination of waste from all aspects of an organizations operations, where waste is viewed as any use or loss of resources that does not lead directly to creating the product or service a customer wants when they want it. In many industrial processes, such non-value added activity can comprise more than 90 percent of a factorys total activity. (Simon Caulkin. Waste Not, Want Not, The Observer (September 2002). Many of the concepts in Lean Manufacturing originate from the Toyota Production System (TPS) and have been implemented gradually throughout Toyotas operations beginning in the 1950s. By the 1980s Toyota had increasingly become known for the effectiveness with which it had implemented Just-In-Time (JIT) manufacturing systems. The brainpower that businesses bring to bear to eliminate wasted assets, materials, and time in production should  equally be deployed to improve the processes of consumption that customers follow. Like their earlier work, this is both a landmark synthesis of ideas whose implications havent been fully understood and a breakthrough to new territory. (Thomas A.Stewart, 2000) Main Kinds of Waste Originally 7- 9 main types of waste were identified as part of the Toyota Production System. However, this list has been modified and expanded by various practitioners of lean manufacturing and generally includes the following: 1. Over-production Over-production is unnecessarily producing more than demanded or producing it too early before it is needed. This increases the risk of obsolescence, increases the risk of producing the wrong thing and increases the possibility of having to sell those items at a discount or discard them as scrap. However, there are some cases when an extra supply of semi-finished or finished products is intentionally maintained, even by lean manufacturers. 2. Defects In addition to physical defects which directly add to the costs of goods sold, this may include errors in paperwork, provision of incorrect information about the product, late delivery, production to incorrect specifications, use of too much raw materials or generation of unnecessary scrap. 3. Inventory Inventory waste means having unnecessarily high levels of raw materials, works-in-progress and finished products. Extra inventory leads to higher inventory financing costs, higher storage costs and higher defect rates. For more on this, please see section 2.5 below. 4. Transportation Transportation includes any movement of materials that does not add any value to the product, such as moving materials between workstations. The idea is that transportation of materials between production stages should aim for the ideal, that the output of one process is immediately used as the input for the next process. Transportation between processing stages results in prolonging production cycle times, the inefficient use of labor and space and can also be a source of minor production stoppages. 5. Waiting Waiting is idle time for workers or machines due to bottlenecks or inefficient production flow on the factory floor. Waiting also includes small delays between processing of units. Waiting results in a significant cost insofar as it increases labor costs and depreciation costs per unit of output. 6. Motion Motion includes any unnecessary physical motions or walking by workers which diverts them from actual processing work. For example, this might include walking around the factory floor to look for a tool, or even unnecessary or difficult physical movements, due to poorly designed ergonomics, which slow down the workers. 7. Correction Correction, or reprocessing, is when something has to be re-done because it wasnt done correctly the first time. This not only results in inefficient use of labor and equipment but the act of re-processing often causes disruptions to the smooth flow of production and therefore generates bottlenecks and stoppages. Also, issues associated with reworking typically consume a significant amount of management time and therefore add to factory overhead costs. 8. Over-processing Over-processing is unintentionally doing more processing work than the customer requires in terms of product quality or features such as polishing or applying finishing on some areas of a product that wont be seen by the customer. 9. Knowledge Disconnection This is when information or knowledge isnt available where or when it is needed. This might include information on correct procedures, specifications, ways to solve problems, etc. Lack of correct information often leads to defects and bottlenecks. For example, unavailability of a mixing formula may potentially suspend the entire process or create defective items due to time-consuming trial-and-error tests. What kinds of companies benefit most from lean? Lean is most widely used in industries that are assembly-oriented or have a high amount of repetitive human processes. These are typically industries for which productivity is highly influenced by the efficiency and attention to detail of the people who are working manually with tools or operating equipment. For these kinds of companies, improved systems can eliminate significant levels of waste or inefficiency. Examples of these companies include wood-processing, garment manufacturing, automobile assembly, electronic assembly and equipment manufacturing. Lean Manufacturing is also appropriate in industries for which it is a strategic priority to shorten the production cycle time to the absolute minimum as a source of competitive advantage for the company. Recently, some companies in Vietnam have actively conducted training and implemented lean methods to eliminate process inefficiencies. This resulted in an improvement to their production and service lead times. For example, Toyota Ben Thanh, a service center of Toyota in Vietnam, has implemented lean methods to significantly reduce the process time for its automobile maintenance service from 240 minutes to 45-50 minutes per car, and as a result, increased the total number of cars processed at each service center from 4-6 cars up to 16 cars per day. Toyota Ben Thanh achieved significant reductions in the process lead time by successfully eliminating unnecessary waiting time, inefficiencies of physical motions and process flow. (Thoi Bao Kinh Te Saigon, 2004) Objectives of Lean Manufacturing Lean Manufacturing, also called Lean Production, is a set of tools and methodologies that aims for the continuous elimination of all waste in the production process. The main benefits of this are lower production costs, increased output and shorter production lead times. More specifically, some of the goals include: 1. Defects and wastage Reduce defects and unnecessary physical wastage, including excess use of raw material inputs, preventable defects, costs associated with reprocessing defective items, and unnecessary product characteristics which are not required by customers. 2. Cycle Times Reduce manufacturing lead times and production cycle times by reducing waiting times between processing stages, as well as process preparation times and product/model conversion times. 3. Inventory levels Minimize inventory levels at all stages of production, particularly works-in-progress between production stages. Lower inventories also mean lower working capital requirements. 4. Labor productivity Improve labor productivity, both by reducing the idle time of workers and ensuring that when workers are working, they are using their effort as productively as possible (including not doing unnecessary tasks or unnecessary motions). 5. Utilization of equipment and space Use equipment and manufacturing space more efficiently by eliminating bottlenecks and maximizing the rate of production though existing equipment, while minimizing machine downtime. 6. Flexibility Have the ability to produce a more flexible range of products with minimum changeover costs and changeover time. 7. Output Insofar as reduced cycle times, increased labor productivity and elimination of bottlenecks and machine downtime can be achieved, companies can generally significantly increased output from their existing facilities. In a 2004 survey by Industry Week Magazine, U.S. companies implementing lean manufacturing reported a median savings of 7% of Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) as a result of implementing lean (George Taninecz, 2004). We believe that the savings actually are higher for companies in Vietnam considering the higher levels of waste which they typically have compared to U.S. based manufacturers. Another way of looking at Lean Manufacturing is that it aims to achieve the same output with less input less time, less space, less human effort, less machinery, less material, less cost. When a U.S. equipment manufacturing company, Lantech, completed the implementation of lean in 1995, they reported the following improvements compared to their batch-based system in 1991: (James P. Womack; Daniel T. Jones, 1996) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Manufacturing space per machine was reduced by 45%; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Defects were reduced by 90% à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Production cycle time was reduced from 16 weeks to 14 hours 5 days; and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Product delivery lead time was reduced from 4-20 weeks to 1-4 weeks. Why Lean Consumption Now? While lean consumption would be a sensible idea in any era, we see several convergent trends that we think make it inevitable and indeed, a competitive necessity now. With the regulated economy steadily contracting, consumers have a broader range of decisions to make, from how to invest retirement funds, to what telecommunications provider to use, to what airline to fly at what price. The mass-producer uses narrowly skilled professionals to design products make by unskilled or semiskilled workers tending expensive, single-purpose machines. These churn out standardized products at high volume. Because the machinery costs so much and is so intolerant of disruption, the mass-producer adds many buffers extra supplies, extra workers, and extra space to assure smooth productionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. The result: The customer gets lower costs but at the expense of variety and by means of work methods that most employees find boring and dispiriting. (Womack, 1990 p 13). While on a tour of a large customer, Michael Dell saw technicians customizing new Dell computers with their companys standard hardware and software. Do you think you guys could do this for me? his host asked. Without missing a beat, Dell replied, Absolutely, wed love to do that.4 Within a couple of weeks, Dell was shipping computers with factory-installed, customer specific hardware and software. What took the customer an hour could be done in the factory in minutes, and furthermore, computers could be shipped directly to end-users rather than making a stop in the corporate IT department. This shortening of the value chain is the essence of lean thinking. Direct from Dell, (Catherine Fredman, 1999) Basic Principles of Lean Add Nothing But Value (Eliminate Waste) The first step in lean thinking is to understand what value is and what activities and resources are absolutely necessary to create that value. Once this is understood, everything else is waste. Since no one wants to consider what they do as waste, the job of determining what value is and what adds value is something that needs to be done at a fairly high level. Lets say you are developing order tracking software. It seems like it would be very important for a customer to know the status of their order, so this would certainly add customer value. But actually, if the order is in house for less than 24 hours, the only order status that is necessary is to inform the customer that the order was received, and then that it has shipped, and let them know the shipping tracking number. Better yet, if the order can be fulfilled by downloading it on the Web, there really isnt any order status necessary at all. To develop breakthroughs with lean thinking, the first step is learning to see waste . If something does not directly add value, it is waste. If there is a way to do without it, it is waste. Taiichi Ohno, the mastermind of the Toyota Production System, identified seven types of manufacturing waste, (2002 Poppendieck.LLC) Do It Right The First Time It is instructive to explore the origins of the slogan Do It Right the First Time. In the 1980s it was very difficult to change a mass-production plant to lean production, because in mass production, workers were not expected to take responsibility for the quality of the product. To change this, the management structure of the plant had to change. Workers respond only when there exists some sense of reciprocal obligation, a sense that management actually values skilled workers, and is willing to delegate responsibility to [them]. The slogan Do It Right the First Time encouraged workers to feel responsible for the products moving down the line, and encourage them to stop the line and troubleshoot problems when and where they occurred. ( Womack ,1990 p 99). A more appropriate translation of such slogans as Zero Defects and Do It Right the First Time would be Test First. In other words, dont code unless you understand what the code is supposed to do and have a way to determine whether the code works. A good knowledge of the domain coupled with short build cycles and automated testing constitute the proper way for software developers to Do It Right the First Time. (2002 Poppendieck.LLC) Center On The People Who Add Value Almost every organization claims its people are important, but if they truly center on those who add value, they would be able to say: The people doing the work are the center of:- Resources Information Process Design Authority Decision Making Authority Organizational Energy In mass-production, tasks are structured so that low skilled or unskilled workers can easily do the repetitive work, but engineers and managers are responsible for production. Workers are not allowed to modify or stop the line, because the focus is to maintain volume. One of the results of mass-production is that unskilled workers have no incentive to volunteer information about problems with the manufacturing line or ways to improve the process. Maladjusted parts get fixed at the end of the line; a poor die or improperly maintained tool is managements problem. Workers are neither trained nor encouraged to worry about such things. The truly lean plant has two key organizational features: It transfers the maximum number of tasks and responsibilities to those workers actually adding value to the car on the line, and it has in place a system for detecting defects that quickly traces every problem, once discovered, to its ultimate cause.9 Similarly in any lean enterprise, the focus is on the people who add value. In lean enterprises, traditional organizational structures give way to new team-oriented organizations which are centered on the flow of value, not on functional expertise. The first experiment Taiichi Ohno undertook in developing lean production was to figure out a way to allow massive, single-purpose stamping machines to stamp out multiple parts. Formerly, it took skilled machinists hours, if not days, to change dies from one part to another. Therefore, mass production plants had many single purpose stamping machines in which the dies were almost never changed. Volume, space, and financing were not available in Japan to support such massive machines, so Ohno set about devising simple methods to change the stamping dies in minutes instead of hours. This would allow many parts of a car to be made on the same line with the same equipment. Since the workers had nothing else to do while the die was being changed, they also did the die changing, and in fact, the stamping room workers were involved in developing the methods of rapid die changeover. Ohno transferred most of the work being done by engineers and managers in mass-production plants to the production workers. He grouped workers in small teams and trained the teams to do their own industrial engineering. Workers were encouraged to stop the line if anything went wrong, (a management job in mass production).Before the line was re-started, the workers were expected to search for the root cause of the problem and resolve it. At first the line was stopped often, which would have been a disaster at a mass production plant. But eventually the line ran with very few problems, because the assembly workers felt responsible to find, expose, and resolve problems as they occurred. Flow Value from Demand The idea of flow is fundamental to lean production. If you do nothing but add value, then you should add the value in as rapid a flow as possible. If this is not the case, then waste builds up in the form of inventory or transportation or extra steps or wasted motion. The idea that flow should be pulled from demand is also fundamental to lean production. Pull means that nothing is done unless and until a downstream process requires it. The effect of pull is that production is not based on forecast; commitment is delayed until demand is present to indicate what the customer really wants. Pulling from demand can be one of the easiest ways to implement lean principles, as LL Bean and Lens Crafters and Dell found out. The idea is to fill each customer order immediately. In mass-production days, filling orders immediately meant building up lots of inventory in anticipation of customer orders. Lean production changes that. The idea is to be able to make the product so fast that it can be m ade to order. True, Dell and Lens Crafters and LL Bean and Toyota have to have some inventory of sub-assemblies waiting to be turned into a finished product at a moments notice. But its amazing how little inventory is necessary, if the process to replenish the inventory is also lean. A truly lean distribution channel only works with a really lean supply chain coupled to very lean manufacturing. In addition to rapid, Just-in-Time information flow, Lean Software Development means rapid, Just-in-Time delivery of value. In manufacturing, the key to achieving rapid delivery is to manufacture in small batches pulled by a customer order. Similarly in software development, the key to rapid delivery is to divide the problem into small batches (increments) pulled by a customer story and customer test. The single most effective mechanism for implementing lean production is adopting Just-in-Time, pull-from-demand flow. Similarly, the single most effective mechanism for implementing Lean Development is delivering increments of real business value in short time-boxes. 2002 Poppendieck.LLC Optimize across Organizations Quite often, the biggest barrier to adopting lean practices is organizational. As products move from one department to another, a big gap often develops, especially if each department has its own set of performance measurements that are unrelated to the performance measurements of neighboring departments. For example, lets say that the performance measurement of a stamping room is machine productivity. This measurement motivates the stamping room to build up mounds of inventory to keep the machines running at top productivity. It does not matter that the inventory has been shown to degrade the overall performance of the organization. As long as the stamping room is measured primarily on machine productivity, it will build inventory. This is what is known as a sub-optimizing measurement, because it creates behavior which creates local optimization at the expense of overall optimization. (2002 Poppendieck.LLC) Lean manufacturing Automobile Industry Lean manufacturing is applicable to almost every industry and it is known that the initiators of this technique is TOYOTA by the name Toyota Production System, than this techniques became generalize and open for all with some modifications and named as Lean. We fully expect that lean manufacturing will give a competitive advantage to this industry. Automobile Industry of Pakistan Pakistan is a rising market for automobiles offers massive business and investment opportunities. The total involvement of Auto industry to GDP in 2007 was 2.8% which was expected to increase up to 5.6% in 5 years. Total gross sales of automobiles in Pakistan were Rs.214 billion in 2006-07 or $2.67 billion. The industry tax accumulated to Rs.63 billion in 2007-08 that the government has imposed on automobiles. There are 500 auto-parts producers in the country that supply parts to original equipment manufacturers. Auto sector presently, contributes 16% to the manufacturing sector which also is projected to increase 25% in the next 7 years, compared to 6.7% during 2001-02. Vehicles manufacturers directly employ over 192,000 people with a entire investment of more than $ 1.5 billion. At present, there are about 82 vehicles assemblers in the industry producing passengers cars, light commercial vehicles, trucks, buses, tractors and 2/3 wheelers. The auto policy is geared up to make an inv estment of $ 4.09 billion in the next five years thus, making a target of half a million cars per annum achievable. Pakistan has the highest number of CNG-powered vehicles in the world with more than 1.55 million cars and passenger buses, constituting 24% of total vehicles in Pakistan with improved fuel efficiency and conforming to the l