Online Writing Resources Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Online Writing Resources - Assignment Example Resumes should contain contact information, education, work experience, and objectives. Resumes and vitae should be tailored to suit the company and job position prompting the application. The resume may only exceed two pages if the level of experience surpasses entry level positions. Workplace writing is rhetorical and has a user-centered design. Therefore, be it reports, memos or business letters, the language should be persuasive and reader-centered. The reason for writing should be clear. Before writing, one should consider the reader. In order to write a rhetorical and reader-centered message, the writer has to do a background check on the end-user of that information. User-centered writing, considers the writer, the user, and the consequences of acting upon the message. The tone of writing depicts the writer’s attitude towards the user and the subject. Whether writing a memo, letter or report, the message should be structured with the reader in mind, to fulfill the objective. The writer should use non-discriminatory language in a clear, courteous and confident manner. The American culture requires the ESL to be familiar with the ‘local’ norms. The student should maintain clear forms of address (Mister, Sir, Professor, or Doctor) depending on a particular instructor’s preferences. Titles should only be used with last names (family names). One should always maintain lines of communication by keeping in touch and checking emails. It is also advisable to use official emails when communicating. If one is a student, using one’s university email address shows institutional affiliation when applying for an internship. Plain language is always preferable when writing or speaking. When communicating, it important to avoid lavishing praise or gifts. Keeping it simple is considered prudent. One should avoid being late and using cell phones during one-on-one conferences. People understand

Transportation Paper Essay Example for Free

Transportation Paper Essay Every time I go to watch a television I always heard a lot of news about traffic congestion or traffic accidents. Especially when I go to watch foreign channels, most of the time the news was about traffic incidents or super heavy traffic. But there’s a lot of difference about the transportation in the US to other countries. For example in the Philippines, it is common on their everyday lives to have the situation like this as they go out on their house they are expecting for a heavy traffic on their way. But in the US it is not common. I mean not all the time traffic is present in the US. There is only traffic if there’s a special event or sometimes because of the unpredictable accident happened in the road. Some places in the Philippines have always traffic not because of special events or unpredictable accident but because of the road itself. For example some roads in the Philippines were not well constructed and so it causes heavy traffic sometimes a great accident. While in the US road is not a problem, actually all roads are well-constructed, full cement and straight roads. So it can’t cause any harm to the travelers or to any cars as well. But still even though the roads in the US were like these, it seems accident still present and problem to Americans. It’s not only about the traffic congestion in the countries; there are still a lot of problems. Some of these were the form of transportation itself. One of the biggest factors of transportation is the number of cars in a given place. Another great factors are the following way, street or any kind of thoroughfares. A certain hi-way can accommodate a certain number of cars. For example there’s a hi-way that can accommodate only 300,000-400,000 cars a day. But every time there’s a special event people were full blast, for example if they want to have a vacation, an outing or any private family activities they prefer. And so with these matter roads can’t accommodate that number of cars and so traffic congestion occurs. In the US there’s no big problem compare to the Philippines. It is because roads in US were so big and wide that can accommodate a large number of cars there or maybe I can say almost half the numbers of cars there. Compare to the Philippines, roads can accommodate only a very limited number of cars a day and so traffic congestion occurs regularly. Another big factor in the transportation is the discipline of the cars drivers or owner. Those drivers and owner of a car in the US were as discipline as they could. You can see it on news or maybe in some newspapers. And we can observe this also on our everyday lives. You can see that if there’s problem or traffic congestion in US, you can observe that cars were on their proper line. They do obey roads and traffic rules or something like that. While in the Philippines if we will go to observe the process of their transportation, especially with this kind of problem. You will see that most of the drivers don’t have a discipline. If there’s traffic accident or traffic congestion, cars are not on their proper position or lines. Some are going this way some on that way. One thing is important for all the drivers and for some aspiring drivers in US or in the Philippines. Discipline is what I’m talking about. Discipline is the most important thing to have for all the drivers. After this is the skill you have in driving. Of course it’s still important. Discipline in driving won’t work without the ability to drive. Followed by of course honesty in following rules and regulations in the roads. Some road rules or traffic rules or something like that. Whatever it is, drivers need to obey this. Without all these solution we still can’t prevent traffic congestion or something like these.   Another thing for all the drivers in the Philippines don’t forget to be careful in your driving. One day I heard news about this problem about driving after being drunk. It causes a lot of problem on that given place. Not only for the driver himself but more to others. And so accident is more prone to that kind of place because drivers don’t took any care on their driving. In the same matter I don’t hear a lot of things or problem like this in the US. Well maybe I think maybe it’s because many people in the US were so busy and no time for some parties or something like this. But even with this situation in the US still be aware Americans not to happen this in the US. Well for your own sake and for others as well. Well to summarize all on this essay maybe we can now prevent traffic congestions on our own country. US, Philippines or what country are you. Of course first we need to be discipline. Also we need to be skillful in this kind of Profession-driving. We need to obey rules and regulations in the road. And of course we need to be honest in that matter. And lastly we need to be very careful in our driving. and in addition to this we need to be responsible in our action. Works Cited â€Å"Traffic Congestion.† National Service Training Program.1st ed. 2003

Toyotas Innovation Management and Success Factors

Toyotas Innovation Management and Success Factors   Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Project Background The primary reason for choosing this research topic is my genuine interest in cars and my intention to work in the automobile industry. And there could not be a better topic than to study the most significant change at the top which is the emergence of Toyota as the global leader. Although a lot has been written about Toyota, but this dissertation will study it from a different perspective, i.e. innovation management and critical success factors. Toyota Motors Corporation (TMC) has become one of the biggest car manufacturers of the world from a humble start seventy years ago (Toyota, 2008). Toyotas has been one of the most phenomenal success stories in the ultra-competitive automobile industry and can be a great benchmark for any company. The company has posted record annual earnings for almost a decade and has become the most profitable car manufacturer on the planet. And in the market that matters the most, the USA, its unbroken sequence of record sales stretches back even further. Fifty years ago, the Big 3 US carmakers (GM, Ford, Chrysler) dominated the industry, both in the US and worldwide. Now Toyota is set to overtake GM as the worlds largest carmaker, ending 70 years of dominance (BBC, 2007). Toyotas success is even more remarkable given the problems elsewhere in the industry (see Appendix 1). GM and Ford are cutting thousands of jobs and closing plants, while Toyota is building one new plant each year. Ford in parti cular has found the going tough and a $12.7 billion deficit in 2006 coupled with significant losses among its subsidiaries signals the most miserable year of the companys existence. As GM and Ford have racked up huge losses in the past few years, their financial ratings have shrunk. Toyota is now worth 10 times as much as GM on the stock market. So how has Toyota managed to buck the trend so dramatically? (Strategic Direction, 2007) Toyotas success with U.S. customers begins with the appeal of its cars and trucks, which are prized for their quality and durability, ease of operation, and thoughtful features such as controls that are intuitive to operate. Since demand is high and inventories typically low, Toyota, unlike Detroit, sells cars with skimpy marketing incentives, which protects its margins and boosts resale prices (Taylor, 2003). Moreover, Toyota does its homework thoroughly. For instance, the company closely monitors economic and demographic developments and regularly sends its researchers out in the field to interview those who matter most people who buy the cars. Keeping its ear to the ground ensures that the automaker remains best positioned to anticipate evolving customer preferences and future trends. Others carry out similar functions, so what makes Toyota different? How can a Japanese company be best at knowing what does the American car buyer want? This dissertation attempts to find out these factors from a different perspective; innovation. The competitive advantage that many Japanese firms had gained in their respective industries came not from advantages in â€Å"hard† technology †¦ but from the way they manned the same technology †¦ Toyota attained holistic integration of technology with people, organization, product and strategy †¦ the difference lay in their socio-technical system (Liker and Meier, 2006). 1.2 Aims and objectives of research The aim of this dissertation is to establish the factors leading to Toyotas success over GM in the US automobile market. In order to achieve this aim, the following objectives have been set:- To review critically the body of literature of innovation theory in explaining Toyotas success. To identify the changing critical success factors where Toyota gained the advantage. To study other factors and theories (like national competitive advantage) which led to Toyotas success. In order to achieve these aims and objectives, literature review is carried out in the next chapter which critically evaluates the theory surrounding this topic and then refined research questions are developed which will be answered by collecting secondary data. 1.3 Structure of dissertation This dissertation has been divided into five chapters. They are organised as follows: The first chapter describes the background of this research, a brief introduction about Toyota and this dissertations structure. It also mentions the aims and objectives of this dissertation which are broad but get refined at the end of chapter two. The second chapter critically evaluates the literature studied for this dissertation including innovation theory, critical success factors and other factors. It forms five propositions at the end of that chapter which are more refined research questions. Chapter three describes the methodology and discusses how the research is conducted to achieve the objectives set earlier. This chapter reviews the various factors of research design like research philosophy, paradigm, strategy and approach. It evaluates the options available and justifies the options chosen by the author. After methodology, research findings and discussion are presented in chapter four. Here secondary data is presented and used to test the propositions formed at the end of chapter two. Chapter five finishes this dissertation with conclusions and recommendations. And finally, the author shares his learning experience in the reflections section. Chapter 2: Literature Review This part of the dissertation will start with reviewing critically the body of literature in innovation theory and changing critical success factors in context to the automobile industry in general, and Toyota and GM in particular, to help explain the formers success over latter in US market. Besides these two theories; some other theories like national competitive advantage, lean etc are discussed in the third section. This chapter will end in forming research propositions based on the theories reviewed. Although this chapter is primarily designed to review general theory concerning automobile industry, the author has cited particular examples about Toyota and GM in some places as seen relevant to stress the point. 2.1 Innovation Innovation is defined in Oxford dictionary as ‘†¦ something established by introducing new methods, ideas, or products. In todays competitive world, innovation essentially can provide companies new ways to beat the competition. â€Å"Innovation process involves the exploration and exploitation of opportunities for new or improved products, processes or services, based either on an advance in technical practise, or a change in market demand, or a combination of the two. Innovation is therefore essentially a matching process† (Fagerberg et al, 2006). ‘†¦ not to innovate is to die wrote Christopher Freeman (1982) in his famous study of the economics of innovation. Certainly companies that have established themselves as technical and market leaders have shown an ability to develop successful new products. Innovation is defined by Myers and Marquis (1969; cited by Trott 2005) as not a single action but a total process of interrelated sub processes. It is not just the conception of a new idea, nor the invention of a new device, nor the development of a new market. The process is a combination of all these things acting in an integrated fashion. A new idea is normally the starting point for innovation. It is neither innovation nor invention; it is merely a concept or thought. The process of converting these ideas into a new product or service is invention. To convert that to a successful profit generating offering in a market is exploitation. And this complete process is innovation. Innovation has long been argued the engine of growth. Schumpeter (1934, 1939 and 1942; cited by Trott 2005) was among the first economist to emphasise the importance of new products as stimuli to economic growth. He argued that the competition posed by new products was far more important than marginal changes in the prices of existing products. For example, a car manufacturer can achieve far more growth by introducing new, efficient cars or new features than just slicing down prices. Fane et al. (2003) studied the Schumpeters view in detail. Schumpeter employed innovation to explain Kondratievs â€Å"long waves† in business cycle theory, those of 54 to 60 years duration, and the nature of the economic growth processes. The Kondratiev/Schumpeterian view gained increased popularity at the end of the 20th century. Innovation, for Schumpeter, was not the same thing as invention innovations may be copied and may not be protected by â€Å"intellectual property rights†, or IPRs, (with the exception, perhaps, of trade secrets) while inventions are protected for a specified period of time by IPRs such as patents and copyrights. Innovations for Schumpeter reflect: the introduction of â€Å"new methods of production† or a change in current production functions; the creation of â€Å"new forms of organisation†; the discovery of â€Å"new sources of supply†; or the opening of â€Å"new trade routes and markets†. Further, he identifie d the source of innovation as the consequences of the actions within a capitalist system of the entrepreneur seeking competitive advantage in the quest for profit. Another theory argues that sustained economic growth arises from competition among firms. Firms try to increase their profits by devoting resources to creating new products and developing new ways of making existing products. There have been many economists supporting the argument that innovations could be associated with waves of economic growth as mentioned earlier. Albernathy and Utterback (1978) contended that at the birth of any industrial sector there is radical product innovation which is then followed by radical innovation in production process, followed, in turn, by wide-spread incremental innovation. Some firms develop a reputation for innovation and it helps propagate a virtuous circle that reinforces a companys abilities. Trott (2005) views this concept as a specific example of Porters (1985) notion of competitive advantage. Porter argued that those companies who are able to achieve competitive advantage that is, above-average performance in an industry sector are able to reinvest this additional profit into the activities that created the advantage in the first place, thus creating a virtuous circle of improvement, or competitive advantage. The success or failure of a firm depends on a strategic competitive advantage. Competitive advantage can be achieved by delivering the product at lower cost or by offering unique benefits to the buyer. It can take many years for a company to build a reputation for being innovative, but once it has done so, it attracts further creative people leading to further leaps in innovation. But the company also has to provide the right atmosphere f or that by encouraging creativity and willingness to accept new ideas like Toyota does. Marketing also plays a very important role in the innovation process as it helps in finding out what customers want. This is crucial as success in the future will lie in the ability to acquire and utilize knowledge and apply this to the development of new products which meets and exceed the target customers expectations. But recent studies by Hamel Prahalad (1994) and Christensen (2003) suggest that listening to your customer may actually stifle technological innovation and be detrimental to long term business success. While sustaining or incremental innovation may appeal to existing customers as they provide improvements to established products; disruptive innovations tend to create new markets which eventually capture the existing markets. For example, the launches of video CDs have made the VHS cassettes obsolete. 2.1.1 Models of innovation There are two schools of thought over what drives innovation; market-based view and resource-based view. The market-based view argues that market conditions provide the context which facilitate or constrain the extent of innovation activity. This of course depends on the firms ability to recognise opportunities in the market place. The resource based view of innovation considers that a market-driven orientation does not provide a secure foundation for formulating innovation strategies for markets which are dynamic and volatile; rather a firms own resources provide a much more stable context in which to develop its innovation activity and shape its markets in accordance to its own views (Wernerfelt, 1995). 2.1.2 Types of Innovation Innovation can be divided into following types (adapted from Trott, 2005): Product Innovation: The development of a new product. E.g. A new car model. Process innovation: The development of a new manufacturing process. E.g. lean manufacturing, flexible platform sharing. Organizational innovation: A new venture division; a new communication system; introduction of new procedures. Management innovation: TQM systems; Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) which are explained in details later. Production innovation: Quality circles; Just In Time (JIT) Environmental Innovation: These are the authors views (see section 2.1.6). Among the various types of innovations mentioned, the author will discuss some crucial management and environmental innovations which will help in tracing down the factors behind Toyotas success. 2.1.3 Management Innovation 1: Total Quality Management (TQM) TQM can be defined as: An effective system for integrating the quality development, quality maintenance and quality improvement efforts of the various groups in an organization so to enable production and service at the most economical levels which allows for full customer satisfaction (Feigenbaum, 1986). An effective TQM approach demands all the employees in an organization to be involved. It regards quality as the responsibility of everyone and not limited to a manager or a particular department. Quality and employee improvements are therefore inextricably linked and should be part of a continuous cycle. TQM is an ongoing process of continuous improvements and incremental innovations. The impact of small, relatively easy to achieve improvements can be very positive. Much of the improvement in the reliability of cars over the past twenty years has been attributed to a very large number of improvements initiated by thousands of employees in all the manufacturing companies involved (Trott, 2005). Toyotas commitment to quality can be appreciated by this example. If there is even a small defect like a seatbelt not fitted properly, the workers can pull a cord and stop the production line until the problem is resolved. Workers at the Toyota plant in Georgetown, Kentucky, pull the cord 2,000 times a week and their care is what makes Toyota one of the most reliable, and most desired, brands in the US. In contrast, workers at Fords brand-new truck plant in Dearborn, Michigan, pull the cord only twice a week indicating the legacy of generations of mistrust between shop-floor workers and managers (Schifferes, 2007). Toyotas relentless cost engineering creates efficiencies that Detroit can chase but not match. Its philosophy of continuous improvementrethinking the thousands of steps that go into building each modelallows Toyota to constantly trim material costs and production time. For example, the company lowered the base price of its 1997 Camry by 4%, after taking steps that included streamlining the front-bumper assembly from 20 parts to 13 and reducing the number of steel body fasteners from 53 to 15. Such improvements enable Toyota to assemble a car in 21 hours, vs. 25 for Ford, 27 for Chrysler and 29 for GM (Greenwald et al., 1996). (See also appendix 4) However, in pursuit of continuous improvement, there could be some stages where a radical change may involve complete withdrawal of a procedure leading to potential job losses for the employees. So the employees would be reluctant to pursue that idea. The very feeling of process ownership by the employees may obstruct radical change, i.e. TQM may not support major innovation (Giaver, 1998). 2.1.4 Management Innovation 2: Quality Function Deployment (QFD) QFD is another important management innovation. Making design decisions concurrently rather than sequentially requires superior coordination among the parties involved marketing, engineering, operations and most importantly, the customer. Quality function deployment is a structured approach to this problem that relates the voice of the customer to every stage of the design and delivering process. It promotes better understanding of customer demands and design interactions. For a company to achieve its own quality goals it must include and consider the quality programmes of its suppliers and customers. Identifying the causes of uncertainty, determining how this affects other activities in the supply chain and formulating ways of reducing or eliminating the uncertainty is essential to the management of all the processes involved. Here is an example to illustrate this. McDonalds built a restaurant in Moscow. To achieve its required and expected level of quality and service, the company set up an entire supply chain for growing, processing and distributing the food. McDonalds made sure that all parties along the whole chain understood its expectations of performance and closely monitored performance (Upton, 1998). The QFD approach requires trust between all parties. As in the modern world, the competition between organizations effectively becomes competition between supply chains. Only by innovating within the organizations supply chain, in terms of product and service, will the organization survive. 2.1.5 Management Innovation 3: Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) This is a completely opposite approach to that of incremental innovation preached in TQM. Slack et al. (2004) defines BPR as ‘The fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service and speed. This approach is quite similar to that of Peters (1997) who suggests total destruction of company systems, hierarchy and procedures and replacing them with a multitude of single-person business units working as professionals. He argues that small modest improvement enshrined in TQM detracts effort from the real need to reinvent the business, i.e. ‘Incrementalism is an enemy of innovation. He argues that a radical approach is the only way organizations can be sufficiently innovative to survive in the twenty-first century. But BPR is criticised as one of the major downsizing tools common in 1980s and 1990s. The combination of radical downsizing and redesign can mean the loss of core experience from the operation. If taken too far (e.g. if the short term improvement was achieved at the expense of support for RD expenditure) the resulting organization could become hollow and die. Also, the core business has to be sound otherwise BPR is akin to ‘flogging a dead horse (Trott, 2005). So, an organization has to take care that their core knowledge is passed on and they do not suffer due to BPR. 2.1.6 Environmental Innovation The author has found a gap in literature in the form of environment innovation. It is not limited to any product or process innovation, but it is the holistic process companies have to follow to keep pace with the changing environment (also see section 2.2.1). Companies round the world are making more fuel efficient cars and alternative fuels to reduce the burden on fossil fuels. GM has realized this a little late and now their full attention is towards environmental innovation. This is because fancy designs and add-ons are not sufficient to compete in the environment-conscious market. Auto makers are under pressure to produce more efficient cars that use less fuel and thus pollute less, in part because petrol prices have soared in recent years in the US, but also because they will soon be required to do so by law. In December 2007, US President George W Bush signed an energy bill that will force the industry to cut average emissions from all vehicles. By 2020, the average must have been slashed by 40% to 35 miles per gallon, and the industry is convinced they will be able to deliver though it will not come cheaply (Madslien, 2008). Today, a fuel called biodiesel, which is derived from vegetable oil, is used throughout Europe. While it has been used in the United States in fleet vehicles for decades, only recently has it become more widely available to the general public. With the worlds oil supply declining and the increasing effect of greenhouse gases on global warming, the push for alternative-fuel vehicles will only continue to grow. In addition to increased production of the types of vehicles discussed here, the next step in alternative-fuel vehicles is fuel cells. A fuel cell vehicle is essentially a hybrid vehicle that is powered by an electric motor, which gets its power from a fuel cell stack rather than an internal combustion engine. There are only a handful of fuel cell vehicles in use today because the technology is still being developed. In addition, there are relatively few fueling stations with hydrogen, the fuel used to power the fuel cell stack. The U.S. Department of Energy, the agency that oversees a federally funded program to pursue fuel cell development, will decide by 2015 whether fuel cell technology is viable. Even if the decision is made to move forward, hybrid vehicles and gasoline-powered vehicles—as well as those powered by diesel and ethanol—will most likely remain in use for many years (JDPower, 2008). 2.2 Critical Success Factors Critical success factors are those product features that are particularly valued by a group of customers and, therefore, where the organization must excel to outperform competition (Johnson et al., 2006). A firm needs to have the threshold capabilities and core competencies to meet the critical success factors. Threshold capabilities are the bare minimum required for an organization to be able to compete in a market without which, an organization cannot survive. The threshold levels rise over time as critical success factors change and as new competitors enter the market. So a company has to keep on reviewing and improving its threshold capabilities just to stay in the market. But this is not sufficient to create competitive advantage. That can only be achieved by unique resources and core competencies which the competitors cannot imitate. Whereas unique resources are those resources that critically underpin competitive advantage and core competencies are the activities and processes through which resources are deployed to achieve competitive advantage. So, even if a company has unique resources, without having the requisite core competencies, it cannot achieve competitive advantage. Lynch (2003) refers to CSFs as KFS or Key Factors for Success. Lynch states that KFS are those resources, skills and attributes of the organisations in the industry that are essential to deliver success in the market place. There are endless issues that can be explored by an organization, but due to limited time and resources, it is better to narrow them down to KFSs and focus the resources on the most important matters. KFS are common to all organizations in an industry but they do vary from industry to industry. They are dependent on customers expectations, quality of competition and corporations own resources and skills. The author agrees with Lynchs view of the need to concentrate the organizations resources to KSFs. But the author also feels that they are not easy to pin-point and measure. Moreover, an organization should also create new CSFs through innovation and invention. For example, the creation of digital cameras completely changed the CSFs in that industry. Another point of view is provided by Sousa et al. (1989), who call it shared experience view. The shared experiences school maintains that the area of business strategies is amenable to research aimed at finding nomological statements. It is believed to be possible to find out how different strategy types are linked to business success under various conditions. This school can be called the shared experience school, because it builds on the expectation that, if experience on business strategies is shared, it becomes possible to build up general, empirically based theoretical knowledge, which then can guide the selection of business strategy. For this school, business success is governed by causal relationships, which exist as an objective truth, and which gradually can be uncovered by research. 2.2.1 Strategic Drift and Scenario Planning. Johnson et al. (2006) describes strategic drift as the stage where strategies progressively fail to address the strategic position of the organisation and performance deteriorates (see figure 2 below). For example, GM find themselves far behind in the environment innovation sector. Therefore, the organization needs to understand and address the contemporary issues that are challenging them. The figure shows environmental change and strategic change. An organization has to keep pace with the changing environment via incremental changes and when required, transformational changes. If it fails to do so, the organization is at the risk of completely failing. Johnson et al. (2006) provides a possible solution to prevent these risks through scenario planning. Scenarios are detailed and plausible views of how the business environment of an organization might develop in the future based on groupings of key environmental influences and drivers of change about which there is a high level of uncertainty. While it is not possible to correctly predict the future, but it is valuable to have different views of possible futures. Managers should form multiple, equally plausible futures and develop contingency plans for each scenario. They have to do so by limiting the number of assumptions and uncertainties to minimum by focussing on factors that are uncertain but can have a high impact. Such scenario planning will no doubt consume some resources currently, but it can prevent huge losses in the future by limiting the number of shocks and surprises and help create a pro-active organization which moves with the changing environment. 2.3 Other Factors 2.3.1 National competitive advantage: Porters Diamond It is argued that some nations provide better environment to foster innovation than others. Porter (1990) devised a diamond to explain the four main factors helping a country build and maintain competitive advantage These are: Porters Single diamond framework 1. Factor conditions: These include the human resources; physical resources such as land, water mineral deposits, infrastructure etc; nations stock of knowledge resources such as scientific, technical and market knowledge which can affect the quantity and quality of goods and services and finally, the cost of capital and availability. Although Japan was low on natural resources, they more than made that up with their excellent human resources. Morita (1992; cited by Trott 2005) argues that ‘you will notice that almost every major manufacturer in Japan is run by an engineer or technologist. However in the UK, some manufacturing companies are run by CEOs who do not understand the technology that goes into their own products. Indeed, many UK corporations are headed by chartered accountants whose major concern is statistics and figures of past performance. How can an accountant reach out and grab the future if he or she is always looking at last quarters results? Therefore, it is i mportant for an innovative firm to have the right leadership at the top who can guide the firm into the future. 2. Demand conditions: These include the composition of demand in the home market, size and growth rate of home demand, ways through which domestic demand is internationalized and pulls a nations products and services abroad. The demand for cars in Japan was low, so Toyota ventured into US shores to feed their ever-growing ambitions. 3. Related and supporting industries: These include the presence of internationally competitive supplier industries which can create advantage through speed and efficiency. Also related industries which are internationally competitive can create value when competing or by complementary products. Toyota was competing in Japan with the likes of Honda and Nissan who themselves, were very effective in their production methods. Moreover, Toyotas JIT was successful due to efficiency of their suppliers and their ability to keep up to Toyotas high standards. 4. Firm strategy, structure and rivalry: This includes the way in which firms are managed and choose to compete; companys goals and their employees motivation and the amount of domestic rivalry and the creation of value in the respective industry. Apart from the above four main factors, two other variable play an important role. 1. The role of chance: Some unexpected, odd events can sometimes nullify the advantage of competitors and change the entire competitive position of a market. These could be new inventions, political decisions, wars, drastic changes in economy, oil price surges and major technological breakthroughs. Toyotas innovations like JIT, lean manufacturing, TPS and hybrids were all responsible for its meteoric rise among soaring oil prices and environmental concerns in the USA. 2. The role of government: Government can influence all four of the major determinants through actions like subsidies, policies, regulation of market, product regulations, tax laws and antitrust regulations. While some countries like Japan, provided extensive support and subsidies to promote industrial innovation, others such as United States, have aimed to create positive effects in the economy by letting the market achieve the most efficient allocation of resources with minimal possible intervention. The so-called Chicago school paradigm for promoting competitiveness and innovation, which created a belief in the free market to maximise innovation and productivity has, for more than two decades, been the dominant perspective in the United States (Rosenthal, 1993). Critique of Porters Diamond Although Porter diamond provides us a useful tool to study national factors in competitive advantage, it has some shortcomings according to Rugman et al. (2003). First, it was constructed on the basis of aggregated data on export shares for ten countries: Denmark, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, USA and West Germany. And it took only case studies from four industries. Therefore, it cannot be applied in every case without modification. Second, it fails to accept the notion that sometimes governments action can end up protecting a domestic industry excessively and in turn, make it less competitive internationally. Third, it considers chance as an important factor but it fails to acknowledge that it very hard to predict any such events and therefore not possible to include in an organizations strategy. Although a solution to this problem is scenario planning. (See page 14) 2.3.2 Lean and Multiple-project approach Michael Porter, could encapsulate the lean manufacturing strategy as being one which comprised (amongst other things) â€Å"a wide line of models offering multiple features†, based on â€Å"standard products† with a â€Å"wide range of options† (Porter et al., 2000).

Dime Store :: essays papers

Dime Store I Can’t Hear a Damn Word You’re Saying â€Å"‘Those who deprecate the free supply of such ficticious works as the public demands, are generally in favor of the entire exclusion of fiction of a sensational cast, a course which will unavoidably result in alienating from the library the very class most needing its beneficial influence’† (Denning, 49). It is obvious here that William Fletcher attached more significance and importance to dime novels than most â€Å"serious intellectuals† did in the late 1800’s. In fact, most people, particularly in the middle class, thought dime novels were vulgar and that they caused young children to imitate the actions of the likes of Buffalo Bill and Deadwood Dick. But both the production and the popularity of dime novels (especially) among the working class suggest that something more profound than cheap entertainment compelled them to read these works of fiction. Contrary to what many literary scholars and those in the middle class believed--and perhaps as indicated by the various reactions to them, these plotlines and characters were appealing to the working class on more than just one level. The rate at which dime novels were produced is astounding. â€Å"William Wallace Cook began by receiving a title and synopsis for a serial, and would then write, adapt and revise installments to meet the ever-changing specifications of the publisher. Almost all the accounts tell the story of novels written at exceptional speed in marathon sessions, and all emphasize the sheer quantity of writing† (Denning, 21). It was not uncommon for authors to write entire pieces in one week or less, some not bothering to edit their work. Many admitted that their motivation for writing stories at such a pace was money, but most maintained that the material contained in their stories was not immoral or vulgar, but rather, useful. It is interesting to note here that, while the adverse reaction against dime novels eventually became a reflection of the class that was supposedly reading them, the authors themselves were not from the working class. In fact, the dime novel â€Å"was a commercial product of a burgeoning industry employing relatively educated professionals--writers who also worked as journalists, teachers, or clerks† (45). The judgments passed on those reading the dime novels was limited to the working class; but the very material that was thought to be immoral was invented in the minds of middle class people.

Psychoanalytic Explanation For Mood Disorders (Depression And Bipolar Disorder)

Freud's explanation of depression focuses on the idea of loss – that the root cause of all depression lies in the loss of something loved, whether it is a person or an object. Lowry (1984) added that this loss can be real or imaginary. However, some may question what separates the overwhelming sadness caused by, say, the death of a loved one, and depression? The psychoanalytic approach fails to answer this. In PJ Clayton's study, widows and widowers were studied for a year after the death of their spouses.While depression brought about by the death of a loved one is excluded as being a depressive episode by most psychologists, Clayton found that 45% of his subjects fit the criteria for diagnosis of depression. In reaction to the loss, Freud believed the depressive then develops feelings of self hatred, and begins to blame themselves for the loss. Freud also believed feelings of self hatred develop from the depressive's thoughts about unresolved conflicts which have often been repressed to the unconscious.Psychoanalytic explanations find it especially difficult to explain the cyclical nature of bipolar disorder, and mood disorders such as SAD and post natal depression; they only seem to have an explanation for depression. Melanie Klein, a post Freudian, claims that whether an individual loses his or her self esteem depends on the quality of the individual's relationship as an infant with his or her mother during the first year of life.If an individual doesn't have positive experiences with his or her mother during the first year of life, then a predisposition of depression may be planted. This also links in with the ideas of theorists such as Bowlby. There is research to back this up, linking adverse early experiences to greater likelihood of developing a mood disorder later in life e. g.Foltyn et al (1998) who found in a study of Polish medical students that 25% of examined students had depression symptoms and that these students were exposed significant ly more frequently to early negative experiences than students without depression. However, the approach has been criticised for being too deterministic. How do we explain how some individuals who have experienced trauma and separation in early childhood don't develop depression and go on to lead happy, normal lives, as shown in various case studies?Freud also believed that too many positive experiences during the first year of life (oral stage) could set an individual up for developing depression later on in life. He believed that if a child is nurtured too much – over indulged – as an infant; they could become fixated at the oral stage. The individual may develop problems later in adult life because he or she is used to receiving excessive amounts of attention as a child and perhaps not as much in adult life, so may feel rejected, unloved, and thus become depressed.A lot of the psychoanalytic explanation is very difficult to test empirically. Freud's stages of psycho sexual development occur at an unconscious level, which makes it difficult to test. Psychoanalytic explanations give insufficient weight to the role of biological factors in the development of mood disorders. The evidence regarding genetic factors, the role of neurochemicals and the effectiveness of anti-depressant drugs, appears to be ignored by psychoanalysts.A key strength to the psychoanalytic approach is that they claim their therapy targets the underlying causes of the disorder, which other treatments don't do. They claim that biological treatments, such as drugs and ECT, treat the symptoms not the underlying causes; they simply mask of disguise the underlying problems. Psychoanalytic treatments tackle those problems which are usually rooted in some significant and on going psychological problem which has its origins on early experiences – perhaps making it more effective.

The Advantages of Ethical Retail

Retailing The advantages of ethical retail are as follows: Higher revenues. Improved Brand, Business Awareness and Recognition. Better employee Motivation and Recruitment. There are several ethical issues to be considered in retailing. To be a throughly ethical-concerned company, we are going to take some actions to guarantee everyone from the owners to employees in our company know and understand what is ethic and make sure they act ethically during the daily selling practice. 1. Mutual integrity A mutual integrity environment is expected to establish in our company.Employees are required to be honest when dealing with the business and with their co-workers. While the business,its owners and management should be honest in dealing with them. And our company, including owners and employee are required to be honest and ethical when dealing with customers. 2. Development of ethical standards Retail salespeople need guidelines on ethical issues. An ethical standards will be developed and posted by the ethical department. Something simple which commits the business and its employees to certain behavior ought to be clearly and complete to provide a guide to day to day decisions.Because it is found that some salespeople are not aware what is ethical issues, what is the the right thing and what is not. Besides some common sense about ethical issues, there are some misconducts will be listed that they may be not realized. Charge full price for a sale item without the customers’ knowledge. Don’t tell the complete truth to a customer about the characteristics of a product. Sell more expensive product when a less expensive product would be better for the customer. Don’t offer information to the customer about an upcoming sale.Make excuses to customers about unavailable merchandise when merchandise is not in stock or is sold out. Take return from customers when you believe the item should not be accepted. Give preferential treatment to certain customers . Give your employee discount to your friends Sell merchandise that is not of good quality. Don’t Use the Customer Information privately or in other business activities. Employees are required to remember it and act it accordingly. 3. Fair workload employers in our company also need to provide a good working situation for the employees.No excessive pressure and workload of the job are allowed to put on salespeople, which place them in uncomfortable situation. 4. Good ethics demonstration Employers are needed to be ethical-concerned firstly. Employees may follow the behaviors of employers. Poor ethics demonstrated by ourselves or senior management can educate others that the business is prepared to cut corners or deal in areas of grey between what is right and what is wrong. This leads to employees themselves following this behavior and acting against the business but doing no worse than they have seen a more senior person do.When comes to social responsibility and environment concerned,we are going take some actions in our daily retailing practice. 1. Better inventory management Inventory management is the process of efficiently overseeing the constant flow of units into and out of an existing inventory. It helps in controlling the costs associated with the inventory. Since our warehouse where our inventories placed are not located near our retailing store, it needs vehicles to transfer the products when they needed.Through a better inventory management, we can lessen the times of transportation, so as to reduce the pollution of the environment and cost at the same time. 2. Shorten opening time reasonable As it known to all,electricity and water are used during opening time of retailing store. However, electricity are wasted during low consumer flow when only few people in the store. An investigation is conducted to show the consumer flow statistics and we are going to rearrange our opening time accordingly to reduce the electricity and water consumptio n.Environmental friendly packaging Over-packaging or packaging with no-environment friendly material are also needed to be eliminated concerning of environment. Therefor, switching over to environment friendly packaging materials is our first step. Recycle Bags are going to sell in low price in our retailing store instead of plastic bags. Consumers who bring the bag back can have 10% discount at all items. It is a good way to avoid plastic pollution, in the other hand, it is also a good promotion way. 4. Undertaking activities that are beneficial to the societyTo build good ethical-concerned image of our company, we plan to undertake activities that are beneficial to the society. For example, this season, our theme is about pets. We consider to join a series of activities held by PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, it is the largest animal rights organization in the world, with more than 3 million members and supporters. To show our company is animal-friendly, we are going to join â€Å"Shopping Guide to Compassionate Clothing: Vegan Companies† of PETA, which defines as company sells only animal-friendly, cruelty-free products. Promotion 1.Public-interested ad Public-interested advertisements about every season’s ethical emphasis are going to made. This season,considering our brand is sportswear and the ethical emphasis is animal rights, we are going to place our advertisements at the paths and space specially for pets and their owners, for instance Wan Dog Park, Pet World, Peel Rise, Discovery Bay, Sai Kung, Clearwater Bay and so on. Considering our target customers who are animal-lovers , they play with their pets in casual wear. They may be attracted by our public-interested ad: a man in our clothing playing with dogs harmoniously.