Impact of the Columbian Exchange Essay Example for Free

Impact of the Columbian Exchange Essay The Columbian exchange is the exchange of goods from the New world to the Old world and vice versa. The new world included Europe, Africa, Asia and the new world was known as The Americas. Things that were traded during this time were tomatoes, apples, potatoes, cacao, corn from the New world to Old world. Oranges, lemons, wheat, and rice were major things traded from the Old world to the new. Because of the Columbian exchange, it still affects our modern society. Like how we interact with other countries to get what we need. And trade off things that we have to benefit us. There were many things that occurred that were changed in the world due to the Columbian exchange. For example the spreading of diseases from the old world to the new world. The disease spread from one place to another during the trade was by the ships that shipped over the goods. People and animals would carry unknown diseases to The Americas to trade. Not knowing the people who were there would get exposed to the germs and get ill. Since theyve never encountered diseases from the new world before, they cant fight it off and this caused a major wipeout in The Americas to the people who had no immunity. Diseases like smallpox, measles, malaria, whooping cough were all diseases that the Native Americans living there have never encountered. Because of the rapid spreading of diseases they couldnt find out to escape in time and smallpox (killed most of the Natives population) got rid about 95% of their entire population. The remaining Native Americans would be angry by how not only did the Europeans have invaded their lands but also killed them with their deadly diseases. The Native Americans didnt have any diseases that the Europeans werent already immune to, so the spreading of new diseases wouldnt really have major concerns on the people of the Old World. This caused tension to arise between the two but to the Europeans, they had better things to worry about. Like coming up with ways to help make them more powerful through trade. They knew the Natives were no longer any threat to them. Theyve and have the technology to defeat the Natives at any given time and already have taken over the land. The Columbian exchange also played a role in resulting in the spreading of European culture. With all the trading going on more explorers from Spain come to settle on the New World to look new wealth and to spread Christianity. Eventually others from different countries from the Old World also migrated over to find job opportunities. The Europeans took this opportunity to spread their religion across the New World. They taught the people about the bible and Christianity and as more people learned about Christianity they converted. Which was the beginning of the spread of Christianity. This was a positive thing for the Europeans because they would be gaining more power over the people now that they are on their side, believing in their religion. For the native Americans this did not benefit them. Since the European culture rapidly spread throughout the new world, spread their culture was not able to be carried out to others and it slowly died down. They no longer could live the way they use to, believe in the things they did and carry on their traditions and customs. With the new shipping technology the Europeans over time advanced, let them travel and take over more lands and spread their customs and change the peoples current ways of living and convert into Christianity or they would be killed. Christianity soon traveled and spread all over the world and teachings of it changed peoples everyday life and beliefs. The way they viewed life and the things they needed to do to show their dedication to god. They now have to go to the place of worship the church. Every aspect of their lives was impacted by what they believe now. They changed the way they lived to be fit to what the bible tells them what they should do. For example the bible doesnt believe in planned parenthood and abortion so this caused a major population growth. The spreading of Christianity couldve raised competition between other religions of the expansion of each one. Slave trade also spread to the Americas from the Old World during this time. This impacted America in both a positive and negative way. The positive is that the people living in the Americas get free labor. They dont have to hire people to do field work or any manual labor work. And getting slaves for a good deal bargaining the things they already have. But because of this factor it was also the reason why the economy wasnt as high as it couldve been. Due to slavery, they were force to do many jobs so when people that were looking for jobs had limited choices to find one. There werent many job opportunities since the slaves were doing most of the work out there. The economy was effected also in negative and positive ways. The free labor the Europeans were getting from the slaves caused more food production to be made and faster to trade for more things from the Old World. Fast crops production would mean they wouldnt run out of supply and that will benefit them during trading. In the slaves perspectives, they were treated cruelly and unfairly. Forced out of the homes and family to work day and night unpaid for an unknown owner. They dont get any benefit out of this system except for the fact they are provided food and a shelter over their heads. This affected their lives in many ways. If they had children they needed to teach their children what their duties were and what they needed to do. This would change their perspectives in life and their beliefs. On why they were being placed in the Americas and question their faith in god. These questions they might have had could later influence and change the view of their religion later in their childrens lives.

Limitations of ERP

Limitations of ERP ERP systems have emerged as one of the latest that organizations are using to meet the needs of a global market. Many companies hope that these systems will help leapfrog to the next level but ERP systems are fraught with limitations that can prove difficult to manage. This paper tries to analyze some of the limitations and provides directions that will help overcome the same Introduction In todays increasingly competitive world where the world is converging into a single market place, organizations are looking for ways to become globally competitive. Companies must be able to meet customer requirements in the shortest possible time faster than competition and this requires extensive production planning and close coordination between the company and its suppliers and customers. MRP (Materials Requirement Planning) was one of the most widely used systems for production planning but its main focus was only on managing the production requirements in an organization. MRP systems helped in time phase release of production orders and aggregating planning for material requirements. With time, companies realized that there needed to be an integration of all the functions in an organization and this lead to the development of ERP (Enterprise resource planning) systems. Dr. Suresh Subramoniam et.al [1] defines ERP as ERP is an Enterprise wide system that facilitates integrated and real-time planning, production and customer response. ERP has multilingual capability, multi-currency handling ability, and can recognize legal and tax reporting needs of various nations across the world. Traditionally, each department of an organization uses a software application of its own and the interaction between these systems is very limited. Thus there is no way of generating consolidated information that is accessible to the entire company. ERP systems were created to address this issue by treating the entire organization as a single enterprise and making information available to all the departments as and when needed. Many companies across the world have either implemented or are in the process of implementing ERP systems across their organizations with the intention of making their businesses globally competitive. Despite their best intentions, there are widespread instances where ERP systems have failed to live up to their expectations and have even lead to the demise of companies. Some companies have been able to absorb these losses (Hersheys, Whirlpool, Nestle, IBM, Apple, etc.) but most havent. Even those companies that have successfully implemented ERP have found it difficult to realize the true potential of the system. A few findings as reported by Panorama consulting in their 2010 ERP Report are as follows: Close to 57% of the ERP implementations take longer than expected About 54% of ERP implementations cost more than expected Most ERP implementations under-deliver business value (Fig 1) Companies do not effectively manage the organizational changes of ERP Limitations of ERP Limited to the four walls of the company ERP is an evolution of MRP which was solely focused on manufacturing and materials planning. ERP systems were designed to manage more functions of enterprises thus integrating all business management functions, including planning, inventory and materials management, engineering, order processing, manufacturing, purchasing, accounting and finance, human resources, etc. Though considered as a revolution during its time, ERP did not take into account any of the external relationships that a company had as enterprises were run as independent entities during those times. Within an organization the system was able to support all functions but was unable to handle the various interactions that the enterprise had with its suppliers and customers. Conventional ERP helped automate individual departments but did not integrate its back-office benefits into the front-office to help businesses manage people, workloads and supply-chain issues; it could not establish consistent control of all the processes of the business Even within the organization, some of the difficulties faced by managers were Only the current status could be accessed, such as open orders. But managers often need to look beyond the current status to find trends and patterns for better decision-making. The data in the ERP application was not integrated with other enterprise systems and did not include external intelligence. ERP systems could not meet all of the analytical and reporting needs of organizations. ERP systems are generally very expensive to install. They call for voluminous and exorbitant investments in terms of time and money without guaranteeing the said benefits. The time taken for an organization to migrate to an ERP system is quite substantial. Extensive training has to be provided at the expense of existing working hours which can also result in a loss of business during the transition period. Apart from the installation costs, companies also charge annual maintenance and renewal costs. These costs put together may not justify the implementation of ERP systems especially for companies that are smaller in scale Since each business has different needs there has to be a level of customization to ensure that the all the factors relevant to the industry are considered. This may call for changing the ERP software structure to match the business workflow which is generally not allowed by the software vendors. ERP systems are built as per industry standards and when company wants to implement the system, it may have to change its way of functioning to match these standards. This can either be beneficial or can lead to the business loosing its competitive advantage Some companies have relatively simple operations and the use of ERP may complicate the existing setup thus leading to an over-engineering as compared to customers needs The biggest advantage of ERP is its ability to provide an information across the organization. There are instances where departments are unwilling to share information due to reasons best known to them thus reducing the effectiveness of the ERP system Many companies run on legacy systems and implementing ERP results in compatibility problems across departments. Conversion of these legacy systems into modern ones in itself results in huge cost overruns The easy availability of information also raises the question of security and privacy. Access to the various functionalities has to be carefully regulated to prevent unauthorized access and information theft. The time frame to realize the full benefits of a successful ERP implementation is longer that most companies would have initially expected. There would be a dip in the performance immediately after it goes live as employees take time to adjust to the new systems. With time, there will be changes in the requirements of the organization. Since the ERP system would be customized during the installation phase, there would be a limit to which the system can be scalable. Like for example, if a company wishes to add more fields to a data recording system there may be a pre set limits for the same. In order to overcome this, companies would have to pay the vendor an extra fee for such future upgrades Ongoing support After the implementation, companies would require constant support. The technical support provided by the software vendors maybe insufficient if the ERP systems encounter some major issue Overcoming the Limitations ERP as discussed before is a very comprehensive when it comes to handling the transactions within an enterprise but fails when there is an interaction with systems external to the organization. To overcome this, the concept of ERP II has been developed which integrates the ERP systems of an enterprise with that of the suppliers and event the customers. Using Enabling Technologies ERP can be considered as the backbone of an enterprises applications, but successfully handling the complexities of modern business will depend on a companys ability to share information promptly, securely, and effectively with customers, partners and suppliers. Organizations must seamlessly integrate their supply and value chains. The figure below shows the enabling technologies that will help organizations achieve the same Companies should constantly work towards integrating new technologies with their existing ERP systems. ERP systems are expensive to implement, but if they are not constantly updated they tend to get obsolete and may result in lost opportunities in terms of meeting customer needs. ERP is the central or the core component around which the various technologies are integrated, and these combine to enable an organization automate most of its processes. The technologies that will enable companies to do business at Internet speed when integrated with the ERP system are Business Intelligence (BI), Data Warehousing, Data Mining, On-line Analytical Processing (OLAP), Supply Chain Management (SCM), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). A case in point is AM machines which is a world leader in the design manufacture, and support of automobile engines and power systems. The market demand for this industry is to develop high performance components at lowest cost. AM was one of the first organizations to use an ERP system to improve the efficiency of its manufacturing process systems. The ERP systems so developed were used across various functions such as finance, quality management, plant maintenance, materials management, controlling, program management, logistics, accounting, and sales and distribution transactions. Even though the ERP solution replaced a number of disparate legacy systems and provided a common ground to pull a lot of business functions together, the manual processes for managing large volumes of unstructured content (information such as digital photos, scanned images, and CAD drawings, not easily managed by any ERP system) still remained. To overcome this difficulty, AM realized that it needed to complement its ERP solution with a Product Data Management (PDM) solution. PDM is the use of software or other tools to track and control data related to a particular product. The data tracked usually involves the technical specifications of the product, specifications for manufacture and development, and the types of materials that will be required to produce goods. The PDM system integrated the document repository and ERP applications, empowering ERP users to collect, securely store, find, link, and easily retrieve the required documents. Retaining Customers Traditional ERP packages generally include functions that are required for Sales Force Automation (SFA) and other call center operations but not on personalizing customers experiences. In todays times the focus of companies is retaining customers and after a given point, ERP systems fail in contributing to this objective. ERP implementations leave many companies saddled with massive, isolated systems containing vital customer, product, or service data. These systems lack the functionality needed to optimize customer-facing operations. The solution is to integrate a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system with the ERP system. CRM is not just a software application or a database that is used to store customer information, it is an effort taken by the company to continuously improve the relationship it has with its customers. Automated CRM processes are used to generate personalized marketing and customer care based on the customer information stored in the system. Integrating the CRM and ERP systems makes customer information available across the organization. One of the immediate benefits would be in improving the ability of companies to deliver personalized services to their customers based on information that has been stored previously. CRM systems also help companies in launching targeted promotional campaigns and also in informing customers about new product launches based on their previous usage patterns. The call center operations are also improved as preferential treatment can be provided using past data. Understanding the importance of information When companies are competing for one another more or less in the same markets, just having information from within the organization would not be sufficient. Organizations must thus have information from the external environment to modify their business decisions accordingly. Knowing the external factors such as changes in the business environment, customer preferences and trends, new rules and regulations, competitor strategy, market trends, etc. are more important. This information is critical for survival and is more difficult to get when compared to the internal information. Another important factor is the manner in which companies manage historical information. As companies grow older, they collect a gold mine of information that can provide valuable insights regarding demand, customer demographics, customer preferences, etc. The challenge faced by enterprises today is to avoid information overload by intelligently selecting available data and presenting it in a way that is intuitively meaningful. Business and Competitive Intelligence Business Intelligence was term coined by the Gartner group in a report as early as 1996. It can be said that Business intelligence (BI) is a broad category of applications and technologies for gathering, storing, analyzing, and providing access to data to help enterprise users make better business decisions. BI applications include the activities ofÂÂ  decision support systems, query and reporting, online analytical processing (OLAP), statistical analysis, forecasting, andÂÂ  data mining. Using the existing data warehouses as a foundation and then building upon them using BI helps organizations predict the future in terms of trends, preferences and market variations. A data warehouse organizes ERP data so that it is easily accessible for online analysis. Business intelligence systems improve business competitiveness by providing reporting and analysis tools to the desktop, enabling communication with the entire supply chain via the Web thus automating alerts and actions. Competitive intelligence (CI) is a branch of BI which deals with managing the hyper-competitive environments that are a part and parcel of todays markets. CI gathers information that helps organizations formulate strategies to beat competition and assists decision-makers predict future trends and take smart decisions. Arik R. Johnson Managing Director of the CI consultancy Aurora WDC, describes CI as CI is the purposeful and coordinatedÂÂ  monitoringÂÂ  of your competitor(s), wherever and whoever they may be, within a specificÂÂ  marketplace Your competitors are those firms which you considerÂÂ  rivalsÂÂ  in business, and with whom you compete forÂÂ  market share. CI also has to do with determining what your business rivals WILL DOÂÂ  beforeÂÂ  they do it. Strategically, there is a need to gainÂÂ  fore knowledgeÂÂ  of your competitors plans and to plan your business strategy to countervail their plans. This will involve many methods at the tacticalÂÂ  collectionÂÂ  level, but it will also requireÂÂ  integrationÂÂ  into your existing information infrastructure,ÂÂ  analysisÂÂ  andÂÂ  distributionÂÂ  of the information, and finally, the calculation of business decisionsÂÂ  on the grounds of that information and the analysis of same. This is the intelligence part of the formula. Valuable in its own right, ERP information becomes even more valuable when it is combined with information from other sources. A BI system allows this. For example, a marketing manager might want to combine sales information from the ERP system with consumer demographics from A. C. Nielsen or business demographics from Dun Bradstreet. With this information, the company can better segment its customers and improve customer relationship management. An automobile manufacturer for instance, can combine its internal ERP data with external databases to identify customers likely to be receptive to advertisements for a sports car, sedan, van or sports vehicle. Similarly the purchasing department of a computer manufacturer might combine its ERP data with external data about sales forecasts for microprocessors. With this information, the purchase department can react to rising demand by consolidating all purchases stored in memory to obtain a better price from a single supplier Businesses can thus optimize their investment in ERP systems by closing the loop between the BI system and the ERP system. The loop begins when the company discovers valuable business information from the ERP system; it closes when the company feeds those discoveries back into the ERP system to continually improve business processes. The reports generated by traditional ERP systems provide only a fraction of the useful information in the system. Using data warehousing and BI overcomes this limitation and unlocks the true potential of an ERP system. Leveraging on the Internet The true value of an ERP investment results from integrating the ERP system not only with a business intelligence front end, but also with the Internet. When a Web-based interface is provided to the information in the business intelligence system, the Internet becomes an enterprise information utility for employees, partners, suppliers and customers. An early application for integrating ERP business intelligence with the Internet is supply chain management. All participants like engineering and product design, vendors and suppliers, production, marketing, distributors and customers can get the information at real time, from wherever they want it, like they want it over the internet. This enables for example, the marketing people to provide customers with the latest product details and pricing information. Inventory management can be done based on real-time information, production can be fine tuned so that the right quantities are produced, as and when required. The suppliers and partners in turn, can share the information with their suppliers. Product designers, both for manufacturing and service companies, can capture customer information in real-time, refining their products for greater market appeal or customizing them for key customers. By adding a Web-based interface to the ERP business intelligence, the supply chain can be integrated thus speeding time to market and gaining manufacturing efficiencies. Role of CIO The CIO plays a pivotal role in the implementation of an ERP system in an organization. In most cases the CIO is appointed as the process owner for the implementation as the CEO would be in charge of the core operations of the business. The CEO and upper management would be involved in the pre implementation phase and would play a major role in the selection of the ERP vendor, external consultants and the implementation team members. The CIO would be in charge of the implementation and in ensuring that the project is on schedule as per the requirements agreed upon. Apart from the implementation, the CIO should also ensure that all the end users are provided with sufficient training and education to ensure that the full benefit of the system is exploited. Most of the employees are generally apprehensive of ERP systems fearing the change it brings about and the impact it will have on their jobs. The CIO should put to rest such fears through effective communication, constant updates and sharing details of the future plans after ERP implementation. The CIO should ensure that knowledge transfer happens from the external consultants and ERP vendor representatives to the employees before they leave. There should be enough trained employees within the company who are capable of handling the system to ensure its smooth functioning. The CIO thus plays an important role in successfully managing the transition to ERP systems and ensuring that the full potential of the ERP system is utilized after implementation. Conclusion World class competition, modern business environment and the availability of the Internet are the premises which stress the need for ERP. These systems are effective in integrating the different functions across an organization but should not be used in isolation especially during current times. Many ERP implementations end up as failures and the ones successfully implemented face limitations of their own as mentioned. This should not dissuade companies from implementing ERP systems as the benefits of a successful implementation outweigh the limitations. Organizations should now graduate to the next level of ERP systems that are termed as ERP II which integrate the organization and the members across the value chain with the help of enabling technologies. A sound management with clear focus, long term vision and well defined achievable targets set from ERP systems will help overcome the limitations of these systems

Long Island Nuclear :: essays papers

Long Island Nuclear The question of whether Long Island should have nuclear power plants is controversial. There are two sides that can be taken; however, both sides have their own share of problems. If we were to chose not to have nuclear plants, then eventually all natural resources will run out. Oil supplies as of right now will run out in two hundred years. But that is if we keep on using the same amount of oil that is consumed today. Our use of oil is certainly not being diminished; in fact each year the amount of oil used goes up. So oil supplies probably won’t even last that long. The natural resources that we use now are still harmful to the earth. The gasoline that we use to run our cars pollutes the air, and considering the amount of cars that are driven each day on the expressway. That is a lot of barrels of oil. However, if Long Island decided to use nuclear energy, then there is a great danger of toxic waste invading our drinking water, and also the chance of a spill similar to Chernobyl or Three Mile Island. As we saw with Chernobyl there is great danger when using nuclear energy. If this were to happen on Long Island the risk of mortality would be even worse. There is no place on Long Island that is a good spot with no inhabitance. On Long Island there would be no escape, the roads simply would not support that amount of traffic. These are the fears of Long Islanders. Which brings us to another question. What did Long Islanders know about the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant? LILCO (long island lighting company) first announced its plan to build a nuclear power plant in 1965. They bought 455-acres in Shoreham, Wading River, and started construction in 1968. (pg 16 Aron) The plant was engineered and built by Stone & Webster Engineering Corp. They have helped ten prior electric companies, to build nuclear plants before 1985. Long Islanders at first were for having cheap energy, and did not disagree with the construction. But as time past and politics changed. The views towards nuclear power in the mid 1980s changed on Long Island. Shoreham power plant, which help to lower taxes and employed many local people. Now LILCO was getting negative press every other day. It was not what was going on at Shoreham but rather the rest of the world.

Essay --

The Brain Pacemaker: A New Hope For Seizure Patients Molly M. Manley Schoolcraft College The Brain Pacemaker: A New Hope For Seizure Patients Times have certainly changed with the progression of technology and health care; more specifically, with the advances in care for patients who suffer from epilepsy. â€Å"An epileptic seizure is a transient occurrence of signs and/or symptoms resulting from abnormal, excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. This activity results in an alteration in motor activity, sensation, behavior or consciousness† (Solomon, 2012). Over the years, medications have been discovered to help minimize the amount of seizures and/or the intensity of seizures in patients of all age ranges; but not all medications are effective because of the variance in each person’s genetic make-up. Although, when medication fails, and the seizures don’t stop, that’s when a California-based company, NeuroPace, rewrites the present and future of patients with epilepsy. NeuroPace is responsible for the creation of the Responsive Neurotransmitter System (RNS); which d...

Globalization and International Business Essay

Introduction 1. The meaning of globalization * Broadly: the widening set of interdependent relationships among people from different parts of a world that happens to be divided into nations. * Narrowly: the integration of world economies through the elimination of barriers to movements of goods, services, capital, technology, and people. A. How Does International Business Fit In? * International business consists of all commercial transactions between two or more countries. The goal of private business is to make profits; Governments may undertake them either for profit or for other reasons. a. The Study of International Business * Most managers need to approach their operating strategies from an international standpoint. * Managers in almost any industry need to consider (1) where to obtain the inputs they need of the required quality and at the best possible price and (2) where you can best sell the product or service you’ve put together from those inputs. * Studying IB is important because (1) most companies either are international or compete with international companies, (2) the best way of conducting business may differ by country, (3) an understanding helps you make better career decisions, and (4) an understanding helps you decide what governmental policies to support. b. Understanding the Environment/Operations Relationship The Forces Driving Globalization * Globalization (1) has been growing, (2) is less pervasive than generally thought, (3) has economic and non economic dimensions, and (4) is stimulated by several factors. * The A.T. Kearney / Foreign Policy Globalization Index: some countries are more globalized than others, and a given country may be highly globalized on one dimension and not another. This index ranks countries across four dimension; * Economic – international trade and investment * Technological – Internet connectivity * Personal contact- international travel and tourism, international telephone traffic, and personal transfers of funds abroad * Political – participation in international organizations and government monetary transfers A. Factors in Increased Globalization a. Increase in and Application of Technology * Population growth, Economic growth * Innovations in transportation mean that more countries can compete for sales to a given market. b. Liberalization of Cross-Border Trade and Resource Movements c. Development of Services That Support International Business * Converting one currency to another, insurance d. Growing Consumer Pressures e. Greater Global Competition * Born-global companies: start out with a global focus because of their founders’ international experience and because advances in communications give them a good idea of where global markets and supplies are. * Clustering or Agglomeration: the situation in which many new companies locate in areas with numerous competitors and suppliers; they quickly learn of foreign opportunities and gain easier access to the resources needed for international moves. f. Changing Political Situation * A major reason for growth in IB is the end of the schism between Communist countries and the rest of the world. g. Expanded Cross-National Cooperation * To gain reciprocal advantages * To attack problems jointly that one country acting alone cannot solve * The resources needed to solve the problem may be too great for one country to manage; sometimes no single country is willing to pay for a project that will also benefit another country. * One country’s policies may affect those of others. * To deal with areas of concern that lie outside the territory of any nation * Three global areas belong to no single country: the non-coastal areas of the oceans, outer space, and Antarctica. The Costs of Globalization * Critics of globalization claim (1) countries lose sovereignty, (2) the resultant growth hurts the environment, and (3) some people lose both relatively and absolutely. A. Threats to national sovereignty * Sovereignty: its freedom to â€Å"act locally† and without externally imposed restrictions. a. The Question of Local Objectives and Policies b. The Question of Small Economies’ Overdependence c. The Question of Cultural Homogeneity B. Economic Growth and Environmental Stress a. The Argument for Global Growth and Global cooperation C. Growing Income Inequality and Personal Stress a. Income Inequality(disparity) * Challenge: to maximize the gains from globalization while simultaneously minimizing the costs borne by the losers. b. Personal Stress * The growth of globalization goes hand in hand not only with increased insecurity about job and social status but also with costly social unrest. Why Companies Engage in International Business A. Expanding Sales B. Acquiring Resources (R&D, Design) * Foreign sources may give companies (1) lower costs, (2) new or better products, (3) additional operating knowledge. C. Reducing Risk (Sales, Price swings) * International operations may reduce operating risk by (1) smoothing sales and profits, (2) preventing competitors from gaining advantages. Modes of Operations in International Business A. Merchandise Exports and Imports * The export and import of goods are the major sources of international revenues and expenditures. B. Service Exports and Imports * For non-merchandise international earnings, we call it service exports & imports. a. Tourism and Transportation b. Service Performance * Turnkey operations: construction projects performed under contract and transferred to owners when they’re operational. * Management contracts: arrangements in which one company provides personnel to perform general or specialized management functions for another. c. Asset Use * Licensing agreements: when one company allows another to use its asset such as trademarks, patents, copyrights, or expertise under contracts known as licensing agreements, they receive earnings called royalties. * Franchising: a mode of business in which one party (the franchisor) allows another (the franchisee) to use a trademark as an essential asset of the franchisee’s business. Royalties also come from franchise contracts. C. Investments * Dividends and interest paid on foreign investments are also considered service exports and imports because they represent the use of assets (capital). * Foreign investment means ownership of foreign property in exchange for a financial return, such as interest and dividends, and it make take two forms: direct and portfolio. a. Direct Investment(foreign direct investment, FDI) * Investor takes a controlling interest in a foreign company * When two or more companies share ownership of an FDI, the operation is a joint venture. b. Portfolio Investment * Non-controlling financial interest in another entity. * It usually takes one of two forms: stock in a company or loans to a company in the form of bonds, bills, or notes purchased by the investor. D. Types of International Organizations * Collaborative arrangements: companies work together in joint ventures, licensing agreements, management contracts, minority ownership, and long-term contractual arrangements. * Strategic Alliance: is sometimes used to mean the same, but it usually refers either to an agreement that is of critical importance to one or more partners or to an agreement that does not involve joint ownership. a. Multinational Enterprise (MNE) * Any company with foreign direct investments. * Multinational corporation or multinational company (MNC), Transnational company (TNC) in US. Why International Business Differs from Domestic Business External environment that may affect international operations. A. Physical and Social Factors * Any of these factors may require a company to alter its operation abroad (compared to domestically) for the sake of efficiency. a. Geographic Influences * Geographic barriers often affect communications and distribution channels. * Population distribution and the impact of human activity on the environment may exert strong future influences on IB. b. Political Policies * A nation’s political policies influence how international business takes place within its borders. * Political disputes particularly military confrontations can disrupt trade and investment. c. Legal Policies * Legal law: includes both home- and host-country regulations on such matters as taxation, employment, and foreign-exchange transactions. * International law: in the form of legal agreements between countries, determines how earnings are taxed by all jurisdictions. It may also determine how companies can operate in certain places. d. Behavioral Factors * The related disciplines of anthropology, psychology, and sociology can help managers better understand different values, attitudes, and beliefs. In turn, such understanding can help mangers make operational decisions abroad. e. Economic Forces * Economics explains why countries exchange goods and services, why capital and people travel among countries in the course of business, and why one country’s currency has a certain value compared to another’s. B. The Competitive Environment a. Competitive Strategy for Products: Products compete by means of cost of differentiation strategies, the latter usually by: * Developing a favorable brand image, usually through advertising or from long-term consumer experience with the brand; or * Developing unique characteristics, such as through R&D efforts or different means of distribution. b. Company Resources and Experience * A company’s size and resources compared to those of its competitors. c. Competitors Faced in Each Market * Success in a market (whether domestic or foreign) often depends on whether the competition is also international or local.

Reasons of Accidents and the Ways of Reducing Accidents

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Definition of Total Quality Management (TQM) There are numerous, widespread, diverse and often fashionable initiatives that potentially help manufacturing organisations in implementing various best practices in operations management. Examples of these initiatives include total productive maintenance (TPM), total quality management (TQM), Kanban, 5S, six sigma, Kaizen and business process re-engineering (BPR) (Ashutosh Tiwari, 2007).These criteria is a success stories to implement in this initiatives and make everything is going well. Critical factor in the success of operations management projects is a fast but comprehensive analysis of the current practices or structure in the company (Ashutosh Tiwari, 2007). Table 2: Definition of Japanese Terms. Initiative |Core Ideas | |5S |Organisation and housekeeping (Hirano, 1996) | |TPM |Continuous improvement of equipment and processes (Campbell, 1995) | |TQM |Right first time (Oakland, 2003) | |Six sigma |Sy stematic and continuous improvement (Pande, 2001) | |JIT (Kanban) |Remove inventory buffers that prevent learning (Ono, 1988) | |Kaizen |Cost reduction through the elimination of waste (Imai, 1986) | |BPR |Reduction of complexity of workflow (Hammer, 2001) | Total Quality Management (TQM) has been accepted as a disciplined management process in industry in order to cope with the changes in marketplace and to focus on quality in both their products as well as their services (Venkatraman, 2007). While applying TQM philosophy to their organisations, some managers think that quality is driven by internal productivity programs or participative management programs which may deviate from their core business and customer focus resulting in cost overruns. But this is wrong perception by managers because with TQM all the process and product quality increasing and achieve â€Å"zero defect† purpose.However, quality cannot be inspected into an individual unit of the product after it has been made. The practice of inspecting products after they are made has, therefore, been replaced rapidly by the broader view that quality must be built into a product, from the design stage through all subsequent stages of manufacture and assembly. Because products are made by using several manufacturing processes, each of which can have significant variations in its performance even within a short period of time, the control of processes is a critical factor in product quality. Thus the objective should be to control processes not products. Quality has various meanings attached and the focus varies from one educational setting to another.Among the various elements of TQM, customer focus, process orientation and continuous improvements are the most common philosophies that have direct implications for teaching and learning in higher education (Venkatraman, 2007). The general definition of total quality management (TQM) as a philosophy that would enable an organisation consistently t o meet the needs of customers is accepted worldwide by manufacturing executives as a strategic concept for organisational survival. However, reaching the TQM destination is a continuing challenge for manufacturing executives (Nwabueze, An Industry Betrayed: the case of total quality management in manufacturing, 2011).Deming notes that everyone in the organisation from top to bottom, from office to technical services, from headquarters to local sites must be involved. He further suggested that people are the source of ideas and innovation, therefore, their expertise, experience, knowledge and sense of duty have to be harnessed to the benefit of the organisation (Nwabueze, An Industry Betrayed: the case of total quality management in manufacturing, 2011). Total quality management (TQM) principles and techniques are now a well accepted part of almost every manager's â€Å"tool kit’’ (Dow, 1999). Quality is to satisfy customers' requirements continuously; total quality is to achieve quality at low cost and TQM is to obtain total quality by involving everyone's daily commitment (W. H. Ip, 1999).Henderson gives a definition on TQM to include (Henderson, 1992): a) Total means: everyone in every function within the company accepts responsibility for the quality of his own output; b) Quality means: conformance to agreed customer requirements; and c) Management means: for any major business strategy, it is management led but with a strong involvement of employees. TQM has been described as a new model of thinking in business management, a comprehensive style to improve organizational performance and quality an alternative to the â€Å"management by control† and more recently, as a change of paradigm (Fco. Javier Llore? ns Montes, 2003).TQM is one of the numerous forms of management models or concepts that emerged and took form during the 1980s and 1990s, maybe even the most commonly used concept during this period. Management concept is not only th e toolkit for â€Å"trouble shooting† and improving organisation efficiency, but can also be seen as a symbol giving the organisations higher credibility. (Harnesk, 2007) Examination of the applicability of TQM concepts to product and service organisations suggests that there is evidence of greater ease of adoption, and more apparent success, within product based companies than with service based organisations, though there is no reason in principle why this should be so. A service organisation is as much dependant on satisfying its customers as a product company, if not more so.A service organisation such as an airline will be vulnerable to immediate customer dissatisfaction with such inadequacies of performance as lateness of arrival, off-handedness of staff and the disappearance of luggage. (Reavill, 1999) This sortie into the area of marketing mature products brings us back to the points flagged at the beginning of this paper, the small/ medium sized enterprises (SMEs), a nd the newly industrialised countries (NICs). With a mature product, a marketing strategy would be to increase the share of the current market, and to find new markets. (Reavill, New applications for TQM, 1999) There is also other development connected to TQM. TQM is a concept that has traditionally been connected to business life, commercial and industrial organizations for manufacturing and production.However, the domain of TQM is changing, and TQM has been applied also to public issues. Research has been conducted in the area of managing the third sector, such as non-profit organizations (Hudson, 1995; Lyons, 2001; Nutt and Backoff, 1992; Mertens, 1999). Reavill (1999) discusses the current status and possible future of TQM as a major management concept. Consequently, the different views of the evolution of TQM and the different views of the definitions of TQM generate problems both for those practitioners who are applying TQM, and for those theorists who are studying TQM. There are consequences when discussing the effectiveness, use and utility of TQM.The development of TQM implies new definitions, or modifications of existing definitions, for instance, the interpretation of the word customer. (Bjarne Bergquist, 2005) One of the main goals of a business is to stay in business and to be profitable to its owners. Other goals may be that the work environment should be good, that customers are satisfied, that the company has a good reputation and provides jobs. If the business is a loss, the other goals are of little value, as the business will go bankrupt. The big question for companies about to implement new strategies or working methods is thus often â€Å"Will it pay? † This is a difficult question to answer, but some have tried. Bjarne Bergquist, TQM and results as profit in commercial organizations, 2005) When studying the criticism against the use of TQM in the education sector, it seems that it can be divided into at least two different forms an d that the criticism emanates from different perspectives. One of these forms is the criticism of the transfer of concepts from one context to another. One example is the introduction of methods and adaptation to ways of thinking and values that were developed in goods producing companies. Another form of criticism is also connected to the transfer of TQM to a new area, but also based upon an ideological view. In this paper the use of TQM in educational organizations is seen as a part of an economization within the education area. Bjarne Bergquist, TQM in the educational sector, 2005) Increased customer sophistication and the globalization of business activities are forcing business organizations to re-engineer their cultures, operations and systems to support customer-focused and quality-driven competitive business strategies. Manufacturing organizations have successfully deployed total quality management (TQM) practices in support of strategic choices (Spitzer, 1993; Flynn et al. , 1995; Au and Choi, 1999; Tata and Prasad, 1998; Prajogo and Sohal, 2001; Powell, 1995). In this context, however, service organizations are still lagging behind their manufacturing counterparts in terms of their strategic commitment to TQM (Au and Choi, 1999; Dotzour and Lengnick-Hall, 1996; Sohal, 1994; Shortell et al. , 1995).The apparent reluctance of service organizations to utilize TQM based-strategies is alarming, especially in light of the increased significance of the service sector to national and global economies. (Mahmoud M. Yasin, 2004) [pic] Figure 1 A conceptual framework for TQM implementation and benefit in a service operational setting (Mahmoud M. Yasin, 2004) What is quality? There are various well-known definitions of quality. (Crosby, 1979) define quality as â€Å"conformance to requirement† while (Juran, 1980) define quality as â€Å"fitness for use†. Quality as â€Å"a predictable degree of uniformity and dependability at low cost and suited to the market† is more towards quality in operation (Deming, 1986).Many organisations found that the old definition of quality, â€Å"the degree of conformance to a standard†, was too narrow and consequently have started to use a new definition of quality in terms of â€Å"customer focus†. It is reported that many companies had initially concentrated all their efforts on improving internal processes with little or no regard for the relationships between those processes and the organization’s ultimate customers. This failure to include the customer focus had resulted in companies struggling hard to survive and resorting to fire-fighting situations. (Fincher, 1994) describe how quality perspectives have evolved in higher education over the years by going through a shift from experience to technique to style and finally to process.Quality as overall is to achieve customer needs and demand where must start in the beginning process of manufacturing to meet the re quirement and fit with the machine capability to get the quality output and of course should meet the standard of conformance. Quality has a variety of meanings and it range of meanings that will confusing each individual’s perception of quality but the important things is to achieve customer needs and satisfaction. Quality also as a key attribute that customers use to evaluate products and services which has emerged as a vital point of management focus in many parts of the world. The emergence of quality as a top priority in many corporate entities is primarily due to the globalisation of world trade and the competitive pressure brought about by the escalating demands of consumers, who want better products and services (Zairi, 2001).Quality is the increased awareness of senior executives, who have begun recognising that quality is a key strategic issue and an important focus for all levels of the organisation (Crosby P. , 2001). The implication of Dr Weller's action suggest that the chief executive's attitude to TQM must be â€Å"hands on† (Nwabueze, 2001). Because our attitudes greatly influence people around us, management's attitude tells employees what is expected of them and what they can get away with. On the basis of my analysis, a new model of leadership requirements for TQM in healthcare is proposed, can see Figure 1. (Nwabueze, Chief executives  ± hear thyselves: leadership requirements for 5-S/TQM implementation in healthcare, 2001) [pic] Figure 1: Model of leadership requirements for TQM in healthcare. Nwabueze, Chief executives  ± hear thyselves: leadership requirements for 5-S/TQM implementation in healthcare, 2001) Works Cited Ashutosh Tiwari, C. T. (2007). A framework for implementing cost and quality practices within manufacturing. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Managemen , 732. Bjarne Bergquist, M. F. (2005). TQM: terrific quality marvel or tragic quality malpractice? , 311. Bjarne Bergquist, M. F. (2005). TQM and resu lts as profit in commercial organizations. TQM: terrific quality marvel or tragic quality malpractice? , 312. Campbell, J. (1995). Uptime: Strategies for Excellence in Maintenance Management (Step-by-step Approach to TPM Implementation). Productivity Press Inc. , 733. Crosby, P. (2001).Let's Talk Quality: 96 Questions that You Always Wanted to Ask Phil Crosby. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management , 290. Crosby, P. (1979). Quality Is Free. McGraw-Hill , 94. Deming, W. (1986). Out of Crisis. Cambridge University Press , 94. Dow, D. S. (1999). Exploring the myth: Do all quality management practices contribute to superior quality performance. Production and Operations Management , 25. Fco. Javier Llore? ns Montes, A. V. (2003). Factors affecting the relationship between total quality management and organizational performance. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management , 189. Fincher, C. (1994).Quality and diversity: the mystique of process. Institute of Higher Education , 94. Hammer, M. a. (2001). Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution. HarperBusiness , 733. Harnesk, R. (2007). Management concepts and models. TQM: an act of balance between contradictions , 532. Henderson, G. (1992). The First Bank to Win a British Award. Quality Forum , 315. Hirano, H. (1996). 5S for Operators: 5 Pillars of the Visual Workplace (for your Organization! ). Productivity Press Inc. , 733. Imai, M. (1986). Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success. McGraw-Hill , 733. Juran, J. a. (1980). Quality Planning and Analysis. McGraw-Hill , 94.Nwabueze, U. (2011). An Industry Betrayed: the case of total quality management in manufacturing. The TQM Magazine , 400. Nwabueze, U. (2001). Chief executives  ± hear thyselves: leadership requirements for 5-S/TQM implementation in healthcare. Managerial Auditing Journal , 407. Nwabueze, U. (2001). Chief executives  ± hear thyselves: leadership requirements for 5-S/TQM implem entation in healthcare. Managerial Auditing Journal , 409. Oakland, J. (2003). TQM: Text with Cases. Butterworth-Heinemann , 733. Ono, T. a. (1988). Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-scale Production. Productivity Press Inc. , 733. Pande, P. a. (2001). What is Six Sigma?McGraw-Hill , 733. Reavill, L. R. (1999). New applications for TQM. What is the future direction of TQM development? , 296. Reavill, L. R. (1999). TQM, an established management. What is the future direction of TQM development? , 292 -293. Venkatraman, S. (2007). A framework for implementing TQM in higher education programs. Quality Assurance in Education , 93. W. H. Ip, K. C. (1999). Enhancing Manufacturing Information Management Through TQM. Logistics Information Management , 315. Zairi, T. T. (2001). A proposed model of TQM implementation based on an empirical study of Malaysian industry. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management , 289.

The Failed Inventions of Thomas Alva Edison

Thomas Alva Edison held 1,093 patents for different inventions. Many of them, like the lightbulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera, were brilliant creations that have a huge influence on our everyday life. However, not everything he created was a success; he also had a few failures. Edison, of course, had a predictably inventive take on the projects that didn’t quite work the way he expected. â€Å"I have not failed 10,000 times, â€Å" he said, â€Å"I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.† Electrographic Vote Recorder The inventor’s first patented invention was an electrographic vote recorder to be used by governing bodies. The machine let officials cast their votes and then quickly calculated the tally. To Edison, this was an efficient tool for government. But politicians didn’t share his enthusiasm, apparently fearing the device might limit negotiations and vote trading.   Cement One concept that never took off was Edisons interest in using cement to build things. He formed the Edison Portland Cement Co. in 1899 and made everything from cabinets (for phonographs) to pianos and houses. Unfortunately, at the time, concrete was too expensive and the idea was never accepted. The cement business wasnt a total failure, though. His company was hired to build Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Talking Pictures From the beginning of the creation of motion pictures, many people tried to combine film and sound to make talking motion pictures. Here you can see to the left an example of an early film attempting to combine sound with pictures made by Edisons assistant, W.K.L. Dickson. By 1895, Edison had created the Kinetophone—a Kinetoscope (peep-hole motion picture viewer) with a phonograph that played inside the cabinet. Sound could be heard through two ear tubes while the viewer watched the images. This creation never really took off, and by 1915 Edison abandoned the idea of sound motion pictures. Talking Doll One invention Edison had was just too far ahead of its time: The Talking Doll. A fill century before Tickle Me Elmo became a talking toy sensation, Edison imported dolls from Germany and inserted tiny phonographs into them. In March 1890, the dolls went on sale.  Customers complained that the dolls were too fragile and when they worked, the recordings sounded awful. The toy bombed. Electric Pen Trying to solve the problem of making copies of the same document in an efficient manner, Edison came up with an electric pen. The device, powered by a battery and small motor, punched small holes through paper to create a stencil of the document you were creating on wax paper and make copies by rolling ink over it.   Unfortunately, the pens weren’t, as we say now, user-friendly. The battery required maintenance, the $30 price tag was steep, and they were noisy. Edison abandoned the project.

The Role Of Ngo s Impact On Poverty Essay - 1430 Words

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