Tuesday, December 24, 2019

The Risk Management Plan For Starbucks - 880 Words

Businesses face a Variety of risks every day. These risks usually have a negative impact on performance and financial condition. Without an effective risk management plan, organizations would not grow and thrive. In this paper, we developed a risk management plan to help us identify, evaluate and treat all potential risks faced by an organization. The risk management process will focus on the frequency and severity of potential losses, with a view to risk control or risk finance. Introduction: Starbucks, founded in 1985, is the world’s largest coffeehouse chain, with more than 19,000 coffee shops in 62 countries. Starbucks product mix includes specialty coffee, hot and cold beverages, fresh food items, and other items such as mugs and coffee grinders. Starbucks-brand coffee, refreshers, and ice cream are also offered at grocery stores. Mission: â€Å"to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.† At Starbucks, it is all about quality. Starbucks strives to maintain a positive brand image within the company itself and also within the communities they serve. The company s passion is expressed throughout its products, engaging baristas, and modern store designs, all directed towards enhancing the â€Å"Starbucks experience† for its customers. With these high goals and standards as well as the desire to deliver the best service within all of its locations, the company is exposed to various types of risks. The frequent potential lossesShow MoreRelatedCase Study : Qso 600 Milestone Three Essay1375 Words   |  6 Pagesinherent risk when a company attempts to introduce a new product to the market, and most of the risk is associated with the initial risk mitigation strategy as well as management strategies for how manage the new product’s launch. Research shows that roughly 75% of consumer packaged goods and retail products fail to earn at least $7.5 million during their first year, and much of these failures can be attributed to poor strategy (Schneider Hall, 2011). Starbucks is not immune to the same risks thatRead MoreControl Mechanisms972 Words   |  4 PagesStarbucks: Control Mechanisms Starbucks: Control Mechanisms Starbucks is the leading coffee company in the world. They have locations around the world, many of which are independently owned. In order for the corporation to keep accurate records on the stores, they have implemented many types of controls. Four types of controls used in the Corporation are Bureaucratic Control, Budgetary Control, Financial Control, and Concurrent Control. Bureaucratic Control Read MoreEssay on Starbucks Risk Management1233 Words   |  5 PagesINTRODUCTION Starbuck Corp is well known as one of the world’s largest coffee chains. From original Seattle stores, Starbucks has grown to a multi-national company with more than 17,000 stores across the globe in less than 40 years. Starbucks going deep in Asian markets because of the emerging markets in Asia. Asian consumers’ disposable wages is growing as their countries’ economies nurture, as well as for the most part of all, people over there are open to Western lifestyles. Starbucks decided toRead MoreSwot Analysis : The Matrix1371 Words   |  6 Pagesexternal opportunities and threats facing a company and matches them up to the internal strengths and weaknesses, to give the company four possible strategic alternatives (Hunger, Wheelen, 2011, p. 77). As discussed previously, a major concern for Starbucks is their need for growth in foreign markets, and their education of the foreign markets, needs wants and expectations. According to the TOWS matrix, an alternative Strength Opportunity (SO) Strategy is to utilize the company’s ethical values andRead MoreStarbuckss Strategic Initiatives At Starbucks1243 Words   |  5 Pagespresident and chief executive officer of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, launched a transformation plan, which included focusing on the customer while still achieving value for the shareholders. In January 2008, Starbucks released a statement regarding the strategic initiatives planned to accomplish just that (Starbucks announces strategic initiatives to increase shareholder value; chairman Howard Shultz returns as CEO, 2008). In the announcement Schultz shared that his plan would include refocusing on the customerRead MoreStarbucks Risk Management Essay1110 Words   |  5 PagesStarbucks Risk Management FIN 415 March 25, 2013 Starbucks Risk Management In this documentation Team B will discuss different risk management benefits and techniques, and how companies use these benefits and techniques to further their financial goals and prevent future losses. There are two distinct risk management benefits categories: hard and soft. Hard risk management benefits are contingencies, decisions, control, and statistics. Hard benefits support the strategic business planningRead MoreCritical Thinking Application B International Hr1422 Words   |  6 PagesCritical Thinking Application 2- B International HR: 1. So what are the critical HR issues with regard to Starbucks’ international goals? Critical HR issues include: One of the critical HR issue that may have a direct influence on Starbucks when operating outside the United States is related to compliance with the employment and labor law in the host country: management should understand the labor law in the host countries, staff entitlements and benefits, staff promotions and compensations, recruitmentsRead MoreStarbucks Company Evaluation1607 Words   |  7 PagesBA 530 Employee Retention and Company Success Starbucks believes that the compensation paid to executive officers should be closely aligned with the performance of the company on both a short-term and a long-term basis, and that such compensation will assist the company in attracting and retaining key executives, which is critical to long-term success.    Thus, compensation for executive officers consists of three components: annual base salary, annual incentive bonus, and long-term incentiveRead MoreStrategic and Financial Planning1336 Words   |  5 Pagesthe goals of an organization or business, financial planning is described as the approach towards the management of an organizations finances in methods that contribute to the accomplishment of the business needs. Links between Strategic and Financial Planning: Strategic and financial planning processes involve the definition of objectives, collection and analysis of data, execution of the plan, and evaluation of results. As previously, mentioned, strategic and financial planning have two majorRead MoreStrategic Management : Mission And Objectives1176 Words   |  5 Pagesremain diligent in their strategic management. Review of Mission and Objectives According to all three summary analysis tools that have been utilized, the EFAs, IFAS, and the SFAS, these tools indicate that Starbucks understand what their mission, vision and goals are. They also understand that they need to continually assess where their current strategic plan is placing them in their market and what weaknesses and threats continuously remain for them. Starbucks understands that with corporate

Monday, December 16, 2019

The family must be patient in waiting Free Essays

Addiction is a grave dilemma that cannot be ignored. The more the addiction is denied, the more problem it poses not only to the addict but to the family as well. Counselling is one possible solution on how to approach problems such as addiction. We will write a custom essay sample on The family must be patient in waiting or any similar topic only for you Order Now However, in counselling, patience is needed. The family must be patient in waiting for the slow but sure change that comes with counselling and also patience for the addicted family member. It will take some time for counselling to take effect and it is a continuous process. Counselling is defined collectively as a process of exploring an individual’s life that pertains to the problems causing emotional pain or frustrations while focusing on improving his or her psychological well-being in such a way that the client will be able to reach their full potential after the program. An alcohol and drug counsellor deals with the issues that could have caused the addiction for the individual. Before the actual counselling begins, the counsellor has to be able to gather apt and suffice data and information regarding the past and the present condition of the individual that needs counselling. Assessment or getting the basis data from the client for treatment is one of the methods used in counselling. Upon entry into the program, a safe and trusting environment has to be established and then determining the problem to be worked on follows. In determination of this problem, counselling has to involve assessment. Assessment involves gathering pertinent information and data about the client. Some methods that counsellors use for assessment include qualitative techniques, testing, behavioural evaluation and checking of past records, among many others. The data gathered by the counsellor is then interpreted to be able to formulate a hypothesis or a diagnosis regarding the client’s condition. However, assessment is not just a one-time affair. Assessment should be progressive and all through out the program to ensure that there has been an improvement in the client. Because counselling is continuous, so is the assessing of the client. This can be of help to the treatment because whatever the client is feeling as of the moment may change throughout the course of the counselling. The objectives that the client has agreed to meet upon today may have to be changed as the days go by either because of progress or by retreat. In addition, there might be new problems that emerged as a result of the few therapeutic sessions that took place already or there might be fewer problems than when the first assessment occurred. As aforementioned, the assessment of the client can also be used as a basis for progress. Another helpful tool in assessing the client is collecting and examining the client’s past records. This is because when only the client is interview and assessed, he or she may not be aware of the past problems or issues that he or she was suffering from and in turn may hide this from the present counselling. In addition, these records may be able to assist the current counsellor on what the previous treatments done to the client were not able to work, so that the counsellor would not invest time and effort in it. In addiction counselling, the vital assessment tools that are to be conducted on a regular basis are the urinalysis and breath analyzer tests, in addition to the self-reports addictive behaviour. The Addiction Severity Index or the ASI, is an interview that quantifies the seven addiction-related areas which are drug and alcohol use, medical, family/social, psychiatric, legal, and employment/support troubles. As soon as the counsellor has figured out what his actions or plans are, the client can now be engaged in the program. It is important that the counsellor and the client have some sort of contract or even a verbal agreement on what they both plan to achieve at the end of the treatment program. By doing so, the commitment and the expectations are both laid out in the open. Once the goal has been identified and the client and counsellor agreement is committed into achieving it or least trying to, an exploration process is started upon by the counsellor. The counsellor will explore on the different approaches that he or she can take to attack the problem presented in front of him or her. There are a lot of solutions and interventions that the counsellor can implement but he or she should be careful in choosing it. The factors that he or she should consider would be the ones that he or she was able to find out from the previous assessment that he or she made. Sometimes, to get a second opinion, the counsellor can also seek for a brainstorming session with his or her colleagues, albeit the identity of the client is not freely shared for confidentiality purposes. When the exploration process is done and the counsellor has devised an approach on the problem, he can now choose from the solutions on hand. However, choosing one method or one solution now does not mean that he cannot alter this in the process. Tweaking the approach per client’s need may be necessary, but it will always be the call of the counsellor to do such a move. How to cite The family must be patient in waiting, Essays

Sunday, December 8, 2019

The French Society in the Mid and Late 19th Century

Question: Write an essay on the French Society in the Mid and Late 19th Century. Answer: The French society saw a Realism movement until the late 19th century that depicted a truthful and objective vision of the contemporary life. This era was just after the end of the monarchy of Louis-Philippe and came under the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte (iii). In the painting Olympia, Edourd Manet depicted Olympia as a nude women. The painting was first hung in Salon, Paris. The critics were very negative about the painting. It depicted Olympia as a nude woman but very rich. She was understood to be prostitute of the time. Eduard Manet painted the actual reality of Paris as he said the middle class man of Paris use to go to the prostitutes and it was a daily affair. This reality was hidden and it was not so often spoken in a sophisticated society. From the mid to late 19TH Century, the society of France had passed through many revolutions and the people were embracing modernisation. The woman in the society had started working outside their houses (Bishop, 2008). Depiction of slavery in Olympia: The black servant`s presence in the painting emphasizes the fact that the courtesan, unlike the street walker or common man has a control and governance and may even imply that those who capitulate the beauty and charms of Olympia are subordinate to her just like black servant. Attitude towards slavery in the 19th century America: In the 19th century, the public had changed their mind towards slavery but the law did not enforce this. The society was going to achieve equality and the people wanted to live in peace harmony and liberty (Horton and Horton, 2005) References Bishop, M. (2008).Contemporary French art. Amsterdam: Rodopi. Horton, J. and Horton, L. (2005).Slavery and the making of America. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Tata Indica Case Study Essay Example

Tata Indica Case Study Paper Tata Indica The Making Of The Small Car The case provides an understanding of the issues concerning the supply chain management system at Telco in regard to its small car, Indica. It outlines how Telco, built the supply chain for the car by leveraging its existing competencies and how it transformed itself from an integrated truck manufacturer to an automobile integrator and from a product-centric company to competence- centric company. The case discusses various components of the supply chain and emphasises how Telco orchestrated them with the objective of minimizing costs. Background Note The history of Telco, Indias leading automobile manufacturer dates back to the early 1920s. The location of the Telco plant originally belonged to Peninsular Locomotive Company (Peninsular), which was established in Tatanagar, Jamshedpur in 1923. In 1927, Peninsular was taken over by East India Railway to manufacture passenger carriage underframes for the Indian Railways. In 1945, Tata Sons purchased the plant from the Government of India for manufacturing steam locomotive boilers and other engineering products, under the name Tata Locomotive ; Engineering Company. Initially the company manufactured broad gauge open wagons for the Indian Railways. By 1947, it started producing boilers for imported locomotives. The company also entered into collaborations with Marshal Sons (UK) to manufacture steam road roller, and with Krauss Maffei (West Germany) to manufacture steam locomotives. In 1954, the company entered into a technical collaboration with Daimler-Benz to manufacture automotive vehicles | | The association with Daimler-Benz helped the company build up a strong in-house R;D center (Engineering Research Center ERC) at Pune, Maharashtra. We will write a custom essay sample on Tata Indica Case Study specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Tata Indica Case Study specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Tata Indica Case Study specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In 1960, company’s name was changed to Tata Engineering ; Locomotive Company Ltd. By 1961, it was manufacturing construction equipments. Over the years, the company acquired technology from several collaborations and co-operation agreements with international companies (Refer Table I). TABLE I TELCO COLLABORATIONS AND JOINT VENTURES Tata Cummins Ltd. | Joint Venture with: | Cummins Engine Co. Inc. USA. | Business: | Manufacture of Cummins ‘B’ Series engines for M/HCVs. | Tata Holset Ltd. | Joint Venture with: | Holset Engineering Co. Ltd. UK. | Business: | Manufacture of turbochargers. | Concorde Motors Ltd. | Joint Venture with: | Jardine International Motors (Mauritius) Ltd. | Business: | Retailing of Passenger Cars. | Source: www. telcoindia. com In 1961, Telco produced its first crane in collaboration with M/s Pawling ; Harnischfeger (P;H), U. S. A. In 1966, it acquired Investa Machine Tools Co and set up a machine tools division at Pune. In the same year, it started its Press Tool Division and vehicle manufacture facilities at Pimpri and Chinchwad (Pune). The first commercial vehicle was produced in 1977. In 1983, Telco started producing heavy commercial vehicles. In 1986, the company rolled out its first light commercial vehicle TATA 407 that had a completely indigenous design. In 1991, Telco produced indigenously designed passenger cars Tata Sierra and Tata Estate and in the same year it started its assembly and training plant at Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh). The product range of the company included passenger cars, heavy commercial vehicles, trucks and buses (Refer Table II). TABLE II TELCO PRODUCT PROFILE CATEGORY| PRODUCTS| Passenger| Tata Sierra, Tata Estate, Tata Sumo, Tata Safari, Indica, Indica V2. Light Commercial Vehicles| Tatamobile, Turbo Truck, LPT 407 Turbo Truck. | Heavy Commercial Vehicles| LPT 1109 Turbo Truck, SE 1613 TC Turbo Truck, SE 1613 Turbo Truck, LPT 1613 TC Turbo Truck. | Buses| SFC 407 Turbo Mini- bus, LP 407 Turbo Mini- bus, LP 709 E Turbo Bus, LPO 1510 CGS bus (CNG bus). | Source: www. telcoindia. com By the late 1990s, Telco had emerged as a leading name in commercial vehicles, passenger vehicles, construction eq uipment, metal cutting and grinding machines, industrial shutters, high quality steel, alloy castings and other related products. In 2000, commercial vehicles accounted for 94% of its gross revenues; vehicle spare parts accounted for 5%; and hire purchase income, 1% The Story of Indica In the early 1990s, Telcos Chairman Ratan Tata (Tata), was flirting with the idea of developing a small car. By mid-1994 a rudimentary design was in place. In 1995, Telco announced that it planned to build a car which would be priced close to the Maruti 800, shaped like the Zen, and spacious as an Ambassador. Producing the new small car Indica represented a different kind of challenge for Telco. Should Tata succeed, he would change the face of Telco. As a truck-maker, Telco was so integrated that it even made it own castings and forgings. As an automaker, it would have to focus on the value chain that stretched between raw materials and after-sales service as well as assembling the parts into the complete automobile. For its new venture, Telco outsourced 80% of the components (1,200 of its 1,500-plus parts), from 200-odd vendors. To develop the Indica, Telco had to combine the learnings from its predecessors with its own unique supply chain management strategies to ensure a sustainable low-cost platform. By learning to build and manage a supply chain, it would set the ground for leveraging the capabilities of the automotive component-manufacturers who already operated in its target markets. In other words, Telco planned to use its skills as an integratorbringing together products and services from both upstream and downstream operations, and packaging them for the customer under a brand name in its new venture. Globally, a car could be built in 48 months with an investment of US $ 3 billion (Rs 127. 5 billion). Indica, was built in 31 months on a budget of Rs 17 billion. This seemed to have been possible by focussing on the supply chain. The Outsourcing Strategy For Telco, outsourcing seemed to be one of the most difficult aspects of producing the Indica. Unlike global automobile majors, Ford Motors or General Motors, which had a global vendor-base that could be replicated on a smaller scale in India, Telco had to create a vendor-base from scratch. Moreover, it did not have the expertise either to design a car or to build an engine for it. Against this background, Telco had to take its primary make-or-buy decisions for the key inputs-design, engine, and transmission. Telco decided to shop globally for the best deals and use its own expertise to make whatever modifications were needed (Refer Table III for the components outsourced by Telco). TABLE III OUTSOURCING THE COMPONENTS Components | Supplier| 5 door hatchback | I. DE. A, Italy| Engine | Institut Francais du Petrol, France| Assembly Line | Nissan’s Plant, Australia| Presses | Mercedes Benz| Pistons and Piston rings | India Pistons| Electrical components and fuel injection systems | Lucas-TVS| Steering systems | Rane TRW Steering Systems| Clutch facings and rear (drum) brake linings | Sundaram Brake Linings (SBL)| Seating Systems | Tata-Johnson Controls| Radiators | Tata-Toyo| Rear view mirrors | Tata-Ficosa| Front and rear bumper, dash-board, inside trims | Tata-Auto Plastics| Air conditioning kits | Subros Ltd| Wind screens and windows | Asahi Glass| Fuel lines | Imperial Auto| Differential assemblies | Sona Steering| Sheet metal items | JBM Tools| Source: Business Today, March 22, 1999 and December 7, 1999. Telco turned to the Italian company, I. DE. A, for the product-design. It bought the engine from the Institut Francais du Petrol of France, and applied its engineering skills to adapt the engine requirements. The transmission was developed in-house at its Engineering Research Centre (ERC), at Pune. Of the Rs 2. 5 billion it spent on designing the Indica, the major share went in buying design tools and training its engineers in new skills. Telcos engineers traveled regularly to the sites of its technology suppliers, to receive training before the actual delivery of the machines. Telco also outsourced its assembly line from Nissans plant in Australia for just Rs 900 million. Telco transplanted it at its factory at Chikli near Pune, which was newly set up for Indica. A new assembly line of the same proportions would have cost at least Rs 4 billion. Again, of the 3 presses for the Indica, only 1 was new, acquired for Rs 900 million, while the other 2 were bought second-hand from Mercedes-Benz and modified to suit the Indica. Telcos engineers and the ERC did the application engineering, programming, installation, and commissioning to save around 45% of the technology costs. The tooling for the car too was supplied internally by Telcos machine tool division. To manage the supply chain better, Telco kept the number of suppliers for Indica to just 200 as compared to about 1,000 for trucks. Most of the parts were supplied by Telcos traditional suppliers- TVS, Rane Group and Tata Auto Component Systems (Taco) who were single source suppliers. Pressed parts, assemblies, and drive shafts were sourced from single vendors. Vendor Development Once Telco made its make-or-buy choices, the next step was to identify the vendors. Most of the parts that went into making Telco were sourced locally. Except for some sheet metal parts, cylindrical gaskets, and beltswhich accounted for 2% of the component value, the Indica was totally indigenous. 1 K. Mahesh, CEO, Sundaram Brake Linings, said, Localisation of components is the most important challenge a new manufacturer faces. It is a time-consuming and painstaking process. Telco employed a simple yardstick for selecting suppliers: the ability to supply components at the negotiated quality, cost, and quantities. In the first stage of selection, an initial assessment team from Telco evaluated the supplier. This was followed by self-evaluation of the supplier, based on a format provided by Telco. Then there was a quality systems survey, carried out by a Telco quality audit team. This was f ollowed by design validation. And then there was a manufacturing validation to ensure that the supplier was following the proper manufacturing processes. This was followed by the Production Part Approval Process (PPAP), which certified the production quality. R. Chakraborty (Chakraborty), senior deputy general manager, materials ; supplier quality improvement group, said, â€Å"When a vendor reached this stage, our comfort level in dealing with him goes up considerably, with regard to quality and his ability to supply material to us. We feel that he has a proper production process in place to ensure quality and timely supplies. † Only a handful of vendors met Telco’s stringent requirements. Telco set up Supplier Quality Improvement Teams to improve the vendors systems to ensure that they produced defect-free parts. It applied a 13-step Quality Improvement Programme, covering supplier self-evaluation, thorough design-validation, and audit of supplier quality. Another key to Telcos successful vendor-base was a modern system of process management. Telcos target-costing was broken up into vendor-wise cost targets, and the suppliers had to carry out their own value-engineering exercises to lower cost and improve quality. For example, India Pistons, which supplied the pistons and piston rings, walked away with the Indica order because it benchmarked itself against supplies to Maruti Udyog; whereas the other vendors benchmarked themselves against pistons supplied to Telcos commercial vehicles. India Pistons invested Rs 1. 5 million in toolings, and Rs 25 million in a separate line at its Maraimalai Nagar (Tamil Nadu) facility. N. Venkatramani, CEO, India Pistons, commented, TELCO is very particular about logistics, that raw materials have a supply trace, be ready for assembly, need no inspection. It is a demanding customer. Telco even involved its vendors in the design-process to give suppliers more lead time to innovate, and for better supply chain coordination. Commented T. K. Balaji, CEO, Lucas-TVS, which supplied electrical components and fuel-injection systems for the Indica, By making vendors its partner early, TELCO ensured both quality and price-conformity. Late involvement would have yielded different results. M. S. Kumar, Director ; CEO, Rane TRW Steering Systems (Rane), which supplied the steering systems for the Indica, added, TELCO has been extremely supportive, making available its entire RD resources to our engineers. It is one of the best experiences we have had in product-development. Telco wanted Rane to design a system that would meet the peculiarities of Indian road conditions. Besides offering both manual and power systems, Rane also had to come out with a left-hand drive variant for the export market. Rane had to go deep into application engineering because the front axle-weight of the Indica was heavier, and its engine-displacement, higher. Indica was not only compact, which left less space, but also heavy, which strained the system. Telco wanted Rane to benchmark the maneuverability of the Indica against the Zen, a much-lighter car. Rane took about 16 months to develop and get the steering system approved, spending close to 2 man-years on it. It spent Rs 16 million on development costs for the power steering systemincluding tooling and diesand Rs 10 million for the manual steering system. Said P. R. Sarathy, President, Rane (Madras), TELCO gave us price-targets. We worked within them, using value-engineering and concurrent engineering to lower our development costs. For all effective purposes, we were an arm of TELCO during the process. In the case of small vendors, Telco examined their processes- and cost-levels. Telco configured its suppliers in 2 tiers. Tier I suppliers had to assemble sub-systems using components provided by Tier II vendors. Telco asked the latter to supply products at low margins to the former. On its part, Telco helped them lower their costs by solving quality-related problems. For instanc e, SBL, which supplied clutch-facings and rear (drum) brake linings for the Indica, developed them in-house. V. R. Janardhanam, President, SBL, remarked, Despite its size, Telco has a lot of humility. It is willing to work with even the smallest of vendors to meet its targets. A typical brake-lining usually went through the following steps: the raw material was converted into slabs; the slab was cut into the required length; the cut piece went through 2 stages of grinding for the inner and the outer diameters; then, the piece was drilled, and, finally, champered. But SBL brought down the number of operations to 3: the raw material was straightaway converted into pieces of required length, and the grinding was done to only the outer diameter. And the company saved 15% because of this single-piece flow technique. K. Pandarinath, Deputy General Manager (Research), SBL, commented, Telco is a transparent company. It allowed us to use all their facilities as long as it helps develop a better product. Our engineers spent several weeks working with Telcos engineers on perfecting the brake-linings. Supply Chain To keep its transaction costs low, Telco configured its supply chain on a just-in-time basis. All high-value components were delivered daily, and in the case of nearby suppliers, twice a day. Vendors who were located far away from Pune set up local warehouses near the plant. The rationale for the relocation: transportation costs alone accounted for 45% of the total logistics costs for a company, delays in supplies added to costs in terms of machine down-time at the plant. Meanwhile, on the shop floor, where the assembly line was located, Telco had done away with the traditional store function. There was no material store in the Pune plant of Telco. The truck loaded with the material first entered the factory at the material gate where there was a documentation center. A person at this center checked whether the material was scheduled to arrive or not, by keying in the part number and the supplier code. If the material was not scheduled to arrive, the documents were not processed further and the truck was not allowed to enter the factory premises. Once it was cleared at the gate, the truck proceeded to the receiving center. Once the items were unloaded, unpacked and cleared for quantity and quality, they were moved into the transit area. From there they went into what was called the super market. The super market was close to the assembly line. In the super market, the materials were arranged in such a way that the workers could easily access all the material required on the assembly line without wasting much time and effort. The benefits of this just-in-time inventory system were that the inventories were low and so the interest costs were also low. Again the manpower required to handle the inventories was also low. For Telco, a crucial link in the supply chain was its ability to forecast demand accurately, which would help the vendor plan his production-schedule in advance, thus lowering costs. Telco and Concorde2 employed market research agencies to help forecast demand through trend analysis, using the historical data technique. It used a complex web of correlation involving the countrys economic situation, competitors products, and their USPs. To ensure quick flow of information along the value chain, Telco electronically linked its demand forecasts to production, and backwards to its suppliers. All its dealers were linked to the plant through VSATs3 connected by e-mail to relay demand patterns on-line to the Pune plant. This reduced the order-processing time by 80%. Analysts felt that by being online, Telco would save a minimum of 4 days from the order-to-despatch lead-time. For speedy delivery, Telco resorted to inter-location transfers of the product between dealerships. This would ensure movement of the product to a place where there was more demand. This would make a big difference to finished goods inventory management once Telco started producing at optimum capacity. Telco also trimmed costs by making Concorde leaner than other dealerships, with just 3 levels: managing director, general managers, and managers. Each of Concorde’s general managers worked as profit-centre heads of their individual business regions, and reported directly to the managing director. Added, A. K. Seth, General Manager (Delhi), Concorde, The company wanted to create a lean and responsive network, with the primary objective being to meet customer requirements as quickly as possible. Leveraging the Supply Chain Indica marked the beginning of Telcos drive into Indias auto market as an integrator with a multi-product portfolio. Analysts felt that the competencies that Telco had grown in the process of marketing Indica would be the core around which it would build its future car business. Analysts also felt that Tata would use the supply chain that fed the Indica to feed a whole range of Telco cars of the future. D. C. Anand, CEO, Anand Group, said, Telcos capacity will be tested by how many new models it can come up withand how soon. Is Telco in a position to do so? Four years ago, I would have said no. Today, I am not going to underestimate their capacity. They have demonstrated it. Business Today5 wrote, Leveraging the low-cost supply chain that it has built, Telco will launch a series of other carspriced both below and above the Indica, straddling the entire spectrumeach of which will be progressively easier to integrate. The supply infrastructure would become economical as the volume of the business that Telco offered its vendors increased. The volume of business would increase with a larger number of cars. The learning that it was extracting from the Indica supply chain would also be available to the company as it moved into other products. There seemed to be a distinct opportunity for a smaller, cheaper car, positioned as an entry-level for the first-time buyer. Analysts felt that Telcos supply chain management would become the pivot around which it could assemble its passenger-car business. Questions For Discussion 1. Telco did not have the expertise either to design a car or to build an engine for it. In light of this fact, critically analyze the steps taken by the company to keep its product development costs low. 2. Discuss why the company decided to create a vendor-base from scratch for the smaller car and comment on how it developed its vendor base. . As an integrator of automobiles, Telco had to ensure that there was seamless flow across the supply chain. Explain how Telco managed its Supply chain. Notes 1) The only other new small car that came close was Hyundai Motor Indias Santro, which had a 78% local content. Daewoo Motors Matiz was just 35% local. 2) Telcos dealer for Indica. It had 9 dealerships and 25 ou tlets. 3) Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) is a satellite communications system that serves home and business users. A VSAT end user needs a box that interfaces between the user’s computer and an outside antenna with transceiver. The transceiver receives or sends a signal to a satellite transponder in the sky. The satellite sends and receives signals from an earth station computer that acts as a hub for the system. Each end user is interconnected with the hub station via the satellite. For one end user to communicate with another, each transmission has to first go to the hub station which transmits it via the satellite to the other end user’s VSAT. VSAT handles data, voice and video signals. 4) Most other car-marketers in the country operated with a minimum of 5 levels.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

In the Rhythm of Rock Supreme Sound Explosion

In the Rhythm of Rock Supreme Sound Explosion Logistics must be one of the most complex issues in the production process for any organization that is trying to expand into a greater marketplace.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on In the Rhythm of Rock: Supreme Sound Explosion specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Seeing how it involves a careful consideration of the existing resources, the careful evaluation of all possible transportation issues, the comparison of the costs for transportation and the self-cost of the product that is going to be transported, etc., one must admit that logistics must be addressed in the first place (Coyle, Langley, Novack Gibson, 2009). In many cases, logistics poses a complicated dilemma for the company leader to handle, as the case of Supreme Sound Explosion shows. Despite the fact that the company is taking great risks with the production of Blasters, it is more reasonable to take chances and coordinate the logistics issues concer ning the Woofers and Blasters supply so that the company could maintain its high status and attract such famous customers as The Rolling Stones and U2. The idea of providing the customers that are famous all over the world with the sound system that does not comply with the existing standards of quality does not seem right, which is why the given idea cannot be considered as an option. While with the help of diplomacy, a scandal with the rock stars can be avoided, the very fact that SSE has failed to provide the services of the required quality will definitely bring the SSE reputation down a few notches once the news reaches reporters. With that being said, the logistics strategies should be reconsidered. Since the case study does not give any information concerning the SSE’s budget, it can be assumed that the company can afford any of the options. The basic problem is, therefore, that, to construct Tweeters, Woofers are also required and, therefore, the time spent on their a ssembly will increase.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More With that being said, it is reasonable to resort to the transportation services that provide faster delivery. In other words, T2 and W1 options must be chosen so that the SSE Company could provide the customers with decent services. It should be mentioned, though, that the W2 option might sound more reasonable, seeing how it includes a much shorter transit time, e., one day instead of two. However, it should be kept in mind that the W1 option presupposes a weekly delivery, while the W2 option offers a delivery every other week (Langley et al., 2008, 447). Therefore, the SSE Company will be able not only to assemble the Tweeters faster, but also save on Woofers. Therefore, it is clear that the company should definitely choose to deliver the sound system of the best quality possible to its customers. Since t he dissatisfaction with the quality of the product is definitely going to have a much more negative impact on the company’s reputation than a delayed delivery of the product, it will be logical to pick the lesser evil. In addition, the given choice will help the company reconsider its approach towards the logistics and find the method to solve the transportation issues once and for all. After all, it is important to keep in mind that the company is going to expand and, therefore, will need to transport resources to even more remote corners of the United States. Therefore, it is clear that SSE cannot run away from the logistics issues forever and that the latter must be solved efficiently. Reference List Coyle, J. J., Langley, C. J., Novack, R. A., Gibson, B. J. (2009). Supply chain  management: A logistics perspective (9th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on In the Rhythm of Rock: Supreme Sound Explosion specifi cally for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Langley, C. J. et al. (2008). Supply chain management: A logistics perspective. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Definition and Examples of Prolepsis in Rhetoric

Definition and Examples of Prolepsis in Rhetoric (1) In rhetoric, prolepsis is foreseeing and forestalling objections to an argument. Adjective: proleptic. Similar to procatalepsis. Also called anticipation. (2) Similarly, prolepsis is a  figurative device by which a future event is presumed to have already occurred. Etymology:  From the Greek, preconception, anticipation Examples and Observations In the ancient art of rhetoric, prolepsis stood for the anticipation of possible objections to a speech. This anticipation enabled the speaker to provide answers to objections before anyone had the chance to even raise them. In other words, the speaker takes the role/attitude of the listener while preparing or delivering his speech, and he tries to assess in advance what possible objections could be raised.(A. C. Zijderveld, On Clichà ©s: The Supersedure of Meaning by Function in Modernity. Routledge, 1979)In 1963, Nobel Prize-winning economist William Vickrey suggested that [automobile] insurance be included in the purchase of tires. Anticipating the objection that this might lead people to drive on bald tires, Vickrey said drivers should get credit for the remaining tread when they turn in a tire. Andrew Tobias proposed a variation on this scheme in which insurance would be included in the price of gasoline. That would have the added benefit of solving the problem of uninsured mot orists (roughly 28% of California drivers). As Tobias points out, you can drive a car without insurance, but you cant drive it without gasoline.(Ian Ayres and Barry Nalebuff, Would You Buy Car Insurance by the Mile? Forbes, 2005) [P]rolepsis is a form of looking ahead, of assuming something to be the case before it has been encountered, a foreshadowing in some sense. Novelists do this all the time when they hint at things to come, or when they omit information, almost as if they thought the reader already knew it. The result of such prolepsis [is] that the reader (or hearer) creates, rather than passively receives, the information necessary to complete the scene or circumstances that the writer (or speaker) merely hints at.(Leo van Lier, The Ecology and Semiotics of Language Learning: A Sociocultural Perspective. Kluwer, 2004)In the movie The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Luke Skywalker says, Im not afraid, to which Jedi master Yoda responds, You will be. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) contains proleptic scenes of future nuclear devastation envisioned by a woman whose son is the target of a robot sent back in time to kill him.(Ross Murfin and Supryia M. Ray, The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Term s, 2nd ed. Bedford/St. Martins, 2003) Procatalepsis is another relative of the hypophora. While the hypophora can ask any sort of question, the procatalepsis deals specifically with objections, and it usually does so without even asking the question, as in this example: Many other experts want to classify Sanskrit as an extinct language, but I do not. By directly addressing objections, procatalepsis lets the writer further his or her argument and satisfy readers at the same time. Strategically, procatalepsis shows your readers that you have anticipated their concern, and have already thought them through. It is, therefore, especially effective in argumentative essays.(Brendan McGuigan, Rhetorical Devices: A Handbook and Activities for Student Writers. Prestwick House, 2007) Pronunciation: pro-LEP-sis

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Management Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Management Questions - Essay Example First question answered is how to apply what the researcher has learned in managing individual performance situations. It inputs in a person’s personality a lot of traits, the researcher answers, for example the sense of responsibility. Second question covered in this essay was about the best performance management practices, such as feedback, communication and reward to the employees. It also mentiones the basic advantages in managing of performance. This essay also deeply explained the topic of the Career Success and it's key elements and issues. Many theories and techniques have been found and established through which your career will reach a level in short term where most people don’t expect. In particular there are a few rather more important that were discussed in the essay, such as to focus more on your key expertise, try to make himself best known wherever the person stands, a person should go for it and express his leadership skills and control of his own capa bilities, display of pro-activitism and innovative thoughts, build your connections and lay your roots deep within the organization. The ways on how to conduct a Performance Management Assessment were explored, various type of strategies and steps that are followed were discussed by the researcher. Another question was about the traditional approaches that are used nowadays to performance management. The researcher explained that in the such approach the employee is solely evaluated on the output that he produced.