Humor in Stephen Crane’s “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” Essay

Stephen Crane’s short story â€Å"The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky† is considered by many to be a masterpiece. One writer even called it â€Å"the greatest story ever written.† One of the reasons the story is so good is that Crane uses humor to make some serious points about people in general and the Old West in particular. In the first part of the story, Crane portrays Jack Potter and his new wife as humorous characters. Not only are they awkward with each other, but they are also completely out of place in the fancy railroad car that is taking them to the Yellow Sky. Crane makes us see them through the eyes of the condescending porter and the other passengers, who keep giving the couple â€Å"stares or derisive enjoyment†. Jack’s fear about how the people of Yellow Sky will react to his marriage is also amusing because we would expect a town marshal to be brave, not afraid of the people he is paid to protect. Part II presents another comical situation- a lone drunk is able to scare a whole town just because Jack Potter is away. This situation is especially funny because of an ironic contrast that the reader already knows about. The man the townspeople are depending on to protect them is the same man we have just learned is afraid to tell them he is married. Part II also includes the comical character of the unsuspecting traveling salesman, whose increasingly agitated questions about Scratchy Wilson set the state for the confrontation the reader knows will occur. Crane is in effect setting us up for the â€Å"punch line† of his story. First we hear about the raging, fearsome drunk who is terrorizing the town- and then we see him. In Part III we get a close look at this Scratchy Wilson, whom we are supposedly prepared for. At first glance, he does behave like a typical Wild West villain. However, we soon learn details about him that make him seem ridiculous. For one thing, he wears a shirt made by women in New York City and boots favored by little boys in New England, hardly the outfit we would expect an authentic Western villain to wear. In fact, these details are the reader’s first hint of what will develop as Crane’s major theme: that the West is no longer a terribly wild place. The lengths Scratchy goes to in order to frighten a dog also show him to be a bit ludicrous as a bad guy.  Scratchy may roar and bellow â€Å"terrible invitations† to fight, but Crane lets us know exactly how terrifying he really is: â€Å"The calm adobe preserved their demeanor at the passing of this small thing in the middle of the street.† In Part IV, Crane finally brings his two major characters together for a showdown that is comical because it disappoints our expectations. Facing Scratchy down without a gun, Potter proves to be just as brace as we have been led to believe, but as a villain, Scratchy turns out to be pretty easily subdued. Presented with the news of Potter’s marriage, he loses all his menace and sadly walks away. Ironically, he is defeated not by brute force or sheer courage but instead by â€Å"a foreign condition† that he does not understand. His world is suddenly turned upside down by Potter’s news. Ferocious, gun-toting drunks and the courageous town marshals who fight them are not supposed to have wives. Once the bride comes to Yellow Sky, the rules of the game are so different that Scratchy no longer knows how to play. According to one critic, Donald B. Gibson, the point of Crane’s story is that by the late 1800’s, the Wild West was dead, even though some people living there did not realize it. While Jack Potter has taken a big step toward adjusting to the changed world he lives in, Scratchy is simply befuddled by it. Gibson’s interpretation makes sense and it gets at the heart of the humor in Crane’s story. However, one cannot help but suspect that Crane is doing more than simply mocking the conventions of the Western. That would make his story a funny parody, but certainly not a masterpiece. Crane is also showing us what happens to a society in transition, a culture whose values are in a state of flux. A â€Å"simple child of the earlier plains†, Scratchy Wilson is an anachronism, a man who finds himself out of place historically. Luckily, he has the good grade and good sense to realize his predicament and walk away from what he cannot understand. But who knows- perhaps some day he’ll find himself a bride and bring her back to Yellow Sky.

Educating Rita †the Consequence of Change Essay

Belonging implies change, and change rarely comes without consequence. The progression to belong into a now culture or place may be physical, emotional or mental. Rita, driven by feeling inadequate is the main character in Willy Russell’s play, Educating Rita. She achieves a successful move into her new world. However, she must overcome change which will come at a personal cost. Throughout the play Willy Russell depicts many themes; these include relationships, choice and consequence, social class and change. These themes are constantly seen in â€Å"good will hunting†, directed by Gus Van Sant. Staring Matt Damon who plays â€Å"will hunting†, an abused foster child, he subconsciously blames himself for his unhappy upbringing and turns this self-loathing into a form of self-sabotage in both his professional and emotional life. The story is about his challenge to break from his working-class culture and move on. However, he will face many changes through-out his quest to belong. Relationships can mould or trigger change, and change is seen throughout Educating Rita. Rita embarks on an Open University course as she wants more out of her life. Rita see’s education as an exit route from her current life, she is â€Å"out of step† with her husband, family and friends – Rita wants to â€Å"discover [herself] first†, before wanting to compensate with having a child with Denny. Denny’s obsession of one day settling down with a family leads to the later divorce and failure of their marriage. Rita’s initial depiction of Denny towards Frank was that Denny â€Å"was blind†, Rita differentiates herself by stating that â€Å"[she ] wants to see†. Denny does not understand nor is willing to negotiate or communicate with Rita throughout act one, Denny’s aggressive behaviour leads to the savage action of burning her books, in scene five, and later Rita’s moving out of the house. This change was a consequence of Rita’s action to educate herself, despite Rita’s suffering she is still sympathetic and forgiving towards Denny, this is reinforced by Rita describing where â€Å"the girl he married has gone too† and she later states â€Å"he said I’d betrayed him. I suppose I had†. Throughout act one the audience is accounted for the growing bond between Rita and Frank. In act one scene one the stuck door is a metaphor for the effort required to change. Rita is confronted by a physical barrier which she would later overcome. Rita’s relationship with Frank develops throughout the play, she is uncomfortable in the first scene of act one, as she is unfamiliar with her surroundings. Rita’s discomfort is depicted through her agile talking, swearing and her constant moving about, this is evident through scene one as Rita feels â€Å"nervous† as she was â€Å"testing† frank. Rita is initially physically separated from Frank; there is an intangible barrier between Rita and Frank. However, this is quickly diminished as their relationship develops, this is evident as throughout the play, Rita starts to become less nervous and starts to sit down next to Frank, Rita stops â€Å"talking at† Frank and starts â€Å"talking [with]† him. Despite Rita’s lost relationship with Denny and a growing bond with Frank, Rita is still definitely torn between two worlds, this is evident through act one scene seven where Rita states that she is a â€Å"half-cast†. Rita’s experience in London at summer school is significant as this is the beginning of a new Rita , however , it is also the beginning of a drift in Rita’s and Franks relationship. She is able to gain confidence to talk â€Å"sophisticatedly†, this boost in confidence gave her the courage to talk and meet new friends, creating a new circle of friends for Rita. This means Rita is less dependent of Frank; this is evident through her late appearances to their tutorials or not attending at all. Frank confronts Rita complaining â€Å"†¦ that there was a time when you told me everything†. Franks view of Rita changes as the play progresses, Frank is disenchanted with Rita’s transformation under the influence of Trish and Tyler. Rita, for her part, has lost her initial respect towards Frank, this is evident as Frank is constantly drinking and smoking, whereby Rita is trying to keep clean and â€Å"change for the better†. Relationships encounter difficulties which make it harder to belong; however, the nature of relationships alters due to the individual’s choices and the consequences which follow as a result. Rita’s motivations in moving into the world are to achieve some sort of choice about the direction her life will follow. Rita does not want to follow her working-class path of blindness; instead she wants to achieve an education so that she is prone to more informed choices. Rita’s choice to enrol in an Open University course is the first stage of choices; this choice was subsequently looked down upon by Denny. However, even though Rita enrolled to the course she is faced with the consequences of both Denny and actually completing the course, even after she was accepted to the course she was compensating to â€Å"pack the course in†, coming very close to doing that in act one scene seven. However, the sight of her mother’s disappointment of not â€Å"singing a different song† is evidence of her unhappiness towards the culture. This scene is the ultimatum Rita is faced with, she is forced to make a decision between her working class and the middle class, as she is nether belonging to the working nor the middle class. This is evident as she states that she is a â€Å"freak† and a â€Å"half-cast†, however, her mother’s unhappiness is a key influence to her decision to stay at the Open University. To Rita the availability of choice is something of a luxury, she has no plan to what she is going to after she finishes the course†¦ However, Rita pampers to the availability of choices. This is evident in the last scene, where Rita is going to do her exams, she does not know what she is going to do for Christmas, however, she says, â€Å"i dunno. I’ll make a decision, I’ll choose. † This reinforces Rita’s luxury of â€Å"choice†. Rita’s choice to study has huge consequences in her personal life. This caused friction with her husband, which later is the key factor to the breakdown of the marriage. The alienation of Rita from her family and friends is yet another consequence of her choice to study. Rita’s alienation is seen in act one scene seven, as Rita cannot find a place to belong, she feels â€Å"out of step†, from both her family and Frank/upper class, describing herself as a â€Å"half-cast†. Rita’s and Frank’s bond slowly diminishes and they both drift away from each other, to a point where frank starts calling her different names. Frank is open too Rita, subsequently Rita is not, Frank feels his â€Å"creation† had turned out to be a â€Å"monster†. Frank decides to call himself â€Å"Mary Shelly†, this is significant as Frank has related Rita and himself to a gothic number called â€Å"Frankenstien†. Franks allusion shows the audience that Rita has â€Å"changed for the worst†. Throughout Educating Rita, there is heavy emphasis of moving into a different social class. Rita is dissatisfied with the limitations she faces within her current working class life. She doesn’t fit in with her peers in her working class neighbourhood; this is evident in act one scene two where she acknowledges that most of her peers would have had a baby, Rita on the other hand wants to â€Å"discover [herself]† and wants â€Å"a better way of livin’†. She attempts to explain her restlessness to Denny, but Denny’s interpretation of Rita’s materialistic terms as just simply saving up and â€Å"moving to a better neighbourhood†. Rita feels congested on the moral values of the working class culture she is a part of. This is evident in act one scene four, she depicts her class as everyone wanting to have a baby, she says that â€Å"everyone expects it†, everyone expects Rita to settle down to a life of marriage. Rita strives for a better social class, one which she can connect with, feeling a large sense of belonging, her desire for a better way of living leads her into the world, letting her husband, Denny behind she can only go forward. As she progresses through her Open University course, she starts to feel more of a â€Å"half cast†, belonging in nether class. She cannot relate to her working class friends, however, she also cannot speak the language of the middle class. Rita’s view of the working class if very critical, she completely denies their culture claiming that she see’s â€Å"everyone pissed†¦ because their lives have no meanin’†. Her view on education is a view of â€Å"setting her free†. In Rita’s first tutorial, she looks outside Franks window peering at the students on the grass, stating; â€Å"god, what’s it like to be free? † an ironic view because Frank is not free, and only restricted as he is unsatisfied with his job, drinking his way though each day. Whilst educating Rita provides the audience with a good account of an individual’s progression to belong to a new culture, â€Å"good will hunting† portrays a complementary account. Like Rita, â€Å"Will hunting† is from the working class culture. Good Will Hunting is a poetic story of a young man’s struggle to find his place in the world by first finding out who he is. This is the case for Rita, she is trying to â€Å"discover herself† . The movie is a journey through the mind of Will Hunting as he is forced to endure therapy instead of jail. With the help of the psychologist, played by Robin Williams, Will discovers himself and realizes his value in the world by understanding what matters to him most. An abused foster child, he subconsciously blames himself for his unhappy upbringing and turns this self-loathing into a form of self-sabotage in both his professional and emotional life. The story is about his challenge to break from his working-class culture, Will Hunting emphasises the elements within â€Å"Educating Rita†, although Will is a troubled genius, they both hold the same characteristics. Will, like Rita experiences the hardships of belonging to a new culture, Will Hunting is also faced with an Ultimatum; Will doesn’t see the opportunities which lie ahead of him, blinded by his path. However, he is put straight by his best mate; Chuckie who states â€Å"Look – you’re my best friend, so don’t take this the wrong way. In twenty years, if you’re still livin’ here, comin’ over to my house, still workin’ construction, I’ll kill you. That’s not a threat I’ll kill you†. This harsh statement is the turning point for Will. Will is completely different to Rita; they are both worlds away from each other. However, in both cases, moving onto a new world involves painful change before moving forward. In both these accounts, moving into a new world involves difficulties and challenges, both characters strive for an education to achieve their desired outcome. Rita achieves her ultimate goal of having â€Å"choice† through education. Will Hunting in â€Å"good will hunting† is forced to take upon education to strive for a better class, to open his opportunities. In both these cases, we see that to go into a new world is overwhelmed by difficulties, but it could also bring their desired reward.

Amazon Ebusiness Essay

Amazon was founded in 1994, spurred by what Bezos called â€Å"regret minimization framework†, his effort to fend off regret for not staking a claim in the Internet gold rush. Company lore says Bezos wrote the business plan while he and his wife drove from New York to Seattle , although that account appears to be apocryphal. The company began as an online bookstore; while the largest brick-and-mortar bookstores and mail-order catalogs for books might offer 200,000 titles, an online bookstore could offer more. Bezos named the company â€Å"Amazon† after the world’s largest river. Since 2000, Amazon’s logotype is an arrow leading from A to Z, representing customer satisfaction (as it forms a smile); a goal was to have every product in the alphabet. In 1994, the company incorporated in the state of Washington, beginning service in July 1995, and was reincorporated in 1996 inDelaware. The first book Amazon.com sold was Douglas Hofstadter’s Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought. Amazon.com issued its initial public offering of stock on May 15, 1997, trading under theNASDAQ stock exchange symbol AMZN, at an IPO price of US$18.00 per share ($1.50 after three stock splits in the late 1990s). Amazon’s initial business plan was unusual: the company did not expect a profit for four to five years. Its â€Å"slow† growth provoked stockholder complaints that the company was not reaching profitability fast enough. When the dot-com bubble burst, and many e-companies went out of business, Amazon persevered, and finally turned its first profit in the fourth quarter of 2001: $5 million or 1 ¢ per share, on revenues of more than $1 billion, but the modest profit was important in demonstrating the business model could be profitable. In 1999, Time magazine named Bezos Person of the Year,  recognizing the company’s success in popularizing online shopping. Amazon.com products and services: Amazon product lines include books, music CDs, videotapes and DVDs, software, consumer electronics, kitchen items, tools, lawn and garden items, toys & games, baby products, apparel, sporting goods, gourmet food, jewelry, watches, health and personal-care items, beauty products, musical instruments, clothing, industrial & scientific supplies, and groceries. The company launched Amazon.com Auctions, a Web auctions service, in March 1999. However, it failed to chip away at industry pioneer eBay’s large market share. Amazon.com Auctions was followed by the launch of a fixed-price marketplace business, zShops, in September 1999, and the now defunct Sotheby’s/Amazon partnership called sothebys.amazon.com in November. Auctions and zShops evolved into Amazon Marketplace, a service launched in 2001 that let customers sell used books, CDs, DVDs, and other products alongside new items. Today, Amazon Marketplace’s main rival is eBay’s Half.com service. In August 2005 , Amazon began selling products under its own private label, â€Å"Pinzon†; the trademark applications indicated that the label would be used for textiles, kitchen utensils, and other household goods.In March 2007, the company applied to expand the trademark to cover a more diverse list of goods, and to register a new design consisting of the â€Å"word PINZON in stylized letters with a notched letter O whose space appears at the â€Å"one o’clock† position.†. Coverage by the trademark grew to include items such as paints, carpets, wallpaper, hair accessories, clothing, footwear, headgear, cleaning products, and jewelry.On September 2008, Amazon filed to have the name registered. USPTO has finished its review of the application, but Amazon has yet to receive an official registration for the name. Amazon MP3, its own online music store, launched in the US in September 25, 2007, selling downloads exclusively in MP3 format without digital rights management.[This was the first online offering of DRM-free music from all four major record companies. In August 2007, Amazon announced AmazonFresh, a grocery service offering perishable and nonperishable foods. Customers can have orders delivered to their homes at dawn or during a specified daytime window. Delivery was initially restricted to residents of Mercer Island, Washington, and was later expanded to several  ZIP codes in Seattle proper. AmazonFresh also operated pick-up locations in the suburbs of Bellevue and Kirkland from summer 2007 through early 2008. In 2008 Amazon expanded into film production, producing the film The Stolen Child with 20th Century Fox. Amazon.com has incorporated a number of products and services through development and acquisitions. The Honor System was launched in 2001 to allow customers to make donations or buy digital content, with Amazon collecting a percentage of the payment plus a fee. The service was discontinued in 2008. and replaced by Amazon Payments. Amazon launched Amazon Web Services(AWS) in 2002, which provides programmatic access to latent features on its website. Amazon also created â€Å"channels† to benefit certain causes. In 2004, Amazon’s â€Å"Presidential Candidates† allowed customers to donate $5–200 t o the campaigns of 2004 U.S. presidential hopefuls. Amazon has periodically reactivated a Red Cross donation channel after crises such as the 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean. By January 2005, nearly 200,000 people had donated over $15.7 million in the US. Amazon Prime offers two day shipping with no minimum purchase amount for a flat annual fee, as well as discounted priority shipping rates. Amazon launched the program in the continental United States in 2005, in Japan, the United Kingdom and Germany in 2007, and in France (as â€Å"Amazon Premium†) in 2008. Launched in 2005, Amazon Shorts offers exclusive short stories and non-fiction pieces from best-selling authors for immediate download. By June 2007, the program had over 1,700 pieces and was adding about 50 new pieces per week. In November 2005, Amazon.com began testing Amazon Mechanical Turk, an application programming interface (API) allowing programs to dispatch tasks to human processors. In March 2006, Amazon launched an online storage service called Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). An unlimited number of data objects, from 1 byte to 5 gigabytes in size, can be stored in S3 and distributed via HTTP or BitTorrent. The service charges monthly fees for data stored and transferred. In 2006, Amazon introducedAmazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS), a distributed queue messaging service, and product wikis (later folded into Amapedia) and discussion forums for certain products using guidelines that follow standard message board conventions. Also in 2006, Amazon introduced Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), a virtual site farm, allowing users to use the Amazon infrastructure to run applications ranging  from running simulations to web hosting. In 2008, Amazon improved the service adding Elastic Block Store (EBS), offering persistent storage for Amazon EC2 instances and Elastic IP addresses, static IP addresses designed for dynamic cloud computing. In 2007 Amazon launched Amapedia, a wiki for user-generated content to replace ProductWiki, the video on demand s ervice Amazon Unbox, and Amazon MP3, which sells downloadable MP3’s. Amazon’s terms of use agreements restrict use of the MP3’s, but Amazon does not use DRM to enforce those terms. Amazon MP3 sells music from the Big 4 record labels EMI, Universal, Warner Bros. Records, and Sony BMG, as well as independents. Previous to the launch of this service, Amazon made an investment in Amie Street, a music store with a variable pricing model based on demand. Also in 2007 Amazon launched Amazon Vine, which allows reviewers free access to pre-release products from vendors in return for posting a review, as well as payment service specifically targeted at developers, Amazon FPS. In November 2007, Amazon launched Amazon Kindle, an e-book reader which downloads content over â€Å"Whispernet†, via the Sprint Nextel EV-DO wireless network. The screen uses E Ink technology to reduce battery consumption. In 2008 Amazon stated that its Kindle-based library included 200,000 titles. In December 2007, Amazon introduced SimpleDB, a database system, allowing users of its other infrastructure to utilize a high reliability high performance database system. In August 2007, Amazon launched an invitation-only beta-test for online grocery delivery. It has since rolled out in several Seattle, Washington suburbs. In January 2008 Amazon began rolling out their MP3 service to subsidiary websites worldwide. In December, 2008, Amazon MP3 was made available in the UK. In September, IMDB and Amazon.com launched a Music metadata browsing site with wiki-like user contribution. In November, Amazon partnered with Fisher-Price, Mattel, Microsoft and Transcend to offer products with minimal packaging to reduce environmental impact and frustration with opening â€Å"clamshell† type packaging. Amazon Web Services launched a public beta of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud running Microsoft Windows Server and Microsoft SQL Server. Amazon Connectenables authors to post remarks on their book pages to customers. WebStore allows businesses to create custom e-commerce websites using Amazon technology. Sellers pay a commission of 7 percent, including credit-card processing fees and fraud protection, and a subscription fee of  $59.95/month for an unlimited number of webstores and listings. Why Amazon.com is successful as a business on internet and has excellent capabilities supported by information system and e-commerce? Amazon’s initial business plan was unusual: the company did not expect a profit for four to five years. Its â€Å"slow† growth provoked stockholder complaints that the company was not reaching profitability fast enough. When the dot-com bubble burst and many e-companies went out of business, Amazon persevered, and finally turned its first profit in the fourth quarter of 2001: $5 million or 1 ¢ per share, on revenues of more than $1 billion, but the modest profit was important in demonstrating the business model could be profitable. In 1999, Time magazine named Bezos Person of the Year, recognizing the company’s success in popularizing online shopping. Amazon changed the way it does business through the years. First it was an online book seller. Next it expanded into selling music and videos. Then it offered toys, consumer electronics and software to its customers. These were linked with a host of new products until this very day. Amazon has a constantly evolving product line. Its competitors have a hard time catching up with the innovator. During its initial years of operation, Amazon was not making any real profit. It practiced instead the habit of reinvesting its income into new markets. This it did to make possible for its customers to make wider choices for the company’s offerings. Inventory management is an important function for any business and its efficient implementation can play a major role in reducing costs within a company. Policies, procedures, and techniques employed in maintaining the optimum number or amount of each inventory item. The objective of inventory management is to provide uninterrupted production, sales, and/or customer-service levels at the minimum cost, Levi D. S. et al (2003). Levi explains that a high-quality inventory management system provides a smooth and efficient supply chain by reducing costs and time. Initially when a company is established, key individuals may pe rform such tasks as purchasing, manufacturing or inventory control with little problem in terms of overlapping functions. But as a company expands it may be necessary to concentrate on core functions in the aim to have specialized personnel in every department. Each function has an important part to play in the supply chain. The correct management of  inventory enables a company to reduce liabilities and cost of overstocking, to streamline operations and to have better utilized staff. Amazon.com, the world’s largest online retailer and one of the nation’s biggest book sellers, is one of the iconic companies of the Internet era, Eells S. (2010), and by realizing the importance of inventory management can only improve its supply chain. From the text we can see that when CEO Jeffrey P. Bezos went about setting up Amazon.com, he had a clear aim to offer customers a wide selection of books but at the same time did not want to spend time and money on opening stores and warehouses and in dealing with the inventory. Bezos was hesitant in deciding to maintain Amazons own warehouse but realized that this was the only way for the company to keep customers satisfied. Internet shopping was rapidly expanding and with Amazon now stretching its ranges from not only books but to CDs, toys and hardware, they too were a growing industry. Amazon began setting up warehouses throughout the US, strategically placing them in states with little or no sales tax in order to reduce costs. These warehouses were very well maintained and completely computerized, with each item having a separate code which made inventory management a lot easier. Within the large warehouses, Amazon held all products which were available on the website. This was not always a good idea as it cost Amazon money in order to stock these goods. In the holiday season of 1999, Bezos was determined not to disappoint any customers; therefore he ordered larger amounts of every product. With this large amount of inventory, Bezos found it very diffic ult to manage, so aimed to rearrange the warehouses to accommodate the demand in different regions. They then decided to outsource some of its routines activities so that they could concentrate more on their core competencies. Deciding whether to outsource or not was a difficult decision for Amazon but seen in the Strategic outsourcing book by Greaver M. (1999), he explains that there quiet a number of reasons how outsourcing can be a major advantage. These points are broken into 6 headings; 1. Organizational reasons – Enhance effectiveness and focus on what you do best and also makes the company more flexible 2. Improvement driven reasons – Improve operating performance and also management and control 3. Finally driven reasons – Reduce investment assets and free up these resources for other areas of the business 4. Revenue driven reasons – Gain market access and  business opportunities along with accelerating expansion 5. Cost driven reasons – Reduce cost through superior provider performance and lower cost structure 6. Employee driven reasons – Increase commitment and energy in non core areas. Amazon decided to outsource its inventory management, and with this they decided not to stock every item offered on its site. It stocked only the most popular and frequently purchased items and as for the other items, they were requested from the distributor on ordering. The item would be sent to Amazon, unpacked and finally sent to the customer. Amazon entered into an agreement with Ingram Micro Inc. to use its knowledge and experience in the electronic goods and supply chain management in order to provide logistics and order-fulfillment services for desktops, laptops and other computer related accessories. From the case, Kevin Murai, President, Ingram Macro U.S. informs everyone the advantages in which they can offer to Amazons supply chain and satisfaction of customers, â€Å"The customer fulfillment services we are providing to Amazon.com’s computer store will minimize the number of touches to the product, while ensuring a seamless shopping experience for Amazons customers from start to finish†. A collaborative approach was obvious from this. A collaborative partnership has become an alternative approach to care, replacing traditional hierarchical approach as the desired approach to care. The features of collaborative partnerships are (1) Power sharing and sharing of expertise; (2) the pursuit of mutually agreed on, person centered goals and, (3) a dynamic process that requires the active participation and agreement of all partners in the relationship, Elsevier M. (2006). Both Amazon and Ingram Micro both shared the passion for customer satisfaction which was the main driving force to the success of their partnership. Amazon has identified its core competencies as: customer convenience and accessibility, massive selection, personalized service, quality of the site content, quality of its search tools and price, Mulqueen K. (2009). By entering into this partnership it gives Amazon more quality time to put into its core competencies. During the initial stages of Amazons warehousing, it aimed to have every item in stock in o rder to maximize customer satisfaction. By having this inventory, it would enable Amazon to meet the needs of the customers when they purchased the goods online. When the customer chooses the item, Amazon takes it from inventory and sent it to the respective  customer. We can see the logic in which Bezos takes as he is aiming to satisfy every customer in order to build a positive image and reputation of the company. Holding this much inventory on the other can be quite costly and also for a small business which Amazon was when taking on this method can be very difficult to manage. Amazons warehouses were a quarter mile long and 200 yards wide storing millions of books. Each warehouse cost Bezos around 50 million and not only this he started to realize that having all these large amounts of stock was unutilized cash which could be used to improve the business elsewhere. The below image (fig 1.1) gives you an idea of the scale of the warehouses and how an effective inventory management structure is vital. Learning from the difficult holiday season of 1999, Bezos outsourced some of their core competencies in order to pay more attention to othe r areas of the business. In our opinion this was a step in the right direction as when Amazons partners shipped the goods Amazon revamped the layout of their warehouses which makes the items easier to find and allowed customer orders to be sorted more efficiently. In early 2001, when Amazon partnered with Ingram Micro Inc., we feel that this was the correct decision for Amazon in the aim for efficient inventory management and it didn’t take long for changes to be made to the stocking of inventory. Amazon decided to stock only the most popular and most frequently purchased. If an item which wasn’t in stock, Amazon simply ordered in from the distributor and who then shipped it to Amazon where they would unpack it and send it to the customer. This may seem like a longer process but we feel this step which significantly reduce costs and better utilized Amazons finances. This is evident from the case as in December 00; their gross profit was 656.8 million where it was almost doubled in December 02 where the profit was 1,074.9 million. By doing this method, inevitably Amazon reduced holding costs. This method was proving to be a positive for Amazon as the improved inventory management helped Amazon record its first ever profit in 2001. From being initially in a deficit of $2.86 billion seven years earlier, Amazon recorded a net profit of $5 million in the fourth quarter of 2001. By Amazon outsourcing its inventory management, we could see the improvements almost immediately from their financial reports in the case. It is clear in our opinion, that Amazon made the right decision when outsourcing this function. It has reduced cost by keeping fewer inventories  and at the same time has partnered with a company with a great deal of expertise in the technology functions which can again be a major positive for the company. This shows again that outsourcing the inventory function was the correct decision for Amazon. The transfer of Amazons inventory management as shown in the case was a positive influence on the company and we feel that it was a successful task. The reason for this is simple; Amazon has tried and tested various inventory techniques from when it was first established. At first Amazons inventory was too great and was seen to be unutilized cash. Bezos realized that this unutilized cash could possible to used to benefit over departments within the company. The task of outsourcing this area made a profit for the company immediately, at the end of 2001, Amazon had a sales record of 1.1 billion which was a 15% increase on the same period of the previous year. Then again in 2002, we can see from the case that Amazon recorded sales of 3.93 billion which was a 26% increase on the year previous. These figures show that the task of outsourcing inventory for Amazon was an important function which has shown to get record sales for the company and along with the expertise given by Ingram Micro was overall a positive influence on the company. Overall, Amazons decision to outsource its inventory management and concentrate more on other funct ions within the business was the correct decision in our opinion. This is proven by the increase in profit since doing so. Amazon managed to outsource this function and still satisfy their customers which is one of their core values along with being innovative. According to businessweek.com, Amazon in 2010 had a net income of $231 million in comparison to $177million in 2009 which again is an indication that the company’s decisions have only had a positive impact as the company continues to grow. This is a positive for the company but in comparison to its main competitor, EBay had a net income of 397.65 million in 2010 which is also seen on businessweek.com. This shows that there is a lot of work done but still in order to compete with its competitors it must still strive to improve. Amazon prides itself on a strong brand, excellent customer service and a well designed, easy to use website. Its use of E-Business strategies enables the company to cut costs better than its competitors and empower its customers by offering them choice. It could be argued that Amazons’ most valuable asset is its CEO and Founder Jeff Bezos. Bezos innovative style has grown the company from  strength to strength and latest figures, according to the website www.siliconrepublic.com show an increase in profit of 36% to $12.95bn for 2010 from a sink to 3.7pc from 5pc at the end of 2009. In 2001, Amazons CEO, Jeff Bezos welcomed competitors rather than fighting them. This decision was initially seen as somewhat controversial. According to Vogelstein (2003) the decision caused such a stir in the book-publishing community that the Authors Guild formally stepped in. They wanted used books sold on a different page from newly published ones. Amazon was able to do this as a result of its efficient inventory management. Vogelstein (2003) states that Amazons warehouses are so efficient that they need to be replenished 20 times per year and they can now handle three times the volume they handled in 1999. The net result of this initiative is increased profits as can be seen from the case. The success of Amazon can be attributed to E-Business. Tedeschi (1999) state; Business on the Internet is cutting significant cost out of the supply chain, with better procurement and resource planning. With Amazon, these cost savings are passed onto the end customer. Through price comparison and transparency on its webpage, customers could make informed decisions based on price. This created massive popularity with its customers. E-Business also creates brand strength. According to Matthewson (2002) a recent survey demonstrated the importance of online brand building, as it showed that six out of ten internet users directly typed into their browser the address of the brand they are interested in buying. The website is said to attract 81 million unique visitors each month .Amazon has capitalized on this process known as cyber-branding. This essentially promotes the company through superior customer service. Its logistics in both inventory efficiency and technology gives it a superior edge over its competitors. Its operations are very efficient due to the strategic locations of its warehouses and headquarters, which have enabled Amazon to cut a lot of its costs. The market in which amazon.com operates and how it is organized by region and country: Amazon.com has always sold goods out of its own warehouses. It started as a bookseller, pure and simple, and over the last decade has branched out into  additional product areas and the third-party sales that now represent a good chunk of its revenue (some estimates put it at 25 percent). Both retailers and individual sellers utilize the Amazon.com platform to sell goods. Large retailers like Nordstrom, Land’s End and Target use Amazon.com to sell their products in addition to selling them through their own Web sites. The sales go through Amazon.com and end up at Nordstrom.com, Land’s End.com or Target.com for processing and order fulfillment. Amazon essentially leases space to these retailers, who use Amazon.com as a supplemental outlet for their online sales. Small sellers of used and new goods go to Amazon Marketplace, Amazon zShops or Amazon Auctions. At Marketplace, sellers offer goods at a fixed price, and at Auctions they sell their stuff to the highest bidder. Amazon zShops features only used goods at fixed prices. If an item listed on zShops, Marketplace or Auctions is also sold on the main Amazon.com, it appears in a box beside the Amazon.com item so buyers can see if someone else is selling the product for less in one of the other sales channels. The level of integration that occurs on Amazon is a programming feat that few (if any) online sales sites can match. Another sales channel called Amazon Advantage is a place where people can sell new books, music and movies directly from the Amazon warehouse instead of from their home or store. Sellers ship a number of units to Amazon, and Amazon handles the entire sales transaction from start to finish. In all of these programs, Amazon gets a cut of each sale (usually about 10 percent to 15 percent) and sometimes charges additional listing or subscription fees; in the case of Amazon Advantage, the company takes a 55 percent commission on each sale. The Advantage channel is something like a consignment setup, a sales avenue for people who create the ir own music CDs or have self-published a book and are simply looking for a way to get it out there. One of the latest additions to Amazon’s repertoire is a subsidiary company called Amazon Services. Through Amazon Services, Amazon sells its sales platform, providing complete Amazon e-commerce packages to companies looking to establish or revamp their e-commerce business. Amazon sets up complete Web sites and technology backbones for other e-commerce companies using Amazon software and technology. Target, for instance, in addition to having a store on Amazon.com, also uses Amazon Services to build and manage its own e-commerce site, Target.com. But selling goods isn’t the only way to make  money with Amazon.com. The Web site’s affiliate program is one of the most famous on the Web. Through Amazon’s Associate Program, anyone with a Web site can post a link to Amazon.com and earn some money. The link can display a single product chosen by the associate, or it can list several â€Å"best seller† products in a particular genre, in which case Amazon u pdates the list automatically at preset intervals. The associate gets a cut of any sale made directly through that link. The cut ranges from 4 percent to 7.5 percent depending on which fee structure the associate signs up for (see Amazon Associates for complete program details). The associate can also take advantage of Amazon Web Services, which is the program that lets people use Amazon’s utilities for their own purposes. The Amazon Web Services API (application programming interface) lets developers access the Amazon technology infrastructure to build their own applications for their own Web sites. All product sales generated by those Web sites have to go through Amazon.com, and the associate gets a small commission on each sale. References * about Ingram Micro. [Online] Available from: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=98566&p=irol-aboutIMOverview * Aryasri A R (2007) Managerial economics and financial analysis, 3rd Ed, Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi * Bolumole, Yemisi A., Frankel R., Naslund D, 2007. â€Å"Developing a Theoretical Framework for Logistics Outsourcing†, Transportation Journal, [e-journal], Vol. 46 Issue 2, p35-54, 20p, , Available through: Business Source Premier database [Accessed 18 February 2011] * Coltman et al (2000) E-Business: Revolution, Evolution or Hype? (Online) Available http://www.uazuay.edu.ec/bibliotecas/e-business/E-business_Revolution_Evolution_or_Hype.pdf * Dickenson et al (1999) Strategic Analysis & Recommendation: eBay, restructuring Process to Retain and Grow Core Business, Pacific Lutheran University. * Eell S. (2010) Amazon.com Inc. [Online] Available: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/amazon_inc/index.html * Elsevier M.(2006) The Collaborative Partnership approach to Care, Ann Millar, Toronto Canada. * Downes & Mui (1999) Unleashing the Killer App: Digital Strategies for Market Dominance, Harvard Business School Press. * Galente J. (2010) Amazon.com’s Profit Forecast Falls Short of Estimates [Online]. Available: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-10-21/amazon-com-s-profit-forecast-falls-short-of-estimates.html * Gitman & McDaniel (2008) The Future of business: The Essential, South-Western Cengage Learning, OH * Greaver M (1999) Strategic Outsourcing: A Structured Approach to Outsourcing Decisions and Initiatives, AMACOM; illustrated edition, NY. * Hardman R (2009) Santa’s not so little helper: Today’s the busiest online shopping day of the year. So are they ready at the biggest grotto this side of Lapland? [Online] Available: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1233766/Santas-little-helper-Todays-busiest-online-shopping-day-year-So-ready-biggest-grotto-Lapland.html * Ingram Micro Talks Cloud With Amazon, Rackspace, Salesforce.com. [Online] Available from: http://www.mspmentor.net/2010/06/07/ingram-micro-talks-cloud-with-amazon-rackspace-salesforce-com/ * Ingram Micro reports about increasing business demand in iPad. [Online] Available from: http://iphoneroot.com/ingram-micro-reports-about-increasing-business-demand-in-ipad/print/ * Johnson et al (2008) exploring corporate strategy, text and cases, 8th ed, prentice hall, NY * Kardes & Gurumurthy (1992) Order-of-Entry Effects on Consumer Memory and Judgment: An Information Integration Perspective, Journal of Marketing Research, 29 (3), pp. 343–357 * Lankford W.M., Parsa F (1999). Outsourcing: A primer, Journal of Management Decision, [e-journal], Vol. 37 Issue 3/4, p310, 7p, Available through: Business Source Premier database [Accessed 18 February 2011] * Levi et al (2003) Design and Managing the Supply Chain, Concepts and strategies and case studies, Second edition, The McGraw – Hill companies, NY. * Matthewson J (2002) E-Business: A jargon-free practical guide, Butterworth-Heinemana, Oxford * Mulqueen K. (2009) Consulting For Human Resources Organizational Development & Training, [Online] Available: http://www.consulting4hr.com/articles.html * People carrying dollar. [Online] Available from: http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-18434335/stock-photo-people-carrying-dollar.html * Save money buying used books at Amazon.com. [Online] Available from: http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/006969.html * Sanders et al (2007) A Multidimensional Framework for Understanding Outsourcing Arrangements, Journal of Supply Chain Management, [e-journal], Vol. 43 Issue 4, p3-15, Abstract only. Available through: Business Source Premier database [Accessed 18 February 2011] * Scandoval (2002) How lean can Amazon Go? (Online) Available http://news.cnet.com/2100-1017-886784.html * Tedeschi R (1999), A Market that Dwarfs Retail E-Sales, New York Times,

A Comparative Analysis of Sunshine Coast Tourism and Gold Coast Research Paper

A Comparative Analysis of Sunshine Coast Tourism and Gold Coast Tourism - Research Paper Example The tourism sector in Australia has contributed substantially to the creation of job opportunities, increased export earnings and catalysed the process of regional development. In this regard, special emphasis is given to bring forth the comparison between the Gold Coast Tourism and the Sunshine Coast Tourism. The Gold Coast in Australia is a very diverse and interesting city which offers a number of surprises to its visitors. It has 10.5 million people visiting this place every year. It has families, couples, business delegates, and solo travellers visiting the place all round the year. The city offers different kinds of experiences and packages to different people in accordance to their budgets. The Gold Coast is said to have the maximum number of venues each of which is extremely popular among the countries of the southern hemisphere (Very Gold Coast, 2010). The sunshine Coast on the other hand is a more peaceful and calm tourist destinations in Australia. It is characterised by the unique combination of both country and coast. It is considered to be the perfect place for unwinding and relaxing. This place is also famous for offering the best cuisine, adventure and action. The cost is specifically famous for being picturesque round the year. The temperature remains moderate all around the year which makes it the dream holiday destination in the country (Sunshine Coast, n.d.). Customer satisfaction is the most important aspect on which the entire tourism industry thrives. Many tourist spots have been competing with each other with a view to maximise and maintain high visitor satisfaction. Hence companies are stressing more on understanding and studying the factors which are responsible for influencing customer satisfaction. Recently a number of studies were conducted to assess the performance of the tourism industry in Australia. It was found that customer satisfaction in case of non tourism services and products increased along with

Business Written Report Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business Written Report - Assignment Example The company’s products are widely distributed and available in approximately 190 countries in the world. However, one of the company’s largest brands includes axe, dove, omo, magnum, Rexona among others (Forbes, 2015). The company has specific codes that are used in identifying its products all over the world. The company’s turnover is expected to be worth billions of dollars annually. This is because it operates in more than 190 countries where its products are consumed on a daily basis. This has been achieved through aggressive marketing and advertising of its products all over the world. Annually, the company allocates subsequent amounts on adverting of various brands in the competitive global market. Further, the company is an equal opportunity employer all over the world. The company has established various plants in different locations in the world where people with different knowledge, skills and expertise are employed (Unilever, 2015). The company believes in diversification as human capital development. This is evident from the various platforms and opportunities such offering internships and future leadership development programs that are offered annually. Ownership: The Company is a merger founded in 1929 by a number of partners who were later preceded by Lever Brothers ad Magarive Unie (Unilever, 2015). Initially, it was margarine and soapmaker. However, in the 20th century, the company diversified into manufacturing other consumer goods. All over the world, the company has made numerous acquisitions in order to establish its plants. The company specialization has changed over the years. This has been greatly influenced by the owners and the trends and dynamics as per that time. In the business world today, consumer needs, tastes and preferences continue to change (Perderson, 2008). Therefore, the company must put measures and structures in place to ensure that it can gain the maximum from the available

Discussion and abstract Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Discussion and abstract - Essay Example After performing a hypothesis test based on the t-test, it was noted that there was a significant difference in the means of the two experimental groups, the result being as follows: t = -3.02, df = 18, p The speed with which people can complete a certain task is normally dependent on a number of factors such as the difficulty of the task and the pressure under which the individuals are performing that particular task (Crisp and Turner, 2010). Another common factor that influences how fast a person can complete a given task is through evaluation apprehension (Minor, 1970). Evaluation apprehension is the name given to the anxious feeling that one normally experiences when being under evaluation. It is the concern that people normally have when there are others assessing how they are doing (Weiss and Miller, 1971). This report evaluates the effect that performance evaluation has on a simple manual dexterity task. Evaluation apprehension does have an impact on an individual’s performance. Participants who believe that they are being evaluated while performing a simple manual task are able to complete their tasks faster when they are in the presence of other people compared to participants who do not think that their performance is the same task is being evaluated (Ferris and Roland, 1983). There have been several studies done to evaluate if a person who perceives that he is being evaluated will perform a task any differently if he thinks that no one is evaluating

Successful Approach to Development of Korea and Japan Term Paper

Successful Approach to Development of Korea and Japan - Term Paper Example The paper will generally concentrate on how the two countries; Japan and Korea are similar in their development and how they differ too. Korea has experienced late industrialization as compared to Japan. This is so because it was colonized by Japan from 1910 to 1945. The economic development was definitely influenced by Japan as they left them with some knowledge on how to carry out specific economic development methods. Many scholars and policy makers have seen the need to study Korea and Japan but their main focus is on the economic side only. This is to find out how the two giant economies have managed to grow rapidly over the years. The colonial rule by the Japanese was a great influence on the labor structure of Korea despite all other economic factors. Japan passed on to Korea skilled labor. The importance of skilled labor in uplifting the economic status of a country comes in when there is proper utilization of raw materials thus increase in the rate of production. This simply means that there will be no wastage of raw materials as the human resources know how to carry out specific activities while using the r aw materials. More so, because of specialization and perfect knowledge of a particular activity, an individual increases his or her number of goods produced. This meets the demand of the specific good or service by the general public. Moreover, there is always an addition for exporting (Alice, chapter 1 and 13). In addition, the Onada Cement plant of Japan had put up five branches in Korea and ten in Japan. The study of the workers in this palnt revealed that they were very skilled and this led to the province of South Pyongyang being one of the richest in Korea. Though Koreans were experiencing oppression by the Japanese due to colonization, they did gain modernity as Japan introduced them to new industrial methods. Japan had found cheap labor in Korea while they were colonizing

Human Rights in China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Human Rights in China - Essay Example This includes the region of Tibet bordering India which is linked with an independence movement from the mainland. Any reference to the breakaway island of Taiwan as being an independent entity, not under the jurisdiction of the Chinese mainland is further frowned upon and punished by the state (Zhongguo 193). Even the internet is said to be heavily moderated with content that supports Taiwan or the Free Tibet Movement being censored and violations of viewer ship being brutally punished with torture and other means so as to deter the population. It is public knowledge that the Chinese authorities use Microsoft, Yahoo and other companies to filter the use of certain words such as "Democracy" and other words deemed offensive by the authorities from Chinese chat rooms and instant messaging software (Gunther). Thus it is contended that the government interferes with the basic human right of freedom of speech and expression for its citizens and does not allow free ideas to float. The second major category of allegations against China regarding human rights violations relates to freedom of movement for its citizens. Since the formation of the People's Republic of China by Mao Ze Dong, the state has initiated a program of restricting where its citizens could stay and work. This was regulated utilizing a residency permit system whereby citizens were defined according to their geographical area and encouraged to stay in particular places (MacLeod). It further kept population divided between the urban and rural areas such that the problems accompanying rapid urbanization do not plague China. The allegations put against China are that it deliberately tries to stop the free movement of its citizens, with those wanting to...The second major category of allegations against China regarding human rights violations relates to freedom of movement for its citizens. Since the formation of the People’s Republic of China by Mao Ze Dong, the state has initiated a progr am of restricting where its citizens could stay and work. This was regulated utilizing a residency permit system whereby citizens were defined according to their geographical area and encouraged to stay in particular places (MacLeod). It further kept population divided between the urban and rural areas such that the problems accompanying rapid urbanization do not plague China. The allegations put against China are that it deliberately tries to stop the free movement of its citizens, with those wanting to move to urban areas or different provinces being punished in terms of less grain rations etc. This leads to the creation of a society where the rural workers are treated as second class citizens and a system akin to the South African apartheid (MacLeod). It undoubtedly helps the People’s Republic of China in controlling the problem of rapid urbanization and also helps regulate wage rates to some extent but it denies Chinese citizens the choice to move as they please and hence this restrictive system is a violation of fundamental human rights. Another chief point raised against China is that of marginalization of its rural population. This discriminates against people of various religions who because of their beliefs can not take part in political affairs and it closes an important avenue for them.

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

Drugs - Essay Example Further the report states that prolonged drug abuse can lead to participation in crime. Most crimes are committed when the criminal in under the influence of drugs or needs funds for drugs. College students remain vulnerable because of crime which is perpetrated under the influence of drugs. Half of the sexual assaults that occur on campus are by people influenced by drugs. Drugs have known to change the personality of people as normal and calm people can become irrational under the influence. This paper analyzes the psychological and sociological basis of drug abuse. Sociology attempts to answer the phenomenon of drug abuse by using three perspectives. The first theory is known as the conflict perspective which states that society is a continuous state of change which results in competition. Another perspective is that of functionalism which says that society consists of segments which are linked with each other and serve a function (Campo, 2005). The final perspective of sociology is about symbolic interactionism which studies about the affect of society on the individual. The conflict theory postulates that drug abuse is more rampant in poor areas because marginalized communities do not have legitimate means to earn money. They are forced to sell drugs to earn a good living. The functional theory believes that drug abuse occurs because they provide an escape for people who cannot cope with the harsh realities of life. Drug abuse creates jobs for people who do not have the necessary skills required in a legal work force. Symbolic interactionist s believe that an individual may become a drug abuser because of labels which denied them the opportunities. The individual in this case had to resort to drugs to survive. Conflict theory further states that drug abuse creates opportunities for lawmakers to exploit the poor (Devlin, 2006). Functionalists would point out that drug abuse creates more jobs for people in the field of law enforcement. It also creates

Body and Fashion Photography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Body and Fashion Photography - Essay Example Crucially, this body contains the possibility, inherent to fashion, of reinventing itself in a constantly changing form. A process of transubstantiation transforms the fleshy, organic substance of the body into the artificial, synthetic substance of the fashion garment. The separate ontological states of what is possibly "clothing" and what is possibly "body" no longer signify and in the new entity that emerges from this alchemical process, the boundary between self and non-self is dissolved. The female model then can be seen as the embodiment of fashion's imaginary. As the avatar of fashion, it is where artifice, change and imagination coalesce on the body of the model to create a new, previously only imaginable, form. Central to my argument is the different relationship that exists between the model's body and fashion photography in the lived world and the body and clothing in fashion representation. In the lived world, this relationship has been characterized as one of co-dependency and equivalence, to the point where "dress cannot be understood without reference to the body and . . . the body has always and everywhere to be dressed" (Entwistle 2000: 324). But in fashion representation, Roland Barthes has suggested that a hier- archy exists, with fashion at the apex. Of particular relevance to this article is his explanation of how, in fashion representation, all that is natural is dissolved into the artifice of fashion.This is a fundamentally important point as it enables the relationship between clothing and the body in the manipulated image to be viewed as an exaggeration of something that is already present in the conventional fashion image. In the lived world, this relationship has been cha racterized as one of co-dependency and equivalence, to the point where "dress cannot be understood without reference to the body and . . . the body has always and everywhere to be dressed" (Entwistle 2000: 324). But in fashion representation, Roland Barthes has suggested that a hier- archy exists, with fashion at the apex. Of particular relevance to this article is his explanation of how, in fashion representation, all that is natural is dissolved into the artifice of fashion. This is a fundamentally important point as it enables the relationship between clothing and the body in the manipulated image to be viewed as an exaggeration of something that is already present in the conventional fashion image. In The Fashion System, Barthes identified the distinction between the garment that is manufactured and/or worn and the garment that exists only as representation and meaning. Put simply, a picture of a dress is not a dress. What this means is that represented (or, in his terminology,"image") clothing does not have the other potential modalities contained in those garments that circulate in the lived world ("real" and "used" clothing).

The international trade theories implemented by KFC Essay

The international trade theories implemented by KFC - Essay Example In relation to the study, the company which has been selected is Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is one of the most renowned brands in the segment of fast food chain restaurants in the international market. It was started in the 1930s in Southern USA as a small franchise business by Colonel Harland Sanders. Â  Presently, it has 13,000 restaurants in all over the world. Â  The three most important success factors including service, quality, and relaxing atmosphere make KFC be a market leader. The exchange of goods, services, and capital across an international border and/or territories is widely referred as international trade in the modern business environment. In the similar context, international trade theory emphasizes on understanding the traditional influences over particular businesses in order to appreciate international trade that in turn provides assistance to improve the welfare of countries in terms of economic aspects. It is in this context that the factors which are consi dered to be of utmost significance by KFC in its international trade theories include cultural, political, legal and economic factors. The attitudes, beliefs, and values of a society are considered as cultural aspects of that country. A culture can be treated as one of the strongest influencing factors in terms of conducting international trade between two different countries. For instance, KFC is engaged with many countries including China, Mexico, Latin America, and the US among others in terms of trade.

Paniqui Water Essay Example for Free

Paniqui Water Essay Dried water lily stalks woven into fine handicrafts became the livelihood of women, housewives, out-of-school youths, and senior citizens of Paniqui, Tarlac, Philippines. A wide range of products like shoes, sandals, slippers, bags, baskets, wallets, pouches, belts, trays, placemats, boxes, tissue holders and many others can be crafted by Paniqui folks using stalks of dried water hyacinths. The ample visibility and fast growth of this plant caused a problem of obstructing the flow of water as the region is traversed with many rivers, swamps, and creeks, causing flooding during heavy rains. The local government started this project with 25 weavers which increased to 50 within 12 months as demand from local and foreign tourists poured out. The BusinessOver a wide variety of handicrafts can be made from dried water hyacinths. It’s light yet strong fiber property can be woven to different products according to the clients’ preferences. Because it is organic, it can be used for packaging of goods which will substitute plastics that are non-biodegradable. The abundant yield of high quality dried water lily straws with the hard-working weaving skills mean that the plant harvesters and weavers of Paniqui have very good potential to enter the market of producing high quality hand-made water lily handicrafts in different designs and products. Furthermore, the same raw materials and weaving techniques can be applied to develop a range of good quality and attractive water lily fashion ware like slippers and handbags. The production of the water lily baskets and boxes would be undertaken by the Paniqui Women Association and the PAGASA Youth Association both recognized and supported by the local government. High quality fabric materials for fastenings, linings, gloss, water-proofing, and highlights were sourced from the locality. Production of water lily mats, trays and other handicrafts would enhance the quality and value of products produced by the local groups and should give in a major income increase for their own households. The target market for water lily handicrafts would be predominately the local market of wealthier Filipinos, overseas Filipino workers, expats and foreigners. The local government unit of Paniqui plans to engage on supplying water lily handicrafts for wholesale to a number of domestic distributors and retail networks. The aim of water lily boxes, baskets, and handbags will primarily be environment conscious consumers who do not use plastic bags or plastic containers. These consumers and other unaware consumers will be targeted through direct marketing and direct and indirect advertising campaigns backed up by the local government unit of Paniqui, the Provincial Government of Tarlac, and the Department of Trade and Industry. There are three main market targets for the water lily handicrafts. The target for the water lily fashion items (mostly handbags, slippers, wallet, etc.) will be established domestic handicraft wholesalers and retailers in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, as well as exporters for the United States, Japan, and European markets. It is anticipated that domestic sales to cater to the large tourism market all over the Philippine islands will make up the majority of water lily fashion item sales. The target market for water lily handicrafts (mostly lampshade, decorative household products, placemats, etc.) will initially be the Filipino community living abroad. This embodies a significant market, as there are many Filipinos working around the world-over 860,000 not mentioning Filipino immigrants, so the overall potential market size is large. The main potential competitors would be other communities all over the country who also started this water lily weaving project, as this is promoted by the Department of Trade and Industry to local government units with trouble with the pesky water plant. Another is handicrafts made of other indigenous materials. Water lily products could compete well on the basis of price with other indigenous materials as the raw materials are freely harvested. The distinctive promotion about the water lily products is that they are well crafted by hand utilizing indigenous materials and the designs are decorative emphasizing the Filipino heritage. Also, the use of the product is very helpful to the environment as it substitutes the use of plastic materials and at the same time ceases the clogging of flow of water on rivers and creeks. However, the selling price of the handicrafts is very reasonable. The handicrafts could also be made to order. The Entrepreneur Management The water lily project started as a livelihood program for the Paniqui women, out-of-school youths, and senior citizens organized by the Local Government Unit of Paniqui. Management is directed by the Municipal Mayor with the help of the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office. The Program is in coordination with the Provincial Government of Tarlac which also gives the needed promotional and advertising campaign with the national agency, the Department of Trade and Industry who assist the weavers for needed training and development. Development It started from 12 housewives to 25 women and youths and then to 50 within a year. Handcrafting eventually became a constructive activity for people who were once dawdling outside their homes playing cards and getting drunk the every day. Some weavers take their work at home with the whole family joining the making of the water lily handicrafts. While others chooses to work at the Paniqui Livelihood Center were materials are readily available. A household would earn roughly around three hundred pesos (Php 300) weekly during slack season and about six hundred pesos (Php 600) weekly during peak season. Before it became a livelihood program last August 2008, the conceptions for these water lilies are pests to the community as it hampers the flow of water in rivers and creeks during heavy rains causing flooding in the area. It is projected that by the fourth year of operation the total income for the workers from handcrafting activities could increase roughly 3 times by the year 2012.| Starting out as a backyard industry nearly a decade ago, the water lily handicraft business especially in Las Pià ±as City is booming as more people take notice of the wide range of products that can be made out of the plant that grow in abundance even in urban waterways. Some of these products were put on display at the 7th Water Lily Festival held on Thursday at Carnival Court, BF Resort Village, Las Pià ±as City, a brainchild of former Rep. Cynthia Villar that promotes water lily-based livelihood projects. These included baskets, trays, chests, bags, traditional bags (bayongs), hampers, cabinets, lamp shades of different shapes and sizes—and even a dining table complete with chairs. The smaller items range from coasters to slippers. But as an added demonstration of the plant’s artistic and commercial uses, the festival also featured a beauty pageant wherein contestants donned gowns fashioned completely from dried water lily stalks and leaves. â€Å"This goes to show that with creativity, you can do a lot with water lilies,† Villar said at the sidelines of the event. Villar noted that aside from providing livelihood for hundreds of families in Las Pià ±as, the water lily business has also cleaned up the city’s waterways. â€Å"The industry has become so successful our Zapote River is now free of water lilies and fish have begun breeding here again. We are now getting our water lilies from the Laguna de Bay, and I hope the lake will also be cleared of water lilies because of this business,† she said. Holiday season demand Sales go up during the holiday season when orders for popular Christmas gifts like baskets, trays, and ornamental pots shoot up. To cope with demand, the foundation hires about 100 more workers, in addition to the 50 who work during off-peak seasons. â€Å"It’s a very profitable business, especially since you really don’t need a big capital to start this up. You just need to harvest water lilies, dry them, and start working on them. So many workers become interested in this livelihood,† Torres said. How it works The recycling process is straightforward. Once harvested, the plants are dried under the sun and then cured in an oven. Then they cut, and bent around a wire frame and dyed before they are woven into craft articles. Step 1 Water Lily Stalk Harvesting Step 2 Sun drying Step 3 Oven drying Step 4 Wire cutting Step 5 Wire bending Step 6 Wire frame welding Step 7 Weaving Step 8 Trimming Step 9 Blow torching Step 10 Glue application Step 11 Varnishing Step 12 Finished product The finished items are tissue holders, baskets, hampers, and other products. Each item is sold per piece and the amount of money one takes home depends on one’s diligence. Because output is directly rewarded, workers are motivated to be more productive. Cynthia Villar highlighted the importance of water lily in improving the lives of Las Pià ±as residents by declaring the 27th of July as the day of the Water Lily Festival.

Professional Relationships in Health and Social Care Context

Professional Relationships in Health and Social Care Context Developing and maintaining good relationships is central to improving outcomes for individuals and their families. The carers roles is to generate an atmosphere in which people feel their needs are being heard and understood. This requires truthfulness, sincerity and ability. (SCIE, 2010)Â   Whether with individuals, their families, carers or fellow professionals and colleagues, relationships should be based on openness, transparency and empathy.(SCIE, 2010) In health and social care there are many professionals and many of them having different roles. Some professionals, like pediatriacians, they knows how to treat children with diseases, there are dentist, who knows how to fill teeths, psycholist are knows about people feelings and they can help you, psychiatrist they are knows about peoples brain,and their behaviours, there are GPs who can prescribe medication if they think you are being sick, also there are social workers, carers, support workers, teachers, different doctors and terapheutic. These professionals are working in partenership with others because to be able to support and help people they must collaborate and work as a team. Good team work and appropriate communication will help to the vulnerable people,also is good because any work they do it can goes quicker and safer, because more people bring more ideas and more solution. In health and social care not everyone able to work together and these people must find the common word and work for the same purpose. Saving peoples lifes, heal them, or just heal their spirit is more than nothing, and thats why is very important to have professionals around us. In the Smart Care is very important to be professional, give the best service to the service users and everyone has to know about their roles. For example a new carer cannot give medication to a service user even if is emergency because they have not been trained, but a trained person can give. In our care we are working together with the GPs and also with the pharmacist and the closest dentist, also we are collaborate with therapeutics and psychologist because many of our service users are need professional support to be able to live their daily life, also carers are working together with the organisation and also with family members, but the most important and frequently relation are the carers because they are together each day and must support each other and concentrate to the work. Unfortunately this is not happening all the time, people are very poor in communication, they cannot explore themselves, they cannot help each other in a right way, because of the jelousy, and they are not honest with each other. The management of the Smart Care will do everything to support our staff and help them to become a good and an effective team and work in partnership with each individual. 3.2 Evaluate personal effectiveness in promoting and supporting the rights of the individual In the Smart Care is very important that everyone being trained and be professionals. Each carers and professional should know about heir roles their responsibilities. The Smart Care staff are responsible to support the service user rights and way they can do that is follow the organsiation procedures also follow the legislations. Collaborative working helps the service user rights. Human rights are the essential rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the world. In the UK, these rights are contained in the Human Rights Act 1998. If a public authority breaches or doesnt respect your human rights, you can take action under the Act. The next rights are the most applicable when you obtain health or care services: the right to respect for private and family life the right not to be tortured or treated in an inhuman or degrading way the right to liberty the right to life the right not to be discriminated against. (citizens advise, 2017) The right to respect for private and family life When a service user want more privacy in a care home or when they are receive care services in their own home When a service user been placed in a care home where its difficult for them to see their family and friends When the service users are being handled roughly or are not well cared for by a home care woker. (citizens advise, 2017) The service user right not to be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment The service user been sufferes serious mistreatment, neglect or very poor care in a hospital or a care home Theyve been restrained or private because of mental health problems or aggressive behavior Theyve not been helped to eat or drink when they are too weak to feed themselves. Also the Equlaity Act is very important because nobody not allow to anti discriminate the service user, everyone should respect the service user culture, ethnicity , se, age and should be treated fairly. (citizens advise, 2017) 3.3 Discuss ways to resolve issues encountered in professional relationships Conflict arises from differences, both large and small. It occurs when people disagree over their values, motivations, perceptions, ideas, or needs. from time to time these differences come into view unimportant, but when a conflict triggers strong feelings, a deep personal need is often at the core of the problem. These needs can be a need to feel safe and secure, a need to feel respected and valued, or a need for greater closeness and intimacy.(Helpguide.org, 2017) In our organisation all staff should work as a team and our organsiation have this method to help our staff to be able to work together and provide a quality service to our client. For example: Acknowledge and own the upset before communicating with the other party or parties. Be clear about the reason for the conflict/upset. Be clear about what happened (know and present the facts). Be accountable for what you did (or did not) do to contribute to the conflict/upset. Recognize appropriate actions you can take to resolve the conflict. Communicate and have an answerable conversation with the other party or parties concerned. (Kline, 2013) References Social Care Institute for excellence, 2010, Professional Relationship Available online at http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/nqswtool/professionalrelationships/ Accessed on 10/01/2017 Citizens Advice, 2017, Protecting your human rights when you are using health care services Available online at https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/healthcare/discrimination-in-health-and-care-services/taking-action-about-discrimination-in-health-and-care-services/protecting-your-human-rights-when-using-health-and-care-services/ Accessed on 10/01/2017 Kline M., 2013, 6 Steps for Resolving Conflict in a Professional Relationship Available online at http://blog.cupahr.org/2013/10/6-steps-for-resolving-conflict-in-a-professional-relationship/ Accessed on 10/01/2017 Helpguide.org, 2017, Conflict Resolution Skills Available online at https://www.helpguide.org/articles/relationships/conflict-resolution-skills.htm Accessed on 10/01/2017

From Boy to Man :: Example Personal Narratives

From Boy to Man It was December 26, 2002, a day that will live in my mind forever. I had just gotten my license three days before, and all I could think about was driving around with my friends and enjoying the thought that I was actually free to go wherever I wanted, and whenever I wanted. My vehicle was a 1994 Dodge. It was the family car that had been passed down. It had gone through my father, brother, and finally down to me. It was a fine piece of machinery, to me anyway. The stereo had five stations but no tape player. The van had cruise control, but that took a long time to work. I would usually have to try it four or five times before I could ever get it to work. It had snowed a couple of days before, so the roads were okay, but they still had some snow and ice on them. Since I had my license for three days, I had already been through all the weather that God could throw at me, so I knew that I was a driving expert. All the times before, in driver's ed., I had driven in the rain, in nice weather, mostly anything, but I was not prepared for what was going to happen on this day. I picked up two of my non-driving friends because I was considered to be cool now that I could drive around without my parents. We decided that we should go to McDonald's to celebrate my achievements. I had my normal #9 with a Coke, and I forget what they got, but that's really not important. After McDonald's we decided to go out and just be teenagers, which included driving around, looking for chicks to drool over, and all the while I am thinking, "Why didn't I get my license at age 12? This is a breeze." We went out to McNeil Road to go by my old school, just to laugh at it, but something went wrong. Since it had snowed a couple of days before, the roads were worse than I had ever encountered during driver's ed. The snow was blowing back and forth on the road.

Road Traffic Injuries in Cameroon Essay -- Transportation, Social Issu

It is estimated that almost 16 000 people die every day from all types of injuries throughout the world (1). Injuries account for 12% of the global burden of disease. They are the third most important cause of overall mortality and the leading cause of death among 1–40-year-olds (2). Road traffic accidents (RTA) are responsible for the highest number of injuries worldwide. According to data published by the World Health Organization (WHO) road traffic injuries account for around 25% of all injury related deaths (1). The report portrayed road transport crashes as a leading cause of injury related morbidity and mortality the world over. The World Bank and WHO estimates reveal that about 1.2 million people die each year and as many as 50 million sustain injuries as a result of road transport accidents. This represents about 25% of all injury related deaths worldwide. Developing countries account for up to 85% of all road traffic deaths world wide; 90% of global disability adjuste d life years lost (DALY); and 96% of global traffic related child mortality. Most of these victims are the poor masses that commute as passengers in public transport vehicles, cyclist or pedestrians and users of vans, coaches and minibuses (1, 3, and 4). The actually numbers of road deaths are unknown. This is as a result of variations and limitations in RTI data collection; analysis, differences in interpretation and underreporting. Road traffic related deaths account for over 50% of deaths are among young adults in the age range of 15–44 years (5); and are the second leading cause of death among children aged 5–14 years, and young people aged 15–29 years worldwide. It is projected that without a major improvement on prevention strategies and policies, ... ... healers. The bulk of non-profit facilities are operated by the Catholic and Protestant Health Services: the former operate 179 facilities (including 8 hospitals) with a staff of 1,315 and the latter122 health facilities (including 24 hospitals) with a staff of 2,633 (World Bank op cit); there were roughly 200 for-profit clinics (Deschamps, 1996; p. 2) and a few thousand traditional healers (Lantum, 1996; personal communication). The plethora of health care providers and institutions means a wide variety of sources making it difficult to identify all cases of road traffic related injury reported or treated. Some victims of RTI injuries may not show up in hospitals or report to the police as they may prefer to seek alternative treatment and as Dixey (1999) argues the health help seeking behavior of a people maybe informed by the believe of disease and causation.

Sexual Harassment in America Essay -- Civil Rights Act

According to Webster’s online dictionary, it is believed that the phrase â€Å"sexual harassment† was coined at Cornell University in 1974 ("Sexual harassment," 2011). The phrase wasn’t, however, really used in common language until the testimony of Anita Hill against Clarence Thomas in 1991. Sexual harassment can take many different shapes and forms. According to a Fox News article, the sexual harassment claims made by men have increased twofold in the last twenty years ("Sexual harassment claims," 2010). Because sexual harassment is illegal both on a federal and state level in many states, there are steps that an individual and employer should take to prevent sexual harassment. On June 19, 1963, President John F. Kennedy sent an extensive Civil Rights legislation proposition to Congress ("Pre 1965: events," 2011). This proposed legislation faced fierce opposition in Congress. Five days after the assassination of President Kennedy, President Johnson spoke to Congress and told them that we have spoken of civil rights for too long and that it was time to put our country’s words into action. Kennedy’s legislation faced many legislative struggles that forced changes and compromises to ensure there would be no filibusters in the Senate that would kill the proposal. Despite all of the opposition, President Kennedy’s proposed Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 and was set into action the following year. The 1964 Civil Rights Act created the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, also known as the EEOC. One of the primary jobs of the EEOC is to uphold the rules and regulations that were laid out by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. According to the EEOC’s webpage, â€Å"Title VII covers private, most pu... ...r/shwork.asp Pre 1965: events leading to the creation of the EEOC. (2011). Retrieved August 15, 2011, from http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/history/35th/pre1965/index.html Sexual harassment. (2011). Retrieved on July 26, 2011, from http://www1.eeoc.gov//laws/types/sexual_harassment.cfm?renderforprint=1 Sexual harassment. (2011). Retrieved on August 15, 2011, from http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definitions/Sexual%20Harassment?cx=partner-pub-0939450753529744%3Av0qd01-tdlq&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=UTF-8&q=Sexual%20Harassment&sa=Search#922 Sexual harassment claims filed by men doubled in last 20 years. (2010, March 04). Retrieved on August 15, 2011, from http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/04/sex-harassment-claims-filed-men-doubled-years/ Title vii of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (2011). Retrieved July 26, 2011, from http://www1.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/titlevii.cfm

Boeing Australia Case Study

Executive Summary Barilla is operating in a very old-fashioned distribution system that needs to be changed. Implementing this new JITD will increase efficiency across the supply chain. The system will reduce manufacturing costs, increase supply chain visibility, increase distributors’ dependence on Barilla, establish better relationship with distributors, reduce inventory level and most importantly improve manufacturing planning and forecasting using objective data. This JITD will see Barilla’s supply chain synchronized from manufacturing to end – users.Strategically, the best decision for Barilla is to implement the JITD program. This will allow for greater capability and flexibility to respond to inputs from end-consumers. In the JITD system, each distributor would provide Barilla with data from products that they shipped to retailers in previous days as well as current stock levels for each Barilla SKU. This data would then be used to make forecasting and rep lenishment decisions. The will result in a smoother running operating system and excellent customer service.To prove the credibility of JITD and win over apprehensive customers the involvement of top management will be employed. Within the next six months Maggali and top management team will analyze daily shipment data of the distribution chain. Next a database of historical and present demand patterns of distributors will be created and shipments will be simulated with JITD in place. This system will reduce stock out rates and inventory levels while increasing service levels. Next, experiments will be run at the Pedrignano depot and then the Milano depot.This will establish the credibility of JITD and win over distributors and retailers who are apprehensive in buying into this new system. Approximately ten top managers, from customer service managers to vice presidents, logistics, purchasing, sales and marketing and information technology managers will be involved in the decision m aking, implementation and monitoring of this new system. This will prove credibility of JITD and convince customers that change is inevitable and in this this case the benefits will be mutual. IssuesDeciding whether or not the Just In Time Distribution (JITD) model should be implemented into Barilla†s operations. Barilla is suffering from escalating operational inefficiencies. The company is being burdened by demand fluctuations in its manufacturing and distribution systems. Also, this large weekly variation in distributors orders is increasing overhead costs. Trying to convince internal and external customers of the benefits of JITD Barilla’s customers are unwilling to give up authority to place orders as they please.The lack of faith in Barilla’s inventory management also made some customers reluctant in giving detailed sales data so that Barilla could improve its forecasting demands. Customers perceived this JITD move as a quest by Barilla to transfer power to themselves. Internal customers are also resistant to this change as they as they view this concept to be infeasible and or dangerous. Environmental and Root Cause Analysis There is a growing burden that demand fluctuations are imposing on the company’s manufacturing and distribution system.Vitali has suggested for years that the company implement this innovative JITD which is modeled off JIT manufacturing. Vitali proposed that rather than follow the practice of delivering products to Barilla’s distributors on the basis of whatever orders distributors placed with the company, Barilla’s own logistics organization would instead specify delivery quantities that would more effectively meet end users’ needs and would also more evenly distribute the workload on Barilla’s manufacturing and logistics. This was heavily resisted both internally and externally.External people are saying that Barilla wants power over its distributors and wants to manage their inventory for them. On the other hand, the internal sales and marketing people thinks this JITD is unworkable and will reduce their workload so they see it as a threat and as a result they are putting up a resistance. The variability in demand is as a result of lack of forecasting systems or sophisticated analytical tools at the distributors end. Orders for Barilla’s dry products swing from week to week and such extreme demand strains Barilla’s manufacturing and logistics operations.For example, the specific sequence of pasta production necessitated by the tight heat and humidity specifications in the tunnel kiln made it difficult to quickly produce a particular pasta that had been sold out due to unexpectedly high demand. In addition, holding sufficient finished goods inventories to meet distributors order requirements was extremely expensive when weekly demand fluctuated so much and was so difficult to forecast. Advertising and trade promotions are also intensifying the resistance to implementing this JITD.Distributors have become accustomed to price discounts through volume orders, promotional activities and transportation. Barilla’s sales strategy relied on the use of trade promotions to push products into the grocery distribution network. Distributors looks forward to these promotions and also sales people within Barilla looks forward to giving distributors discounts in this very old-fashioned distribution system. Alternatives and/or Options Implementing the JITD system would prove beneficial to the company and its overall supply chain management.Benefits of this JITD would be reduced manufacturing costs and inventory levels, better relationship with distributors due to increased supply chain visibility and distributor’s dependence on Barilla and overall improvement in manufacturing planning using objective data collected. For sales people this would be a selling tool rather than a threat to sales. Distributors will also see an improved fill rate to retail stores, additional service from Barilla without any extra cost and reduced inventory holding costs.Disadvantages to these are lack of infrastructure to handle JITD, risks of inability to adjust shipments quickly to stock-outs, cost benefits uncertainties, unconvinced distributors and reduction in responsibilities for Sales Representatives. Recommendation It is recommended that Barilla implement this JITD system in its supply chain. The system will provide customers with additional service at no extra cost. It will also improve Barilla’s visibility with the trade and make distributors more dependent on the company.This dependence or vendor management inventory (VMI) system will improve relationships between Barilla and distributors. More important, is the information regarding the supply at the distributors’ warehouses would provide the company with objective data that would allow for improvement in planning procedures and forecasting. In a ddition, distributors will not only improve their fill rates to retail stores but reduce their inventory holding costs. Sales and marketing people will realize that this JITD will be a selling tool rather than a threat to sales.This in the long run improves overall performance in operations. Implementation Maggiali needs to look at JITD as not only a logistics program but as a company wide effort and get top management from both sides involved in decision -making and teamwork. With top management on board, the first implementation will be done at Barilla’s largest DO (organized distributor) the Cortese. Within the next six months Maggali and top management team will analyze daily shipment data of the distribution chain.Next a database of historical and present demand patterns of distributors will be created and shipments will be simulated with JITD in place. This system will reduce stock out rates and inventory levels while increasing service levels. Next, experiments will be run at the Pedrignano depot and then the Milano depot. This will establish the credibility of JITD and win over distributors and retailers who are apprehensive in buying into this new system. An information system will also be implemented to communicate with all customers.SKUs will be barcoded so that they are easily identifiable; that is Barilla’s code and distributor/customer codes. Using this coding system, the company will be able to receive information through any code and also reduce the impact of internal changes in products on DO systems. Barilla’s forecasting systems will be under improvement so that the company can make good use of information received. Monitor and Control There has to be credibility of this new venture in order to convince customers both internally and externally to sign on.In order to reap success in any new initiative top management have to be involved. A team of approximately ten top managers including managing directors, marketing and s ales managers, logistics managers, purchasing managers, vice presidents and information technology managers will monitor the implementation of this new initiative, JITD. Each day customers will send information to Barilla using EDI (electronic data exchange) systems. This information will include; customer codes, previous day’s stock-outs, previous days sales and advance orders for future retailer promotions.This will help Barilla to improve internal operations for the company and customers alike, now that Barilla will be responsible for determining quantities and delivery schedules. This will see a reduction in inventory levels, distribution costs, manufacturing costs, improved responsiveness to distributors demands. Overall efficiencies in the company’s operations will be evident in every link of the supply chain. Monitoring and control will be an ongoing process to minimize inefficiencies in operations.