Frankenstein and Blade Runner Essay

Frankenstein and blade runner essay Which text do you feel better represents the values of the composer? You must refer to both texts in detail Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner are two texts from different centuries, but they both share the same values, themes and issues including; the natural world, scientific advancement, morality of humans and responsibility. Both texts use a variety of techniques to represent their values, themes and issues. The techniques used in both texts are reflective of their context and are able to strongly represent the values of both Frankenstein and Blade Runner. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was written in 1818. This was a period where romanticism was developing, a time which focused on the sublimity of nature and on the individual. This theme is evident throughout the novel and is used to emphasise the emotions of the characters and to suggest the power of nature for both beauty and destruction. Shelley often uses the sublimity of nature as an invigorating device for victor, â€Å"when happy, inanimate nature had the power of bestowing on me the most delightful sensations. A serene sky and verdant fields filled me with ecstasy. The present season was indeed divine; the flowers of spring bloomed in the hedges, while those of summer were already in bud. † Vivid imagery is used here to illuminate the peacefulness and contemplation of the sublime nature that is constantly surrounding victor. Shelley has also illustrated this notion further by the use of alliteration, â€Å"serene sky†, to capture how perfect the world is at that time, which reinforces the peacefulness of nature and how victor feels when he is surrounded by the natural world. Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner is set in a corrupted 21st century world. Similarly to Frankenstein, the natural world is evident but in Blade Runner it is seen as the unnatural world. In the first panoramic shot, the audience sees a destroyed world, a dark industrial urban wasteland which is heavily polluted. Visual irony is created here as it is meant to be Los Angeles, which means â€Å"city of angels†, but we see that it looks more like hell. We see that nature has been destroyed. Animals are rare and are presumed extinct, although the unicorn is seen as a natural creature in a natural setting. The unicorn symbolises the ambiguity of hope, freedom and spirit. There is no sign of any trees or plants except for a miniature Bonsai tree symbolising mans inherent desire to control nature to conform to what humanity believes is a better version. We also see constant darkness and rain, which is known as film noir and are the only aspects the audience sees when in an outside scene. The panoramic shot and film noir speculate the natural is now off world, that there is nothing natural, which creates a post apocalyptic tone. Shelley’s world was moving forward into the direction of industrialisation, exploration and scientific research. This is conveyed through characters such as Victor, Walton and Clerval who are all searching, exploring and attempting to make a discovery. We see in the start of the book Victor has an interest for natural philosophy, â€Å"natural philosophy is the genius that has regulated my fate. † The use of personification suggests that natural philosophy is a person that Victor idolises and wants to know everything he possibly can about it causing his interest to turn into an obsession. i became dizzy with immensity of the prospect which it illustrated, as surprised, that among so many men of genius who had directed their enquiries towards the same science, that i alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret. † This quote establishes that Victor is intelligent and is able to intellectually break barriers beyond those that have ever been broken an d discover the source of life. Hence, now being able to create his ‘monster’. Similarly in Scott’s film we see that 21st century L. A is all about scientific activity and advancements in technology. It is a world based on commerce, as we can see throughout the entire film through the blimp that promotes going off world and big wall signs i. e. the Asian lady taking pills. Technology is also used to detect what is and isn’t human i. e. the Voight Komph test. Disembodied voices are used on the street i. e. when crossing roads it says â€Å"walk† and â€Å"don’t walk†. All these aspects of technology are a way of controlling the population of L. A. Scientific activity is seen through Tyrell, a scientist, who is the creator of all replicant things i. e. humans and animals. â€Å"Commerce is our goal here and our motto is more human than human†, this quote was said by Tyrell and reflects on Tyrell’s attitude towards life. He takes the role of God, creating life trying to make the replicants smarter and stronger than real humans, feeling as though he is dominant over everyone else in the world. This is shown through upwards tilt of the camera on Tyrell’s building, making him appear larger and above everybody else. Victor Frankenstein does not truly contemplate of foresee the consequences of his scientific quest to create life, nor does he take the moral responsibility for his creation afterwards. Victor continually justifies why he refuses to take responsibility for his creation, which is solely because he doesn’t want to incriminate himself and be punished, although he stated â€Å" a new species would bless me as its create and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. This shows Victor’s lack of morality and reveals his ego through the use of unreliable narrator. Scott’s film raises concerns of scientific advancements and its lack of morality and responsibility for those it affects. Blade Runner represents its values through ambiguity. Blade Runner leaves it up to the viewer’s own judgement of morality and responsibility within the film. An example of this is through the use of cinematography in the scene where Deckard ‘retiresà ¢â‚¬â„¢ Zhora. Passersby walk past without showing any concern or emotion to what has happened. The lack of morality and responsibility arouses deep emotions of anger and dislike. Scott is not as assertive in representing his values as Shelley is. Through the use of camera shots, cinematography and irony he easily represents his values but through the use of ambiguity he leaves things for interpretation from the viewers. Due to the ambiguity present in Blade Runner, some viewers may be unable to identify the values that are present, so therefore the values stated in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein are better represented.

Industrial Policy

INDUSTRIAL POLICY SINCE 1956 When India achieved Independence in 1947, the national consensus was in favour of rapid industrialization of the economy which was seen not only as the key to economic development but also to economic sovereignty. In the subsequent years, India's Industrial Policy evolved through successive Industrial Policy Resolutions and Industrial Policy Statements. Specific priorities for industrial development were also laid down in the successive Five Year Plans.Building on the so-called â€Å"Bombay Plan†1 in the pre-Independence era, the first Industrial Policy Resolution announced in 1948 laid down broad contours of the strategy of industrial development. At that time the Constitution of India had not taken final shape nor was the Planning Commission constituted. Moreover, the necessary legal framework was also not put in place. Not surprisingly therefore, the Resolution was somewhat broad in its scope and direction. Yet, an important distinction was made among industries to be kept under the exclusive ownership of Government, i. e. the public sector, those reserved for private sector and the joint sector. Subsequently, the Indian Constitution was adopted in January 1950, the Planning Commission was constituted in March 1950 and the Industrial (Department and Regulation) Act (IDR Act) was enacted in 1951 with the objective of empowering the Government to take necessary steps to regulate the pattern of industrial development through licensing. This paved the way for the Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956, which was the first comprehensive statement on the strategy for industrial development in India.Industrial Policy Resolution – 1956 The Industrial Policy Resolution – 1956 was shaped by the Mahalanobis Model of growth, which suggested that emphasis on heavy industries would lead the economy towards a long term higher growth path. The Resolution widened the scope of the public sector. The objective was to accelerate 1 Bombay Plan prepared by leading Indian industrialists in 1944-45 had recommended government support for industrialization, including a direct role in the production of capital goods. economic growth and boost the process of industrialization as a means to achieving a socialistic pattern of society. Given the scarce capital and inadequate entrepreneurial base, the Resolution accorded a predominant role to the State to assume direct responsibility for industrial development. All industries of basic and strategic importance and those in the nature of public utility services besides those requiring large scale investment were reserved for the public sector.The Industrial Policy Resolution – 1956 classified industries into three categories. The first category comprised 17 industries (included in Schedule A of the Resolution) exclusively under the domain of the Government. These included inter alia, railways, air transport, arms and ammunition, iron and steel and atomic energy. Th e second category comprised 12 industries (included in Schedule B of the Resolution), which were envisaged to be progressively State owned but private sector was expected to supplement the efforts of the State.The third category contained all the remaining industries and it was expected that private sector would initiate development of these industries but they would remain open for the State as well. It was envisaged that the State would facilitate and encourage development of these industries in the private sector, in accordance with the programmes formulated under the Five Year Plans, by appropriate fiscal measures and ensuring adequate infrastructure. Despite the demarcation of industries into separate categories, the Resolution was flexible enough to allow the required adjustments and modifications in the national interest.Another objective spelt out in the Industrial Policy Resolution – 1956 was the removal of regional disparities through development of regions with low industrial base. Accordingly, adequate infrastructure for industrial development of such regions was duly emphasized. Given the potential to provide large-scale employment, the Resolution reiterated the Government’s determination to provide all sorts of assistance to small and cottage industries for wider dispersal of the industrial base and more equitable distribution of income.The Resolution, in fact, reflected the prevalent value system of India in the early 1950s, which was centered around self sufficiency in industrial 3 production. The Industrial Policy Resolution – 1956 was a landmark policy statement and it formed the basis of subsequent policy announcements. Industrial Policy Measures in the 1960s and 1970s Monopolies Inquiry Commission (MIC) was set up in 1964 to review various aspects pertaining to concentration of economic power and operations of industrial licensing under the IDR Act, 1951.While emphasizing that the planned economy contributed to the grow th of industry, the Report by MIC concluded that the industrial licensing system enabled big business houses to obtain disproportionately large share of licenses which had led to pre-emption and foreclosure of capacity. Subsequently, the Industrial Licensing Policy Inquiry Committee (Dutt Committee), constituted in 1967, recommended that larger industrial houses should be given licenses only for setting up industry in core and heavy investment sectors, thereby necessitating reorientation of industrial licensing policy.In 1969, the monopolies and restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act was introduced to enable the Government to effectively control concentration of economic power. The Dutt Committee had defined large business houses as those with assets of more than Rs. 350 million. The MRTP Act, 1969 defined large business houses as those with assets of Rs. 200 million and above. Large industries were designated as MRTP companies and were eligible to participate in industries that wer e not reserved for the Government or the Small scale sector.The new Industrial Licensing Policy of 1970 classified industries into four categories. First category, termed as ‘Core Sector’, consisted of basic, critical and strategic industries. Second category termed as ‘Heavy Investment Sector’, comprised projects involving investment of more than Rs. 50 million. The third category, the ‘Middle Sector’ consisted of projects with investment in the range of Rs. 10 million to Rs. 50 million. The fourth category was ‘Delicensed Sector’, in which investment was less than Rs. 0 million and was exempted from licensing requirements. The industrial licensing policy of 1970 4 confined the role of large business houses and foreign companies to the core, heavy and export oriented sectors. The Industrial Policy Statement – 1973 With a view to prevent excessive concentration of industrial activity in the large industrial houses, this Stat ement gave preference to small and medium entrepreneurs over the large houses and foreign companies in setting up of new capacity particularly in the production of mass consumption goods.New undertakings of up to Rs. 10 million by way of fixed assets were exempted from licensing requirements for substantial expansion of assets. This exemption was not allowed to MRTP companies, foreign companies and existing licensed or registered undertakings having fixed assets of Rs. 50 million and above. The Industrial Policy Statement -1977 This Statement emphasized decentralization of industrial sector with increased role for small scale, tiny and cottage industries. It also provided for close interaction between industrial and agricultural sectors.Highest priority was accorded to power generation and transmission. It expanded the list of items reserved for exclusive production in the small scale sector from 180 to more than 500. For the first time, within the small scale sector, a tiny unit wa s defined as a unit with investment in machinery and equipment up to Rs. 0. 1 million and situated in towns or villages with a population of less than 50,000 (as per 1971 census). Basic goods, capital goods, high technology industries important for development of small scale and agriculture sectors were clearly delineated for large scale sector.It was also stated that foreign companies that diluted their foreign equity up to 40 per cent under Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) 1973 were to be treated at par with the Indian companies. The Policy Statement of 1977 also issued a list of industries where no foreign collaboration of financial or technical nature was allowed as indigenous technology was already available. Fully owned foreign companies were allowed only in highly export oriented sectors or sophisticated technology areas. For all approved foreign investments, companies were completely free to repatriate capital and remit profits, dividends, royalties, etc. Further, in o rder to ensure balanced regional development, it was decided not to issue fresh licenses for setting up new industrial units within certain limits of large metropolitan cities (more than 1 million population) and urban areas (more than 0. 5 million population). Industrial Policy Statement -1980 The industrial Policy Statement of 1980 placed accent on promotion of competition in the domestic market, technological upgradatrion and modernization of industries.Some of the socio-economic objectives spelt out in the Statement were i) optimum utilisation of installed capacity, ii) higher productivity, iii) higher employment levels, iv) removal of regional disparities, v) strengthening of agricultural base, vi) promotion of export oriented industries and vi) consumer protection against high prices and poor quality. Policy measures were announced to revive the efficiency of public sector undertakings (PSUs) by developing the management cadres in functional fields viz. operations, finance, ma rketing and information system. An automatic expansion of capacity up to five per cent per annum was allowed, particularly in the core sector and in industries with long-term export potential. Special incentives were granted to industrial units which were engaged in industrial processes and technologies aiming at optimum utilization of energy and the exploitation of alternative sources of energy. In order to boost the development of small scale industries, the investment limit was raised to Rs. 2 million in small scale units and Rs. . 5 million in ancillary units. In the case of tiny units, investment limit was raised to Rs. 0. 2 million. Industrial Policy Measures during the 1980s Policy measures initiated in the first three decades since Independence facilitated the establishment of basic industries and building up of a broadbased infrastructure in the country. The Seventh Five Year Plan (1985-1900), recognized the need for consolidation of these strengths and initiating policy me asures to prepare the Indian industry to respond effectively to emerging challenges. A number of measures were initiated towards technological and managerial modernization to improve productivity, quality and to reduce cost of production. The public sector was freed from a number of constraints and was provided with greater autonomy. There was some progress in the process of deregulation during the 1980s. In 1988, all industries, excepting 26 industries specified in the negative list, were exempted from licensing. The exemption was, however, subject to investment and locational limitations.The automotive industry, cement, cotton spinning, food processing and polyester filament yarn industries witnessed modernization and expanded scales of production during the 1980s. With a view to promote industrialization of backward areas in the country, the Government of India announced in June, 1988 the Growth Centre Scheme under which 71 Growth Centers were proposed to be set up throughout the country. Growth centers were to be endowed with basic infrastructure facilities such as power, water, telecommunications and banking to enable them to attract industries.Industrial Policy Statement- 1991 The Industrial Policy Statement of 1991 stated that â€Å"the Government will continue to pursue a sound policy framework encompassing encouragement of entrepreneurship, development of indigenous technology through investment in research and development, bringing in new technology, dismantling of the regulatory system, development of the capital markets and increased competitiveness for the benefit of common man†.It further added that â€Å"the spread of industrialization to backward areas of the country will be actively promoted through appropriate incentives, institutions and infrastructure investments†. The objective of the Industrial Policy Statement – 1991 was to maintain sustained growth in productivity, enhance gainful employment and achieve optimal util ization of human resources, to attain international competitiveness, and to transform India into a major partner and player in the global arena. Quite clearly, the focus of the policy was to unshackle the Indian industry from bureaucratic controls. This called for a number of far-reaching reforms : †¢ A substantial modification of Industry Licencing Policy was deemed necessary with a view to ease restraints on capacity creation, respond to emerging domestic and global opportunities by improving productivity. Accordingly, the Policy Statement included abolition of industrial licensing for most industries, barring a handful of industries for reasons of security and trategic concerns, social and environmental issues. Compulsory licencing was required only in respect of 18 industries. These included, inter alia, coal and lignite, distillation and brewing of alcoholic drinks, cigars and cigarettes, drugs and pharmaceuticals, white goods, hazardous chemicals. The small scale sector c ontinued to be reserved. Norms for setting up industries (except for industries subject to compulsory licensing) in cities with more than one million population were further liberalised. Recognising the complementarily of domestic and foreign investment, foreign direct investment was accorded a significant role in policy announcements of 1991. Foreign direct investment (FDI) up to 51 per cent foreign equity in high priority industries requiring large investments and advanced technology was permitted. Foreign equity up to 51 per cent was also allowed in trading companies primarily engaged in export activities. These important initiatives were expected to provide a boost to investment besides enabling access to high technology and marketing expertise of foreign companies. With a view to inject technological dynamism in the Indian industry, the Government provided automatic approval for technological agreements related to high priority industries and eased procedures for hiring of fore ign technical expertise. †¢ Major initiatives towards restructuring of public sector units (PSUs) were initiated, in view of their low productivity, over staffing, lack of technological upgradation and low rate of return. In order to raise resources and ensure wider public participation PSUs, it was decided to offer its shareholding stake to mutual funds, financial institutions, general public and workers. Similarly, in order to revive and rehabilitate chronically sick PSUs, it was decided to refer them to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR). The Policy also provided for greater managerial autonomy to the Boards of PSUs. †¢ The Industrial Policy Statement of 1991 recognized that the Government’s intervention in investment decisions of large companies through MRTP Act had proved to be deleterious for industrial growth.Accordingly, pre-entry scrutiny of investment decisions of MRTP companies was abolished. The thrust of policy was more on cont rolling unfair and restrictive trade practices. The provisions restricting mergers, amalgamations and takeovers were also repealed. Industrial Policy Measures Since 1991 Since 1991, industrial policy measures and procedural simplifications have been reviewed on an ongoing basis. Presently, there are only six industries which require compulsory licensing. Similarly, there are only three industries reserved for the public sector.Some of important policy measures initiated since 1991 are set out below: †¢ Since 1991, promotion of foreign direct investment has been an integral part of India’s economic policy. The Government has ensured a liberal and transparent foreign investment regime where most activities are opened to foreign investment on automatic route without any limit on the extent of foreign ownership. FDI up to 100 per cent has also been allowed under automatic route for most manufacturing activities in Special Economic Zones (SEZs).More recently, in 2004, the FDI limits were raised in the private banking sector (up to 74 per cent), oil exploration (up to 100 per cent), petroleum product marketing (up to 100 per cent), petroleum product pipelines (up to 100 per cent), natural gas and LNG pipelines (up to 100 per cent) and printing of scientific and technical magazines, periodicals and journals (up to 100 per cent). In 9 February 2005, the FDI ceiling in telecom sector in certain services was increased from 49 per cent to 74 per cent. Reservation of items of manufacture exclusively in the small scale sector has been an important tenet of industrial policy. Realizing the increased import competition with the removal of quantitative restrictions since April 2001, the Government has adopted a policy of dereservation and has pruned the list of items reserved for SSI sector gradually from 821 items as at end March 1999 to 506 items as on April 6, 2005. Further, the Union Budget 2005-06 has proposed to dereserve 108 items which were identified by M inistry of Small Scale Industries.The investment limit in plant and machinery of small scale units has been raised by the Government from time to time. To enable some of the small scale units to achieve required economies of scale, a differential investment limit has been adopted for them since October 2001. Presently, there are 41 reserved items which are allowed investment limit up to Rs. 50 million instead of present limit of Rs. 10 million applicable for other small scale units. †¢ Equity participation up to 24 per cent of the total shareholding in small scale units by other industrial undertakings has been llowed. The objective therein has been to enable the small sector to access the capital market and encourage modernization, technological upgradation, ancillarisation, sub-contracting, etc. †¢ Under the framework provided by the Competition Act 2002, the Competition Commission of India was set up in 2003 so as to prevent practices having adverse impact on competitio n in markets. †¢ In an effort to mitigate regional imbalances, the Government announced a new North-East Industrial Policy in December 1997 for promoting industrialization in the North-Eastern region.This policy is applicable for the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. The Policy has provided various concessions to industrial units in the North Eastern Region, e. g. , 10 development of industrial infrastructure, subsidies under various schemes, excise and income-tax exemption for a period of 10 years, etc. North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd. has been designated as the nodal disbursing agency under the Scheme. †¢ The focus of disinvestment process of PSUs has shifted from sale of minority stakes to strategic sales.Up to December 2004, PSUs have been divested to an extent of Rs. 478 billion. †¢ Apart from general policy measures, some industry specific measures have also been initiated. For instance, Elec tricity Act 2003 has been enacted which envisaged to delicense power generation and permit captive power plants. It is also intended to facilitate private sector participation in transmission sector and provide open access to grid sector. Various policy measures have facilitated increased private sector participation in key infrastructure sectors such as, telecommunication, roads and ports.Foreign equity participation up to 100 per cent has been allowed in construction and maintenance of roads and bridges. MRTP provisions have been relaxed to encourage private sector financing by large firms in the highway sector. Evidently, in the process of evolution of industrial policy in India, the Government’s intervention has been extensive. Unlike many East Asian countries which used the State intervention to build strong private sector industries, India opted for the State control over key industries in the initial phase of development. In order to promote these industries theGovernm ent not only levied high tariffs and imposed import restrictions, but also subsidized the nationalized firms, directed investment funds to them, and controlled both land use and many prices. In India, there has been a consensus for long on the role of government in providing infrastructure and maintaining stable macroeconomic policies. However, the path to be pursued toward industrial development has evolved over time. The form of government intervention in the development strategy needs to be chosen from the two alternatives: ‘Outward-looking development 1 policies’ encourage not only free trade but also the free movement of capital, workers and enterprises. By contrast, ‘inward-looking development policies’ stress the need for one’s own style of development. India initially adopted the latter strategy. The advocates of import substitution in India believed that we should substitute imports with domestic production of both consumer goods and sophist icated manufactured items while ensuring imposition of high tariffs and quotas on imports.In the long run, these advocates cite the benefits of greater domestic industrial diversification and the ultimate ability to export previously protected manufactured goods, as economies of scale, low labour costs, and the positive externalities of learning by doing cause domestic prices to become more competitive than world prices. However, pursuit of such a policy forced the Indian industry to have low and inferior technology. It did not expose the industry to the rigours of competition and therefore it resulted in low efficiency.The inferior technology and inefficient production practices coupled with focus on traditional sectors choked further expansion of the India industry and thereby limited its ability to expand employment opportunities. Considering these inadequacies, the reforms currently underway aim at infusing the state of the art technology, increasing domestic and external compet ition and diversification of the industrial base so that it can expand and create additional employment opportunities. In retrospect, the Industrial Policy Resolutions of 1948 and 1956 reflected the desire of the Indian State to achieve self sufficiency in industrial production.Huge investments by the State in heavy industries were designed to put the Indian industry on a higher long-term growth trajectory. With limited availability of foreign exchange, the effort of the Government was to encourage domestic production. This basic strategy guided industrialization until the mid-1980s. Till the onset of reform process in 1991, industrial licensing played a crucial role in channeling investments, controlling entry and expansion of capacity in the Indian industrial sector. As such industrialization occurred in a protected environment, which led to various distortions.Tariffs and quantitative controls largely kept foreign competition out of the domestic 12 market, and most Indian manufac turers looked on exports only as a residual possibility. Little attention was paid to ensure product quality, undertaking R for technological development and achieving economies of scale. The industrial policy announced in 1991, however, substantially dispensed with industrial licensing and facilitated foreign investment and technology transfers, and threw open the areas hitherto reserved for the public sector.The policy focus in the recent years has been on deregulating the Indian industry, enabling industrial restructuring, allowing the industry freedom and flexibility in responding to market forces and providing a business environment that facilitates and fosters overall industrial growth. The future growth of the Indian industry as widely believed, is crucially dependent upon improving the overall productivity of the manufacturing sector, rationalisation of the duty structure, technological upgradation, the search for export markets through promotional efforts and trade agreemen ts and creating an enabling legal environment.Bibliography 1. Ahluwalia, I. J. Productivity and Growth in Indian Manufacturing, Oxford University Press, Delhi , 1991. 2. Government of India Annual Report 2003-04, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. New Delhi. 3. Government of India Handbook of Industrial Policy and Statistics (Various Issues), Office of Economic Adviser, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. New Delhi. 4. Government of India Economic Survey 2004-05, Ministry of Finance. New Delhi

School Uniforms Persuasive Essay

In public and private schools, students are constantly being judged on what they wear and how they look. These judgments influence students to pick on others and induce bullying. If schools make uniforms mandatory, this cause of bullying would be eliminated, thus reducing the number of bullying incidents. Therefore, school uniforms should be required for all students because they will reduce bullying, relieve stress and make school a safer place. People are judged on what they say, where they go, and what they believe, but the main form of judgment is due to appearance.With one look, we make inferences on the economic status and background of other people. It is no secret that less fortunate people generally do not have as nice clothing as those who are wealthy. But is the difference in one’s clothing a worthy reason for them to be treated differently? The answer is no, yet it still occurs each and every day for students who are without uniforms. Children should not be treated differently just because their parents are unable to buy them trendier clothes.With the implementation of school uniforms, students can focus more on learning and building social connections based on interests and beliefs and not their societal status. School uniforms are the most effective way to eliminate social and economic differences among students. Because society is incredibly materialistic and money is a power issue, the judgments that are made on how someone appears become a main cause of bullying. Mandatory school uniforms would eliminate this problem and allow students to be judged on personality, not just what they wear.Bullying in general is malevolent; it is not only an unnecessary barrier to learning, but has the potential to make students’ lives unbearable. This sort of torment may not be terminated, but it would surely be reduced with mandatory uniforms. With the new HIB (harassment, intimidation and bullying) laws that Governor Chris Christie passed in New Jersey, and the studies that signify the increased number of bullying incidents within the past few years, bullying has become a larger problem than ever.Along with bullying, theft and gang activity can be reduced by wearing uniforms. In many areas, gangs are identified and encouraged through their clothing. Without the knowledge of who is in what gang, violence will be reduced and the school will be safer. If society insists on doing everything it can to prevent the mistreatment of other students, school uniforms should be made mandatory. There are other benefits of wearing uniforms as well.First, students’ lives would be much easier and less stressful. A great amount of time is usually spent on choosing and worrying about outfits. If students were refunded this time, they could have more time for other daily requirements such as homework. Some students, especially girls, stress about what they are going to wear every day and how they are going to look compared to everyone e lse. School uniforms will eliminate this unnecessary cause of stress.Having uniforms would not only eliminate stress put on students, but stress and pressure put on their parents as well. Some parents just cannot afford the in-style clothing items that other parents can provide. Every parent yearns for their children to fit in and be happy. As hard as they try to accommodate this for their young ones, some parents find this task impossible to accomplish. It must kill a parent to see their child mistreated or bullied because of something they could not provide for them.Adversaries to this argument may dispute being able to choose what to wear is the student’s prerogative and is what allows them to express their individuality, but is what students wear what makes them individuals? What happened to individuality being based on personality, positive attributes and passion? It is not clothes that make us unique. Wearing hand-me-downs because that is all that a family can afford fo r their child does not allow them to express themselves; it is not what makes them an individual and it certainly does not reflect who they are inside.What it does do is make that unfortunate child self conscious and ashamed. Many present conflicts within school systems can be easily solved or at least minimized with school uniforms. They can aid the prosperity of our schools and students, so why not take advantage of this simple answer to our problems? Action needs to be taken to make uniforms mandatory. They reduce the insecurities felt by children as well as their parents. Uniforms allow students to shine and excel for who they really are and not for whom they appear to be.

Asign 1 Information Technology Planning Process Essay

Asign 1 Information Technology Planning Process - Essay Example e details incorporated in the plan (what); the earmarked locations for implementation (where); the rationale for the planning process (why); the relevant time frames and planning period (when); and finally, the actually planning process (how). Roto-Rooter is a plumbing and drain cleaning service organization that originated in 1935 (Roto-Rooter, 2013). It was reportedly founded by Samuel Blanc and was eventually sold to Chemed Corporation in 1980. Currently, the organization was disclosed to operate in more than â€Å"100 company-owned branch and independent contractor territories and approximately 500 independent franchise operations, serving approximately 90% of the U.S. population and parts of Canada† (Roto-Rooter, 2013, par. 4). From the interview with Swanson, it was revealed that the organization has acknowledged the relevance of IT to be incorporated within their operating and telecommunications system. It was acknowledged that the IT planning process starts off with the identification and aligning with the overall goal: â€Å"to be the premier provider of repair and maintenance services. As always, we will continue to listen to customers and expand service offerings to meet and exceed their changing expectations† (Roto-Rooter, 2013, par. 3). Due to this goal, the IT planning process initiated with determining the needs of demands of the consumers. The Customer Satisfaction Manager, Pat Swanson, is the person responsible for governing and administering the planning process. The inputs to be incorporated in the plan include the financial targets, for instance in a particular year: (1) an increase of 10% in market share; (2) greater customer satisfaction as evidenced from 10% decline in customer com plaints; (3) increased locations and products; and (4) a10% increase in independent contractors and franchises through information technology and applications. According to Swanson, the earmarked locations in expanding services and operations would be in

Is The Holocaust Unique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Is The Holocaust Unique - Essay Example Holocaust is the term used to describe the Nazi genocide of the Jewish people during World War II (Oxford Reference). The term â€Å"holocaust† has been used by many to describe other mass violations against humanity. The word â€Å"holocaust† is derived from holokaustos in the Greek translation of the bible and means a â€Å"completely consumed burnt offering†. The Gypsies (Romanis), the Armenians, and the Chinese under Mao all experienced one form or another of genocide. To some extent the terms genocide and holocaust have been used interchangeably to describe a mass killing of a people. So, what’s the difference? Mass killings can be called genocide but not necessarily a holocaust. The Jewish Holocaust was an attempt to kill off a specific race of people regardless of where they lived. Hitler’s version of holocaust was to kill off every Jew everywhere in the world with the intent of controlling the world with his allies. This was all inclusive, no exceptions! Genocide has been defined as being an eight stage process: Classification, Symbolization, Dehumanization, Organization, Polarization, Preparation, Extermination, and Denial. It’s when the eight stage process gets to â€Å"extermination† that their actions have earned the title â€Å"genocide†. The difference between genocide and a holocaust is that any one of the above listed eight stages is genocide. Holocaust is all the stages, one thru eight, with the intent to totally exterminate a people. The Holocaust's victims were considered to be so inferior, so threatening that their existence had to be completely eliminated (Rosenbaum, 22-23). The Nazi's called this plan "die Endlosung", the final solution to the Jewish question (Rosenbaum, 22). 2. A survivor's account. Alexander Kimel, a holocaust survivor, explains that the difference between Genocides and the Holocaust are the rates of survival (Kimel, p1.). Keep in mind that this is not an argument of numbers killed but an argument of recovery. China's Mao killed 10 million out of 800 million (1.23%), Stalin's numbers were 10 million out of 230 million (4.3%), and in the early phases of World War II out of 10,000 Jews 9900 were killed (99%). And, that trend continued through out World War Two. Recovery can and did take place in China and Russia. In Europe the Jewish community remains but a fragment of what it was and does not continue in the same ways as prior to World War Two. Many Jewish communities that had existed in Europe prior to World War Two are gone. All that remains of many communities are their vandalized cemeteries. 3. What is the purpose of the discussions about the Holocaust and genocide The Jewish community as a whole has kept alive their memories of the Holocaust. The Armenian and Romani communities have done the same. Yehuda Berger writes:

Essay Question Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Question - Essay Example External factors are the forces that come from outside the financial industries and affect their normal operations directly or indirectly. In most cases, external factors are beyond the industries’ control. The management of financial institutions has no control over them. The factors demand a robust legal framework to regulate. External factors include demographic, political, technological the size of the industries themselves. The demographic structure is the composition and age of a population. The pupation is the primary market of the financial institutions. The age of population influences the financial services directly. The older and younger population is less productive to the financial institutions because they do not use the banking services very often. They are mainly consumers instead of investors. Some customers fail to honor their financial obligations such as timely loan repayment. The political environment has a critical role in determining the failure or success of the banking sectors. The government has direct control over the financial through central banks. The countries, the central bank, have the mandate to regulate interest rates. The government may also formulate policies that make it very challenging financial institutions to run their activities seamlessly. The state of political instability destabilizes the banking systems. Because of the advancement in technology, financial institutions face serious financial crimes ranging from money laundering to robbery of banks through technological means such as using guns to rob banks. Internal factors affecting the financial services industry are forces that emanate from within the industries themselves. The factors include industrial norms, ideologies, and management structures among others. Failure by the management to comply with the norms and ethics of the industries has a negative influence on the growth of the industry. The insider

Educational Change Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Educational Change - Assignment Example Every person has one or more disabilities. It might be physical or psychological disability. One of the main reasons of learning disabilities is the lack of concentration. Student's thoughts divert very easily. They could not keep up their concentration level up to the mark. Short-term memory is also one of the reasons. Some of them were unable to remember previous days lessons or unable to grasp features of learned lessons quickly. Due to the above-mentioned reasons teachers should be responsible towards the students. The best way to teach is to give students a way in which they grasp easily. Here comes the usage of technology where graphical user interface systems can be used to make students understand the subjects easily. They should employ different teaching methods so that students could easily grasp the subject. Student oriented and student concentric activities should be encouraged. Assessing student's abilities and disabilities is the major factor and teachers should strive to identify these issues. By identifying their strengths and weaknesses one can easily work on these issues. Self-confidence plays an important role in everyone's lives. It is the deciding factor that decides a winner and a loser. Like in any other department catering department also needs to work on the above-mentioned reasons so that most of the students were benefited. The classes were conducted as per the schedule. Eight students a day attend the classes on different days of a week. Each batch of the students has to attend classes 4 days a week. Classes had been classified into theory and practical. During these 4 days 3 hours of practical lessons and 1 hour of theory lessons would be conducted.More number of hours was allotted to practical lessons because students could gain hands on experience with the tools and the methods that would be employed during the course process. Theory lessons were also as important as practical lessons. In theory classes discussions would be held, future plans could be discussed and many other things could be employed. COMPLEXITY Students attending these classes may suffer from learning disabilities. The onus is on lecturers or on the teaching staff. They should shoulder the responsibility of improving student's abilities and make them believe in themselves.For example in catering care should be taken about following health standards. The students should be taught about the basic heath, safety and hygiene rules. The teaching staffs have to ensure that every student follows the safety standards prescribed by the health department. Negligence regarding health and standards should be treated severely. If violated counselling of students should be conducted. All the safety measures should be up to date and checks has to be done on safety equipment. Since kitchen is not a safe place first aid and emergency telephone numbers should be kept in an easily accessible place.In theory classes teachers should employ different methods of teaching so that students can grasp easily. There should a constant interaction betwe en student and teacher. This kind of interaction eases the tension in the classroom and student feels at home and shows signs of interest in the subject. PRACTICALITY Manufacturing and maintenance industry has been flourishing in the Internet era. These computers along with the

Literature research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Literature research - Essay Example Case studies have also been analyzed that were related to the operational characteristics of Wal-Mart and its competitors. A descriptive approach has been adapted since the respective research involved the analysis of the existing operational characteristics of the retailing companies. 3. Analysis 3.1 Assumptions Kmart and Sears were competitors of Wal-Mart; however they merged into a single retailing organization in 2005- Sears Holding Inc. This report refers to the individual names of both the organizations whenever incidents have been quoted from the year before the merger. Wal-Mart is a multinational company with head offices in US, therefore only US markets and competitors have been discussed in the report. 3.2 Analysis of Operational Characteristics of Wal-Mart 3.2.1 Company Portfolio Wal-Mart is the largest retailer of the world. Sam Walton, the man behind the retailing stores chain, began its operations in 1962. The first store opened in Arkansas, which marked the start of th e rapid expansion of the respective business. Sam Walton became known as a clever businessman in a very short span of time due to the success of his retailing stores. After conquering the US market, the owner decided to expand his business globally. According to a report issued by Wal-Mart in 2010 (Wal-Mart Stores); Wal-Mart operates around 4,000 stores around the world in 15 countries, namely China, India, United Kingdom, Japan etc. Kotabe stated that Wal-Mart is responsible for operating five divisions in US; Wal-Mart Stores, Wal-Mart Supercenters, Sam's Club, McLane's Company and Wal-Mart International. All of these different divisions amount to 4,300 establishments in US. The company recorded up to $405 billion as their annual sales last year, whereas target recorded up to $65 billion in 2009 (Target Corporation) as seen in figure 1 in the Exhibits section. The biggest competitors of Wal-Mart are Target and Kmart. 3.2.2 Operational Characteristics Operation management can be def ined as the overseeing, management and formulation of business operations in such a manner that the quality of the service and products is maintained. The company has been able to attain competitive advantage in the market due to their low prices, coupled with quality. They believe that their customers should be able to have a share in their profits; that share is made available to them in the form of low costs. Wal-Mart is able to maintain low cost operational activities in their stores due to their efficient supply chain management, vendor relations and integration of information management processes. These aspects shall be discussed in detail in the following sections. The core expectations of a customer that need to be met by a retailer are: High quality Broad scope Low prices Good customer service Convenience (Cowgill) The percentage of expectations met by different retailers is shown in Figure 2 in the Exhibits section. 3.2.3 Channels of Distribution Wal-Mart owns up to 3,300 company trucks that facilitate the supply from the warehouses to the retail stores. Competitors do not maintain such an extensive distribution network of their own due to which their costs are much higher than Wal-Mart’

Housing law assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Housing law assignment - Essay Example However, the colonial structure was not amply sympathetic towards the tenants until democratic reforms were widely carried out. The political reforms were followed by the social and legislative ones, which empowered the tenants, particularly in the developed countries of the Commonwealth. Nevertheless, there was no strong and well-thought legislative framework to deter violations of the rights of the tenants by the authorities and the landlords. The municipalities were not beneficial to the old buildings, dormitories, etc. and the private companies and firms had no desire to comply with the law and mark the buildings as residential premises under the municipality. Even after widespread modernisation and democratisation, the problems of the tenants could not be eradicated altogether. The Housing Act 2004 (Commencement No. 11), however, aims at redefining the dimensions of housing security of the UK citizens at large. Further, the Homelessness Legislation has energized the community effort and the local governments to safeguard the interests of the tenants. Contextually, the case of James does not appear to be very different from the core issues of tenancy in the UK. After the recent economic crisis and negative growth, housing problems have become preponderant. Particularly, the relationships between the tenants and the landlords have been considerably strained due to the difficult situation of the real estate industry. And the problems that are being faced by James appear to be in continuity with the contemporary housing issues of the UK. James, who is a tenant of a house owned by the South Bank Properties plc, has been suffering from some mental problems. He dwelt in the aforesaid house for a couple of years. Three weeks ago James complained that the central heating system of the house was not working properly. Moreover, condensation in the bathroom and kitchen was faulty. Also, he complained of

Carriage of goods by sea under Charter Party Case Study

Carriage of goods by sea under Charter Party - Case Study Example The ship owner is also liable for the ship's under capacity and lower-speed than declared to TD. On the other hand the charterer TD is liable to the shippers for the damage caused by fire to the cargo of Smart Clothing which he can claim from the Ship Owner. This could be possibly circumvented by having the shippers' insurance claim settled and ultimately transfer the liability to the Ship owner. The sub-charterer BV similarly can have the insurance claim of V for damage to cargo while loading and ultimately have the liability transferred to ship owner through TD the main charterer. And the parties who want to initiate claim against the owner, may do so by invoking arbitration as envisaged by the Charter party agreement in clause 21. This case relates to rights and liabilities of parties under the contract of charter party for carriage of goods by sea. The six parties involved are 1)Charterer (Timely Delivery hereafter 'TD', 2)Owner of ship 'The Bulky Whirlwind' (Owners Co) hereafter 'O', 3)Cargo Co, hereafter 'C', 4) Voyage SARL, hereafter 'BV' 5)Vignoble SARl, hereafter 'V', and 6) Smart Clothing Co, hereafter 'SC'. As against the ship's declared carrying capacity of 12,000 TEU and speed capability of 23 knots, 2000 TEU are occupied by articles of ship's own essential use and speed is short of 3-7 knots. Ship's master refuses to take the shorter and direct route and also to pick up cargo located in the shorter route ordered by TD.for safety reasons. The crew member's careless smoking damages a cargo valued $ 300 000 by fire for which there was no safety trained staff for fire fighting. Due to arrest of the ship, 10 days are lost by stay at the port of Southampton. It is noted Box No 35 in form of Charter party is left blank. The relevant box relates to applicable Law and Arbitration. The form provides that if the box is not filled in, sub clause (a) of condition no 21 of Charter parry form shall apply. The relevant condition is reproduced below.1 Charter party is contract between the owner of a ship and a hirer of the ship for using it to transport usually cargo. Even though the hirer is using the ship, the ship-owner exercises control over it for the navigation and management while the carrying capacity is in the discretion of the hirer known as charterer. Four types of chartering in vogue are voyage charter, time charter, bareboat charter and lump-sum contract. 2 "A time charter is another common form of agreement, with the owner of the ship operating his ship as instructed by the charterer between certain agreed dates for an agreed daily or monthly rate. During this period, it will be the charterer who will pay for the running costs of the ship such as the fuel and insurance. An analogy would be a contract to hire a car".3 A cursory glance at the conditions set out in the Charter party form reveals Master failure to carry out Chatterer's instruction to take Suez route amounts to violation of condition no 7 ( c )4 of the Charter Party. And damage due to Owner's servant's smoking inside attracts condition no 18(iii) (3)5 The Charterer is also entitled to 10 days off-hire for the arrest of the vessel due to C's claim for O's default in a previous charter attracting Hague-Visby rules and far having lost time (to be estimated) due to longer route as per condition

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

News brief - Essay Example In the past two years, the small businesses have increased steadily by 16%. This is attributable to the laws and regulations in the economic sectors. The government is awarding loans at exceptionally low interest rates to encourage investment in the small and medium enterprises. In the state of the nation address by the president, there were assurances to reduce the cost of doing business so that more individuals can venture into small businesses. The performance of small businesses in America is incredibly excellent. This is because of the affordability and availability of goods and services by the entrepreneurs. The impact of these businesses is exceedingly significantly on the entire Americas economy. Along with the above point, the small businesses are doing exceedingly well because of their capacity to acclimatize to the varying trends in the market. In America, most of the exporters are the small and medium businesses. The businesses provide massive employment opportunities and offer affordable goods and services to the customers. The quality of goods and services produced by the small businesses is high vis a vee those produced by the large firms. This explains why the products are doing excellent in the market. The government has reduced the cost of licensing the small businesses so that they can motivate people and make it an alternative means of employment and investment. Small and medium enterprises in America accounts for 52% of the work force in the country. The small businesses are increasing by 2%, and the employment rate is increasing by 6%. In 2012, 56% of the net export in America was accounted for by the small and medium enterprises. This is because they produce goods that are affordable by most people outside America. 38% of America’s gross domestic product is contributed by small businesses. According to small business administration, it

Persuasive Paper Essay Example for Free

Persuasive Paper Essay Toilet paper is a material item that most people use. This paper has a big impact on our society. Not many people pay attention to how they put their paper on they just sort of throw it all together in a matter of seconds. One day I noticed that my paper was harder to get than normal, then I noticed that the beginning of the paper was hanging from the back of the roll instead of laying on it or hanging over the front. This startled me, I did not realize until then that you can put your toilet paper either the front or the back. I said to myself This can not be, my paper is all wrong it should not be this way! (I made gestures). So I have come to decide that having your toilet paper is better in the front of the roll compared to the back. When most people go to sit down on their toilet they expect their paper to be there. Well what if your paper was there and a good full amount was present but when you go to reach for it, it seems a little bit farther away, well this is because your paper may have been placed wrong. Lets think about this in a conservative way. If you have a small child then you will know what I mean, Little kids like to play with toilet paper, some even like to eat it! Well if you have your paper in the front it will make it harder for the child to pull more of the roll from its original state, as opposed to if you had your paper in the back, the kid could pull it so hard, tons of it will roll because of the downward motion, and this may cause the tug to be to powerful and may rip the toilet paper, Then you would not be able to roll the paper back to its original rolling position. Having the paper in the front is also very convenient for easier toilet paper rolling. If the paper was in the back, you have to reach under or around the roll to get your paper, and then pull it in a downward motion, If you pull it straight towards you, it is liable to break! I have asked around to find if anyone likes there paper in the back position, I found out some people do! I asked those people why on earth they could like the paper in the back. They said: Because if you pull it from the back, you can have a faster speed of rolling paper I replied, But a lot of  the time the paper breaks and then you have bits and pieces he said, Bits and pieces are not always bad. You can just add them to your handful of toilet paper that youre going to use. I just shook my head nicely and thought to myself of an old saying an old man said to me once: Its quality not quantity. In conclusion, I have decided after hearing both sides that having you paper in front is indeed better than in the back. So the next time you are putting your roll of toilet paper on, you just remember that if you have a kid, think about your toilet paper placement. Think about your arm and hand energy when you go to grab a few sheets. Think about the quality of your handful and not the quantity!

Overview of Christian Religious Education Approaches

Overview of Christian Religious Education Approaches Introduction The aim of this essay is to examine the definition of Christian religious education with a view to uncover the various traditional, theological and biblical approaches and practices in local churches. It will also explore its application and impact on youth development and its failure in the light of youth violence and ungodliness. Christian religious education is defined as the process where by Christian learning takes place. It often involves teaching which enables practicing Christians to adopt and deepen their Christian belief, values and dispositions to experience and act in a Christian way. It depends to a greater extent on how this process is adopted and practiced in different churches. Different practices in Christian education in local churches At some degree of certainty that all Christian churches have a similar aims and practices. The liturgical aspect is of paramount importance in the Trinitarian belief and practices in that it serves as introduction to what Christianity is all about. This is where the process of Cognitive learning takes places it involves the worship service where hymns are sang, lessons extracted from the books of the bible are read, sermon often punctuated with exhortation, admonishment and instruction in righteous living is delivered and prayers are said. It also involves the celebration of the holy Eucharist which Jesus Christ himself, recognized as the head of the church, initiated based on experience acquired in the worship service, it can be seen as Christian religious education is a confessional churchly activity of evangelism, instruction and nurture. I assure that Youth are the most critical of all critics when it comes to religion. Today, common inhabitants do pray and accept the holiness in church for Christ which they are aware that Christ constitutes the sacred bread and wine, but do not entirely act upon worshipping and fail to confront the thoughts and feelings to masses which would spread dignity of godliness among selves. The moral lies in the fact that this creates lackness to reach spiritual beliefs through worship and liturgy resulting in declination the faith which affects the divine nature approaching positivity. Christian education is a vital important part in youth development. For Christian education to be explored, generation of today should be brought into contact through various practices. In the early centuries, reformers emphasized and trusted true faith and doctrines, to change and reform behaviour as the only solution for salvation in Christian education. Christian school movements prove a challenge as a messenger to convey gods given mission and honour god. Traditional approach This approach was practiced since many decades and is still continued to be practiced which helps in binding and governing the ethics and morality within the religion and belief. Since beginning described, in leaving our homeland to teach the gospels throughout the world through scriptures, god conveyed his message by sending his son Jesus for us, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Church, and Baptism for building unity. Christianity consists of three things Religious faith, way of life and community of mankind towards salvation are most important. The most vital of all belief preached is that there is only one god. The term Christian does not imply on the fact that a Christian should grow up in a Christian community, but precisely accepts Christian faith and belief, follows and leads the path of life on which Jesus walked on and made mankind accept Christian community through involvement and participation physically and mentally, as a result, traditional approach is how the local churches and preachers go about conducting their services. The apostles creed was apparently developed to summarize the Christian doctrine for man who baptised himself. Theological and Biblical approach This approach is regarded as an abstract discipline which teaches what bible is written. It is the study of god expressing gods thought. The movement of bible indicates the doctrines to the kerygma to didache, to theological ethics, to revealed truth, to the way of living in Christian community. Gods salvation to the world, worshipping the holy spirit, baptizing people in the name of god, preaching gospels as the word of god, share Christs own body and blood as bread and wine in holy communion, repenting and confessing gods forgiveness etc are the concepts of theological and biblical foundation to Christian education. Even though mankind is aware but fail to involve due to the increasing evil and greed. The service is organized to accept the call of god and to love him and others and which aims to gather people to worship him in return allowing him to take control over the world and through his presence spread peace, righteousness, justice, joy and helps in the growth of the life in an individual through increased faith. Activities organized and performed in different local churches through to these practices Some churches develop the initiative of the worshippers by confessing their faith in the words of the apostle creed. Each activity is correlated and composes a range of varied elements. Their current activities reflect the lives of an individual and drive them for a purpose through various numbers of activities to attain a better quality of life. Due to activities, all age group gain variety of skills through many spiritual centred activities. Church acts as an interpreter between god and the worshippers to support in training the composition of these activities which are far more complex to solve a disturbed youth. They have to thereby standardize their curriculum and activities in regards to implement it. Different denominations organize activities to resolve the aim therefore to meet the need of the youth. Curriculum should be more focused than just on providing knowledge. Activities are necessarily planned to build youth commitment. I believe it is necessary to reach them, i.e. train them to be strong future leaders. They should be kept one step ahead, for their life is very challenging. I believe that the best way to outreach youths mind is to be a youth like them to understand their psychology as it differs from every individual. The same activities do get affected as the youth is choosy and subtle. Changing activities for tomorrow Here the question is voiced that, what substantial change can be brought apart from the current activities to eradicate the above upcoming and dynamic problems in nature with respect to behavioural management or of what medication of healing would work out. I would comment, the activities in the practices should be expanded and conduct likewise programmes workshops on educating purity before marriage, sex, child abuse, exploitation, rape, adultery, adolescence sex, teenage mothers, drugs addiction, aids, and divorce. Workshops, seminars for sex, abuse, peer mentoring, identifying preventive measures instead of curative measures targeting the social, political and the economical factors would be effective for incorporating the overall issues to bring the insight of the good and evil sides of every consequence, discussion on essential real life skills. Our goal is to create world changers, inviting the sacrifiers of evil and giving and sharing healthy priorities to save ourselves and the world, before it becomes a terrible fate and a debt for our own selves. As the world is in unsafe fists of crime, terrorism, corruption, violence, youth have been diverted to a fast-paced and expects instant opportunities. Perhaps, the approaches of these local activities tend to be helpful and may bring positive results but I still feel that there is something missing, to monitor the youth from within. In an article Practical: The Role of the Full-Time Youth Pastor in the Local Church, by Graeme Codrington, Denomination: Baptist (All), submitted on, May 18, 1997, states that, In a world that is so busy, and demands so much of all of its inhabitants, young people need a secure environment, where they can experiment and decide who they want to be. They need significant people to be there to help them through this process. They need role models to follow. Above statement eventually satisfies the fact that these folks are craving for friendly support socially and for stimulation. Overall factors which conglomerate are peers, parents, teachers, church members and Christian community. All factors rely on one common feature which constitutes leadership. Ironically, most youth do understand the surrounding factors but the factors themselves become tough unknowingly that they cant quite control the situation which then becomes too late to recover. The task is questioned commonly as what kind of leader a person should be to prove creditability and capability to influence the youth to pursue the direction towards god? In an article again stated by, Graeme Codrington, Denomination: Baptist (All), Practical: The Role of the Full-Time Youth Pastor in the Local Church, submitted on, May 18, 1997, Young people are not just little adults (cf. Elkind 1984:18). They are complex individuals who are battling to deal with the awesome transformation of their bodies, minds, and emotions. They are in a time of transition and growth, developing from the birthed bundle of potential to a fully integrated, functional member of society. The church is in a unique position to assist in this process. Church as a role model fosters spiritual growth in every youth making them responsible to participate in Christian faith; she is a sign for an entrance of the gods kingdom to the world of salvation, repentance, justice and peace to bring equality. She struggles hard and performs her duties wholly and solemnly reminds parents to structure their offsprings life in Christian formation. Church members acting as supporters, preach to establish and to promote a platform and share to encourage several types of civic, cultural, religious educational associations. In an article by Arthur Paul Boer What must a Pastor know? Reflection on Congregational studies defines on writer James Hopewells statement saying beyond the embarrassment. He has also observed that churches are sometimes chagrined by the change of hypocrisy and lament that they cannot measure upto ideals of Christian community. Writer James Hopewell referred by Arthur Paul Boer notes that Christian leaders are incharge and build a church thereby rise in hypocrites. I observe practically that, though the world is changing, church strategy is also changing in complementing the growth. It still targets the set mission. Even though, somewhere in the corner hypocrites do exist but church leaders aim to find out what is the outcome in the people from the traditional, theological and biblical practices. Perhaps according my research, I suggest they experiment bringing out good approaches to youths growth. Instead of the current activities followed in churches I would want to suggest the approach can be focused to bring in the outcome irrespective to exploration and innovation of ideas and thoughts for internal and external behaviour of an individual related to the surroundings around him, deepening of commitments to the teaching, provide opportunities to analyse socially and theologically and viewing his life in a theological manner. To build a framework of an activity consist of to have an experience like us, to sense new boundaries by exploring new links to every Christian among themselves and to god across social and cultural boundaries. In addition, exploration and inventive programmes can be executed to judge youths spirituality. Daily opportunities resulting in disorientation gets support through mission of god. Integration conceptual activities also can help in building and to capture a born leader. Church leader serves them as task leaders in the corrosion and freeing the task of a disconnected mind by planning tactics and dividing the burden of others through consultation. As the purpose is commitment, to serve the lost, skill based leadership formation training programmes can be organized to develop an effective leader so as to sustain the capability and capacity of the leader to solve the complaints lies in the dimensions of the ability. Workshops on intersections to shape boundaries of an individual and communities through theological and biblical language, symbols, and rituals to attain certain centered objectives. As growth of globalization is tremendous, these leaders come across and face new opportunities and challenges. I believe they help in building an integral performance in conducting entrepreneurial business-based activities, describing the activities because youths mind is business-oriented, therefore the activities are to be structured keeping business in mind involving biblical and theological approaches with the existing resources for a business oriented youth. They tend to produce facilitate management sources to sustain and develop faith and love. When the youth develops a church from within, he will be able to observe and analyse the holistic environment. The activities require presence of not only church members but also worshippers for youth development in successful implementation of these practices. Some worshippers form in small groups, some large varied to race culture. Arthur Paul Boer also examines simultaneously that when a group of pastors were having service of congregation, one among them exclaimed in deep breath It showed me Im not alone. So often in our churches we berate ourselves for problems we face: not enough men, too few youth, preponderance of a certain race or culture. He is clear with the fact that a single person fails, unity increases strength. We ourselves give birth to a problem and then strive hard to face it because as there are few leaders left to catch a grip to support a large community. Due to less number of youth, less support is achieved to sustain the laws and policies of the church and unable to accomplish gods mission. It is not only one who contributes but many. Above mentioned statement It showe d me Im not alone expresses that each race and culture form their own group; build small churches for their own community within their own boundaries, where god expects togetherness, wholeness. It requires lot of efforts to help small churches grow whereas large church with mass contribution grows as their already exist efforts in large numbers which take over the chained actions for development. Whether single church group or many, big or small, the development is important. On this contradiction, I would suggest that this also includes that in small group the development is paid more attention and given a close eye, problems are spotted quickly and easily to meet the challenges. No matter how large or small challenges occur, the way we approach it is unique and comprehensive as this brings out effects of development in the youth. Whereas in large it becomes difficult to assist as there are more than one individuals. Due to small groups according to races and culture, differentiation exists. But the important criterion is group commitment and work effort in all sets of practice for congregations in any race or culture for a healthy youth so that to accomplish gods mission. As a result both objectives are co-related to each other. To understand the nature of Christian youth it is a very distinguished and a unique phenomenon. Due to the increasing issues of peer pressure, this has led to the obstruction in the development of youth. There are negative as well as positive aspects of it. Negative aspects influence a weaker mind. It is the most consistent findings revealed in observation. Due to the inquisitive innocence, an innocent becomes a prey of the negative aspect, thereby exploited and develops an evil companionship where he adopts negative qualities and habits. But there is positive aspects as in there are some groups who work towards peer relationship. Here innocent gets an opportunity to identify his fear, weakness and have control over his own power. The peer mentors play the part in organizing programmes to understand the behaviour. They interact with the teens and open lines of communication, build up action plans to change the behaviour by using the discipline skills wherever necessary. As church mem bers play an integrate role, it is a challenge for them to develop the youth and make Christian education reachable to them. Teachers are responsible preachers. Youth growth depends on a teacher infact they are the true facilitators of our learning, are Baptist figures and true authors of an individuals life book. They also act as the resource developer and planner setting the curriculum for the healthy growth of an individual, depending how the curriculum is designed with the kind and level of leadership skills to recognize the youth psychology. Parents play a significant role in Christian education. They are the promising leaders which shape up Christianity, infact are the real teachers of Christian education. Parents act as a moral standard and support, therefore can synchronize to their growing youth to be aware from their early hood to gain knowledge in Christian faith and this is done when they themselves too experience a fullness of church. Misunderstandings and miscommunication between parents and their children are one of the issues which follow breakings in the development of the youth. Due to parents own principles, for respect and love of family values often creates harmness to the childrens growth which tempts them to behave against them. Thus youth becomes a totalitarian of his own life by going against the values and ethics and unknowingly gets stucked in the torturous situations. Most Christian youth, fail to act upon the 10 commandments of bible. must say, I myself as a youth in my real life experience have observed that the originality of the commandments has changed excessively and replaced with the following: Thou must worship money Thou must lyrically murder Thou must have evil possession Thou must have sex Thou must enjoy drug addiction Thou must prosper, worship own self Thou must not feel guilty Thou must have no respect for ancestral values Thou must not serve, sacrifice Thou must differentiate Due to the above, youth fails to feel guilty in which guiltness is a part of our conscience creating a false belief system as an obstacle in his maturity and creating structure of his own. Under such circumstances he avoids promoting prayer, sacrifice, grace, redemption, worship and meditation, atonement. Considering money and sex are the only two things reliable to satisfy the needs, creating a limitation and a boundary for establishing personal spiritual growth and development. In general terms, when the efforts of religious and educational institutions, society lack to perform the planned task for Christian education, a positive approach is expected and constructed to gain knowledge and teaching through parents and teachers. Youth must be aware of guiltiness which is a gift from god to help us in being and doing well. Still the question is raised in a Journal: Volume 5 Number 4, October 2003 by Author Charlene Tan, Can Christian teachers and parents teach Christian beliefs without indoctrinating their students and children? Yes, they can teach Christian beliefs without indoctrinating their students and children they need to be careful when a child is to be handled as their minds are immature. At times it is difficult to understand them because their way of thinking is varied. Firstly before going to the next process, the first process has to be resolved. As teachers and parents are the role models for the development. In order to develop and understand these three role models should be systematically developed first. Only by abiding this rule, they can achieve the development in child. But the point lies beneath that how teachers and parents can prove themselves as an effective source of development by keeping in mind the relative factor of Childs mind compatibility and psychology? As there are variations in psychological behavior teachers and parents should be mentally prepared, be changeable and adjustment oriented accordingly. The political and current affair of the nation is affected by corruption and evilness rationally which gave birth to vivid factors like jealousy, modesty and so on, making humans built a tendency to mislead the positive factors. The situations have made the teachers adapt those inequalities within them, affecting the surrounding factors. Parents have too due to their increasing self priority created barriers of understanding among their families. Many people are often drawn towards the attention of the church because of their felt needs and not for spiritual needs. For instance, it does occur that why the youth is tuned out of his own way? Even in their interaction with their own members it tends to happen with them that they fail to hear a word said to them stating I didnt hear a word you said?, even though it is obvious that they have said something relating to us. This proves a kind of negligence in contacting the positive mechanism which grows in the back of our minds. Such system blocks all the wanted and useful messages allowing us to hear and see only what our mind tells us to hear and believe. As this tendency is increased in the youth generation, it is creating gaps between a believer and faith of god. The question is How? How can we overcome this problem? Youth have themselves developed a capacity in mind to hear only what pleasures them without taking a decision that whether it is false or truth. My query is How we can bring these groups of youth closer to god? Unconsciously resulting in unexpected calamities and unknowingly they are unable to repent it wisely. Due to this increasing factor, youth cant get a grip of effective communication and develop themselves internally. Here the parents then enter the scene to play their role. The main question lies whether the local churches fulfill and meet to mature disciples in Christian education? As stated above, youth are the most critical of all critics when it comes to religion. In this modern era, youth is distracted to church because they are building castles in air due to the unmaterialistic desire. Youth today have focused their vision to crave success and prosperity for their rising life graph; they exploit their own ones due to greed and selfishness. During the primary phase of struggle and hard work, youth craves to achieve prosperity, at the same time, do thank god and accept his involvement for success, but hand in hand, lack to follow the bibles ethics which says to respect others in and with unity. Due to the competition and growth politically, more often youth seem to push the fellow mates and strive to takeover their place. They themselves are unaware that they give birth to exploitation and inequality. And due to inequality, unity is declined, wherein bible does not specify inequality. In a book source, Pastor Rick Warren illustrates in his book The Purpos e-Driven Church -The issue is church health, not church growth! declares warren. if your church is healthy, growth will occur naturally. Healthy consistent growth is the result of balancing the five biblical purposes of the church. In addition to this he also declares that If u concentrate on building people, God will build the church. I agree at a certain point with the above statement. I herewith would want to magnify on How would one build a healthy youth for a healthy church? In this sense I believe that both are co-related with each other. Again the issue arises in my mind How will the church be healthy if the youth is unhealthy? The issue cant be only concentrated on church. For a church to survive, the basic foundation is the youth and for the youth to be saved and attracted the church has to be healthy. In my knowledge it is a Vicious Circle. Local churches upto some extent do specifically fulfill the discipleship through the practices and play a great emphasis in fulfilling and conveying the message of god to us, but still lack to read the minds and bring the youth closer to her, for which she has to upgrade her atmospheric appearance with new packages to reach the youth in a new taste due to the competitive modernism which is hovering on the youth. The latter part can play the best part coz when first falls in place, everything else falls in place, from the beginning to the end, from all angles in all walks of life. Towards a healthy faith, healthy church can turn and seed a growth of spirituality through which mankind will grow spiritually from within thereby causing church growth. Author Perry G. Down states in his book Teaching for spiritual growth that how can we best enable Christians to grow towards maturity? For this question he suggests three key concepts- ministry, believer, and purpose. But my understanding says that these concepts are incomplete somewhere to create a bond in reaching the results because todays youth is attracted towards the unrealistic worldly matters, but has resulted in declination towards the gods spiritual growth. The major role connecting these three concepts is commitment and effort. As the church ministry is the foundation pillar, the main aim is how much measure of commitment is valued and given to achieve the target successfully. Mankind is able to commit only when he chooses the right direction in fear and is able but this is unfortunate as the alien world tend to let us unidentify the type of strategies of growth for maturity. By identifying the type of strategies of growth, we can understand the level of growth required t owards maturity at which we can be spiritual. Another reason for in growth is fear. As the youth fears to face unexpected problems, the efforts are less and require the hierarchys support. Author Gary C. Newton stated in his book Going towards spiritual maturity quotes the principle that God is ultimately responsible for all spiritual growth. The question arises at this point that if god is responsible for everything, what will be the purpose and role of human? I comment that while god supplies the resources like bible, church, Holy Spirit, baptism, it is also our responsibility to supply effort and commitment to utilize those resources and give results to god. In bible, Paul highlights this principle of his personal lifestyle and in his teachings comparing with the example of a soldier or athlete to illustrate the amount of sincerity and efforts. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27), Paul states that In a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize. I herewith conclude in a Christian race all runners (ministry, believers, purpose) will fail to get a prize if there is no effort that is commitment from everyone. Along with the concept of ministry, believer, purpose; effort is also the key concept and it has to be achieved from the youth as well. A healthy youth will gain efforts only when the growth will favour them from within, when the forces of the ministry believers and youth will collide with each other to form a healthy growth. This will create a mutual relationship between gods provisional resources and our active involvement in process which is more clearly in Philippians 2:12-13: Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is god who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. This principle is intricate but the application is clear. If one is to grow towards maturity in Christ then one must cultivate and demonstrate the efforts with passion, Philippians 2:17-18: But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you be glad and rejoice with me. Therefore the conclusion lies in the above concept, both; effort of the youth along with the work of ministry, believers proves in the healthiness of the church. In the book Youth At Risk by Peter Christian Olsen, 2003, he highlights four basic needs which he has clearly created an awareness of the effects that affects the development of youth: Acceptance belonging New beginnings and second chances forgiveness Significance generosity Freedom independence I agree with his confirmation that he examines in deriving the above developmental needs from the provision of the Almightys resources as the absence of these needs do intentionally contribute in how they shape the personality, maturity, responsibility and stability of emotions. He emphasizes Christian community in respond to the needs determining that, the resources will be polishing youth through support during the fear and avoid them from destruction. At times the concepts will be foreign, indigestive for youth because unable to realize its importance. Rather the community need not re-interpret or change the language but simplify their thoughts and improve their visionary and understanding by change in structure through a friendly communication by becoming an effective leader to bridge the gap between the church and the youth. Therefore forces and efforts are needed for decision making which is an effective key in respond to ministry believer and purpose for a possibility of a hea lthy youth to build a healthy church, which will make the church flourish. Supporting surveys According to a survey, some findings proved that church fails to answer every question of the youth. Q.1 In what way and sense is Christian religion, faith and church viewed by todays modern youth? Youth of todays modern era is firm on the point stating that inspiration is lacked in religion; they feel that the world is divided through religion and is the major factor which is affecting the growth. A 17-year-old Jude from Kent says confidently that He does not agree with the church who talks on subject morality and is Overfilled with traditionality. Youth pick their ideas which suit their taste through various religious beliefs. There are few in bunch who strongly believe, there exist only single religion which has controlled the truth. Young generation refer to perform all activities as per their own desire which in return less importance to the religious belief are being given, which gives birth to the side effects of the conduct. Q.2 Why do young crowd feel that Christianity is not a happening cultural activity? An 18-year-old Marcus said that he left church when he was 15 because the teachings did not amuse him and it did not interest him of anything as a youth. The major quest, a struggle for a religion is to impose an exertion of force of involvement in terms of attraction. I usually attend church service wherein I find young ones missing the services. I kept questioning myself that, where the young crowd has disappeared? Surprisingly the young ones have taken charge for the attendance of the church. In this consequence the church should give priority to change its curriculum and its way of presenting the services with new attractive packages for enhancement. Q.3 Are the young preachers practicing different approaches in Christianity declining. What are your suggestions? As the attendance of the youth in church has declined, but on the other hand people practicing approaches are increasing in numbers. The following is revealed through one of the youths that more the deepening are the studies of the bible, more a person becomes a hypocrite of the Christian leadership and unintentionally accepts and performs the lifes

Economic Globalization And Offshore Sourcing Management Essay

Economic Globalization And Offshore Sourcing Management Essay In tune with increased economic globalization and offshore sourcing, global supply chain management is becoming a vital subject for many businesses and Somerset Furniture is one of the companies facing the challenges when set up its global supply chain. The business strategy constitutes overall direction to achieve corporate objectives and goals in long term, but supply chain strategy focuses on driving down operational costs, streamlining procedures and maximizing efficiencies. However, most companies have wonderful business strategies but most of them are unlikely designed a seamless supply chain strategy which can result in great failure when doing business overseas. In this case study, Somersets current approach to manage its supply chain resulted in poor business performance, the visible hazards and other negative factors frustrated Somerset included poor logistics management, ineffective order system and inventory management as well as inconsistency of product quality. In adopting a value chain, Somerset must incorporate and execute a robust supply chain management strategy for best-fit suppliers selection, further establish on how to work with supply partners, distributors, suppliers, customers or even customers customers as a way to remain competitive. Otherwise, the company will not survive. As the marketplace changes rapidly and becomes very competitive, it is critical that Somerset reinforces existing relationships and work together internally and externally. That being said, a well-practiced supply chain strategy results in value creation for the whole organization. In a nutshell, supply chains have shifted from a cost focus to a customer focus, until currently to a strategic focus, scrutinizing the success of a strategy is just as good as the companys capabilities to fully and properly execute all. A great supply chain strategic approach, connected with operational excellence, can provide success for not only the company in crisis but also its partners and customers. 1. Introduction Somerset Furniture is an established ornate residential home wood furniture company with over 50 years history in USA, renowned for producing quality and affordable furniture with a practical range of innovative design. To cope with the fast growing U.S. market, Somerset has developed its marketing strategy by introducing new product lines every few years and successfully gained creditable reputation during the last half of the twentieth century. The company was a pioneer in furniture manufacturing processes and in applying TQM principles to furniture manufacturing. However, Somerset soon faced with thorny problems emerging in mid-1990s, such as stiffer competition, high labour rates, diminishing profits. As a result, the company downsized the domestic manufacturing facility and labour force through outsourcing several internal furniture product lines to China manufacturers, this led to be very successful in reducing costs and increasing profits initially. By 2000, Somerset closed entire manufacturing facility in the United States and outsourced all of its manufacturing to suppliers in China and then set up global supply chain, at which a series of chain-reacting problems raised and affected business. The primary focus of this paper is to find out outsourcing solution and rectify the global supply chain strategy to be very competitive. The evaluation of Somersets approach on managing current supply chain both from strategic and tactical viewpoint will be addressed in Chapter 2. The subsequent Chapter 3 and 4 respectively describes the new strategic supply chain approach and then explains the transformational requirements for changing Somerset supply chain effectively and efficiently. The conclusion will be made in Chapter 5 outlining the study points for readers. Evaluation of Somerset Furniture Companys Approach to Managing Supply Chain from both strategic and tactical viewpoints. Somersets Existing Global Supply Chain Process Map Figure 2.1 Somersets Global Supply Chain Logistic Flowchart Source: Adapted from Fawcett, Ellram and Ogden (2007, p.218) Foreign Competition While Somerset formulated a good strategic marketing plan for continually launching new product lines every few years during half of the twentieth century, simultaneously, experienced the positive effects of applying the TQM in its furniture manufacturing and popularly is known as high-quality yet affordable wooden furniture provider in domestic market. However, since the mid-1990s, the company suffered from the stiffer competition, high labour rate and decreasing profits. To get out of this situation, Somerset started outsourcing several furniture product lines to China that helped benefit from cost-effective and reduced operating costs. Another strategy was reducing the manufacturing facility and labour force, to keep the low costs in line with the pace of outsourcing. It was very successful initially in reducing costs and increasing profits for the company. By 2000, Somerset decided to set up global supply chain and closed entire manufacturing facility in the United States by outsourcing all of its manufacturing to suppliers in China. Shipments of Raw Materials and Inconsistency of Product Quality Somersets global supply chain facilitates the wood shipments from the United States and South America to manufacturing plants in China. This shipment itinerary takes a long time to arrive China, therell be unexpected delays for processing shipment which incurs customer complaints and orders cancellation. Despite of long shipping time, the costs of shipment to the final destination and the raw material from US and South America are apparently high that reduced the profits. As the manufacturing plants employed Chinese workers to produce products by hand in China, it will cause discrepancies in product dimension and quality. Customers would ask for exchange or refund as the quality is not assured by hand-made. Poor Distribution Network and Transportation Management The finished furniture products are shipped by containers from Hong Kong or Shanghai to Norfolk, Virginia, once arrived, the containers are transported by truck to Somerset warehouses in Randolph Country, where all of retailers stores located and installed the furniture to prevent from damage during transport. Ineffective Order Management It is found that therere some critical flaws exist internally within Somersets global supply chain on its order processing and fulfillment system. Somerset processes orders weekly and biweekly and it takes 7-14 days to developing demand forecast and 12 -25 days for processing order which amount totally 22 to 45 days for purchase order to eventually complete. It requires another 60 days to produce product by hand when going into production. Poor Transportation Management As required by Chinese logistics, all finished furniture items have to be transported from the manufacturing plants to Chinese ports, which can take up to several weeks depending on trucking availability and schedules. Since 9/11, random security checks of containers will delay shipment for another one to three weeks and the trip overseas to Norfolk takes 28 days. Hence, from China to Norfolk port, it can take more than two months delivery time. Thereafter, clearing US customs can take another one to two weeks before local workers take another 1-3 days to unload containers and transfer the furniture onto truck to Somersets warehouse in Randolph County. Ineffective Inventory Management The variability of supply chain estimated is up to 40% for schedule deferment. Due to Somersets innovative conception to introducing new products frequently, it resulted in substantial excess inventories left over in warehouse where the obsolete furniture occupy precious space and increase high disposal and storage costs. Somerset proudly stands behind its products and customers can get a warranty period of 1 year from the date of purchase. It brought a serious problem for parts replacement, because China supplier is only able to provide these parts which are in production, but most of the parts are not produced anymore after 1-year guarantee period. Poor Product Quality Although quality auditors are employed by Chinese suppliers to perform quality audit every few weeks, Somerset still encounters several quality issues. Consequently, Somerset has to inspect every piece of furniture it receives from China due to retailers and customers complaints. 3. Development Justification of New Strategic Supply Chain Approach to be used by Somerset Foreign Competition Owing to fierce competition, Somerset has to close its entire US manufacturing facility and outsource all of its manufacturing to China to reduce costs and increases profits for the company. Outsourcing has become a common strategy that is adopted by all US companies and managing supply chains has now become a trend due to globalisation. It is felt that Somerset should have an outsourcing strategy which will continue to evaluate alternate low-cost furniture manufacturing plants around Asia or other regions. Depending on just low-cost China manufacturers which product its products by hand may not be a viable long term solution for its overall corporate or supply chain strategy. 3.2 Shipment of Raw Materials Consistency of Product Quality Somersets shipment of wood from the United States and South America to manufacturing plants in China is a costly and time-consuming process. Raw materials should be sourced from within China or from neighbouring countries around manufacturing facility to ensure low cost and better efficiency in materials movement. The China manufacturing plant produced all furniture products by hand, which is not only time-consuming, taking 60 days to finished the production, but also cause inconsistency of products quality. It is thus recommended that China manufacturing plant be ISO9000 certified, to provide Quality Assurance and invest in partial or fully automated machine to manufacture some of these furniture products so as to cut down the production lead-time and provide better consistency in products quality. In the meantime, the leader should take action of outsourcing another manufacturer in China to replace the current one, because the current plant may not have enough capital to purchase all necessary expensive equipment. Furthermore, the conversion from undeveloped factory to a qualified lean manufacturing facility cannot take place in one day since it is viewed as a long term transformation. Therefore, Somerset should outsource the production base to other China furniture manufacturing facilities, which comprise the following competencies: Lean manufacturing system implementation Lean manufacturing results in significant cost savings over a two to three year period. Specifically, manufacturing companies report significant reduction in raw materials, in-process inventories, setup costs, throughput times, direct labor costs, indirect labor costs, staff, overdue orders, tooling costs, quality costs, and the cost of bringing new designs on line (Swamidass 2002) ISO9000 certification Flexibility (refers to modification, design, machine, production lines and time flexibilities) Capacity (in terms of space, labor, equipment, IT and materials) 3.3 Better Distribution Network Transportation Management According to Chopra Meindl (2010), with regards to movement of products from factory to customer, there are six distinct distribution network designs for company to select one of them, as shown below: Manufacturer storage with direct shipping Manufacturer storage with direct shipping and in-transit merge Distributor storage with package carrier delivery Distributor storage with last-mile delivery Manufacturer/distributor storage with customer pickup Retail storage with customer pickup Somerset can select one of above distribution network to help in improving its distribution network. Choosing the manufacturer storage with direct shipping will help to eliminate the movement of furniture from Somerset warehouse to retail stores. This will have the advantages of better customers experience and lower inventory costs. Installation of hardware can therefore also be done at customers house instead of at retail stores. However, it has the disadvantages of higher transportation costs (because of increased distance and disaggregate shipping) and requiring investment in information infrastructure to integrate manufacturer and retailer. Another improvement in transportation is to eliminate export of raw materials from US to China by sourcing these materials from China or its neighbouring countries. This not only saves transportation time but also costs of materials. Purchasing department of Somerset will thus have the task to source for these new raw materials around Asia. 3.4 Effective Order Management The order processing and fulfillment system in Somersets global supply chain is too long and it is suspected that Somerset and Chinese manufacturing plant may not have the necessary information technology to enable the rapid sharing of demand and supply data. Per Harrison Hoek (2002), they mention that integration of demand and supply data so that an increasingly accurate picture is obtained about the nature of business processes, markets and consumers, can provide increasing competitive advantage. Figure 3.1 shows a conceptual model of how supply chain processes (supply, source, make, distribute and sell) are integrated together in order to meet end customer demand (cited by Harrison Hoek 2002, p.14): Figure 3.1 Integrating demand and supply chains Source: Harrison Hoek (2002, p.14) Another solution is to ensure that Somerset utilizes software for order processing which will automatically route for approval and issue purchase order in an efficient manner. There should also be policy in place to ensure that the approval routes are short and approving manager does not take too long to approve it. 3.5 Better Transportation Management Apparently, the Chinese logistics arrangement, depending on trucking availability and containers, causes wide times variability in shipment of finished furniture items from China ports to Norfolk. It is really critical for Somerset to have a good logistics/transportation manager to understand the root causes, select work with the Chinese suppliers to reduce this time and wide-variability to avoid delay shipment to customers. Langley et al. (2009) recommends proactive management approach to identify and solve transportation problems by reducing the number of carriers, negotiating with carriers, establishing carrier contracts with prescribed service levels, and modifying loading procedures. Hence, Somerset can negotiate and establish new contracts with Chinese suppliers or carriers to ensure that the finished products can depart China ports consistently at a shorter lead-time. In fact, Somerset should establish contracts with all transportation modes to ensure the required transportation service level and lead-times predictability. Other means of improvement and cost-effectiveness can be done through consolidating shipments and monitoring transportation service quality. 3.6 Effective Inventory Management It is highly recommended that Somerset adopts Just-In-Time (JIT) and Lean thinking concepts, as discussed by Harrison Hoek (2002), that can reduce delay, waste and inventory costs. Long-standing approaches to material control, such as reorder point stock control (ROP), economic order quantities (EOQ) and material requirements planning (MRP) can be made far more responsive by the application of JIT principle whereas lean thinking seeks perfection by gradually reducing waste from each of below four areas: Specifying value from the customer perspective Identifying the value stream ( through time-based mapping) Making the product flow through the supply network (by applying JIT principles) Letting the customer pull (through pull scheduling) Somerset may also adopt vendor-managed inventory (VMI) where it takes responsibility for monitoring sales and inventory in the retailers process. This information is used to trigger replenishment orders. As VMI is facilitated by willingness to share data, the use of integrated systems, and standard procedures, it is made more difficult by such factors as long replenishment lead times, inaccurate data, and unwillingness by either party to invest in systems support. Murphy Wood (2008) highlights tracking technology, radio-frequency identification (RFID) to keep track of inventory, which can further improve the efficiency in the supply chain network. 3.7 Better Product Quality The fact that Somerset has to inspect every piece of furniture it receives from China proves that China manufacturing plant must be ISO9000 certified and implement Quality Assurance System in-house. In addition, this will avoid the need to get quality auditors who are employed by Chinese suppliers to perform quality audit. A Quality Improvement Team should be formed in the China manufacturing plant and be trained so as to improve quality on a continual-basis. Somerset can also assist in the implementation of lean manufacturing for its outsourced China manufacturing plant or introduce Lean Six Sigma methodology to effectively control the process for better consistency in products quality. The requirements for the successful implementation of lean manufacturing, as per Swamidass (2002), are: All levels in the plant, from the production worker to the president must be educated in lean production philosophy and concepts. Top management must be totally committed to this venture and provide necessary leadership. Everyone must be involved in the change, and the internal customer must be empowered to play a vital role in this evolutional process. Everyone in the plant must understand that cost, not price, determines profit. The customer determines price, the plant determines the cost. Everyone must be committed to the elimination of waste. This is fundamental for becoming lean. The concept of standardization must be taught to everyone and applied to documentation, methods, processes as well as system metrics. 4. Evaluation Transformation Required In order to change the Somersets Supply Chain Philosophy from its traditionally position of functional independence to an integrated single entity, top management of Somerset has to ensure that conflicting functional objectives along the supply chain are reconciled and balanced. According to Barnes (2001), supply chain management requires a new approach to systems: integration is the key. Somerset must better manage its supply chain effectively through adapting the six building blocks for effective supply chain management (Harrison Hoek 2002) as follows: Develop a supply chain strategy Elements to be incorporated are: Customer service requirements Plant and distribution centre network design Inventory management Outsourcing and third-party logistics relationships Business processes Organizational design and training requirements Performance metrics and goals Gather supply chain information Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to facilitate the flow of information across their organization Develop effective partnerships and alliances Collaborative approach with key suppliers and customers for better decisions in procurement, production, inventory and fulfillment. Pilot new supply chain solutions Piloting initiatives on a small scale reduces risk and can encourage buy-in from others within the organization or supply chain. Elements to be included in any pilot projects are: Involvement of key stakeholders, suppliers, customers and employees. Selection of scope and environment Identification of critical success factors Organise for supply chain performance Organisational change for cross-functional instead of functionally based structures. Develop measurement system for supply chain performance Cross-supply chain instead of function focused measures: On time in full, outbound On time in full, inbound Internal defect rates New product introduction rate Cost reduction Order to delivery lead time Fiscal flexibility Somerset can also consider the proposal by Heinrich Betts (2003) to transform companys supply chain into adaptive business network. This new business model joins companies as partners, into an adaptable and flexible set of business relationships such that each company is able to respond more swiftly into changing market conditions and leverage the networks cumulative ability to: Plan and anticipate demand and supply. Execute plans efficiently and effectively. Sense events that affect the plans as those events occur, and analyze them for impact. Respond to and learn from ever-changing business conditions. Somerset can then move to an adaptive business network in four steps, as in Figure 4.1: Figure 4.1 The Four Steps of an Adaptive Business Network Step 1 Visibility: Sharing of information with partner companies. Many routine business processes with partners standardized. Information posted for common view on portal. Greater insight into business process and data accuracy problems. Step 2 Community: Moving day-to-day transactions to the portal. Establishment of minimum and maximum control thresholds. Reduction of inventory. Time savings via mechanizing transactions. Step 3 Collaboration: Sharing of customer demand data with members. Targeted replenishment of supplies. Responsibility transferred to supply replenishment vendors. Ability to reallocate inventory to fulfill maximum number of orders. Step 4 Adaptability: Time required for many tasks greatly decreased. Many tasks completely eliminated. Inventory and working capital dramatically reduced. New alliances, products, and revenue opportunities possible. Source: Heinrich Betts (2003, p.80) Harrison Hoek (2002) illustrates a number of transitional forces that need to be harnessed to give momentum to the change project, as structured in Figure 4.2 below: Figure 4.2 Transition forces Source: Harrison Hoek (2002, p.267) These 5 forces are described briefly as follows: Viability of current performance level Consider in light of market changes such as: Demographics Time-stressed customers One-to-one marketing The marketplace becomes the marketspace Perceived pay-off benefits from targeted performance Reap the potential benefits of e-business and benchmarking of improvement projects to quantify the potential benefits of making a change. Belief and enthusiasm Ability of project manager to communicate belief in the change process with enthusiasm. Ability to manage change Ability to plan the change, organizing the resources needed to make the change and managing the application of those resources in order to achieve the necessary outcome. Ability to operate in the new environment People in the organization must have the right skills, tools and techniques to operate the new process. The management of the new process will require a new set of performance measures to be in place so that its efficiency and effectiveness can be assessed. Specifically, there are several action items that are required to progressively (from Stage 1 to 3) change Somersets supply chain network to be effective and efficient, as illustrated in Table 4.1 below: Table 4.1 Action Items Required To Change Somersets Supply Chain Network Item Action Item Action To Be Taken Remarks 1 Foreign Competition Outsourced to China manufacturing plants Re-evaluate its capabilitycapacity Done 2 Shipment of Raw Materials from US Source raw materials in neighbouring countries of China Stage 1 3 Poor Distribution Network Manufacturer storage with direct shipping to customers Stage 3 4 Ineffective Order Management Integrating demand and supply data using technology Stage 2 5 Poor Transportation Management Re-negotiate new contracts with all transportation modes Stage 2 6 Ineffective Inventory Management Implement JIT approach and pull system scheduling Stage 3 7 Poor Product Quality Get China manufacturing plant ISO9000 certified Stage 1 However, the implementation of change in business is often frustrating and difficult, particularly in supply chains as it has to be undertaken in a coordinated manner across and between several organizations. It is therefore important to gain agreement from the top level of all companies involved before wide-scale changes can be made. 5. Conclusion In this case study, Somersets approach to manage its supply chain resulted in poor business performance. The visible hazards and other negative factors frustrated Somerset included poor logistics management, ineffective order system and inventory management as well as inconsistency of product quality. In adopting a value chain, Somerset must incorporate and execute a robust supply chain management strategy for best-fit suppliers selection, further establish on how to work with supply partners, distributors, suppliers, customers or even customers customers as a way to remain competitive. Otherwise, the company will not survive. In addition, top management of Somerset has to lead and motivate not only all internal functional teams, but also external suppliers and partners, to work as an integrated entity in the new strategic supply chain network, so as to achieve the overall corporate objectives. In a nutshell, supply chains have shifted from a cost focus to a customer focus, until currently to a strategic focus, scrutinizing the success of a strategy is just as good as the companys capabilities to fully and properly execute all. A great supply chain strategic approach, connected with operational excellence, can provide success for not only the company in crisis but also its partners and customers.