Guitars: the History, Types, and Influence

Ariana Kecskes Mrs. Densmore English 9/10 March 11, 2013 Guitars Guitars have been around since the Renaissance. In the late 1400’s, the classical guitar was created. This instrument was known as an â€Å"outcast†, never being played in concerts. Later on, the Spanish guitar was created; the early versions of this were known to have a unique sting layout because they had four sets of two strings. In the 1500’s a fifth set of strings were added to this guitar.Well into the 1500’s, the guitar began to be played in performances. This made guitars more famous, and caused better and improved designs to be made. Many people began to play the guitar, including Benjamin Franklin and Andrew Jackson. Finally, in the 1850’s the modern design for an acoustic guitar was made by C. F. Martin. In the 1800’s, many modern design of guitars evolved from the Italian and French models. People invented new techniques of playing the guitar including, playing and t uning all at once.In the late 1800’s, Orville Gibson began building arch top guitars. Over 78 thousand guitars were made in the year, 1900. The 20th century was a very prosperous time for the guitar. Manufacturers began making steel-stringed guitars which are popular today. In 1931, the first electric guitar was created; they called it â€Å"The Frying Pan†, due to its round shape. However, electric guitars were not popular until 1936, when Gibson made a famous electric model, the ES-150.Later on, guitar crafters made the â€Å"Solid Body Guitar†, because of bad reports on their previous models. Fender created â€Å"The Broadcaster† in 1949, which was the first largely produced guitar. In 1952, Gibson created the popular â€Å"Les Paul†. Fender and Gibson both went on creating guitars almost as in a competition. By the 1960’s, the guitar was fully matured. Gibson produced another electric guitar model in 1961, the ES-335. This was a semi-hol low body guitar.. The Strat and the SG were very popular guitars, especially in the 1960’s.

Burger King Financial Overview 06-08

From the balance sheet point of view, we can see that total current assets initially decreased and then remained constant. This decrease was due to a reduction in cash and cash equivalents while simultaneously net receivables increased. This essentially tells us that Burger King’s short term liquidity position took a turn for the worse. On the other hand, considering the fact that long term assets such as ‘property, plant and equipment’ and ‘goodwill’ increased, therefore total assets increased during 06-08.This tells us that growth took place during the above mentioned period. Total liabilities decreased sharply in 07 but then rose again slightly in 08. This decrease was mainly due to a reduction in long term debt. However, growth was still taking place because total liabilities rose again in 08. The income statement for the fiscal year 06-08 shows an extremely healthy increase in the net income, especially from 06-07 (increase from $27 million to $1 48 million). This also corroborates with our initial analysis of growth taking place in the company.Referring back to the balance sheet, as mentioned before, there was a sharp decrease in cash and cash equivalents while on one hand we can see that net income has been steadily increasing. What we can gauge from these figures is that burger king has essentially been expanding its business by reinvesting cash. Total assets have increased during this period as well mainly due to an increase in fixed assets. Due to the growth in the net income, stockholder’s equity has also been increasing steadily during this period. Retained earnings as well as capital surplus have also risen considerably during this period.All of these figures point towards a profitable and growing company. From the cash flow statement, figures show that cash from operating activities has been positive and rising. Cash from investing activities, on the other hand, has been negative and we can see that most of t he cash has been used in capital expenditures, yet another sign of a growing and expanding company. Dividend payments have also decreased. The sale of stock has also decreased over this period and in 08 burger king repurchased its stock which is an indicator that they were trying to improve their liquidity position.From the cash flow statement, we can see that accounts receivables as well as current liabilities have increased. The augmentation of current assets therefore was mainly due to a rise in the value of the account receivables. However, both current liabilities and assets have increased during 07-08 which has resulted in the value of the current ratio remaining just below 1. Therefore, the liquidity position has remained stable although not as good as it should be. Referring back to the balance sheet, we can also that long term debt rose during 07-08. This might have essentially led to an increase in the interest expense of that year.From an overall point of view, we can see that burger king is a profitable and growing company. Every financial statement essentially hints towards a moderate expansion policy. The fact that net income has been steadily increasing tells us that burger king has been extremely profitable. If it continues to operate in the same manner, it will be able to sustain this growth, keep its investors happy and finance future expansion in an efficient manner. Sources: http://finance. yahoo. com/q? s=BKC William & Haka & Bettner, . Financial and Managerial Accounting. : McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2003.

Biography of Rihanna

She began signing when she was seven with two of her classmates but it wasn’t until she was sixteen that she met Evan Rogers and began to work with him and moved out of Barbados. A year after moving to the states she was asked to meet with Jay-z at DefJam Records where she was offered a contract in February 2005. Working with DefJam records she was able to record her first album by the end of 2005. â€Å"Music of the sun† was released and Pon De Replay became her first widely known hit making it in to the top 5 singles for that year. Just about a year later she released album number two â€Å"A Girl Like Me†. Her song S. O. S. was her first number one hit and the album was ranked in the top five albums for the year. In May 2007 she released her third album â€Å"Good Girl Gone Bad† which won her a Grammy for best rap/collaboration for her number one hit Umbrella. This album also was known for three other number one hits including Don’t Stop the Music, Take a Bow, and Disturbia. Around two years later she released her fourth album â€Å"Rated R† which was the number one album on the Billboard Hot 100 albums for the year. Three of her songs from this album made it to the top ten singles including Russian Roulette, Hard, and Rude Boy. Under a year later she released â€Å"Loud† being one of her most popular albums and being known for her three number one singles Only Girl(In the World), Samp;M, and What’s My Name?. Finally her most recent album â€Å"Talk That Talk† was released in 2012 and is currently known for the number one single We Found Love. As of now we know that she is working on her seventh album which no information has been release about. She had been on four tours around the world and has one upcoming tour Diamonds World Tour which will be her biggest, longest tour yet. Rihanna often gives credit to her idols that all influenced her in different ways. The person she says influenced her the most would be Madonna saying â€Å"I want to be the Black Madonna. † She also has said that Whitney Houston, Beyonce, Bob Marley, Marilyn Monroe, Mariah Carey and Destiny’s child were very influential on her life becoming a successful artist in today’s music industry. Rihanna has become an influential person herself, having been and idol for Justin Bieber and Rita Ora, both younger artists. She has been named one of the most influential people in the world and ranks fourth in the most powerful celebrities. She has received many awards including five American Music awards, eighteen Billboard Music awards, two BRIT awards and 5 Grammys. She has had eleven number one singles on Billboards top 100 and was named Digital Artist for the 2000’s by Billboard Music as well. She is the highest selling digital artist of all time with 47,571,000 sold singles as of early 2012. Forbes reported that she earned a little over $82 million between May 2010 and May 2012 and she continues to expand on her career. Rihanna in known for her thought provoking music videos, many of them with under-lying meanings. Much like Madonna she incorporates substance abuse, domestic violence or love triangles into her videos. She also turns obscure situations into glitz and glamorous situations. Many of her videos and outfits have caused controversy because of the explicit content. Her live shows are known for her hip shaking, sex appeal, attitude, sexy outfits and over the top performances sometimes being quite risque. She has said that â€Å"These performances are all an act, that’s not me. That’s a part I play. You know it’s like a piece of art with all these toys and textures to play with. † In her early days she was a typical teen pop star but she easily shifted her appearance dramatically and continues to change frequently. By the time she released her â€Å"Good Girl Gone Bad† album she had completely shook the teen pop star image everyone had gave her. By 2008 she was named best dressed by Peoples magazine and was on Maxims Hot 100 for five consecutive years (2007-2011). In 2009 Glamour named her Woman of the year and she ranked seventeenth out of fifty in Most Glamorous Women. She also was named sexiest women alive in 2011 by Esquire. Not only is she an extremely successful music artist, she has had her share in acting as well. In 2006 she mad a cameo appearance in the movie Bring it On: All or Nothing. In 2012 she was seen in the movie Battleship as GM2 officer Cora Raikes and had another cameo appearance in The Katy Perry Movie. In the next two years she will be seen in End of the World and Happy Smekday. The successful Barbadian superstar started out as a typical teen pop singer and has made a huge name for herself, not only singing but acting as well. Attempting to turn herself into the â€Å"Black Madonna† it seems she has met her goal although she continues to do more with her career. After seven years and six albums Rihanna has become one of the most popular music artists not only in the USA but worldwide. She is one of the most influential celebrities for upcoming music artists in the industry today.

Genetically modified foods Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Genetically modified foods - Research Paper Example As a result, GM could provide solutions to problems of poor, hungry, and marginalized people in developing countries (Weirich, 2007). Yet opponents of the technology are concerned that genetic modification can erode biodiversity, lead to genetic pollution, and cause the evolution of "super bugs" and "super weeds" (Weirich, 2007; Weick and Walchli, 2002). They also raise questions about the health safety of GM food and equity issues relating to the ownership of GM seeds (Weick and Walchli, 2002). Advocates of genetic modification often contend that the risks associated with it do not differ much from risks introduced by conventional breeding. Indeed, in 1990, the International Food Biotechnology Council recommended that GM food plants could be regulated with existing laws and practices and that no additional regulatory measures were needed (Ingenthron, 1991). Some argue, on the other hand, that new biotechnology is qualitatively different from conventional techniques (Victor and Runge, 2002). In conventional breeding, whole blocks of genes are moved by allowing crossovers or meiosis (Lappe and Bailey, 1998). With genetic engineering, only isolated genes carrying specific traits are transferred. Also, genetic engineering allows gene transfer between species that would not naturally exchange genetic material. The later trait makes this new technology revolutionary, as revolutionary as the splitting of the atom. Giddens (2000: 8) called it a quantum leap, both in terms of its p ossible advantages and risks. Like every scientific revolution, GM technology has entered into public debate with its perceived benefits and costs. In 1991, the Office of Technology Assessment stated that biotechnology would contribute to agriculture by: (1) lowering production costs; (2) increasing yields; (3) providing higher-quality food; and (4)

Charlemagne's Quest to restore the Roman Empire Essay

Charlemagne's Quest to restore the Roman Empire - Essay Example It is the purpose of this essay to discuss the efforts made by Charlemagne during his reign, to restore the former glory of the Roman Empire. Charlemagne was involved in numerous wars that he started himself, or those started by his late father. It was Charlemagne’s mission to expand the territory of the Franks and gain control over vast territories. Accordingly, Charlemagne was involved in wars with people such as the Danish, Saxons, Spanish, Huns, Slavs, among other tribes2. In all these wars, Charlemagne and his army emerged victorious and forced the other tribes to surrender. These newly acquired territories increased the size of Charlemagne’s empire to almost three times that ruled by his father3. By the end of his rule, Charlemagne had expanded the Frankish Empire to be the largest in Europe, coming second only to the ancient Roman Empire. Charlemagne’s many accomplishments in war won him as much accolades. He became the most revered king in Europe and ever y ruler, ranging from the Greeks to the Persians wanted to befriend him. Friendship with Charlemagne meant being well protected from one’s enemies, in addition to trade benefits. Charlemagne ruled Western Europe from Aachen, the center of his empire. Accordingly, the royal palace was stationed at Aachen. Charlemagne enlisted the services of Christian clerics to work for him at the palace. From Aachen, Charlemagne ruled most of present day Europe including: France, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, and Austria4. Aachen was strategically positioned such that Charlemagne was able to govern both the western and eastern sides of the Frankish empire effectively. Charlemagne believed in bringing services closer to people, thus he decentralized the administration of his empire, gave more rights to the subjects and relieved the clergy and nobles of some of their powers. As a religious man and specifically a Christian, Charlemagne was keen to ensure that people had proper places of worship. The â€Å"Holy Mother of God† basilica was built at Aix-la-Chapelle for religious practices5. This basilica was a great work of architecture that symbolized the architectural prowess of the people of Western Europe. The basilica was adorned with gold, silver, brass and marbles. Charlemagne was also very concerned about the appearance of sacred places and would routinely order priests and fathers to repair any damaged edifices. During his reign, Charlemagne insisted on the importance of the parish church by encouraging every village to have a church and a priest. Charlemagne forged a strong friendship with Pope Leo III. This ensured that Charlemagne’s empire had strong connections with Rome, thus the strengthening of the Christian faith. It was this close association with the pope that led to Charlemagne being crowned â€Å"emperor† by the pope. During Charlemagne’s period of influence, trade and commerce flourished due to var ious changes introduced in the monetary system. One of the most important changes that Charlemagne introduced was the use of silver as the medium of exchange in Europe. Prior to this, gold was the only form of currency used to transact business all over Europe. Since silver was more available, business transaction became easier and more people were able to participate in commerce6. In addition to the introduction of silver as

Economic news analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Economic news analysis - Essay Example It has been reported that employers in America increased the number of jobs positions. However, despite the above increase in job positions, most of the applicants could not meet the required level of competencies to do the jobs (Steve, Rich & Jeanna, para1-10). This trend has made the rate of unemployment to remain significantly high at a rate of 7.9% (Steve, Rich & Jeanna, para-9). Additionally, majority of the older employees within an age bracket of 45 to 54 years were unwilling to shift to the new job positions (Steve, Rich & Jeanna, para1-10). Therefore, it was not a wonder to see some few people coming out to compete for the new jobs as employment positions increases (Steve, Rich & Jeanna, para3).The article has further provided a description of what could have attributed a decline in number of unemployed people in the United state. Analysis According to Bloomberg report most the employers find it challenging to find a qualified employee who can feel a job need (Steve, Rich & Jeanna, Para 7). Therefore, most employers opted to approach staffing agency firm for recruitment assistance (Steve, Rich & Jeanna, Para 7). It was reported that about one hundred and sixty jobs were created on February this year, however despite this increase the rate of unemployment remained at 7.6 % (Steve, Rich & Jeanna, Para 9). ... Additionally, frictional unemployment may be experienced among people who have left their jobs and are looking for other better jobs (Mankiw, Nicholas, p 606). The rate of unemployment may be determined using the formula below; Unemployment Rate = Number of unemployed people ?100 Total labor force/civilian labor force Source: (Tucker, p-261) Whereby; Labor forces also commonly referred to civilian labor force involves to those people within employment age and below the retirement age that are either working or are actively looking for a job (Tucker, p-261). Frictional unemployment may be presented graphically as shown below; Wages W0 R2 R1 w2 w1 w3 T0 T2 T1 Duration of labor Source: Author Based on the above graph it can be scrutinized how frictional employment occurs given the level of wages. The wages increases from W1 to W2 while duration of labor decreases from T1 to T2 as more people are willing to work with the available wage rates. In above connection, the professor of economi cs at Northwestern University Illinois (Mortensen) asserted that American labor market has remained flexible due to application of monetary measures. However, inflation rates were projected to increase (Steve, Rich & Jeanna, para3-4). This indicates that as unemployment problems were being addressed inflation rates tend to increases as explained in the Philips curve (Mankiw & Nicholas p-606). Additionally, Fed chief asserted that a long period of unemployment may cause workers to lose some working skills and this can lead to a decline in firms’ productivity (Steve, Rich & Jeanna, Para 10). Fed further asserted that the number of people who remained unemployed for a period of more than 27 weeks reduced in the year 2010 from 6.7 millions to 4.7 million

Leadership and motivation in Virgin Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Leadership and motivation in Virgin Media - Essay Example Motivation helps increase productivity. Two motivational theories are Herzberg two factor theory and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Herzberg’s two factor theory is a motivational theory that identifies job context as the source of job dissatisfaction and job content as the source of satisfaction (Schermernhorn, Hunt, Osborn, 2003). The theory is divided in motivator factors and hygiene factors. Hygiene factors are sources of job dissatisfaction. Hygiene factors in job content that affect dissatisfaction include: Motivator factors in job context that affect job satisfaction are achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, and growth. This theory is popular due to its simplicity and direct linkage to behavior of the employees. The theory also has its critics. â€Å"Some say its methodology does not address the notion that when things are going well people tend to look at the things they enjoy about their job† (Mindtools, 2014). A content theory of motivation develop by Abraham Maslow in 1943 is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Cherry, 2014). The theory is composed a pyramid of five needs that can be categorized as higher order or lower order needs. The five needs in ascending order are physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization. An illustration of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is shown below. The physiological need include most basic needs such as food and water. Safety needs are security, protection, and stability. Social needs are associated with love and affection. Some esteem needs are respect, recognition, prestige, and competence. Self actualization needs deal with fulfillment and growth. This motivation methodology is fairly easy to implement which has made the theory popular in the business world. It is in the best interest of Virgin Media to motivate its staff because doing so will increase the performance of the business. Virgin Media is the UK’s first provider of all

Problem Solving Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Problem Solving - Assignment Example This can be achieved through the formation of labor organizations, which would look into the grievances and welfare of workers (Hill and Jones 359). It would also be necessary to ensure that Apple and Foxconn’s recruitment and selection practices of their employees are reviewed. They should ensure that they hire people of integrity who must be able to ethically carryout their duties. A clear policy guideline should be formulated with laws being set to safeguard the rights of employees. A question of conjecture If the solution to this situation is to ensure transparency prevails, how can pressure offer this solution? It is apparent that Apple pays extraordinary attention to their publicity and social image. In this regard, if pressure is something to go by, it can be argued that Apple will continue exhibiting these problems as long as there is no pressure. Besides, can pressure be the best solution for long-term solution to these problems? It is like arguing that a government f aced with problems in delivering to its citizens can only be corrected by its citizens pressuring it. Of course, it is one of the solutions, and, which tends to offer short-term ones. What needs to be done is to ensure that accountability is insisted. The most important thing is to ensure that every person is accountable for his or her deeds (Hill and Jones 360). The government should, for example, ensure that all organizations adhere to set laws that safeguard employees. A question of value Can the option of the government of china protecting freedom and rights of workers by establishing a real work union be a solution to these problems? If the government can reform its own auditing practices, there would be an efficient monitoring of human rights and labor violations in factories. It is, therefore, true to argue that reforming auditing practice would allow workers air their grievances and that they would have an effective, collective voice in determining matters related to their w orking conditions. When workers are unable to add their voices in the decision making, most of their problems go unattended. It would, therefore, be necessary if workers are allowed to join labor unions, and above all, be incorporated in the decision making process, especially on matters concerning wages and working conditions (Hill and Jones 359). A question of policy What are current policies regarding workers wages and working conditions? It is apparent that there are no adequate policies in china that look into issues of factory workers. FLA Chief Executive Officer argued that there were no conclusive remarks from the president of FLA on the working conditions of young workers that come from rural areas to work in the industries. This means that the rights of these young workers in china can not be guaranteed. It would be vital that the government come up with statutes that would cater for the rights of workers in industries. Perhaps, the issue of inserting pressure by the publi c on government should be considered ideal in this situation. Industries and other organizations operating in a country that does not have well defined workers rights would tend to take advantage of this fact to exploit their workers. Nevertheless, this goes beyond inserting pressure on the government. It is the responsibility of its citizens to ensure that they vote in leaders of integrity into power. Leaders that would be concerned about workers issues. Conclusion

Economic Crisis in Greece and its Impact on the Euro Essay

Economic Crisis in Greece and its Impact on the Euro - Essay Example The levels of debt and shortfalls surpassed the limits that have been set by the euro zone (CNN). As per the Euro is concerned, since its introduction in the year 1999, its value had declined substantially against the US dollar, as well as certain other currencies. The flaw was to a degree credited to outflows of capital from Europe. However, by 2007, the euro was valued at 53 percent higher than its value that was in 2001. The high interest rates in Europe in comparison to US interest rates had triggered the rebound of the euro, and attracted inflow of capital into Europe (Madura, 167). The report conveys a detailed study on the economic crisis prevailing in Greece and its impacts on the Euro. Background to the Crisis: The euro zone was incepted in the year 1999, and several independent states forsaken their own national currencies in support of a universal currency, the euro. The euro was mainly adopted because a number of advantages were expected to get bestowed by the monetary un ion on the countries that participated. Countries like Greece, which generally have high inflation, the adoption of euro could benefit by lowering the inflation and the nominal interest rates as well. Lower inflation rates encourage greater borrowing and lending, decreases the possibility of competitive devaluations, introduces a common measure of value across countries thus bringing transparency in competition across countries, and also reduces risk by eliminating exchange rate fluctuations. These advantageous features of a common currency subsist till price stability is delivered by the central bank of the monetary union and is plausible. In the case of the euro zone, the European Central Bank had rapidly recognized its anti-inflation recommendations and became credible (Provopoulos, 1-2). In spite of the above mentioned advantages, there are certain costs relevant to the adoption of euro as the common currency. A country joining the euro zone becomes incapable of setting its own domestic economic policy. Also, it no more possesses the ability to alter the nominal exchange rate of its currency. Low financial discrepancies and resilient labor and product markets is particularly important in the euro zone. The euro zone does not have a fundamental economic power that can restructure economic properties from a low-unemployment area to a high-unemployment area to lessen the consequences of unbalanced distress. Also, owing to differences in language and culture among the different countries in Europe, labor is more mobile in the United States than in here. Hence, regulation systems are required for the euro zone at a national level. Lower economic inequity and elastic product and labor markets offer mechanisms to ease the modification to alarms (Provopoulos, 2). The Greek Economy 2001-2009: With the entry into the euro zone, the Greek economy seemed to enter a new period experiencing strong development and low price rises. The changes brought about in the economi c environment with the adoption of the euro provided crucial benefits for a country like Greece that had experienced constant budget deficits, and high inflation rates levels from the early-1980s till the mid-1990s. However, along with the advantages, long term

The Fraud Act 2006 in the UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Fraud Act 2006 in the UK - Essay Example In the UK, the Fraud Act 2006 came into force during January 2007, and it substituted the deception crimes included in the Theft Acts 1968-1996 with a more general offence of fraud, which can be done in the following ways namely fraud by failing to divulge information, fraud by dishonesty or deceitful representation and fraud by misuse of position and authority. The offence under the Frauds Act 2006 is punishable if charges are proved with a fine or with an imprisonment of ten years or with both. It is punishable by a fine not in excess of the statutory maximum or sentence for a period of not exceeding six months or with both. Under tort of deceit, a person may claim damages if the fraud committed is resulted in injury to the affected party. On the ground of fraudulent misrepresentation, a contract may be voidable if it has been obtained by fraud. (Law & Martin 2009:240). Courts in England have not yet prepared to prescribe exactly what can be regarded as fraud. It is to be noted tha t the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) which was formed on the recommendation of the Roskill Report in 1984 had not taken into account the offence of fraud but recognised on an evocative manner, many fraud crimes which UK’s Home Office employs even today. (Ramage 2005:4). As on date, in UK, there exists no statutory offence of fraud and the Home Office of UK has set out some kind’s criminal activities that can be regarded as offences of fraud in â€Å"Counting Rules for Recording Crime.† According to a publication made by the Home Office in April 2003, describing the following as offences of â€Å"forgery and fraud.† Frauds by an individual include common law offence of conspiracy to defraud, under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, fraudulent misappropriation of funds, obtaining a money transfer through credit card or cheque fraud under section 12 of the Theft Act 1987. (Ramage 2005:104).In Cronos Containers NV v Palatin, the defendants were Klamath Enterprises S A and Mr. and Mrs. Palatin. The shares of Klamath were owned by Mr. Palatin. In 1994, Mr.Palatin deceived the plaintiff by making five different payments from one of the Plaintiff’s clients, and the same was credited into Barclays bank account owned by Paladins. Then, such defrauded sums were employed by the defendants to renovate a property held by Klamath. (Ramage 2005:4). Conspiracy to Defraud Under Common Law It falls under consent to divest deceitfully somebody’s right or to abuse somebody’s property privilege. In Scott v Metropolitan Police Commissioner2, S agreed with workers of a cinema theatre to take copies of cinema screened in that theatre without the approval of the owner with an objective of commercial distribution held to be a conspiracy to defraud under common law. In Wai Yu-Tsang v R3, A acted in concert with bank employees to camouflage in the bank accounts the fact about dishonoring of cheques which the bank had already purchased so as to prev ent a bankruptcy by the bank, and A was held for the guilty of conspiracy to fraud. According to Lord Goff, conspiracy to fraud does not restrict to the notion of divesting somebody with something of value, but it also falls under deceit and fraud and if somebody may be discriminated in any way by the deceit or fraud. (Fionda & Bryant2000:154).  

European influence in Africa Essay Example for Free

European influence in Africa Essay The presence of Europeans in African countries had a great influence on the cultural benefits, traditions and norms of Africans. African societies were composed of small ethnic groups bound by deep cultural and traditional benefits. Slave trade in North Africa disintegrated these cultural systems. The entry of Europeans in North Africa led to breaking of those small indigenous units into modular states that could be easily controlled by the colonial rule. They abolished the indigenous legal systems and imposed new legal systems based on European concepts of law. North Africa was integrated into the world capitalist system, where its main function was to provide raw materials and new markets for Western industrial revolution. This led to imposition of taxation forcing Africans into cheap wage labor. Land grabbing and alienation in settler colonies made it impossible for the economy of the colonized countries to grow. This is because the colonial administrations only developed areas they saw fit for their benefit and it led to growth of colonial cities such as Dakar, Lagos and Nairobi. Westernization in North Africa led to the rise of Christianity and reduced the number of Muslims in sub Sahara, which contributed to the destabilization of Africa traditions and cultural benefits. Christianity promoted the assimilation of new ideas and new lifestyles such as monogamy and nuclear family. African societies believed in polygamy and extended families. This is being practiced even to day. Christian missionaries introduced Western education, which involved mastery of European language and literacy. The adoption of new habits and tastes coupled with Christianity and western education, led to the development of a new elite that included teachers, clerks, lawyers and doctors. Slave trade degraded the value of African people because they were used against their will to benefit the European economy. This impacted negatively on African leaders because some still practice slave trade today. Europeans brought about, modernization in Africa in terms of Western education, Christianity and Western lifestyles. European influence in Asia (1650-1815). South East Asia comprised of societies that varied in different aspects. Main societies in south East Asia included China, Thailand and Cambodia, therefore European influence on South East Asia varied extensively depending on indigenous states. Societies in South East Asia had very distinct traditional beliefs and rulers who reigned with a conviction of permanency and stability. Europeans created new economic relationships in South East Asia by establishing new industries like rubber production and improvement of traditional ones such as rice and sugar industries. They were improved and expanded to meet the European needs. Communities in Cambodia protested against economical changes when agribusiness in form of plantation farming was introduced. Europeans aimed to make the traditional cultures modern. This was received positively by some south East Asians who had been trained in Western schools. They believed that Western culture would have positive effects on their cultural and economical backgrounds. The elites adopted the European language and mode of dressing. Adoption of the Western culture led to political, economical and social growth in Asia. However, it was difficult to assimilate the European culture and lifestyles in Asia because of the diversity of Asian cultural customs and traditions. Asia is composed of Muslim, Christianity and Buddhism and therefore impacting Christianity in Asia was difficult. These traditional settings emphasized on unifying of social, economic, political and social spheres, though it is impractical to unify all the spheres. The influence of Europeans in Asia was highly varied and uneven throughout the region. They used superior military technology to achieve conquest and monopoly. The Portuguese invasion of Malacca led to the decline of the trade systems as they tried to dominate the spice trade. The European therefore, caused the detachment of producers form their traditional markets. As a result the powerful trading cultures in southeastern Asia collapsed due to colonial influence. European influence was limited to the coastal ports and the adjoining regions. Peasant life in Asia was not affected by the European influence as they remained inside the confines of their village. (Alagappa 130-138). European influence in Middle East (1825-1941). Middle east societies combined religion with governance of their states. European powers overwhelmed the region and tried to separate governance from religion. They replaced the indigenous educational, social and political systems through modernization. The Kuranic schools were replaced by the Western education. Middle east is an Islamic region that viewed European powers as enemies for creating Christianity in the Muslim dominated region. This created a sense of distrust of the Europeans by the Arabs. Europeans faced great resistance form the Arabs who used national movements to adopt anti-western speeches in order to gain favor from their people.. European powers in the Middle East replaced the Muslim leaders by non-Muslim leaders to create artificial political territories since they did not arise from the societies. They created states that had conflicting ethnicities and divided other ethnic groups into two or three portions. For instance they divided the Kurds into Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria. (Kaelble 120-127). Dividing ethnic communities stirred political rivalry and violence in the Middle East. It also created instability among the Arabs, preventing political, social and economical development. The Arabs formulated revenge missions to the Europeans and resisted any form of invasion whether political, economical, educational or social.

Internship Report on Zong Pakistan Essay Example for Free

Internship Report on Zong Pakistan Essay Groups individuals according to the occasions when they purchase, use or think of buying a product. 2. Benefits Sought : Groups individuals according to the benefits they seek from the product. 3. Usage Rate : Groups individuals according to the level of usage they make of the product, be it Heavy, Medium or Light usage. 4. User Status : Groups individuals according to whether they are non-users, potential users, first-time users, regular users, or ex-users of a product Loyalty Status : Groups individuals according to their level of loyalty to the product. Hard core loyals always purchase the product / brand in question. Whilst Soft core loyals will sometimes purchase another brand, and Switchers will not specifically seek out a particular brand, but rather purchase the brand available to them at time of need, or that which was on sale. 6. Buyer Readiness Stage : Groups individuals according to their readiness to purchase the product. This segmentation model is particularly useful in formulating and monitoring the marketing communication strategies employed to move consumers towards purchase of a product or brand. Role of Segmentation: Segmentation is the first step towards customer understanding, which allows organisations to build healthy relationships with their customers. Money is made by keeping customers, and the whole idea of segmenting customers in order to build customer relationships is to turn it into a mutually satisfying relationship, says Ovum analyst (David Bradshaw, 2000).

A Report on the Balanced Scorecard for Yunnan Lucky Air

A Report on the Balanced Scorecard for Yunnan Lucky Air The Chinese airline industry is a heavily regulated industry which provides limiting flexibility to both new as well as growing airlines. In the recent years many low-cost airlines have mushroomed, Lucky Air being one of them. Lucky Air was founded in July 2004 with an initial capitalisation of US$2.2 million. The ownership of the airline is with Hainan Airlines, Shanxi Airlines and Yunnan Shilin Tourism Aviation.The airline exists in a crowded field of around 15 low-cost Chinese airlines. The airline, though growing, anticipates a potential squeeze in its business. The management of Yunnan Lucky Air, hereinafter referred to as Lucky Air, approached us to advice them on monitoring their performance closely so as to achieve their organisational mission and objectives. After initial discussions with the management of the airlines, my team has recommended the use of a Balanced Scorecard to monitor its performance. I present in this report a Balanced Scorecard for Lucky Air that translat es the airlines mission and strategy into a comprehensive set of performance measures. Recent Trends in Lucky Air Lucky Air is currently based in Kunming in Peoples Republic of China. The airline has its main base in Dali airport and runs its flights between Dali to Kunming and Xishuangbanna. The routes in this region have greatly contributed to most of its profits. It is slowly reaching out to other regions in China. The overall growth of the airline has been facilitated by the limited route licensing policy of the Chinese government that has given Lucky Air a near monopoly status within Yunnan. The number of passengers carried by the airline has grown from 500,000 passengers over 5,746 flight hours in 2006 to 1.2 million over 17,875 total flight hours. During the same period, its operating revenue tripled from US$31.2 million to US$104.3 million. Over the recent years, Lucky Air has also grown in terms of flights to and from destinations outside the Yunnan province. As in early 2008, the additional routes represented almost 87 of its 150 weekly flights by the airline. Lucky Air Strategy Lucky Air operates as a low-cost, high-efficiency airline. This is the basis of its key strategy. The low-cost and high efficiency is maintained through: Using single type of aircraft leading to reduced maintenance and operational costs. Having only one category of seat class, thereby simplifying pricing. Having no seat assignments or in-flight entertainment. Increasing on-time departure and arrival by having short haul point-to-point routes. Operating mostly in secondary cities to avoid congestion and reduce landing costs. As a part of its expansion strategy, in recent times Lucky Air has tried to build its competitive advantage by focusing on e-commerce. Customers can buy and refund tickets online by paying 5% to 20% less than anywhere else. The airline has created an online community for its passengers and hopes to reach more customers directly via its website and build more brand recognition and a loyal customer base. In addition, Lucky Air has invested in own call centres to facilitate ticket booking. Balance Scorecard for Lucky Air Lucky Airs strategy rests around it being a low-cost, high-efficiency airline. A scorecard can measure the airlines performance across four different but linked perspectives that are derived from its vision, strategy and objectives. These perspectives include: Financial, Customer, Internal and Learning Growth. The left-hand side of the diagram represents the cause-and-effect relationships across the four perspectives that describe low cost and high-efficiency strategy. (Refer Appendix A for an explanation of the Lucky Air Scorecard and Appendix B for Cause and Relationship between perspectives) Benefits and Limitations of the Scorecard Like any other performance measurement tool, a Balanced Scorecard is not foolproof. Before the scorecard that has been designed for Lucky Air is implemented, the benefits and limitations of the scorecard need to be examined and understood. Benefits of Lucky Air Scorecard Balance Scorecard has led companies to develop a variety of corporate scorecards suggesting a process approach to innovations in performance measurements. (Source: Epstein and Birchard, 2000 and Hoque and James 1997). The benefits that can be obtained from a Balanced Scorecard depend on not just its design but also what it is used for and how it is applied. In general, a Balanced Scorecard will help Lucky Air: Enhance traditional financial accounting measures of Lucky Air by including certain non-financial measures. Thus, Lucky Air, through a Balanced Scorecard, can examine the drivers of financial performance by focusing at least three other perspectives: customers, internal business processes, and learning and growth. (Source: Kaplan and Norton, 1992, 1996). Acquire an effective means for clearly translating a firms vision and strategy into tool for communicating the firms strategy to the various sections of the organisation. In the case of Lucky Air, the Balanced Scorecard can show how focusing on the customer and the services can lead to increased profits. (Source: Chow, 1997; Source: Kaplan, 1992) Motivate performance against established strategic goals. A handful of critical measures have been identified for each perspective and the corresponding targets have been defined. The performance measures force managers to focus on the measures that are most critical. The targets provide managers with a framework to manage the various activities in line with the corporate objectives. For example, a manager can clearly see that managing on ground time is critical and it needs to be kept below 20 minutes. Ensure that its employees understand the long-term strategy of the organisation and also the association between the employees actions and the chosen strategic goals. It can provide strategic feedback and promote learning within the airline through the monitoring of short-term strategic results. Allocate resources and set priorities based on the initiatives contribution to long-term strategic objectives. (Source: Kaplan and Norton, 1996). Evaluate and judge the decisions, policies, plans of the airline. For example, the success or otherwise of the decision of adopting e-commerce as an expansion strategy by Lucky Air can be examined in terms of the four perspectives and its impact on the profitability of the airline. Fosters organisational learning and continual improvement when it is used as a strategic management tool. Limitations of Lucky Air Scorecard Though Balanced Scorecard may be an effective tool for many organisations, it may not help in improvement of performance of all organisations. A Balanced Scorecard is only a tool and the deployment of the tool rests with the airline itself. It is not easy to provide practical guidance for deployment of the scorecard. Some of the key limitations that can cause a Balanced Scorecard initiative at Lucky Air to fail are as follows: Effectiveness of a balanced scorecard depends on a well defined strategy and an understanding of the linkages between strategic objectives and metrics. (Source: Howard Rohm pp.4). If this is lacking its deployment will be unsuccessful. The biggest limitation of the Lucky Air scorecard is that it has been designed by an external team of consultants who have been in discussion with some key players in the airline. It did not involve a cross-section of the airline in developing the system. Thus if the scorecard of Lucky Air fails to link the correct drivers in the internal and learning and growth perspective to the desired outcomes in the financial and customer perspectives, it will not be effective. A scorecard may not be effective if it includes a few measures for each perspective. For example, success of Lucky Air is not only a result of the training and motivation of the ground crew but the entire staff. Thus a scorecard with too few measures may not depict enough of Lucky Airs strategy and does not represent a balance between desired outcomes and performance drivers of the outcomes. Likewise if too many measures are included, the managers attention may get so diffused that he may pay insufficient attention to those measures that can make the maximum impact. No balanced scorecard can be flawless with respect to its design. The Lucky Air scorecard too may have certain design flaws which may not be visible now. These will only be detected when the scorecard is implemented. It is only over a period of time that a company will learn about the effective drivers of performance. (Source: Norreklit, 2000) The scorecard on its own will not be effective if Lucky Airs top management is not committed to it. The top executives may end up looking at Balanced scorecard as a quick fix that can easily be installed in the airline. The scorecard may have its limitations if the top management simply uses it as a checklist for operational improvements or to expand the compensation system to include non-financial measures. (Source: Atkinson, A. et al, 2004) The scorecard seems to have too much internal focus. The scorecard is only depicting incentives for desired behaviour changes in the ground crew and not focusing on other employees. Conclusion and Recommendation A scorecard balances traditional financial measures of success such as profits and return on capital with non-financial measures of the drivers of future financial performance. It can prove to be an effective tool for Lucky Air if it is appropriately deployed by the airline. Appropriate deployment will require complete commitment from all levels in the organisation by making its implementation everyones job. Moreover, the initial Balanced Scorecard should only be taken as a starting point and needs to be looked upon on an ongoing basis. Frequent reviews of the scorecard are required and new performance measures identified as a Balanced Scorecard evolves over a period of time. Data on various measures or metrics needs to be collected on a regular basis and the targets of the metrics should be sufficiently linked to rewards and incentives to motivate their accomplishment. APPENDIX Appendix A: Explanation of the Lucky Air Scorecard The classes which can be formed and the parameters which may be put in the balance scorecard are: Financial: How is success measured by Lucky Airs owners, namely, Hainan Airlines, Shanxi Airlines and Yunnan Shilin Tourism Aviation? The financial parameter can be evaluated by assigning values to parameters like total revenue or increase in revenue from tickets, total amount refunded due to cancelled tickets etc. It is also measured in changes in the plane leasing costs, maintaining and operating costs etc. Customers: This is the customer perspective. It focuses on how the airline creates value for the customers. Customer perspective provides an insight into the perceptions customers hold for Lucky Air. Internal: What internal processes should Lucky Air excel in to satisfy customers and shareholders? Internal Processes can be known from turnaround time, on-ground time, arrival and departure delays, number of ticketing errors, customer care services etc. This would help in attaining an idea of the operations of the organization in question. Learning and growth: What employee capabilities, information systems and Lucky Airs climate does the airline need to continually improve its internal processes and customer relationships? It focuses on the motivation and training of the crew members. Starting at the bottom of the diagram, the strategy has a learning and growth objective to train and motivate ground crew with the expectation that this will lead to better improved ground turnarounds, from arrivals to subsequent departures, for its planes. This internal objective enables Lucky Air to have its planes depart on time and to get better utilisation of its airplanes and flight crews, further enabling it to earn profits even at prices that are lowest in the industry. It also focuses on improvement of internal processes to realise bigger revenue opportunities. The low prices and on-time departures attract more customers, improve customer loyalty and lead to a growth in revenues. The combination of revenue growth and low costs finally results in high profits and high return on assets. The strategy is clearer through the cause and effect relationships among objectives in each of the four balanced scorecard perspectives. These can be stated as follows: Increase revenues through increased sales to existing and new customers (financial) Grow to be service oriented ( customer perspective) Excel in providing services through continuous process improvements ( internal) Bring into line employee incentives and rewards with the strategy (learning and growth)

Gay Marriage Should Be Legal Essay -- Homosexuality same-sex couples

On June 26, 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled that the US Constitution guarantees the right for same-sex couples to marry. Should gay marriages really be allowed? Has the Supreme Court ruled in error? Gay marriage should be legal because all individuals have the same right in society; because same-sex couples can constitute a good based family; because it is just a way to make official a common union nowadays, even with the religious issue; because it is not related to polygamy; and because love matters and it does not differ in nature according to the sex of its object or the person who experiences it. The first reason why same sex marriage should be legal is because it is fair for all individuals to have the same rights in society. With the end of sodomy laws, a recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, conservatives have lost their last excuse to write off gay lives and love as unworthy of social accommodation. But whatever ones feel about the reasoning of the decision, its results is clear: gay Americans are no longer criminals. Even if they were, as murderers on death row that have the constitutional right to marriage, they should have too. The second objection about why same sex marriage should be legal is because a same sex couple can really constitute a good based family, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics that has recognized that gay households can be just as loving and supportive an environment for raising children as the straight kind. Opponen...

Child Observation Report Essay -- Adolescent Behavior

Confidential Material Detailed report of five observations. The names used in this Observation Report are fictitious. This is absolutely necessary to protect the privacy of the children being observed. Observation #1: Ron and aggression Date and time: Wednesday April 16, 2014; 11:25-12:50 Setting: Playground for 1st/2nd grade recess 11:25-11:50, 3rd/4th grade 11:55-12:20, Kindergarten recess 12:25-12:50 Activities observed: Children climbing across the climbing rings, watching children pretend play at the tire mountain and under the large wooden play structure with the blue plastic slide. My interaction with the children: I spent a lot of time answering questions about my name and where I am from for the children. Example A: There was one child named â€Å"Ron† on the first recess who was racing across the rings with another child, lost the race and fell to the ground. He then started to cry and called himself a loser. I pulled him aside to try to talk to him to find out what was wrong. He kept telling me that he was a loser because he didn’t win the race and he never wins, and that â€Å"all my friends think I am a loser because I cry all the time. They make fun of me because I cry. They beat me up. I am a loser.† I tried to reassure him and tell him I did not think he was a loser. I explained how I thought one of the reasons he lost the race was because he had been climbing across the rings for most of recess was tired from racing. He continued to cry even after his friends came over and tried to get him to play. He just sat in the sand sobbing, so I tried to tell him that his friends came over and asked him to play so it did not appear that they think he is a loser. He said they would beat him up. I tried to get him to go and see if they would play; initially, he refused to interact with his friends but then he got up and tried to find his friends. He searched for a few minutes and when he could not find them he started crying again and walked away from me. Date and time: Monday, April 21, 2014; 11:25-12:50 Setting: Playground for 1st/2nd grade recess 11:25-11:50, 3rd/4th grade 11:55-12:20, Kindergarten recess 12:25-12:50 Activities observed: Chi... ...g & Homer, Bruce. (1999). Children as folk psychologists: The developing understanding of the mind. In A. Slater & D. Muir (Eds.), The Blackwell reader in Developmental Psychology (pp. 228-252). Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishers. Pepler, Debra, Craig, Wendy M., & O’Connell, Paul. (1999). Understanding bullying from a dynamics systems perspective. In A. Slater & D. Muir (Eds.), The Blackwell reader in Developmental Psychology (pp. 440-451). Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishers. Putallaz, Martha, & Wasserman, Aviva. (1990). Children’s entry behavior. In S.R. Asher & J. D. Coie (Eds.), Peer rejection in childhood (pp. 60-76). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Rubin, Kenneth H., Burgess, Kim B., Coplan, Robert, J. (2002). Social withdrawal and shyness. In P. K. Smith & C.H. Hart (Eds.). Blackwell Handbook of Childhood Social Development (pp. 329-352). Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishers. Seifert, Kelvin L., Hoffnung, Robert J., & Hoffnung, Michele. (1997). Play. In Lifespan Development (pp. 221-228). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Shaffer, David R. (2000). Social & Personality Development (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth: Thomas Learning.

Jesus & Buddha :: essays research papers

Jesus & Buddha Disciple?: I have heard that you are two of the wisest men in the land and so I have come to you in hopes of advise. I am scared for my future and for the future of my newborn   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  daughter. Can you tell me what is in store for us or give me an assurance me that we   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  will be all right? Jesus: Do not worry about your life. Do not worry about food, drink, the body. Life is more than these things. Believe in your heavenly Father. He knows what you need and will provide you with it if you practice and have faith in his teachings. Strive for the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Buddha: No. Comfort in the present and future must come from inside the self , not from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  a God. In meditation you will find the truth of life that will set you free from worry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Don't chase after the past,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Don't seek the future;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The past is gone   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The future hasn't come   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  But see clearly on the spot   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  That object which is now,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  While finding and living in   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A still, unmoving state of mind.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This focus on the present is the beginning of the path to enlightenment which is comfort   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  through understanding. When you are able to keep your mind focused on the present   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  in a ‘still, unmoving state of mind' you have reached enlightenment, where you will be beyond all emotion including suffering and worry. Jesus: That is not so. A search for the entire true of life can never make you content in   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  your life because you can never know everything there is. That is for God alone to know. To enter the kingdom of heaven you must have faith in our Father. You must trust in His wisdom even in hard times. For to know all and understand all you would be a god. And putting yourself on a platform with God is disrespectful and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  blasphemous. But if you follow His laws your suffering will end in the hereafter. Buddha: Truth is available to all people not just gods. For truth is in all things in the   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  universe. We only have to learn not to react with emotion to see it. If you can master   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  not reacting through meditation you will see the true nature of the universe that lies   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  behind the illusion of emotion. In this truth you will see the cause and effect relationship of all things and in that an order which will bring you understanding and comfort.

Delorean Motor Company

DeLorean Motor Company Examining a Business Failure Michael Smith Organizational Leadership 531 September 5, 2011 Examining a Business Failure Stainless Steel. Sleek. Gull-wing doors. Back to the Future. The DMC-12 is one of the most recognizable cars in history. John DeLorean, a former engineer and executive for General Motors, founded the DeLorean Motor Company in October of 1975 (Woron, 1982). DeLorean gained popularity for designing the Pontiac GTO and the Pontiac Firebird.Many thought that John DeLorean was well on his way to being president of General Motors when he left the company in 1973 to start his own automobile company (Woron, 1982). DeLorean needed around $175 million to finance the company, yet only put up around $700,000 of his own money. For the rest, he used over 100 investors to finance his dream, including Johnny Carson and Sammy Davis Jr. (Manning, 2000). He also put over $12 million into a partnership for research and development while the British government pro duced $156 million in grants and loans in return for DeLorean locating the DMC factory in Northern Ireland (Manning, 2000).The DeLorean factory created over 2000 jobs in an area with high unemployment rates. DeLorean had multiple million-dollar homes and paid himself a large salary. When it debuted in 1981, the DMC-12’s sales could not foot the bill. The sports car had a lot of competition and was priced $8,000 higher than the Corvette (Manning, 2000). In February 1982 the British government shut the factory down, John DeLorean began a drug-smuggling scheme to save his company and was busted by the FBI. John DeLorean’s dream was over and left everyone with no return on their investment.Robbins and Judge (2011) define leadership as the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or set of goals. Trait theories of leadership focus on personal qualities and characteristics (Robbins and Judge, 2011). John DeLorean had every characteristic of an effectiv e leader. He was charismatic, highly successful, courageous, and influential. However, DeLorean had no emotional intelligence and without emotional intelligence a person can have outstanding training, a highly analytical mind, compelling vision, and an endless supply of great ideas, but still not be an effective leader (Robbins and Judge, 2011).DeLorean’s lack of emotional intelligence could have predicted the fall of the DeLorean Motor Company. DeLorean was not self aware, was unable to listen to what followers said, and did not read into the reactions of others. Big executives began leaving the company for a variety of reasons. Many accused DeLorean of being arrogant, disloyal, and distrustful (Woron, 1982). One executive, Robert Dewey, said, â€Å"John would surround himself with fairly intelligent people, but he wanted ‘yes' men. You can get clones to do that. When you challenged him on a point, he felt you were challenging him.You didn't have a dialogue with John. † (Woron, 1982). The fall of the DeLorean Motor Company could have potentially been prevented had John DeLorean listened to his followers. Management theories could have also predicted the failure of the DeLorean Motor Company. The contingency theory suggests that when management makes a decision they take into consideration all aspects of the current situation and act on those aspects that are key to the situation at hand (McNamara, 2011). John DeLorean failed to take all aspects into consideration.DeLorean was starting a new automobile company, yet priced his car higher than the Chevrolet Corvette, Porshe 944, and Mazda RX-7, despite it having less power (Woron, 1982). All of these cars already had a reputation, DeLorean’s DMC-12 did not. He also based the company in Ireland at a time when foreign cars were generally less expensive than those made in the United States. The downfall of the DeLorean Motor Company is largely due to its organizational structure. The comp any’s organizational structure was very centralized, all the power rested at a single point (Mintzberg, Lampel, Quinn, and Ghoshal, 2003).John DeLorean wanted to be that single point of power in his organization, but had over 100 investors. The company also had an innovative strategy, striving to achieve meaningful and unique innovations (Robbins and Judge, 2011). DeLorean chose to build his factory in Northern Ireland to take advantage of low worker wages and for easy access into the European market (Woron, 1982). However, the location of the factory proved to be more an obstacle for DeLorean as he struggled to spend time in Ireland.Delorean’s other innovations included gull-wing doors and stainless steel body panels, but the cars ultimately had to be shipped to U. S. quality control centers to have the door fix the doors and realign body panels. The car ultimately received bad reviews stating the car was heavy, overpriced, and easily showed dirt (Woron, 1982). John D eLorean failed to break-even with the DMC-12 and the factory shut down in 1982. John DeLorean was acquitted of all drug trafficking charges. In 1998 and New York jury ruled that DeLorean’s accounting firm owed investors $46 million, plus $65 million in interest.A man that was once a pioneer had hit rock bottom largely due to excessive spending and his imagination far exceeding his execution. Today, the DeLorean Motor Company is based out Texas with no ties to John DeLorean or his family. The Texas based company acquired all rights to the name and the inventory that was never used (DeLorean Motor Company, 2011). The car is one of the most recognizable in history and has developed a cult following. Had John DeLorean done things differently, his company could have been much more successful. References DeLorean Motor Company. 2011). Retrieved from http://www. delorean. com/q;a. asp Manning, J. (2000). The rise and fall of John DeLorean. Retrieved from http://eightiesclub. tripod. com/id305. htm McNamara, C. (2011). Management help. Retrieved from http://managementhelp. org/management/theories. htm Mintzberg, H. , Lampel, J. , Quinn, J. B. , ; Ghoshal, S. (2003). The strategy process: Concepts, contexts, cases (4th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Woron, W. (1982). Dreaming the impossible – The DeLorean and its predecessors . Automobile Quarterly, 21(2).

Pch International

CASE GS-61 DATE 04/01/08 PCH INTERNATIONAL MANAGING THE FLOWS OF INFORMATION, GOODS, AND pay Liam geeky, CEO of PCH internationalistic express (PCH), was in either way an adventurer. Born and having spent roughly of his y come to the foreh in Cork, Ireland, mattery had neer lived in chinaware until he started locomotion and works in the country in his later on-hours twenties. Yet, without speaking a lot clips Chinese, Casey managed to earn an innovative impart ambit solutions fraternity in Chinas mill city of Shenzhen and grew it to almost 700 employees in sound ten years.By 2007, PCH had become a international lodge it had customers in westbound europium and jointure America and its IT operations, manuf role persisturing and warehousing delay was dictated in Ireland, China, Singapore, Taiwan, South Africa and Brazil. In fact, so successful was Caseys everywherelapion line that the mild trended and extremely diligent entrepreneur won the Ireland 2007 E rnst & Young Entrepreneur of the year award. 1 Collecting vexation ambition accolades was non what Casey had in mind when he starting clip started PCH.When Casey went to Taiwan in 1996 to att rest a computer and electronics fair, he aphorism an probability to abet b either-shaped engineering science companies constitute upbeat of Asia and Chinas let loose- price supplier base and manufacturing capabilities. Although PCH started out in the mid-1990s as a sourcing agent of cheap electronic atoms from Taiwan and China to the Western world, by 2007 it had evolved into a tenderr of countrywide publish mountain compass solutions to global applied science companies. PCH was designed to address the needs of a complex global engineering science realize out mountain scope landscape. Arthur Beesley, Casey Picks Up oer completely Award, Irish Times, October 26, 2007, p. 12 Jennie Tung prepared this courtship under the supervision of Professor Hau lee(prenominal) as the basis for class interchange rather than to illustrate either rough-and-ready or in rough-and-ready handling of an administrative r all(prenominal)yuation. Copyright 2008 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford younger University. All rights reserved. To devote copies or bay permission to reproduce materials, e-mail the Case Writing Office at emailprotected stanford. du or write Case Writing Office, Stanford alum instruct of Business, 518 Memorial Way, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-5015. No part of this publication whitethorn be reproduced, neckclothd in a retrieval system, utilize in a spreadsheet, or communicate in any form or by any conveys electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or virgin(prenominal)wisewise without the permission of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. PCH International Managing Goods, learning and monetary campaigns GS-61 p. 2 STATE OF THE engineering science SUPPLY CHAINThe Maturing fork out train B y the twenty-first coke, engineering science overlapions of all sorts became ubiquitous and pro arrangely change the way people lived and worked. However, in the 1990s, in comparison to early(a) global grant drawstrings much(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) as garments and toys, which had oer some(prenominal)(prenominal) 50 years of outsourcing experience, the engineering run string was gloss over in its wee development. For example, by the mid-1990s, the digital camera, the ener forceic ph mavin, and the laptop computer computer had only undecomposed become a mainstream consumer category.As such, in growth to focusing on designing swing edge overlaps, engine room companies were trying encrypt out the most efficient ship canal to salute their outputs to end consumers. On the consumer applied science fork over drawing string timeline, the 1970s and mid-eighties showed only a sharp spot of global foemaniates, such as the vauntingly engine ro om conglomerate Sony and Siemens, who were perseverance leadership in legion(predicate) harvest categories. These industriousness leaders relied on their verti handley integrated come forth handcuffs and their ability to lock in suppliers to keep recent competitors from entering the securities industry. However, as venture groovy funding became more than than(prenominal) available in the 1990s, the applied science grocery saw continuous waves of innovation, briefer crossing life motorbikes, new products and brands. At the kindred time, the 1990s overly saw a drastic growth in independent manufacturers and suppliers, bad-temperedly in Asia. These handicraftes had actual sophisticated technical capabilities afterwards dowry the global brands for a material body of years. The confluence of these factors changed what it took to win in the engine room space. Vertically integrated players of the past were re laid with engineering-savvy, asset-light food market and design companies. As such, ii adult and itty-bitty engine room companies had the opportunity to commence products to market with the use of sub-contracting. By the late 1990s, consumers non only had more product choices but overly quaternate channels to buy from, including online stores, which were becoming popular. at bottom the world of engineering products, the generate compass systems for the wide-ranging product types were non uniform. For example, the more complex largish systems, such as telecom base stations, had a contrasting supplement chemical chain model from the littler consumer electronics products, such as individualizedised MP3 players and laptop computers.This possibility focuses on the small consumer electronics preparation chain, whose characteristics included having many an some other(prenominal) comp wizardnt suppliers, with aggregation sites doing the utmost assembly and testing. The modular bodily structure of engineering produc ts meant that the brand owners had to manage a oversized network of suppliers. To suffer competitive, large and small engineering science companies began to outsource a significant part of their sum chain to third party vendors in arrangement to focus their resources on brand distinguishableiating activities, such as product design and marketing. This outsourcing burn in the 2 3PCH International Limited (PCH), In dression Memorandum for Potential Investors, November 2007, pp. 3-5. ibid. 4 www. Alibaba. com was an online directory of suppliers in China 5 PCH, op. cit. pp. 3-5. PCH International Managing Goods, discipline and pecuniary Flows GS-61 p. 3 1980s created a new industry k presentlyn as Electronic Manufacturing go (EMS). By the 1990s, the EMS industry had a issue forth of global scale players, notably Hon Hai precision Industries (Foxconn), Flextronics, Celestica, Sanmina-SCI, Jabil, Elcoteq, and a few dozen others.In increment, some(prenominal) thousand litt le companies continued to hold EMS niches and served a wide range of consumer electronics brands. The business model for the EMS industry was based on large economies of scale in manufacturing, black materials procurement, pooling of resources, and industrial design expertise, in accession to other nurture-added service such as warranty and repairs. Products manufactured by EMS companies were label with the brand owners brand and corporate identity.As price competition escalate in the consumer electronics industry in the late 1990s, EMS players gradually shifted their manufacturing assets to disdain represent areas, such as cities in Southern China. mend the leaner overhead structure appendd many operational and financial benefits, the technology companies approach enormously complex altercates in dealings with procurement, manufacturing, and logistics vendors. Fragmented Supplier Base some technology companies looked to Asia as an outsourcing location, minded(p) the enactment of low- live manufacturing and comp nonpareilnt suppliers in the region.By 2007, China became a major sourcing and production hub for many technology companies. However, to scoop full avail of Chinas low live supplier base was not ever straightforward. As China was rapidly growing into the manufacturing plant of the world, many companies strove to achieve low cost while maintaining forest. Low cost technology goods suppliers were abundantly available in the coastal regions of China, in particular in the Confederate city of Shenzhen, proficient a 50-minute train ride from Hong Kong. As a procurement officer for a technology alliance, trying to put the most competent supplier could be a wide headache.For example, for every cable connector, printer tour board, and MP3 player accessory item, there were literally hundreds of suppliers to choose from in China. 4 For many technology companies, many of these components were not means or strategic. However, poor mana gement of component separate could impact every face of the make out chain, leaving behind many unsatisfied customers. Therefore, to take full advantage of Chinas riches of suppliers, technology companies needed to filter done numerous vendors to find ones that optimized cost, speed to market, and fibre.Working Capital Constraints man independent manufacturers and component suppliers benefited from global outsourcing rationalises in the late 1990s, they besides had to face increase pay challenges. Casey, who had worked with hundreds of milling machinery owners, learned of the challenges in raising works capital In the ahead days of outsourcing, suppliers were able to take a purchase order of a guaranteed mass from a well-known companion to the chamfer and, upon verification, would be able to declare working capital inancing. Letters of Credit (LCs) were issued by the purchaser. However, guaranteed foresightfuler experimental condition product intensivenesss shit been re step upd by rolling short terminus product guidelines forecasts. The reason is as a technology company faces tough competition and declining PCH International Managing Goods, study and fiscal Flows GS-61 p. 4 margins, it needs to manage be precipitously by minimizing stock certificate build-up. This is necessary buy the farmn the need to match the ebb and take to the woods of customer taste and requirements.They in put out demand precisely-in-time pitch from their suppliers which shifted some of the ancestry attribute costs upstream to its vendors, bring forward increase its need for working capital. In addition, sometimes the purchasing company may not be one of the blue-chip globally recognizable brands depository financial institutions sometimes common sensed this as an additional credit fortune. This trend resulted in substantial volatility and contract on some suppliers as banks were not as imparting to append consider pay given the perceived incr ease risk trains.This meant some suppliers found it enormously difficult, if not extremely expensive to attain financing. Increasingly Demanding Customers Consumer technology products of the twenty-first century were about(predicate) well-made functionalities, seamless guild process (both in-store and online), timely and accurate product spoken language, and a memorable out-of-box experiencereferring to how consumers mat up when they opened the box and reacted to the overall product demo. Of course, it was critical that the products themselves be trendy and cool, and come with by a whole master of ceremonies of accessories to jazz up the products.For many consumers, technology products were perceived in the selfsame(prenominal) nervure as fashion goods. Brands, therefore, needed to match endlessly changing tastes and extremely short and tight product development cycles. darn professional technology products generally smeard more emphasis on product functionalities, t hey still required support function, such as regional configuration (e. g. , talking to differences and pre-loaded bundle tract) and just-in-time delivery of products, in order to calumniate account costs. Finally, technology companies needed to provide their customers these grittyly customized products and purchasing experiences at a competitive price, while achieving all of the above. These were just some of the characteristics that make the technology supply chain much more contest than the supply chain of more conventional industries. EMS companies, as discussed above, while able to deliver manufacturing savings to brand owners, were unable to adequately address these pain points, given that their business model focused on large scale production.The end consumers increasing demand for low price and customized products do it challenging for EMS companies to address these evolving market trends. TECHNOLOGY SUPPLY CHAIN FLOWS AND CHALLENGES An insightful entrepreneur, Ca sey saw the pain points exposit above as opportunities. Over the years, Casey had thought a blanket(prenominal) solution addressing the market and customer challenges would provide extraordinary value for technology companies. In PCHs menu of go, the over-arching theme was to help guests better manage the 3 characteristic endures in the technology supply chain nurture, goods, and financial.These flow rates essentially turn to every divisor required to take a product from c oncept to universe retail ready, including the come upon rates of manufacturing, packaging, product customization, logistics and supplier financing. (See break 1 for an overview of the terce flows in the technology supply chain. ) PCH International Managing Goods, Information and financial Flows GS-61 p. 5 The Virtual come forth bowed stringed instrument The virtual supply chain referred to information flow that occurred in the supply chain as goods moved done the discordant ramifications.The information requirement faculty be for a extraordinary customer, such as, when will my goods arrive at my door step or for the planning department in a company, how much breed should I order given vivacious inventory levels in diametric parts of the supply chain? When a company outsourced for for each one one portion of the supply chain to different vendors, disbursing and piecing information back to flapher from disparate sources could be extremely challenging. The Physical generate fibril The sensible supply chain referred to he steps by which somatogenetic goods went from product concept to their final customers it dealt with the performance of goods from some(prenominal)(a) physical locations, such as procurement of components, manufacturing, and logistics. 6 As discussed in the section on challenges facing the technology supply chain, the large number of suppliers and manufacturers in Asia make it extremely cumbersome for companies to identify the most countenan ce vendors for their needs. In addition to price negotiation, service quality also required significant due diligence.For example, incidences of remiss delivery and product quality issues were commonplace. assumption the multitudinous of choices that consumers had for any given technology product, the margin of error allowed was very small. other challenge in the physical supply chain was customization of products. A question a lot asked by supply chain executives at technology companies was, how should I shell take advantage of economies of scale by producing in volume while achieving the customization for each topical anaesthetic anesthetic market, and sometimes for each individual customer? This question highlighted the challenge of managing market-level customization since most technology products needed to reach multiple countries well-nigh the world. The challenge could be as unprejudiced as placing different language labels on products, to more complex tasks such as f irst consolidating product shipments from different manufacturing sites and thusce assembling heterogeneous units for unique customer orders. Finally, logistics and shipment also needed to be managed in an efficient and cost effective manner.The monetary Supply Chain buttoned very closely to the physical flow of goods, the financial supply chain referred to the financing required for each step of the supply chain. For example, a manufacturing contractor would need financing to buy components and pay its workers to make the products, onward shipping them to the technology company to cache the r up to nowue. Established vendors may have had replete cash to last through a collection cycle but smaller or newer vendors could be strapped for cash when a large order came through.While commercial banks could provide financing for some vendors, new or smaller vendors ended up stipendiary extremely high interest set-back Capital Presentation at the Zhejiang University foot Institute s Supply Chain Forum, Zhejiang, China, November 13-14, 2007. 6 PCH International Managing Goods, Information and Financial Flows GS-61 p. 6 costs, at least in the initial years of operationsuntil they had developed a stronger track record to sweep up at more favorable rates from banks. THE PCH SOLUTIONBy 2007, PCH counted a number of global lymph glands as customers. Among its lymph nodes were three of the top five dollar bill personal computer companies, three of the top five telecom and networking companies, and the top five principal contract electronics manufacturers. 7 According to Casey, PCH offers customized solutions for each customer. PCH helps to manage the mingled communication, culture and geographic barriers that ofttimes create operational corrasion betwixt the technology company and its suppliers in the supply chain. In Caseys framework, each PCH solution could be mapped to the various challenges in the three flows of the supply chain, thereby addressing the various gaps in organise these flows. For example, PCH manufacturing services turn to the needs in the flow of goods, while PCH Capital addressed the needs in the financial flow in the supply chain (See award 2 on PCH services categories). exchangeable PCHs technology customers, Casey believed an asset-light approach in managing his business worked the best and, therefore, he had no ownership in any of the vendors that PCH worked with.PCH was incomplete a supplier of goods nor an importer for global technology companies. PCH was a service providera coordinator that helped orchestrate and maximize the benefits of an outsourced supply chain for all parties involved. Addressing the needfully of the Virtual Supply Chain Information tran nudency was a highly valued feature for technology companies given the many move pieces involved. Casey explained why its software services division was heart of money to PCHs offering to clients and why develop these tools was important to PCH in the long term Transparency of process is a underlying PCH offering.This is why weve developed a serial publication of online software tools that drive internal PCH activities and to provide a portal for clients to oversee and enrol in the process. These systems enabled PCH, customers and third-party suppliers to view and share the same data. As all parties are working with the same data on the same platform, sloppiness is decreased, the need for berth communication is reduced and clients can have full visibleness to PCHs activities make up though they may be half a world away. By 2007, PCH had developed a set of software visibility tools that consolidated relevant information for each individual customer.Examples included StatusFlo, which showed inventory levels of goods in the various locations of the supply chain and TransFlo, which housed all information relevant to heraldic bearing and shipping documents in one of import location for each order. Given the myriad of suppliers, ChinaFlo provided a database of background data on over 900 factories evaluated by PCH. Each factory profile contained detailed information ranging from canonical background information, to factory qualification reports, and to capabilities case studies. Customers also had the ability to view pictures of their products and even search 7 Beesley, loc. it. PCH International Managing Goods, Information and Financial Flows GS-61 p. 7 for hotels in the region of the factories, as the factory profiles had GPS coordinates associated with them. Resolving the crazy house and lack of data transparency in the virtual supply chain was one key value-add that PCH offered. (See Exhibit 3 for a screenshot of different sections of PCHs information portal. ) Addressing the Needs of the Physical Supply Chain Casey reflected on the path that PCH took The historical success of PCH was in manufacturing services where goods were sourced and manufactured for our clients.This was how the compa ny got started. Over time, PCH had moved deeper into the product life cycle where solutions were replacing finished distribution systems for some of our clients, PCH took over warehousing, inventory management, and retail preparedness functions. We cute to move to high value services as opposed to organism just a sourcing agent. With this strategy, PCH developed three core services that addressed the complexness and confusion of sourcing and manufacturing in Asia, in particular in China. As of 2007, these services were manufacturing, cargo hold, and fulfilment services.Manufacturing function PCH offered its manufacturing services to clients as early as the product development phase. technology companies would approach PCH with ideas for products and PCHs design aggroup wherefore developed prototypes for manufacturing. Casey proudly mentioned how PCHs differentiated services created benefits for the correct supply chain. Even if our clients just ask for product quotes, we would put the product through industrial design optimization that yields the best cost for the customer while minimizing potential quality issues.Many of our clients did not expect this but this is the level of services that we aim for. We do not tie the product design to the capabilities of any special(prenominal) factory group but act independently on behalf of our clientsThis level of services also compares favorably to just a company to outsource manufacturer relationship where the focus is on landing the contract and meeting lower limit quantities this also meant final product quality and the end user experience being far down the outsource manufactures hark of priorities.The other part of PCH manufacturing services entailed factory identification, qualification, and ongoing monitoring. For this set of services, PCH also leveraged its software services (see information supply chain in previous section) to differentiate itself from other competitors. Casey state, Rather than j ust identifying the factories for manufacturing, we would map out the locations of the various potential manufacturing sites and how that would fit in the overall supply chain. This strategy ensured that the entire supply chain was optimized, taking into considerateness the later steps in the process, such as warehousing and shipment consolidation. PCH International Managing Goods, Information and Financial Flows GS-61 p. 8 time lag and Fulfillment Services Traditionally, once the technology products were produced and quality checked in the O.K. outsourced factories, they were shipped to storage warehouse facilities before going to the various retail destinations.A potential downside to this model was that when the multitude shipment arrived at the retail destination, which mogul be in a high cost country such as the U. S. or atomic number 63, the products still needed to be further customized for each local market whether it was adding country appropriate labeling or attitu de on UPC labels. This meant that even though a company had saved by manufacturing its goods in Asia, this last mile customization could bring the list product costs back up. The other downside was that a technology company also needed to pay for inventory holding costs.And, this inventory had limited flexibility a company could not move it to other geographies, even if a particular product was running a shortage in other locations. To address these challenges, PCH offered deferment servicesthe act of holding goods in the supply chain (often in loudness format pending final assembly or packaging) for delivery to a warehouse, retail store or the end consumer. 8 In Caseys words, What we are doing is bringing a vanilla product to a stage in a process and then flavor in the last minute. So youre postponing the flavoring. The final steps would only be carried out once the demand was intelligibly visible. Most of PCHs clients products were manufactured virtually the coastal areas of China, so PCH strategically located its handle processing facilities in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, and in Singapore. These locations were selected for their relatively low labor costs (some of the final packaging was quite labor intensive) and the availability of favorable tax-free trade zones. For example, one of PCHs clients was a global personal computer (PC) company.When its PCs arrived in Shenzhens postponement processing facility in bulk, the machines had no software. Given these computers could be destined for different locations around the world, PCH would wait for the final order before it preloaded the different language direct systems into these computers for the various markets. These computers were held in Shenzhens Futian task Free Trade zone which yielded lower inventory holding costs, as compared to having them sit at the warehouses in a higher cost country location.As PCHs finish was to help customers fully manage the physical supply chain, its ful fillment services addressed the handling of product orders from clients, their distribution chains or straightaway from end consumers over the profits. 9 This meant that after products had gone through final assembly and packaging in the postponement phase, PCH could have them delivered directly to retail stores, ready for sale or to the end consumers doorstep. Working with third party logistics providers, PCH had several options for pickup and shipment to overseas locations.Even though PCH provided postponement in China, technology products were often transported by air, so this did not mean PCHs response time was much worse than the conventional approach of having postponement at the retail distribution cracker bonbon in the U. S. Casey explained why the combination of postponement and fulfillment services worked well for PCHs technology clients and how it addressed challenges in the broader market environment 8 9 PCH, op. cit. pp. 9-13 ib. PCH International Managing Goods, In formation and Financial Flows GS-61 p. 9The constantly shifting consumer tastes and trends make forecast volume for any technology product difficult. When Internet sales direct to a customers home are added into the array of distribution possibilities, the processing needs become even more complex. With postponement and fulfillment services located close to the manufacturing sites, it drastically shortens time to market. By offering a compartmentalization of packaging and shipment options, PCH is able to both manage fast and slow moving inventory in a manner that reduces the overall supply chain costs to technology companies.This approach provides clients with substantial leverage in their operations total factory commitments stick somewhat unchanged, product inventory quantities shrink, warehouse networks shrink, if not disappearing all together, and the cost of operating the supply chain falls. PCHs Unique Position In summarizing PCHs value proposition, Casey believed PCHs role as the coordinator in the supply chain was unspoilt for all parties involved Our purpose as a company is developing partnerships, delivering pause of mind.None of our customers have ever gone direct to a factory. Some customers have made phone calls to factories, but the factories will call us immediately because those factories also made products for five of our other clients. So we bring a very big hold of business to these component suppliers and thats why they interchangeable to work with us. The factories are getting a steady flow of business through our volume consolidation. At the same time our customers also benefit from economies of scale by consolidating their orders with their competitors, which are nonproprietary stuff.Casey believed that in the 1990s, global companies operating in China were all about the experience challenge and everyone was just trying to learn about the landscape. By 2000, it was all about the execution challenge that is, how do you actually d o it and benefit from what China has to offer, said Casey. Client Case Example10 Managing the Physical and Information Supply Chain PCH worked with a wide range of technology clients but perhaps its partnership with one global consumer technology company provided the best example to illustrate the principles behind technology supply chain outsourcing.Situation The client was a global consumer electronics company and, since the early 2000s, had produced a number of blockbuster products that were exchange worldwide. gross revenue revenue was growing rapidly and most of its products were manufactured in Taiwan and China. These products were change over the Internet, in addition to a variety of retail outlets, and were often sold with accessories such as protective carrying cases, spare parts, and alternative configurations of the products. PCH lastd under a confidentiality symmetricalness with most of its clients hence, actual client name have been disguised.Some of the company d ata provided was imitation to pull through anonymity. 10 PCH International Managing Goods, Information and Financial Flows GS-61 p. 10 Playing in the extremely competitive consumer technology space, this client had introduced new products every year or sosometimes with an entirely new product line and sometimes with upgrades to existing models. Complication In the initial years, this client worked with a global logistics provider to operate its more than five North American and European warehouse facilities inventories from Asia arrived in bulk and were stored in these locations.Its products were delivered to end consumers or retail locations upon ordering. Its accessory parts were produced by different factories in Asia and were then shipped separately to various destination markets. For example, when customers ordered four accessories, they might receive four different shipments on four different dates, leaving them sometimes confused and unable to track the status of their orde rs. This arrangement was also expensive for the technology company, given the high cost of inventory storage and the multiple airfreight bills for each customer.More importantly, the client promised its end consumers more than just beautifully designed products, it also promised a superior consumer experiencefrom placing the order on the Internet to actually receiving the product. The order status had to be available real-time and visible to consumers at each stage of execution the delivery commitment to its end consumers was two to three days to the doorstep, which was often half a world away from where the goods were produced.Finally, considerable compassionate and attention were given to the packaging and presentation of the products to ensure that end consumers were truly pleased when opening the box. Solution In serving this client, PCH set up an on-site real-time data transfer between clients and PCHs system in Shenzhen, China. As customers place orders in North America, th e orders were consolidated and fed live to PCHs processing facilities.PCH had already stored bulk inventories of various accessory parts in its facilities once information for each orders were legitimate, the PCH teams in Shenzhen then go and grab the various parts and assemble them into one single package for each customer order. Customized and country appropriate packaging, including items such as usual manuals and in-country product support, were added to these parts. Finally, product codes were added to products in case the consumer wanted to a return or bring customer services in their local customer service centers.This solution brought all product handling (post manufacturing) into China and all orders were shipped directly from one location to the final destination. This translated into savings on logistics as customers were now receiving only one shipment as opposed to multiple shipments. Addressing the Needs of the Financial Supply Chain As discussed in the state of the technology supply chain section, component suppliers and factories sometimes ran into a working capital crunch when unable to obtain feasible financing from commercial banks.On the opposite side of the table, the commercial banks generally comprehended the opportunity to help finance the components suppliers and factories, thereby gaining more visibility into the operations of these small to medium size operations. Casey drew insights from sight these challenges and decided that PCH was actually in a great position to help de-risk the entire supply chainfor the technology companies, banks, and the factories. Casey described how PCHs services were different from those of other global PCH International Managing Goods, Information and Financial Flows GS-61 . 11 logistics providers The FedExes and DHLs know where the boxes are, but PCH knows whats inside the boxes. Given its span of appointment in the supply chain, PCH gained a wealth of knowledge about the factories, the products, and the ultimate client. This knowledge became extremely valuable in doing risk assessment. For example, PCH staff (including Casey) had personally visited the factories and had worked with the owners and the technology companies for months. This level of understanding far make passed what could be gracious by takeing officers.This unique position enabled PCH to efficaciously play the trade finance role in the supply chain cycle. By 2008, Casey envisioned the ways in which PCH could play a broader role in the financial supply chain as it saw pain points in the retail merchant to factory relationship. In the past, U. S. retailers (customers of PCH) placed purchase orders (POs) with outsourcing factories in China. The U. S. retailers would then apply for a Letter of Credit (LC) with a bank that would provide the required financing to the factory. once the orders had been manufactured, the factories would then ship the goods directly to the retailers.As the consumer electronics i ndustry evolved, retailers were no longer willing to place large purchase orders, given the perplexity of the market. In order to protect their margins and to asperse inventory costs, retailers changed payment terms on the factories. The factories were required to obtain financing on their own and would only be salaried 90 days after the retailers received the products. This put a tremendous amount of pressure on the factories. PCH saw this as an opportunity for another value-added service.Casey envisioned that PCH could play the role of an intermediary to facilitate the financial flow from the moment the retailers placed their orders to the delivery of goods. The new model was such that retailers would place orders with PCH and PCH would then place the orders with the factories. Given PCHs size and its relationship with global technology firms, banks would be willing to lend cash in hand to PCH. At the same time, PCH could then lend funds back to its factories and suppliers at a higher interest rate, but still lower than what the factories and suppliers would have gotten on their own.PCH effectively made the interest spread between the banks and the factories and suppliers. JOURNEY TO-DATE AND PATH GOING before Casey, the business adventurer from Ireland seemed to have demystified the often chaotic Chinese manufacturing landscape. Casey recalled the tremendous bother in initially setting up the business in 1996 I found companies in Ireland that were buying cables, connectors and audio accessories through British distributors who were actually sourcing them from Asia anyway.It took a long time to convince these Irish companies to go source directly from Asia because their perception was that you couldnt get quality or the right products in Asia, plus they were worried about dealing with the time difference. With only $20,000 in start-up capital and unable to afford staff, Casey worked alone for two years, getting to know factories in China, opportunitie s, and the business. dependable ten years into the PCH International Managing Goods, Information and Financial Flows GS-61 p. 12 ame, Casey disclosed that by 2007, PCH generated over $100 million in annual revenue, not a small feat for someone who still claimed to not speak much Mandarin. As the company grew into a much larger company since its start-up days, Casey believed one of the most important things to preserve in the company culture was the sense of urgency. In the initial years, he remembered that every single customer contract determined the survival of the company. That sense of urgency, to get things done, to exceed customer expectation continued to stay in the company even after all these years.This sense of urgency was a trait of PCHthe speed and the can-do attitude, said Casey. (See Exhibit 4 and 5 for revenue breakdown. ) A long-time customer of PCH was Better zip fastener Systems (BES), the brand owner of Solio portable solar power. PCH had been managing BESs en d-to-end supply chain. cast simply, PCH understands the business and quality requirements of the West, while at the same time can effectively manage the day to day complexities of a Chinese supply chain, said Christopher Hornor, pass executive of BES. 1 While Casey believed PCHs end-to-end solution provided a unique value proposition to technology companies, he also humbly admitted theres nothing that would prevent our customers from going directly to the suppliers in the future. In trying to graph out the growth plan for his company in the years to come, he was contemplating several options expanding service options or obtaining strategic investors. unheeding of the growth strategy, Casey had always believed in building PCH one client at a time. You do a good job, they give you more work, he said. Its all about servicemaking sure they get what they want, when they want it. 12 And such was the dictum in operating any supply chain. 11 12 Clifford Coonan, Understanding the Rules Is give away to Success in China, Irish Times, family 25, 2006. Anna Healy Fenton, Irish Rover Now fluent in Solutions-Speak, South China dawn Post, March 26, 2005. PCH International Managing Goods, Information and Financial Flows GS-61 p. 13 Exhibit 1 PCH compound Supply Chain Approach Technol ogy Suppl y Chain Sol uti on V i rtual Supply Chai n Flow of inf ormation Physi cal Suppl y Chain Fl ow of productsFi nancial Supply Chai n Fl ow of f unds Source Company familiar Information Exhibit 2 PCH Services Categories PCH International Managing Goods, Information and Financial Flows GS-61 p. 14 Exhibit 3 PCH Information approach Source Company internal archive Exhibit 4 receipts partition by Category 2005 49% 19% 13% 10% 10% 2006 42% 32% 12% 6% 7% 2007 45% 29% 14% 5% 6% Electronics Telecom Medical PC Other Source Company internecine Document Exhibit 5 Revenue Breakdown by Geography 2005 51% 23% 9% 17% 0% 2006 46% 26. 5% 0. 4% 27% 0. 1% 2007 48% 22% 3% 25% 1% USA Ireland Europe Asia Brazil Source Company Internal Document