Nike Case Study on their Supply Chain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nike Case Study on their Supply Chain - Essay Example People from various places across the globe have different tastes for different products hence the need to satisfy these as a way of gaining competitive advantage globally. The other competitive priority for Nike is the need to be cognisant of the changes in consumer behaviour. Consumer wants and needs are different from various parts of the globe hence the need to make an effort to identify and satisfy these so as to be able to remain viable. The cost advantage is another competitive priority for Nike. This is seen as a strategy that is meant to bring goods of an acceptable quality to the market with comparatively lower production costs than its competitors (Strydom 2004). This is achieved through careful and effective management of the cost drivers for the business where it seeks to be a low cost producer while at the same time retaining competitive advantage (Strydom 2004). The other competitive priority that can be adopted by Nike is differentiation. According to Porter (1985:120), differentiation is â€Å"the process when the company provides something unique that is valuable to buyers beyond simply offering low price.† Thus, differentiation strategy is mainly concerned with identifying unique features about a particular product that have a broad perceived value in the market. 2. Nike should reduce product proliferation in an attempt to reduce their supply chain complexity and costs. Product proliferation suggests that there is a rapid growth of a particular product which may be counter-productive as far as demand and supply are concerned. According to the law of demand and supply, when there is high demand the price is likely to go up and this means an increase in the production of new products where costs are likely to be recovered while at the same time an increase in supply will lower the prices (Kotler 1999). Oversupply of products can result in

Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Management - Research Paper Example Racists feel that their race is superior to the other and therefore they bear qualities that people from the other race do not have. The act of racism in workplaces is a form of discrimination that is persisting in the society and should be dealt with. The most reported cases of racism is between the whites and the blacks whereby the whites feel that they are more superior to the blacks and so they discriminate them at work places. Racism in the workplace breeds hatred, discrimination, friction, distrust and violence among employees. In this paper, I will discuss the forms of racism and how they can be prevented. Racism in workplaces takes many forms which are: Recruitment During the recruitment process, the recruitment staff may exclude ethnic minority candidates from the process. They even decline their applications because they are from the minority group or are people with color yet the organization is owned by whites. They even discriminate them because of their gender insisting that they only hire men. This should be stopped. Working environment Many employees are discriminated in their working place with allegations that they do not have certain skills to take some jobs. The employees from the ethnic minority are harassed and their work loads increased while they work under poor working conditions. Promotion When a chance for a promotion arises in an organization, some employees are exempted due to their race and the chance given to the whites who are from the ethnic majority who believe they are more superior to the blacks. Employees deserve equal opportunities despite their race, it is one’s knowledge, skills and competence that can earn them a promotion (Silva, 2007). Harassment Racism in the workplace may come in form of harassment whereby the ethnic minorities are harassed by those in higher positions. The people of color are harassed by their superiors and their work loads increased as they are threatened with dismissal. The employees from t he superior race make fun of employees from the minority group yet no action is taken. Redundancy During a redundancy exercise, only employees from the minority groups are selected for redundancy leaving behind those from the superior race Dismissal When there is misconduct in a working place, the people from the ethnic minority are singled out and dismissed. On the other hand, the superior races who are the white workers are retained and only given warning letter and that is racial discrimination. Furthermore, according to a research done by Osajima (2007), ethnic minorities are always dismissed for minor mistakes yet that can be solved and they continue working. The superior groups are always on the run to kick out the people of color from their workplaces. Preventing racism in workplaces The first step to take in order to prevent racism in workplaces is by advocating for the creation of anti-discrimination policies which addresses racism and the consequences of racism acts. The n ext step is to make sure that organizations hire employees from different ethnic groups and races so as to create a diverse working force. Next is promoting employees basing on their merits and achievements and not basing on their race and other discriminatory factors. When this is done, employees will feel valued and they will work harder for the benefit of the organization. Employees should be trained equally and at the same time so as to decrease discriminatory rates and racism. Employee trainings should be held so as to give them guidance on how to conduct themselves at their place of work and how to treat each other. Moreover, the organization should organize team buildings for

Comparison and Contrast of Sweeney Todd and the Lion King Films Essay - 2

Comparison and Contrast of Sweeney Todd and the Lion King Films - Essay Example A movie is defined as a form of entertainment that enacts a story by sound and a sequence of images giving the illusion of continuous movement. Movies usually have a plot that is either based on a novel such as the Harry Potter, The Devil Wears Prada, A Walk to Remember, etc.; or have an original screenplay such as the High School Musical, Cheetah Girls, etc. Some are even counterparts or representation of popular theatrical plays that have already been considered as classic. However, in other cases, it is the other way around. A movie might be very brilliant and magnificently done it has garnered so much glamour, that a theatrical play is created to re-enact it. Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a theatrical play by Christopher Bond which is created in 1973. It has later become a musical thriller in 1979 with music and lyrics done by Stephen Sondheim and libretto by Hugh Wheeler. The musical theater production of Sweeney Todd started at the Uris Theatre on March 1, 1979, and ran for almost 600 performances. It was directed by Harold Prince with musical staging by Larry Fuller. The musical tells the story of Benjamin Barker, alias Sweeney Todd, who returns to London after 15 years deportation and prison based on false charges. He then vows revenge after learning from his former landlady, Mrs. Lovett, that his wife poisoned herself after being raped by Judge Turpin who wrongly executed him. The musical theater production was really magnificent for it has nine nominations for Tony Awards in which it won eight including Best Musical, Best Actress in a Musical, and Best Actor in a Musical.   And then later, the film adaptation of the theatrical play Sweeney Todd was jointly produced by DreamWorks and Warner Brothers. It was released on December 21, 2007.  

Gender, Trade and Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Gender, Trade and Religion - Essay Example According to Drislane and Parkinson, Patriarchy is â€Å"literally rule by the father but generally it refers to a social situation where men are dominant over women in wealth status and in all other aspects† (Online Dictionary of the Social Sciences). Since the time of creation women had been assigned the natural role of childbearer, homemaker and pleaser of their husband’s every whim. She didn’t chose, she was chosen. As in the case of biblical Leah and Rachel who were both given to Jacob in exchange of 14 years of labor. Or in the case of Rebekah, who was given to Isaac in exchange for gold, silver and other jewelries (Genesis 29:16-28). For thousands of millenia, the lot of women had been dictated by Patriarchy. When men had discovered that by bartering and trading, gargantuan profits could be amassed, women were either given away by their fathers in exchange for something dear or they served as courtesans to the foreign traders mostly with the knowledge and blessing of the fathers (Whitfield 133 ). To my opinion, this inhumane status of women being either given, bartered or rented by the hour as a result of international trade and contacts by the native populace with foreign merchants, soldiers and other kibitzers is the most interesting and important idea that we can put forward regarding gender relations in history. In the Indian epic poem of Ramayana, 2 Sita was given away in marriage to Rama because Rama succeeded in wielding the "mighty bow of Siva" a possession of Sita's father, King Janaka (Narayan 23). In utter obeisance to paternal pressure, Sita acceded. In The Analects of Confucius, out of 20 chapters of desiderata that compel the men to follow or avoid, only four sentences pertained to women, two of them were outright shocking to modern civilization. One says "The Master said of Kung-ye Ch'ang that he might be wived.Accordingly, he gave him his own daughter to wife" and "Of Nan Yung.He gave him the daughter of his own elder brother to wife" (Confucius chapter 5). Confucianism then, was the worst because women were not bartered or exchanged but outrightly given away gratis et amore. In the African Igbo tribe in Nigeria where polygamy is being practiced by men, women are not allowed to choose their husbands but they are given away after negotiations by groups representing both sides (Achebe xxx ). Since the subject matter of this paper involves gender relations as a result of international trade which also result to the spread of religion, nothing else illustrates this situation better than the Silk Road of olden days as all 3 elements are interlaced together. We therefore focus on the Silk Road phenomenon. The Silk Road is one of the world's most important and oldest trade route leading to ancient China. It was made possible because ancient China especially during the Han Dynasty was reputed to be the wealthiest and the most civilized among all nations and it had so many important and useful products to offer to the rest of humanity. Some of these are silk, porcelain, jade, lacquer ware, pearls, rubies, diamonds, satin, musk and rhubarb (Wood 9, 13-23).

Management Change Excercise Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Management Change Excercise - Research Paper Example The steps include creation of urgency, development of powerful coalition, creation of a change vision, communication of the change vision, eradication of obstacles, creation of short-term success goals, building on the change, and integration of change into the corporate culture of the organization (Mind Tools, 2012).The first step in the process of change management requires the organizational leaders to convince the organizational personnel that a certain change needs to be there on urgent basis because of certain reasons (Coutts, 2000). If this action is not taken, people would underestimate the need of change. In the second step, the organizational leaders need to develop a team which facilitates gaining of people’s consent for change implementation. If this action is not taken, much more effort would be required to convince individuals because they would be scattered and not members of the same team. In the third step, the leader needs to develop a relation between change and a big vision in order to make it easier for the followers to realize what is happening. If this action is not taken, followers would have subjective idea of what is happening. In the fourth step, measures need to be taken to quickly communicate the change and spread the vision. If this action is not taken, there would not be uniformity of approach due to lack of information in certain followers. In the fifth step, the leader needs to recognize the barriers in the way of implementation of change and do whatever is required to remove them. If this action is not taken, the change process is likely to be interrupted along the way. In the sixth step, the leader should appreciate together with the followers the achievement of intermediary goals. If this action is not taken, followers might lose interest as there is little realization of achievement of preliminary goals. In the seventh step, the leader should emphasize upon a need for the followers to continue working in the same dire ction so that the achievement of preliminary goals leads to the attainment of the ultimate goal. If this action is not taken, followers might become over-confident and not do the needful. In the eighth step, the followers need to be motivated to constantly review the change process and keep modifying it to attain optimal results. If this action is not taken, the change may not bring the desired results. Each of the eight steps included in the Kotter’s model is essentially an action that requires a complete strategy to be taken effectively. Implementation of change and its management as suggested by Kotter requires sound management skills in an individual. As a manager, I have good oratory skills and thus, can convince people or for the least, present my opinion in an apprehensible manner. I am good at taking actions pertaining to all the steps of Kotter’s eight step model generally. However, I need a little improvement in the fourth, seventh and eighth step. This is be cause of the fact that I am a little careless due to which, I might not be able to make sure that the process of change is communicated to all of the organizational personnel. This requires a bit of organization on my part. I find it difficult to recollect myself if the continuity in a process is broken. So after the sixth step, in which I as a manager would celebrate preliminary goals with the organizational personnel, it might be difficult for me to develop the focus again to make sure that

Athen vs Rome Essay Example for Free

Athen vs Rome Essay â€Å"Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge† (Plato). Such a great philosopher like Plato, he strives to educate the people of Athens on behalf of Socrates. With the passion of various ideas on philosophy and political science, Plato pushes through his learning to teach our people. The former philosopher Socrates, Plato had gained the knowledge of the various meanings and the strive after Socrates was sentenced to death which the Athenian Council had given him for what he believed in. Plato’s ideas of teaching weren’t so complicated for us to bestow our knowledge to further extent. Later the teaching will not stop at the cost of false individual in the democracy. Aristotle will continue to prevail in the teaching of philosophy and other subjects that will lead to be a better person with great judgment in the political system in Athens. The â€Å"Academy† was a gift from Plato to expand our knowledge of learning philosophy, mathematics, and theoretical astronomy. It will show that written dialogues are far easy to comprehend because they are in play style form instead of textbooks. The challenges in learning are tend to be hurdles yet they are not to be giving up on. Towards the Athenian council, I truly demand that politics should be controlled by well educated individuals. Our former Athenian, Socrates, had to pay the consequences on his belief because he believe that people should devote themselves to individual excellence and justice for achievements above any other concern meant that they should abandon commitment towards the moral code. Socrates had his own principle to stand by on what he believed and to speak to us Athenians to examine our unexamined assumption about individual virtue. With this in mind he was labeled as a traitor and a false philosopher to corrupt the young minds of Athenians. Is this the way we have to go with ourselves in believing that there are gods out there who help us in fights, fights in which we have fought with our own sweat, blood, and tear to acknowledge that we are getting assistant from the gods. I truly state within the teaching of the Academy it shows people to make understandable judgment before the execution on one of our own. The Athenian Council before you, even confessed they had made a terrible mistake in giving Socrates a death sentence. We as a great nation made a huge mistake and informed this tragic situation with creating this horrific democracy. Plato, a great philosopher that was once under Socrates first created this Academy for the teaching of philosophy, mathematics, and theoretical astronomy to us Athens. Creating this Academy Plato shows us that he wanted to make readers reflect thoughtfully on difficult philosophical questions. It was a challenge for us to inherit the aspect of learning and understanding the key elements towards metaphysics. As all teachers their views are critically changed over time where Plato presents a consistent set of doctrines. Plato maintained one essential idea â€Å"Moral virtues are universal and absolute, not relative. † Our people of Athens need to believe the proper goal for humans is to seek order and purity in our own souls by using reason to control their irrational desires. We have far yet to prove that we live for ourselves we don’t live under someone, not until the soul is taken away after death from our bodies. With the system of democracy justice wont prevail it will need hierarchy. Leading back to Socrates death the citizens of Athens are incapable of rising above ignorant self-interest. With the ideal society that Plato showed that high ranked men and women should live together and create healthy babies. This might not lead to become true, but the sought of teaching the people into thinking this way it leads to live justly. Within this Academy that was created by Plato it won’t stop for the future philosopher and more Academies to assemble. The prodigy of a young gifted soul that was under the famous Plato came to be recognized as Aristotle. His teaching was soon to be more advance and hence for us as Athenians. He showed much more morals to ourselves then we could imagine. Aristotle achievement towards the system showed that logic argument and scientific investigation of the natural world we stand by. Unlike Plato, Aristotle insisted on explanations based on common sense rather than metaphysics. Aristotle showed us that observing an object or a human being is best to acknowledge on how they tend to act. With patience we tend to realize slowly that we develop behaviors and not just good intentions. â€Å"Self-control did not mean denying human desires and appetites; rather, it meant striking a balance between suppressing and heedlessly indulging physical yearnings, of finding the mean† (Aristotle). The Council of Athens, we tend to realize some of our moral code is sacred, but do tend to open your horizons on us as individuals for achieving goals and valuing self-control. As we come to an end, I hope you have the same output as I have explained the teachings and most importantly the Academy that was first formed by our own, Plato. The aspect of growing is not to just have beliefs, but to believe in ourselves as Athenians that we can strive to pursue anything whether it is war, learning, teaching, or creating. The future of our children needs to be well educated to know the difference between right or wrong with some aspect towards our moral code. Our people deserves better, for which they are messengers to expand the knowledge, power, and desire for Athens. They will not have any of those values what so ever if they are not well educated through the Academy that Plato and further more Aristotle has provided. May we have hope for the future as you, the Athenian Council to accept and recognize the great Academy was a best gift that the gods have given to Athens.

Gi Fi Or Gigabit Wireless

Gi Fi Or Gigabit Wireless Gi-Fi will helps to push wireless communications to faster drive. For many years cables ruled the world. Optical fibers played a dominant role for its higher bit rates and faster transmission. But the installation of cables caused a greater difficulty and thus led to wireless access. The foremost of this is Bluetooth which can cover 9-10mts. Wi-Fi followed it having coverage area of 91mts. No doubt, introduction of Wi-Fi wireless networks has proved a revolutionary solution to last mile problem. However, the standards original limitations for data exchange rate and range, number of channels, high cost of the infrastructure have not yet made it possible for Wi-Fi to become a total threat to cellular networks on the one hand, and hard-wire networks, on the other. But the mans continuous quest for even better technology despite the substantial advantages of present technologies led to the introduction of new, more up-to-date standards for data exchange rate i.e., Gi-Fi. Gi-Fi or Gigabit Wireless is the worlds first transceiver integrated on a single chip that operates at 60GHz on the CMOS process. It will allow wireless transfer of audio and video data up to 5gigabits per second, ten times the current maximum wireless transfer rate, at one-tenth of the cost, usually within a range of 10 meters. It utilizes a 5mm square chip and a 1mm wide antenna burning less than 2watts of power to transmit data wirelessly over short distances, much like Bluetooth. The development will enable the truly wireless office and home of the future. As the integrated transceiver is extremely small, it can be embedded into devices. The breakthrough will mean the networking of office and home equipment without wires will finally become a reality. In this we present a low cost, low power and high broadband chip, which will be vital in enabling the digital economy of the future. INTRODUCTION: Wi-Fi (IEEE-802.11b) and Wi-Max (IEEE-802.16e) have captured our attention, as there are no recent developments in the above technologies which cannot transfer data and video information at a faster rate and led to the introduction of Gi-fi technology. It offers some advantages over Wi-Fi, a similar wireless technology, that offers faster information rate in Gbps less power consumption and low cost for short range transmissions. Gi-Fi or Gigabit Wireless is the worlds first transceiver integrated on a single chip in which a small antenna used and both transmitter- receiver are integrated on a single chip which is fabricated using the complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process. Because of Gi-Fi transfer of large videos, files can be done within seconds. Researchers of Melbourne University has come up with a wireless technology which promises high speed short range data transfers with a speed of up to 5Gbps within a radius of 10 meters. The new wireless technology is named as Gi-Fi and operates on the 60GHz frequency band, which is currently mostly unused. The Gi-Fi Chip developed by the Australian researchers measures 5mm square and is manufactured using existing complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology, the same system that is currently used to print silicon chips. The best part about this new technology is its cost effectiveness and power consumption, it consumes only 2watts of power for its operation with antenna (1mm) included and the development of Gi-Fi chip costs approximately $10( Rs 380) to manufacture. In theory this technology would transfers GBs of your favorite high definition movies in seconds. So Gi-Fi can be considered as a challenger to Bluetooth rather than Wi-Fi and could find applications ranging from new mobile phones to consumer electronics. REASONS FOR OPTING GI-FI: The reason for pushing into Gi-Fi technology is because of slow rate, high power consumption, low range of frequency operations of earlier technologies i.e. Bluetooth GI-FI: Gi-Fi or gigabit wireless is the worlds first transceiver integrated on a single chip that operates at 60GHz on the cmos process. It will allow wirelesss transfer of audio and video data at up to 5gigabits per second, ten times the current maximum wireless transfer rate, at one-tenth the cost. NICTA researchers have chosen to develop this technology in the 57-64GHz unlicensed frequency band as the millimeter-wave range of the spectrum makes possible high component on-chip integration as well as allowing for the integration of very small high gain arrays. The available 7GHz of spectrum results in very high data rates, up to 5 gigabits per second to users within an indoor environment, usually within a range of 10 metres .It satisfies the standards of IEEE 802.15.3C .The Gi-Fi integrated wireless transceiver chip developed at the National ICT Research Centre, Australia A new silicon chip developed in Melbourne is predicted to revolutionize the way household gadgets like televisions, phones and DVD players talk to each other. The tiny five-millimeter-a-side chip can transmit data through a wireless connection at a breakthrough five gigabits per second over distances of up to 10 meters. An entire high-definition movie could be transmitted to a mobile phone in a few seconds, and the phone could then upload the movie to a home computer or screen at the same speed. The Gi-Fi was unveiled today at the Melbourne University-based laboratories of NICTA, the national information and communications technology research centre. Short-range wireless technology is a hotly contested area, with research teams around the world racing to be the first to launch such a product. Professor Skafiadas said his team was the first to demonstrate a working transceiver-on-a-chip that uses CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) technology the cheap, ubiquitous technique that prints silicon chips. This means his team is ahead and stood in front of the competition in terms of price and power demand. His chip uses only a tiny one-millimeter-wide antenna and less than two watts of power, and would cost less than $10 to manufacture. Chip of Gi-Fi The chip shown in the above figure uses the 60GHz millimeter wave spectrum to transmit the data, which gives an advantage over Wi-Fi (wireless internet). Wi-Fis part of the spectrum is increasingly crowded, sharing the waves with devices such as cordless phones, which leads to interference and slower speeds. But the millimeter wave spectrum (30 to 300 GHz) is almost unoccupied, and the new chip is potentially hundreds of times faster than the average home Wi-Fi unit. However, Wi-Fi still benefits from being able to provide wireless coverage over a greater distance TECHNOLOGIES USED This mmWave WPAN will operate in the new and clear band including 57-64 GHz unlicensed band defined by FCC 47 CFR 15.255. The millimeter-wave WPAN will allow high coexistence (close physical spacing) with all other microwave systems in the 802.15 family of WPANs. Two Technologies that help realize GWLAN are, Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) System-On-a-Package(SOP) APPLICATIONS There are many usage scenarios that can be addressed by Gi-Fi. The following are some applications of Gi-Fi . Gi-Fi access devices: Gi-Fi access devices Some of the Gi-Fi access devices are shown in fig.These access devices include termination units, internal radio modules, network interface cards ,printers, PCs,and all household electronic appliances. Broadcasting video signal transmission system in sports stadium : Broadcasting video signals Easy and immediate construction of temporal broadband network such as in sports stadium for the advertisement of information distribution can be possible as shown in fig Office appliances: Office appliances As gi-fi data transfer rate is very high we can transfer data at very high speed in offices as shown in fig 7.0.3 which made work very easy and it also provides high quality of information from the internet. Video information transfer: Video information transfer By using present technologies video swapping takes hours of time where as with this technology as shown in fig 7.0.4 we can transfer data at a speed of giga bits/sec same as that for the transfer of information from a PC to a mobile and vice-versa. FUTURE SCOPE: As the integrated transceiver is extremely small, it can be embedded into devices. The breakthrough will mean the networking of office and home equipment without wires will finally become a reality. The Gi-Fi integrated transceiver chip may be launched by the starting of next year by NICTA. Due to the less cost of chip so many companies are coming forward to launch the chip. The potential of mmwave range for ultra fast data exchange has prompted many companies like intel, LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony Toshiba to form wireless HD. Specifically wireless HD has a stated goal of enabling wireless connectivity for streaming high definition content between source devices and high definition devices. CONCLUSION: Within five years, we expect Gi-Fi to be the dominant technology for wireless networking. By that time it will be to provide services with low-cost, high broadband access, and with very high speed large files swapped within seconds which will develop wireless home and office of future. If the success of Wi-Fi and the imminent wide usage of WiMAX is any indication, Gi-Fi potentially can bring wireless broadband to the enterprise in an entirely new way.