The topic can be proposed by the writer Research Paper - 3

The topic can be proposed by the writer - Research Paper Example Putting up a business in China is advantageous in several ways. First, technological devices are used daily as a result of making live comfortable and work simple. Secondly, there is an availability of a ready market for technical inventions. Inventions of all kinds are found in America. That makes it a destination market for any inventor. The gaming industry has not been left out in the technological world. There are over 170 million hardcore gamers in the United States thus attracting inventions to meet this demand. Like their American counterparts, China is also a country that produces technology to a great extent. It is an essential industry that dominated the video games industry for many years (Grubb, 2013). The domination on the gaming platform was as a result, a successful Chineseeconomic structure. In the year 2013, China’s gaming industry generated 13 billion US dollars. The gaming industry development in China is highly attributed to established markets abroad. Like in other countries, foreign games often sell very well in the Chinese market. None the less it still has the largest mobile games market. Social media plays a great role both in America and China in marketing the latest games. Oculus, a product bought by Facebook enjoys this marketing platform mostly on Facebook. Oculus is an invention that takes players closer to reality. It also puts the player to interact with friends on Facebook in the same virtual space. Considering Facebook as a social platform and emphasis, this technology will be applied to interpersonal communication. With 208 million active Facebook users in the United States, the Oculus is set to have great success supported by a culture that embraces technology and a political platform that supports innovation. These two countries show significant potential for the Oculus. The American market will easily be accessible, the Chinese market that is greatly dominated by mobile games and faces a great challenge if the price of

Review of Cornel West's Malcolm X and Black Rage for a college-age Essay

Review of Cornel West's Malcolm X and Black Rage for a college-age audience - Essay Example The issues of cultural hybridity, psychic conversation, authoritarian organizations, black supremacy, boundaries and borders in sexuality and other issues looms large in the present society. West states that, ‘ In order to build the best out of Malcolm X’ s ideologies, we must expand and preserve the notion of psychic conversion that cement the groups and networks in which black community, care, love, humanity and concerns grows and take root (West, 170). West has employed pathos, ethos and logos to make his message persuasive to the readers. Cornel west tries to clarify how Malcolm’s Black rage was not only directed to the white population but also to the black Americans, minds. He explains that Malcolm’s psychic conversation will promote blacks to appreciate and love their self worth and culture. Malcolm X was a revolutionary figure and anti-thesis of Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi who utilized non-violent ideologies to achieve the same goals as his predecessors. He wanted to put an end to the oppression that targeted the black people. West describes Malcolm X as an ideological leader for the black radicalism including Black Nationalism (collective actions and institutional building), black religion (morality and spirituality), socialism (justice/ freedom and anti-imperialism) as well as panafricanism (internationalism and identity) (West, 172). Malcolm X’s deep pessimism targeted the possibility and the capability of the white Americans to shade their racism led him to downplay the present and past bonds between the whites and the black people. West explains that Malcolm ideologies focused on freedoms of the black population even though he was aware that the majority of the population was racist. Malcolm X questioned the American democracy stating that it had made the black people non citizen. Ideally, constitutional

MBA Information Technology Preventing and Detecting Operational Risk Essay

MBA Information Technology Preventing and Detecting Operational Risk Caused by Employees - Essay Example It has become imperative for the senior management to forcefully implement the appropriate measures to detect and prevent operational risk from employees in their organisations. Most of the measures, including security, need to be followed top down. An employee who sees an upright senior is less likely to engage in fraudulent behaviour. Security Policies and Training. The next step is to develop security policies and provide training to ensure that everyone is aware of, understands them and also follows them in right spirit. The greater the understanding of how security issues directly impact production levels, customer and supplier relationships, revenue streams, and management's liability, the more security will be incorporated into business projects and proposals. Most critical is an Acceptable Use policy (AUP) that informs users of their responsibilities. An AUP serves two main purposes: (1) It helps to prevent misuse of information and computer resources and (2) it reduces exposure to legal liability. Security Procedures and Enforcement. The next step is to implement procedures, training, and enforcement of the AUP. Businesses cannot afford to ignore security risks nor can they afford the infinite cost of perfect security. Security Tools: Hardware and Software. ... Keep in mind that security is an ongoing, multilayered process and not a problem that can be solved with hardware or software tools. Hardware and software security defenses cannot protect against irresponsible business practices. 2. What events triggered the strong measures to prevent and detect internal fraud Name three laws that have antifraud measures. Answer. Fraud Prevention and Detection. Internal audits and internal controls (cover later in the chapter) are critical to the prevention and detection of occupational frauds. Some high-profile examples of occupational fraud that were executed because of the lack of internal audits and controls leading to implementation of strong measures to prevent and detect internal fraud include: NEC. In 2006, NEC had to restate its earnings for five prior years after discovering that a 50-year-old manager/engineer had been fabricating business deals. The bogus deals inflated sales by 36.3 billion yen ($311 million). The false transactions enabled the manager to embezzle tens of millions of yen, which he spent on entertainment. Adelphia. A year after the public learned of the $600 million Enron scandal, the Rigases made Enron's fraud look like penny-change. The SEC uncovered the misappropriation and theft of tens of billions of dollars. In addition to the $2.3 billion the family stole from the company for their personal use, they caused losses investors of more than $60 billion. Global Crossing. Corporate insiders knowingly sold more than $1.5 billion of artificially inflated company stock. In April 2005, the SEC filed a settled action for civil penalties against Global Crossing's former CEO, CFO, and VP of Finance for aiding and abetting the fraud. Each executive agreed to pay a $100,000

Dialectic Behavior Therapy Paper Essay Example for Free

Dialectic Behavior Therapy Paper Essay This paper will review the article: â€Å"Mechanisms of change in dialectical behavior therapy: Theoretical and empirical observations.† This paper will summarize the theoretical and empirical observations that indicate why DBT is successful in treating clients with borderline personality disorder. This paper will discuss the specific aspects of how dialectical behavior therapy is used. Dialectical behavior therapy is the recommended treatment for clients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder based on several evidence based successful studies. These studies found that dialectical behavior therapy has reduced client depression and harmful behavior by combining acceptance and change techniques. There therapist looks to transform a clients behavior by supplying the client with a hypothesis for their problem. Clients with dialectical behavior therapy in a sense learned poor coping techniques in response to not knowing how to regulate their emotions. It is a goal of dialectical behavior therapy to reduce the client’s emotional dysregulation by helping the client learn how to control their emotions and changing their behaviors (Lynch Chapman, 2006). The philosophy behind dialectical behavior therapy is that you must look at the whole client system to figure out the client’s reality because each part of the client’s system is interrelated. Each aspect of a client’s life can affect their emotions and behaviors. Dialectical behavior therapy is based on a biosocial theory that looks at the client’s childhood environment that could have led them to be emotional susceptible as a child causing emotional dysregulation as an adult. A client’s inner personality as a child of being emotionally sensitive was refuted by adults in their life through punishing the child in forms of abusive behaviors. Growing up these clients are in a feedback loop cause there emotional dysregulation to continue (Lynch Chapman, 2006). It is important for the therapist to create an environment where the client’s feelings are validated. Therapists help clients be mindful of their current emotions without trying to change it. Clients learn to be mindful of their beliefs, their logic and what emotions are real to them in that present moment. During treatment the therapist helps the client learn to communicate what is truly experienced by the client and for the client to be conscious aware of what to do. The client learns that they have control over how they process the situation. The client then applies rational thoughts and emotional regulation to the situation to achieve a sense of harmony. The client then learns not to resort to previous feedback loops. The client is encouraged to experience and accept their emotion fully without any attempts to regulate it. Clients therefore learn to stop the pattern of trying to control their affect (Lynch Chapman, 2006). Being mindful can stop feedback loops and change how a client responds to an emotional situation. Therapists help clients identify and challenge their belief systems that focuses on a rule where people must behave a certain way when faced with certain event. Clients are taught in dialectic behavioral therapy to focus their attention on what is happening instead of how the situation makes them feel. It is important for therapist to validate clients’ feelings and efforts towards change. Validation allows client to increase their self-confidence in their ability to self-regulate. This unconditional positive regard by the therapist helps clients learn how their history has affected their current behavior through emotional dysregulation and why dysfunctional behavior patterns are preventing them from having healthy relationships. The therapist then trains the client in healthy relationship skills and reinforces the clients’ use of the new skills (Lynch Chapman, 2006). This paper reviewed the article: â€Å"Mechanisms of change in dialectical behavior therapy: Theoretical and empirical observations.† This paper summarized the theoretical and empirical observations that indicate why DBT is successful in treating clients with borderline personality disorder. This paper discussed the specific aspects of how dialectical behavior therapy is used. References Lynch, T., Chapman, A. et al (2006). Mechanisms of change in dialectical behavior therapy: Theoretical and empirical observations. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62(4), 459-480. http://library.gcu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=truedb=aphAN=19901233loginpage=Login.aspsite=ehost-livescope=site

Money Over Power Beyond its Fate Essay Example for Free

Money Over Power Beyond its Fate Essay Money is the root of all evil. It is the most powerful thing in the world besides love. Sometimes money can ruin love in a friendship, relationship, or even worse family. Money can even decide the fate of a human’s life. â€Å"There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under the jurisdiction. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I can read and eat and study. I can choose how Im going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life-whether I will see them as curses or opportunities. I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts.† (Elizabeth Gilbert). In the movie, â€Å"No Country for Old Men,† A character by the name of, Llewelyn Moss, is caught in the cross fires of money, his actions, his thoughts, and most of all his own fate. Throughout the movie he is in a constant rat race with a man who goes by the name of, Anton Chigurh, who is a hit man that was hired to get the money that moss had stumbled upon and taken. Ofcourse Moss did not have to take this money and if he didn’t he wouldn’t be dealing with money, power, or the very predetermined fate of himself throughout the movie. Chigur also acts an officer of fate making up his own rules as he sees fit. Although Moss’s character may represent free will he also represents the fate that people make on their life after making one poor decision. Not only does this money ruin the fate of moss but it always toys with the fate of Moss’s wife, the owner of the gas station, and the children who were paid off to keep quiet. Some may say that it is not money that is the root of all evil but it is power. So does money and power go hand in hand? With money you have the power to control whatever you want, and with the most power you gain fear in others as well as continue to gain money from those who fear you. In â€Å"No Country for Old men† there is a constant battle between the power money holds on oneself as well as the fate of a life through money. The first time money determines a person’s fate is  during the coin flip at the gas station. When Chigurh realizes that the man working at the counter knows where he is from, he now becomes a witness of who Chigurh is and where he may be from. Maybe if the man would have just been quiet in the first place instead of trying to use the small talk and be friendly Chigurh would have never even have to have the thought of killing the man in the first place. But because the man is the person he is and just wanted to help â€Å"time pass† it pulled a spark and brought the whole conversation in another direction. Chigurh then begins to question the man. What time do you close? Do you stay out back? What time do you go to sleep? The Owner knew he was in some type of trouble and quickly tries to hurry the man out of his store so that he can reach some type of safe zone between him and Chigurh. The conversation continues and that’s when it starts to get a little interesting. Chigurh finds out that the man was married into the business. He didn’t want it nor did he save his earnings but fate brought him to that gas station and Fate would determine his life in a coin toss. â€Å"It is interesting, however, to note the way Chigurh and the Proprietor discuss the stakes of the game. The Proprietor is no doubt aware of the danger hes in, but is carefully trying to determine the nature of the danger. They both avoid talking about the stakes of the game directly the Proprietor, because if he says it, it might happen; Chigurh, because he considers himself an agent of Fate. Discussing it directly would make him responsible, and hes not; the evil swirling through the film is bigger than this one man† (goodreasonblog.blogspot.com). Fate had played a life saving role in this man’s life but so did money. The flip the coin would determine his fate and that is when we right back on the subject of how which played a bigger role? The coin had all the power, although it was an instrument of the fate the man would determine on his own it still had the power. So can we really say that his fate was the reason this man is still alive? In the owners good graces he won the coin coin flip and his life was spared. But what if he had lost that coin flip? Do you really think Chigurgh would have killed an innocent man just because he noticed where he was from? Well that question could have been answered at the end of the movie when Chigurgh shows up at Moss’s wife, Carla Jean’s, house. Carla Jean finds herself seated across from the emotionless Chigurh. Chigurh had promised Moss that he would allow Carla Jean to live if the money was returned to Chigurh. He  assures Moss that it is the best deal he has to offer. Moss would have died either way but Chigurh promises Moss that he would not harm his wife as long as Moss listened to him. But of course determining the fate of himself and his wife Moss chooses not to listen to Chigurhs orders. It is really heartbreaking at this point in the movie because we all know Carla Jean is going to die. The power money has on a person is quite disgusting in this movie because we see that Moss truly chose his money over his wife. Chigurh tells Carla Jean that Moss could have saved her but the power of money had taken over Moss’s mind and moss made a decision for them both to suffer. â€Å"You don’t have to do this† Carla jean tells Chigurh. Chigurh then chooses to offer her the same coin flip option that he had previously offered the lucky old man at the gas station. Unlike the old man, Carla Jean refuses to call it when asked, even after the coin had been flipped and was just waiting to be called â€Å"The coin don’t have no say in it – it’s just you.† Chigurh again points out that he â€Å"got here the same way as the coin did.† Fate brought him to her house because of her husband and the power of money is what would kill Carl Jean in the end. Not only doe Chigurh try determining the fate of others, He also tries to determine the fate of himself. At the end of the movie when Chigurh is hit he pays a boy to keep quiet and act like nothing ever happened. Why would Chigurh do this? He is using his money to determine his fate. Chigurh knows that the lower his profile the less chances he will have of getting caught and going to prison for the illegal activity he has had going on. All in all none of these people had to do what they did. These were the choices they made and because of that, fate had a new twist on their life. Moss did not have to steal the money but he knew with more money came the happiness him and his wife had been working for. Maybe he did it out of love or maybe he was just being greedy we will never really know. Even Chigurh had the choice to not kill all those people because of Moss. All of those people who had died was a predetermined fate that was out of their control. Fate, in this movie, obviously came in more than one sub category. The money meant power and the power controlled ones fate. â€Å"Every moment in your life is a turning and every one a choosing. Somewhere you made a choice. All followed to this. The accounting is scrupulous. The shape is drawn. No line  can be erased. I had no belief in your ability to move a coin to your bidding. How could you? A persons path through the world seldom changes and even more seldom will it change abruptly. And the shape of your path was visible from the beginning.† (coen 259) http://goodreasonblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/no-country-for-old-men-coin-toss-scene.html http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/fate

Value Chain Of Unilever Management Essay

Value Chain Of Unilever Management Essay Any profit motive concern would like to keep the costs to the minimum and maximize profits that can be sustainable as well. Lean production and waste elimination is the product of years of innovation to reduce costs. (Karlsson and Ahlstrom, 1996) This has worked to the favor of external entities such as suppliers and customers, and to some extent, the employees. Companies have realized the importance to involve the community as a whole in the process to foster a sustainable infrastructure that can ensure growth for the company and other associated with it. Introduction Unilever is a large multinational company, having its sourcing, production and sales throughout the world. There are a large number of fast moving consumer goods including foods, beverages, home and personal care products, and cleaning agents. A single category of products sell under various brands, having different attributes and varieties within a single brand. Some brands are limited to certain regions while some brands are under partnerships or have been acquired from local companies. Production of many products has been outsourced to other companies, under strategic alliances, in order to cut on cost of production, like Lux. The company has been continuously engaged in implementing such strategic moves. To improve the value chain, the secondary activities are highly evident as well as the primary activities. Lean Production at Unilever Unilever has a focus toward eliminating waste and bringing lean production into practice, right from the sources through internal processes to the consumers. With its complex procurement network and production scattered in different places, the possibilities for further enhancement in the value chain are endless. Unilever aims to be a multi-local company, which can understand local needs, and produce new products tailored to local needs.(Jones and Decker, 2007) This localization takes into account the different strategies that have to be put into practice for the same product in different locations, which can be put into reducing costs. There have been various success stories from around the world in this regard. In Peru, Unilever does not has a production facility so it uses the cost effective strategic option of outsourcing to local companies including Alicorp S.A.A., which reduced labor requirements and more focus was given to marketing the products. (SOMO, 2006) The companies involved in these strategic alliances have been strong companies. Unilever has a policy to find a partner with a high innovation potential, that can be used to ensure efficient synchronization with Unilevers own supply chain. As Bonney, 2002 has said that the company practices have partners dedicating a team solely for joint development exercises, where knowledge is effectively shared and applied, and commercial agreements are reached on patents, which signified long term partnership approach. Garijo, 2002, adds that Unilever, before going for an alliance, analyzes its internal capability in a particular domain and asks a potential partner to do the same on its own end. Future agreements are based on such defined capabilities. The gradual shift from house of brands to branded house has involved better internal processes. One example is their investment in information technology, which is been superseded by knowledge management practices over the last decade. Knowledge workshops have led to the creation of the Community of Practice (CoP), which pertain to a certain domain such as supply chain or production RD, who are involved in Knowledge Management Groups (KMGs), which continually enrich the knowledge of the employees. Marketing is one domain where KMGs are becoming active, owing to the tacit nature of localized knowledge in this area, while there are already dozens in supply chain and production technology. (Pos et al, 2005) Unilever has used CoP effectively to deal with Agronomy issues in areas with scarce water. In Australia, innovative irrigation systems were developed while in Brazil, an improved system curbed over-irrigation and associated problems. The resulting agricultural products are low-cost, better quality and have lower disease rates. Through this way of sourcing of raw materials, Unilever has established long term control over its sourcing needs. Given the leverage of its size, Unilever can further and continuously leverage its size to strengthen the very entities that it interacts with; the customers, suppliers and strategic production partners. Waste Management Being a large and growing company, the company needs continuous innovation to manage its waste along the value chain. It has been observed that outsourcing looks convincing but it discounts the control factor. For example in Perus case, the outsourcing has caused considerable cost reduction however it has also made it difficult to impose the standards practiced by the company. The layoffs resulting from the outsourcing and further layoffs by the outsourced company, have spoken about the cost to the employees of such strategic moves. The company has reduced the waste of over-employment and has improved efficiency but created the waste in the form of tarnished labor relations, which shows the inability of the company to follow its own Business Partner Code. (SOMO, 2006) As already discussed, Unilever is effectively improving its inbound logistics. The case of Palm Oil controversy, is one of the reasons to do so, and has in fact made the company respond quickly to such issues. In the case, Unilever could not fully adhere to its Sustainable Development Report 2009 where the company aims to grow while improving the environment and recognizes that each stage of the value chain can affect the environment. Prior to this and earlier declarations, the company had been working hard to restore its reputation, damaged by Greenpeaces Cooking the Climate report, where the company was named as a largest buyer of palm oil made from non-sustainable sources. Further media revelation of the companys continued purchase compelled the company to order its Indonesian supplier to stop buying from a local rainforest. Despite the companys successful sourcing of 15% of its tea and palm oil from sustainable resources, the company has been inconsistent in fulfilling its pledge s. The company has to practically prove its 2015 plan to source all its raw material from sustainable sources. (Drnach and Dowding, 2010) Unilever has been able to nearly eliminate waste in its production facilities and in the outsourced production. This has been due to the implementation of latest technology in its mass production models. At the outbound logistics domain and marketing sales domain, more and more services are being outsourced. There are a large number of companies like advertising agencies, brand activation, event management, media planning, business process outsourcing, distributor networks and more which are specialists in their respective domains (McGovern, 2005). It has been beneficial for the company to outsource to these companies due to the nature of these tasks. However, a collaborative and strategic partnership is made with these companies which can ensure better quality of results. The waste that occurs in this stage is that of the work rejected or delayed, for example, an advertising agency comes up with an advertising idea which is rejected or the distributor mishandles distribution, resul ting in inventory losses. Another waste that occurs in this area is in the form of delays that result in stockpiles of inventory. The distributor can misunderstand the change in the product brand image and fails to distribute to the markets intended for in the new branding. Failing to distribute the product properly can cause the product to lose its repeat or prospective customer. (Spence, 1977) The dual company structure does not create any impediments in the value chain as an equalization agreement eliminated dual board and management. (Jones, 2002) Under an agreed structure, where beneath the two parent companies are many local subsidiaries, the degree of involvement with the subsidiaries is gradually increasing, like its strategic plans, and moving from house of brands to a branded house. (Daye and VanAuken, 2007) It is highly recommended that Unilever should be more proactive by enlisting support and collaboration with their distributors and outsourced companies for marketing sales. The company should avoid being heavily dependent on the outsourced companies by having a system to create its own plans while approaching these companies.(Lei and Hitt, 1995) As for the inbound logistics, I adhere to Drnach, 2010 recommendations that the sources of supply should be tracked and audited regularly. The company should take a step in the improving its value chain without waiting for competitors to do the same, where there might be short term losses. It is also recommended that the knowledge management groups and related programs should be taken to other domains in the value chain by making its use compulsory for maintaining employment. Instead of using community of practice as a tool, the company should consider community of interest in order to create an acceptance of the knowledge management among the employees. It is important, also, to assign enriched roles or provide them alternate roles along the value chain, once the outsourcing has been done, rather than to lay them off. Any addition to the value chain, despite the cost, will add value to the organization as long term. The waste generated from the production itself should be utilized as a raw material for other production processes. Idle time can be utilized in training especially for factory workers, if it cannot be reduced immediately or not at all. This time can also be used in recreation activities for the employees. Employees should be given the chance to take part in decision making exercises that can help the top managers understand the complexity of problems inside the organization. Before the recommendations can be implemented, there should be a comprehensive audit of the value chain of the entire organization that can refine the recommendations. Impact of Change The recommendations will increase the efficiency of the organization and fewer resources would be used in production process. If implemented in letter and spirit, and with greater efforts, the recommendations can provide benefits beyond the intended ones. For example, by enlisting the support of distributors, the company can gather more information about the customers, through the retailers. Such information can be more meaningful than a consumer research conducted by a research company. With technological collaboration (like RFID Tags) with the distributors, the company can track the movement of the products from the production to the consumer in real-time, thus identifying where and when the products reach first and where the product demand varies owing to different factors, like seasonal and occasional. Distributors can also provide the company with information about changing consumer needs in various parts of the same location, leading to a different variety to be researched and launched for that area only, with a limited marketing budget. Maintaining linkages with the outsourced companies can be beneficial while having its own plans before approaching the outsourced companies can be even more beneficial owing to reduced dependencies on those companies. For example, it the company wishes to reposition the brand of an ice-cream, it should do complete planning of the work that is to be outsourced to different companies. With a plan in hand, the company will have a benchmark to compare the results with, so that they will not have to approach the companies again and again for improvements. The company can send a dedicated team to work along with these companies to report back the updates regularly so that the concurrent adjustment and enhancements can be made, rather than making a second approach to adjust the changes. For the inbound logistics the recommendations of tracking and auditing of the sources of raw material will improve the raw material quality and ensure long term availability. This will be possible as the audits will provide information whether the source of the raw material is sustainable. Furthermore the audit will provide information about the supply chain origins. For instance, in a South Asian country, the company can sell packaged milk like Nestle has. The company can reach the dairy farmers, who can be provided vital information as to the time they should deposit the milk. Technology at the village can be enhanced by installing lactometers that can measure how pure the milk is and the farmers are then paid according to the freshness of the milk rather than large quantities of low quality milk. Farmers would be encouraged to take care of their livestock to improve milk quality. Meanwhile the company can educate the farmers on taking care of the livestock through modern technique s such as medication and veterinarian care facilities. The village itself would find incentive to acquire such facilities. Thus by improving the technology of the village i.e. by going on a focused corporate social responsibility initiative, the company has a considerably better raw material that saves processing time and cost. Short term losses for implementing a value chain initiative can be high where the industry structure is not compatible with the initiative. A large company such as Unilever can bear such losses, but the impact it will have on the existing environment and the industry structure will be large enough to influence other players in the industry to follow suit. In my recommendation, that the company should not be reluctant at implementing a value chain initiative even if the losses seem to be high. The enhancement in the value chain will thus be beneficial to the industry not just the organization. The first company to implement the change will be the first one to benefit from the change, while other companies will be forced to follow the new industrial standards to survive. The long term sustainability will be created in term of continuous supply of better quality raw material from a sustainable source. The recommendations on forming knowledge management groups for more employees to share knowledge in their area of practice and interest, will considerably improve the quality of human resources at the organization. Community of interest should be promoted over practice, as it can diversify the views of the employees so that they can become more occupationally mobile rather than restricted strictly to their area of specialization.(Curtis, 1959) Furthermore the strategic moves by the company are expected to result in shifting existing employees to different areas on the value chain. The more occupationally mobile the employees are, the more quicker they will be able to learn their new roles, reducing hiring and training costs as well as retaining the employees along with the company specific knowledge. New employees would have to be taught about the organization from scratch, and would require more training. Lastly the idle time and waste generated by the production process itself can be managed to provide training time to the employees. This will avoid wastage of time in activities unrelated to work. If it is possible, the idle time can be used as a reason to employ part time wage workers who can work between the idle time intervals, while being trained during the intervals. Technology can be used to allow workers to work from home, if they are well trained in their area of work, and use the free time to maintain a reasonable work/home life balance. Waste from the production process itself can be used in other production processes in another factory of the company. For example, certain waste material from the production of soaps can be utilized in producing more soaps. Improved value chain will provide benefits to the community and the company. If both of them grow well, the benefit is passed on to all other players in the market. Framework to Respond to Danger Signals Keeping the Porters value chain model as a tool, a new first-line manager at Unilever can use the framework to identify the waste that occurs at each stage of the value chain, find the danger signals of each waste and respond to it. Inbound Logistics The waste can be the lost production time owing to delay in arrival of raw material, or the low quality raw material. The danger signals can be the number of hours a production process has to be stopped or slowed down, and the number of hours factory workers may have to wait. For each progressive number of hours, the manager has take a certain action. For instance, initially the incoming logistics has to be contacted for verifications of delayed time schedule. Later the production manager has to be informed, while workers are to be informed of the expected time and compensation. If the logistics is too much delayed, the managers can send the workers back to reduce wage cost and inform the higher management through production manager. Production and Operation The waste can include the idle time inherent in various machines in factory due to cool-downs and maintenance. This can cause wasted labor hours, which are paid for the idle times as well. The number of hours elapsed since the shut down is the danger signals. Initially the manager has to inform the workers to wait while the maintenance is in progress. On further delay, the workers are paid and sent back, while the manager liaisons with the maintenance team to know the status and inform the same to production manager. Outbound Logistics The waste includes inventory losses on mishandling, the lost consumer due to delay, misdistribution or low stock at the retailers end and losses owing to miscommunication with the distributors. The danger signals can be the loss percentage. As the percentage increases, the danger signals increases, and so a more high level decision has to be taken. For instance, for a small loss, the distributor is sent the first warning, while both company and distributer assume loss and the manager process the proceeding and informs the production manager and accounts department. On a greater loss, the distributor assumes the loss, failing which the manager has to inform the same to the production manager, accounts manager as well as the Marketing department. Marketing and Sales The waste is the time involved in rejected work from an outsourced company, and lost customers owing to failed brand repositioning based on unreliable research. The line manager has little to do with this domain, however the danger signals is the accumulated inventory if the full or partial production has started concurrent to change in, for instance, product attribute takes place, but is not marketed as yet. The manager can stop the production and inform the concerned positions. Service The waste is the loss of consumer due to inability to attend to consumer complaint or suggestion. The danger signals can be the increase in unattended consumer complaints on which the production has not taken any action, as well as an increase in the inventory levels. The manager has to inform the production to check the complaints and improve the product quality, while coordinate the production with procurement in case a machine update in needed. Procurement The waste that can occur at this stage of the value chain is the negative publicity as well the long term depletion of a raw material from a non-sustainable source. The danger signals can be the increase in inventory as fewer orders are being taken. The manager has to inform the procurement and marketing department after a certain inventory level is reached. Technology Development The waste is the lost production time due to an outsourced production facility not being fully compliant with the technology standards set by Unilever. The danger sign can be the total number of accumulated idle time in a week. Considering that the line manager is employed by Unilever at the outsourced facility, the manager can first inform the outsourced company production department, then to his companys outsourcing manager and production manager. Later the technical team of Unilever can be informed to perform necessary adjustments. Human Resource Management The waste can be the lost production time caused by delays caused by training new personnel. The number of hours elapsed since shutdown are the danger signals. Line manager can inform the human resource and production department to quicken the training period Firm Infrastructure The waste can be the lost production time caused by delays due to unrealistic plans and lack of finance. The number of hours elapsed since shutdown are the danger signals. Line manager can only inform the management of the happenings and try in his capacity to facilitate solutions. Conclusion Operations management is now the key to achieve faster production rates and improve both the top line and the bottom line. (Mukherjee, 2009) This area of study is increasingly being merged with the domain of marketing based on indirect responsibility because of the realization of need to be agile in competition.(Pycraft, 2000) To make sure that consumers are reached in time, sourcing, production and distribution has to be achieved quickly and efficiently.

Brutus Character Analysis in Shakespeares Tragedy of Julius Caesar Ess

Character Analysis: Brutus William Shakespeare's play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, was mainly based on the assassination of Julius Caesar. The character who was the mastermind behind the assassination was, ironically, Marcus Brutus, a senator and close friend to Julius Caesar. But what would cause a person to kill a close friend? After I examined Brutus' relationship towards Caesar, his involvement in the conspiracy and his importance to the plot it all became clear. Brutus had one particular reason for killing Caesar and that was for the good of the people and the republic. Brutus had no personal reason for killing Caesar. Some of his most admirable traits were his morality and leadership skills. Brutus had a strong relationship with Caesar but a stronger relationship with Rome and its people. I think during Roman times, the only way for someone to get close to a person of high rank is if he/she is a close friend or relative to him/her. Brutus loved Caesar but feared his power and ambition. In the early acts of the play, Brutus says to Cassius, "If it aught toward the general good, set honor in one eye and death in the other, and I will look on both indifferently†¦,,"(act 1, scene 2, ll.85-89), as he is speaking to Cassius. "He then unto the ladder turns his back..."(act 2, scene 1, line 25). As the quote says, Brutus would not allow Caesar to rise to power and then turn his back on the people of Rome. This is the only reason Brutus would conspire against Caesar. Brutus says to himself, "I know no personal cause to spurn at him...How that might change his nature..."(act 2, scene 1, and ll.11-13) Caesar's connection and relationship with Brutus was also very strong. Allowing Brutus to speak to Caesar shows his respect fo... ...thing else. The threat that Caesar poses was that he would begin moving away from the idea of a Roman republic and towards an Empire ruled directly by him. Brutus is complex because he does not kill Caesar for greed, envy, or to preserve his social position like so many of the other conspirators against Caesar, he does it for the good of the people. Once Brutus has made up his mind he sticks to it, and he is rarely questioned. Brutus is very accustomed to having his way without argument, which explains why he rarely listens to anyone else. Brutus is like a piece of elastic. He is easily stretched out, but he's also easily put back to how it used to be. But a piece of elastic will also get worn out and has to be thrown out. Brutus is very quickly persuaded and manipulated. Like elastic, it is stretched and used, then immediately thrown out like it was nothing.