Economics of Environment and Energy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Economics of Environment and Energy - Essay Example This applies especially to those who only view environmental concerns, as anti-economic Transitioning to a low carbon economy is indispensable if the world is to continue uninterrupted by environmental degradation. Researchers have made a prediction that continued greenhouse gas emissions would result in a rise of temperature by 6Â °C before 22nd century. This temperature rise will result in problems such as drought and floods, global instability, public health related deaths and rampant migrations of people. All these problems will befall the world community including the UK. For the world to avoid these disastrous effects, global carbon dioxide emissions must fall to at least 50% below the levels of 1990 by the year 2050 (DECC, 2011,pp 3). This will ensure that world temperatures will not rise more than 2Â °C. In some past UN talks, the European Union promised to cut carbon dioxide emissions to 20% below the levels of 1990 by the year 2020. To reduce carbon dioxide emissions and fund emissions cuts in developing countries, the European Union has created the world’s largest emissions scheme (Leticia et al, 2012). The transition to reduce carbon dioxide emissions will happen but not without challenges. The UK will face the challenge of getting alternative energy sources that are environmentally friendly to run industries. Climate change needs urgent solutions to prevent ecological catastrophes, political and economic instability, and human suffering. According to Lund (2009, p.88), efforts to minimize greenhouse gas emissions will provide international security and improve energy, new economic opportunities, a fair society and a better environment. This paper will deal with energy consumption trends and prices in the UK, role of competitive markets in delivering the low carbon economy and government’s intervention in fostering the economy. The trends in energy consumption and prices have been on the rise in the whole world with the challenges of employing the use of environmentally sources of energy. Energy production of 2010 was down by 5.3% compared to the 2009 production in the United Kingdom (DECC, 2012, pp 2). Energy consumption normally becomes high during cold seasons, and thus in a cold year we expect a rise in energy consumption. This happens because people use lots of energy to keep warm their dwellings during cold times. In 2010, the final energy consumption rose by 4.4% while primary consumption of energy was up by 3.2%. However, the primary consumption on the temperature-adjusted basis fell down by 0.4 per cent. This happened because the average temperatures of the year 2010 were 1.1Â °C below those of 2009. The year 2010 saw the UK remaining a net energy importer, importing 28 per cent of its energy requirement. Because of reduced nuclear output due to outages, imports of liquefied natural gas increased. The tables below show the final energy consumption in the year 2010. By users Sector Percentage Transport 35.0 Domestic 30.5 Non-energy use 5.5 Iron and steel industry 1.0 Other industries 16.5 Other final users 11.5 By fuels Type of fuel Percentage consumption Natural gas 33.0 Electricity 17.5 Petroleum 45.5 Others 4.0 The final total energy consumption was 159.1 million tones of oil equivalent. From the tables, we can see that UK had increased dependency on fossil fuels, and the transport sector was the leading consumer of total energy consumption. In the fourth quarter of 2011, total energy production fell by 13% as compared to the productions in the

International businesse in emerging market Assignment - 1

International businesse in emerging market - Assignment Example The emerging market accelerated growth of its international business, which were up 4% LFL. In June 2014, the company planned to invest $20 billion in a gas-fired power complex in Vietnam. In its planning, the company recognized the need to create a partnership with a host well-known company in Vietnam in an attempt to sell its products in this emerging market. It, therefore, collaborated with Vietnam’s state-owned petrol Vietnam. It erected two power plants with a capacity to produce between 6000 and 6500 megawatts of power. In this perspective, the company focuses on capturing the gas and oil market in Vietnam through provision of cheaper prices and diversified oil and gas brands (Regester & Larkin, 2014). It proposed to position its operation in 700 locations and several retail operations. In addition, the strategy aims to present its brands closer to consumers and therefore making its brand most accessible products in Vietnam. Vietnam is one of the top five developing nations in Asia. It has a robust middle class, a crucial driver of economic expansion in a developing country. It is valid to argue that middle class mainly supports the policy change significantly to the success of the country and in supporting capitalist democracy. The country has the fastest-growing middle class in the whole Southeast Asia and is expected to double in size from 12 million (2014) to 32 million by 2020. Generally, Exxon Mobil was experiencing various impending challenges in Vietnam such as complex foreign investment laws, corruption in infrastructure projects, lack of comprehensive and transparent legal system and restricted land usage rights (Plunkett, 2014). However, Vietnam is currently undergoing trade liberalization through negotiations toward a free agreement with the European Union (Van Dyke, et al., 2014). The negotiation presents viable market to Exxon Mobil since its

Analysis - I have written my article about cloning Essay Example for Free

Analysis I have written my article about cloning Essay I have written my article about cloning. The opinions I have used in it are a highly exaggerated depiction of extremist views. I have shown, how ridiculous and outrageous these views are by overstressing every point and going to immense extremities, such as the master race and the worker race, these are so severe that the worker race would even be kept underground. I used pictures in my writing to make it easier for people to visualize the images that I am talking about because then they will be able to understand my ideas better. I have inserted a picture of Britney Spears, as she is a well-known, famous star, that many people like, or would like to be. The reason that I have included this particular image is because many people long to live like these stars and by using the image I am implying that if we introduce cloning and the so- called master race then everyone will be able to live like this. Many people believe that she is a perfect human being and this is the idea that I am trying to convey with the master race, that after using the system for a couple of decades, what will be left will be a, supposedly, perfect human race, which for many people the picture used illustrates perfectly. If I had room for more pictures on the page I would have used a picture of another stereotypical perfect male star to appeal to both sexes, but I wanted the article to look professional so I tried to keep the number of pictures too minimum. The picture will also encourage people to read the article because if they have turned over the page and they then see the picture of Britney. If they are an admirer, then they will most probably turn back to the start of the article to read it the whole way through. The reason that the picture has been repeated three times is because it shows what could be achieved by cloning, not just one, allegedly, flawless human being but as many as wanted, a whole race of them even. The repetition shows the main process of cloning as well, making an identical copy of something/ someone. I also use pictures of Morlocks from the film of the book The Time Machine by H. G Wells. The book and the films are set far into the future, this is also a little indication of the fact that this is could really happen in the future. These creatures were humans but as time has passed they started to live underground as they were using all of the earths resources, that is the main reason that I am using this picture to show what the, as I have called them in my article, worker race, would be like as my extreme plan is to have them working day and night, underground to provide the master race with everything they need. The reason that I have used such a ghastly picture is because I want it shock the reader, it will also draw attention to the article. The workers wont be good-looking, as they will never of had sunlight on their skin and never of had any of the beauty products and treatments we take for granted so the picture is an accurate representation of what they would actually look like. The contrast between the purportedly picture perfect Britney and the hideous, unsightly Morlock should make people start to think that they would much rather be with the master race rather than the workers. There is also the idea that this is what the human race has become as it has evolved and that cloning could save us from this atrocious fate and instead bring us to the attractive future that the master race offers. Two of the pictures are in black and white, these are the pictures of the worker race, these are in black and white to give a feel of darkness to the pictures and to imply that this is the sort of life they would have, never seeing any colour, whereas the picture of the master race is brightly coloured and shows an image that people feel drawn to look at unlike the pictures of the Morlocks and the ants. This means that the contrast is even more noticeable between the two sets of pictures. I have used the layout of having the pictures cutting into the writing, so that you cant help looking at the pictures while you are reading, helping the readers to picture the ideas I am putting into their heads, I have also put captions underneath the pictures to show what the pictures are of and how they relate to the topic of the article. The pictures are large and stand out from the page causing them to catch the readers eye whilst they are flicking through the paper, meaning that they read the article. I have used a strong title, Hitler Was Right, to fascinate the reader even before they have started reading the article. Including a strong political figure compels people to read the article as it looks like it could be an article of great importance. They will straight away wonder what the article could be about, causing suspense that will keep them reading until the very end of the article when they will realize that I was simply, apparently, agreeing with one very simple part of Hitlers range of ideas, that the world would be a better place if just one master race was to occupy it. This title has been written in Times New Roman and is in font size 36, I have done this so that the title stands out from all of the other things on the page. People wont be able to help noticing the title and this will generate interest in the article. The main body of the writing is in a quite large text; this is because I want it to stand out and not to be too small. The effect of this is that the article will not look as much of a difficult task to read, encouraging more people to read it. The prologue to the article is written in bold writing slightly bigger than in the main body of the text, this is so that this will stand out just a little bit more and people will read it before they read the main article. The writing in this prologue is encouraging people to read the main article. By ending it with a question the question is: why not? It makes people read on, as they want to find out the answer to this question, Straight away, in this first prologue I have shown my opinion, that I agree with cloning and all of the brilliant ideas that come along with it, this means that people will be under no disillusion while they are reading the article.

The Garden Company Limiteds performance in the hong kong market

The Garden Company Limiteds performance in the hong kong market Introduction According to the assignment guidelines, students are allowed to choose either a service company or a manufacturing company for this report. I have chosen a manufacturing company in Hong Kong with global supply chains the Garden Company Limited (hereinafter called Garden). Their major upstream suppliers are from the US, Canada, and Australia whereas their two biggest downstream suppliers in Hong Kong are supermarkets Wellcome and ParknShop. Although Garden products are also being sold outside Hong Kong and China, including the Northern American, Canadian, Australian markets, I would focus this report only on its market in Hong Kong. Background information of the organization The Garden Company Limited is a Hong Kong-based bakery and confectionery manufacturer. The company was one of the first Chinese owned business as created to sell Western-style food products in Hong Kong, but also has a global supply chain network. Founded in 1926, Garden has experienced rapid societal changes and technological advancement in the past 80 years. Today, they are still persisting with their paramount values in quality, innovation and advancement. Garden supplies thousands of food products to todays retail and catering markets, with many of their products internationally awarded. As one of the largest bakery production corporations in Hong Kong, they are well equipped with state-of-the-art large-scale equipment. Their technology, quality, output and market development have long reached International Standards. Gardens wide assortments of products, high sales volume and extensive market penetration have long been broadly recognized. To further cope with rising market demand, they continue to inject large sums of investment into product research and development as well as upgrading their technology and production hardware. The various production procedures are completed with the most sophisticated equipment in their factory. Computer automation is integrated in all the processes from production to packaging, fully manifesting the remarkable results brought about by scientific management. Furthermore, their principal factory in Sham Tseng with a total area of 70,000 square meters carries out the production lines for bread, cakes, biscuits, candies etc. Unlike most firms in Hong Kong, Garden was a pro-China company and had been supplying bread to Chinese army during World War II. The firm closed its operations during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong from 1941 to 1945. The company expanded with the growth of Hong Kong before and after World War II and benefited from the influx of immigrants from Mainland China. In the 1980s and 1990s, Garden products were shipped overseas to Chinese communities around the world. Besides their major business in Hong Kong, Garden has also been actively taping into the Mainland China market since the 1980s. Factories had been set up in Dong Guan and Yang Zhou to introduce the advanced technology into the food manufacturing industry of the Mainland. Achieving the ISO9001 certification in 1997 was a milestone in their history. It demonstrates that Garden, with its world-class corporate management and modern operation system, is a globally acclaimed food manufacturer. Today, the company remains a privately owned family (Cheung family) business with several joint ventures with mainland Chinese firms. It is one of the few Hong Kong firms with manufacturing operations still in Hong Kong. All Garden products are made of the finest ingredients selected from all around the world, for example their barley is from Australia, flour from the United States, milk and butter from New Zealand, just to name a few. Their long-standing experience, fully-automated technology and packing equipment together with careful quality control guarantee that every product of theirs can meet strict quality testing and safety standards in many countries. With the past 80 years of excellence, Garden has successfully established itself as a distinguished brand supported and favored by many consumers around the world. Their products currently reach many major Chinese communities in as far as Europe and America. Today they are actively developing overseas markets in order to offer their quality foods to consumers in different corners of the world. With more than eight decades of experience in food production, the Garden Companys determination in offering quality products and services and its innovative spirit are as strong as ever. Looking ahead, they will continue with their commitment to producing nutritious and quality food with the pursuit of perfection. QIE, which stands for Quality, innovation, Efficiency, serves as Gardens corporate mission with the objectives to lead their staff to pursuit of superb quality, continuous innovation and achieve efficiency enhancement. It is through the implementation of QIE that the recognition and reputation of their brand have been greatly elevated. To realize their goal of QIE, the Company puts LTC Learn, Think, and Communicate into practice with all their working together to continuously improve the manufacturing of quality products, developing new technologies and new product values so as to satisfy the ever-heightening needs of consumers. SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis Strengths: Garden has a global brand, it is a strong brand, strengths including brand recognition, brand quality, economies of scale, strong distribution network, strong distribution chain, supply chain, strong international operations, online growth, good reputation, reputation management, market share leadership, effective marketing strategy, experienced personnel, strong management team, effective communication, extensive customer base, loyal customers, cost advantage, asset leverage, competitive pricing, original and unique products, high research and development, advanced equipments, innovation, etc. Apart from all these company strengths, they are famous in Hong Kong. I believe that all households in Hong Kong consume their products, one or the other on a regular basis. They are considered second to none in the bakery industry. Weaknesses: Due to Gardens huge range of products, coupled with a substantial global retail network, bad communication is unavoidable, it happens from time to time. Furthermore, they experience diseconomies to scale, at times over leveraged financial position, and weak corporate governing practice. Since Gardens range of products is for the public in general, many of their competitors go to the upper end market, for example to high class customers such as hotels and delis, and leave Garden in the lower end market for many years. Opportunities: Garden basically has a healthy financial position. They did some acquisitions, merger and takeovers on a small scale basis. They also tie up with international events to capitalize on synergy opportunities for growth of the operation. They continuously look for new markets; expand in Asia, expand into online shopping; decrease its taxation through donations to charity organizations. In the era of emergence of international middle class, and change in consumer lifestyles, they are constantly changing their products to expand their customer base, and their service lines like new products such as drinks and snacks, and new service such as mail order. Threats: Although Garden has a lion share in the bakery industry, they have many competitors in the high end sector. With Hong Kong returning its sovereignty to Mainland China, Garden is facing many financially strong competitors from the Mainland. There are new competitors from the Mainland entering into this relatively small market. As far as their foreign business is concerned, foreign exchange rate changes affect its imports/exports strategies. The volatility in fuel costs, rising costs of business, pricing pressures, potentially slowing global economy, changes in demographics, change in consumer lifestyles, changing to cheaper technology, substitute products, changing consumer patterns, growing power of customers to set the price etc. are possible threats Garden has been facing during the past few years. Porters Five Forces analysis Competitive Rivalry within an industry: Since multi-market competition exists, rivalry between competitors in the industry is extremely intense. Companies in the industry have started new businesses to increase the level of competition with one another and compete heavily for geographic markets. There is no clear dominant market share player in the industry. Though the industry currently has relatively high growth, much of the business is cyclical, which leads to intensified competition in economic downturns. High fixed costs also contribute to intense competition. More recently, the continued growth of online shopping, mail orders, combined with increasing awareness of door to door logistics arrangements have been giving Garden headaches and they have been streamlining their services in this competitive environment. A few remarks are listed below to introduce some of Gardens international and local rivalries. Sara Lee Corporation Sara Lee Corporation is a global consumer products company with food, beverage, and household and body care lines of business. With powerful brands, such as Ambi Pur, Ball Park, Douwe Egberts, Hillshire Farm, Jimmy Dean, Kiwi, Sanex, Senseo and its namesake, Sara Lee, the company has leading positions in numerous categories in the more than 180 markets in which it competes. In Hong Kong, Garden has two main competitors in its frozen and fresh breads. For frozen breads, it major rivalries are Maxims, Sara Lee. For fresh breads, Garden is facing numerous small size competitors, in particular in the western style restaurants which bake on an everyday basis for its afternoon tea customers. Competitive Rivalry is a strong force in the bakery industry because the competitors use price cuts to compete, there is a low cost product range and there is ease in switching brands, and the companies in this industry can diversify and acquire other companies for strategic growth and for synergy purposes. Threat of New Entrants: The threat of new entrants into this industry is relatively low because of the scale required to make companies in the industry competitive. Capital demands to fund all of the assets required in the industry are extraordinarily large, making competition from entrepreneurs or small companies very difficult at this level of market competitiveness. Economies of scale are necessary for the business to be profitable and because of the intensity of rivalry, customers are difficult to attract. While the basic service of shipping goods would be relatively easy for new entrants to imitate, the competitors in the industry have created value and high switching costs for their customers through proprietary technologies. Threat of New Entrants is a weak force in this industry. Each company currently in the industry has strong brand images, leaving a harder job for new companies. The capital expenditures to start a bakery company are large, and the companies currently are achieving economies of scale by going global. Any smaller company will not be able to achieve these right away, not allowing them to compete on prices. Another factor threatening potential entrants is trade tariffs and international regulations. Most companies currently in the industry have already established relations with foreign countries. New companies will have to prove themselves to foreign companies, suppliers, and customers. Threat of Substitute Products: The threat of substitutes is currently high for the industry, but major technological or governmental foods regulations could change that. As mentioned above, although Garden has a lion share in the bakery industry, they have many competitors in the high end sector, for example Maxims, Saint Honore, Tai Pan Bakery etc. Garden is also facing many financially strong competitors from the Mainland. The latter produce substitute products such as dumplings, dim sums to suit the changing consumers taste. This is one of the many reasons why Garden has been continuously modifying the ingredients and packaging of their products during the past few years. Threat of Substitute Products is a strong force in this industry. There are plenty of substitute products in the market. Bakery retail outlets such as Maxims, Saint Honore, Tai Pan Bakery etc are conveniently located in all the 18 zones. One can literally find either one of them in almost every main street in Hong Kong. These competitors also offer very competitive prices which make potential consumers lose their brand loyalty and easy to switch to another brand. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Suppliers bargaining power is fairly low in the industry, but different suppliers have slightly different pricing strategies to fight for their survival. Competitors are also on the same footing with suppliers, as they are all subject to the same prices, although they may have hedged differently. Labour is a major factor of production in the industry and differences between companies regarding labour contracts subjects them to varying degrees of supplier power. Suppliers of raw materials, components, labor, and services (such as expertise) to the firm can be a source of power over the firm, when there are few substitutes. Suppliers may refuse to work with the firm, or, e.g., charge excessively high prices for unique resources. This is a strong force if the suppliers serve different industries with their raw materials. If a supplier only has accounts or the majority of their accounts with different companies, they will not be able to control prices and supplies. Bargaining Power of Buyers: Customers in the industry initially have power, but once they commit to a bakery, their bargaining power decreases significantly. New customers can easily shop around for price or level of service in the beginning, but once they have chosen a bakery and buy their product, they are usually loyal to them. Customers are likely to become loyal to a certain provider because of long-standing relationships or personal interaction with the company. This is a moderate force in this industry because competition keeps prices similar among the companies. The only difference is degree in loyalty. Also, the buyers of the services in this industry are reactionary. They do not know the technology before it happens. They become dependent on the technology, service and speed offered by the companies in this industry and will pay for it. SCOR (Supply-Chain Operations Reference) Model Planning activities: Gardens target customers are the public in general, whether they be as young as 2 years old, to as old as 99, they could be Gardens customers. Their pricing strategy is value for money. Their marketing slogan has been nutrition you need every day with the highest quality. These planning activities have proved to be most successful and made Garden the leading supplier in the bakery industry, in particular in the breads, biscuits and cakes sectors. Sourcing activities: According to the reading materials I searched and found, Garden has been purchasing all the baking ingredients directly themselves. However, they do outsource through logistic companies in their delivery activities. Locally, they need to deliver their fresh breads every early morning to hundreds of retail outlets. They also need to deliver fresh buns to all McDonalds franchisees. Furthermore they also deliver a range of fancy breads to airline caterers, hotels and restaurants. Internationally, they outsource transportation companies as well as freight forwarders for special orders such as wedding and birthday cakes. Internally, they outsource information technologies, finance and accounting, sales and marketing, foods testing etc. just to name a few. Make or production activities: Gardens upstream suppliers are worldwide. These included but not limited to flour, sugar, milk, cocoa, vanilla, wheat, soda powder, etc. again just to name a few. Countries included but not limited to (in alphabetical order) Australia, Canada, China, Europe, Latin America, and the United States. Bread Production Gardens bread production lines operate on a 24-hour basis, of which one is the first fully-automated line for hamburger buns in Asia. Apart from the retail market, they provide a huge volume of wholesale goods, which include bread, pastry and frozen dough products to major fast food chains, restaurants, hotels and airline catering services in Hong Kong. With their far-ranging businesses, they are committed to providing consumers with better choices with continuous innovations. Biscuit production Garden possesses diverse expertise, equipment and automated production lines to produce a wide variety of biscuits including wafers, cookies, sandwich biscuits, saltine, crackers and assorted biscuit gift packs to meet market demands. Cake production Their wide range of cakes has long been famous for its high quality and great taste. To cope with market demand, Garden produces cake products with highly efficient production lines, of which one is fully computerized for producing mini-cakes. With a wholehearted contribution from over 1,200 employees, Garden has established itself as the most reputable manufacturer in the local industry. Order processing information systems All market interactions, from the understanding of aggregate demand to the fulfillment of each order are not done wholly by Garden internally themselves. Some logistics are being outsourced, in particular for the overseas markets in Northern and Latin America, Australia, Europe, and Canada. Garden normally receives their orders through phone, fax and e-mail or e-order. Its IT department uploads orders to the printing invoice system. Automatically, these invoices pass to its distribution department for delivery. After deliveries, these invoices will be, again automatically, sent to its accounting department. The latter department then issues credit notes to the appropriate customers. Currently they are still using the information systems designed by IBM. Quality Control foremen in Garden are made responsible to ensure that expiry date, and appearances are properly done, and presentable. All delivery vans must have the correct temperatures for the different kinds of products. Delivery activities: Different transportation teams are required for different products. Fresh breads, frozen breads, biscuits are being delivered by the China and Hong Kong transport teams. Fresh bread team has about 60 vehicles to deliver 4,000 orders per day. These trucks are recognizable easily on the streets. Frozen breads and biscuits teams have about 20 vehicles to deliver 400 orders per day. Three trailers are being outsourced for the Mainland China and Hong Kong markets. As mentioned above, Garden does outsource through logistic companies in their delivery activities. Locally, they need to deliver their fresh breads every early morning to hundreds of retail outlets. They also need to deliver fresh buns to all McDonalds franchisees; deliver a range of fancy breads to airline caterers, hotels and restaurants. Internationally, they outsource transportation companies as well as freight forwarders for special orders such as wedding and birthday cakes. Not only that Garden wants to manufacture the best products, they also want to provide their best delivery service. Return activities: Garden guarantees its products are fresh and proper. They promise their retailers that they will replace any damaged or rotten items, that is if that happens. Garden has agreed with their retailers that they will pick up any expired items on their shelves. Assess how well the organization implements the supply chain management As mentioned right at the beginning of this report, Gardens major upstream suppliers are from the US, Canada, and Australia whereas their three biggest downstream suppliers in Hong Kong are supermarkets Wellcome, ParknShop and Mcdonalds. As far as this report is concerned, I would focus in the downstream supply chains; and before I go into how well Garden implements the supply chain management, I would like to introduce Gardens major downstream supply chains Wellcome, ParknShop and Mcdonalds. Wellcome Wellcome is Hong Kongs longest-established supermarket chain, they have an overall staff of 5,000 in more than 240 stores and serves more than 14 million customers every month. ParknShop ParknShop is one of the two largest supermarket chains in Hong Kong (the other is Wellcome Supermarket). ParknShop operates more than 260 outlets in Hong Kong, Macau, and Mainland China. ParknShop has more than 200 stores and 9,000 employees in Hong Kong. Mcdonalds McDonalds Corporation is one of the worlds largest chains of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving nearly 47 million customers daily. Most of their breads in Hong Kong are supplied by Garden. Although Garden does supply their products to airlines catering companies, hotels and restaurants, as well as supply chains such as 7 Eleven, Circle K and etc., I am not going to introduce these supply chains on a one on one basis. Basically these supply chains are owned by substantial and listed companies with well-trained management teams. Top management, as well as middle management personnel at Garden have very good business relationships with their supply chains. They have properly done legal contracts specifying all the details in supplies and payments. I have not been able to find any past news regarding any communication breakdowns between Garden and its supply chains. I have neither been able to find any past law suits about Garden suing any of its supply chains for non-payments, nor any company suing Garden for not delivering its responsibilities although there have been rumors that Garden has been finding it more and more difficult to get their payments on time during the past few years. Based on these findings, I believe Garden has been successful in its supply chains management activities. Suggest solutions/ways to improve the organization business; especially by improvements on supply chain management of the organization Supply Chain Management (SCM) is not created to suit for every company. It can succeed only with top management commitment and managers loyalty in executing those management strategies. Gardens management teams need to spend time in evaluating whether new SCM, inclusive of international networks, is suitable to be implemented into their company and how it could be successful. Garden bread has long history in Hong Kong that the fundamental target market should be the mass public served as the stable diet. With the increasing awareness of healthy eating, the variety of healthy consciousness products have been promoted like multi-grained, whole wheat, high calcium low fat breads. It is the general social trend and also serves as one of the marketing strategies that focus on the targeted middle-class, office-ladies and health consciousness customers. The relative advantage of Garden obviously is its long history and well-developed manufacturing factories, well-connected distribution channels, competitive retailing price and, of course, the well-known and long established brand name. On the other hand, these relative advantages might contribute some shortcomings in terms of the flexibility of market positioning and variety of products in response to the ever-changing and ever-increasing market force. Personally I am disappointed with Gardens decade-long use of coconut oil as an ingredient for their biscuits production. According to certain food magazines, too much consumption in coconut oil is bad for our health. Although all the reading material I found have been saying good things about Garden, nevertheless Garden is not a listed company, it is a privately owned company. They do not have to disclose any of their operation details to the public. Particularly, they do not have to disclose their financial position apart from to the Inland Revenue. My perception of Garden is that it is a very old style traditional company. Its top management includes family members of the founder. It is purely family business. Its image is not catching up with the young generation. Their product range is also conservative. It does not give any modern flare to attract those expats from the west. They focus on Asians so far, that means there is a huge expats market for them to develop. Garden reminds me of the Green, Yellow and White Arrow brands chewing gum company. The latter company has been too conservative and has not been innovative to catch up with the new entrants. Hence, Green White Arrow chewing gums have been losing market share. Until today, they have not been able to gain back what has been lost. The image of Garden should shift to focus more clearly on each market segment. For instance, Garden should develop a Gourmet production line which emphasis on the finest ingredients, the innovative design, for example in its packaging, and its advertisements. They could consider making more choice of breads, land cakes similar to those recipes from Italy and France, or from Europe at large. In order to shave off the old stable diet image, instead, the building up of the delicate and professional crafted food and to state that not only the five stars hotels can produce but Garden can also make and even better. The efforts to make sure managers do well in the SCM program and not treat it as another flavor-of-the-month include but not limited to the followings. Firstly, Garden has to ensure that the companys SCM strategies are specifically designed. Secondly, the SCM program need to meet their customers demands and reduces the companys costs. Thirdly, the management team must buy-in the program. Also, all the benefits included from the program such as customer responsiveness, more consistent on-time delivery; shorter order fulfillment lead times; reduced inventory costs; lower cost of purchased items; higher product quality; faster product innovation and etc. must be clearly explained to all the concerned managers so that they know the importance of the program. Garden must ensure that the staff concerned understand the objectives of the program, for example to better utilize the company resources and yet with higher product quality. Finally, if managers do well in implementing and executin g the program, the company should consider giving them incentive such as bonus or additional rewards other than their normal compensation. This will give them more motivation to continue to run the program. Garden has to do detailed surveys and researches to find out what are the products that their customers demand. They should listen to the voice of their customers. Their views and suggestions could in turn help the company to produce specifically the range of products the customers need. The company could also utilize their findings for meetings and discussions with their suppliers, both upstream and downstream and production managers to reduce the order processing time and inventories. The company would also be able to produce higher quality products with lower prices and less order processing time. In this way, the company would be more responsive to both their customers and suppliers. By doing the above, the company would be able to expand its market share from other competitors. Further possible improvements can be capitalized in the advances in technological and informational environment. These improvements have major implications for all industries, particularly logistics. If used effectively such advances may be a key source of competitive advantage. The technology listed below may become a competitive edge advantage for Garden in the future. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) not ready to implement? Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is the use of an object (typically referred to as an RFID tag) applied to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves. Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the reader. It works like a barcode, but instead of having to be passed in front of a scanner for recognition, tiny transponders (known as tags or chips) send out radio signals. Each tag is small, robust and unique so any one item can be tracked individually throughout the supply chain. Logistics and transportation are major areas of implementation for RFID technology. For example, yard management, shipping and freight and distribution centers are some areas where RFID tracking technology is used. Transportation companies around the world value RFID technology due to its impact on the business value and efficiency. The new technology is currently seen as too expensive to put on individuals products, but large companies already use it to track shipping items. RFID trials have met with mixed customer reactions. As with many such technical advances the effects can be both positive and negative. RFID technology is currently unsophisticated and largely applied to logistical operations. Training of staff and informing all internal stakeholders as to how RFID technology works and can benefit the company, stating the impact on customers so that companies are able to improve their operations. Global Positioning System (GPS) The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a U.S. space-based global navigation satellite system. It provides reliable positioning, navigation, and timing services to worldwide users on a continuous basis in all weather, day and night, anywhere on or near the Earth which has an unobstructed view of four or more GPS satellites. GPS has become a mainstay of transportation systems worldwide, providing navigation for aviation, ground, and maritime operations. Installing GPS systems for delivery vehicles can increase the efficiency and effectiveness in delivering products. Even though transportation companies offer tracking and insurance services to their customers, there are still chances that the customers packages might be lost or stolen. Imagine a GPS chip attached to the delivery packages; it can then be tracked anytime. Adding this technology can boost the customers confidence about Garden. Conclusion Gardens supply chains are owned by substantial and listed companies with well-trained management teams. Garden has very good business relationships with their supply chains. Garden has been successful in its SCM activities. For further improvements, Garden should keep themselves abreast of the current important trends being developed in the business arena, for example electronic commerce has been widely used. Experienced users reveal that e-business reduces costs and time. It creates less conflict between suppliers and consumers. Garden must realize that very few industries are protected geographically; competition is getting more and more fierce. Gardens determination to change as the contents mentioned-above is critical for its advancement. With Gardens top management teams commitment, together with managers efforts, I believe that Gardens staff is more willingly to change and Garden has a good chance of success in improving its current SCM program. During the process of finding reading material for this exercise and thereafter digesting the material, I became more familiar with what

Definition Essay - The True Meaning of Hegemony -- Expository Definiti

Hegemony - The True Meaning Hegemony was derived from the Greek word "egemonia," meaning leader or ruler, often in the sense of a state other than his own (Williams 144).   Although the base of this definition remains true, the word has evolved to much more.   Hegemony is defined by Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought as "Political and economical control exercised by a dominant class, and its success in projecting its own way of seeing the world, human and social relationships as 'common sense' and part of the natural order by those who are, in fact, subordinated to it."   Hegemony is defined as a predominant influence or leadership of a dominant class or institution over a subordinate class; the question is are the "subordinates" forced to follow the beliefs, or do they agree with them?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Antonio Gramsci, a leading Marxist thinker in the early 20th century, used hegemony to define class structure, (e.g. bourgeois hegemony).   Gramsci's philosophy was that the subordinate class was to follow this "common sense" that the dominant class set, however, Gramsci ... Definition Essay - The True Meaning of Hegemony -- Expository Definiti Hegemony - The True Meaning Hegemony was derived from the Greek word "egemonia," meaning leader or ruler, often in the sense of a state other than his own (Williams 144).   Although the base of this definition remains true, the word has evolved to much more.   Hegemony is defined by Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought as "Political and economical control exercised by a dominant class, and its success in projecting its own way of seeing the world, human and social relationships as 'common sense' and part of the natural order by those who are, in fact, subordinated to it."   Hegemony is defined as a predominant influence or leadership of a dominant class or institution over a subordinate class; the question is are the "subordinates" forced to follow the beliefs, or do they agree with them?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Antonio Gramsci, a leading Marxist thinker in the early 20th century, used hegemony to define class structure, (e.g. bourgeois hegemony).   Gramsci's philosophy was that the subordinate class was to follow this "common sense" that the dominant class set, however, Gramsci ...

Essay --

PET/ PETE: Polyethylene Terephthalate 1. Thermoplastic polymer in polyester family, with â€Å"C10H8O4† as empirical formula for its monomer. 2. It exists in two forms: fiber (synthetic) and resin. 3. PET is converted into fiber form by permanent press fabric and bottles by blow molding. 4. Recycling Code: #1 5. PET is not biodegradable and its incineration produces harmful gases which have high potency to air pollution. That’s why recycling it for further use. Properties [1] Density 1.38 g/cc (20 â„Æ') Young's Modulus 2800-3100 MPa Tensile Strength 55-75 MPa Elastic Limit 50-100% Glass Transition Temperature 67-81 â„Æ' Table 1: Properties of Poly-Ethylene Terephthalate. 6. Strength and stiffness of PET exists because of the presence of large aromatic rings in the long chains which results in high resistant to deformation too [2]. 7. PET (waste) used as construction materials: Based on available research in the literature, waste PET (mainly bottles) is recycled in four major ways: I. Waste PET bottles depolymerized into unsaturated polyester resin to produce polymer mortar and polymer concrete [3]. Advantages: †¢ Higher compressive and flexural strength than normal Portland cement. †¢ Modified concrete achieves 80% of its ultimate strength within 1 day. Disadvantages: †¢ Properties of modified cement sensitive to temperature. †¢ Cost for producing this modified concrete is high. II. PET Fiber to reinforce concrete [4]. Advantage: †¢ Enhances the ductility of quasi-brittle concrete. †¢ Reduce the cracking by plastic shrinkage. Disadvantage: †¢ Water Repellent and low surface energy of plastic which result in weak mechanical bonding b/w fiber and concrete. †¢ Poor mechanical bond strength causes internal micro-cracks in the interfacial mechanical... ...s Composites, 21(17): 1597–1607, 2002. 16. A. B. Inceoglu and U. Yilmazer. Synthesis and mechanical properties of unsaturated polyester based nanocomposites. Polym. Eng. Sci., 43(3): 661–669, March 2003. 17. M. S. Devi, V. Murugesan, K. Rengaraj, and P. Anand. Utilization of flyash as filler for unsaturated polyester resin. J. Appl. Polymer Sciences, 69(7): 1385–1391, August 1998. 18. A. B. Cherian and E. T. Thachil. Blends of unsaturated polyester resin with functional elastomers. J. Elastomer Plastics, 35(4):367–380, October 2003. 19. Y. Xu, M. L. Li, Y. Guo, and F. J. Lu. Structure and properties of modified unsaturated polyester resin by nano-TiO2. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 19(6): 578–580, November 2003. 20. E. Kicko-Walczak. New ecological polyester resins with reduced flammability and smoke evolution capacity. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 74(2):379–382, October 1999.

Reflective Writing of Gifted Hands-the Ben Carson Story Essay

â€Å"Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story† is a true story movie that revolves on the life of Benjamin â€Å"Ben† Carson who overcome poverty, racism, and a violent temper to become a world-renowned Pediatric Neurosurgeon that gives him a great credit in the field of Medicine. In his early years, he is the dumbest student in their class that made her mother come up on a decision on urging them (Ben and his brother Curtis) to start reading books in the Detroit Public Library because she doesn’t want her children will end up like her. Before long, Ben moved from the bottom of the class to the top. As he enters the world of Medicine as a Pediatric Neurosurgeon in John Hopkins Hospital, he successfully performed a ground-breaking surgery separating conjoined Siamese twins who were born joined at the head (this complex surgery has never been achieved before without casualties). It was a milestone in neurosurgery, but was far from the only worth mentioning achievement o f Carson’s career. For me, the most noteworthy event in the movie was when his Ben’s mother imparted him, â€Å"You can do anything that anyone else can do, only you can do it better.† This excerpt was intended for Ben to be encouraged and to boost his confidence to pursue with his undertakings to be the best he can be. He slowly discovers that his brain is indeed capable of both intelligent and creative thought. It’s a discovery – the miracle of human brain – that completely changes his life and shapes the course of his future. Learning developed when this excerpt was imparted, for me the gist of the excerpt is there’s nothing impossible if we just think that we can do our best, it just takes courage, self-confidence, self-efficacy and faith in God. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage. This is similar to Bandura’s Self-Efficacy Theory. Bandura’s theory emphasizes the role of observational learning, social experience, and reciprocal determinism in the development of personality. According to Bandura, a person’s attitudes, abilities, and cognitive skills comprise what is known as the self-system. This system plays a major role in how we perceive situations and how we behave in response to different situations. Self-efficacy plays an essential part of this self-system. According to Albert Bandura, self-efficacy is â€Å"the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations† (1995, p. 2). In other words, self-efficacy is a person’s belief in his or her ability to succeed in a particular situation. Bandura described these beliefs as determinants of how people think, behave, and feel (1994). Since Bandura published his seminal 1977 paper, â€Å"Self-Efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavioral Change,† the subject has become one of the most studied topics in psychology. (http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/self_efficacy.htm). Because in Bandura’s Theory of Self-Efficacy verifies that self-efficacy can have an impact on everything from psychological state to behavior to motivation while people with high self-efficacy – that is, those who believe they can perform well—are more likely to view difficult tasks as something to be mastered rather than something to be avoided. Like in the Bandura’s Theory of Self-Efficacy this reveals that it is how one judges one’s own competence to complete tasks, ability to perform well and reach goals. Self-efficacy affects every area of human endeavour, by determining the beliefs a person holds regarding his or her power to affect situations, thus strongly influencing both the power a person actually has to face challenges and the choices a person is mostly likely to make. These effects are particularly apparent, and compelling, with regards to behaviors affecting health. It is distinct both from efficacy and from self-esteem, confidence, and self-concept. Understanding how to foster the development of self-efficacy is important for policymakers, educators, and others in leadership positions, and to anyone seeking to build a happier, more productive life. Just like in Ben Carson’s story when he was hesitating on pursuing the operation between the Siamese twins because this surgery wasn’t successfully achieve or accepted before. But with the words of encouragement of his mother, he immediately conducted some research like reading books and applying his stock knowledge. Through these, he successful run the operation on the Rausch twins and that made him carve his name in popularity. Having watched the movie â€Å"Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story† I realize that in life we must believe in ourselves. Believe in our strength, capabilities, and have faith in God. Like in the story of Ben Carson after realizing the words of her mother, he slowly discovers that his brain is indeed capable of both intelligent and creative thought. It’s a discovery – the miracle of human brain – that completely changes his life and shapes the course of his future. Furthermore, I learned that we must not put some barriers or limitations immediately on the things we think we can’t do. Don’t belittle yourself and neglect things right away. Have After watching the movie, I have significantly improved my perception of self-confidence to achieve anything even the impossible. This makes me feel that self-confidence my key to every achievement of goals and even surpassing some difficulties in life. This perception will be a useful tool to me as learner because to be able to succeed in life is to face some up’s and down’s of life with full courage and there will be no courage if self-confidence is missing. As a next step, I need to be open-minded in all possibilities that could happen, even it will be an achievement or misfortune, and ready to face them with courage and faith in God.