History of Oldtown

1. 2 Brief explanation of the company’s history The  OldTown White Coffee,  OTWC  (Chinese:   ) is the largest  kopitiam  restaurant  chain in  Malaysia. Its main headquarters is in  Ipoh, Perak,  Malaysia. Established in 1999, the co-founders and Executive Director, Mr. Goh Ching Mun and Mr. Tan Say Yap are the incorporation of White Cafe and provide quality white coffee to Malaysian households and the food services industry. It manufactures instant beverage mixes and products, in addition to operating over 180 cafe outlets throughout Malaysia and the region.With more than 10 years of experience in the coffee beverage industry, both of co-founders were instrumental in the growth of the Oldtown Group of companies. Next, Mr. Lee Siew Heng, Group of Managing Director who played a significant role in implementing the overall vision, strategy and development of the Oldtown Group is the one of support them to incorporation Oldtown Group. In 1999, they successful ly to commercialize the instant 3-in-1 coffee mix under the â€Å"OLDTOWN† brand name for the retail sector.By end of 2009 October, the â€Å"OLDTOWN† 3-in-1 instant coffee mix was sold in approximately 1,348 retail outlets nationwide in Malaysia, approximately 550 retail outlets in Singapore and approximately 2,100 retail outlet in Hong Kong. In 2000, the â€Å"OLDTOWN† brand of 3-in-1 instant coffee mix is the first export to Singapore. In 2001, White Cafe marketing commenced operations as the marketing arm for the Group’s beverage products. During the same year, the product line is expanded and includes different variations of the instant coffee mix.In addition, instant coffee mix has also expanded export to Hong Kong markets. In year 2002, White Cafe obtained a HALAL certification from the Islamic Religious Department of Perak for the Group’s beverages. This is the part of OLDTOWN Group’s intentions, which is to produce the beverages in accordance with the Islamic law. In the same year, OLDTOWN Group’s have successfully expanded to nationwide retail distribution of 3-in-1 instant coffee mix to cover East and West Malaysia through major hypermarkets and supermarkets.In 2003, OLDTOWN Group’s have also successfully commercialized the new blend of 3-in-1 instant milk tea for the retail market under the â€Å"OLDTOWN† brand name. In view of expanding OLDTOWN manufacturing activities, OLDTOWN Group’s incorporated Gongga Food in 2003 and commenced operations in 2004 manufacturing roasted coffee powder for the road services sector using the Group’s proprietary bean roasting process. OLDTOWN Group’s also distributed the roasted coffee powder to traditional coffee shops in Ipoh and other states in Malaysia.In addition to the food services sector, roasted coffee powder is also marketed to the retail sector under the â€Å"NANYANG† brand. In 2004, it also further penetrated the export markets for 3-in-1 instant coffee to cover the United States, Canada and United Kingdom and subsequently in 2005, Taiwan and Indonesia. In 2005, OLDTOWN Group’s expanded vertically into the food services sector by opening a chain of cafe outlets based on the traditional Ipoh coffee shop setting and ambience under the â€Å"OLTOWN WHITE COFFEE† brand name.This is part of the Group’s strategy of capitalizing and reinforcing on the â€Å"OLDTOWN WHITE COFFEE† brand in the food services industry. In the same year, Kopitiam Asian Pacific commenced operations in the licensing, supply of food, beverages and other item, and provision of management services to â€Å"OLDTOWN WHITE COFFEE† cafe outlet. Since the opening of the first â€Å"OLDTOWN WHITE COFFEE† cafe outlet in Ipoh in 2005, the chain of cafe outlets have expanded to reach 137 cafe outlets in Malaysia and Singapore as at 31 October 2009. This included fully and partially owned, and franchised cafe outlets.In 2005 and 2006, OLDTOWN Group’s has established the subsidiaries namely as Old Town Kopitiam, Old Town Kopitam Butterworth, Old Town Kopitiam Kuala Lumpur, Old Town Kopitiam Cheras, Conneczone to focus on operating cafe outlets in different areas and states within Malaysia. To support the cafe outlet business operations, their established the following subsidiaries as central food processing centres between year 2005 and 2007:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Emperor’s Kitchen commenced operations in 2005;  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Esquire Chef commenced operations in 2007;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dynasty Confectionery commenced operations in 2007. In 2005, Gongga Food’s business activities also expanded to cater to the procurement of food items for â€Å"OLDTOWN WHITE COFFEE† cafe outlets. In the same year, Gongga Food also obtained a HALAL certification from the Islamic Religious Department of Perak for the production of its roasted coffee powder. Furthermore, OLDTOWN Group’s has obtained a HACCP certification from BM TRADE Certification Ltd for the processing and manufacturing of beverage roducts. In 2006, the company also expanded the product export to Japan and China markets. In the same year, the company incorporated Dynasty Kitchen as a distribution centre, which commenced operations in 2007. During this year, group’s company also incorporated Oldtown Berhad, which will focus on investment holding and provision of management services pursuant to its listing on the Main Market of Bursa Securities. Subsequently the OLDTOWN Group’s also started exporting to Thailand and Philippines.In view of group’s company plans to expand more cafe outlet business operation to Singapore, OLDTOWN company also incorporated Oldtown Singapore in 2007 to provide management services, supply of food and beverage items to cafe outlets in Singapore. OTK Singapore commenced operations in 20 08 with the launch of the first â€Å"OLDTOWN WHITE COFFEE† cafe outlet in Singapore. In 2008, the company of Dynasty Confectionery and Esquire Chef obtained HALAL certifications from the Islamic Religious Department of Perak for the processing of various foods.On other food-processing subsidiary, Emperor’s Kitchen obtained HALAL certification from the IFRC ASIA. To further affirm, OLDTOWN Group’s adherence to international food safety standard and White Cafe achieved ISO 22000:2005 certification and ISO 9001:2000 from BM TRADA Certification in 2008 in addition to GMP certification by the Department of Public Health, Ministry of Health Malaysia in the same year. Within 2008, OLDTOWN Group’s has expanded the product lines to include 3-in-1 instant coffee mix with cane sugar.In 2009, Gongga Food obtained a HACCP certification from BM TRADA Certification Ltd for the production of roasted coffee powder. OldTown White Coffee now exports its instant beverage mi xes to more than 10 countries worldwide and plans to expand its cafe outlet network in the region. The group has an extensive chain of cafes in Malaysia via 194 outlets as of end Nov 2011, and also operates a few outlets that are open 24/7 in certain areas. This tally includes fully and partially owned outlets, franchise outlets and licensed outlets.

Reflecting reality in film documentaries Essay

The paradox of reality stems from the fact that it is a combination of abstract and concrete concepts. Abstract since different kinds of reality can be subjectively formed and understood. It cannot be quantified from a single perspective alone. In the meantime, reality is concrete since it is something that each and every individual must readily confront. Reality is part of mankind’s constant struggle. The puzzling complexity that embodies the notion of reality is even more felt on how it is depicted, presented or articulated in other forms. Literature exploits the power of words to explain reality, singers capitalize on music. But the task becomes even harder as for the case of film makers who are expected to utilize both visual and musical elements to represent reality. In film-making, it cannot be denied that the use of different technologies somehow affect how reality is shown. For every filmmaker, there is the challenge to make their works of art convincing—convincing, in the sense that a film seems to devoid of any technological mediation and corporeal interest—and at the same time retaining the subject matter in its pure and organic form. With this pursuit, the emergence of film documentaries came into life. Kibborn once noted that film documentaries aim to offer a â€Å"window of the world (p. 53). † This would not come as a surprise since films, whether they are created for commercial purposes are indeed reflections of a much wider world view. Some filmmakers have fared well, while some, unfortunately, failed. On the other hand, there are others, who have seen film documentaries as a tool to immortalize not only their works but also their names. The film industry owes it all to the Lumiere Brothers. This generation would not experience the beauty and artistry of films if not for these two. Since early film tools and equipments are not that sophisticated during that time, silent films tend to dominate the (big screen). However, what is even more amazing in this context is the manner in which the Lumiere Brothers have managed to present reality with pure visual images alone. Films do communicate and try to reach to their respective audiences. But then again, the absence of sounds seems to make the presentation a bit complicated and difficult. However, if one would stick to the principle in which reality is comprised of events that are experienced in everyday lives, situations that are commonly confronted by ordinary people, it can be fairly said that the Lumiere Brothers stand out. If one has to take a closer look at Arrival of a Train (Nichols 83), such event is commonly encountered. The camera focuses on the train and the people that arrive in the station. A close shot is chosen as if trying to tell every intricate sequence and details of the said event. Unaware and unscripted, the actors are seen in their most natural ways and manners. Such technique is also used in Nanook of the North by Robert Flaherty. However, Flaherty incorporated some texts. Perhaps it can be argued that the Flaherty wants to make the a more vivid and descriptive storytelling approach. There is the intention to relate to the audience what is actually happening rather than to interpret the stories on their own. There is a scene in the film wherein the boat is being covered with a piece of cloth before going down the river. In this case, a close shot was again used, in order to show how intricate the processes are. Yet, during the part wherein the actual trek is going on, a long shot was utilized, thus readily evoking a feeling that the group is on their journey. The characters looked small during that shot and the notion of space and distance were further highlighted. From documenting everyday routines to inserting texts in the film, documentaries are also flavored with the directors’ political perspective as for the case of Dziga Vertov. Hicks even described Vertov as the so-called â€Å"genie† of propaganda films primarily because of its strong Marxist beliefs and visions (8). Taylor described that Vertov depicted reality through the montage technique (74). In this manner, Vertov, since he is also into propaganda reflects life beyond what is â€Å"ordinarily seen,† but rather it is on â€Å"how it should be seen (Taylor 74). † In the film, Three Songs of Lenin, different scenes are patched together. There is the part wherein a group of marching men were shown and followed by a scene that focuses on three statues. Another group of marching people is presented but this time, women, with holding high powered guns are also shown, then it goes back to the three statues. Vertov, as a propagandist who wanted to tell the people what life should be seem to purport that equality between men and women must be readily observed. At the same time, the three statues that are constantly shown is reflective of an ideology or school of thought that must be readily followed and practiced. In the meantime, John Grierson is a film critic who is one of those who laid down the foundations of realism theories in films (Aitken 162). Elis and Mclane noted that Grierson readily influenced many film makers (73). He is also responsible for proliferating such film genre in â€Å"English-speaking nations (Ellis & Mclane 73). Grierson firmly believes that in order to depict reality properly, reality should be free from all forms of manipulation—that it should be captured in its raw form rather than mastered in artificial environments (Aitken 167). Works Cited Aitken, Ian. European Film Theory and Cinema: A Critical Introduction. Scotland: Edinburgh Press, 2001 Ellis, Jack and Betsy McLane. A New History of Film Documentary. London: Continuum International Publishing, 2005 Hicks, Jeremy. Dziga Vertov: Defining Documentary Film. London: I. B Tauris Publishers, 2007 Kibborn, Richard. Staging the Real: Factual TV Programming in the Age of Big Brother. Oxford, UK: Manchester University Press, 2003 Nichols, Bill. Introduction to Documentary. Bloomington:Indiana University Press, 2001 Taylor, Richard. Film Propaganda: Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany. London: I. B Tauris Publishers, 1998

Profitability & Morality

Can profitability and morality coexist? Explain the statement In detail The largest companies in the nation have evolved over the years to find more ways to streamline operations, reduce waste, Increase the productivity of their employees, preached corporate ethics to their employees, try to be involved with local communities by giving to the local youth clubs or donations to a regional cancer research center. But Is this to be a good citizen of the community, or Is It a show? There's a view that soaring profits and ethics are mutually exclusive concepts, forever, the two can co-exalts.The world of business Is generally perceived as Jungle where the bottom line takes precedence over all other matters. While it is certainly true that profits are the true measure of success, commercial ruthlessness doesn't necessarily lead to unethical practices, There sometimes arises an Inevitable conflict in the company between their moral obligations and improving the bottom lines. But ultimately c ompanies following the path of ethical value system succeed in long run as sooner or later consumers learn to separate fact from fiction.Hence In situations such as these referring to morality to help decide what needs to be done should take precedence. Nowadays Money and Ethics are seen to be diametrically opposed to each other but it turns out money and ethics do have much in common. Any corporation large or small ultimately lives by Its reputation. Ethics must sit at the top of the mountain for any successful company that wants the trust of the consumers and investors. There are very few second acts once the public perceives the organization flawed by soonest or Inferior quality.As Is very rightly said by Henry Ford – A business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business. Ethical decision-making gets especially interesting when organizations must reconcile their core values and show a healthy bottom line which end up in conflict with one another. The company a nd its management might get diversified to malpractices. Enron. World, Astray, Xerox and other scandals shook public confidence in ethical value system of organizations. But it must understood very Leary Relativity applies to physics, not ethics (Albert Einstein) Profits and ethics are in reality part of the same equation.A corporation that wishes to grow and Increase its financial return to its owners must balance ethics and operations. This Is a complex journey especially during tremendous economic pressures. The drive for success in the marketplace and to maximize return of capital can lead a company astray with disastrous results. Successful businesses fail, profitably running businesses suffer from a downfall and some seemingly effective report receive a great fall in their profits and popularity all due to the lack of business ethics.There are companies that have crossed ethical lines in the pursuit of toy 2 pronto, Ana momentarily gal. EAI Tame Ana Torture out want was teen A na result† Many companies strive for and achieve ethical behavior. Looking at names like Data group, Ford India, Rockwell Automation, Informs Technologies, Hindustan Milliner, TIC, ONCE it is inferred that Ethics remain being important in business and strong ethical values takes the business a long way. Ethics are important not only in business but in all aspects of life because it is an essential part of the foundation on which civilized society is build.A business that lacks ethical principles is bound to fail sooner or later. Informs Technologies is among seven international companies chosen to be in the first annual list of â€Å"top brands with a conscience† Informs is the only Indian company to be part of this select group. Brought out by the Mending Group, an international collective of brand experts who meet annually, the sit is based on principles of humanity and ethics rather than financial worth.Companies are evaluated on various parameters ranging from the e vidence of ethical programmer and human implications of the brand to the ability of the brand to take risks in line with its beliefs. Informs Technologies recently won two other awards recognizing its financial performance as well as overall management. The Far Eastern Economic Review rated Informs the best company in India for the sixth consecutive year and Asia Money selected Informs as the best managed company in India.

The Golden Fleece by Herbert Draper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Golden Fleece by Herbert Draper - Essay Example The first part is how the Golden Fleece came about and came to be hung in the woods in what today is modern Georgia, along the Black Sea coast. The second part is how Jason and the Argonauts searched for the Golden Fleece. The last of the second part of the story is what The Golden Fleece by Herbert Draper depicts. The second part of the story, beginning with Jason’s quest of the Golden Fleece is what will be examined. Jason’s father, Aeson, was king until Pelias stole the throne, killing all of Aeson’s descendants, but Jason. Jason was spared because his mother faked he was stillborn. Upon his return to the city, Jason was singled out because of a lost sandal. An oracle had told Pelias to beware of the man with only one sandal. Pelias wanted to kill Jason outright, but instead offered the option for Jason to go on the quest for the Golden Fleece (Colum, 13-14). Jason accepted taking a band of men on a ship called the Agro, thus they were known as the Argonauts. After many trials and tribulations, Jason arrived in Colchis. King Aeetes greeted them, but refused to give them the Golden Fleece unless Jason passed three tasks (Saberhagen, 174-176). Jason despairs, until Medea, King Aeetes daughter agrees to help him. Medea had fallen madly in love with Jason, because of Cupid or Eros’ arrow. Medea agrees to help Jason will all the tasks. The first task is use fire breathing oxen to plow a field. Jason would have to yoke the oxen himself (Apollonius of Rhodes, 88). Medea gave Jason some ointment to prevent severe burns. The ointment even protected Jason from the oxen’s flames. Jason would have burned to death without Medea’s help. The second task was to sow the field with the teeth of dragon. The crop sprouted into a massive army of warriors instantaneously (Apollonius of Rhodes, 88). Medea once again came to Jason’s rescue, by telling him how to defeat the warriors. She instructed Jason to throw a

Health and Nutrition in Schools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health and Nutrition in Schools - Essay Example Breakfast and lunch programs raise the average cost of production and serving school breakfast and lunches by approximately 37 cents and 7 cents respectively. This is a challenge to many schools, but cost changes do not affect all schools. Schools with menus that emphasize whole grains, non-starchy vegetables, and fruits made fewer changes; thus, the cost of implementation in the schools were lower than average. The overall cost of implementation is also higher in schools that offer more breakfasts relative to lunches than in schools that do not offer breakfast. School Food Authorities cover for the increase in preparing and serving school meals. This is because they have a variety of funding sources. Most schools also have a number of flexibilities and options within available, operational approaches and revenue streams that help balance resources and costs. Some of the recovery channels of increased costs in breakfast and lunch programs are student payments of la carte foods, and l ocal and state government sources.In the new breakfast and lunch program, the state board took into consideration the unique needs of the children. Not all people take the same diet mainly because of medical reasons. This program caters for children roughly between five years and eighteen years. The program puts this into consideration and takes care of all special needs of the children. Children are divided into different age groups to cater for their different nutritional requirements. This is critical because their bodies are at different growing and development stages and interference or inadequate feeding compromises growth and development of children. The program also caters for children with medical conditions who are on a special diet. This implies that the program introduced a wide variety of a balanced diet for children because of their particular nutritional and development needs. Children choose from a wide variety of foodstuff provided and this caters for the diverse ne eds of children. Dietary salt has also been reduced in school meals. Therefore, the program takes into consideration children with cardiovascular diseases and hypertension (Bartfeld, 2010). Figure 1: Table Showing Different Age groups with different Menus GRADE AGE K-5 5-10 years 6-8 11-13 years 9-12 14-18 years Process Involved in the Program Implementation of breakfast and lunch program involved different steps and decisions. Before finalization of changes, many considerations were put into perspective. For example, schools had to take a survey of the children's needs, age, health and medicinal requirements before implementation. Parents were to provide medical records for children who needed individual attendance. Nutritional experts formulated a food menu and advised schools on the best economic food choices as outlined by the requirement in the program. Schools also introduced certain hygiene checks that would ensure children get better services. This facilitated the introducti on of an entirely new procedure to cater for diverse nutritional needs in schools. The implementation process was an essential because every change

Liberty Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Liberty - Coursework Example Liberty is a word which is often used politically wherein it is advocated and fought for. According to most dictionaries liberty is the state of immunity from exercise of authority. It also means a personal freedom one possesses or has to possess so as to make one's own choice, be it in speech, opinion, worship, occupation or anything. Defining liberty is almost impossible without using the words which mean the absence of coercion. But is liberty just the absence of restraint "By liberty then we can only mean a power of acting or not acting, according to the determinations of the will; this is, if we choose to remain at rest, we may; if we choose to move, we also may." (David Hume, 1748) Good and bad are relative things. One person's good may be other person's bad. Likewise, liberty and restraint are also relative things. An absence of restraint for committing an act of robbery cannot be called liberty. If all restraints are minimized, so as to bring a complete absence of any kind of control, one would hope to achieve liberty. But when restraints are removed entirely, the world will not have equality, and there will be battles and bloodshed. So the definition of the word needs something more or less than bare absence of restraints. Going by the general definitions, no one can have liberty because no one is free to do all that is wanted. Everybody is subject to some superior power to live against personal wishes. In the following sub-headings let us take a deeper study of the word and its meaning. Immunity from Authority "He (Man) must have a master; but the master may be Nature or may be a fellow man. When he is under the impersonal coercion of Nature, we say that he is free; and when he is under the personal coercion of some one above him, we call him, according to the degree of his dependence, a slave, a serf, or a vassal." (Spencer, 1891) History has many instances showing that liberty was the cause for people of various countries to fight which eventually lead to the overthrow of their governments. Aristocrats have always been revolted against and the French revolution and the Russian revolution stand testimony to that. As a matter of fact, Jean Jacques Rousseau's French Revolution slogan, "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity" became the basic principles for democracy in the world. Even now many parts of the world struggle for liberty. In Pakistan and Myanmar, people are fighting for democracy against the military regimes. In this political sense, the restraint is in the form of anti-democratic rule. Such a government can be said to curb the people's freedom because the restraint imposed on them affects them, their country and prevents improvement on a global level. But at the same time, every country has a judiciary and the police, in order to protect the people from law offenders. The judicial laws are also restrictio ns laid down so that any action committed by common men does not go against the welfare of the nation. The judiciary has the power to punish offenders of the law. One may tend to opine that this affects the freedom of thought, belief and action of, say, a thief, or a murderer. Police could be wrongly thought of as ones who wipe out the liberty of a thief. Thus, it is

The World Bank of the Unheard Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The World Bank of the Unheard - Essay Example Based in Washington D.C., it is comprised of developed and developing countries. All have a say, though an unequal one. Though first created to assist the Western European countries after the World War II, WB has become involved in a wide array of development projects. Despite the criticism and relatively powerless voices of the poor countries, WB will continue to service the poorest of this planet. WB architects envisioned a system that would benefit the poor. John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White, and others at Bretton Woods in 1944 designed this institution to fully include the Western world into its functioning. They envisioned that the Western countries would be full members and partners in helping the developing countries. WB was not conceived as a development agency (Birdsall 51). However, WB became a global credit club, where developing countries rely on contributions from the wealthy (Birdsall 51). Later, another club for the rich was created: the International Development Association (IDA), where only rich countries can contribute and become members (Birdsall 51). WB was intended for the â€Å"war -ravaged countries of Europe—and the poorer countries of Latin America, and Africa† (Birdsall 51). ... Still, they wanted to avoid a system in which there would be a one-to-one relationship between financial capacity and influence in WB. As a result, the architects introduced basic votes. They were distributed equally to all WB members. Each member has 250 votes irrespective of shares. Additional shares are won through the amount of shares owned in WB (Birdsall 53). Double majority voting is required to get anything changed in the Articles of Agreement (Birdsall 53). The country taking the largest risk, which was the US at the time of the WB inception, was given the right to â€Å"define the key boundaries within which the club would operate† (Birdsall 53). The US also had a duty to ensure all WB members had a say, regardless of their political and economic influence. In the beginning, there were only a few debtors. In the 1947–48 period, WB made loans to only six countries. These were France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Luxembourg, Chile, and India (Birdsall 54). Now, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the IDA alone have around 150 countries as their debtors (Birdsall 54). However, WB benefits the rich. WB capital comes from its wealthy contributors. Largest contributors are the U.S. government, and the United States, Japan, and Germany (Birdsall 51). They are also its guarantors. They back all of the borrowing from WB, regardless of the outcome of the loan (Birdsall 51). WB has had a history of very low default rate, implying that with low levels of the deposits, it can â€Å"can borrow outside at good rates and lend at good rates to its less wealthy members† (Birdsall 51). The type of a global credit agency envisioned by its architects never happened. Instead, the developed countries

55555 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

55555 - Assignment Example The expression provides a virtual picture with which any reader can relate with in an effort to gain better understanding of the qualities that appertain to Okonkwo (Achebe VII). The Ibo words used in by Chinua Achebe in his literally work provide a platform for effective research. Due to the unfamiliarity of the words, there is need for me to look up their meanings across relevant platforms. In the course of researching on the words, as a reader, I am able to gain precision in my command of language and be able to understand the provisions or the content in the reading. As I mentioned earlier, the use of images induces interest to me as the reader. The ability to relate the textual content of the reading and the pictorial expression of the same make reading easier and essentially informative. AS a reader, my aim is to be able to relate or establish a connection with the literally work. For such a connection to prevail, a deep understanding of the readings is mandatory. The images reinforce what I have read and give me a chance to see whatever is being explained in writing. For instance, when Chinua Achebe Talks of The Nok Civilization in Nigeria, it might not be possible to establish a mental visual of the same if a relevant image is not included. However, the integration of the sculpture that illustrates the Nok Civilization elicits interest in reading more about the matter at hand thus encouraging effective reading which is essential for any reader who wants to understand every aspect of specified readings. From my analysis of the of Chinua Achebe’s work, diction is a key and highly notable component of his writing. This is a key determinant of the dominant tone throughout the writing. Diction makes the tone of the Achebe’s writing familiar to the target audience. My textual analysis of the work is mainly based on

Abstract, conclusion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Abstract, conclusion - Essay Example Nevertheless there are both positive and negative impacts that an economy derives out of facilitating the global manufacturing by transnational and multinational companies. The fact still remains that any economy cannot do away with either domestic or global manufacturing activities just to protect its environmental conditions. Actually there is bound to be an increasing trend in such activities due to the enlargement of the population and the economy as well. In the background of these factors this study has analysed the impact of CO2 which is a major element in the determination of the environmental impact on global manufacturing by using ‘Vensim’ – a system dynamic model with appropriate simulations. The study has also used software ‘EIO-LCA’ and ‘SimaPro’ for estimating the CO2 emission for the lifecycle of a car and a mobile phone to emphasise the aim of this project. The operations of global manufacturers Toyota, Volkswagen and Noki a in the country of China are considered as case studies. The study concludes that there can be no effective balance between the positive and negative impacts of global manufacturing on the environment of the host country as the CO2 emissions far too outweighs the positive impacts. Even though there are several greenhouse gases that cause the global warming in their respective proportions, the study had taken the emission of Carbon dioxide (CO2) for analysis since CO2 constitutes the major contributor to the environmental hazards. The case studies coupled with the simulation model demonstrate that the quantum of CO2 emissions from the global manufacturing more than outweighs the economic advantages resulting from such operations in the host countries. But it is evident that the manufacturing activities would continue to grow in magnitude because of the increased expectations of the emerging economies to grow in a rapid pace. This implies the production of more CO2 and more adverse impact not only

Air Pollution a Silent Killer to Children Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Air Pollution a Silent Killer to Children - Essay Example The control group was made up of children who died from causes associated with respiratory complications. The controls were pair matched to the cases in respect to gender, year of birth, and year of death after they had been selected randomly from the set of possible controls for each case. The results were that, cancer cases had considerable higher rate of 87.3% of occurrence for those residing in urban municipalities than that of controls of 80.5%. They further revealed that, the crude odds ratios were considerably higher than 1.0 for the groups with high levels of nitrogen dioxide exposure in their residential municipality. This implies that, there was a considerable trend toward an increased risk of childhood leukemia with rising nitrogen dioxide concentrations. The findings of this study are consistent with previous studies as reflected in the problem statement. This study offers further evidence of a relationship between exposure to traffic exhaust emissions and the risk of childhood leukemia. The findings of this study call further investigation of the role of traffic air pollution in childhood leukemia.

Business Plans Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Business Plans - Assignment Example Moreover, others think that there is a need to buy a business plan software. Another reason why people shun the idea of creating a business plan is that they think that it is too complex to do (Superbcoaching .com, n.d.). These people assume that the business plan should be perfect before they can start the business. Some companies think that it is a waste of time. Instead of focusing on the start-up of the business right away, they will be bogged down with writing the plan. Creating a business plan has several benefits. The first benefit that a company can gain from a business plan is that it gives direction to the firm. Similar to a road map, the business plan will show where the company is going and what options it can take to reach its destination or objective. Another benefit that can be gained from a business plan is that it is a valuable source of information for potential investors in the business. It makes it easier for an organization to obtain funding or possible loans from banks and private investors. A business plan also prepares the company for future problems that it may encounter. As one goes through the process of writing the plan, he is made aware of the critical aspects of the business and the various scenarios that will affect its operations. Superbcoaching .com. (n.d.). The top 10 reasons people dont have a business plan. Retrieved January 13, 2012, from superbcoaching.com.au:

On Going Home Essay Example for Free

On Going Home Essay Did you ever wonder why some people opt for peace and serenity in the company of friends and colleagues? After reading Joan Didion’s, On Going Home, numerous ideas started to rush through my brain. The experiences I had in my life started to come back to me, like a flashback, with all the emotions coming with them. Yes, I know that my life has always been filled with numerous experiences. These experiences have helped me prepare for the life I am to experience when I grow older. A tragic event in my life led to my growth as an individual. When I was younger, I perceived life to be blissful and full of challenges. The everyday activities helped shape my future , molding me into the good individual that I want to be. I was a relatively good kid. I attended school daily, and achieved impressive grades. I also had friends both in school and in the neighborhood. One of my closest friends was Charlie, my neighbor. Charlie and I have been friends since we were six years old. They were new at that time, and when her parents would go to work, Charlie was left in our house. We did things together, and our differences never made a dent in our friendship. She was the perfect friend, who always knew what to do. I could never imagine going through my life without Charlie by my side. In the summer of junior year, Charlie came over to my house and asked me to join her. I told her I cannot go with her because I was doing my homework, and I had household chores to finish before my parents arrive from work. She said that it was alright, and then she hugged me tight. She told me how much she cherished our friendship and that if ever she died, she will be my angel. She would always watch over me, and guide me to do the right things. I felt shivers come up my spine, and so I asked her what she was up to. She told me that she just wanted me to know how much she cared for me. So she left. Hours past, and still I have not heard anything from Charlie. I continued doing my homework, when I heard shattered glass from downstairs. I was scared, because I was still alone in the house. I quietly went out of my room to check on where the noises came from. I was really scared, so I left Charlie a message in her voice mail. I asked her if she can come over to help me out, and that it was an emergency. As I reached the living room, I saw the glass windows shattered, and there were evidences that there was someone who broke in our house. I called Charlie, and this time she answered me. I told her that I think someone broke into our house, and I was still alone. She said to just wait for her, because she was coming over. I tried to be calm, and device a plan to save myself from the distress. I went around the house to look for the culprit, and was shocked when someone pulled me from behind. I was scared to death. I tried to scream, but the man put his hand on my mouth. He pulled me from behind and brought me to my parents’ bedroom. With right hand holding both my arms, he started to tear away my clothes. It turned out that the man did not break in to steal our things. He was a pervert who has been eyeing on me, waiting for the right time to come. I was crying and screaming my heart out because I was not in favor of the deed this pervert is doing. When I was starting to lose hope, I saw Charlie running towards the door, bringing with her the baseball bat I kept in my room. She hit the man in the head three times making the man dizzy and unconscious. She kicked the man and helped me to get up. We ran to my room, where she gave me the first shirt that she saw, and started running towards the door. Our goal was to get the phone and call 911. Charlie and I ran downstairs. The main door was locked, and the keys were hidden in the drawers. To avoid wasting time, Charlie and I decided to pass through the back door. As we ran into the kitchen, the pervert surprised us holding a knife in his hand. He said that he was not going to hurt us, if we would give in to what he wanted. Charlie was stern and wanted to fight. She started to throw dishes at the pervert, while keeping me close behind. We were both scared, but we had to hide our fears and show this pervert of a man that he cannot defeat us. The man cut his hand and this gave us the time to run. We passed through the back door and ran outside. Charlie’s hair was pulled by the man, and she wanted me to go leave her. I cannot just leave my best friend with a man who will just torture her, and reap the dignity away from her. As the fighter, Charlie struggled to get away from the man. She gave him numerous kicks, and blows in the stomach. Little did we know that the man still had a knife on his hand only to be used in this situation. I saw my best friend, Charlie, stabbed to death by a man who tried to molest me. I screamed my heart out, waking the neighbors close by. Soon, the ambulance and the police were there searching for evidences. Charlie was brought to the hospital, where she was declared death on arrival. Before she died, Charlie told me to fulfill the dreams we built as young kids, and to always be strong no matter what the circumstances are. Soon, Charlie left and became one of the stars in the heavens. She was sixteen. My unwavering friendship with my best friend, Charlie, is something that will always have a place in my heart. She taught me a lot of things, and that it was always worth to fight for the people we care for. Charlie sacrificed her life for me to be saved, and I did not waste that opportunity. I used this pain to help me go on, and succeed in life. She wanted me to live so that I may fulfill the dreams that we had when we were younger. Nowadays, I work hard to achieve excellence in my chosen field. Although there are times that I am not in a good situation, I still keep a positive note in me. Charlie’s dream was to make a difference in this world, and I want to fulfill that even in my own little way. I want to show the world that regardless of what happened to my life before, I can still manage to rise up and start anew. I know that there are times when I feel like giving up on my career and my life, in general. Then I start to think about Charlie, and how her unwavering love for me, has shielded me from harm. If I was the fighter between us, I would have been the one who died. Charlie took that option away from me, and me see that my life was destined for something big. After much hard work and dedication, my dreams and aspirations in life are just miles away. I just have to go and expand my knowledge so that I may be fully equipped with the challenges that I will face in my chosen profession. The reading paved way for me to reminisce the friendship that I had with Charlie. Charlie’s home was two houses away from ours, but her heart has always been with us. She treated us like her own family, and made us feel how much she loved and cared for us. All these years, I have wanted to find a perfect reason as to why Charlie sacrificed her life for me. The reading showed me that irrespective of who you are with, people will do anything for us, especially when they treat us like family. I know this, because this was Charlie’s lifetime sacrifice. When I feel devastated and no will to move on, I just have to look up in the stars and see that someone up there is watching over me until all of my dreams have come true.

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley | Alienation

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley | Alienation In the story of Frankenstein, Victor, a scientific genius, created a monster known as Frankenstein. He abandons the monster as soon as he creates it. Frankenstein, the monster, experienced bad parenting growing up. No one ever taught him any manners at all. In this story, Victor and Frankenstein are both alienated by society for different reasons. The monster is rejected by society because of his terrifying physical appearance and his reactions towards people. Victor experienced alienation his entire life, when he was a child and family due to his scientific obsession. Therefore, in Frankenstein, Mary Shelley used the theme of alienation by having the two main characters, Victor and Frankenstein, alienated by society because people judged the monster based on his physical appearance and his reactions. While, Victor isolated himself from society due to his scientific experiments. Therefore, people alienated him because they thought of him as a very strange scientific maniac. As I previously mentioned, the monster was judged based on his physical appearance. As soon as everyone saw him they would start screaming in horror or run away. The monsters hideous appearance including his eight-foot long body caused people to react this way. This caused the monster to feel rage towards others. The monster would then groan in anger towards individuals. One day Frankenstein finally got to see himself in the mirror. And got surprised. Then he realized why people were so terrified by his physical appearance. This is all Victor fault because if Victor had not created him or messed up during his experiment the monster would of never have had to suffer because of this. The monsters reactions toward people also played a major role in why he was alienated. Whenever he saw how people reacted to him, he would go crazy. He would groan in a very frightening way. The monster reacted this way because of tow reason. First of all, he was rejected un fairly by society. Secondly, he felt very angry towards society. When the monster first came to life, he first saw Victor. Victor looked at him and got really scared. Then he decided to abandon the monster . The monster was raised with basically no parenting at all. He wasnt taught how to be polite or even how to act towards people. This is why the creature had no social skills at all. If the monster would have been raised with good parenting he would have been more of a human because he would of at least known how to act when others were around. The monster then began to feel confused because people didnt want to be around him. What caused him to be confused was that he had no idea why people reacted this way. He wanted to be loved. Unlike his creator he did not isolate himself from society. The monsters first experience with humans is when he meets the villagers. They threw stones at him, which aggravated him. The next experience the creature experienced was with the Dclacey family. This was the first time the monster actually wanted to be part of a certain family. The creature decided to hide because of his previous experience with humans. He was well aware that humans disliked him. As the monster was hiding, he observed the language in which they communicated, he believed it was like a godlike science, which would help him become more a human because if he could communicate like one that was a head start.. The monster continued to observe everything this family did for some time. The monster tried his best to be liked by society but failed. This made the monster come to the conclusion that he would never be accepted by humans. The creature demanded Victor to create a female companion for him. As Victor was working on this he gave up. He decided that he was no longer going to create a companion for the monster. This got the monster very angry. He got revenge by killing Elizabeth, Victors wife. As I have already stated, Victor Frankenstein also experienced alienation throughout this story. He experienced alienation from both his family and society. In Frankenstein, Victor is described as a man whos in love with science. He spent much of his time creating a monster. However, he wasnt aware of the consequences this would bring him. At the end of this story he spent much of his time trying to destroy this monster. As he tried to destroy the monster he isolated himself from society. He would always go to his lab and try to come up with other scientific creations. He regretted ever creating the monster because the monster caused him a lot of trouble. People then thought of him as some crazy scientific genius. Victors scientific views alienated him from all his surroundings. He had a very keen interest in since ever since he was a child. Him being so different from the rest of the family is what got them to alienate him. He just seemed so different and strange from the rest. As Victor was growing up, he became even more obsessed with science. This is what caused him to come up with all his crazy experiments and ideas. He decided to isolate himself from society and spend most of his time at his libratory , where he would mix all different types of chemicals and try to create new inventions. He lived his entire life this way. He had no regrets about any of this until he had created Frankenstein. That was when he had finally realized that he should of stopped all of his scientific experiments and call it quits. The monster got him more frightened then what he had ever been. As I previously mentioned, Victor refused to create a companion for Frankenstein. His reason for this was because he was afraid of making another huge mistake and having to face the consequences for his actions. However, the monster did not understand this and seeked revenge on his own creator by killing his wife Elizabeth. After the death of Elizabeth, Victor became even more scared of the monster because now he knew for a fact that the monster was capable of murdering others in order to get what he wants. Through out this story, both the creature and the creator suffer a lot because of alienation. Victor isolated himself from society. While the monster was alienated by the rest. The monster suffered more than Victor because he truly wanted to be loved. Victor just isolated himself due to obsession with scientific experimenting. The monster, on the other hand, tried his best to be part of society, but he failed and never was. Work Cited Alienation in Frankensteinhttp://ltu.se/ copyright of website 1971,1997 Themes and Construction: Frankenstein http://find.galegroup.com/ Shelly, Mary Frankenstein published by Lackington, Hughes on 1818 Abigail Williams: Friend or Foe? Abigail Williams: Friend or Foe? Abigail Williams, a villain, is manipulative and strong willed but her weaknesses of deception and desire fuel her jealousy of Elizabeth Proctor. To some she was a close companion, her and her small entourage of sneaky young girls, stir up a lot of problems with the small but well known settlement. Back to 1692 the mischievous girls all started with a devious plot to rid elizabeth proctor from the town, abigails hatred for the mistress was enough to put the whole town on the map for witchcraft. Maybe her intentions werent as evil as they see me, but maybe they were, at first the girls and titichuba gathered in the forest for just innocent encounters maybe just to make the boy of there dreams fall for them. Abigail quickly turned to selfishness, having john proctor wouldnt be enough for her, the 17 year old girls twisted intentions were out to kill. In my opinion she definitely is the brains behind this group of attention seeking, sportin girls. She can take everything to extensive drama just to prove silly falsehoods, Most definitely a very skilled actress. Abigail williams would do anything possible to keep her name out of the equation, she definitely did not want to be the root of the trouble, selfish yes, but im sure some could argue that she just wanted to keep her and her friends out of trouble, they were aware of their punishments, maybe being whipped and spanked. In abigails eyes peoples lives were not important she was only concerned about her image. Soon after the story beings you get to see her true colors. Betty one of the youngest turns cold and ill. Abigail has no compassion for even her own so called friend. The witty girl does not care as she threatens her, she is only worried about how much trouble she is going to be in because of bettys actions, even though she is definitely the cause of all the mischievous behavior . Shut up! All of you. We danced. That is all, and mark this, if anyone breathe a word or the edge of a word about the other things, I will come to you in the black of some terrible night, and I will bring with me a pointy reckoning that will shudder you! And you know I can do it. I saw Indians smash my dear parents heads on the pillow next to mine. And I have seen some reddish work done at night. And I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down! One of my favorite abigail williams quotes, even though this is just a little preview of how cruel she can be. The girls intentions become pure, she is doi ng all of this out of despite of john proctor. To her all the townspeoples lives are just part of a big game. The character struggles to make to right decisions and think about others very self conceited. As the story continues the truths unravel and you see the real side of the girls most just devious abigail. The very famous story of the witches in salem massachusetts because more and more popular by the year. As it is all started with the girls cruel scheme to ruin the life of john proctors beloved wife, and mother to two young boys. Abbi was very envious of elizabeth because she had what she always wanted. In the end, abbi lost and so did elizabeth. John Proctor does not make it to the end of this tragic story, if only abigail would have done whatever she could in her power, because she really did have too much power for such a young girl, maybe she would have saved the poor farmer and his family. Elizabeth quickly moves on and re marries,she was a good wife and to me didnt deserve all the drama john had put her through. She lives happily ever after, unfortunately so does abigail and all her young friends. Im sure never have a remorse and sorrowful bone in her body. Over all you can tell this young girl should have never had any sort of authority in a courtroom, her evil games and cruel ways, cost a towns reputation, and her own in my opinion. By the end of the story you see that she was just the talk of the town with her affair with john proctor she was not shunned or put to shame for it though. Even a couple years later only one of all the girls choose to apologize.

Nikes Entry into China

Nikes Entry into China China is one of the major fastest growing markets in the world and the most popular markets for foreign entrants. One of todays major business challenges requiring logistics insight is the dramatic growth in international sourcing, mainly to low cost countries such as China and Malaysia (David J.Closs, 2005). IBM Global Business Services reported that low cost country helps raise revenue. Most of the companys CEOs are looking for revenue growth by reduce costs to maintain or expand profit margins. Obviously, cost is one of the factors that all companies that desire to reduce. After a company study of future sourcing, Nike had chosen China as one of the long-term most low-cost suppliers. By quoting Nike Inc. Cain.com said that labour costs accounted for a huge share of the prices of the companys shoes and had to be kept below 24 per cent of prices to stay competitive. Since, Nike is the leading sports brand in China. In 1981, Nike started production in China. However, for a company like Nike that has a reputation of making the best products for their customers, they have to take in other factors such as quality. Its one reason why they did not choose countries such as Africa to be their supplier. In addition, one factor that China has to offer is labor capability to make quality goods for Nike. Furthermore, China was also chosen because the domestic market size. Mark Parker, who is the President and CEO of Nike stated that Nike is a growth company and China is being one of their most important sourcing markets and also swiftly becoming their second biggest consumer market in the world. About one of every three pairs of Nike shoes they sell in the world is made in China. Similarity, Nike was taken these advantages to tap into the large market it offers. In others word, China was also taking the opportunities to capturing the market in China which will help stiffen the companys foundation in its industry. The fact of lowering cost is to achieve profit maximization. Production in a first world country would increase cost and lead to reduce profit. China as a second world country for the foreseeable future is also the reason why Nike chose to enter into China. 2.0 Analysis 2.1 Advantage gained by Nike for entering China When Nike first entered the international market through China, they gained many benefits. This is because China is a low-cost country, so NIKE has no involvement in the manufacturing of its products and all of its production has been outsourced mainly to manufacturers. For example, Goodbaby Group, Chinas top manufacturer and retailer of baby care products, has announced an online retail partnership with the Nike Inc as part of its efforts so that they able to win more brand recognition (China Daily, 2012). Nike has been working with manufacturers in China for about 20 years. The employees and factories produce a lot of Nikes most highest-performance athletic products. One of the most fundamental impacts Nike have is to create positive, systemic change in their global supply chain, and for the industry as a whole. The deep brand and supply chain footprints in China create distinctive opportunities for Nike while it continues to help influence and gain from Chinas success. The achievement in China is built regarding the deep connections with Chinas Nike-branded footwear and athletes. According to Barney Jopson (2012), the apparel and equipment product are produced by nearly 700 contract manufacturers worldwide, and employing almost 800,000 employees. China represents the largest sourcing country for Nike, with roughly 180 contract manufacturers employing more than 210,000 workers (Barney Jopson, 2012). China is the major sourcing market for Nike, which producing around 35 percent of footwear and also an important sourcing market for Nike apparel and equipment. Besides this, the company engages in public discourse and policy formation in China by sharing their experiences. First is the legal protection of employees that went into effect in January 2008, for the aim of strengthening legal protection for Chinas employees. Nike supports the regulatory environment that strengthens legal protections for employees and promotes well-mannered working conditions throughout the supply chain and this helps to prevent discrimination. Second is the international trade. Since Chinas World Trade Organization (WTO) entry in year 2001, Nike has worked to ensure that trade disputes between China and its trading partners are settled and negotiated i n a manner consistent with international norms. For example, trade disputes over apparel and footwear and equipment with Chinas main trading partners in United States. According to a survey by the American Chamber of Commerce, three United States companies say their China operations are profitable while most say their margins are higher in China than other places in the world. Nike not only supported the development of Chinese football, it also concerned about the development of youngsters by launching a series of activity called I have a dream in August 2002, a large scale of youth sports. Since Nike established in China in the early of 1980, it gained several early entry timing of foreign direct investment, which includes new markets, distribution channels, segmentations, and lack of strong competition. Nike first launched their products in China and this gave the company to monopoly in market through different distribution channels. At that period, not much company are providing the same areas of business, therefore Nike did not faced much competitors. Other than this, the company also gained advantage related in products, such as new product, material supply, new product positioning, and brand loyalty. China continues toÂÂ  beÂÂ  aÂÂ  veryÂÂ  viableÂÂ  resource when dealing with overall trade and labour markets around the world. Nike now has more than 7,000 retail stores in China and the company plans to expand their distribution to second andÂÂ  third-tierÂÂ  cities. 2.2 Shortcomings of entering China It is very difficult for Nike to control all the quality products around the world. Nike has involved in a serious of quality scandals in China. Many products had been recall due to low quality and some products have been caused injury to consumers in China. According to Ni and Hu (2012) say that Shanghai quality authorities have been found out three sample pairs of Nike shoes do not meet the standards and in 2011, women sports shoes had thinner soles than required. According to Ni and Hu (2012), Bureau prohibited Nike continues produces the shoes and later asks for recall all the shoes which do not meet the quality standard, but the shoe still available at Zhabei outlet of RT-Mart on October 10. However, the shoes were then pulled off the shelves. In 2011 September, Beijing had fine Nike Zoom Hyperdunk due to deceptive advertising and low quality, (Ni and Hu, 2012). Nike has been fined US $779,416 for selling sneakers had only one air cushion in each shoe at a higher price and low standard in China compared those selling in other countries which has two air cushions and has much lower prices, (Zheng, 2012). The Nike Zoom Hyperdunk does not meet the quality set by the government and thus they need recall all the sneakers and offered refund. Besides that, Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) warning consumers stop using Nike football helmet and returned to Nike. The Helmet Chin Straps plastic cups can breaks and caused exposing the player to facial or head injuries (Villanueva, 2007). It is a big concern that Nike shares is declined 1.1% in China and in future the company expect the orders will down to 6%, (Chang, 2009). Furthermore, revenue earn by Nike in China is dropping due to excess inventory, high discounting and slowing in demand. Manager in China does not keep sufficient inventory record because they unable to relay the information to order materials from other country. They do not know what materials need to be imported and when in advanced and cause the production cannot run in schedule. As a result, there have excess inventory in Long March Factory in Guangzhou. The employees who are responsible for checking materials does not know what are the materials needed to be order in following month production schedule and they did not frequently coordinate the records with the planners, (Nike in China, n.d). The planners order the materials does not base on the consumer demand but instead base on guessing method, and they seldom check what the materials left are in storage. As a result, Nike needs to discount the prices in order to reduce the excess inventory, (Marcial, 2013). Sale of excess inventory at discounted prices could significantly impair the Nike brand image. Fail to examine accuracy demand of products could affect the revenues and net income earn by Nike. There is intense competition faced by Nike, either local brands such as Li Ning, Anta Sports, China Dongxiang and Peak Sports or international brand such as Adidas from U.S., Reebok, Asics, and New Balance. Even now, Nike is well positioned at the top in China; however there have multi brands still compete fiercely with Nike. Based on the report, Nike is known in the first place, with a 2009 market share of 10.2%; Li Ning at the following slot which is second place for the first time, with 10.0%; thus Adidas, in third place, with a 9.6% share (as cited in Smith, 2010). The sales lead that Nike and Adidas held over domestic competitors has vanished. From this report is showing that the results of these top three sportswear brand are close proximity with each other, therefore this showing that Nike still in dangerous condition although it is remain in the first position. Furthermore, in the end of 2011, Li Ning had 8,255 stores while Nike had 7,500 outlets in China (as cited in Ranasin ghe, 2012). As a result, Nike not only needs to face this strong local competitor, Li Ning, but also need to do the preparation for facing other competitors in China. 3.0 Recommendation Nike is popular for its high-quality sport shoes and other apparels. It has gained the acceptance in consumers mind that Nike-made products are of high-quality. In order to maintain and gain its competitive advantage over its main competitors such as Adidas, Reebok and others, Nike has adopted the expansion strategy by outsourcing the production line to low-cost countries. China, Indonesia and Vietnam have become the primary manufacturing destination for Nike. The purpose for outsourcing the production line to China is to reduce the waste in terms of cost of hiring the labor, cost of shipment and many more. Cheaper labor and facility cost in China compared to the United States enabled Nike Corporation to enjoy the economies of scale. It eventually lowers the total production cost and Nike will be able to make more profit. It is recommended that Nike should continue to fully adopt the expansion strategy to other low-cost countries like China by outsourcing the manufacturing line. It c ould strengthen the leadership position of Nike Corporation in financial performance as Nike make more revenue and profit with low production cost. First, it is recommended for Nike Corporation to adopt innovation strategy to strengthen companys competitive advantage over the competitors. New design and innovation are very significant for Nike Corporation. One of the visions for Nike is designing for the future by unleashing the innovation. President and CEO of Nike, Mark Parker, said that Nike has set the target at improving the products through design. In the past, Nike has spent multi-million dollars on Research Development to design the athletic shoes which differentiate itself from other shoemaker companies. Nike has gained the recognition from the consumers for its uniqueness and sophisticated design. Nike China has contributed much to the innovation strategy as many advanced shoes design are made in China from the talented Chinese designers. Out of every three pairs of shoes, there is one of them is made in China. One of the innovative products came out from Nike was the Nike-Ipod sport kit with the collaboration with Ap ple Inc. It enhanced the runners experience by combining the sport and the music. It was viewed as a breakthrough for both sport and music industries. Second, Nike has excess inventory, high discounting and slowing in demand. To overcome this, China has several competitive advantages. There are few strategies which can enable exploiting competitive advantage through different goal-means combinations (Bartlett et al., 2008): Multinational strategy achieves most strategic goals by emphasizing national differences. The firms which have adopted this strategy tend to operate business based on local environment. They are flexible and responsive to local environment, but there is a lack of capability to learn globally within these firms owing to the fact that almost all national units operate independently. By using multinational strategy, Nike can achieve most strategic goals by emphasizing national differences. This is because Nike can adopt their strategy to operate business based on local environment. They can morph their strategy according to the local market, which is China. International companies like Nike apply all the approaches to create and exploit innovations. This can be their competitive advantages for the China as Asians culture tends to be more shy and conservative in innovative. The strategies discussed above respectively possess unique assumptions about how to build up global competitive advantage. Nike used the Price Leadership Strategy and Value based pricing. This is when a company sets its price based on the value the consumer places on the product. This is why customer willing to pay high prices regardless of the products actual value. Nike already had the strong brand recognition among the people in China. For example Liu Xiang, Liu is an Olympic Gold medalist and World Champion. His 2004 Olympic gold medal was the first in a mens track and field event for China. His athletic gear is sponsored by Nike. No doubt all China people will get to know about Nike. As the excess inventory of Nike in China, I would suggest that they can cooperate with other parties such as their suppliers, distributor and competitors. This can enhance the global competitive advantages in the increasingly complex global environment (Bartlett et al. 2008) This is called strategic alliances. This also can solves high discounting rate for Nike as their inventory level is stable, do not need to discount to reduce inventory. Based on appendix 1 (Regional Product Distribution of Suppliers), China has most worker which is 175,960. This can be their competitive advantage because the production rate of China is very high compare to other country. Third, facing immense competition and failing to rise above others is always going to be one of the greatest shortcomings that a company would face. Which in this case, Nike has to start standing out from its biggest competitors Li Ning and Adidas. At the current state, Nike only has a marginal lead over the two companies. We recommend Nike to be a standout in its industry. They are already making great products, but their competitors are also making great products. In order to rise up and above them, Nike should change the way they serve their customers, create a unique sales style, such as giving expert advice for customers in helping them to make their purchase decisions. They could also create an environment where they feel welcomed and at ease when they are in a Nike shop. A totally new feel towards selling sports ware and clothing. This can help differentiate Nike from its competitors and increase brand awareness. 4.0 Conclusion Nowadays, Nike has more than 7,000 retail stores in China and they plans to develop their distribution to second andÂÂ  third-tierÂÂ  cities.When Nike first entered the low cost country such as China, they gained many benefits. As we know that, China represents the largest sourcing country for Nike and also the most important sourcing market for Nike apparel and equipment. But, Nike has facing the problem of quality controls in China. For example, many low quality products had been recall and some products have been caused injury to consumers in China. Furthermore, revenue earn by Nike in China is dropping due to excess inventory, high discounting and slowing in demand. Thus, we recommend to this industry to adopt the multinational strategy which emphasizing national differences and being able to operate the business based on local environment. Besides that, Nike also faced with intense competition like Reebok and international brand such as Adidas. We recommend Nike to adopt the innovation strategy to strengthen companys competitive advantage over the competitors. New design and innovation are very significant for Nike Corporation to enhance their leadership position. For example, change the way they serve their customers, such as giving the potential customers expert advice and suggestion, so that customers will feel respect and make better purchase decision. In conclusion, we learned that the company should implement expansion strategy by outsourcing the production line to low-cost countries such as China, Indonesia and Vietnam which are the primary manufacturing targeted destination for others company. For Nike, the purpose for outsourcing the production line to China is to reduce the cost such as cost of hiring the labour, cost of shipment and so on. It helped strengthen the leadership position of Nike in term of financial performance as Nike can make more revenue and profit with low production cost and also built up a strong reputation. References Barney Jopson (2012), Nike profit up despite falling China order, retrieved February 27, 2013 from http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/b48a6dae-4aee-11e2-9650-00144feab49a,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2Fb48a6dae-4aee-11e2-9650-00144feab49a.html_i_referer=#axzz2MCUQZfC3 China Daily (2011), Nike to invest in China very aggressively, retrieved February 27, 2013 from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011-10/11/content_13872475.htm Want China Times (2013), Mounting labor costs forces Nike to relocate in China, retrieved February 27, 2013 from http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?MainCatID=0cid=1102id=20130227000098 Ni,Y., Hu,M. (2012).ShanghaiDaily.com. Retrieved February 16, 2013, from http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/print.asp?id=514991 Zheng,X. (2012).Tougher penalties urged for double standard companies. Retrieved February 16, 2013, from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2012-10/27/content_15851155.htm Villanueva,L. (2007). Nike football helmet chin strap recall issued following reports of head and facial injuries. Retrieved February 16, 2013, from http://www.newsinferno.com/?p=2029 Chang, G.G. (2012). The coming collapse of consumption in China. Retrieved February 16, 2013, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonchang/2012/09/30/the-coming-collapse-of-consumption-in-china/ Nike in China. Retrieved February 17, 2013, from http://www.yingyudaxue.com/book/nike-in-china Marcial, G. (2012). Inside Wall Street :Nike slows but is still in race. Retrieved February 17, 2013, from http://money.msn.com/top-stocks/post.aspx?post=13a96856-28f2-4dc2-bc78-26b601bdf647 Smith, G. (2010). Sportswear in China how local brands challenged the might of Nike and Adidas. Retrieved February 17, 2013, http://www.warc.com/Samples/93120.pdf Ranasinghe, D. (2012). No Medals for Chinas Sportswear Firms. Retrieved February 17, 2013, http://www.cnbc.com/id/48454835/No_Medals_for_Chinarsquos_Sportswear_Firms Bartlett, C.A., Ghoshal, S. and Beamish, P.W., (2008).ÂÂ  Transnational management: text, cases, and readings in cross-border management. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies. Retrieved February 26, 2013 Competitive Challenge Nike, Retrieved February 26, 2013, From http://www.ukdissertations.com/dissertations/business/competitive-challenge-nike.php Paresh Ashara, (2012). Nike:Marketing Strategies. Retrieved February 26, 2013, From http://www.slideshare.net/PareshAshara/nike-12906460 Porter, M.E., (1998).ÂÂ  The competitive advantage of nations. The Free Press, New York: NY. Retrieved February 26, 2013

The Social, Cultural, and Historical Issues in Coral Island and Lord of

The Social, Cultural, and Historical Issues in Coral Island and Lord of the Flies At first sight, ‘Coral Island’ seems an extremely pompous and arrogant novel. This, however, is because the book is being read from a 21st century perspective, whereas when Ballantyne wrote ‘Coral Island’ it was seen as a thoroughly enjoyable story. This is because the book was written in the 19th century, when the people of Britain felt that they had developed an organised society where humans were at their best and flourishing. As Ballantyne himself described the society: ‘Britons at the top of the tree, savages and pigs at the bottom.’ Looking at ‘Coral Island’ from a 20th century point of view, Golding analysed the book very critically and decided that it was an out of date, arrogant, false portrayal of society and that he could write a better book. He sat down and wrote ‘Lord of the Flies’ to show the problems of human nature. The island in the book was used just as a place to put his group of boys away from the adult world, but also had symbolic values linked closely to the theme of evil in man throughout the novel: ‘The island itself is a symbol of perfection and paradise, and the instant that humans arrive, a scar of destruction is left through the once perfect forest. The island is also boat shaped, and looking out at the waves at a point on the island gives the illusion that it is moving backwards. This symbolises a journey in which man is always moving on, but makes no progress in life.’ As well as being linked to Golding’s beliefs, the use of the island also enabled direct comparisons with ‘Coral Island’. Golding hated the tone and ideas of Ballantyne in ‘Coral Island’, and expressed his thoughts publi... ...e rescue in the end where adult life appears, dignified and capable, but in reality enmeshed in the same evil as the symbolic life of the children on the island. The officer, having interrupted a manhunt, prepares to take the children off the island in a ship which will presently be hunting its enemy in the same way. And who will rescue the officer?’ Overall, I think the main theme running throughout ‘Coral Island’ is the nobility and courage of Victorian England, that the English are innocent and that they can do nothing wrong. These views are completely turned upside down by Golding in ‘Lord of the Flies’. I think Golding makes a very clear point that society holds everyone together. Without strong government and rules, mayhem and savagery will thrive, and without policemen and schools men revert to their primitive beginnings as hunters and killers.

Family or Finance :: essays research papers

Family or Finance, Which Should Come First?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When looking at custody cases in America today, one must wonder what the courts find more important when deciding the fate of these children, family or finance? The issue has been raised that the majority of the time, the mother gets custody of the children. Should this be so? Should we at this time, a time where we are trying to break through the molds of the mother being the only caregiver, automatically assume that the mother should gain custody of the children? Or, should we begin to look at the merits of allowing fathers to gain custody of the children? When looking at these cases, cases where both the mother and father desire custody of the children, how do you decide who should win? Should money be the primary factor? Should family be the primary factor? Or should the kids’ desires be the primary factor?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  All these question have been raised, and the courts answer is very simple. When deciding who should gain custody of the children the primary factor is â€Å"What is in the best interest of the child?† The problem to this answer is that it is too vague and doesn’t effectively answer any of the questions above. So lets look at what the courts feel is in the best interest of the children. Based on statistics from 1994, single mothers made up 6.6% of all families, while single fathers made up only 1.2%. So it would appear that mothers are more likely to end up with the children than fathers. Of course we must take into consideration the fact that not all the fathers want the children, and they go to the mother by default, and then there are the fathers that are in prison. There are also cases of the women not wanting the children as well. But we do not want to focus on these people, we are looking strictly at cases where both parents desire custody of the children. The fact is there are more single mothers than fathers, and when it comes to cases where both parents want the child, the mothers are more likely to win custody than the father. So we must determine why this is. When looking at recent statistics you can see that 52% of single mothers are below the poverty level, where only a little over 20% of single fathers fall below the level. Family or Finance :: essays research papers Family or Finance, Which Should Come First?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When looking at custody cases in America today, one must wonder what the courts find more important when deciding the fate of these children, family or finance? The issue has been raised that the majority of the time, the mother gets custody of the children. Should this be so? Should we at this time, a time where we are trying to break through the molds of the mother being the only caregiver, automatically assume that the mother should gain custody of the children? Or, should we begin to look at the merits of allowing fathers to gain custody of the children? When looking at these cases, cases where both the mother and father desire custody of the children, how do you decide who should win? Should money be the primary factor? Should family be the primary factor? Or should the kids’ desires be the primary factor?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  All these question have been raised, and the courts answer is very simple. When deciding who should gain custody of the children the primary factor is â€Å"What is in the best interest of the child?† The problem to this answer is that it is too vague and doesn’t effectively answer any of the questions above. So lets look at what the courts feel is in the best interest of the children. Based on statistics from 1994, single mothers made up 6.6% of all families, while single fathers made up only 1.2%. So it would appear that mothers are more likely to end up with the children than fathers. Of course we must take into consideration the fact that not all the fathers want the children, and they go to the mother by default, and then there are the fathers that are in prison. There are also cases of the women not wanting the children as well. But we do not want to focus on these people, we are looking strictly at cases where both parents desire custody of the children. The fact is there are more single mothers than fathers, and when it comes to cases where both parents want the child, the mothers are more likely to win custody than the father. So we must determine why this is. When looking at recent statistics you can see that 52% of single mothers are below the poverty level, where only a little over 20% of single fathers fall below the level.

EVALUATE MY OWN CURRENT SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES Essay

While working with a adult who suffer’s from ADHD and Dyslexia you can go through different aspect of satisfaction and also aspects that can cause problems and tension at work. The most satisfying feeling at the end of the day when it is time to go home and the person i am careing for has thurully enjoyed the day forgetting about the problems that persist on a daily basis. Human resource functions in an organization include everything that has to do with ‘people’, i.e., their recruitment, induction, retention, welfare, appraisal, growth, training, skill development, attitudinal-orientation, compensation, motivation, ect. Aspects at work that bring satisfaction Good preparation – having a clear idea of what the day involves Interacting in good conversation Solving problems helping him to overcome obsticles to help him understand different aspects that may be hard for him to understand Spontanious days out – being involved with the planning of the day Pay – adequacy of pay Aspects of work that do not bring satisfaction Same activities over and over again Unorganised days out I read that the motivation to investigate the degree of job satisfaction arises from the fact that a better understanding of employee satisfaction is desirable to achieve a higher level of motivation that is directly associated with patient satisfaction. Schermerhorn define job satisfaction as the degree to which individuals feel positive or negative about their jobs. It is an attitude or emotional response to one’s tasks as well as to the physical and social conditions of the workplace. Job satisfaction is motivational and leads to positive employment relationships and high levels of individual job performance. Job satisfaction can be considered as a global feeling about the job or as a related constellation of attitudes about various aspects or facets of the job. The global approach and the facet approach can be used to get a complete picture of employees’ job satisfaction. The work itself – responsibility, interest, and growth Quality of supervision – technical help and social support Relationships with co-workers – social harmony and respect Promotion opportunities – chances for further advancement I think that creating a PDP, Personal development plan can provide a long term vision of where i want my career to go. It would definaltley be considered a positive advantage for short and long term carrer options in the rapidly changing world of work. Planning for my future. Short term goals at work Graduate from college/university two years from now Improve my knowledge and research more in the profession i want to futher my carrer To improve my skills over the next two to three years so I can futher my career Things that i can change with a positive approach to work By identifying the causes behind my undisirable attitude and aproach them in a positive way. I can change the situattions that are affecting my attitude in a negative way are things that i can change. For example, if i find that my attitude changes in a negative way because i feel tired most of the day would be to plan my night before, so i can get more sleep at night, or take power naps during break or lunch times. Also If work is not challenging me enough, then i change my approach to this by taking on some new tasks. I need to focus on a positive mindstate that will help me approach work with a realistic mental image of what my relationship with my job should be. I need to learn to accept the fact that some tasks linked with my job may be less fulfilling than others. When i have lack of motivation i should learn not to let this affect or not allow me to complete my tasks or activities. I must understand that my change of attitude is my own responsibility, and something which i mus t plan and work towards. Evaluate the benifits of self-managed learning to individuals and organisations. link idea’s with my own work experience .. BELOW A broad definition of self managed learning is a process in which individuals manage their own learning and are responsible for controlling how, when, what, why, and where they learn. I will need to set goals for learning by understanding the purpose of what i want to achieve. Self-managed learning can benifit me by helping me to understand  and overcome difficulties at work. I need to learn more about the disability’s that the person i care for has, and try to plan more wisely my approach to deal with situatuions that occur. Larning outcome 2 (LO2) EVALUATE MY OWN CURRENT SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES AGAINST PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS AND ORGANISATIONAL OBJECTIVES – BELOW IDENTIFY OWN DEVELOPMENT NEEDS AND THE ACTIVITIES REQUIRED TO MEET THEM †¦ BELOW DEVISE A PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN WITH CLEAR AIMS AND OBJECTIVES AND TIMESCALE BASED ON IDENTIFIED NEEDS †¦ BELOW DISCUSS THE PROCESSES AND ACTIVITIES REQUIRED TO IMPLEMENT THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN INCLUDING EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT SRATAGIES – REFLECT ON TIME MANAGEMENT STRATAGIES THAT I WILL NEED TO IMPLY IN ORDER TO SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETER MY DEVELOPMENT AN MEET MY DEMANDS †¦.. BELOW Learning outcome 3 (LO3) UNDERTAKE AND DOCUMENT THE DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES AS PLANNED . USING YOUR DEVELOPMENT PLAN. COMPLETE THE ACTIVITIES THAT YOU SET OUT AS YOUR NEEDS FOR DEVELOPMENT . RESEARCH WAYS IN WHICH I CAN DEVELOP MYSELF AS A PERSON IN MY CHOOSEN PROFESSION REFLECT CRITICALLY ON MY OWN LEARNING AGAINST THE ORIGINAL AIMS AND OBJECTIVES SET IN DEVELOPMENT PLAN .. SHORT CRITICAL REFLECTION ON MY PROGRESS IN TERMS OF MY AIMS AND OBJECTIVES I SET ON MY DEVEPMENT PLAN .. CAN USE FEEDBACK FROM WORK COLLEGUES CONSIDER LEARNING STYLES AND STRATAGIES : TYPES OF STYLES : AWARENESS OF OWN PERSONAL STYLE : IMPACT OF PERSONAL STYLE AND INTERACTIONS WITH OTHERS LEARNING FROM OTHERS : FORMAL LEARNING . TRAING : OBSERVATION : MENTORING : SUPERVISION : TUTORIALS : INFORMAL NETWORKS : TEAM MEMBERS : LINE MAGERS : OTHER PROFESSIONS MONITORING . REFLECTING . PLANING Learning outcome 4 (LO4) SEE PIECE OF PAPER USE ALL IMFORMATION AND SKILLS THAT I HAVE GAINED THOUGHOUT THE UNIT AN DEMENSTATE MY ABILITY TO SOLVE A PROBLEM IN THE WORK PLACE SITUATIONS

Environment as Effective Support for Speech Essay

How our setting uses the environment to provide effective support for speech, language and communicating. As adults caring for children it is important to support and encourage them in their speech, language and communication skills. As babies they begin with cooing at about 6 weeks and then move onto babbling at about 6 months. At about 9 months this progresses so you can begin to differentiate different languages and children begin to interact with adults. During these stages we use exaggerated facial expressions and point to things and begin to use simple words to label things. We simplify our language to suit their needs. At about 12 months babies start using words and by 18 months have about 10 words or so. As they move towards 2 years old they start to put words together to form sentences. And the biggest development is between 2 and 3 when it can be hard to keep up with them as new words are learnt every day and real speech starts to begin. Around now as adults we start to simplify less and start to help enrich a child’s vocabulary. Between 3 and 4 longer sentences are formed and children start to socialise and interact with each other although grammatical mistakes will often be made. By 5 or 6 the basic skills of speech language and communication are mastered. At the Kings School we have children entering our setting with all sorts of different levels of S.L.C. some will be quite proficient while some may need extra support. Being able to communicate and be able to use and understand speech will assist a child’s overall development. For a Childs cognitive learning being able to understand the teacher and to see something new and label it and say what is happening aids their understanding and memory. Emotionally being able to share thoughts and feelings, to be able to say when they are happy or not and to know when someone else is unhappy. It will also impact on their behaviour. There may be less outbursts and upsets if they can express themselves and clearly understand instructions and any rules given. Friendships are vital to a child’s development and if they can interact with each other they can develop social skills which will carry through to adult hood and assist future development. At the Kings School we try to make sure we are providing a supportive environment to encourage the children’s S.L.C. needs. Many factors can affect this including; The physical environment. The child needs an interesting environment so they are kept stimulated and have something to talk about. We have a different letter each week to help us to plan activities so they are ever changing. To encourage the children to talk about that letter. To discuss the Characters and introduce new words and sounds and get them thinking about sounds. We make sure that we keep an eye on the noise levels and that although it’s fine to be loud sometimes it is also important to have quiet times and spaces. Like the book corner to hear stories and be able to discuss them. Also learning to be quiet when someone else is talking. Especially the teacher. That it is important everyone is heard. That when instructions are given they are clearly heard and understood. Staff roles and responsibilities. It’s important that no child’s slips under the radar and that the quiet ones who are no trouble and self sufficient are also noticed. That is why we have a Keyworker system and that each child has an appointed adult who has responsibility for that child and their development, including their speech and language and communication. Also sometimes when the staff carry out duties we get the children involved in helping, like tidying up especially after lunch. The children get a chance to interact one on one with an adult. Training needs and opportunities. When the chance arises we will engage in training for specific aspects of our work. Recently most of us undertook some training in the use of Makaton. The views of the child We are always interested in what the child wants. We ask them what stories they like or what activities they like to do. They can choose what toys to get out. The other day some of them saw some soil and requested to make mud. This was a great (if messy) activity that had plenty of opportunity for discussion and interaction with an adult. Involvement of carers. We are always encouraging parents and carers to get involved most of our staff are parent volunteers. We have a couple who are Speech therapists and are willing to help us and parents to assist the children in their development. As Early year teachers we are always implementing the NEW 7 areas of learning, within each of these there are always ways of supporting S.L.C. Communication and Language Once a week we do show and tell. This is a perfect opportunity to encourage children in their SLC they are given the opportunity to share with each other about an item of their choice. They also learn how to listen to their friends. The adults give support by asking questions and using appropriate words to increase vocabulary. This also includes any form of mat time or assembly where the children have to listen to us and begin to learn when to be quiet. They also get the opportunity to pray which is good for their confidence in speaking out loud in front of their peers. Whatever their level of speech they will all pray at some point which is great. Physical Development This can be outside or inside so different levels of speech can be involved. Recently we did an activity where a story was read to the children, then they were encouraged to come outside and build an obstacle course to re-enact the story. Throughout this they were talking to us and hearing words from us about movement. Like up, down, under, through. They had to convey to us what they wanted. Also have listened to the story and understood it. Also sometimes at snack time and lunch time we take the opportunity to discuss healthy eating and how exercise is important. Personal, social and emotional development Children are always encouraged to share things with us and other children. If a child is upset by another child we try to engage them in talking about it and how each other were feeling. And to apologise to each other. We often split children into groups for things to encourage interaction with children they don’t usually play with and get them to talk to each other. Literacy We are always reading books to the children and encouraging interaction within this getting them to talk about the story and discuss it. We have the Alphabet Kingdom characters who are always introducing the children to new words and sounds. We try to use that sound all week to make sure children are hearing it and using it. Mathematics We will use maths activities to teach children words relating to it. Numbers, shapes etc. Getting children to count out loud playing games that involve numbers or shapes. Always talking to them though any activity. Also in this category for instance a child may be role playing shops and we would then encourage them in talking about money and the use of correct terms Understanding the world This could be as simple as being involved in the children’s games especially role play. If they are being doctors or nurses. We can encourage their SLC skills by using appropriate words and talking about things these people do. WE are also in the process of developing a wall display about the world and people we know in different parts of it. We can use this to talk about other languages and teach the children new words and get them to talk about their experiences of other countries. Expressive arts and Design When we are being creative there is always plenty of opportunity for talking about what we are doing. Getting them to share ideas with us and to use language associated with the activity. Into this area also comes music and singing. Which is great for SLC? Whenever we are singing we use Makaton which helps those who need it join in with us, and teaches the children the signs which they can then use to communicate with others.

Gas Agency

Software requirement specification for BuzzyBUY. com (Online Shopping and auctioning Web Site) Prepared by Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2 1. Purpose 2 2. Document Conventions2 3. Intended Audience and Reading Suggestions2 4. Product Scope2 5. References 2 2. Overall Description 3 1. Product Perspective3 2. Product Functions3 3. User Classes and Characteristics 3 1. Administrators 3 2. Buyers4 3. Sellers 4 4. Casual visitors4 4. Design and Implementation Constraints5 . User Documentation6 6. Assumptions and Dependencies6 3. External Interface Requirements6 1. User Interfaces6 2. Hardware Interfaces6 3. Software Interfaces6 4. Communication Interfaces7 4. System Features7 1. Listing7 2. Account Creation8 3. Selling8 4. Buying8 5. Rating8 6. Others8 5. Other Non Functional Requirements9 1. Performance Requirements9 2. Safety Requirements9 3. Software Quality Attributes 9 4. Business Rules9 6. Appendix A: Glossary9 7. Appendix B: Analysis Models10 1. Introduction: 1. Purpose: The p urpose of this SRS is to specify the requirements of the web based software application buzzybuy. om, which is an online shopping and bidding system. The module to be developed is the first version of buzzybuy –version 1. 0. This Software Requirements Specification provides a complete description of all the functions and specifications of buzzybuy –version 1. 0 2. Document conventions: IEEE standards used. Proper sub numbering system for sub topics based on the importance and priority of the matter. 3. Intended audience and reading suggestions:The expected audience of this document is the faculty in charge of software engineering lab for 6th semester Computer Science, NITK suratkal .It will be used as a reference for grading in the lab for even semester of 2006. There is no suggested reading to be done before going through the document. 4. Product scope: Buzzybuy. com is designed to run on both any modern platform with GUI. It is assumed that the back end that will be used for implementation is MySQL and the front end that will be used is PHP. 5. References: 1. The applicable IEEE standards are published in â€Å"IEEE standards collection†, 2001 edition. 2. Software Engineering, A Practitioner’s approach, 6th edition. By Roger S Pressman. McGraw hill international. 2. Overall description 1.Product perspective:This is proposed to be an enhanced model of the present day existing shopping and auctioning portals. Many flaws in the present online shopping portals haven’t been able to exploit the full potential of e-commerce market. The Software Requirements Specifications intends to identify the flaws in the current existing system and propose an alternative or a solution to them. 2. Product Functions: †¢ It consists of two modules 1. Customer module 2. Administrator module †¢ A customer should have a user account for carrying out transactions. †¢ Transactions include buying, selling and auctioning. Administrator pr ovides the customer with an account following proper registration procedures to prevent malpractices in the transactions. †¢ Any visitor is allowed to browse through the product list, their prices and bidding procedures. †¢ Buying, selling and bidding procedures are kept transparent so that any user is able to go through the procedures. 3. User classes and characteristicsThere are 3 kinds of users for the proposed system 1. Administrators: They create user accounts and give it to the required customers. ? To educate consumers about Buzzybuy’s range of products and indigenous services. They must provide rules for the transactions. ? They must maintain the website and update the same making necessary changes at times. ? They must take care of the security issues involved in the transactions. ? They must inform the users about their transaction status and keep them updated about the progress through emails. ? They must receive feedbacks from their customers or any user s about their system and act upon the relevant ones. ? Look up at all the legal issues involved with the business. ? Keep place for advertisements in the website as a revenue generating option.The place has to be maintained and proper listings done. ? Any failures in the system have to be detected and repaired. 2. Buyers: They are the genuine customers of the website. They can see the listing, bid for various things, and also buy them to various payment options. 3. Sellers: These are the people involved in selling their products through buzzybuy. They consider this as a virtual market place. They need to be provided with proper advertisement place, and ratings of customers. The sellers too are rated based on the feedback they get from previous transactions completed from customers.These feedback data are treated with great respect and are transparent to everyone. The sellers too value this very highly. 4. Casual visitors: These people don’t come to the site on specific intens ions of buying or selling. They just visit to see the listing and too see the products. They need not have an user account. They can be future potential customers. They sellers can lure them with advertisements on the site based on their budget. The following usecase diagram states the above data in a graphical form: [pic] Fig 1 Usecase Diagram for BuzzyBuy 4. Design and Implementation Constraints The main constraint here would be the checking the genuineness of the buyer, which is not always possible. There can be security risks involved. †¢ The design constraints are that the browser at each place may not follow similar screen resolutions, browsers etc. This can lead to the website not having the impact it is planned to have. †¢ Also the rules of the land will prohibit certain items to be sold on the site. Hence all those factors need to be filtered in. †¢ Also storage space constraints may come if the listing becomes too large. Hence a strong server needs to be cho sen to host the database. 5.User Documentation: 1. Online user help with all the necessary help needed to use the site in a bulletin format. 2. Problem addressable forms 3. Software and database specification 4. Details of rules and regulation to sellers as well as buyers. 6. Assumptions and Dependencies None as per now 3. External Interface Requirements: 1. User Interfaces: Each part of the user interface intends to be as user friendly as possible. The fonts and buttons used will be intended to be very fast and easy to load on web pages. The pages will be kept light in space so that it won’t take a long time for the page to load.The staring page will ask the user what kind of a user is he, either seller, buyer or a casual visitor. Based on which the future pages will be loaded in a sequential manner. Each listing page will have a area to put the bid, the product details with photo etc. Each page also will have a search engine to search the products available so that it is re adily available and the user need not search for it. Each button will have an online help link to help the user in understanding the process. 2. Hardware Interfaces: A web server will be used to host the WebPages and the database management system.Most pages will be dynamic pages built with php. Each page will be optimized to the type of web browser and resolution being used. A minimum of PIII system running at 733 MHz will be needed to run the modules. Normal modes of network modes used in Internet technology will be used. 3. Software Interfaces: The incoming message mostly includes requests for a specific task, which on the course of the development will be decided in detail and dealt with in design specification document. The incoming messages from the messages will be converted to a specific format in the database language, the processing made and the request served.The operations will be intended to be made as fast as possible. 4. Communications Interfaces: The web server maint enance and other activities to be done using FTP transfer protocol. The security and other issues will be dealt with in the course of the project, as there is little idea as to how these things work to our team as per now. There will other communication interfaces with the users of the site with site-specific email, forms and complaint addressable mechanisms. These things as far as possible will be automated. 4. System Features 1.Listing: This includes the listing feature of the website where any search or other request of a user to a particular subject is served. The pertinent web pages are loaded and the particular database is initialized. There are listings based on the priority as by user preferences. This is actually the listing of web pages to the users by time of selling, deadline, price, quality etc. Listing includes listing of o Products to be sold directly o Products open for bidding till a particular date o Sellers in a particular area or with specific ratings o Used prod ucts on for sale. Just casual listings of random things o Payment options to buy or sell. |Action |Software reaction | |User logs in the system |The system authenticates | |User defines the information to view |System provides the necessary details as requested by the | | |particular employee | |User views the information | |Table No 1. The table states a typical control passing in the system during logging in Listings will be made very fast and user friendly. Proper security is also a very pertinent point here. 2. Account creation: This includes creating user accounts to each of sellers and buyers separately. This includes taking pertinent information from them and then initializing the database. The database needs to be properly updated on each transaction by the user and all the details of his/her account should figure in the account listing.The security of the account also should be dealt with. 3. Selling:Here the seller can list his/her things on his /her quoted price. Or else he can keep it for a bidding process where he is not sure of the price. The details of which will be kept in the user database. The details of his goods on selling list will be updated to him on a regular basis to his email id. The process of selling can include some bargaining too, but the details are yet to be thought of.The payment and feed back details are kept transparent. 4. Buying:There are 4 ways of buying or intending to buy o Direct buying o Bidding o Group buying o Tracking The details of which will be dealt with in the design specification. Each of these details are kept in the user account where he is kept updated about all his moves. 5. Ratings: Each products, buyers and sellers are constantly rated based on the feedback and the market behavior so that users feel secure about the system.These ratings are given based on a best pointer of five, the details of which are yet to be worked out. These ratings are intended to bring some trust and credibility to the concept of an online market. 6. Others: Include money transactions, legal issues, regional tastes, costs involved, business models used etc pertinent issues but won’t be seen in detail in the document as the things are beyond the reach of the design team. 5. Other Nonfunctional Requirements: 1. Performance Requirements: As stated before. 2.Safety Requirements: Suitable safety has to be taken while allowing a product to be sold on buzzybuy. They have to follow the legalities of the land, and must be ethical. There could be possible misuse of the system by bogus user, bidding and buying without paying up. It is not always possible to check the postal addresses. Also during money transactions the unreliable networks may cause further problems. So such practices need to be avoided. 3. Software Quality Attribute: The system is easy to load and light .It adds to the quality and usability of the system. Some others quality considerations such as adaptability, availability, correctness, flexib ility, interoperability, maintainability, portability, reliability, reusability, robustness, testability, and usability will also be very seriously taken to consideration. 4. Business Rules: Nothing is above customer satisfaction. So the rules need to be kept flexible to meet user needs and preferences at different times. Other models can be applied but is beyond the scope of the team. . Appendix A: Glossary 1. SRS: Software requirement specification 2. GUI: Graphical user interface. 3. PHP: Personal home pages 4. IEEE: Institute of electrical and electronic engineers. 5. FTP: File transfer protocol 6. SQL: Structural query language. 7. Appendix B: Analysis Models [pic] ———————– Central Processing server Listing Selling Buying Administration Administrator Casual visitor Seller Buyer Buyer Seller Casual visitor Administrator Administration Buying Selling Listing Central Processing server