Perforation of Composite Sandwich Panels

Puncturing of Composite Sandwich Panels Section 1 Presentation 1.1 Introduction The utilization of sandwich structures has been expanding as of late in light of their lightweight and high firmness. Generally, the maritime business and transportation utilizes the E-glass filaments while the aeronautic trade utilizes composite structures, for example, carbon fiber. The utilization of sandwich boards with composite facesheet in the maritime business is especially engaging on the grounds that they have better erosion and natural opposition and decreased attractive marks when contrasted with twofold body development steel ships. Then again, composite sandwich boards are effectively helpless to harm by a bizarre article sway. The harm might be noticeable, entrance or puncturing, or undetectable, inside delamination and debonding. The two sorts of harms will bring about solidness and quality decrease. It is then essential to consider the effect conduct of composite sandwich boards. Disappointment in composite structures can be brought about by low, high and incredibly high or restricted effect. An effect brought about by an outside body starts two waves from sway point in a board: a through-thickness wave and a transverse shear wave. Regardless of whether these waves assume a significant job in the effect reaction of the board relies upon the genuine contact length between the shot and board and the time it takes the transverse shear wave to arrive at the board limit. Figures 1.1 (a)- (c) show three-sway situations: low-speed, high-speed and ballistic effect. In low-speed sway, the contact power span is for some time contrasted with the time it takes the transverse shear wave travel to arrive at the plate limit. Numerous waves reflect to and fro over the side component of the board. In high-speed sway, the contact power term is a lot shorter than the transverse shear wave travel time through the board. Normally high-speed sway is the equivalent with aperture an d limited harm of the board. Ballistic effect manages through-thickness wave proliferation. During ballistic effect, there is finished aperture of the board with practically no board distortion. The contact power term is roughly the wave travel time through the board thickness. Ballistic effect normally includes the investigation of infiltration mechanics. Low-speed High-speed Ballistic Impact The shot to board mass proportion will control whether wave engendering impact commands the board sway reaction and afterward recommended that a mass proportion be use as a boundary to decide sway reaction. It was demonstrated that little mass effects produce more harm than high-mass effects having same motor vitality. While little mass effects were characterized by wave-controlled reaction, enormous mass effects were characterized by limit controlled reaction. Basic instances of low-speed sway are of winged animal strikes, impact with coasting object, and dropped devices, may cause harm. Submerged impact or flotsam and jetsam from a faraway blast and air was considered as a high-speed sway circumstance. Instances of ballistic effect would be a shot or parts from a close by blast hitting the board. Another significant factor overseeing the effect on composite structures is as far as possible. As far as possible is characterized as the most elevated speed of the shot to cause aperture. At the point when the leftover speed (exit) of the shot is zero, at that point the underlying speed of the shot that causes aperture is the ballistic furthest reaches of the sandwich board. As far as possible might be ascertain logically or decided tentatively. In the trial technique, sandwich boards are shoot with shots over thin scope of speeds to either noble motivation infiltration or to simply puncture the board. There exists a striking speed at which half of the boards are totally puncture over this worth and staying half are halfway enter beneath this worth. This striking speed is expresse as V50, which is the ballistic furthest reaches of the board. In the expository methodology, as far as possible is controlled by the preservation of vitality rule. The methodology is unpredictable in ligh t of the fact that it incorporates an assortment of variables like center thickness, facesheet thickness, state of the shot, center pounding pressure, etc. 1.2 Problem Statement This subject was an extension of the Wan Awis research. He has done just an exploratory work. For sway application, we have to foresee skin and center material thickness. Since sway marvels rely upon various boundaries, for example, material properties or shot geometry, a numerical model, approved tentatively, is important to permit the investigation of the impact of a few boundaries without making expensive trial tests. This will upgrade the advancement of our military innovation and accomplishments later on as a result of the capacity of this product to cut creation cost and tedious of the trial work. The numerical figures have been contrasted with modular test outcomes pointing for the most part to approve the investigations. Reproduction dependent on limited component examination (FEA) must not surpass  ± 15% mistake or this recreation could be guaranteed not worthy. 1.3 Objective To reproduce the harm of composite sandwich structures exposed to high-speed sway utilizing limited component examination. To decide the vitality retention ability of the segments on the conduct of the sandwich board under effect load utilizing ANSYS AUTODYN 13.0 To approve a numerical model with genuine trial. 1.4 Scope of Works To describe a mechanical conduct of carbon fiber board by utilizing pliable and decide the fiber volume power and thickness. Plan and approve the numerical model. Lead a ballistic effect test reproduction. Utilizing the tests information to ascertain the vitality retention on the effect. Section 2 Writing REVIEW 2.1 Introduction A lot of examination has been directed in the zone of effect of composite structures. In this section, past work done on the effect reaction of covered composite plates and composite sandwich boards will be evaluated. 2.2 Impact of Composite Laminates A detail investigation of effect of composite overlays in the three effect systems ballistic effect, low-speed and high-speed is introduced in this area. 2.2.1 Low-speed Impact Abrate, 1998 give a particular survey on various logical models of effect on composite covers. He arranged effect models into four gatherings: sway on limitless plate model, vitality balance models, spring-mass models, and complete models. In the vitality balance model, the underlying active vitality of the shot is utilized to ascertain the disfigurement of the composite cover. The speed of the shot arrives at zero at the most extreme redirection of the composite overlay. Now, the entirety of the motor vitality of the shot is changed over to strain vitality expected to misshape the composite cover. Vitality balance model expect that the structure acts in semi static way. The time history of power and diversion are gotten utilizing the spring-mass model speaking to the composite cover. The model appeared in Figure 2.1 comprises of nonlinear contact firmness (K), one spring speaking to the straight solidness of the structure (Kbs), another spring for the nonlinear layer firmness (Km), successful mass of the structure (M2) just as the mass of the shot (M1). Conditions of movement are composed from a free body chart. The endless plate model is utilized when the disfigurement wavefront has not arrived at the limit yet on the off chance that the wave arrives at the plate limit, at that point this model isn't a fitting one to utilize. In the total model, the elements of the structure and shot are taken into clarification. Suitable plate hypothesis must be chosen and utilized. By and large the old style plate hypothesis can be utilized however when transverse shear disfigurements become huge, higher-request speculations must be utilized. Perhaps the most punctual investigation on the effect of composite covers was by Goldsmith et al, 1995, who led high-speed and semi static effect tests on carbon-fiber covers by utilizing a cylindro-cone shaped shot. Three diverse example of changing thickness were thought of. Vitality balance guideline was utilized to anticipate the dynamic entrance vitality, static infiltration vitality, and furthermore the ballistic furthest reaches of the composite cover. The fiber disappointment represented the greater part of the vitality ingested. The anticipated hypothetical vitality was in acceptable concurrence with estimated vitality for dainty overlays yet not for the thick covers. This was affirmed to the way that transverse shear disfigurement played a significant duty in thick overlays exposed to low-speed sway. The impact of transverse shear distortion was not predominant because of its speedy event in the high-speed effect of overlays. Along these lines, the anticipated vitality in t he dynamic case was in every case near however not exactly the deliberate vitality for the dainty and thick covers. The anticipated ballistic cutoff was not exactly estimated qualities because of the nonlinear variables. Cantwell, 2007 examined the impact of target geometry in the low-speed effect of composite cover. The tests were performed on GFRP plates with hemispherical indenter on either round or square backings. He utilized vitality balance model to foresee the plate redirection and the delamination territory of the overlaid structure. His examination expressed that there is next to zero impact of target geometry on the disappointment modes. It additionally proposed that delamination was reliant on interlaminar shear pressure and expanding the plate distance across required more vitality for harm commencement. Hou et al., 2000 anticipated effect harm in composite overlays utilizing LSDYNA 3D. The numerical outcomes were contrasted with trial results on low-speed sway on composite cover with an underlying speed of 7.08 m/s The Chang-Chang disappointment models was altered taking the shear stres

Dubai economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Dubai economy - Essay Example On January fourth 2006, after the passing of Sheik Maktoum canister Rashid Al Maktoum, His Highness Sheik Mohammed container Rashid Al Maktoum turned into the Ruler of Dubai. He is a man of numerous appearances writer; champion horseman; writer of the book 'My Vision - Challenges in the race for greatness', Chairman of DTCM, United Arab Emirates Vice President, Prime Minister and Defense Minister.Past two - three years saw a blast in the development part. Enormous scope, world class developments, for example, Burj Dubai (which would be world's tallest structure - stature 818M, Floors-162, culmination by 2009) have occurred and are in progress. Aside from that various land ventures like the Walk, Jumeirah Beach Residence, Business Bay, the Executive Towers, Vision Tower, Bay Avenue, the Villa, and so forth additionally got well known. Land esteems flooded fourfold in the course of recent years, energized by a gracefully deficiency and a deluge of ostracizes. Rising items costs drove s welling, which quickened to a record 11.1 percent in 2007. The number of inhabitants in Dubai extended from 12,00,000 of every 2003 to 14,78,000 of every 2007. Dubai's genuine (GDP), which flooded to a record Dh198 billion out of 2007, is anticipated to continue a normal development pace of 11 percent for the following eight years. Dubai's fares have been developing by a normal of more than 28 percent every year during the previous five years.Financial segment additionally saw adequate development during the earlier years. The Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), opened in September 2004, is the world's quickest developing worldwide budgetary focus, and has pulled in high bore firms from around the world just as its locale. A world-class stock trade, NASDAQ Dubai (once in the past known as the Dubai International Financial Exchange or DIFX), opened in the DIFC in September 2005. Budgetary administrations in the DIFC are directed to global norms by the Dubai Financial Service s Authority (DFSA). The credit advertise additionally has gotten increasingly serious, presently there are 13 moneylenders in the market including four universal banks - Standard sanctioned, HSBC, Llyods TSB and Barclays Bank. Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) led regularly in January increased universal notoriety a seemingly endless amount of time after year and draws in a great many remote sightseers. Lodgings, trip specialists and visit administrators add to the selling of the occasion around the world. Advancement and development exercises for Dubai International Airport proceeded. The new terminal 3 turned out to be completely operational in October 2008. Work on a Cargo Mega Terminal has started. A metro connect with the city is required to be operational by 2010. There were quick improvements in data and correspondence divisions in Dubai in the previous hardly any years. 'du', the incorporated telecom specialist co-op in the UAE, propelled portable media transmission benefits on 11 February 2007 over the UAE notwithstanding web and pay TV benefits in a portion of the free zones of Dubai. It is 40 percent possessed by the UAE Federal Government, 20 percent by Mubadala Development Company, 20 percent by Emirates Communications and Technology Company LLC and 20 percent by open investors. It is recorded on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and exchanges under the name du. Emiratization program additionally got energy in regard of higher administration and innovation levels. The Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) has started an Emiratization drive in Dubai through drawing in a committed and skilled workforce. As a feature of the Emiratization procedure, the du has as of late declared the arrangement of two senior officials in key regions of the organization's innovation tasks. Ahmed Hassan Al Hosni is the new Senior Vice President (SVP) IT and

SMRT

SMRT DID YOU KNOW? Human females are the second-largest female primate, but Human males are only the third-largest male primate. Wait youre Course 9, and you like Dr. Phil? As promised, I headed over to the MIT Integration Bee this evening. It was pretty cool, but it not rule quite as thoroughly as I had hoped. For one thing, the integrals were incredibly, unbelievably, brain-screamingly difficult. I mean, it goes without saying that Im not smrt enough to do them, but these were even too difficult for some of MITs best fifth-year mathematics graduate student integralists. So the #7 and #10 seeds in the tournament missed the first five integrals. Which makes for 20 minutes of just not too much fun if you ask me. But then the #8 seed was Dave Shin 05, who is apparently like a superhero or something, and he started solving the integrals in like 30 seconds, and after that things started seriously rocking out. I had a list of my favorite integrals from the competition, but I forgot it. So, Ill type them up for you tomorrow and you can fail to solve them for yourself (just like I did on all but two of them) and then look at the answers down below. Really, with the advent of the Wolfram Integrator online, theres no reason for me to learn this anymore. Plus, engineers dont do math. Sometimes if Im lucky I can solve like, dT/dt 2 * T = 0. The timer/integral display. You cant appreciate it here, but the little CLIFTON guys next to the timer were actually like animated GIFs that did integrals as the time counted down. It was astounding. The integral shown was the warm-up round before the proper competition started. Dave Shin 05 eventually solved this particularly tricky integral. I know you think it doesnt look that cool here, but when he got it, a whole lecture hall full of people ended up getting really excited. How excited, Sam? Really excited, Chester. You might think these are just misrepresented photos from a different event, but nolook at their cheeks. Only at MIT.

George Orwell s Animal Farm - 1392 Words

George Orwell Never Misuses Words In what was a vastly controversial novel published in 1945, George Orwell’s Animal Farm describes the horrific brand of communism in the Soviet Union and the conscious blindness that most of the West accepted at that time. Although Orwell labeled Animal Farm as a fairy tale, this historically parallel novel branches into the genres of political satire, fable, and allegory as well. What made Animal Farm so controversial among the â€Å"British socialists† and Western countries was its criticism of Soviet Communism combined with the â€Å"noble and revolutionary† light that the Soviet Union shone under in its birth (Baker). Political satire is a mean of writing that uses humor to criticize a global event, people,†¦show more content†¦However by placing such great political beings into the form of pigs, chickens, dogs, and generic farm animals, the humor of the situation, once the political alignment is understood, appears. With parody, Orwell shows Napoleon’s rule in the Animal Farm with a shady and ominous tone, thus criticizing communism in Russia in an equal sense. Orwell also utilizes parody with specific events in the Russian Revolution. The pigs, with superior knowledge, which initially thought of â€Å"animal freedom,† are the equivalent of the Politburo, the group that initiated the communist ideology in Russia. Then, Old Major dreams of liberation for the animals noticing how their lives were â€Å"miserable, laborious, and short†; soon after he writes the rules and beginnings of Animalism (Orwell 6). This event in the book represents the establishment of a communist ideal and the writing of the Communists Manifesto (Frane). Old Major dies before all the animals overthrow the humans and enforce the rules made by him, which resembles change of power from the Russian monarchs to the Soviet Union. From this point on the expectations were high for the prosperity of both the animals in Animal Farm and the people of the Soviet Union. The finalizing object that makes Animal Farm appear to be a political satire is the ultimate effect that

Appalachian Bible College ACT Scores, Graduation Rate

Best Snacks Generic Benchmark Worksheet Free Essays

Instructions for Task A: In the Response row, write out the problem/opportunity statements for the scenario for each of the team members. | Response to Task A: Teresa: Best Snacks, Inc. is hesitant to move away from their standard research, development and marketing activities, though their market share in the snack market is slipping. We will write a custom essay sample on Best Snacks Generic Benchmark Worksheet or any similar topic only for you Order Now Over two years the company’s sales, market share and stocks have decreased and without innovation of their products and services they could lose their standing as a major player in the industry. John: Best Snacks seems to have a disconnect between the employees and their managers. The employees have ideas that could be beneficial to the organization that management is brushing aside, as is shown in the surveys. If a new innovative approach to how business is done internal is not provided, then there could be bigger issues down the road. Kicia: In the past two years, sales have dropped drastically, the market shares have decreased and stock market prices are spiraling down. The vice president of organizational development, Sabrina McKay is a valuable asset with exceptional expertise that involves several organizational development initiatives.However, because of the severity of Best Snacks issues, the company is forced to evaluate what the employees like and dislike competing with success. Ed: Best Snacks, Inc. is in danger of losing its long-held premier market share along with a reduction in sales and stock prices. Best Snacks will need to address management practices and organizational culture because they have not had any product or service innovations in five years. | Generic Benchmarking—The purpose of generic benchmarking is to identify potential solutions to the problem statements defined in Task A.You will do this by looking at how companies in other industries have dealt with similar issues. | Task B1: Generic Benchmarking: Topics| Instructions for Task B1: In the Response row, identify the topics for which you need information in order to identify potential solutions to the problems identified in Task A. * In the Response row, list three to five topics that you will research in peer-reviewed journals, on Web sites, and in popular publications such as magazines and newspapers. In the Response row, provide a justification for each topic. | Response to Task B1: Business Model Change – Supply Chain: Supply chain is the second element of innovation business model change and is how the value is created and delivered to the market. This type of business model change is generally behind the scenes, not noticeable by the customer and affects the value chain, including the way an organization organizes, partners, and operates to produce and deliver their products and services (Davila, Epstein, Shelton,  2006, p. 3). This topic is relevant to Best Snacks has to develop innovation in their products and services and a crucial part of new innovation is how the organization will deliver their product or service to the customer. Technology Innovation: Sometimes new technologies are a major part of an innovation, and they stand out and garner significant attention. Other times, the new technologies are hidden out of sight and can only be seen by the technical people servicing them.Either way, technology change can fuel innovations in three distinct ways; Product and service offerings, Process technologies, and Enabling technologies (Davila, Epstein, Shelton,  2006, p. 35). This topic is relevant to Best Snacks because with Technology Innovation, one of the three distinct ways; product and service offerings, is one of several goals CEO Elizabeth Fairchild is trying to accomplish. A change to a product or service that a company offers in the marketplace or the introduction of an entirely new product or service will pull Best Snacks out of their five year stagnation.Semi-Radical Innovation: A semi-radical innovation can provide crucial changes to the competitive environment that an incremental innovation cannot (Davila, Epstein, Shelton,  2006, p. 47). Any semi-radical change in either the business model or technology always requires some degree of change in the other; however, the change in one element is much larger and more important to the success of the innovation than the other (Davila, Epstein, Shelton,  2006, p. 49). This is a relevant topic because Best Snacks needs to make crucial changes to how it is operating compared to its competitors. By making changes to the already existing formula and improving upon it, they can exploit what works and change what does not. Rewarding Innovation: Incentives and rewards are some of the most powerful management tools available to organizations. Rewards are a way to motivate innovation within an organization (Davila, Epstein, Shelton,  2006, p. 179). Formal reward systems are well-suited for incremental innovation, such as increasing the efficiency of a manufacturing plant or improving quality through quality circles (Davila, Epstien, Shelton, p. 182 2006).This topic is applicatory to Best Snacks because in the organizational innovation survey depicts a high percentage of employees believe that they can contribute to the innovation at Best Snacks, but motivation from management would be required. The survey also shows that employees are dissatisfied with the organizations lack of abiding by their own Performance Management Policies and Practices. | Task B2: Generic Benchmarking: Companies| Instructions for Task B2: In the Response row, identify companies that have faced and addressed similar situations (successfully and unsuccessfully). In the Response row, list two to three companies for each topic identified in Task B1. * In the Response row, identify those that have been successful and those that have been unsuccessful. * In the Response row, summarize your key findings for each company as they relate to the scenario. | Response to Task B2: Business Model Change Supply Chain:Facebook – by John Dunbar: SuccessfulBest Snacks can take away that fact that by changing the supply for the demand can pay off in the end, if done in a creative and new way.Facebook started as an exclusive site, and then slowly opened up to non-college students over the course of many years. Best Snacks could take a similar approach to gain the â€Å"awe† factor with the release of new products, starting with exclusive products and then making them more open to the public as time goes by. This will draw a sense of want from those who cannot have. The same type of thing could be done to help improve the manager’s take on employee ideas. If a system is created where managers have to be accepted into a â€Å"club† to receive some kind of reward, then they may be more apt to listen to student ideas.In this case perhaps only one manager with the best employee idea is chosen the first year. Then perhaps two managers are chosen the next year. Dell, Inc. – by Teresa Hollmann: SuccessfulBest Snacks, Inc. can learn from Dell’s change in supply chain direction for the better of the organization. When Dell began their build-to-order model no one believed it would work for the organization, but they were successful for years with the model. When Dell realized that their current model was no longer working, they had to develop a new creative way to deliver a cost-effective product that their customers wanted.To develop new innovative ideas for their product and services Best Snacks can evaluate their current supply chain model and make changes that best suit their organization. Nokia – by Kicia Robinson: SuccessfulBest Snacks sales have been slipping, market share has decreased and in the past two years, stock prices have taken a dive. Best Snacks CEO Elizabeth Fairchild wants to initiate a corporate cultural change program designed to increase employees’ creative thinking skills (University of Phoenix, 2010). If Elizabeth Fairchild can develop this same concept of connecting employees to what matters as one of the several goals for the program she is trying to implement and include clear definitions about what organizational strategies would best fit Best Snacks, the company may be well on their way to success once again. Wal-Mart – by Ed Thaxton: SuccessfulBest Snacks should emulate Wal-Mart’s relationship with their vendors and live up to their own mission of developing strong partnerships with retailers and distributors, and provide competitively priced products (University of Phoenix, 2010).Wal-Mart is one of the largest retailing companies in the world. Wal-Mart operated more than 3,500 discount stores, Sam’s Clubs and Supercenters in the United States and more than 1,170 stores in all major countries across the world. Wal-Mart achieved leadership status in the retail industry because of its efficient supply chain management practices. Supply chain management is moving the right items to the right customer at the right time by the most efficient means. No one does that well than Wal-Mart (ICMR, 2010). Just like Wal-Mart, Best Snacks fully understands that customers are more likely to buy a product based on price than brand loyalty, and with so many options, differentiation between competitors is eroding (University of Phoenix, 2010). Technology Innovation:Hasbro – by John Dunbar: SuccessfulBest Snacks has the opportunity to learn that doing something no other company in the same industry has can put you over the top. Hasbro chose to find a way to promote itself and its products 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Best Snacks is slipping in the standings of the public and needs to find away to promote itself in positive manner.By taking an approach similar to Hasbro, perhaps they could partner with a TV station that is geared toward their products and promotes their products in a new light. Apple, Inc. – by Teresa Hollmann: SuccessfulBest Snacks, Inc. can learn from Apple’s successful technology innovation in not only their product development, but also how they approach innovation as a company. Technology innovation is not just about developing a technology to sell to consumers but can be internally developed technologies to make the organizational operations more efficient and effective.Technology innovation in operating systems or manufacturing processes could assist Best Snacks in developing innovative and creative products and services for their customers helping them regain their market share. Barnes Nobel – by Kicia Robinson: SuccessfulJust as Barnes Noble introduced new technology and gained substantial market share in more than one-year by leveraging technology, this benchmarking strategy could prove to be a good move for Best Snacks because CEO Elizabeth Fairchild also wants to see initial results within 12 months.Sometimes new technologies are a major part of an innovation. Technology change can fuel inn ovations in three distinct ways: Product and services offerings, process technologies, enabling technologies (Davila, Epstein, Shelton, 2006), because Best Snacks has not had any new product or service innovations in the past five years, this would be a positive move for Best Snacks. Bloom Energy – by Ed Thaxton: SuccessfulElizabeth Fairchild, CEO of Best Snacks states, â€Å"innovation was our lifeblood, and it involved everyone in the company. From what I’ve seen here, not many people seem to understand the importance of innovation. Worse, they seem to have forgotten how to develop and implement creative ideas† (University of Phoenix, 2010, p. 3). Best Snacks can imitate Bloom Energy by using technology to improve the delivery system of products from around the world the same way Bloom Energy is creating a paradigm shift in the way energy is used. That type of technological innovation can assist Best Snacks to maintain their market share percentage. Semi-Radical Innovation:Microsoft, Inc. by John Dunbar: SuccessfulBest Snacks has the opportunity to learn that substantial changes can lead to success. Microsoft chose to make a substantial change to how a player plays a video game, by eliminating the controller altogether and making the user the controller. If Best Snacks wants to make an impact with how its managers view employee ideas, then a substantial change to the management culture will need to be made. If Best Snacks wants to get out of its slump and become number one again in the eyes of the consumer, it will need to make a substantial change to its product line.Technicolor, Inc. – by Teresa Hollmann: SuccessfulBest Snacks can learn from Technicolor’s semi-radical innovation of the mp3HD format. Technicolor’s part of the MP3 player development consortium provided them with an opportunity to modify their business model and technologies. Like Technicolor, Best Snacks can use semi-radical innovation in modifying their business model to develop an innovative model to help them in regaining market share. More than a decade after development of the MP3 player Technicolor is still using the semi-radical technology to innovate their technologies and business model.Toyota – by Kicia Robinson: SuccessfulBecause CEO Elizabeth Fairchild wants to see initial results within 12 months, taking the semi-radical approach can provide crucial changes to the competitive environment that an incremental approach cannot. Best Snacks has traditionally held the number one or two positions in the snack market. Due to sales slipping, and decreasing shares the company will finish a very weak second, and with several smaller competitors emerging as major players in the snack industry, Best Snacks should take a semi-radical approach just as Toyota did with the innovation of environmental vehicles.Sony – by Ed Thaxton: SuccessfulBest Snacks must improve the culture of the organization and encourage the free flowing creativity and innovation. â€Å"Sony, and others have shown making important cha nges to key parts of the dominant business model or the essential technology can redirect the competitive vectors of an entire industry (Davila, Epstein, Shelton, 2006). Innovation projects that range between incremental and radical innovation are more likely to succeed, making such projects more acceptable to risk-adverse executives and managers. With Best Snacks having an issue with introducing new products, and expecting improvement within 12 months. Best Snacks should implement Sony’s policy of â€Å"self-promotion† allows Sony engineers, without notifying their supervisors, to seek out projects anywhere in the company where they feel they can make a contribution. Rewarding Innovation:Samsung – by John Dunbar: SuccessfulBest Snacks has the opportunity to learn that money is not always the way to more creativity and innovation, sometimes recognition and a sense of pride work just fine.By creating a research and development lab for employees to flesh out worthy ideas and innovations, the company will be providing a culture of creativity. These employees would have a place to go and see their ideas realized and gain the opportunity to showcase their strengths, making a solid impression on management and corporate. Boeing – by Teresa Hollmann: SuccessfulIn the organization innovation survey conducte d at Best Snacks shows that employees believe an incentive program within the organization would help boost creativity and innovation.Boeing chose monetary incentives for their employee rewards program, but money is not the only option available to Best Snacks to reward their employees for creative or innovative ideas. Best Snacks could offer paid time off, extra monetary rewards, or employee recognition. Whatever Best Snacks chooses as incentives for their employees this method could provide valuable input from employees who could create the next innovative idea for the organization that help them regain their market share.Starbucks Coffee– by Kicia Robinson: SuccessfulCEO Elizabeth Fairchild wants to initiate a corporate cultural change program designed to increase employees’ creative thinking skills, which is not a bad idea. Best Snacks organization innovation survey shows that employees have strayed away from tried-and-true research, development, and marketing activities. If Best Snacks can incorporate some of the ideas Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz has outlined â€Å"Employee First Philosophy† then this may prove to be a win-win situation for the company while relaxing the employee climate about risk-taking.Google – by Ed Thaxton: SuccessfulBest Snacks should im itate the philosophy of Google by instilling the principle to put employees first by providing a unique environment to work around. Google, Inc. allows employees to spend 20% of their time to work on their own project, independent of their workgroup. Google, Inc. believes that no one should leave to pursue their personal passions. Letting employees do this results in over 20% of product launches stemming from these personal projects.Based upon the Best Snacks organizational survey, the employees do not believe that they are being rewarded for making suggestions or changes; they do not believe there is time to work on new ideas and do not believe supervisors are interested in new ideas. If Best Snacks address those issues and can emulate the environment of Google they can also achieve the goal of becoming Fortune magazine’s â€Å"100 Best Companies to Work For. † | Task B3: Generic Benchmarking: References| Instructions for Task B3: In the Response column, list each reference using APA format. Response to Task B3: Refer to pg. 32| Individual Contributions Facebook – by John Dunbar: Successful Facebook found that its original formula of only allowing college students the exclusive use of its social networking site was not allowing much change. In 2005, the company made the decided to expand who could join; this meant high school students have access to the site (Charlie,  2010). Facebook disregarded initial uproar from those who wanted the site to stay exclusive, but their disregard did not many to leave.Facebook realized that to keep up with demand, then supply in terms of access to the site would need to increase. Rather doing everything at once, the innovative part was that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder, decided to make the site more accessible over the course of a few years. This caused a sense of entitlement for those who joined the site as they were allowed to at different times. It also caused an excitement that was not seen before from a social networking site, as past sites had allowed anyone and everyone to join.Best Snacks can take away that fact that by changing the supply for the demand can pay off in the end, if done in a creative and new way. Facebook started as an exclusive site, and then slowly opened up to non-college students over the course of many years. Best Snacks could take a similar approach to gain the â€Å"awe† factor with the release of new products, starting with exclusive products and then making them more open to the public as time goes by. This will draw a sense of want from those who cannot have.The same type of thing could be done to help improve the manager’s take on employee ideas. If a system is created where managers have to be accepted into a â€Å"club† to receive some kind of reward, then they may be more apt to listen to student ideas. In this case perhaps only one manager with the best employee idea is chosen the first year and perhaps two managers are chosen the next year. Hasbro – by John Dunbar: Successful What better way to promote your own toy company then by joining forces with a TV company and creating a TV channel that promotes the toys nd games your company makes. In 2010 Hasbro launched the HUB, the Hasbro and Discovery Channel joint venture that introduces families and their children to cartoons and puppet shows of the past, popular boards games by way of life, game shows, and to new cartoons with familiar characters (â€Å"The Hub to Host Original Mini-Series Event Showcasing ‘Transformers: Prime’. â€Å", 2010). Hasbro took technology innovation to a different level by joining with Discover to create the HUB.The HUB allows for the company to touch the market as a more family friendly toy company during the day, a more collector-oriented toy company in the late hours, and an all a round company at primetime (â€Å"The Hub to Host Original Mini-Series Event Showcasing ‘Transformers: Prime’. â€Å", 2010). They also get to reintroduce characters through old shows, and reinterpret them in new ones with the same title. They have a found way, through TV that allows them to promote their company and products in a way no other toy company has before.Best Snacks has the opportunity to learn that doing something no other company in your industry has can put you over the top. Hasbro chose to find a way to promote itself and its products 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Best Snacks is slipping in the standings of the public and needs to find away to promote itself in positive manner. By taking an approach similar to Hasbro, perhaps they could partner with a TV station that is geared toward their products and promotes their products in a new light. Microsoft, Inc. – by John Dunbar: Successful Microsoft has recently-released it’s more impressive innovation in years, the Kinect.The Kinect is a semi-radical innovation of a controller, in that it allows one to play games without a controller as you are the controller. The sensor converts your movements into game movements and allows you to do something in real life then put that into the game, like drawing a picture and seeing that exact picture in the game (Microsoft, 2010). Where the Wii and PS3 have taken the route of using motion controllers, Microsoft saw the controller as a hindrance to many and eliminated it completely, allowing the user to play the games without restriction if he or she chooses.By thinking outside the box, Microsoft surely has a hit on its hands, as this is something consumers and gamers have never experienced before. Best Snacks has the opportunity to learn that substantial changes can lead to success. Microsoft chose to make a substantial change to how a pl ayer plays a video game, by eliminating the controller altogether and making the user the controller. If Best Snacks wants to make an impact with how its managers view employee ideas, then a substantial change to the management culture will need to be made.If Best Snacks wants to get out of its slump and become number one again in the eyes of the consumer, it will need to make a substantial change to its product line. Samsung – by John Dunbar: Successful Samsung takes an innovative and interesting approach for rewarding for innovation. Those employees who are creative and innovative get the opportunity to assemble a group and flesh out their ideas into solid prototypes and even finished products in what is called the Value Innovation Program, or VIP (Bloomberg, 2006).This VIP is a place for employees to go and spend as much time as they need to get the idea to a finished point, by doing research, testing prototypes, and more. The facility contains 20 project rooms, 38 bedrooms, a gym, a kitchen, a recreation center, and 24hr access (Bloomberg, 2006). Employees who are the most innovative will be granted the time to go to these facilities, and it is seen as an honor to do so. It does not seem to be a case of increased pay as much as it is a sense pride and accomplishment to give the company continued success as well as gaining personal recognition.Best Snacks has the opportunity to learn that money is not always the way to more creativity and innovation, sometimes recognition and a sense of pride work just fine. By creating a research and development lab for employees to flesh out worthy ideas and innovations, the company will be providing a culture of creativity. These employees would have a place to go and see their ideas realized and gain the opportunity to showcase their strengths, making a solid impression on management and corporate. Dell, Inc. – by Teresa Hollmann: Successful For over a decade Dell, Inc. uccessfully used the build-to-order supply chain model for manufacturing of their computers. Michael Dell, CEO of Dell, Inc. believed that the direct-to-customer, build-to-order process would ultimately be more appealing to customers than just a generic computer system that may or may not meet their needs (Accenture, 2010). The build-to-order model and direct-to-customer business model allowed Dell to maintain low inventory levels in their manufacturing facility, more vendor managed inventories, and low capital investments for the company.In 2010 Dell, Inc. announced that their build-to-order process was no longer working; the operations and supply chain model had become too complex and pricey. Dell’s director of investor relations, Robert Williams stated that in the past the configure-to-order model had worked for the organization and was still a good model for custom configurations. But the model had become too costly and complex for significant portions of Dell’s consumer, and some portions of their commercial businesses (Chiappinelli, 2010). To replace the build-to-order model Dell has created a new strategy called Client Reinvention; a model in which the company will be ordering larger bulk shipments from their contract manufacturers, conducting strategic component buys, and use lower-cost shipping options (Chiappinelli, 2010). Best Snacks, Inc. can learn from Dell’s change in supply chain direction for the better of the organization. When Dell began their build-to-order model no one believed it would work for the organization, but they were successful for years with the model.When Dell realized that their current model was no longer working, they had to develop a new creative way to deliver a cost-effective product that their customers wanted. To develop new innovative ideas for their product and services Best Snacks can evaluate their current supply chain model and make changes that best suit their organization. Apple, Inc. – by Teresa Hollmann: Successful Apple, Inc. launched the iPad in 2010 their tablet computer specifically marketed as a platform for audio and visual media.The iPad is a multi-touch interface with interactive apps, in which Apple targeted a new group of users. The individual elements of iPad were not a superior innovation, but the combination won iPad an innovation of the year award in 2010. Unique features of the iPad include: * A touch screen with IPS technology (in-plane switching) and fingerprint-resistant oleo phobic coating * Apple A4 system-on-a-chip (powerful main IC) * Built-in apps that include mail, contacts, calendar, iPod, and notes * Bluetooth 2. 1 plus EDR technology and Wi-Fi connectivity * Safari web browser iBooks – a new app that allows the end user to buy and read a book on the iPad * Offered in three variants of flash memory capacity; 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB (My Digital Life, 2010). Apple, Inc. is continuously a leader in the innovation market, over the past decade the company has developed six product and service platforms that quadrupled their stock and developed a loyal following in niche markets (Anthony, 2010). With a niche market, a loyal following and revenues in the billions Apple continuously tops their last innovation with a new product that consumers just have to have.Steven Jobs, CEO focuses innovation on competitive pressures and value propositions; his management style focuses organizational energy on customer centered innovation and the customer experience (R3 Now, 2009). Best Snacks, Inc. can learn from Apple’s successful technology innovation in not only their product development, but also how they approach innovation as a company. Technology innovation is not just about developing a technology to sell to consumers but can be internally developed technologies to make the organizational operations more efficient and effective.Technology innovation in operating systems or manufacturing processes could assist Best Snacks in developing innovative and creative products and services for their customers helping them regain their market share. Technicolor, Inc. – by Teresa Hollmann: Successful The invention of MP3 audio files the consumer market needed a device in which to playback the files and in the late 1990s three organizations and a German university came together to develop the MP3 player. Thomson-Brandt now Technicolor, Inc. as part of the development consortium for the new device. In the co-development of the MP3 player Technicolor re-evaluated their business and technology models to determine in what direction they could take the business based on the new product. Because there was a consortium involved in the development of the player the organization made the business decision to license the MP3 player for new products and manufacturing companies worldwide. The development represented both new technology and a new business model for the organization. In 2009 Technicolor announced the latest addition to their MP3 family the mp3HD format that allows mathematically lossless compression of audio material while preserving backward compatibility to the mp3 standard. With the new development Technicolor can add more patents to their portfolio, which equates to additional licensing revenues for the organization. Content creators, the music industry and end users are now able to enjoy the ultimate audio quality experience with the same ease of use as the mp3 format.With the mp3HD format, the music industry can engage in user-friendly distribution of lossless music and audio files (Technicolor, 2009). Best Snacks can learn from Technicolor’s semi-radical innovation of the mp3HD format. Technicolor’s part of the MP3 player development consortium provided them with an opportunity to modify their business model and technologies. Like Technicolor, Best Snacks can use semi-radical innovation in modifying their business model to de velop an innovative model to help them in regaining market share. Boeing – by Teresa Hollmann: Successful Employee rewards are control mechanisms that directly impact the management function of leading. These methods offer a way for managers to increase productivity, encourage innovation, and instill shared beliefs and values for the company and its employees (Associated Content, 2010). Boeing offers several forms of rewards for their employees; EIP program that provides cash bonuses of between 1 and 20 days of additional pay to eligible employees if the company achieves their financial objectives (Boeing, 2010).Meeting annual operating plan target results in two weeks of extra pay, exceeding the target can earn up to four weeks of extra pay. In 2009 Boeing announced an incentive plan that would provide annual cash rewards to non-union employees upon the company’s achievement of annual financial performance objectives. A high-performance culture is critical to the future of Boeing and Boeing’s chairman and CEO, Phil Condit want s to create a company off innovators actively engaged in seeking customer-focused solutions to grow the business and boost economic profit (Market Wire, 2010).Boeing’s long-term success has been built on fully-engaged employees, enthusiastic customers and long-term shareholders. Offering monetary rewards for innovative ideas that help the organization grow is vital to Boeing’s continued success. In the organization innovation survey conducted at Best Snacks shows that employees believe an incentive program within the organization would help boost creativity and innovation. Boeing chose monetary incentives for their employee rewards program, but money is not the only option available to Best Snacks to reward their employees for creative or innovative ideas.Best Snacks could offer paid time off, extra monetary rewards, or employee recognition. Whatever Best Snacks chooses as incentives for their employees this method could provide valuable input from employees that could create the next innovative idea for the organization that help them regain their market share. Nokia– by Kicia Robinson: Successful Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries.The newly form ed Nokia Corporation was ideally positioned for a pioneering role in the early evolution of mobile communications. As European telecommunications markets were deregulated and mobile networks became global, Nokia led the way with some iconic products (Nokia, 2010). Recently, Nokia has â€Å"fundamentally† changed its business model as it encounters competition from PC makers and Internet software companies. Nokia, the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones, estimates its customer retention rate is about 55 percent, almost twice the rate of its global competitors (Bloomberg, 2010).Nokia’s CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said â€Å"The Company’s profitability and U. S. market share need improvement and he repeated guidance given last week that it is too early to say whether the market decline has hit bottom. † However, Nokia has introduced an Investment to integrate services with devices, which helped Nokia retain customers. The customer retention rate has â€Å"consistently increased† every quarter since the beginning of 2007, Kallasvuo said. The Nokia 5800 device has about 20 % of the global market for touch-screen smart phones, he said (Bloomberg, 2010).The company plans to extend its Smartphone line toward the middle of its price range to capture â€Å"trade-down† sales from customers looking to save money. Apple, Inc. has challenged Nokia in high-end smart phones and Google Inc. ’s Android software platform will compete with Symbian, which is supported by Nokia (Bloomberg, 2010). Nokia’s success has come from â€Å"Connecting people† to what matters – whatever that means for each person – giving them the power to make the most of every moment, everywhere, anytime. Connecting the â€Å"we† is more powerful than just the individual (Nokia, 2010).Best Snacks sales have been slipping, market share has decreased and in the past two years, stock prices have taken a dive. Best Snacks CEO Elizabeth Fairchild wants to initiate a corporate cultural change program designed to increase employees’ creative thinking skills (University of Phoenix, 2010). If Elizabeth Fairchild can develop this same concept of connecting employees to what matters as one of the several goals for the program she is trying to implement and include clear definitions of what organizational strategies would best fit Best Snacks, the company may be well on their way to success once again.Barnes Nobel – by Kicia Robinson: Successful Barnes Noble, Inc. , a Fortune 500 company, is the world’s largest bookseller and the nation’s highest rated bookselling brand. The company is a leading content, commerce and technology company that provides customers easy and convenient access to books, magazines, newspapers and other content across its multi-channel distribution platform. As of July 31, 2010, the company operates 717 retail bookstores in regional shopping malls, major strip centers and freestanding locations in 50 states, and 633 college bookstores serving nearly four million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States (Barnes Noble, Inc. 2010). The company announced NOOKdeveloper, is a program that enables content providers and the developer community to deliver new and innovative reading experiences using Barnes Noble’s open eReading platform.With the new program, Barnes ; Noble is inviting content providers and developers to create, market and sell content and applications that enrich, extend and expand reading for millions of Barnes ; Noble customers, beginning with the newly announced NOOKcolor, the first full-color touch Reader’s Tablet (Market Watch, 2010). Barnes Noble has quickly become a leader with its rapidly growing eBooks and eReading products, gaining substantial market share in mo re than one-year by leveraging technology and digital expertise combined with its nearly 40 years of bookselling experience.With the launch of NOOKdeveloper, Barnes Noble will offer content providers and application developers unprecedented access to unique merchandising opportunities to drive discovery and demand on Barnes Noble’s leading eReading devices, on BN. com, one of the world’s largest e-commerce Websites, and in store at more than 1,300 of the company’s Barnes ; Noble and Barnes ; Noble College bookstores across the country (Market Watch, Inc. 2010). Best Snacks has not had any new product or service innovations in the past five years.Previously successful marketing methods have been improved or extended and CEO, Elizabeth Fairchild is very much aware that Best Snacks is in danger of losing its long-held premier standing in the snack market (University of Phoenix, 2010). Just as Barnes ; Noble introduced new technology and gained substantial market share in just more than one-year by leveraging technology, this benchmarking strategy could prove to be a good move for Best Snacks because CEO Elizabeth Fairchild also wants to see initial results within 12 months. Sometimes new technologies are a major part of an innovation.Technology change can fuel innovations in three distinct ways: Product and services offerings, process technologies, enabling technologies (Davila, Epstein, ; Shelton, 2006), because Best Snacks has not had any new product or service innovations in the past five years, this would be a positive move for Best Snacks. Toyota – by Kicia Robinson: Successful Toyota is the seventh largest company in the world and the second largest manufacturer of automobiles with production facilities in 28 nations around the world — and the highest production facility of any non-domestic automaker in the United States (Toyota North America, Inc. 010). At the core of the company’s success is the Toyota Production System, which took shape in the years after the Second World War, when Japan was literally rebuilding itself, and capital equipment were hard to come by. A Toyota engineer named Taiichi Ohno turned necessity into virtue, coming up with a system to get as much as possible out of every part, every machine, and every worker. The principles were simple, even obvious—do away with waste, have parts arrive precisely when workers need them, fix problems as soon as they arise (Toyota North America, Inc. 010). Toyota has made some successful innovation marks in the automobile industry. Since its launch in 1997, the Prius has earned the love of millions of forward-thinking drivers and is paving the way for the next generation of environmental vehicles such as cars that will run solely on electricity, or consume hydrogen, and emit only water (Toyota North America, Inc. 2010). Toyota continues the use of a distinctive element approach defining innovation as a semi-radical process.Toyota also spends an average of nearly one million dollars an hour on R;D to develop the cars and technologies of the future – cars that deliver higher fuel economy with lower vehicle emissions. We will continue to invest in R;D, moving even closer to our vision of the ultimate eco-car (Toyota North America, Inc. 2010). Because CEO Elizabeth Fairchild wants to see initial results within 12 months, taking the semi-radical approach can provide crucial changes to the competitive environment that an incremental approach cannot.Best Snacks has traditionally held the number one or two positions in the snack market. However, due to sales slipping, and decreasing shares the company will finish a very weak second, and with several smaller competitors emerging as major players in the snack industry, Best Snacks should take a semi-radical approach just as Toyota did with the innovation of environmental vehicles. Starbucks Coffee– by Kicia Robinson: Successful Starbucks Coffee began in 1971with a single store in Seattle’s Pike Place Market.Starbucks has always believed-in serving the best coffee possible. It is their goal for all of their coffee to be grown under the highest standards of quality, using ethical trading, and responsible growing practices. The company’s coffee buyers personally travel to coffee farms in Latin America, Africa and Asia to select the highest quality Arabica Beans. Once these quality beans arrive at their roasting plants, Starbucks experts bring out the balance and rich flavor of the beans through the signature Starbucks Roast.Today Starbucks is privile ged to welcome millions of customers through their doors every day, in more than 16,000 locations in more than 50 countries (Starbucks Corporation, 2010). Starbucks Chairman and Visionary Howard Schultz believe in rewarding employees for innovation. In fact, he clearly says â€Å"We built the Starbucks brand first with our people, not with consumers. Because we believed the best way to meet and exceed the expectations of our customers was to hire and train great people, we invested in our employees.Innovation starts with employees and it is important that we understand that. Why not reward your employees for innovation† (Starbucks Corporation, 2010). Starbucks believes in hiring exceptional people willing to work for excellent results. In exchange, the company is committed to the development of good people by identifying, cultivating, training, rewarding and promoting those individuals committed to moving the company forward through innovation† (Starbucks Corporation, 2010).CEO Elizabeth Fairchild wants to initiate a corporate cultural change program designed to increase employees’ creative thinking skills, which is not a bad idea. Best Snacks organization innovation survey shows that employees have strayed away from tried-and-true research, development, and marketing activities. If Best Snacks can incorporate some of the ideas Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz has outlined â€Å"Employee First Philosophy† then this may prove to be a win-win situation for the company while relaxing the employee climate about risk-taking.Wal-Mart – by Ed Thaxton: Successful Wal-Mart is one of the largest retailing companies in the world. Wal-Mart operated more than 3,500 discount stores, Sam’s Clubs and Supercenters in the United States and more than 1,170 stores in all major countries across the world. The company also sold products on the Internet through its website, Walmart. com. The company’s founder Sam Walton had always focused on improving sales, constantly reducing costs, adopting efficient distribution and logistics management systems and using innovative information technology tools.Wal-Mart achieved a leadership status in the retail industry because of its efficient supply chain management practices. Supply chain management is moving the right items to the right customer at the right time by the most efficient means. No one does that better than Wal-Mart (ICMR, 2010). Just like Wal-Mart, Best Snacks fully understands that customers are more likely to buy a product based on price than brand loyalty, and with so many options, differentiation between competitors is eroding (University of Phoenix, 2010).Wal-Mart always emphasized the need to reduce its purchasing costs and offer the best price to its customers. The company procured goods directly from manufacturers, bypassing all intermediaries (ICMR, 2010). Wal-Mart has made important changes to its enabling information management technologies, with significant improvement in its ability to track and manage its partners, the supply chain, and finances (Davila, Epstein, Shelton, 2006). The second element of innovative business model change is the supply chain—how value is created and delivered to the market.This type of business model change affects steps along the value chain, including the way an entity organizes, partners, and operates to produce and deliver its products and services (Davila, Epstein, Shelton, 2006). As stated by Bruce Richmond of Andersen Consulting â€Å"This type of business model change affects steps along the value chain, including the way an entity organizes, partners, and operates to produce and deliver its products and services. † Wal-Mart spent a significant amount of time meeting vendors and under standing their cost structure.By making the process transparent, the retailer could be certain that the manufacturers were doing their best to cut down costs. Best Snacks should emulate Wal-Mart’s relationship with their vendors and live up to their own mission of developing strong partnerships with retailers and distributors, and provide competitively priced products (University of Phoenix, 2010). Bloom Energy – by Ed Thaxton: Successful Bloom Energy is changing the way the world generates and consumes energy.The company’s unique on-site power generation systems make good use of an innovative new fuel cell technology with roots in NASA’s Mars program. Derived from a common sand-like powder, and leveraging breakthrough advances in materials science, Bloom Energy’s technology can produce clean, reliable, affordable power, practically anywhere, from a wide range of renewable or traditional fuel sources, including natural gas, wind, solar, and biomass. Bloom Energy Serversâ„ ¢ are among the most efficient energy generators available, providing for significantly reduced electricity costs and dramatically l ower greenhouse gas emissions.By generating power on-site where it is consumed, Bloom Energy offers increased electrical reliability and improved energy security, providing a clear path to energy independence. Founded in 2001, Bloom Energy is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. The technology stage is early in the lifecycle of an industry; technology innovation often dominates and is typically populated by startups (Davila, Epstein, Shelton, 2006). Bloom Energy can trace its roots to work performed at the University of Arizona as part of the NASA Mars space program. Dr. KR Sridhar and his team were charged with creating a technology that could sustain life on Mars.They built a device capable of producing air and fuel from electricity, and electricity from air and fuel. They soon realized that their technology could have an even greater impact here on Earth. Originally called Ion America, Bloom Energy, was founded with the mission to make clean, reliable energy affordable for everyone on earth. Over the next few years, the technology quickly developed from concept, to prototype, to product, as the major technological challenges were solved and the systems became more powerful, more efficient, more reliable, and more economical.In early 2006 Bloom shipped its first 5kW field trial unit to the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. After two years of successful field trials in Tennessee, California, and Alaska, to validate the technology, the first commercial (100kW) products were shipped to Google in July 2008. Since that time Bloom’s Energy Servers have helped our customers generate millions of kWhs of electricity and eliminate millions of pounds of CO2 from the environment. From humble beginnings on Mars, Bloom Energy is now changing the Earth for the better.Fuel cells are devices that convert fuel into electricity through a clean electro-chemical process rather than dirty combustion. They are similar to batteries except that they never lose power. Each Bloom Energy Server provides 100 kilowatts of power, enough to meet the base load needs of 100 average homes or a small office building — day and night, in roughly the footprint of a standard parking space. In addition, the modular system allows customers needing more power to add more energy servers.Customers generate their own electricity at a cost savings that typically translates to a three to five year payback on their investment. Because the company’s initial commercial installation in 2008, Bloom Energy has produced more than 11 million kilowatt hours for its customers and reduced their carbon footprints by more than 14 million pounds. That represents the equivalent of powering ~1,000 average United States homes for a year and planting ~1 million trees (Bloomenergy, 2010). As Elizabeth Fairchild states, â€Å"†¦innovation was our lifeblood, and it involved everyone in the company.From what I’ve seen here, not many people seem to understand the i mportance of innovation. Worse, they seem to have forgotten how to develop and implement creative ideas† (University of Phoenix, 2010, p. 3). Sony – by Ed Thaxton: Successful Sony is a leading manufacturer of audio, video, communications, and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. Its motion picture, television, computer entertainment, music and online businesses make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment and technology companies in the world.The co-developer of the CD, DVD, Super Audio CD and Blu-ray Disc, A leading recorded music company in the United States and worldwide, The developer, manufacturer, and marketer of PlayStation ®2 computer entertainment system, PSP ® (PlayStation ®Portable) handheld entertainment system, PlayStation ®3 (PS3 ®) system and the PlayStation ®Move motion controller. The inventor of a wide range of consumer audio-visual products, such as the BRAVIA ®TV, BRAVIA ® LCD TV, Cyber-shot ® digital camera, Ha ndycam ® camcorder, Walkman ® digital music player, Reader Digital Book, and Memory Stick ® flash media.Also an innovator in IT products, including VAIO ® personal computers, and professional products, highlighted by the XDCAM ® HD System, HDCAM ® 24-P, Digital Betacam ® and DVCAM ® VTR and camera formats (Sony, 2010). Achieving radical or semi-radical innovation requires a different mix of business model and technology change than incremental innovation (Davila, Epstein, Shelton, 2006). Product engineers at Sony turn out an average of four ideas for new products every day.Despite the fact that Sony is now a huge, diversified organization employing more than 115,000 employees worldwide, the company continues to lead the way in innovation in the consumer electronics industry. First, a policy of â€Å"self-promotion† allows Sony engineers, without notifying their supervisors, to seek out projects anywhere in the company where they believe they can make a contribution. Like many other large Japanese companies, Sony has a policy of lifetime employment, which makes it easy for its engineers to take risks with ideas and encourages the development of norms and values that support innovative efforts (Jones, 2004).Sony’s founder constantly challenged his engineers to do things that had never b een done before, such as new ways to create an image on a TV screen (the Trinitron tube) or very cheap video (the Betamax system). â€Å"Sony and others have shown making important changes to key parts of the dominant business model or the essential technology can redirect the competitive vectors of an entire industry (Davila, Epstein, Shelton, 2006). Innovation projects that range between incremental and radical innovation are more likely to succeed, making such projects more acceptable to risk-adverse executives and managers.Just as Sony is a leader in introducing semi-radical innovations, Best Snacks must improve the culture of the organization and encourage the free flowing creativity and innovation. Google – by Ed Thaxton: Successful Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin named the search engine they built â€Å"Google,† a play on the word â€Å"googol,† the mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros. The name reflects the immense volume of information that exists, and the scope of Google’s mission: to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.Of course, there is a large amount of information in the world that is not yet online, so we are also working to get more of it digitized, such as in Google Books or the Google News Archive. We also know that when ever you search the web you want it to be as fast as possible, with all your favorite websites at your fingertips, so we offer software like Google Toolbar and Google Chrome to help you browse the web quickly and easily. Though Google has grown significantly since opening in 1998, they still maintain a small company feel. At lunchtime, almost everyone eats in the office cafe, sitting at whatever table has an opening and enjoying conversations with Googlers from different teams. Our commitment to innovation depends on everyone being comfortable sharing ideas and opinions. Every employee is a hands-on contributor, and everyone wears several hats. Because we believe that each Googler is an equally important part of our success, no one hesitates to pose questions directly to Larry or Sergey in our weekly all-hands (â€Å"TGIF†) meetings – or spike volleyball across the net at a corporate officer.We are aggressively inclusive in our hiring, and we favor ability over experience. We have offices around the world and dozens of languages are spoken by Google staffers, from Turkish to Telugu. The result is a team that reflects the global audience Google serves. When not at work, Googlers pursue interests from cross-country cycling to wine tasting, from flying to frisbee. The corporate headquarters, fondly nicknamed the Googleplex, is in Mountain View, California. Though the offices are not identical, they tend to share some essential elements.Here are a few things you might see in a Google workspace: * Local expressions of each location, from a mural in Buenos Aires to ski gondolas in Zurich, showcasing each office’s region and personality. * Bicycles or scooters for efficient travel between meetings; dogs; lava lamps; massage chairs; large inflatable balls. * Googlers sharing cubes, yurts and huddle rooms – and very few solo offices. * Laptops everywhere – standard issue for mobile coding, e-mail on the go and note-taking. * Foosball, pool tables, volleyball courts, assorted video games, pianos, ping pong tables, and gyms that offer yoga and dance classes. Grassroots employee groups for all interests, like meditation, film, wine tasting, and salsa dancing. * Healthy lunches and dinners for all staff at a variety of cafes. * Break rooms packed with a variety of snacks and drinks to keep Googlers going. Everybody’s searching for something different and just as the very idea of Google depends on diversity so does delivering the best products. Google’s success hinges on their ability to understand the needs of all 597 million of our users and that is why they work hard to attract and hire talented individuals of every possible perspective, from all over the world.When Googlers are encouraged to express themselves, they mean it. In fact, we count on it. Intellectual curiosity and passionate perspectives drive Google policies, work environment, perks, and profits. At the end of the day, it is Googlers who make Google one of Fortune magazine’s â€Å"100 Best Companies to Work For. † The fascinating aspect of these companies are their intrinsic rewards and how it allows employees to operate with freedom and respect, allowing them control of their own time, and empowering them to have a united common goal, which is to invent products and ideas that will change the world for good.In today’s corporate environment, the organization’s bottom line is to make the most profit long-term by attracting top talent, retaining top talent, and motivating top talent for maximum performance. The way companies can do that is by offering the best rewards in the industry. The company that is highlighted the most for its most elaborate rewards is Google, Inc. The founders believed that to attract the best talent, they had to provide an environment in which people would want to come to work, have fun, dream big, and get rewarded for hard work. Google, Inc. as achieved a top-5 ranking by providing innovative benefits, flexibility, and the opportunity to pursue ideas that challenge the status quo and shatter paradigms. Google, Inc. ’s CEO, Erin Schmitt, adopts the â€Å"fun is good† principle and states that they built a company around the idea that work should be challenging, and the challenge should be fun. Google, Inc. allows employees to spend 20% of their time to work on their own project, independent of their workgroup. Google, Inc. believes that no one should leave to pursue their personal passions.Letting employees do this results in over 20% of product launches stemming from these personal projects. Best Snacks should imitate the philosophy of Google by instilling the principle to put employees first by providing a unique environment to work around.References Accenture. (2010). Supply Meets Demand at Dell Inc. . Retrieved from http://www. accenture. com/Global/Services/By_Industry/Communications/Access_Newsletter/Article_Index/SupplyComputer. htm Anthony, S. (2010, May  18). Three Critical Innovation Lessons from Apple [1]. Message posted to http://blogs. hbr. rg/anthony/2010/05/three_critical_innovation_less. html How to cite Best Snacks Generic Benchmark Worksheet, Papers

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Essay Example For Students

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Essay A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens An unsurpassed blending of vibrant story telling and social conscience . Dickens achieves such storytelling through a clever use of words woven into both a vibrant story and an analysis of the current centauries social failings. The story follows Scrooge, an old unkind grouch whose actions are usually of a cruel and heartless nature. Even his attitude to the current month of Christmas is that it is merely a waste of time that could be used for more work. Its interesting that Dickens has chosen such a cruel man as the main character; however his intentions are that this will highlight to an extreme the poverty that the secondary characters are shown in. Dickens example of such less well off characters is his main employee is a young worker named Bob Cratchitt, a poor man who lives in poverty with his family and there young crippled son Tiny Tim. Scrooge cares nothing for the poor and only sees Bob as his clerk. This was common at the time that the book was set as the poor were often forgotten, frowned upon and mistreated. Poverty was one of the key points that Dickens tries to put forward in the book to try and influences peoples attitudes towards the poor. Because of Scrooges nature towards Christmas and his clerk he is reluctant to let Bob send the day off, however in the end he does. This reveals something about Scrooges character, it suggest that there is good in him as a truly cold hearted man would have asked Bob to work Dickens may have displayed this to highlight changes that take place at the end of the book. The text then goes on to Marleys ghost. Scrooge is warned by his old friends ghost when he arrives home of three ghosts that will come to visit him. Marleys Ghost scene is there as a sort of introduction to the events that will take place later on in the book. It develops Scrooges character more showing his true frailty. Marleys ghost warns of three spirits that will appear to him of past, present and future. Marley also explains what will become of him if he does not change, mentioning the chains that drape around him are the troubles of his past life, each one represents a bad deed he has perform and they now follow him around weighing down apron him, he warns that the same fate will befall scrooge unless he changes his ways. Marley predicts the arrival of three ghosts the first being the past. The ghost of the past shows Scrooge his childhood. The character of scrooge further develops here showing us how scrooge was mistreated and forgotten as a child. It forwards the story along to the next chapter of the book and acts as an axis for the next part. The ghost of Christmas present. The ghost of Christmas present focuses on the life time now and is there to develop Scrooges kinder side. From the conversation about Tiny Tim where scrooge asks whiter Tiny Tim will live. Dickens also shows a scene that wasnt the custom at the time. He showed the Cratchitt family together at Christmas as a family, this was an image that wasnt usually associated with Christmas and another issue that Dickens was also trying to influence. Much like Dickens ideas of the portrayal of people in poverty Dickens also tries to entangle this message into his story in order to influence the readers of the book explaining the importance of Christmas family values. Shows us Scrooges devolving character. The last ghost of Christmas future serves as the chapter of change. He we learn of what will come. When Scrooge sees his own death and how he is viewed by others now he has passed on. This acts as the closing of this part of the book and brings the book back into a more realistic phase. Moral Development and Dilemmas of Huckleberry Finn EssayAs stated before, the fact that Pip gave him something to eat in the first chapter, the convict is very grateful towards him and furthermore, he acts as if he is indebted to Pip. I can deduce from the way he was kissing Pips hand that what Pip has once done for him in his innocence and fear, means the world to Magwitch. He thinks that the person hes made out of Pip is nothing compared to what Pip has done to him. As far as Pip is concerned, he feels embarrassed by the presence of the convict. He keeps thinking that it is good that his roommate is not in to see such a scene. He looks through the window to see if someone is walking around. He doesnt even want to sleep in the same room as Magwitch and he wants him to go far away very soon as he tells Magwitch my friend and companion, said I, rising from the sofa, is absent; you must have his room, (chapter 39, pg 306, line 37-38). It seems to me that Magwitch is like a burden to Pip. I think that Pip is imagining that how can such a good and refined person like him be talking to a prisoner whom he has once helped and has been so scared of. Likewise, Pip has grown older and much more wiser than in the first chapter. On top of that, hes developed an arrogant attitude towards others less successful than him and to persons who love him as well, like Joe and Magwitch. What is more surprising is at the moment that he knows that the culprit was providing him with money; he does not want to accept that fact at all. He always thinks that Miss Havisham was his benefactor because like that, he could have a chance to marry Estella in the future. He does not imagine his benefactor to be a prison evader. It is amazing how people forget who they are once they get money. They dont even realise that all these material things are provided only for a while and that their loved ones are more important than all things else. I think that the message Charles Dickens wants to pass is how people react when they come to know the truth. The writer wants us to have views on how dirty peoples minds are and how bad they could be although they may seem good. The writer wants to inform people that no matter how bad a person can be on the outside, you never know how good he can really be on the inside. Dickens uses Magwitch and his daughter, Estella, to display how artificial social class is. Also, the writer shows, in the character of Magwitch, how many good people are falsely accused as being criminals, whereas swindlers like Compeyson, who has trapped Magwitch and made him a so-called criminal, can get away with it. In addition to this, the writer wants to point out how the legal system enables the rich to oppress the poor. As far as Pip and Magwitch are concerned, I think the writer is showing us as readers, how people do a lot of good things in the world without expecting something in return. There are some people yet, that want good for us to express their gratefulness, like Magwitch. The lesson that the latter also teaches us is how with time, people grow wiser and realise their past mistakes. Finally, all through the story, we have seen how an orphan for whom we have so much chagrin, turns out to be a self- centered and materialistic young adult. He even goes that far as to reject Joe, who loves him more than his life. Needless to mention the man, Magwitch, who struggled to make him the person he now is and so proud of being. In addition to this, he realises not too late at the end fortunately, that no matter how much fortune one may have, it does not serve much in life, like it cannot buy love and trust. I think that the message in this story is that money does not make a person. We are much more happy poorer, than richer, taking Joe and Pip for good example. Even if Joe is poor, he is finally married to Biddy, the person he loves. Whereas Pip has got all the comfort life has to offer, but he is alone to enjoy it. He has neither a family, nor a lover by his side.

Marketing Mix of Ecstasy Essay Example

Marketing Mix of Ecstasy Paper INTRODUCTION This is a report about the marketing 7ps issues of one of the leading fashion houses of Bangladesh, Ecstasy Fashion. This company is very famous for its superb quality men’s wear. Quality is the first priority of Ecstasy Fashion. From the begging to the end of this report, we have sort out how a company can be successful by performing 7ps marketing activity from the very beginning. HISTORY OF CATS EYE Ecstasy Fashion Accessories, Inc. started its operations in 1983, exporting fashion jewellery and accessories. With a solid background of 20 years in the field of fashion jewellery manufacturing, the company with 50 employees and 82 subcontractors is looking forward to a steady growth; especially in the European markets. Well the small company Ecstasy Fashion started its business with one outlet only. Now they have around thirty one branches in the major cities of Bangladesh such as Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Khulna etc. In this way the journey of Ecstasy Fashion started and now they are one of the highly appreciable, profitable RMG Company of Bangladesh. Ecstasy Fashion is very conscious about its reputation status thus we can see the reflection of status in its highly interior showrooms with highly trained salespeople. Their focus is to satisfy their customer and their target market actually covers different age groups especially from teen age to onwards. MISSION VISION OF ECSTASY FASHION The mission statement of Ecstasy Fashion is â€Å"To be the most popular and trusted Men’s wear Brand manufacturer and retailer of the country. † We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Mix of Ecstasy specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Mix of Ecstasy specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Mix of Ecstasy specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Goals and Objectives of Ecstasy Fashion are: From the inception the goal is to create a style statement that suits the discerning individual, while keeping a stringent eye on quality yet being affordable. The unique styles are created based on years of experience and keeping up with global trends that have placed our brands as the leaders in the market. Moreover we want internationally recognition. That’s why we are working hard to meet the quality standard of the international market. We are focused on high productivity, team orientation creativity. MARKETING MIX OF Ecstasy Fashion Marketing mix is the full combination of 7P’s (Product, Place, Price, Promotion, People, Process, Physical environment). Ecstasy Fashion does all the activities (manufacturing, sales, and distribution) by themselves. Here is the marketing mix of Ecstasy Fashion: 1. Product In marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a market that might satisfy a want or need. In retailing, products are called merchandise. Ecstasy Fashion produces different types of products for men. They have their own production house in Narayanganj. They have no distributor or retailer. They don’t sell in wholesale. What they do is that after production, directly by their own transportation vehicle they send their products to their showrooms. Because of no supply chain, they can keep their products price reasonable. Another important thing is that they don’t store inventory. Ecstasy Fashion purchases their product material from China, Malaysia Bangkok mostly. They also use Bangladeshi materials for production. Product Categories: ? Shirts ? T-Shirts ? Blazers ? Polo T-Shirts ? Belts ? Trousers ? Ties ? Jeans ? Seasonal Dresses (Winter Collection, Summer Collection etc. ) 2. Price The sum or amount of money at which a thing is valued, or the value which a seller sets on his goods in market; that for which something is bought or sold, or offered for sale; equivalent in money or other means of exchange; current value or rate paid or demanded in market or in barter; cost. It is the motto of Ecstasy Fashion to increase its market growth as possible while protecting the captured market share. Ecstasy Fashion believes that customer loyalty is needed to remain profitable. Ecstasy Fashion sets their price considering their mark-up price, perceived value price by the customers competition based price. They always charge effective pricing to beat their competitors. They have different price level to meet the need of different income people. Price ranges: |Shirts |550-1400 TK. |Trousers |850-1400 TK | |Blazers |4000-6500 TK | |Belts |450-1000 TK | |Ties |400-950 TK | |T-Shirts |250-800 TK | |Jeans |850-1500 TK | |Seasonal Dresses |Not Fixed | 3. Place Any portion of space regarded as measured off or distinct from all other space, or appropriated to some definite object or use; position; ground; site; spot; rarely, unbounded space. Ecstasy Fashion has Thirty one outlets n Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet to sell their products. They are planning to establish more ou tlets so that customers can easily buy their products from convenient location. 4. Promotion Promotion is communicating with the public in an attempt to influence them toward buying your products and/or services. Ecstasy Fashion does its promotional activity by using billboards, magazines and newspapers to reveal their ads. Especially this year they are arranging special discounts for their customers and own composed CD’s for their customer’s conveniences so that customers can know in details about their organization. They believe discount is an effective method to create customer interest. Other promotional activities they perform are sponsoring fashion shows, free t-shirt campaign etc. 5. People Ecstasy Fashion using good and well stuff. They are providing good salary and taking well skill stuff for good service. They also trained them to how to interact with customer? Ecstasy has sixty seven employees in showroom and behind the showroom fifty people like transportation etc. 6. Process In Ecstasy there process is well then others. Ecstasy process system fast like when customer in showroom they are always ready to provide the service quickly. When customer needs to change the size they collect from stock. Everything is in display. Sold cloths not refund. Trail room here checks the cloth for customer. 7. Physical Environment Where is the service being delivered? Showroom is well decorated in Ecstasy Fashion. Here customer can get cloths and other using product easily. They always using well smell spray in there showroom for attracting the customer. They have also changing room well. Recommendations 1. Ecstasy has good quality in there cloths but here is little higher price then others. It may be the burden for their potential or actual customer. So they should profit there margin and not in quality and also think about their higher price 2. They open showroom now in three divisions. They should cover others divisions. 3. Ecstasy complaining system is not good. Sometime there product may be failed in provide customer satisfaction. They should think about it. 4. Ecstasy provides all the new collection news in internet. That’s why few people miss the collection. They should use newspaper and billboard for giving more information about there collection. Conclusion In report we focused the 7ps marketing of Ecstasy Fashion ltd. This report is only based on marketing mixed. All data Collected from Internet and that are very recent. The study group tried our best to complete this report. BIBLIOGRAPHY www. ecstacyfashion. com www. lifestyle. com [pic]

Chapter 2 Test Review Essays

Chapter 2 Test Review Essays Chapter 2 Test Review Paper Chapter 2 Test Review Paper Essay Topic: Literature True Periodicals and the novel became more popular as the more powerful middle class began to read. T/F True Milton was imprisoned because of his previous position in the Commonwealth. T/F f The Puritans felt that the Anglican Church had sufficiently reformed. t/f f James I was restored to the throne in 1660. t/f f When public land was enclosed for private estates, most of the rural poor were allowed to stay. t/f f Oliver Goldsmith wrote a biography of Samuel Johnson. t/f` True In The Deserted Village, Goldsmith praises the sentimental village preacher. f Oliver Goldsmith believed that one can never be too rich. f Samuel Johnson wrote periodical essays in only one newspaper. sentimental tone in The Deserted Village Tory Swift, Johnson, and Goldsmiths political party satire ridiculing something in order to correct behavior sonnet a poem with fourteen lines, either Italian or English allegory a story in which things represent parts of a doctrine or theme heroic couplet consists of two rhyming lines of verse with five iambic feet irony giving the appearance of saying one thing while meaning something else alliteration repetition of initial consonants a strong middle class What one result did the Commonwealth and the Industrial Revolution produce? the Tory government,the devaluation of Irish coins, the starvation in Ireland Swift wrote for these causes.. the common man, to teach and please him Samuel Johnson believed that literature should appeal mainly to A Dictionary of the English Language, he Lives of the English Poets, Rasselas Samuel Johnson did publish Oliver Goldsmith was a financially poor periodical essayist, novelist, and dramatist Goldsmith wrote a novel entitled The Vicar of Wakefield, about a parsons family.

Critical appraisal of the growing dominance of Dell in the marketplace Research Proposal

Critical appraisal of the growing dominance of Dell in the marketplace - Research Proposal Example The importance of engineering principles will be extensively covered as well as legal and ethical issues associated with conducting business online. In section two, we will critically appraise the business models used by Dell, identifying their sources of competitive advantage. The technology used to facilitate their success will also be addressed. Dell is the largest merchant in selling all types of computer sizes and understand the customer well. It has a great website and the critical appraisal of the website is done for fetching the business model and knowing the sue experience. Besides buying products, Dell allows users to search for products, technical support, articles and solutions, read reviews/ content of the investor relations and corporate governance, recommendations /personalized services. It also provides its customers with online tutorials and order tracking. Users can interact with the technicians via chat services with technicians. Dell also provides intensive support services. Dell was an early and enthusiastic convert to the Internet, creating its first web site in 1994 and moving many of its business activities to the Internet ahead of its competitors. (Kraemer & Dedrick, 2001) The company witnessed that its direct model gave it a lead in selling online. Unlike indirect vendors such as Apple, IBM, HP and Compaq, Dell did not have to worry about channel conflict with resellers and distributors when it began selling online. It operates in business to consumer model (B2C). Describe Revenue Model Dell represents a new breed of retailers; changing the way business is conducted online with their business to consumer model (B2C.) It is a virtual reseller, one of the main new intermediaries (Sarkar et al, 1996.) They are an electronic-commerce only intermediary; business and customer relationship management (CRM) is conducted purely via their website. Describe Marketing Mode Dell's marketing is done through their site itself. They also resort various other forms of marketing like e-banners and web advertisement in social bookmarking websites. Analysis of Co. Web Site Usability Dell's homepage provides the user with an overview of their whole site, most importantly it speaks about all the products it sells, which is vitally important as (Nielsen, 2002) explains "The homepage is your company's face to the world." User friendliness Dell use standard blue hyperlinks, mouse over navigation, browse box, graphics and a search input box to help users interactively navigate the site, which is very user

ABC Application Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

ABC Application - Essay Example The inspiration of this idea was developed when I came across Speak and Translate software of Apple. With the passage of time, as I grew up the issues prevailing in different genders was one of the most controversial things. In my past relationship, understanding a woman remained was the most crucial aspect. I always desired to encode focusing on the tone and way they speak to understand what they actually mean. The idea of ABC Software developed when I was able to see several fun applications for assistance in different things. The use of the sensor to dedicate heartbeat, eye movement, hand movement, etc is possible with a Smartphone. The inducement of the science and technology has always been possible with Smartphone. The conflict between the psychology between the two genders (Male and Female) has remained to be one of the major issues in relationships. Personal inspiration to put science and technology together to create innovate way to overcome psychological gaps between male a nd female is possible through this application. The idea is inspired by several personal life events and observations have provided me a vision to develop this application. The tone detection to translate and decode the meaning is one of the major strength of the application. The unique feature of this application makes this application unique and desirable for individuals. The application can effective way to decode the actual meaning of a girlfriend and can significantly contribute to resolving the conflicts.

The Manufacturing Process At Almoiz Sugar Mills Marketing Essay

The Manufacturing Process At Almoiz Sugar Mills Marketing Essay Introduction Al-Moiz Sugar Mills Limited incorporated in 2004 as a limited company and certificate of commencement of business was granted in 2005. The Head Office of the company is located at Gulberg III Lahore whereas the factory unit is located on Chashma Road in the D.I.KHAN District Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The company is recognized in the local and international market as a fine quality producer of white refined Sugar, Molasses and also holds a substantial share in the market. The company is also engaged in the export of white refined sugar to Afghanistan and molasses to Euro countries and is contributing to the national economy in the form of foreign exchange. The company has strong corporate clients including Engro and Pepsi. This is the only Pakistani company with state of the art technology and is one of the very few mills in Pakistan that is providing Wapda with electricity. The sugar mills basic plant machinery was acquired and installed by The Heavy Mechanical Complex Taxila (A State Engineering Company). Other equipment such as turbines and gearboxes etc were imported from Germany and United Kingdom. Currently the plant is working at the crushing capacity of 1oooo MTCD and company is keen to increase it to 12000 MTCD. The sugar mill has a state of the art technology which is the latest technology in Pakistan. The mill produces sugar by using both sugar cane and sugar beet as a raw material.The company is committed to invest in IT with an eventual target of implementing ERP system. AL-MOIZ Sugar Mills Limited is one of the significant units of Almoiz group of industries. The company is principally engaged in the business of manufacture sales of white refined sugar molasses (as a byproduct), Crushing of sugarcane, Sugar beet raw sugar in to white refined sugar. Manufacturing Process The manufacturing process at Almoiz Sugar Mills comprises of the following steps Main Competitors Products White refined sugar: Major business of the company is to produce white refined cane sugar of intermission standard and from the erased cane and three different components are achieved that are fibber, pith and moisture. Molasses: This is a by product and it is sold to molasses contractors. One of the allied concerns, reliance commodities (pvt) limited is the main buyer of the molasses of al-moiz sugar mills limited and also the main buyer of molasses from whole the country. Reliance commodities (pvt) limited is the main exporter of molasses in pakistan. Baggase This is also a bye product of the company. Baggase is used as source of energy fuel for sugar industry for juice heating. And also used for making medium density fiber board (mdfb). Baggase is sold to the baggase contractors. Mud Mud is also the by-product of the company. It is sold to the mud contractors. This is used in making chocolates and other products. Electricity Al-moiz sugar mills also produce electricity on large quantity. The mill does not only fulfil its own energy requirements but is able to product surplus electricity which is supplies to wapda. Departments at the Factory Site Departments at the Head Office The strengths and Weaknesses of the company are as follows Strengths Attractive salary packages for employees on the site Top management. The CEO of the company is a Stanford Graduate and is a man of great vision Friendly and cooperative working environment Financial resources Agricultural assistance to the local farmers State of the art technology Corporate Social Responsibility Weaknesses Lack of skilled persons available in the region where the mill is located Shortage of residence available for employees on the site The site is prone to being affected by the flood and has been affected by the floods that occurred in the past Unavailability of modern facilities on the site Number of accidental reports are increasing Turnover rate is high Weak organizational policies Poor GSM services on the site Literature Review Sugar Industry in Pakistan JCR-VIS Credit Rating Company Limited, (2011) described the sugar industry ranked the fifteenth largest globally and the second largest after textile industry with 86 operational factories across the country with an installed capacity of 7.0 million tons of sugar annually. It directly employed over 30,000 personnel. JCR-VIS Credit Rating Company Limited, (2010) described the industry as the driving engine of the rural economy after agrarian economy in many countries. They also stated the sugar industrys cyclical nature as harvesting of sugar cane was dependent on weather as well as the availability of adequate water. Khushk, Memon Saeed described the Pakistan sugar industry as uncompetitive in nature due to low sugarcane yield per hectare and low content of sucrose ranging between 7-9 percent however they also described the sugar industry from a growers perspective as competitive since the growers were of the opinion that the sugar crisis was artificially created by mill owners with the motive of keeping sugarcane prices below support prices and reaping abnormal profits. (Shaukat) described Pakistan as the fifth largest country in the world in terms of area under sugar cane cultivation, eleventh by production and sixtieth in yield. The author also described the sugar industry in Pakistan as the second largest agro based industry with 81 sugar mills with annual crushing capacity of over 6.1 million tons. The author also mentioned that the Sugar industry is mostly located in the rural areas of Punjab and Sindh. A small percentage of total production is produced in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Previously, Punjab was partly dependent on supply of sugar from Sindh however after the establishment of some large scale units in Punjab the Province became self-sufficient in the commodity. (Rizvi) described Pakistans sugar industry as mostly owned by politicians. The author also mentions that majority of the sugar mills were setup with the help of Development Financial Institutions normally trapped with the working capital crisis. Consequently, some of the mills were closed and it was feared that some more sick units would close down. The author also mentions the collapse of sugar mill being a loss of national assets, reduction in the sales tax revenue and an increase in unemployment. Awareness of consumers towards branded products Aaker (2000) was of the opinion that brand awareness was a remarkably durable and sustainable asset that provided a sense of familiarity especially in low- involvement products. It also provided with a sense of presence, commitment and substance. It was very vital to recall at the time of purchase. Besides the conventional media there were other effective means to create awareness such as event promotions, publicity and sampling. Chen (2001) stated that though brand awareness was a necessary asset however it was not sufficient for building strong brand equity. In this view a brand could be well known because it had inferior quality. Ramasamy et al. (2005) reported that, the buying behavior was vastly influenced by the awareness and attitude towards the product. Television commercials were said to be the most important source of information, followed by retail outlet displays. Consumers formed an opinion about a brand on the basis of various product features. A large number of respondents laid emphasis on quality and were of the opinion that price is an important factor while other respondents attached importance to image of manufacturer. Purchase Behavior of Consumers Results of the study conducted by Joshi (1993) in Dharwad on food purchasing habits and consumer awareness among rural and urban housewives indicated that majority of the urban respondents purchased sugar (69.00%) on monthly basis. Rural respondents purchased sugar (71.00%) once in week. Both rural and urban respondents purchased groceries (99.00% each) from retail shops. Price, quality and weight of the products were the important factors considered by both rural and urban respondents while purchasing of food items. Nagaraja (2004) opined that, buying behaviour is very much influenced by experience of their own and of neighbour consumers and his family. Above all, the quality of the product and its easy availability were the primary and the vital determinants of his buying behaviour. Consumers were influenced by touch and feel aspect of any promotional activity. Shivkumar (2004) showed that the consumer, irrespective of income groups, was mainly influenced by the opinions of their family members to purchase. Consumers were also influenced by the dealers recommendation, followed by advertisement. Brand Preference Kubendran and Vanniarajan (2005) described the change in consumption pattern a result of change in food habits. If income and urbanization increase among consumers, the percentage of income spent on consumption increased. Branded products were preferred my urban consumers. The major factors influencing buying decisions were accessibility, quality, regular supply, door delivery and the mode of payment. Narang (2006) claimed that, a buyer does not stick to one brand when it comes to purchasing a food item. They should be able recall different brand names when they go for purchase. Repetitive advertising can be used to aid brand recall. The product should appeal to the consumer. Kim-Hyunah et al. (2005) concluded that brand preference and brand image had considerable positive effects on brand loyalty. Thus, the companies should strive to strengthen brand loyalty through building brand preference and brand image. Brand loyalty led to increased customer visits. Low and Lamb Jr. (2000) maintained that known brands tend to exhibit multi-dimensional brand associations, consistent with the idea that consumers have more developed memory structures for more familiar brands. Consumers might be willing to expend more energy in processing information regarding familiar brands compared to unfamiliar brands. Padmanabhan (1999) conducted study on brand loyalty, which revealed that the price of the preferred brand, efficiency of the preferred brand and influence of advertisement significantly influenced the brand loyalty. Factors Influencing Brand Preference In a study conducted by Sarwade (2002) it was observed that the factor which influenced the purchasing decision as against the quality of the product was its price. Another interesting finding was that the company image and brand image were not totally considered by the households. Kubendran and Vanniarajan (2005) described the change in consumption pattern is due to changes in food habits. If income and urbanization increase among consumers, the percentage of income spent on consumption increases. The urban consumers prefer mostly branded products compared to rural consumers. The most significant factors influencing buying decisions were acceptability, quality, regular supply, door delivery and the mode of payment. Vincent (2006) elicited that quality was an important factor that draws consumer towards branded products. Branded products were accepted as good quality products. People do not mind paying extra for branded products, as they get value for money. Media is a key constituent in promoting and influencing brand. External environmental analysis Sugar Industry in Pakistan Sugar is the important sector of Pakistans economy. Sugar industry plays a vital role for development of any countries. In Pakistan this industry play a significant role for economic development. Its share in the large scale industry is 19.25% and in GDP is 1.98%. Sugar industry contribution to the government exchequer in federal excise duty 17.34% History At the time of partition in 1947 only seven sugar mills, existed in the territories of Pakistan, 5 in East Pakistan now known as Bangladesh and only 2 in West Pakistan now known as Pakistan. These two sugar mills namely Rahwali Sugar Mills and Frontier Sugar Mills established in 1936 and 1938 had a capacity of 5000 tonnes each of producing white sugar. During 1954-56 three more sugar mills were established with a capacity of 10000-15000 tonnes. By 1955-56, the sugar production capacity in Pakistan was around 45,000 tonnes. With an abrupt change in the economic activities and urbanization, the demand for white sugar was on the increase. This was attributed to the manufacture of soft drinks, confectioneries and bakery products etc. The number of sugar mills was also on the increase to meet the demand. Major Players in the Sugar Industry The major players in the sugar industry are Current Scenario The sugar industry is the second largest in the country after the textile industry. Currently there are 83 sugar mills operating in Pakistan. In Pakistan normally season starts in November and ends in April. Out of the 83 sugar mills present in the country 76 Sugar Mills are operating having crushing capacity of 361,300 tons of cane per day (TCD). Seven Sugar mills extended capacity but they are unable to utilize. Based on 160 days season these sugar mills have a total crushing capacity of 58 million tons of sugarcane capable to produce 5 million tons of refined sugar and 3 million tons of molasses. Also the weekly sugar production is conveyed to the government via Pakistan Sugar Mills Association. The environmental analysis can be classified into two major types of environments that a firm has to face. They are micro and the macro (mega) environment. These are discussed in detail below. Macro Environment Technological Environment Almoiz sugar mills position as far as the technological environment is concerned is pretty strong as of now. It uses the state of the art technology and can produce sugar using sugar beet as a raw material other than sugar cane. Other than sugar production the firm is also engaged in electricity production and is a supplier of electricity to wapda. Socio-cultural Environment The impact of societal changes, life styles and culture on Almoiz sugar mill is significant. There has been a shift in the life style, for example the type of stores customer prefer to shop from, the type of packaging they prefer sugar in. Consumers are becoming more health conscious they prefer to go for low calorie versions and are very concerned about hygienic conditions of the sugar and the shop that sugar is purchased from. Economic Environment The economic environment of Pakistan is not very stable and it continues to fluctuate every now and then. With the rise in interest rates and double digit inflation in the country, it has practically become impossible for the consumers to buy the same number of products as they used to buy a few years ago, thus the purchasing power of the consumers has sharply gone down. Political Environment The political scenario of Pakistan is the biggest threat to a business. Changing tax rates, rebates, labor strikes and the instability in general makes it difficult for Almoiz sugar mill to cope up with these changes and thus it can hamper future operations and thus profitability of the entire business. Legal Environment The legal system of Pakistan is generally not very strong and in case of a problem, a company can involve itself into years long legal implications and trials. Micro Environment Suppliers Almoiz has divided its suppliers into two zones Factory Zone: 73 % of sugar cane during the cane season is obtained from the factory zone i.e. 640,000 M .Tons Outer Zone: 27% of sugar cane during the cane season is obtained from the outer zone i.e. 240,000 M. Tons. The outer zone comprises of areas including Indus road, Bypass, Bhakkar and Mianwali. Market Demand There is a great deal of demand for sugar in households. Sugar is used in very house it may be directly consumed or may be indirectly consumed in other products such as beverages and Confectionery items such as sweets, lollipops, candy bars, chocolate, cotton candy and other sweet snack items. Competition Almoiz sugar mill has many competitors with Chashma sugar mill and Layyah sugar mill being the its two immediate competitors. The competitors also offer the same range of products with white refined sugar being the core product and several other by product including molasses however there isnt any sugar mill that generates its own electricity as Almoiz sugar mill. Skill Level of Workforce Workforce and the people in the company is the biggest asset of an organization. In the case of Almoiz sugar mill the workforce plays a very important role in the organizations productivity. The location of the factory is in Dera Ismail Khan and due to the instability in the region finding skilled workforce in that area is very hard. Hence attractive salary packages are given to attract skilled workforce from other regions of the country to come and work for Almoiz sugar mill. Marketing Intermediaries Marketing intermediaries are involved especially when it comes to sugar distribution to retailers and wholesalers. A high level of intermediary involvement makes communication difficult and increases the dependence. Porters Five Forces Model http://www.12manage.com/images/porterfiveforces.gif Porters five forces model basically gauges the intensity of competition within its industry. The collective strength of all these forces combined determines the ultimate profit potential of the industry where profit potential is measured in terms of the long-run return on investment of capital. Threat of New Entrants If someone from a political or influential background wants to set up a sugar mill they have the financial resources to obtain the machinery and contacts needed to obtain a license to start up a sugar mill. So entry into the sugar industry is not hard. There are 83 sugar mills in Pakistan out of which 76 Sugar Mills are operating. Bargaining Power of Suppliers Almoiz has a diverse range of suppliers as mentioned earlier. It has separate categories of suppliers based on distance from the factory site. Thus giving the suppliers a low bargaining power. Bargaining Power of Customers Customers have the option of switching to other sugar producers since barely one or two sugar mills have done something to distinguish themselves from other competitors in terms if having a brand name or packaging. People dont even take into consideration the brand or sugar mill name while purchasing sugar they just purchase whatever is easily available. Threat of Substitute Products Almoiz has many direct competitors. Currently there are 83 sugar mills in the country out of which 76 sugar mills are operating. The competitors also offer the exact same range of products with white refined sugar being the core product thus making the threat of substitute products high. Also other substitute products such as canderal are available for consumers who want to go for a sweetener with less sugar content Porters Generic Strategies According to this strategy, in order to cope up with competition, firms adopt three generic strategic approaches to gain competitive advantage. Overall cost leadership entails the firm to make all or possible attempts to achieve the lowest costs in production and marketing. Differentiation approach lays emphasis on achieving class leadership by providing unique characteristics to the product/service. Focus strategy attempts to serve a narrow strategic target effectively and efficiently. Thus, on the basis of these three strategies, Almoiz sugar mill follows the Overall Cost Leadership Strategy. By being the low cost leader, it increases its efficiency at all levels thus gaining a significant market share. An illustration is shown below: External Factor Analysis Summary Opportunities Entering International Markets Expanding corporate clients Technology Government and industrial projects. Minimization of cost by properly utilizing the by-products. Organic sugar Threats Seasonal Variation in sugar cane Political Instability Natural Calamities The region in which the mill is located is very risky in terms of stability Competitors in the same region can attract the skilled resource of the company by offering them a better package External Factor Weight Rating Weighted Score Opportunities Entering International Markets 0.05 3 0.15 Expanding corporate clients 0.15 4 0.6 Technology 0.03 4 0.12 Government and industrial projects 0.13 4 0.52 utilizing by-products 0.07 3 0.21 Organic Sugar 0.14 3 0.42 Threats Seasonal Variation in sugar cane 0.14 4 0.56 Political Instability 0.09 3 0.27 Natural Calamities 0.07 3 0.21 location of factory 0.13 2 0.26 Total 1 3.32 Competitor Analysis The following are the main competitors of Almoiz Sugar mills Layyah Sugar Mills Layyah Chashma sugar Mills D. I. Khan Chashma Sugar Mill (D.I.Khan) The mill was set up by the sponsors of the Premier Group in 1991. Technical and other assistance is provided to the sugarcane growers, in addition to the development of 150,000 acres of land for the cane supply. The mill production stands at 18,000 tons per day, the largest in Pakistan.   In the financial year 2010, the Company was declared a subsidiary of The Premier Sugar Mills Distillery Company Limited, under the directions of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.  . The factory is located in Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The company has the following strategic goals Providing Customer Satisfaction by serving with superior quality production of white sugar at lowest cost Ensuring Security and Accountability by creating an environment of security and accountability for employees, production facilities and products Expanding Customer Base by exploring new national and international markets and undertaking product research and development in sugar industry Ensuring Efficient Resource Management by managing human, financial, technical and infrastructural resources so as to support all our strategic goals and to ensure highest possible value addition to stakeholders. Products White Crystaline Sugar White Crystalline Sugar Molasses Molasses Bagasse Bagasse Layyah Sugar Mills (Layyah) Layyah Sugar Mills is a project of The Thal Industries Corporation Limited having its registered office at 23 Pir Khurshid Colony, Multan. The company was incorporated on September 07, 1953 under the companies Act 1913 (Now Companies Ordinance 1984) as Public Limited company limited by shares. Its shares are quoted on Karachi and Lahore stock exchanges in Pakistan. The company is engaged in production and sale of white refined sugar. Layyah Sugar Mills was set up by the Thal Development Authority (Defunct) with a capacity of 1200 TCD in 1954, which was enhanced, to 2000 TCD in 1979-80 and further to 2700 TCD in 1990-91. It was the first sugar mills installed and commissioned in Punjab after existence of Pakistan. After privatization the new management, by taking some drastic measures, enhanced the crushing capacity of sugar mills from 2700 TCD to 3500 TCD in year 2001. In 2002; Company undertook BMR Expansion to add new mills tandem of 4000 Tons Crushing/Day . In 2002-2003; Undertook second phase of  BMR Expansion to increase in crushing capacity and synchronize the process house with the mills house to 6700 Tons Crushed/Day (TCD),  successfully  completed during the crushing season 2002-2003. Due to which  capacity of sugar mills has been increased from 6,700 TCD to 9,300 TCD.   Financial Analysis Liquidity Ratios Year 2011 2010 2009 Almoiz Chashma Layyah Almoiz Chashma Layyah Almoiz Chashma Current Ratio 0.96 0.96 1.12 0.76 0.87 1.08 1.00 0.72 Quick Ratio 0.35 0.22 0.79 0.36 0.52 0.58 0.55 0.22 Inventory to Net working Capital -13.50 -19.63 2.81 -1.62 -2.69 6.08 213.06 -1.80 The  current ratio  is a  financial ratio  that measures whether or not a firm has enough resources to pay its debts over the next 12 months. It compares a firms  current assets  to its current liabilities. The current ratio is an indication of a firms  market liquidity  and ability to meet creditors demands. Acceptable current ratios vary from industry to industry and are generally between 1.5 and 3 for healthy businesses. If a companys current ratio is in this range, then it generally indicates good short-term financial strength. Almoiz has a current ratio of less than 1 for the year 2011 as well as the year 2010 where as in 2009 the current assets of Almoiz are slightly more than its current liabilities therefore the ratio is above 1 in 2009. Out of the three sugar mills the value of current ratio for Layyah sugar mill indicates good financial strength as compared to Chashma and Almoiz sugar mills. Quick Ratio is an indicator of a companys short-term liquidity.  The quick ratio  measures  a companys  ability to meet  its short-term obligations with  its most liquid assets. A higher quick ratio  indicates a  better position of the  company. In the years 2010 and 2011 Layyah sugar mills has a higher quick ratio where as in 2009 Almoiz has a higher quick ratio. Inventory to Net Working Capital measures  a firms  capability  to finance its  inventories  from its available cash. Layyah sugar mill has a better capability to finance its inventories from available cash as compared to Almoiz and Chashma sugar mills. Leverage Ratios 2011 2010 2009 Leverage Almoiz Chashma Layyah Almoiz Chashma Layyah Almoiz Chashma Debt to assets 0.70 0.71 0.81 0.65 0.68 0.80 0.65 0.82 Debt to equity 2.28 2.43 4.22 1.89 2.12 3.94 1.86 4.48 Long Term Debt to equity 1.34 0.83 1.47 1.38 1.35 1.96 1.45 2.30 TIE 1.08 1.37 1.65 0.12 2.16 1.82 0.02 0.68 Debt to Assets is A metric used to measure a companys financial risk by determining how much of the companys assets have been financed by debt. Layyah and Chashma sugar mill have a higher debt to assets ratio as compared to Almoiz sugar mill. Debt to Equity is a measure of a companys financial leverage calculated by dividing  its total liabilities  by  stockholders equity. It indicates what proportion of equity and debt the company is using to finance its assets. Almoiz sugar mill has a lesser debt to equity ratio as compared to Layyah and Chashma sugar mill. Long term debt to equity is a way to determine a companys  leverage. The ratio is calculated by taking the companys  long-term debt and dividing it by stockholders equity. The greater a companys leverage, the higher the ratio. Generally, companies with higher ratios are thought to be more risky  because they have more liabilities and less  equity. Overall for all the three years Layyah sugar mill has a higher debt to equity ratio as compared to Almoiz and Chasma sugar mill. Times Interest Earned (TIE) is a metric used to measure a companys ability to meet its debt obligations. It is calculated by taking a companys earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) and dividing it by the total interest payable on bonds and other contractual debt. It is usually quoted as a ratio and indicates how many times a company can cover its interest charges on a pretax basis. Failing to meet these obligations could force a company into bankruptcy. In 2009 Almoiz has a very less TIE ratio Chashma and Layyah have higher TIE ratio than Almoiz sugar mill. Profitability Ratios Profitability 2011 2010 2009 Almoiz Chashma Layyah Almoiz Chashma Layyah Almoiz Chashma GPM 0.12 0.12 0.13 0.03 0.12 0.11 0.05 0.09 NPM 0.008 0.02 0.025 -0.022 0.05 0.018 -0.217 -0.05 OPM 0.106 0.10 0.11 0.013 0.10 0.08 0.005 0.08 ROA 0.006 0.025 0.046 -0.015 0.104 0.040 -0.072 -0.062 EPS 0.16 4.9 12.23 -0.35 10.78 7.9 -7.59 Gross Profit Margin is a financial metric used to assess  a firms financial health by revealing the  proportion of money left over from revenues after accounting for the cost of goods sold.  Gross profit margin serves as the  source for paying additional expenses and future savings. The GPM for Almoiz sugar mill has increased from 2009 to 2011 and in 2011 it is almost the same as Layyah and Chashma sugar mill however in between it dropped down to 0.03 in 2010. Net Profit Margin is very useful when comparing  companies in similar industries. A higher profit margin indicates a more profitable company that  has better control over  its costs compared to  its competitors. Almoiz sugar mill has a negative NPM in 2010 and 2009 since it faced a net loss and in 2011 though it didnt face a loss but the NPM is still less than that of its competitors. Operating Profit Margin is a measurement of what proportion of a companys revenue is left over after paying for variable costs of production such as wages, raw materials, etc. A healthy operating margin is required for a company to be able to pay for its