The 21st Century Lifestyle in G20 Countries is Bad for Your Health Article - 1

The 21st Century Lifestyle in G20 Countries is Bad for Your Health - Article Example stress upon maternal health and also include eradication of severe poverty and hunger, universal primary education (helps in creating awareness through the basis lessons regarding health), Combat HIV, Malaria and other ailments, ensure a sustainable ambience and building global alliances or partnerships for overall development. Emerging economies of the world like China, India, Brazil and South Africa still depend on assistance from foreign developed nations in order to meet the health needs of its people. The major health concern for the G-20 countries in meeting the Millennium Development Goals is to combat infectious diseases like AIDS and malaria (Robertson, 2010). Leaving aside Brazil, all other G-20 countries have significantly failed in curbing the spread of AIDS. Moreover apart from the spread of AIDS, chronic diseases like diabetes, and fatal diseases like cardiac ailments and cancer are also increasingly affecting the people in the emerging economies (Garrett & Alavian, 201 0). Obesity is spreading fast as a symptom of health crisis. It is a significant problem for mostly the developed nations but the developing countries are also catching up. Three of the G20 nations have an obesity rate above 30 percent. These are United States with 46.5 percent of its population suffering form obesity, Argentina with 37.6 percent and Mexico with 35.5 percent. Across the world above one billion adult population are overweight and the obesity rates have risen three fold or beyond in regions of North America, East Europe and the Middle East mainly due to lack of proper nutrients and reduced level of physical activities. Seven amongst the G20 nations have obesity rates above 25 percent. These include Saudi Arabia (29.7 %), â€Å"Australia (28.8 %), Canada (25.6%) and the United Kingdom (25%)† (The Globalist, 2010) Obesity poses great risk for chronic diseases like type two diabetes, cardiovascular disease, strokes, hypertension and sometimes, even cancer. Countries l ike

Nike - Recent Enviromental Changes Essay Example for Free

Nike Recent Enviromental Changes Essay INTRODUCTION Founded in 1968 in Oregon, Nikes business activities involve design, development and the worldwide marketing of high quality apparel, equipment, footwear and accessory products. Nike sells to approximately 140 countries around the world and currently boasts an approximate revenue of $8,776,900,000 These revenues are based on product sales of shoes, clothing, and other sports products. Advertising expenditures currently total $223,300,000 and include the following allocations: $64,975,000 for network television, $31,447,000 for consumer magazines, $7,700,000 for spot television, $343,000 for newspapers, $134,000 for outdoor postings, and $36,000 for radio. (Reed Elsevier) Most footwear products are made outside of USA. However apparel products are produced in the USA and abroad. (www.statcan.ca) In this article we will try to explore the interaction between the company Nike and its external business environment, as well as the internal strengths and weaknesses of the company. We will attempt to discover some of the significant changes and events in the external environment that have occurred in the last 5 years and have directly impacted Nike. We will describe how the company adapted and responded to these changes and what the effects of these events were. Also we will identify and describe some of Nikes internal strengths and weaknesses. CHANGES AND EVENTS IN THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL CRISES One of the most recent global environmental changes are the events of September 11th 2001, when airplanes crashed into each of the World Trade Center towers in New York, the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., and near Pittsburgh, P.A. (www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5232/) U.S. government officials reported that the crashes were a coordinated terrorist attack. Since this catastrophe was not expected, no one was ready to respond to it. Cole Haan store (owned by Nike), located in the World Trade Center plaza has been completely demolished. However, all of approximately 250-260 Nike and Cole Haan employees based in New York are safe and accounted for. In addition, no Nike employees were on board any of the planes involved in the terrorist attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon. (www.centrum.sk) After closing on Tuesday, September 11th, and Wednesday, September 12th, all  other Nike and Cole Haan stores in New York and Washington D.C. are open. (www.nike.com) This disas ter affected not only the American people but also the world economy and many areas of business, including Nike Inc. The value of American dollar dropped rapidly and is recovering very slowly. Nike has a large amount of their products in inventory, which they are unable to sell and are preparing to cut down the production. This would mean a significant downsizing in number of employees. (www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5232/) Many consumers have reduced their travel to certain retail destinations; in general consumers are purchasing few non-essential products. Nike expects lower sales and profits over the next several months as consumers closely monitor the U.S. attacks on Afghanistan. (www.nike.com) When a military campaign, like the one in Afghanistan, brings new developments or intensifies, U.S. consumers buy less, prompting retailers to become more cautious with their product orders. These events caused a 12 percent decline in shares since September 11th of Nike Inc., the industrys leader. (www.nike.com) The company said the September 11th attacks on the United States have disrupted most of its long-range strategy plans. Analysts have predicted a modest decrease in quarterly earnings estimates for Nike. They also said they expect fourth-quarter 2001 sales to be hurt by the slowdown in consumer s pending.(www.msn.com) Decline and slow recovery of Nikes stock since Sept. 11th 2001 (www.moneycentral.msn.co.uk) The company expects to scale back advertising and production next year. (www.nike.com) Nike, as a global company, is now focusing its efforts on assisting in the relief efforts and in heeding President Bushs directive to regain business as quickly as possible. (www.sme.sk) Both local and national Red Cross agencies have identified immediate financial support as their most critical need. For that reason, the Nike Foundation has been collecting contributions from individual Nike employees and factory partners across the country and throughout the world. Through matching funds, Nike is making a $1 million contribution to the American Red Cross and a variety of other local relief organizations through matching funds of employees and factory partners. In addition, Nike partner factories in Asia, Feng Tay and Pou Chen, have donated $100,000 each to the American Red Cross. (www.nike.com) Nike also is working with relief agencies in New York, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania  to provide do nations of Nike products for victims who are affected by these tragic circumstances, as well as for those involved in the rescue and recovery efforts. These donations include more than 14,000 t-shirts, 11,400 pairs of socks, 1,200 pairs of Nike ACG work boots, 1,000 towels, plus hundreds of pairs of shoes, warm-ups, jackets, sweat shirts and gym bags for rescue workers to store their personal belongings. (www.sme.sk) (www.nike.com) Nike and Niketown New York will continue to coordinate with relief and government agencies and provide as many requested products as possible for fire and rescue personnel. Already, more than $300,000 Nike products have been delivered or are on their way to New York relief agencies. (www.nike.com) Nike US employees participated in a Red Cross blood drive on Sept. 24-25 at its Beaverton-based world headquarters and Oct. 1st and Oct. 5th in its Memphis distribution center location. Nike also has donated money to pat for airtime for two 30-second advertisements to the Red Cross during the Oct. 7 broadcast of the World Cup qualifying match between Team USA and Jamaica on ABC, as well as purchasing space the West 4th wall in Manhattan for advertisements. (www.nike.com) The previous numbers indicate Nikes response to this huge global change from social as well as from the business point of view. Nikes donations as a response to the events of Sept. 11th 2001 Organization Amount Designation American Red Cross $250,000 ($106,000 from Nike employees globally) Relief efforts in NY, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania PBA Widows and Childrens Police Relief Fund c/o Police Benevolence Association $175,000 Assistance to NY families for burial costs and family survival expenses UFA Widows Childrens Fund c/o Uniformed Fire Fighters Assn $175,000 Assistance to NY families for burial costs and family survival expenses Federal Employee Education Assistance Fund $100,000 Assistance to families for burial costs and family survival expenses International Association of Fire Fighters $50,000 Assistance to NY families for burial costs and family survival expenses New York State Fraternal Order of Police WTC Fund $50,000 Assistance to NY families for burial costs and family survival expenses Catholic Charities USA $50,000 Immediate counseling and family services for those impacted by NY disast ers United Methodist Committee on Relief $50,000 Immediate counseling and family services for  those impacted by NY disasters Mercy Corps Comfort for Kids Project $25,000 Helping children and families in NY and Washington DC Misc. contingency fund $75,000 Programs and organizations promoting racial and religious healing and community building efforts Total Reported Cash Donations $1 million (www.nike.com) E-BUSINESS As the modern world changes through advances in technology, the global market economy also changes, affecting global businesses such as Nike Inc. Technological changes in the form of machines and mechanical inventions affected the economy during the industrial revolution, but today the advances are more in computer technology. The first computer was produced in the US approximately 50 years ago and was the size of a large room needing its own electric power plant and cost a million dollars to build. This gigantic computer could only do simple calculations. Computers have since decreased greatly in size and cost and increased in productivity and capabilities. In the 1980s there were big improvements in microprocessors, which allowed for the huge technological advances of the 90s. Computers are now part of many households and almost every family in the developed world has a computer. The top personal computer now costs between $2500 and $3500 compared to the larger models earlier in th e past century. The Internet has also been expanding globally and has changed our world into and global village. The first version of the net was developed in 1969, during the Cold War by the US department of defense as a communication in case of nuclear attack. The net became available in the 1980s for email and Internet chats, but improvements in HTML in the 1990s sparked the birth of a new way of communication and business (www.freespace.virgin.net/g.hirst/). A recent survey calculated 120 million users of the net worldwide and numbers are still growing at an enormous rate. The development quick loading and the fast moving Internet attracted people to do more things on the Internet. One of the new advances of the Internet is an E-business. Many people are now ordering goods and services over the Internet. One other use of Internet is also advertisement. Recently, Nike has been trying to find new markets and consumers. One huge innovation to get closer to the customer is through the Internet. The Internet makes information available to people all around the world. Nikes web page is designed to entertain the visitor through innovative, colourful graphics; to inform the potential customer of Nikes activities; and promote  and sell their products through the E-shop. The Nike accommodates to the world trend of Internet and shopping over the Internet. They made their own web-shop where visiting customers can easily find the product, which they are looking for. This is a great way to improve future business of the company as Internet business is improving so quickly. It is also important to put a lot of effort and quality into the services offering through the Internet to make a good reputation about the services and name of the company. (www.niketown.com) GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS, LAWS AND TRADE BARRIERS In 1994, the EU commission imposed quotas on certain types of footwear manufactured in China. Special Technology Athletic Footwear, footwear designed for use in sporting activities, met certain technical criteria and footwear having a CIF (cost, in surance and freight) price above 9 EUROs was excluded from these quotas. All other footwear produced by Nike falls under the quotas. However Nike feels that the quotas have not material effect on their business. (www.nike.com) In 1995 the EU commission initiated two anti-dumping legislations covering footwear imported from China, Indonesia and Thailand. In 1997 and 1998, the commission imposed definite anti-dumping duties on certain synthetic, textile and leather upper footwear originating from China Indonesia and Thailand. These anti-dumping duties have exclusions for STAF footwear, sports footwear and footwear with the CIF above 5,6 EUROs. (www.nike.com) This means the anti-dumping duties apply only to low cost footwear, which means that Nike can distribute most products except children shoes and low cost sandals. However Nike shifted the production of these types of footwear to other countries and therefore the anti-dumping duties have not had a material affect on their business. (www.centrum.sk) If the EU measures become more restrictive Nike recommends that the European subsidiaries consider shifting the production of footwear to other countries in order to maintain competitive pricing. Nike continues to closely monitor international restrictions and maintain a multi-country sourcing strategy and contingency plans. Nike believes that their major competitors are in the similar position. (www.pravda.sk) NEW MARKETS AND CONSUMER TRENDS Revenue for the past three years of Nikes international (non-US) and US market (www.nikebiz.com) Over the past 4-5 years many new markets have opened for Nike, not only from the geographical point of view and expansions outside the US but also from the customer demand and trends perspective.  (www.centrum.sk) As the concept of the global village is becoming reality, more unexploded markets are opening up. Nike divides its global business into four regions: the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Americas. (www.nike.com) While each reg ion increased revenue in the fiscal year 2001, most of its growth came from the new unexplored markets outside. In the last seven years, Nike has built many international branch offices and subsidiaries as a response to the changing market. These are located in: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Norway, Peoples Republic of China, The Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Vietnam. (www.nike.com) Percentage of footwear production in specific countries The European market for athletic footwear and apparel continues to flourish. Every day, new shops open with a commitment to presentation and service that NIKE emphasizes. Nike feels the emotional connection growing in Europe is similar to the one NIKE created in the U.S. 20 years ago. (www.nike.com) Nikes Asian market is very profitable but als o very demanding one. This market depends on authentic sports positioning and the ability to deliver technology-based performance products. Nikes attempt to fulfill these criteria has so far been very successful. Nike is especially enthusiastic about the World Cup coming to Japan and Korea in 2002. They hope this will provide them with a great opportunity to influence their soccer success in Asia. (www.nike.com) The most competitive and developed market in the world for Nike is the USA. Revenues in this market grow at two percent per year. Although Nike has been struggling in some areas of this market, it continues to lead the athletic footwear market in share and product innovation. Apparel in the U.S. is slowly making its way back to the market after couple of tough quarters in the past 2 years. U.S. Apparel is currently up 9% in revenue for the year and is starting to stabilize in the second half of fiscal 2001. (www.nike.com) Changes that have occurred in customer demand are directly proportional to the present trends of people. According to recent researches, American kids have only 25 percent of their  daily life considered as free time, compared to about 40 percent in 1981. (www.nike.com) For a sports company this means less demand for leisure time clothes, footwear and equipment. According to statistics, athletic footwear sales have shown a decrease in the third quarter. This fact represents back-to-school sales, indicating less interest by the crucial teenage market as it moves toward different looks in the footwear area. This may be explained by an overall shift of interest and fashion in this market from sports toward entertainment, music, and celebrities. A recent trend in the athletic footwear business shows that several of the large corporations are losing market share due to the declining sales in traditional markets. As aerobics, fitness and cross training markets decline there is a shift to non-traditional sports. By 1998, the publicity for a market in brown shoes had passed. Brown shoes never impacted the athletic footwear market as predicted. Instead, hiking, off-trail and fashion footwear continue to show strong growth, with many athletic footwear companies expanding into those areas. (www.nike.com) It is predicted that the market for athletic footwear has peaked and is now declining and leveling off at a production level of about 300 million pairs. Fashion driven spikes often occur, such as in 1995 where a production level of 345 million pairs was reached. This is viewed as a bonus for the industry. (www.nike.com) Retailers will thrive at the 300 million pair a year production level by working with retailers to consolidate store locations, manage inventories and maximize sell-through. The continued trend over the last five years is the consumers willingness to pay, on average, higher prices for athletic footwear. (www.proquest.com) IMPORTANT FINANCIAL EVENTS The financial interactions between countries and governments affect the profits of the large corporations such as Nike and the retail values of their products. In North America transactions are often measured in US dollars. This common currency makes transactions easier between countries. In the European Union, 15 different countries must convert their different currencies when doing business with other countries. This often accounts for increased retail prices in international goods and services. On January 1st 1999, 11 of the 15 members countries of the European Union  established permanent conversion rates between their existing currencies and the new EURO, the new common currency of the European union. Until the end of the transition period, public and private parties may pay for goods and services using the countries original currency or the EURO. Starting January 2002, the EURO will be the official currency of the EU and the original currencies will be completely withdrawn from circulation by June 30th 2002. (www.nike.com) Since January 1998 Nike has been researching the complications and affects of the transitions to the EURO. Nikes devoted project team has made modifications to inform technology systems supporting the market, management, invoicing, pay roles and cash management functions in order to make their conversion smooth. Nike believes that the introduction of the EURO will eliminate inequalities in exchange rates between countries although differences in cost between countries and different tax rates will still affect price differences at the retail level. Over the past three years Nike has been actively working to asses and adjust a practices in pricing to operate effectively under this new currency. (www.nike.com) The cost of adapting Nikes systems and practices to the use of the EURO total approximately 8 millions US dollars and was generally related to the modification of their existing systems. Nike also believes that the change of currency will not have an impact on the financial conditions of results of operation. (www.nikebiz.com) INTERNAL STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES STRENGTHS Decision Making Nikes strongest weapon is decision-making. Their managerial team has been able to make decisions specific to their needs and although not all the time, most of the time they were right. They combined rationality, intuition and experience to come up with the best decisions ever made in this market. To prove the above, we can just look at some of their well-known choices made in the past. Nike managers decided to rely on globalization and externalization of risk through wholly or partly-owned subsidiaries. (www.nike.com) The fact that they have subsidiaries all over the world helps them to become more flexible and partially getting rid of potential risk. Their flexibility is proved by the diversity of sports areas they are involved in, which has also turned out to be a great decision since Nike is dominating most of these markets. (www.nike.com) This company is able to manufacture products for a dozen of different sports and still keep the top quality in all of them. Fr om the  start, the managers of Nike decided to count on customer satisfaction and total quality of their products, realizing the social expectations that lied upon their shoulders. They have believed that quality outweighs the extra amount of money spent on manufacturing of the best products on the market. One of the most important decisions of Nikes management was advertising. They spent large amounts of money on commercials, which have in the long term paid back in multiples. They have used famous athletes to promote their brand, which is considered a great strategic plan. Also they decided to involve in various social activities. Their extraordinary advertising has helped them to develop the well-known image they have. (www.msn.com) The owners of the company visualized, gave the company a form, set their goals and then they tried to achieve them. They hired the right personnel and they motivated them by generally higher wages than their competitors were offering. They also involved their employees in initiating and implementing change. According to these employees, Nike allowed them to gain self confidence, express their creativity, and involve in making decisions that need not only the expertise of a manager but also an experience of a worker. (www.nike.com) Looking at the present results of Nikes decisions, this kind of empowerment has shown to be a great choice. Research and Development Efforts Nike believes that the key factor of its success originates from their research and development efforts. (www.nike.com) They emphasize the technical innovation in the design of their products to achieve their manufacturing goals, which are to create products capable of reducing injury, increasing athletes performance and maximizing comfort. Of course, Nike pays a lot of attention to their products design respectively to the present trends. (www.sgma.com) Since these criteria require a specific expertise, recruitment is one of the most important managerial issues of Nike. Looking at their past, we have to admit that they have succeeded in this with excellence. Nike has own staff of specialists in the areas of biomechanics, exercise physiology, engineering, industrial design and others. They also have committees specialized on research and advisory. These committees are made of top-level athletes, coaches, trainers, equipment managers, orthopedics, podiatrists and other experts. (www.nike.com) These people use their expertise and experience to  help Nike on its way to improvement. They help them to develop new better products and improve upon present products. They also consult the company about designs, materials, and concept for product improvement. Athletes hired or sponsored by Nike test-prove the companys products during the development process. These facts are strongly held within the company and Nike is proud to include them in their reports (www.nikebiz.com). WEAKNESSES Ability To Respond And Adapt To Changes Since Nike is a consumer products company, the demand for their products highly depends on popularity of different sports and activities and the changing trends. Therefore they should be able to respond to these changes in costumer preferences and quickly adapt to them. This company must adjust their existing products, develop new ones, and create styles that are specific to the trends. (www.sgma.com) They also have to make an effort to influence sports and fitness preferences through aggressive marketing. This kind of environment is very unstable and puts one against many different sources of risk. If you fail to react quickly to such changes it will show up on your sales and profits reports. Since Nike has been occupying the top of the sports equipment manufacturers chart for a long time they are getting used to their strategies, which are now becoming habits. (www.nike.com) This may be very useful in some cases but according to analysts, ove r time, organizations develop and lock into ways of doing business, in spite of changing conditions. Nikes strategy has been to dominate only the markets that are relatively safe and tend to be very profitable since it has become the worlds leader in this market. (www.nike.com) Despite their great decision making abilities this has turned out to be a very poor choice. For example, Nike did not respond to the growing market of aerobics and fitness training because it seemed too small to be worth that much attention. (www.sgma.com) However, Reebok developed a line of aerobics and fitness equipment which has met a lot of popularity among the customers. Since then, Reebok has been leading this market, which is currently the area of their main interest. (www.sgma.com) This was an example of a slow response to environmental changes. However, there are areas where Nike responded quickly and still was not quite successful. For example, soccer is currently the number 1 sport in the world and is currently dominated by the brand Adidas.  (www.fisonline.com) Even though Nike soccer equipment qualitatively meets the Adidas products, Nike has not been able to take over this market. So what was wrong with their reaction? To dominate such a large market you have to be more aggressive and be able to gain customers attention. (www.sgma.com) Nikes failure in the soccer market is generally seen as the lack of interest, aggressivity and creativity in this area of business. (www.referaty.sk) Growth Company That Has Not Grown Fiscal year 2001 was an above average year for Nike. However, it was not great even though they finished hard in the fourth quarter. This year was fairly similar to the last four years. During that time Nike has been a growth company that has not grown. Until the end of the fiscal year 1997 everything was going great for Nike. From 1994 to 1997 this company went from being a strong company with growing market share and $3 billion in revenues to one with dominant market share and revenues over $9 billion. (www.nike.com) Everyth ing seemed to be going perfect for Nike, they were successful in everything they touched and they were growing rapidly. At the end of the fiscal year 1997 they found themselves in a position where employees were euphoric, but overworked since there was not enough of them. To keep this enthusiasm going they hired more people and continued on their path to becoming a truly global company. (www.sgma.com) Since they realized that this couldnt be accomplished over few years they were trying to be the best at everything they were doing as well as building a strong team for the future. (www.nike.com) This was exactly the point where their growth has frozen and never started again. They penetrated new markets successfully, but were not able to keep up the standards they had set before. They focused on new areas of business so much that they forgot to do the old simple things right. (www.sgma.com) Despite all these efforts the industry was standing still. There were different reasons for this such as the U.S. market hitting the recession point, Nike launching a massive 3-year supply chain overhaul and the tough period in the Asian economy. (www.nike.com) The U.S. market recession point was well expected since this market had grown so fast. Nike launching the m assive 3-year supply chain overhaul, which was well in advance of the competition, was not a productive strategy in short-term but its benefits are supposed to show up in the fiscal year 2002. (www.nike.com) Lastly the downside of the Asian economy was also predictable since this is  a market with big turnovers and risks. However, it was not expected to influence Nike as much as it did. Great companies are able to deal with such events and keep on growing. Nike managers did not pay enough attention to these facts and that was the main reason of their growth halt. (www.sgma.com) Even though Nike is currently growing in some areas of market, such as Europe, Asia, Latin America and the soccer and golf markets, overall they are standing still. (www.nike.com) Year 2001 is the proof of the above. In this year Nike forgot to compete mid- and low-priced footwear in the U.S. and they were not able to match their orders and production well, in which they were very successful in the past. Now, Nike has to face a big decision. They can accept the problems they have and let their business go slowly down, or keep excelling in some things, be average in others and stay at the point where they are now.  However, the best choice for Nike would be to find the solutions to their problems and start growing again. (www.msn.com) (www.sgma.com) CONCLUSION Nikes environment is very unstable and exposures companies to unexpected risks. Generally, Nike has been able to respond to these changes (except few exceptions) by their creativity and flexibility. This company tries to prevent a direct impact of these changes on them by externalizing risk. Despite these facts, Nikes expansion is not as significant as it is expected to be. This is caused by some of their internal weakness and external changes. However, they still remain number 1 in the world footwear market. (Company Profiles For Students) BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Company Profiles For Students vol.2 m-z 1999 1st ed. P. 944-949 2. www.proquest.com 3. www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5232/ 4. www.sgma.com 5. www.centrum.sk 6. www.zoznam.sk 7. www.freespace.virgin.net/g.hirst 8. www.fisonline.com 9. www.statcan.ca 10. www.moneycentral.msn.co.uk 11. www.msn.com 12. www.nike.com 13. www.niketown.com 14. www.nikebiz.com 15. www.sme.sk 16. www.pravda.sk 17. www.referat.sk 18. Reed Elsevier, 2000

Main purpose of job design

Main purpose of job design The main purpose of job design is for quality, speed, dependability, flexibility, cost, health and safety. This is the way to achieve greatness in conducting their working style and working techniques. Globalization is claimed that it will help in increasing the economic prosperity and opportunity in the developing the world. Globalization will help the company to gain more profit and a lot of advantages. Not only profit and advantages can be gain, globalization will also have its own disadvantages. Strategy formulations include the materials in making the product, where is the product being manufacture and who is producing the product. This is the strategy to improve the needs and quality for the customer. Borrowing technology from apparel manufacturers is also one of the company strategies. Process of manufacturing the product will also help in maintaining the quality; follow the newest technologies and trend. This will help in saving the cost and fulfil the customer needs. Shoe manufacturing processes and the key factors in the design of products and services for shoes are covered in this assignment. Shoe manufacturing sequence and the system of the manufacturing process will be discussed in detailed. The key factor of designs of shoes product which includes the shoe insole and sole portion and various type of service provided in shoe manufacturing including the after sales services are presented in this assignment. Besides, discussion and elaborating of quality planning and quality control processes in achieving high performance products and services for company. There are some different quality planning for the production and the quality control for New Balance such as applying some ISO quality standard as a prove for the company. ISO 9000 is the series of quality standard which reflecting the importance of quality and reliability. Quality and costing is related to each other, have a good quality product only can make the company financially strong but it also cannot be archived without the help from high technology apparel. The time was a profit for the company; we need high technology machineries to increase the amount of products with greater and stable quality. Last section of this assignment, describe about the profit that the company earned throughout the years since it was taken over by the current chairman, Mr. James S Davis, based on the industrial analysis did by a company called DATAMONITOR and the Factsheet announced by the company itself at financial year 2010. Then we have a topic about the result to the company after the company ventured to new market in Asia, and some about the payback from the investment on technological machineries that the company had spent on. Introduction What is a job design? Job design is the principles and techniques to the humanization of work, improve satisfaction, improve quality and reduce employee problems. It is a process to achieve satisfaction and trust from consumer. What is globalization? Globalization is mean of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations. It is also a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology. This process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world. What is strategy formulation? Strategy formulation is a way of a company plan on its business strategy. Strategy formulation is vital to the well-being of a company or organization. This strategy has effects on the company which will bring benefits. What is the process to meet the customer needs and quality? It is mean by how the shoes are being produced. This process of making the shoes will help to follow the modern trend of making the product and save cost. Furthermore, we have mention clearly about example of quality control of New Balance such as the step of the quality check from raw material until final product. The definition of Total Quality Control (TQC) or Total Quality Management (TQM) was stated clearly here. The machines purchase from New Balance to increase their efficiency and control quality of their shoes. This helps New Balance develop better designs, improve quality, and innovate their process capabilities. To produce a good quality and precision part in a huge number and reduce worker was an aim of all manufacturing field company, but by using handmade work is hard to do so. The only way can do is through high tech machine, by this way not only can come out a quality less reject part, on the other hand together reduce worker and make company earn in good selling and save a lot in labour cost. This will make the company finance to be strong and the enemy of manufacturing field factory was the part that been produce reject and return from their customer, this will make the company lost a lot in the costing. Let us see what technology can help in manufacturing. New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. which is a privately held company that founded and based in Massachusetts in USA performance in finance. The company was first setup in 1906 as the manufacturer of arch supports and orthopedic shoes. Now the company is famous as the manufactures for running, hiking, tennis, basketball, cross training shoes, and variety of athletic apparel. The company is being well known as the only shoe manufacturer still based in USA that offering its products in a wide range of width size with high quality of craftsmanship, which generate billion of sales annually. According to the latest factsheet dated 2010, the company is making massive earnings after the business owner taking over and decided to be more focus. The owner also invested lot of money to upgrade the manufacturing plant with newer technology machinery. Until now, the latest record show that there was a total of $2.32 billion USD sales made in the financial year 2009, whereby $1.07 billion USD of annua l sales in USA, $1.65 billion of annual sales worldwide. Discuss the job design and method of work organisation employed by New Balance Corporation for both local and global market to remain competitive. Critically derive the advantages and disadvantages of going global. Job design purpose and objective is for quality, speed, dependability, flexibility, cost, health and safety. Job design is also mean by application of working principles and techniques humanization of work. This is the way of conducting their working style and working techniques. The aim of job design is to make sure and improved the job satisfaction of the company. Improved quality of product is an objective of design. New Balance Corporation is a company that stress on quality. New Balance is an athletic shoes company that mainly focus on performance rather than the outlook and style. The aim of job design is also to raise the productivity levels, challenge and responsibility of ones work. Example is the New Balance shoes come in a wide range of widths and sizes. The quality can be achieve because New Balance Company have their philosophy which is listen, learn and refine. Another method that New Balance Company uses is well-trained workers. The well train workers are train to perform different jobs and tasks. New Balance Company is creative by adapting to new technologies to shoemaking. The company also constantly give training to their employee in teamwork and technical skills so they can work by sharing and helping each other on the task to make sure everything done on time. Dependability is a job design method that New Balance Company stresses on. New Balance Corporation is a company that design and manufacture their product in the United States. Example of dependability is buyer or consumer will look into where the product is manufacture because consumer depend and trust product that are import from countries such as United States, Germany, Japan and others. Reduce employee problem is also one of the main purpose of job design. Job design is an aimed to reduce or overcoming job dissatisfaction and employee bad behaviour arising. Dissatisfaction and employee bad behaviour arising will cause the employee to make mistake. Once the employee make mistake then accident will happen and that will cause health and safety. Running shoes of new balance company is made United States. This is the culture where it produces close to the customers and also allows quick turnarounds on new design and order fulfilment. This is the flexibility of the company to fulfil the desire of customer to purchase the product. One of the method that New Balance Corporation is they refuse to hire superstars to endorse its product and this will also help to cut a lot of cost. Borrowing technology from apparel manufacturers is also one of the company methods. This will help the company to save money and also following the modern trend. Globalisation is claimed that globalization increases the economic prosperity and opportunity in the developing world. There are advantages of globalisation and also disadvantages on going global. Advantages of globalisation Staying in one country is not a good method to remain competitive, so the New Balance Corporation chooses to launch a strategy to distribute all over the globe. To gain more profit is a company aims. Profit can be gain by expand their products to all over the globe. Expand the products to worldwide will be a global marketing advantage. From the global business, New Balance Company can be advertised on the internet and customers can easily view and purchase wherever and whenever they want. Advertising in the internet is a good advantage for the global business. Increased sales are for sure under the advertising in the internet. Under the global marketing, higher profits can be earn and achieve. New knowledge and experience is also an advantage under the internet global marketing. Another advantages going global is jobs been created. Once the company invested in another country, the job opportunity created. Once there are jobs for people, the economy will run smoothly. Wealth can be ob tained under the global marketing and productivity can growth wider. Wealth can be obtained means that human is going to gain money and an easier lifestyle. When going global, business will not only depend on the existing market but it will also have wide scale market. This means that new markets and producing dynamic sales can be obtain easily. The brand can consistency maintains their brand image. When the consistency in brand image is achieved, the brand will became famous and popular. This will also bring to higher sales and profit. Besides that, good ideas will be gain under going global. Good ideas can be gain from any individual in the globe and that can lead to a better design. This will help to identify what consumer needs and wants for their product. Going global will also establish good relationship between countries. After establish good relationship between countries, free trade between countries also increases. Furthermore, the flexibility of corporations to operate ac ross borders increases. This will ensure the company to run their business smoothly and without difficulties. Disadvantages of globalisation Global marketing also have its disadvantages which is the difference of consumer response can be unpredictable. Some of the product might be selling fast and out of stock. Differences of consumer likes will cause the product to pile up and cannot be sold. Product that cannot be sold might go for a very cheap price and that might cause losses to the company. The disadvantage on internet marketing is when their product is promoted in the internet; they will have to compete with different type of brand and product development. Besides that, the disadvantages also include differences in consumer patterns such as needs and wants that is influence by their regional. Differences in legal concerns may also create conflict to the home market. Language barrier is a disadvantage on going global because different countries have their own languages and they might not understand English. There are also additional costs to set a website on the internet. Besides that, advertising and maintaining the website will also cost another sum of money. Another disadvantage on going global is the company will faces a lot of challenges and competitive environment. The company will face challenges from other brand that offer cheaper and quality product. Cultural problems are also a disadvantage for the globalization. This will endanger the age old cultures which have been followed religiously all over the world. There are many countries which would never agree when it comes to culture or religion. The influence of local cultures and tradition will slowly start to wear down when the migration become easy. Globalization will also increase the spread of diseases. Disease can be spread because of the increase in flow people. This will cause human to vulnerable to health issues. Conclusion is there are advantages and disadvantages of going global. Done by: Lai Kiat Xiang Observe the strategy formulation and processes to continuously improve to meet the customer needs, and quality at lower cost. Shoe is a type of footwear that protects and supports the foot. Running shoes or athletic shoes is different from the ordinary shoes. The rubber on athletic shoes helps to cushion the hard surfaces when running. The construction of athletic shoes is important in order to prevent injuries and giving a good balancing and support while running. Running shoes can be divided into two main sections which is upper covers the top of the foot and the sole. The two main sections can be divided into three which is insole, midsole and outsole. The process of the running shoe is starting at the front on the upper part is feather line. This is where the edge is form. The edge is form where the toe guard tip meets the bottom of the shoe. A single piece of material that gives shape to a shoe and forms the toe box is call a vamp. The vamp has an attachments some sort of a throat which it contains the eyestay and lacing section. Under the lacing section is the tongue. The tongue protects the foot from direct contact with the laces. Reinforcements are attached to the vamp along the sides of the shoe. There are two types of reinforcements. First, it is the saddle. The saddle is when it is sewn on the outside of the back of the reinforcements. The second type of the reinforcements is called an arch bandage where if it is sewn on the inside. Collar is a part where it is further towards the back of the shoe. Collar usually has an Achilles tendon protector at the top back of the shoe. The foxing shapes the rear end of the shoe and underneath there is a plastic cup which it is use to support the heel. The plastic cup which supports the heel is called the heel counter. Figure 1 Figure 1 above is showing how shoe is made. The first step as we can see from the diagram above is involving the die cutting. The shoe parts are cut in a cookie cutter fashion. The pieces that are cut will form the upper part of the shoe. The pieces will be stitched or cemented together and the upper part will be form. After the pieces were cemented, the upper will looks like a round hat rather than a shoe. This extra material is called the lasting margin. After that, lace holes will be punched out. After that, a last which is a plastic mould is use to fit the upper before the upper is cement with the insole board. The upper has to heat before fit on to a last. It is then both the upper and insole board is press together to get bond. Midsole and outsole is then cemented on to the upper. Before midsole and outsole is cemented to the upper, both of the outsole and midsole will have to be align and bond together. When the cement is cool, the shoe is removed from the last. The midsole is designed to absorb the shock and the wedge is designed to supports the heel. The insole which is arch support is located inside the shoe. Below is a sample of a completed running shoe. One of the strategies to improve to meet the customer needs and quality is by manufacturing some of its product in America. When the product is manufacture in America, trust of buyers will increase. The trust of buyers increase because America product is a trusted product compare to other countries. Example is whenever a product is being manufacture in China, consumer and buyers will think twice before purchasing the product. Besides that, New Balance has their own strategy formulation on their product which is their own technical innovations. The technical innovation is such as a blend of gels inserts, heel counters and a greater selection of sizes. Some people might have a larger foot and New Balance Company is producing a greater selection size of shoes. Quality control is one of the strategies by the New Balance Company. New Balance Company is producing a good quality of shoes because of the ingredients and materials in making their shoes. The ingredient is such as gel, air or plastic on making the midsoles. The inner side of the midsole is often made of firm material such as polyurethane (PU), ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) or combination of them. This material is use in order to prevent overpronation of the foot. Polyurethane is used in the heel area and a very thin layer of ethylene vinyl acetate is used in the insole. Besides that, New Balance Company also uses investing in other countries as their strategy to get their customer needs. Once the company invest in that country, the customer will get the product easily and the goods dont have to be import from America. This will also cut the cost on the product. Borrowing technology from apparel manufacturers is also one of the company strategies to cut cost and still following the modern trend. Done by: Lai Kiat Xiang 3. Critically observe the shoe manufacturing processes and examines the key factors in the designs of products and services. In their manufacturing process line, its not only about manpower but also with the robotic machines. It is why New Balance also brings in the new technology from apparel manufacturers and spends $100,000 for every see-and- sews machines which able to produce a pair of shoes in 24minute compare with 3 hours use if in China and get high productivity with efficiency speed. Shoe manufacturing sequence Design for shoe sole n upper and provide material detail Create shoe sole mould to make exclusive sole and insole. Make a sample or prototype for testing. Have implemented on the product. Final products come out. Start production for shoe sole and insole. Cutting, sewing, lasting and finishing Quality control and delivery order. How to satisfy customizations on shoe manufacturing with systematically? A. Satisfaction fitting impact Materials: The Main reason should concern for good quality shoe is the shoe material. The relationship between suppliers and manufacturers must be good and both must be able to solve problems together and suppliers must fast react on the specific material orders. B1. Outlook customization The customization of shoes may include the upper material colours and outlook designs. If a manufacturing systems have a high capability to satisfy aesthetic customization that allow buyer choose their shoes colours, it must be a great set of coloured materials or the material can be dye the upper portion. B2. Shoe accessories Shoe accessories such as bows, decoration or any particular lace may add into the shoes to add to the standard station. C1. The materials are needed to satisfy transpiration or thermal request with much kind of different materials. C2. Due to various types of materials, technical could needs for particular stitching technique different by the standard way for the leather. It may needs a flexible stitching station which able to adapt to different typology. C3. If the insole production system have the capability to satisfy shock absorption of the production customization of the sole, it may needs more complex and right technique to realize a various set of shock absorption. State of the art technology is used to identify the right shape of human feet to custom orthotic foot bed. A typical scan of human leg will be tested and this let the manufacturer able to make the most comfortable orthotic insole. After inspected, cleaned, dressed and polished, heel socks, laces and the brand label will be added, then the QC (quality checked) will be approved and the shoes will be packed and ready to sell. After sales services also available from some shoes company. Method for doing an orthopaedic shoe lift Split the sole in half, add the material build up to your specified height, taper off correctly at the front, and then reattach the bottom of your sole. This method ensures an aesthetically pleasing look as well as being very comfortable and unnoticeable. Add a shoe lift and build up to the full length of the sole. This is the correct way to do it and all of shoe lifts are done this way unless specified otherwise. Why need a build up of the sole, but not just use an insole Insoles are bad for foot when used for this purpose and can cause problems in back. The correct and safe way is to have a build up. How high of a shoe lift can build? There is corrected leg length discrepancies for patients as high as 6 inches and are not limited to that. Any shoe can add shoe lift? Any shoe with a full length concrete sole will take to a shoe lift nicely, and shoe manufacturer work with running shoes, dress shoes, work and hiking boots, and golf shoes too. Charge for shoe lifts? Cost starts at $39.99 for a half inch and an additional $14.99 for every quarter inch thereafter. There are additional charges for harder to split soles like the ones in boots and golf shoes. Done by: Wong Yng Chung 4. Discuss and elaborate the necessity of quality planning and quality control processes in achieving high performance products and services for the company. Quality control for New Balance can be: Dimensions of sole and insole Dimensions of various shoe size Colour, pattern and designs Material of the shoe Elasticity/durability of the shoe Life time of the shoe Quality check from professional Remain the shoes quality for different production line Reliability of shoes box packaging for delivery. Solid, long term partnership with trustable suppliers. Ensuring in-store safety and quality New technology to improve the effectiveness and quality of production. Total Quality Control (TQC) or Total Quality Management (TQM) refers to quality control beyond the sustaining of quality. These two concepts may lead to continual increases in quality. Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa, recipient of many awards, including the Deming Prize, Total Quality Control as a system of inventing and implementing quality technologies into various departments of a company engineering, production, sales and service all this is purposely for satisfying customers. He stated that viewed chronologically, TQC is only the first stage of Companywide Quality Control (CWQC). CWQC incorporates quality function deployment (QFD), where as TQC does not. QFD is a design procedure that introduces quality control in product development. It is a formal mechanism that guarantees the comment of the customer is heard throughout all the phases of manufacturing a product or providing a service. As Dale Besterfield stated in his book Quality Control, the deliverance of a quality product or service requires the responsible integration of all the firms departments such as marketing, product engineering, purchasing, manufacturing engineering, manufacturing, and inspection and testing, packaging and shipping, and customer service. TQC is far more than sustaining quality, as it may include control systems, employee relations and organizational behaviour, statistical process control, and Japanese management techniques. Quality control techniques and standards, affecting almost all aspects of business, have now been adopted at national and international levels. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award exemplifies the former. President Ronald Reagan signed the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Improvement Act on 20th of August 1987. The act was the culmination of a national campaign to improve the quality of goods and services in the United States. The award represents the highest level of recognition that an American company can receive. On an international level, the ISO 9000 series of quality standards was first published in 1987. These standards reflect the importance of quality and reliability as critical factors for achieving and maintaining worldwide competitive advantage. Another example is the international environment management standard, ISO 14001. Companies worldwide use this standard as a blueprint to develop and refine internal environmental management systems. New Balance purchased 70units see-and- sew machines in 1 short and set up on machine shops to grind the 30 templates need for a typical shoe. Each set of templates took about 1 week, but they manage to make their workers to produce a pair of shoes in 24minute compare with 3 hours use if in China and get high productivity with efficient speed. High salary paid for their workers such as well-trained employees are able to make $14 an hour. All of these well-trained employees can be perform well and they are performing half a dozen different jobs and switching task every few minute. The efficiency of the manufacturing has been increase. Every person of them able to operate computerised sewing equipment and automated stitches that of 20 peoples work. New balance corporate also remain competitive at home by introduce new technologies to shoe making creatively. Constantly training is also provided for their employees either in teamwork or technical skills to improve their employees quality. Firstly, employees start with 22hours of classroom training on teamwork and get constant training on the factory floor. Then they will work in teams of five or six, sharing task and helping one another until make sure everything get done. In this teamwork function, many ideals about improvement of process will be come from shop floor workers. In their manufacturing process line, its not only about manpower but also with the robotic machines. They also bring in the new technology from apparel manufacturers and spend $100,000 for every see-and- sew machines. The most impressive part is they purchased 70units in 1 time and set up on machine shops to grind the 30 templates need for a typical shoe. Each set of templates took about 1 week, but they manage to make their workers to produce a pair of shoes in 24minute compare with 3 hours use if in China. Labour cost per shoe is $4 hour in Maine compare to $1.30 in China, it is a range of $2.70 for every shoe which is 4percent more from the selling price of $70. But good salary paid is worth-able when they get high productivity with efficient speed. Investment time on the manufacturing process helps New Balance develop better designs, improve quality, and innovate their process capabilities. By the way, if it outsourced all of its production then this would cause the company to suffer lost financially. Done by: Wong Yng Chung 5. Carefully observe how the reduced-quality product would affect the company financially. Discuss the financial analysis to justify the use of technology in the shoe manufacturing operation. For a company the quality of product is very important to convince customer to trust and buy their product, it totally affect companies financial once the product that produce rejected and returned. The cost of transport will be charge to company for the return part. Besides that, normally reject part will cause line down if the part very urgent to support to the end customer, means that the cost will to be charge to our company account due to our reject part. When the reject part was returned, company have to arrange manpower to rework for the part and extra costing will be count for the rework base on how many hours needed to complete the reject batch. If unfortunately the reject bath cannot rework it have to be scrap, means that extra issue cost will be needed for the raw material besides that production have to be rearrange to rebuild for the reject quantity. Once reject part was found internally, the machine have to be stop and realignment or resetting to make sure come out part will be in good quality. On the other hand, some time it will take one or half day to refitting or resetting regarding to the reject defect, This will cause no output for the day and fail the shipment for that day. Delay shipment also will cause penalty by quantity not enough for the customer. To come out a quality product for new balance, a modular manufacturing (teamwork) system were introduced. With this system it come out a better quality control and more efficient production, this system was improved with associates trained on more than one job in the factory, which meant a more varied days work and tighter quality control for the product. For the year 1991, production only can run around 2000 3000 pairs of shoes in a week and steadily increased to 4771 pairs of shoes per week by 1993 and continued increased to 7403 pairs of shoes by year 1996 and to 9787 pairs of shoes by 1998. The factory and finally broke the one million pair of shoes per year barrier in 2003. [11] To produce big amount quantity and quality of shoes in a day, we need help from the technology and impossible to produce big amount and precision part by human. For example by using the inversion type rubber shoe-mould finalizing machine, it was a professional shoe making equipment which integrates the vulcanization, stitching and finalizing all process can be done by it and was fully function of automatic program control can save a lot of labour cost. Besides that it was a control by hydraulic pressure system it can keep constant the temperature, deflate, draw pattern and also control time automatically. The adoption of the mechanical connecting bar structure was to ensure no split of mould and degumming phenomenon during the vulcanizing process. Because of the machine is inversion type, the shoes surface can be kept clean, high quality jackboot and other military shoes also can be produce by it. This is the advantage of the technology and help company to save lots of labour cost an d produce quality product and some of the process is impossible can be reach by human being.[12] Besides that in the shoes mould technology with a precision mould it can produce two pair of shoes in a short cycle time compare with a handmade, presently of new moulding technology which can reduce of the cycle time and increase in a number of cavities from two to four, this had been shown that the production efficiency has been improved with the help of the new improved shoes mould design for longer mould life and better quality parts, besides that by improved the cooling system of the mould gate and separate core inserts it used to improve ventilation, reduced thickness of the part without any compromise on quality. By this new technology it allow the significant cost saving intelligence, process innovation, increase productivity, the preventive maintenance qualit

Marks and Spencer Strategy Insight :: Business Management Retail Consumerism Essays

Marks and Spencer Strategy Insight At the Marks & Spencer AGM, on the 11th July 2001, Luc Vandevelde, the Chairman and Chief Executive of Marks & Spencer, gave a key speech regarding the managements recovery plan for the company, which was launched earlier in the year. The speech and extracts from Marks & Spencer Press Releases, presented below, provide a valuable insight into the nature of strategic planning within large organisations, and the role of the Chairman and Chief Executive in this process. Extracts from the Speech 'Good morning. Welcome to the 2001 Annual General Meeting. I want to pick up exactly where we left off a year ago. In response to the very last question from the floor at the 2000 AGM, I made this statement: 'I am taking charge and I will create shareholder value in the future.' I'd like you to keep that statement in mind. In everything we have done or are planning to do for your Company, we share with you the common objective of increasing the value of your investment by returning Marks & Spencer to its rightful, leading position in the marketplace. As to 'taking charge,' at the last AGM I'd been with Marks & Spencer for less than five months - and I didn't take over as Chief Executive until two months after the AGM in September 2000. At that point, a little over six months in, I came to certain conclusions about the Company's strategy ... and it took six months because Marks & Spencer is a very unique and very complex company. My conclusion was that the recovery plan, then in place, was doing a lot of useful things ... getting us closer to our customers, improving our supply chain, and so on. But it still wasn't good enough to address the real problems of the Company which, as I've already admitted, were more serious than I realised when I first took up this post. The previous plan was like feeding a tree that was already overgrown and unhealthy. What it really needed was serious pruning back. It had unproductive limbs that were hampering its growth and a lot of its best characteristics were lost in the foliage. It became clear that for M&S to grow productively, we had to get back to its core strengths - to those fundamentals that underpinned its success in the past - and begin our recovery from there.' Putting together the right team

And of Clay Are We Created by Isabelle Allende

When assigned to read the short stories in class to summarize and learn to paraphrase, there was one story in particular that emotionally touched me. This short story was â€Å"And of Clay Are We Created† by Isabell Allende. I found many great points that could be discussed about the story, and that is why I chose it to be a part of this research paper. This story is a touching momentum of a man's penetrating awakening that he no longer has to suffer from the emotional torment that was inflicted upon him during is childhood.Rolf, â€Å"like a flower sinking into the mud† (367) has sank into himself; a self that is magnetized with cataclysmic devastation and desolation. The volcano has erupted to bring an avalanche of despair, so does this same volcano explode, bursting to eventually bring calm and equanimity. Isabell Allende has Rolf Carle, a news reporter fly out to the devastating scene where you are introduced to Azucena, a young girl, stuck in the mud. Rolfe Carle s tays with Azucena in hopes of saving her from this catastrophe but in the meantime, he Journeys through his repressed hildhood memories.It is important to investigate repressed memories so you could courageously move forward to live a fuller life, instead of blocking these memories and living in the past. This paper will slightly take you through Rolf Carle's emotions, the effects these memories can have, and how to overcome them. I found it ironic how Rolf Carle is close to many people's histories when investigating the incident being a reporter but he is so distant with his own and we see this when he is telling his stories to Azucena.Rolf connected with Azucena at a level of xperience, whether it was physical or emotional, they became one and shared things with each other, some things being on a different level. This connection occurred because Rolf saw himself like Azucena â€Å"trapped in a pit without escape, buried in life, his head barely above ground† (Allende, 363). It is apparent that Rolf, like the buried and trapped girl, has submerged his own suppressed and hidden visceral terror; terror concealed from reality, that when it is unearthed, it is â€Å"intact and precise as if it had lain always in his mind, waiting† (Allende, 362).Like the eceased relatives who weigh down Azucena by clinging on her legs, so too is Rolf weighed down, incapacitated and paralyzed by the hauntingly vivid repressed memories. Rolf seemed to be trapped in pain as Azucena was in the mud, and confronting the thoughts of the girl dying was tough. Azucena taught him to pray, and eventhough it might have been consolation for herself, she later provides support for Rolfe when he was suffering through his past memories. This moment with Azucena, showed Rolf shame, fear, and regret.Rolfs emotional break down, as displayed with Azucena, esulted in him rising above the vultures and helicopters†¦ [flying] above the vast swamp and corruption† (366). The quest ion of importance and focus is not how this took place. In other words, it is not the line of successive actions and conversations, told and untold, that led to his decisive moment of freedom that is important. It is the cognitive and emotional process of a child who has been abused and chooses to either suppress or repression those traumatic painful memories.Indeed Rolf goes through a transformative change. But for 30 years he has â€Å"lived† or hoose to forget certain events that took place in his life. The reader is never told in full detail the abuse that was inflicted upon Rolf. We are given the illusion of a being beat with a belt then put in a closet. Such a painful event indeed was resulted in the present moment of physical pain, as well as, the present and future psychological damage done to Rolf, not mentioning the effects that it had on his sister.We are reminded time and again by survivors of abuse that emotional abuse is far worse because â€Å"the body is mean t for recovering and healing physical wounds, the vidence is in scars, but the mind has a difficult time reacting to emotional abuse because it is counterproductive and counter intuitive in an unhealthy and unnatural way' (abused victim who chooses to remain anonymous). When dealing with painful events, especially when occurring during childhood, a child often times chooses to either repress or suppress the memories hoping that he or she will never have to relive that moment. A repressed memory, according to some theories of psychology, is a memory (often of a traumatic nature) of an event or environment, which is stored by the unconscious mind but outside the awareness of he conscious mind† (pyshowiki), whereas, suppressed memories are those memories that are forgotten by choice. The question now becomes did Rolfs unconscious mind repress the memory or was it by choice that he suppressed his childhood experience?The answer first comes with an understanding that â€Å"memorie s stay in the brain for life† (Martin Dak). It is important to understand that â€Å"repressed memories do not disappear† (changingminds. org). â€Å"We can only bury memories for so long before they resurface† (Effect on the Mind). A person tends to â€Å"forget memories† because the fear f facing reality has invaded his or her life and he or she no longer has the fortitude to properly be engaged in the present moment.Like an earthquake that shatters glass into millions of pieces and demolishes massive infrastructures into complete and utter ruin; so too can the effects of repressed memories play in a person's life. If repressed memories are not received, accepted, and properly discussed, a lifetime of tortured reality can unfold in a person's life. We don't have to look any farther than the 30 years of life that Rolf lived. The reader is never given a glimpse into his life after the abuse. We are told he has a relationship with a girl and that he is a re porter.Only with extremely caution, lest we stereotype that all reporters and to conclude that his Job does keep him moving from one situation to the next, avoiding having to ever think about his own issues and life. People that have repressed memories could possibly have disorders like post- traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression. â€Å"Dwelling on such emotions†¦ is overwhelmed by extreme mental trauma (Novella). One could also experience traumatic amnesia, â€Å"this involves the loss of memories of traumatic experiences† (Kolk).

Ampex VTR organization Essay

After the second world war, the introduction of televisions opened way for the technological innovation of video recording. In the 1950s, there were major inventions in the video recording industry in the US and Japan. This case study involves the technological advancement in the video cassette recorders (VCRs) manufacturing industries. Six pioneering companies will be considered, namely; RCA and Ampex of USA, Japan Victor Company (JVC) and Sony, Toshiba and Matsushita all of Japan. JVC, Sony and Matsushita had the competitive advantage of management in this industry. They emphasized on opportunities that were more rewarding, productively positioned their technical efforts and executed these efforts in more productively. These companies learnt the market technological demands for videocassette recorders and produced in mass at limited costs. To prove their technological competence, these firms produced equipment with utmost sound clarity and consistently adhered to this. JVC was under pressure to come up with a common standard for its products which led to the advent of VHS system. RCA engineers came up with a video recording machine moving a narrow tape very fast past magnetic heads. At Toshiba, a recording head was made to rotate fast while the tape moved past at relatively slow speed (helical scanner). Despite these efforts, Ampex was the first to come up with a commercial video recorder. This VTR technology was patented but was soon shared out to other companies like RCA. Ampex failed to come up with a manufacturing capability for mass production despite the high performance designs. Ampex engineers opened up the helical scanner technology for broadcast recorder but Sony, JVC and Matsushita overtook them in this technology. RCA suggested the introduction of a television magnetic tape player but this was not considered by the management until later in 1958 in the design of VTR. Sony did not employ the method of market research but instead chose to insist on high technology and innovation. In 1950, Sony introduced the first Japanese magnetic recorder for sound and tape, followed by a TV camera and stereo tape recorder. In 1961, it unveiled the first fully transistorized VTR in the world. Matsushita was a diverse company dealing with a range of electrical appliances. To beat this company’s success, the rivals developed cheaper appliances. The diversities in technology led to a need for international standards to govern this. Sony wanting to outdo its foreign rivals collaborated with JVC and Matsushita in the establishment of ? inch tape cassettes. Sony, JVC and Matsushita made strategic management of technology by learning through trials. These companies were persistent and flexible. Ampex and RCA in America lacked consistency in their strategic direction making them fail to sustain technical development. The Japanese companies had stable technical teams which ensured stability in the organization. Top managers were involved in making critical decisions. Ampex VTR organization was however marred with instability (Rosenbloom & Cusumano, 1987). The basic VCR technology originated from the US and Europe although the Japanese industries have been successful in the industry. The success attributed to the Japanese industries was achieved by more improvements on the basic technology rather than just copying what the West had to offer. The advent of transistors, semiconductors and microchips greatly boosted the electronic industry in Japan.