Reflection Paper on case ( Nestle Infant Milk Formula ) Study

Reflection Paper on ( Nestle Infant Milk Formula ) - Case Study Example Competitors of a business are always present to replace a dying company. Company and its decisions are not only morally judged by people but there are some laws and regulations that are specially formulated to force every company abide by the rules. In case of violation, the company has to suffer not only morally but also legally. These rules and regulation run a business according to the code of business ethics. The code of business ethics helps in judging a company’s decision with respect to the set of rules and standards. One can easily gauge the decision’s credibility by going through the rules designed. In the chapter three of the book Business Ethics: A Global and Managerial Perspective, the author David Frtizsche defined some of the basic principles to judge the moral standards of the business decision. According to him the decisions can be judged on their moral credibility by gauging them on the principles like the Egoism and the Utilitarianism. The decisions, according to him can also be judged based on the reason behind the decisions; not the outcomes (2004). In the past years a case has been observed in the category of business ethics and the business decisions and their effects. The case produced severe impacts on the marketing strategies of the company. It also degraded the reputation of the company among the customers. The case helped in banning the company for seven years. The decision was considered as not only being morally unethical but also as being legally invalid. The Nestle Company is one of the top dairy service providing companies of the world. The company is based in Switzerland and it is working on many milk and related projects. One of the projects was the Infant Milk formula, which became a headache for the company in the later years. The infant milk formula was formulated as a substitute of the breast milk for the children. It came in powdered form and the feeding mothers were supposed to mix it with sterilized

Management and Supply Function Essay Example for Free

Management and Supply Function Essay It should be emphasised from the outset that purchasing and supply management is executed as an integrated part of the firms broader management (as part of the logistics management or supply chain management approach) *Purchasing and supply PLANNING is part of the firms general planning, mainly because the continuous supply of raw materials components services is of a strategic importance to the enterprise. The supply market is just as important for the firms survival continued profitability as the sales market is the firms own product. Firms general planning must be integrated. *The ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE of the purchasing and supply function should be aimed mainly @ linking into the firms overall structure in the most effective way. The purchasing and supply function primarily renders a service to the enterprise. *Purchasing and supply COORDINATION should be aimed @ harmonising and aligning the activities of the purchasing and supply function with those of the other business functions. When a firm vests the authority for the purchasing and supply function in 1 person or team. Advantages: ;gt;Standardisation of materials and products is possible because purchases are made at one point ;gt;Purchasing and supply staff are afforded the opportunity to become experts ;gt;Control over all aspects of the purchasing and supply function is improved ;gt;Administrative costs are reduced by eliminating duplication DECENTRALISED PURCHASING ; SUPPLY ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE Purchasing by different departments, branches or plants, while each of them enjoys an important measure of autonomy of decision making regarding the purchasing and supply function. Advantages: ;gt;Better liaision can be effected between decentralised purchasing and supply functions and the user functions of individual plants served by the purchasing and supply function ;gt;The needs users can be better satisfied because the purchasing and supply function knows them better ;gt;Different plants maintain their autonomy. Plant managers are often fully responsible  for the profitability of individual plants. According to the combined approach, common requirements of the different plants such as equipment and certain categories of raw materials, are purchased centrally head of office. The plants purchasing and supply functions are assisted by corporate   purchasing and supply in developing policies, procedures, and control measures, recruiting and training staff, auditing the   purchasing and supply performance of the plants. The main coordinating mechanisms of purchasing and supply management with other functions in the organisation, and with suppliers and customers, are definitely computer systems such as electronic data interchange(EDI), materials planning (MRPII) and distribution requirements planning (DRP). TWO TYPES OF COORDINATION Between purchasing and supply and other functional areas Purchasing coordination is lateral acts in an advisory/support method to the other functions in the enterprise. Between p and s and the supplier system Two dimensions to the coordination between p and s function and the supplier system. Firstly there is coordination with the whole supplier system and secondly with the individual suppliers. The flow of products and services from the supplier has to be effective, the p and s function has to ensure that coordination between them and the supplier ensures this occurs. This can be achieved by means of supplier alliances, integrated systems and inter-organisational teams. The supplier must become an extension of the buying enterprise. The chief coordinating mechanisms available to p and s management are open communication, strategic alliances, integrated systems, the conscious motivation of suppliers and standardisation of specifications, purchasing documents and purchasing procedures. CONTROL : PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF THE PURCHASING AND SUPPLYFUNCTION Control may be defined as a systematic attempt to reach objectives or set standards that accord with the enterprises goal, to observe actual perform- ance and compare it with the set standards, and to take corrective steps with a view to achieving the mission and goals of the enterprise. Objectives and basic principles of performance evaluation P and activities are complex, needs to have a control system. Feedback   on actual performance(measured against quantitative norms). This ensures that the p and s strategy is implemented at the various levels in the company. With this the p and s manager can monitor and improve the functions actual performance. Control ensures that all the other functions with p and s work optimally.

The End of World War I :: World War I History

The End of World War I As the news of the individual surrender spread, fellow Germans saw that they were losing the war and started mutinies. Many people told the Kaiser to seek an armistice with the allies. However, he did not show any intensions of giving up. With the end so close, many American newspapers started to create rumors that the armistice had signed been signed by the Germans. They assumed that our leaders were suing for peace. They were still only considering signing an armistice. The American armistice was based on Woodrow Wilson's fourteen-point plan. He did have a hard time convincing the other allies that the fourteen-point plan was going to work. Wilson who was wanted peace without actually winning the war. By the time the armistice was signed, the people of Germany were happy that the war had ended. The treaty was signed at Rethondes, France at 5:00 pm on November 11 1918. Two days earlier Kaiser Williams of Germany had abdicated and fled to the Netherlands. Prince Max of Beden had immediately accepted defeat. The word quickly passed along the front and at 11:00 the battles should stop. Many notes had passed between Prince Williams and President Wilson in the days that led to the armistice. All of the matters were discussed through notes although a representative was sent to explain the idea behind the fourteen point and other American theories that led to the formation of the armistice. After the armistice was signed and the war ended many of the Americans flooded the towns located near the front, they celebrated. Many sang their national anthem. The streets were crowded with people. The town center was so filled that you could hardly see anything. Church bells ringed through out Europe to praise the end of the war. Many people even sung huge flags of either America or France. Many of the soldiers just stared and wondered what was going on. They had seen all the death and did not realize why the men celebrated. Many people endorsed the fourteen-point plan. Some even thought that he would win the noble peace prize for his work during the tragic war. Many Americans believed that their president their war hero had ended the war with the fourteen points for peace. Many of the allies wanted to put and end to the war by claming victory and puncture the economy of Germany forever. The End of World War I :: World War I History The End of World War I As the news of the individual surrender spread, fellow Germans saw that they were losing the war and started mutinies. Many people told the Kaiser to seek an armistice with the allies. However, he did not show any intensions of giving up. With the end so close, many American newspapers started to create rumors that the armistice had signed been signed by the Germans. They assumed that our leaders were suing for peace. They were still only considering signing an armistice. The American armistice was based on Woodrow Wilson's fourteen-point plan. He did have a hard time convincing the other allies that the fourteen-point plan was going to work. Wilson who was wanted peace without actually winning the war. By the time the armistice was signed, the people of Germany were happy that the war had ended. The treaty was signed at Rethondes, France at 5:00 pm on November 11 1918. Two days earlier Kaiser Williams of Germany had abdicated and fled to the Netherlands. Prince Max of Beden had immediately accepted defeat. The word quickly passed along the front and at 11:00 the battles should stop. Many notes had passed between Prince Williams and President Wilson in the days that led to the armistice. All of the matters were discussed through notes although a representative was sent to explain the idea behind the fourteen point and other American theories that led to the formation of the armistice. After the armistice was signed and the war ended many of the Americans flooded the towns located near the front, they celebrated. Many sang their national anthem. The streets were crowded with people. The town center was so filled that you could hardly see anything. Church bells ringed through out Europe to praise the end of the war. Many people even sung huge flags of either America or France. Many of the soldiers just stared and wondered what was going on. They had seen all the death and did not realize why the men celebrated. Many people endorsed the fourteen-point plan. Some even thought that he would win the noble peace prize for his work during the tragic war. Many Americans believed that their president their war hero had ended the war with the fourteen points for peace. Many of the allies wanted to put and end to the war by claming victory and puncture the economy of Germany forever.

Online Purchases and Delivery Service in NTUC Fairprice Essay

INTRODUCTION NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Ltd (NTUC) was founded in 1973 by the labour movement. Its first supermarket was opened in Toa Payoh in the same year. NTUC has now grown to become Singapore’s largest retailer, with a network of more than 270 stores comprising FairPrice Supermarkets, FairPrice Finest, FairPrice Xtra, FairPrice Xpress and Cheers convenience stores. NTUC also owns a Fresh Food Distribution Centre and a centralised warehousing and distribution company. Sales in 2013 were reported at more than S$2.6 billion. NTUC also operates an online store where customers can order their groceries directly from their online store and have them delivered to their homes or destinations of their choice. This paper explores the business operations management of NTUC in Singapore and the possible challenges NTUC may face in their online retail and delivery service. This paper also evaluates and recommends appropriate measures that NTUC should implement to overcome these challenges as well as the methods to measure the business performance of the new process. PART 1 NTUC’s Business Functions NTUC operates with three core business functions to run the chain of supermarkets in Singapore; Procurement, Warehousing/Distribution and Retail. These functions are supported by Finance, Information Systems and Human Resources. Figure 1: Process Flow of NTUC Online Retailing and Delivery Service NTUC currently operates an online grocery store from their website.  According to their website’s Help section (2009), NTUC mentioned partnering a logistics service provider to provide the delivery services to customers. In its website (2009), customers have the option to select their preferred date of delivery but the earliest they can receive their purchase is by the next working day. NTUC currently does not provide delivery services on Sundays and Public Holidays. Delivery charges apply according to the order amount and additional charges will also be imposed to rearrange another delivery date if the customer is not present to receive the goods. Challenges of Online Retailing and Delivery Service Using the Soft Systems Methodology (Checkland, 1981), we identified some key challenges (Appendix 1) that NTUC may face for their online retailing and delivery service to their customers. Xing, Grant, MaKinnon and Fernie (2011) grouped these challenges broadly under availability, timeliness and condition. Availability †¢There is a lack of online tracking system.  Timeliness †¢Online grocers are unable to offer same day delivery to customers. †¢Deliveries fail to arrive as promised. †¢Distribution centres need to spend more time picking individual orders for customers. Condition †¢There is a need to have delivery accuracy as products with shelf life, especially fresh food, would require cooling. †¢Products are damaged during transit. Literature Review of Challenges Availability: Xing, Grant, MaKinnon and Fernie (2010 and 2011) conducted postal surveys with chosen households and qualitative interviews with retailers, logistics service providers and experts for their research papers. Both papers found that one of the key challenges of online home delivery is to keep customers informed of the availability and status of their purchase. Without such  online tracking systems, a big gap will be created between what the customers want to purchase and what they are offered eventually. Ruby and Zhao (2010) also identified that the most important attribute that affects customers’ satisfaction is the ability for online retailers to provide on-time delivery which would impact the customers’ decision to repurchase in future. Ling, Yang and Jun (2013) also reported that customers feel that the unavailability of ordered products will affect their online shopping experience negatively. Timeliness: According to Ling, Yang and Jun (2013), most customers tend to get very frustrated when faced with the inconvenience caused by any delay in delivery. Customers feel the hassle of having to stay at home along with the uncertainty in waiting time for the delivery person to show up with their purchase. Another challenge as reported by Starkey, A (2010) is that 17.5% of the customers had no one at home to receive their purchase during the normal delivery hours and 37.5% of them were only at home on some days. According to him, this translates to a 55% probability that customers run the risk of a failed delivery since there was no one available to sign their purchase. Another challenge that is highlighted by Xing, Grant, MaKinnon and Fernie (2011) is the timeliness of the standard delivery schedule. According to the authors, retailers and logistics service providers kept the delivery charges low so as to remain competitive as providing prompt delivery services would usually cost a premium for customers. Such measures usually result in a standard 3 to 5 business days for delivery causing a relatively low level of customer satisfaction in this area. Condition: Based on the findings by Xing, Grant, MaKinnon and Fernie (2011), customers’ satisfaction level drops when their purchases are delivered wrongly or the  orders are incomplete. Another factor that impacts their satisfaction level is the condition of the goods being delivered. As in the case of perishable items, customers expect their purchase to be delivered fresh. Operations Strategy Perspectives for NTUC Using the four perspectives on operations strategy (Slack, N., Brandon-Jones, A. and Johnston, R, 2013: Ch 3 Pg 73 – 85), we seek to understand the different perspectives that will help us recommend the appropriate solutions for NTUC in its online retail and delivery system. Figure 2: The Four Perspectives on Operations Strategy (Slack, N., Brandon-Jones, A. and Johnston, R, 2013: Ch 3 Pg 73 Figure 3.3) Top-Down Perspectives: According to NTUC’s website (2009), its vision is â€Å"to be Singapore’s leading world-class retailer with a heart†. NTUC also strived to â€Å"provide its customers with the best value, quality products and excellent service, be a preferred employer, to moderate the cost of living in Singapore, and serve the needs of our members, the labour movement and the community.† Bottom-Up Perspectives: According to Song, L., Cherrett, T. and Guan, W (2011), besides inconveniencing the customers, distribution centres also incur high costs whenever there are failed deliveries. The authors suggested that there are environmental costs to be considered for every added trip to the customers. This suggests that the CO2 emissions caused by these repeated trips would increase. NTUC should work closely with its internal Warehousing/Distribution team to understand these concerns before developing the strategy forward. Market Requirements Perspectives: Various authors (Xing, Grant, MaKinnon and Fernie,2010 and 2011; and et al) identified that customers expect to be kept updated of the status of their purchase; prompt delivery service as well as having purchases delivered to them in good conditions. Operations Resources Perspectives: According to Xing, Grant, MaKinnon and Fernie (2011), a high operational cost would make retailers cost sensitive. Technology advancements require monetary investments and yet retailers need to strike a balance between home delivery cost and the amount they charge their customers. Therefore, NTUC should explore how it can optimize its operations functions and resources to continue delivering the values customers expect. Appropriate Solutions for NTUC Based on the challenges identified and with the understanding of the 4 perspectives that NTUC need to consider, the following are some of the recommendations that NTUC should adopt to improve on their online retail and delivery system: †¢Upgrade the online order system †¢Implement online tracking system †¢Incorporate a collection / delivery point Upgrade the Online Order System: According to Ruby, R.D. & Zhao, M. (2010), NTUC should, in order to satisfy its online customers and ensure that they return to the retailer to purchase again, ensure that their website should be able to control conditions where a product is out-of-stock. The online website should provide updated inventory information of the product to avoid customers becoming unhappy over a failed purchase. It is also important to ensure that the descriptions of the product are authentic and exactly matches the intended product. NTUC should provide more delivery options (Xing, Y., Grant, D.B., McKinnon, A.C. & Fernie, J., 2011) and consumers who are willing to pay a premium for these choices could select their preferred delivery options with more specified dates and times. The authors believed that the premium delivery charges customers pay will eventually offset the increased in delivery cost  of NTUC or their appointed logistics service provider. Implement Online Tracking System: Xing, Y., Grant, D.B., McKinnon, A.C. & Fernie, J. (2011) concluded in their report that setting up an online tracking system is very important as it allows customers to keep track of their purchases. If retailers are using a logistics service provider which is the case for NTUC, a link to the logistics service providers’ tracking system should also be provided. The authors also suggested that retailers can adopt software applications that operate alongside their existing ordering system. These software applications are able to provide timely contact with the customer by email or text messages during the time of fulfillment to keep customers updated of their order status at appropriate times. The most important messages are at the point when their purchases are ready to be delivered with confirmation of the delivery date and time. Having a good tracking system not only reduces the probability of first time delivery failures, Edwards, J.B., McKinnon, A.C. & Cullinane, S.L. (2010) also reported that reducing repeating trips will significantly reduce the CO2 emissions. In their findings, a standard home delivery for a non-food item would be allocated 98 gCO2. Therefore, striving to improve on the home delivery system would also help reduce any harmful impact to the environmental. Incorporate a Collection/Delivery Point: To reduce the number of unsuccessful home deliveries to customers, NTUC should implement a network of collection/delivery points (Song, L., Cherrett, T. & Guan, W., 2011) as alternatives to the delivery addresses in their system. This means allowing customers to choose a nearest collection/delivery point where they would like to pick up their purchase from if they happen to be away when the delivery person arrived. Customers can also have the option to select the collection/delivery point as their delivery destination if they are sure they will not be home to receive their  purchase. Retailers can definitely benefit from this implementation as it reduces the number of re-delivery attempts. PART 2 A Perspective of the New System We use Soft Systems Methodology (Checkland, 1981) to have a systematic view of the new system (Appendix 2). In the process, we also identified two potential problems that may arise from this new system. Behjati, S. and Othaman, S.N. (2012) said that one of the key drivers of online shopping is trust and reliability. If customers do not trust the idea of shopping online, it would take more effort for NTUC to try to switch these customers to online customers. Another potential problem is an upgraded online ordering system would take up more internet bandwidth in NTUC. Therefore, the retailer must ensure that there is sufficient bandwidth (Ling (Alice) Jiang, Yang, Z. & Jun, M., 2013) to allow customers to search its online store seamlessly. NTUC’s â€Å"As Is† Process In the Help section of NTUC’s website (2009), a customer simply need to log into their account, select the products and the required quantity before adding into the shopping cart. Once the purchase is confirmed, an email will be sent to the customer instructing him/her of the delivery information. According to the website, the earliest date customers can receive their purchase is by the next working day. NTUC currently does not provide delivery services on Sundays and Public Holidays. Delivery charges apply according to the order amount and additional charges will also be imposed to rearrange another delivery date if the customer is not present to receive the goods. A clearer version of the â€Å"as is† process of NTUC is attached in Appendix 3. Figure 3: â€Å"As-Is† Process of NTUC NTUC’s â€Å"To Be† Process With the proposed upgrading of the online ordering system, online tracking system and implementing a collection / delivery point for NTUC, the â€Å"to-be† process is drafted in Figure 4 with a clearer version attached in Appendix 4. Figure 4: â€Å"To-Be† Process of NTUC Freeman, M. and Freeman, A. (2010) emphasized the importance that for the online ordering system to work, all products in the retailer’s inventory must be displayed. Out-of-stock products must be clearly indicated so that customers can make decisions on the spot to select alternative products. Rose, S., Clark, M., Samouel, P. and Hair, N. (2012), in their study, also supports this by saying that it is important for the retailer’s website to be easy to use. An overly complex navigation and information overload will reduce the probability of customers returning to patronize the online store. Omar, M., Bathgate, I. and Nwankwo, S. (2011), in their research, considered that when a customer is well-provided with order information and a clear estimate of the product arrival information, customers will be more certain of what they ordered and when they can expect their products to be delivered. It is therefore recommended for NTUC to set up an online tracking system for the purpose of allowing customers to trace their products any time of the day. Edwards, J.B., McKinnon, A.C. & Cullinane, S.L. (2010) provided that failed deliveries can cause a lot of inconvenience and highly uneconomical for both the customers, logistics service providers and retailers. According to the studies, a 100% successful first-time delivery would incur a CO2 emission of 98g for urban deliveries. This, however, increases to 110g of CO2 emission for a 12.5% delivery failure. Song, L., Cherrett, T. & Guan, W. (2011) suggested reducing failed deliveries by using a network of collection / delivery points (such as in petrol stations, convenience stores, post  officers etc) in nearby neighborhoods as alternative delivery destination. Keeping failed deliveries to a low number would limit the amount of CO2 emission to the lowest possible level. In this â€Å"To-Be† process, an upgraded ordering system coupled with an online tracking system for customers to track their parcels and finally providing an alternative pickup location instead of having the hassle of arranging for future delivery trips will improve the transactional process which is according to the expectations of the customer. This will improve their perception of NTUC. PART 3 In Part 1, we identified the challenges NTUC faced when operating the online retail and delivery system. Appropriate solutions were put up with the aim to improve these challenges. Part 2 looked at the changes that need to be made to the business process. In Part 3, we will be looking at how NTUC translate performance objectives into operation priorities and subsequently, how NTUC measures its performance and recommend further improvements to ensure the success of the new system. Implementing a Performance Measurement System For NTUC to succeed into achieving its performance objectives, a performance measurement system needs to be put in place. The Balanced Scorecard (Kaplan R.S. and Norton D.P., 1992) will be used for this purpose. Besides deciding and measuring performance, Sharma, A. (2009), in his research findings reported that the balanced scorecard can also help NTUC manage the strategies that require implementation and improvement so that the retailer’s long term goals are meet. Valmohammadi, C. and Servati, A. (2010) stated that it is very important to allow all managers, in this case all the Business Functions Managers in NTUC, participate in the performance measurement process. This is because implementation at various functions requires the expertise and active  participation of every functional levels in company. Balanced Scorecard of NTUC NTUC should start with an assessment of the company’s mission and vision; and working together with its functional managers identifies key objectives. SWOT analysis can be performed to eliminate the weaknesses and threats that NTUC is exposed to. NTUC will then develop the balanced scorecard (Appendix 5) which according to Sharma, A. (2009) helps each function teams understand and work towards its shared vision. The balanced scorecard depict the objectives, measures, targets and appropriate initiatives that are put in place to assess the performance around 4 broad areas (Kaplan R.S. and Norton D.P., 1992), namely financial, customers, learning and growth and internal business processes. Financial Perspectives: The reason why NTUC would take up the recommendations to upgrade the suggested systems is ultimately to achieve financial returns. Without a doubt, the financial perspectives of this balanced scorecard would focus on measuring the revenue, profit and also to increase the online market share of the retail business. The indicator for revenue and profit can be retrieved from NTUC’s Annual Report. NTUC’s growth average revenue growth for the past 3 years average 8.91%. Hence, a 9% growth is recommended as target for the company. Figure 5: Deriving the Revenue Targets for NTUC (Source: NTUC Fairprice Annual Reports) Based on the Annual Report, the profit achieved has been consistently at approximately $120 million for 2010, 2011 and 2013. Hence, using these 3 years as benchmark, we propose NTUC to set a target of maintaining the profit level at S$125 million. Figure 6: Deriving Profit Margins for NTUC (Source: NTUC Fairprice Annual  Reports) According to a market report in UK (Thomas, J., 2010), sales in online retailing is expected to increase by 34.4% in 2014 compared to 2013. Online sales are also expected to increase to 12.4% of the total retail market. Basing on this forecast, NTUC could consider targeting to achieve an increase an online market share of 12% for 2014. Figure 7: Forecast UK Online Food and Drinks Market by Value, 2009 to 2014 (Source: just-food) Customers Perspectives: From the customers perspective, NTUC decided to upgrade its online retailing and delivery process is so that it could satisfy its online customers (Ruby, R.D. & Zhao, M., 2010) and ensure that they return again for their next purchase. Hence, it is necessary that NTUC tracks its performance on customers’ usage of its online site. With an easier to surf online ordering system that NTUC would be investing, it becomes necessary for the retailer to track its customers’ traffic flows on the internet (Gunawan, G., F, E. & King, M., 2008) as this gives the company an indication if it is successful in building customers’ awareness and loyalty of its online retail service. In their study, Edwards, J., Makinnon, A. and Cullinane, S. (2011) reported that 38% of internet users access online food and grocery websites and this is likely to increase another 66% in he near future to 63%. We recommend targeting a 66% increase in online visitors as a performance measurement. Another performance measure would be to generate a report to derive the ratio of returning customers against its total online customer base. A target of 25% increase in online customer base is recommended which is in line with Jessica, L. (2011)’s report that the number of customers at NTUC has increased by an average of 25% every year. Learning and Growth Perspectives: The objectives on learning and growth focus on increasing the employees’ knowledge know-how of the new improved systems. With the implementation of the online order and tracking systems, NTUC need to ensure that its staffs undergo adequate trainings (Hoi, Y.C. and Alex W.H. Chan, 2012) to keep themselves up-to-date of what the new technology is able to achieve which allows them to handle challenges that arised in the future. As recommended by Lai, W.H. (2010), NTUC should budget 1% of its annual payroll to staff training and development. With improved system knowledge, NTUC’s employees would be able to make suggestions on how the business processes can be improved (Wilson, G., DuPlessis, A. and Marx, A., 2010). Adequate trainings (Tan, K. & Newman, E., 2012) also ensure NTUC’s employees are able to increase their productivity levels and NTUC should seek to achieve a 20% (Pollitt, D. 2012) increase in orders per head every month. Internal Business Processes Perspectives: In order to ensure the successful implementation of the proposed new systems, NTUC needs to ensure its internal functional teams are able to work seamlessly together. To measure the performance of its internal business processes, we propose NTUC to track the delivery success, product returns and ultimately the level of CO2 emission. Unsuccessful deliveries can be very costly and inefficient for companies. Edwards, J., Makinnon, A. and Cullinane, S. (2009 and 2011) reported that approximately 30% of home deliveries failed for the first time and that between 25-30% of online purchases were returned to the retailer as compared to 6-10% in traditional shopping environments. Therefore, with implementation of the online ordering and tracking system, NTUC targets to achieve at least 80% success rate in its first time delivery and less than 25% returns of customers’ orders. Another recommended measure is to reduce the CO2 emission of NTUC’s delivery services. Assuming that 25-30% of the online purchases were returned as mentioned above by Edwards, J., Makinnon, A. and Cullinane, S. (2009 and  2011), the CO2 emission according to Edwards, J.B., McKinnon, A.C. & Cullinane, S.L. (2010) is 123g. NTUC should set its performance measurement target to reduce CO2 emission to 110g. Figure 8: Emissions (gCO2) per item including Failed Delivery Rates (Source: Edwards, J.B., McKinnon, A.C. and Cullianane, S.L., 2010) CONCLUSION In conclusion, this paper analysed the business operations of NTUC in their online retail and delivery service. Key challenges relating to availability of the intended purchased products online, timeliness of delivery and the conditions of the products as a result of the delivery was identified. Adopting a business operations management approach, we recommend NTUC to implement an integrated online ordering and tracking system to improve the retail business processes and eventually to increase customers’ confidence in its online retail business. At the same time, to ensure the purchase quality is well-maintained for the customers, NTUC should seek to reduce its delivery failure rates for the home delivery service. Establishing a network of collection / delivery points could help achieve the objective. Finally, this paper proposed using the balanced scorecard as a performance measurement tool to ensure that all business functions and managers work towards achieving NTUC’s strategy and vision of this new system. REFERENCES 1.Behjati, S. and Othaman, S.N. (2012): What Drives Consumers’ Online Shopping? Conceptual Review of Online Shopping Attributes Investigated in Previous Studies, Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, Vol. 3: No. 12, pp. 297-311 2.Checkland, P (1981): Systems Thinking, Systems, Practice, Chichester, John Wiley & Sons Ltd 3.Edwards, J., Makinnon, A. and Cullinane, S. 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Olga Semyonova’s Discovery of Peasantry Life Essay

Peasant life is known to be one of the lowest status situations in many parts of the world during the past. Many people are not give equal opportunities compared to those that have a higher status in life. Most often, they are treated like they are not people but slaves due to the lifestyle as well as the work they have. Most of the time, peasants rely on those that has a higher status of living to get work. Thus peasants are one of those unfortunate people who are present in the world. In the book written by Olga Semyonova Tian-Shanskaia and David L. Ransel, the life story of peasant life in Russia. In order to have an overview of the author’s desire to write this type of book, a short background of Olga Semyonova would be presented. Semyonova was born in the year 1863 into a very prominent and scientific family during those eras. The author was one of the daughters of Pytor Pertovich Semyonov who is a popular geographer, explorer and statistician. Through the explorations and attainments which were done by her father, he was acknowledged by the emperor and later added the name Tian-Shanskii. Semyonova’s father played a huge role in the life of peasants because he â€Å"designed the legislation for the emancipation of the Russian peasants for serfdom, a reform implemented in years 1861-1863. Throughout Semynova’s life, she was living in St. Petersburg and was traveling with her family abroad. More often than not, she spent her summers in Gremiachka which is her family’s estate located in Riazan Province. The location of their estate would later on be used to study the life of peasants. With the inheritance of her father’s attitude in exploration, Semyonova was able to do her own explorations regarding peasantry. (xix-xxi) Semyonova’s adult life was very tragic. Although she was very intelligent there was a point in her life that she shielded her self away from her social and intellectual life. She was offered by marriage by a young man who deeply fell in love with her. However, she declined the man. As a result, the young man decided to shot himself in the head and he eventually died. After such, she mostly spent her life living in their real estate which made her aware of the situations of the peasants around their area. (xix-xxi) During the nineteenth century Russian society was in crisis. For several people, the development of the country was slow in comparison to other countries such as Germany, France, England and the United States. These countries were the ones who educated the Russians which brought pressure to the country. In contrast, Russia was very far from these countries bases on their urbanization and industrialization. In addition, these countries have a much higher level of culture and general education. On the other hand, change was very rapid and people blamed the government with its persistence to catch up with the Western world. With the decision of the government, the Russian society was lead into a revolution. The Russians who were well educated were able to view the main sources of the said crisis. As these educated people said, the resolution of the rebellion depends on the actions and attitudes of the regular people such as the peasants who composed the eighty-five (85) percent of the Russian nation. Russian Peasants were the ones who dwell in the rural areas as well as those migrant workers or the industrial workers of the country in different parts of Russia. Peasants were also the ones who constitute the Russian armed forces. Thus, this made all the parties in Russia believe that they know the diverse situation in the villages. Therefore in their perspective, the armed forces have the right to speak for the whole Russian peasantry and all their concerns. However, all their assumptions are not true. Hence, the government was not able to address the problems which are faced by the peasants. In the whole book, the study which was utilized was made by Semyonov with the collaboration with another researcher named K. V. Nikolaevskii during the late 1890s. The study was done regarding the real situation of the peasants throughout those times in order to see the attitudes, aspirations and conditions of the peasants. In addition, the research regarding the lives of these people was regarding their customs, family life. However, there is a failed attempt to present the fluidity of peasantry life. During the time of Semyonova’s study of the peasantry life, she often noticed the she was similar to an outsider to the place. As evidence it was stated that, â€Å"She constituted her own identity as a person of Western scientific culture in opposition to the peasants she studied. According to her, the boundary between childhood and adulthood, so clearly demarcated in education society, collapsed in village society. Peasant children saw the world very much as did the adults† (xxi). Semyonova highlighted that such situations were possible due to the early exposure of children in the difficulties that is normally faced by adults. In addition, the view of point of peasants regarding â€Å"work, morality and property were likewise quite different from the perspective of Semyonova’s upbringing† (xii). Accordingly, there is a different treatment of women in the community in comparison to the treatment of women in the world known by Semyonova. In the book it is stated that, â€Å"†¦the treatment of women, whose lot as the brutalized work horses and chief preservers of social bonds in the family and community†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (xii). In the book, there are many social issues which were stressed by Semyonova. With all the studies observation and researches that she had done in the lives of Russian peasants, the author discovered many things that are very much different from her life while she was growing up. In order to fully represent the life of the peasants, Olga was able to coordinate with one of the peasants in order to properly present the whole community of peasants in general. The person interviewed was named Ivan. Similar to other peasants, the family of Ivan was working on a farm in order to live. As a matter of fact Ivan’s family had, â€Å"livestock at the time of Ivan’s birth included three horses (one of which was a yearling), fifteen sheep, one cow, a heifer, and a pig. Their hut, which was wooden, had three windows and an enclosed entryway (sentsa). Nearby were a workyard, a small granary, and a threshing barn. † In addition they family had the most important necessity for them to live, â€Å"Farm tools included two wagons, two wooden, wheelless plows, one harrow, two types of harnesses, two scythes, two rolls of sackcloth (veret’ia), a sleigh, an ax, two spades, and two flails† (Semyonova, 1). Thus without their farming tools they are not able to see that there are not able to provide for all the things that they need. In the life of Ivan, it was very obvious that culture, norms and economic status was very important. Through this, his upbringing and future is very much affected. In the third chapter which focuses on the issue of child birth. Semyonova highlights that a child if brought up in such type of environment could be affected while growing up. It was stated that, â€Å"their attitudes and behavior as conditioned by the promiscuous intimacy of peasant life† (22). She again states that children see things in a much matured way therefore she finds teenagers very promiscuous and sexual even in a young age. The author also made some comparisons regarding the â€Å"our children, that is the child or the educated urbanized people† (22) against those that live a peasant life. In addition, Seymonova highlights the difference between the lives of peasants in contrast of the urbanized people. Stating that to peasants, â€Å"Deceit to escape punishment was approved, as was the use of foul language or abuse of animals to vent frustration. Patriarchal authority was accepted implicitly; might makes right, and in a sense this brutal fact of life justified deceit and other means of avoidance to escape the dictates of authority and power† (22). With such lines, it is noticeable that the lives of well educated persons are very much different from those that live in peasantry whom have not experienced any education. In general, the life of peasants in Russia during the time of Seymonova does not have any type of opportunity to move forward from the difficulties that they are in. Only those that are privilege and rich are those that are given the right to be educated and move out from the situation they are in. In contrast, the situation of Russia in the current time is far more different from the past situation of peasants. It is not a secret that there are still poor people in Russia but due to various technologies and improvements in terms of laws and policies there are opportunities available for those that wanted to change their lives. Great schools are available and scholarship grants are offered for students who would like to create a change in their lives. Accordingly there are organizations that are very willing to help and provide trainings and assistance with regards to various subjects such are welfare, health services and the likes. Through this, the less fortunate people are educated with regards to their health and sexual relations. As stated by Seymonova, there are promiscuous actions which are made by young people thus; it could be assumed that early pregnancies and diseases are possibly taken a threat. In comparison to the current society of Russia, the awareness and education which are received by citizens protects them against possible sicknesses and threats that could lead to life threatening diseases. Thus, improvements of the benefits of the people have been done through out the years with the help of many changes in terms of government processes and activities. However, problems with regards to society cannot be fully addressed due to the lack of ability of the government to fully reach out to the people. As stated in the introductory pages of the book, that problems could only be resolved through the cooperation and desire of the poor to respond with the issues due to the high percentage rate of their constituents. Works Cited Semyonova Tian-Shanskaia, Olga and David L. Ransel. Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia. United States: Indiana University Press, 1993.

Brainstorms, Turning to Showers

Brainstorms, Turning to Showers Brainstorms, Turning to Showers Brainstorms, Turning to Showers By Maeve Maddox Until recently I associated only two meanings with the word brainstorm: 1. noun: a brilliant idea. Ex. Hey, guys, I just had a brainstorm! Lets go to the movies. 2, verb: to generate a lot of ideas in a short time. Ex. Before deciding on an essay topic, take the time to brainstorm. According the the Wikipedia, brainstorming is a group creativity technique designed to generate a large number of ideas for the solution of a problem. The method was first popularized in the late 1930s by Alex Faickney Osborn in a book called Applied Imagination. Osborn proposed that groups could double their creative output with brainstorming. Heres what it says in the OED brain-storm, (a) ‘a succession of sudden and severe phenomena, due to some cerebral disturbance’ (Gould 1894); (b) U.S. colloq. = brain-wave (c); (c) U.S., a concerted ‘attack’ on a problem, usu. by amassing a number of spontaneous ideas which are then discussed; also attrib.; so as v., to make such an attack; hence brain-storming vbl. n. and ppl. Apparently some sensitive civil servants in Britain think the expression brainstorm is potentially offensive to people who have epilepsy or some other medical condition that affects the brain. They recommend that we adopt some other figure of speech, such as word storm, thought shower or ideas shower. . . .staff at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) in Belfast will use the term thought-showers when they get together to think creatively. A spokeswoman said: The DETI does not use the term brainstorming on its training courses on the grounds that it may be deemed pejorative. The Guardian A spokesman for Tunbridge Wells Borough Council in Kent said: We take diversity awareness very seriously. The majority of staff have taken part in training and been asked to use the term thought showers. The Telegraph It seems that people who actually have the condition of epilepsy arent much bothered by the popular use of brainstorm to mean to generate ideas. The Epilepsy Foundation of Los Angeles named a recent conference The Epilepsy Brainstorm Summit. Gemma Baxter from the National Society for Epilepsy in the U.K. said her organization contacted people with epilepsy in the community and the overwhelming response was that brainstorming implies no offence to people with epilepsy, and that any implication that the word is offensive to people with the condition is taking political correctness too far. quoted in Free Republic Tricia Ward and Sam Delaney have something to say about this well-meaning pre-emptive effort of the language police to spare the feelings of people whose feelings are unknown to them: Tricia Ward Sam Delaney (Update: Article no longer online) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Synonyms for â€Å"Leader†50 Diminutive Suffixes (and a Cute Little Prefix)Apostrophe with Plural Possessive Nouns

The Great Houdini essays

The Great Houdini essays This book is about the life of Ehric Weiss or better known the Great Houdini. In his younger years 16-18 he was a bow tie maker. He had great interest in magic and its secrets. At age 18 he decided to become a traveling magician. He read a lot during his younger years and found a book on Robert Houdin. That is how he comes up with his name. He learned that in French if you add "I" to the back of any word it means "like". So he added a "I" to Houdin showing that he was "Like" Robert Houdin. At first Houdini was not successful at all. He couldnt make any money for any tricks and the only way he could learn greater tricks is if he made money to buy more trick books.. Well eventually he started making more money and was able to learn better tricks and get better equipment to do them.. He eventually worked his way up to the top. His name was mentioned on every street and home across the world. He would escape from freezing shark-infested waters without even getting a scratch. Or hung upside down while a rope was burnt and get the chains and ropes of before the rope burnt all the way through and he plunged to a hundred foot drop. He did all of his great tricks until his death in 1926 when he died. All of his tricks were concieled until this book was published. ...