International Operational And Logistics (REPORT) Assignment

International Operational And Logistics (REPORT) - Assignment Example In Dell, Suppliers are viewed as the integral part of operating business and a key variable for success. The last part of repot analyzes an improvement proposal that could possibly improve the logistics and supply chain of the company thereby enhancing its competitive advantage. The proposal focused on use of information technology in supply chain management of Dell through Oracle 10G and use of e-commerce in its supply chain management. Introduction Dell was incorporated in 1994 by Michael Dell while he was a student at University of Texas, Austin. From its very first initiatives, direct selling model was adopted. In the beginning PC’s were sold over the phone and they were customized according to customers’ specifications. Dell returned to its direct selling model after using the retail channel from 1990 to 1994. In mid 1990’s, the company grew rapidly, thus becoming number one PC seller in the US and number two worldwide in 1999. Dell’s success continue d over the following years, but it was not able to avoid the crisis in PC industry in the new millennium. Dell’s growth rate fell, resulting in the fall of its stock price. However, over the time, Dell managed to remain a highly successful company, and its growth rate continued to outperform the industry as a whole. Dell’s strategic choices and ways of realizing those choices have played an effective role in story Dell’s success. The supply chain management of the company is the key element in its successful business model. The core element of the company’s business model is its direct sales model, referred as ‘direct mode’, with the build to order strategy. Current Operations and Supply Chain Business Model This differentiated model of dell help it creates a niche in the distribution channel and eliminates the entire mid channel members to arrive at cost leadership position in the industry. The basic principle of Resource based view is that the competitive advantage for any particular organization completely depends upon the resources which are available at any company’s disposal. It is a management tool to determine the important resources available for any organization. It is very important for success of the organization that these resources are valuable and are not imitable. The direct sales model refers to the fact that the company does not use any retail channels for selling its products, but sells its products directly to its customers through its corporate website, Dell.com. The above figure shows hot the direct model of Dell was different from the indirect distribution channel of the rest of industry. In its direct sale model, the intermediary steps that add cost and time are eliminated, and the company is directly able to link with its customers. Dell directly sells to all its customers, regardless of a home-PC to world’s largest corporations. The direct relationship with individual customer cre ates a great source of competitive advantage for Dell. This creates a valuable information about the end customers, and thus Dell knows who are the end users of their product, what they have purchased from the company, what are their future preferences, a fact that allows the company to stay closer to their customers by offering add-on products and services. Company distinguishes three customer segments, namely large organizations,

Porters Five Forces model Essay Example for Free

Porters Five Forces model Essay In the banking industry rivalry among its competitors is a pretty common game. A few larger banks always dominate larger markets offering more locations and faster paced technologies for those consumers. Usually in a these larger areas larger banks can thrive because the expectation level of personalization is much lower since consumers don’t feel the need to frequent a location or rely on individuals to help them. While as areas grow smaller in population Small Community banks emerge with a fewer number of larger entities to compete with these banking giants being able to offer a more personalized approach allowing people to rely more on human interacting with technology, not only relying on the technology. Most banks primary function is to lend money of the deposits they gain, so most generally the most competitive is incentives for consumers to keep money on deposit and lower rate loans for consumers to take out. The potential for new competitors is not so common that it happens frequently but in today’s market groups of individuals with large resources who are frustrated with too much structure and to high of fee structures from larger institutions have formed smaller banks or credit unions to supply a need for better priced products, with hopefully a more home town approach with dealing with its customer base. Most markets are set competition mainly coming from outside banks wanting to tap into growing areas to capitalize on possible wealth of clients in that area or high traffic spots that business in that area have attracted. Other areas of new competition doesn’t come directly from a â€Å"NEW† bank but a bank buying out certain branches or absorbing the institution as a whole. This usually changes the dynamic that that competitor usually giving them more resources to utilize and make them more of a competitive force in the banking industry. Sometimes this can also work opposite and help out other banks in the area. If the â€Å"NEW† bank has processes or other items that are not favorable to the community they are in, that company could by an asset to lose it down the road when the client moves business due to not liking the new bank they are at.

Sigma Nu Essay -- Fraternities College Essays

Sigma Nu There are many advantages of joining an NAU organization as I have learned through Sigma Nu. There are many complicated issues and opportunities presented to people everyday. Some are more severe than others, but they all come down to a sense of commitment and desire. Just recently, I had the honor of dealing with headaches and alternating views as I was introduced to Greek Fraternal Life. I had looked into Fraternities in the past, but never pursued any group due to uncertainty. Because I was ignorant about the Greek system prior to attending N.A.U., my curiosity, first semester, allowed me to get a better understanding of it. With more knowledge and comprehension I decided to further look into becoming a member of the Sigma Nu Fraternity. The process of becoming a member is much harder than people would think, myself included until I experienced it first hand. Meeting people during rush week is easy, as you are respectfully invited to activities and dinners. Each group tries to persuade you to join their Fraternity by telling how great their organization is. Whether it is done by their involvement in philanthropy events, leadership learning, community service or party life they all have something different to offer. That’s where the process becomes more difficult as you try to find the one that best fits your ideals. Do you want to party all the time or do you want to get something out of it and what is it that you want to ge...

Innocent Smoothies Essay

What is branding? Branding is the process involved in creating a distinctive look for a product or company to create desire and trust from the customers for the product or company. A way a company can use branding is by having a unique logo or motto because it’s a way for the public to recognise the brand. The name of the company is another method of branding, because if your company has a name that stands out from others it will catch people’s attention, and people will be familiar with what you’re talking about and who they are purchasing from. There are 3 different types of branding: Product branding, service branding and corporate branding. Product branding is a specific product for example Nike Air by Nike. It’s a unique part of branding because it’s a small part of the main brand. Service Branding is a specific service by a brand for example iTunes by Apple as that is just a music downloading service, while Apple is a multi product company. Corporate branding i s a larger part of branding because it’s a brand that applies to a variety of products within one company, for example Malteasers are a part of the Mars Inc. corporate brand. Branding in Action: Innocent Smoothies and Children In Need This company was founded in 1998. They started with smoothies and from there expanded into food, juice and children’s smoothies. They concentrated on a health focus of their products contained 2 of your 5 a day. Innocent have about 78% market share. Innocent smoothies use an angel with a halo with no mouth as their logo; they use this as their logo to persuade customers that their products are ‘innocent’ like angels and that they are good for you and your body. This logo is a significant part of the Innocent brand because they use a distinguishable logo; no other well known brand uses a smiley without a mouth and a halo. Innocent is also uniquely recognisable because its marketing is that it’s healthy and good for you, this health aspect is a major part of Innocent’s branding. Innocent add value to their products by saying how healthy they are and how good they are for you. They only use recyclable packaging when they first formed their recycling eff orts stood at  70% they are now at 100% which is a huge achievement. The company use lots of different combinations of flavours, some you would not think of putting together. All their products are natural, no added flavours. They do their best to promote their brands by making a big thing out of being good for your body. Parents are more likely to buy as there are no additives. They boost their image as more people buy the products as lots of people are health conscious now. They also do various promotions like a woolly hat campaign to raise money for charity. They changed the name of their product to make it more successful, their previous name was Naked. That would have needed a completely different promotion as they want to be associated with good. These businesses need to promote themselves for people to see them and to recognise them for doing something differentiating them from competitors. Innocent smoothies promote themselves by doing unique things that other brands don’t, for example they notified customers how much the bottle had been recycled and they eventually had a 100% recycled bottle Children in Need are a charity in the UK that was founded in 1980. As a charity they have raised over  £600 million and they help to change the lives of disabled, vulnerable and young people of the UK. Children in Need raise money doing baking activities, fancy dress events and they encourage the public to do sponsored challenges and they have a big Children in Need television show. The Children in Need brand is best known for Pudsey the bear and its big telethon around November. Pudsey is highly recognisable in the brand because he has a unique eye patch that makes him stand out from any other mascot bear. Pudsey is also another way for Children in Need to attract children because he is a character as well as a mascot. The Children in Need brand is well known for its telethon in BBC, people recognise the telethon because it’s on a Friday night on a channel that is advert free so people are more likely to tune in. The telethon is well known for its challenges and celebrity e ndorsement and they also will have a combination of two well know shows for example Eastenders and ITV’s Coronation Street called ‘East Street’. Children in Need add value to their product by having unique merchandise; the products are unique because of Pudsey as he himself is a unique mascot. They add value to the customer because they emphasise the fact that all the money they make will go to a good cause which makes  people sympathetic, and even people who are not concerned about the children will donate because the products they provide are ‘fashionable’. Children in Need’s brand personality is that they help children and therefore that they’re caring and considerate. They are a fun charity and do a lot of fundraising events and activities, which is attractive to children and parents. Their ethical image is a large benefit to their company because people will recognise that what they do will help unfortunate children, and that will increase their customer preference for donating to their charity. This will enable them to raise more money therefore they will be able to do more fundraising and provide more entertainment. Them being seen as a fun charity will help them because the public can be encouraged to get involved in their work as it is enjoyable as well as helping at the same time. If the branding for Children in Need was not successful, and did not make them appear to be caring and considerate, then people wouldn’t donate and they would boycott from donating and participating from their fundraising . If they weren’t a fun charity then people wouldn’t be as interested in donating to their charity and they wouldn’t be as well known as they are now. They need to promote themselves so they can raise awareness of their various charities, for example in Southend they help the following charities: Southend Association of Voluntary Services, Southend Mencap and Southend Mind. Children in Need differentiate themselves by the way they promote their company, for example they have popular celebrity endorsement in their adverts. They need to differentiate themselves from other charities so that they can stand out so they can get more donations. The Children in Need charity promote their service by having famous and popular comedians in their shows and they have well known children entertainers. Another way they use promotion is by the way they have the show on BBC One where there are no TV adverts, so no adverts for competitor charities. They also promote themselves by having well known supermarkets selling their product and supporting them, for example Asda. They also use paper promotion, for example leaflets and flyers and billboards. T he most popular way they are recognised is by advertising using their mascot Pudsey. Innocent is environmentally friendly , recycle , sustainable ingredient sources, super market promo , festival , tv , humor Children in need :  helping , money 4 good , super market promotion , tv , humor Marketing mix a key tool in marketing. The marketing mix is usually vital when deciding a products marketing and include the following P’s : Pricing , Promotion, Place and Product. I will be talking about the Innocent Fruit Tubes and how the marketing mix is used in branding. Fruit tubes are a yoghurt mad by Innocent and they are made from 100% fruit and they have 2 different combination flavours: Strawberry mixed with raspberry and mango and pineapple. The company are proud to say that this product has no artificial sweeteners or any added sugar and lumpy bits. This product has and overall rating of 4.5/5 and a majority of 5/5 ratings. The packaging is designed for kids, you can tell this by the way it is very colourful and the fruit logos on each tube has a character name and an interesting fact. The size of the packaging is small and easy for customer and children to manage. The Innocent Fruit Tubes are roughly priced at around  £1.99 for a average packet of 6 tubes. The yoghurts are priced at roughly  £0.33 per yoghurt which is a reasonable cost and affordable for many people Innocent promote their fruit tubes by having promotional offers such as 12 tubes for just  £3.00 and they use TV, magazine, billboards and posters to promote their Fruit Tubes. They will have a sales team who will go and pitch their product to popular supermarkets and confectionary retailers. The most well known promotional campaign they used was The Big Knit which was when they appealed for members of the public to knit mini woolly hats for their innocent products to help raise money for the elderly and to keep people warm during the winter. Innocents Fruit tubes are on sale in multiple different places for example super market stores or online super markets and shops, cafe’s and sandwich bars. The product is distributed all over the UK as well as many places in Europe such as: Belgium, Denmark, Germany. France and many other countries in Europe and in the Maldi ves .

Surgical Instruments

Surgery has been performed since ancient times. The earliest recorded surgical operations were circumcision and trepanation. (Circumcision is the removal of the foreskin of the penis. Trepanation involves making a hole in the skull to relieve pressure and/or release spirits. ) The earliest instruments used in these procedures were flint or obsidian (shiny stone) knives and saws. Stone Age skulls from around the world have been found with holes in them from trepanning. Primitive people also used knives to cut off fingers damaged in accidents. The ancient Hindus of India excelled at surgery. The great surgical textbook, Sushruta Samhita, probably dates back to the last centuries B. C. This work described 20 sharp and 101 blunt surgical instruments. These instruments included forceps, pincers, trocars (sharp-pointed instruments fitted with a small tube), and cauteries (irons to heat and sear tissue). Most of these surgical tools were made of steel. The ancient Hindus also used lancets to carry out cataract surgery, scalpels to restore amputated noses via plastic surgery, and sharp knives to remove bladder stones. At about the same time, ancient Peruvians were performing trepanation. They left behind various surgical instruments, including scalpels and chisels made of obsidian. The Greeks practiced surgery mostly on external parts of the body. They usually used forceps, knives, and probes. Bronze Roman surgical instruments found at Pompeii include a scalpel with a steel blade, spring and scissor forceps, a sharp hook, and shears. In the first century A. D. , Cel-cus A tray of modern surgical instruments. The ancient Hindus used lancets to carry out cataract surgery, scalpels to restore amputated noses via plastic surgery, and sharp knives to remove bladder stones. described the use of ligatures. Ligatures are used to tie off blood vessels and reduce bleeding during operations. Galen ( A. D. 130-200) gave detailed and sensible instructions on the use of surgical instruments. After ancient times, medical knowledge declined, and surgeons fell to a lowly status. In the absence of knowledge about antiseptics, surgery was highly risky. As a result, only the simplest and most urgent operations (such as amputations) using the most straightforward instruments were performed. A few physicians sought to spread knowledge of surgical procedures by publishing texts that illustrated surgical instruments. Most important among these men was the great French surgeon Ambroise Pare (1517-1590). Pare revived use of ligature and invented many surgical procedures and instruments. His inventions included the â€Å"crow's beak† to hold blood vessels while tying them off. Pare also perfected an instrument for cataract removal. Other types of surgical instruments are: Payr’s Crushing Clamp: This is the heavy instrument with double lever system, it has two blades with uniform serrations, used to perform Gastrectomy. Aneurysm Needle: This is the long instrument with an EYE at one end, it was used to ligate the feeding artery in an aneurysm, during venesection, silk suture can be threaded within eye passed around to ligate it. Right Angled Forcep: Also known as Lahey’s Forcep, it is used to ligate major vascular pedicles like superior thyroid pedicle in thyroidectomy, cystic artery in cholecystectomy and lumbar veins in lumbar sympathectomy. Czerny Retractor: This is a double hooked retractor on one side and single blade on other side, this is a superficial retractor, used to retract layers of abdominal walls and muscles during appendicectomy, herniorrhapy, or thyroidectomy. Lagenback retractor: It has a single blade, function it’s similar to Czerny Retractor. Deaver’s Retractor: It is used to retract liver during vagotomy, cholecystectomy, Gastrectomy, also used to retract kidney and urinary bladder. Allis Tissue holding forcep: It has a ratched and triangular expansion at tip, where serrations are present, it is used to hold tough structures like fascia, aponeurosis, can also be used to hold duodenum during Gastrectomy. Throughout time surgical instruments have changed now we sterilize the instruments and they are much more safer than the once in ancient history. Technology has evolved and keeps evolving new instruments will be created always.

The Benefits of Cell Phone Recycling

The Benefits of Cell Phone Recycling Recycling or reusing cell phones helps the environment by saving energy, conserving natural resources and keeping reusable materials out of landfills. Cell Phone Recycling Helps the Environment Cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) contain a variety of precious metals, copper, and plastics. Recycling or reusing cell phones and PDAs not only conserves these valuable materials, it also prevents air and water pollution and reduces greenhouse gas emissions that occur during manufacturing and while extracting and processing virgin materials. Five Good Reasons to Recycle Cell Phones Only about 10 percent of the cell phones used in the United States are recycled. We need to do better. Heres why: Recycling just one cell phone saves enough energy to power a laptop for 44 hours.If Americans recycled all of the 130 million cell phones that are tossed aside annually in the United States, we could save enough energy to power more than 24,000 homes for a year.For every one million cell phones recycled, we can recover 75 pounds of gold, 772 pounds of silver, 33 pounds of palladium, and 35,274 pounds of copper; cell phones also contain tin, zinc, and platinum.Recycling one million cell phones also saves enough energy to provide electricity to 185 U.S. households for a year.Cell phones and other electronic devices also contain hazardous materials such as lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic and brominated flame retardants. Many of those materials can be recycled and reused; none of them should go into landfills where they can contaminate air, soil, and groundwater. Recycle or Donate Your Cell Phone Most Americans get a new cell phone every 18 to 24 months, usually when their contract expires and they qualify for a free or low-cost upgrade to a new cell phone model. The next time you get a new cell phone, dont discard your old one or toss it into a drawer where it will just gather dust. Recycle your old cell phone or, if the cell phone and its accessories are still in good working order, consider donating them to a program that will either sell them to benefit a worthy charity or offer them to someone less fortunate. Some recycling programs also work with schools or community organizations to collect cell phones as fundraising ventures. Apple will take back your old iPhone and recycle or reuse it through its Renew program. In 2015, Apple recycled 90 million pounds of electronic waste. The materials thus recovered include 23 million lbs of steel,   13 million lbs of plastic, and almost 12 million lbs of glass. Some of the recovered materials have very high value: in 2015 only Apple recovered 2.9 million lbs of copper, 6612 lbs of silver, and 2204 lbs of gold! The markets for refurbished cell phones extend far beyond U.S. borders, providing modern communication technology to people in developing nations who would otherwise find it unaffordable. How Are Materials From Recycled Cell Phones Used? Almost all of the materials used to manufacture cell phones- metals, plastics and rechargeable batteries- can be recovered and used to make new products. Metals recovered from recycled cell phones are used in many different industries such as jewelry making, electronics, and automotive manufacturing. Recovered plastics are recycled into plastic components for new electronic devices and other plastic products such as garden furniture, plastic packaging, and auto parts. When rechargeable cell-phone batteries can no longer be reused, they can be recycled to make other rechargeable battery products. Edited by Frederic Beaudry

The History of Hutu and Tutsi Conflicts

The History of Hutu and Tutsi Conflicts Hutu and Tutsi are two groups in Africa that became known to most in other parts of the world through the grisly 1994 Rwanda genocide, but the history of conflict between the two ethnic groups reaches back further than that. Generally, the Hutu-Tutsi strife stems from class warfare, with the Tutsis perceived to have greater wealth and social status (as well as favoring cattle ranching over what is seen as the lower-class farming of the Hutus). The Tutsis are thought to have originally come from Ethiopia and arrived after the Hutu came from Chad. Burundi, 1972 The seeds of resentment for the minority Tutsis were sown when the first elections after winning independence in May 1965 saw strong Hutu wins, but the king appointed a Tutsi friend prime minister, sparking a failed coup attempt by Hutus. Even though this was quickly quelled in the capital, it set off additional violence between the two ethnicities in the countryside. In addition, Tutsis, which made up about 15 percent of the population to the 80 percent Hutus, occupied other key government and military positions. On April 27, some Hutu policemen rebelled, killing all Tutsis and Hutus (estimates range from 800 to 1,200 dead) who refused to join the rebellion in the lakeside towns of Rumonge and Nyanza-Lac. The leaders of the rebellion have been described as radicalized Hutu intellectuals who operated out of Tanzania. The Tutsi president, Michel Micombero, responded by declaring martial law and putting the wheels of a Hutu genocide in motion. The first phase virtually wiped out the educated Hutu (by June, nearly 45 percent of teachers were reported missing; students at technical schools were targeted, as well), and by the time the carnage was done in May about 5 percent of the population had been killed: estimates range from 100,000 to up to 300,000 Hutu. Burundi, 1993 The Hutus won the presidential office with banker Melchior Ndadaye, forming the first government since independence from Belgium in 1962 with elections that had been agreed to by the ruling Tutsis, but Ndadaye was assassinated shortly thereafter. The killing of the president threw the country back into turmoil, claiming about 25,000 Tutsi civilians in revenge killings. This sparked killings of Hutu, resulting in a total death toll of about 50,000 over the next several months. The mass killings of the Tutsi wouldnt be called genocide by the United Nations until a 2002 inquiry. Rwanda, 1994Â   In April 1994 Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira, a Hutu, and Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, also a Hutu, were killed when their plane was shot down. By this time, tens of thousands of Hutus had fled the Burundi violence into Rwanda. Blame for the assassination has been pointed at both Tutsi and Hutu extremists; current Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who at the time led a Tutsi rebel group, has said that the Hutu extremists conducted the rocket attack to set in motion their long-laid-out plans to wipe out the Tutsis. These genocidal plans were hatched not just at cabinet meetings, but spread in media incitement, and capped a long period of ethnic unrest in Rwanda. Between April and July, some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed, with a militia group called the Interahamwe taking lead in the slaughter. Sometimes Hutus were forced to kill their Tutsi neighbors; other participants in the genocide were given monetary incentives. The United Nations let the killings go on unabated after 10 Belgian peacekeepers were killed in the early days of the genocide. Democratic Republic of Congo, Post-Rwandan Genocide to the Present Many Hutu militants who participated in the Rwandan genocide fled to the Congo in 1994, setting up encampments in the mountainous areas akin to fiefdoms. In addition, several groups of Hutu fighting the Tutsi-dominated government of Burundi settled in the eastern part of the country. Rwandas Tutsi government has twice invaded with the intention of wiping out the Hutu militants. The Hutu also battle a Tutsi rebel leader, General Laurent Nkunda, and his forces. Up to five million deaths have been caused by the years of fighting in the Congo. The Interahamwe now call themselves the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda and use the country as a staging base to overthrow Kagame in Rwanda. One of the groups commanders told the Daily Telegraph in 2008, We are fighting every day because we are Hutu and they are Tutsis. We cannot mix, we are always in conflict. We will stay enemies forever.