SAUDIZATION AND THE SAUDI ARABIAN KINGDOM DEVELOPMENT Essay

SAUDIZATION AND THE SAUDI ARABIAN KINGDOM DEVELOPMENT - Essay Example Saudization was an initiative from Saudi Government to encourage the participation and employment of Saudi Nationals in the private sector of the country. This was started during 2006 which were started in order to ensure that local Saudis get jobs in private sector. Government made the condition that if private sector companies do not hire the locals, they will fail to get the government contracts. Initially government set the level of 75% wherein 75% of the employees will be locals however, in actuality, the figures are relatively low. Human resource development (HRD), according to Harbisson and Myers (1964, cited in Abdulai, 2000), is the process of increasing the knowledge, skills and the capacities of all people in society. Therefore, when there is an increase in the level of skills possessed by individuals, an economy will invariably benefit and develop faster. In case of Saudization, this is more critical because it requires a completely new and strategic approach towards HRM in order to ensure that the locals are engaged and employed by the local firms in order to upgrade their skills and reduce the dependence of country on foreign workers. This essay will discuss as to how the process of Saudization can help to create jobs and support the national economy of Saudi Arabia, a country in the Middle East. Also, the issue and its relationship to the development of the economy will be discussed, as well as challenges that may be faced. Recommendations will therefore be made based on the research findings. Saudi Arabia and its Economy The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has a centrally planned economy. It’s an oil-based economy with steady government control over major economic activities. The country owns 25% of the world’s confirmed petroleum reserves and ranks as the world’s largest petroleum exporter (OPEC, 2009). The petroleum sector of the Saudi economy accounts for roughly 75% of budget revenues, 45% of the gross domestic product (GDP), an d 90% of export earnings. Approximately 4 million foreign workers play an important role in the oil and service sectors, contributing to the Saudi economy (Gianos & Lusignan, 2003). In the earlier years, discussions were focused on the extent to which Saudi Arabia is prepared to increase market admittance for foreign goods and services and the length of time to become fully compliant with World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations. In April 2000, therefore, the government established the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority to encourage foreign direct investment in Saudi Arabia, and as of November 2005, Saudi Arabia was formally permitted to join the WTO (Al-Asmari, 2008). The Saudi Arabian economy is flooded with family businesses which constitute the backbone of the economy. According to Davis et al. (1997) the family organisations constitute 90% of the trading activities in the Gulf region and 95% of the total organizations in the country. This percentage is relatively high because in other regions of the world, the percentage is between 65% and 80% (Davis et al., 1997). Also, according to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) (2006), the overall number of such family organizations is estimated to have reached

Beethoven Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 6

Beethoven - Essay Example as being both a great musician, and when he saw young Beethoven first perform at the age of seven, he took him out of school and found him music teachers for his education. When he was fifteen, Beethoven had the chance to play for the famous composer and musician Mozart. In his early twenties, he left Bonn for Vienna, Austria, and studied under teacher Joseph Haydn. Beethoven became well known as a virtuoso in some of the high-ranking society circles of the day. He was also known for his talent in improvising music. At the age of 27, Beethoven discovered that he was losing his hearing, and would soon be totally deaf. He almost decided to kill himself, but after thinking about it realized that he could still hear music, if only inside his head, so he decided to keep on with it. He composed works even as he was going deaf. His Ninth Symphony, today recognizable by almost anyone even in the first few notes, was composed after he was totally deaf. Beethoven suffered from bad health for years, and was three times rejected by women he wanted to marry. He died a bachelor in 1827 in Vienna, Austria, and his funeral was attended by more than 10,000 people. His symphonies, some of which he could not even hear when conducting, are still some of the best known and widely played pieces of music throughout the world

Analysis of Supplier Development Strategies

Analysis of Supplier Development Strategies ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS Any activity undertaken by a buying firm to improve supplier performance, supplier capabilities, or both and to meet the buying firms short and/or long term supply needs can be termed as supplier development activity. A study by the Harvard Business School concluded that a primary reason for declining US competitiveness is that US companies invest less than foreign rivals in intangible investments such as supplier development. Half of the companies fail in this supplier development effort if executed. As supplier development help in increasing competitiveness and is not successful every time if implemented, it is essential to examine supplier development and factors which result towards the success of supplier development. This paper will examine aspects associated with the success of supplier development strategies within different set of industry. This research will put forward a specific set of aspects are significant contributors to supplier development; also this paper will show that some factors of supplier development have significant influence on other factors of supplier development. Data from the population of buyers and suppliers will be collected to test the extent of relationship between significant factors and success of supplier development process. Agreement was noted between dependencies of success of supplier development process on several factors. Recommendations to supply managers and purchasing manager will be provided regarding upper management involvement, enhanced communication with their suppliers, recognition of their suppliers and development of strategic processing instead of reactive processing will be offered. chapter 1 introduction This thesis is a report of ethnographic study of critical factors for supplier development strategies. The study was based primarily upon the survey with supplier development managers and professionals involved in this field. This first chapter of the thesis will discuss the context of the study, intention of the study, describe the importance and will present the overview of the methodology used. Background of Study A global economy is emerging and resources are concentrated on core business rather than the diversification which show the way towards outsourcing. Outsourcing is increased from $91 billion to $416 billion in 20 years (Tunstall, 2002), and it is expected to increase further. In 2009 the value of outsourcing deals in logistics area were projected to $ 80 billion (Hyatt, 2009) which shows the intensity of use of suppliers. Due to this voluminous use of suppliers buying companies have to rely on their suppliers to deliver defect free product in a timely and cost effective manner. To compete in their respective markets, buying firm must ensure that their supplier capability equals the expectations (Krause Ellram, Success factors in supplier development, 1997). When a supplier is incapable of meeting the buying firms need the buying firm has three alternatives: (1) Bring the outsourced item in house and produce it internally, (2) Resource with a more capable supplier, (3) Help improve t he existing suppliers capabilities. All the three strategies can work. (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000). Supplier development is defined as Any effort of a buying firm with its supplier to increase the performance and capabilities of the supplier and meet the buying firms supply needs. (Krause Ellram, Critical elements of supplier development, 1997) When the suppliers are innovative and exclusively supplying a product then the supplier development option comes into the picture. When a company is using a supplier, it is necessary to have a good relationship with them. The Harvard research suggested that supplier development started very late in USA but it was started very long ago in the Japan. Toyota, Honda and Nissan implemented these supplier development activities in their plants a long back. Although similar research has been done previously, the theme of research was same but this new research is capable to generate new knowledge , First the populations is different and for the variety of reasons they will be having different opinions and attitudes than the previous cohort . There might be a different type of interaction in between me and those to which will generate the new idea, the sample data is from different set of industry and places so the research context will be totally different from the previous researches. Even the subject might be same but the contextual issues are very different. The Problem Statement Supplier development requires both supplier and buyer to commit their maximum to get the maximum out of the program. Even though both the sides agree that the commitment is required it is not necessary that supplier development program in which they are involved will be successful. In early 90s companies start reducing the number of direct suppliers and began evolving from adversarial relationships to more cooperative ones with the remaining suppliers. (Hartley Choi, 1996), Approximate one-third projects are failed due to suppliers underperformance. So the success in the supplier development is not a foregone conclusion. Supplier development is considered as a long term business strategy and there are various factors which affects this long term strategy. These factors not only affect the end result of supplier development process but also influence each other. This research tried to establish the critical success factors for supplier development and their inter-relationship with ea ch other. Regression models approach helped to develop the interrelationship among critical success factors. Anyone especially supplier development manager and procurement professional can refer the model over the wide range of circumstances and structure. The main objective of the research paper is to create the model for critical success factors for supplier development strategies. Professional Significance Large number of companies does the supplier development and they fail as well at surprising rate. Not all supplier development initiatives are successful in fact, as many as 50% are not successful, due to poor implementation and follow-up. (Handfield R. , 2002) The failed efforts consume tremendous amount of resources over months or even years. As multiple studies have shown over half of the supplier initiatives fails. This failure takes a toll that is not only financial but also psychological. Failure demoralizes employees who have been labored diligently to complete their share of the work. As the supplier development success factors depends on both the parties so a dedicated study is required to find out what factors make the supplier development process a success. In 2000, according to the study 53% of the companies claimed that they are involved in the supplier development program but it was found that only 20% of the companies are contributing for the financial support for the suppliers and only 14% of the companies are putting their employees in the suppliers place for the development purpose. Eleven percentages of the companies are giving the chance to the suppliers to come at the buyers place and learn. Only 11% of the companies are having the formal program for supplier development, others are doing it without any of the formal program. (Anonymous, 2000). It shows that even though companies are involved in supplier development program but not fully implementing in an appropriate way. In General Motors, after implementation of supplier development program supplier productivity was improved 50%, lead time was reduced by 75%, and inventory reduction happened around 70% during their one week workshops. On one project alone, Honda of Americas Best Practices (BP) team reduced a suppliers costs by more than $200,000 per year by changing the layout of a welding process. Furthermore layout change might increase the efficiency of supplier and ultimately give advantage to buying company. (Hartley Choi, 1996). Also one of the purchasing pro for a power tool producer said that in three years of developing suppliers, his company has seen quality rejects fall from 38.4% down to 0.5% while supplier on-time delivery has risen from 76% to 97.5%. Likewise, another proponent of supplier development cites an average supplier quality metric of 98.5% and on-time supplier delivery at 97%. They claimed to have improved quality, response time, prices and cycle time improvements, The VP f or a major California-based computer maker talks about how assistance from his firm allowed one subassembly supplier to ramp up to 50,000 pieces per month in only six weeks. (Anonymous, 2000).Although it took only 6 weeks to ramp up the production but usually supplier development is very time consuming and long process which consumes plenty of resources, so it is very much required to do it correct first time. To get the results mentioned above -$200,000 saving /year it is essential to learn what are the success contributors and failure contributors of supplier development. Overview of Methodology A structured survey questionnaire with five-point Likert scale was developed. Web and email were used to circulate and gather information regarding what group of supplier development professionals thinks about supplier development activities. Survey was divided in 6 small sections and every section was having 3 questions. Total of 20 questions were mailed to random sample of 300 supplier development professionals. The survey solicited about a single instance of supplier development performed by them. Survey was face validated and content validated with the help of thesis chair and committee. Of 300 surveys circulated 50 usable responses were obtained, which provides the perception of large group of supplier development manger regarding the nature of their supplier development project. The responding population represents a wide range of industry types. Also before e-mail survey set of interviews with supplier development managers was conducted. The interview was designed to validate the success factors collected after reviewing literature review and to help focus on reliable, important success factors which have extremely high control on supplier development success. Delimitation The research study was conducted at San Diego State University during the end of the fall semester-2009. This research was limited to supplier development manager who updated their resume on resume bank. This research was limited to professionals in North America continent to reduce cultural differences within the population used in the study. Multiple Regression model was used to prove the interdependency in between critical factors instead structural equation modeling. Survey instrument was developed with the help of existing instruments. This will allow us to compare new results with the old results. This research was limited to 3 questions per factor to keep instrument short. chapter 2 literature review This chapter will review the past researches that serves as the foundation for the thesis report presented. The research papers are basically associated with critical factors associated with success of supplier development. The research paper will present purpose and rationale for writing research paper on supplier development strategies. Following will be the review of literature on Strategic process, Upper management involvement, Supplier recognition, Effective and enhanced communication and commitment of suppliers. The chapter will conclude with a summary of literature. Examples of the key word used while finding the scholar research papers were supplier development, supplier relationship, supplier evaluation, supplier management, supply chain management and buyer-supplier relationship. Combinations of keywords were used to get different research papers. Search engine used during literature search were SDSU library search engine and Google scholar. (Ekholm Pashei, 2009). Past Literature First document application of supplier development comes from Toyota in 1939. Toyota discussed the need of working together with suppliers to improve collective performance. Thereafter in 1963 Nissan implemented first supplier development project, Honda joined the club in 1973 (Monczka, Handfield, Glunipero, Patterson, 2009). It is essential to understand the significance of each factor and the role it plays in supplier development process. Past researches can be categorized in (a) Theoretical, (b) Conceptual, (c) Empirical, (d) Conceptual and Empirical. Table 1 gives the brief of past literature which were identified. Previous to mid 1990s, the supplier development literature consisted mainly of theoretical studies covering cases of several companies and surveys and the purpose was to learn the barriers which comes in the way of supplier development. In 1990s the research moved towards establishing relationship in between various supplier development constructs where in 2000 the re search moved towards influence of supplier development towards innovation and purchasing strategy (Easton, 2000). In todays business increased trend of reliance on supplier is observed. Most of the buying firms need to pursue aggressive strategies in order to increase the future rate of capabilities improvement. (Monnczka, Trent, Callahan, 1993) Having mentioned that supplier is becoming increasingly critical to the competitive success of US firms, there are several reasons behind that. First manufacturers are beginning to focus on their core competencies and areas of technical expertise. Second, developing effective supply base management strategies can help counter the competitive pressures brought about by intense worldwide competition. Third, Suppliers can support directly a firms ability to innovate in the critical areas of product and process technology. Study showed 95% of business unit sample indicated supplier contributions were increasing throughout in terms of importance. There was a 232% increase in people from 1989-1990 who agreed with the statement that suppliers are extremely imp ortant to the achievement of competitive market strategies. More and more people started to outsource and started rely on suppliers. There was a growth of 15% of people from 1991-1992. Furthermore for each sample period, respondent projected and increasing dependency on suppliers for future product technology. More and more companies started to use supplier development process. Some of them are HP, Epson, Apple Computer, 3M, and BMW etc. Strong belief is supplier warrants improvement. If improvement does not occur firms across many industries may lose market share to competitors who are able to maximize supplier performance input. Sample was non random so the result can be generalized. Thus the trend is towards increasing reliance on supplier to help achieve competitive market strategies. This reliance on suppliers and improving their performance was initially documented from Toyota in 1939. Toyota discussed the need of working together with suppliers to improve collective performan ce. Thereafter in 1963 Nissan implemented first supplier development project, Honda joined the club in 1973 (Monczka, Handfield, Glunipero, Patterson, 2009). Supplier development was ubiquitous in Japan and Korea for number of years but less evident in US firms due to perceived lack of instant return on investment allied with setting up resources required to make it successful. Interestingly this practice was recognized early in the 1900 in the US automotive industry when Ford required improving supplier capacity (Krause, Handfield, Tyler, The relationships between supplier development, commitment, social and capital accumulation and performance improvement, 2006). In 1970s other Japanese automakers implemented the system and made their own modification like Honda developed a program called BP (Best practices). Review of case studies by (Sako, 2004) allowed examining differences in between supplier development activity in Toyota, Nissan and Honda. In 1939, Toyota purchasing rules stated that- Toyota suppliers must be treated as a Toyota branches and Toyota must continue to do business with these suppliers without switching to others and also develop the suppliers if required. Toyota bifurcated supplier development activities into TPS (Toyota Production System) and TQC (Total Quality Control). TPS was having different existence from TQC which allowed suppliers to take advantage of continuous improvement. Hyundai also realized that their small suppliers cannot again and again recruit engineers thus they sent engineers from their own shops to improve suppliers productivity. Hyundai do not financially support their suppliers but offer personnel support (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000). Nissan also implemented supplier development program which were significantly different from Toyota in the terms of number of point of contacts for suppliers, approach towards sharing the ideas and one to one training strategy during program. Honda and Nissan unified the TPS and TQC offering a single point of contact (Sako, 2004). The common features of the supplier development programs at Honda, Nissan and Toyota are multipl e channels for supplier development to transfer both tacit and explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is more difficult to accumulate as it needs closer interactions especially face to face with suppliers and more time thus it is difficult to replicate tacit knowledge (Clarke, 2007). In contrast to these companies in Japan, the suppliers in US and Europe distrust the buyers intention and also buyers dont have identical level of authenticity as in Japan to act as trusted well wisher who can suggest their suppliers how they should invest their resources (Sako, 2004). A recent study from Harvard school concluded that primary reason for declining USA competitiveness is that US companies invest less in supplier relations and development thus considering these points from Japan the supplier development was adopted in Eastern countries like UK and USA (Monnczka, Trent, Callahan, 1993). Supplier development activities were transferred to USA as buying firms commissioned their own plants in USA due to government regulations. By 1996 General Motors had completed supplier development projects with over 2000 suppliers and claimed productivity improvements over 50%, lead time reduction of up to 75% and inventory reduction of 70% (Hartley Choi, Supplier development: Customers as a catalyst of process change, 1996), (Clarke, 2007). By 2001 John Deere was involved in 426 different projects with 92 different supplier development engineer and delivering annual saving of $700,000 along with improvements in quality, cost and delivery. By 1994, Allied-Signal expe cted to save up to $300,000 from supplier development activities and also expected for increase in shares price (Monnczka, Trent, Callahan, 1993). At Deere and Delphi, a $100,000 investment in supplier development yields at least three to ten times the original investment (Nelson, Moody, Stegner, 2005). This illustrates that large firms adopted supplier development and it became strategic tool for them to improve quality, reduce cost and improve the delivery. The basic development process started with reduction in supplier base and then developing the remaining suppliers. Also it was adopted in service based companies from product based companies. But more focus was on the product based companies. Service based relies on the competitive pressure of market forces instigate supplier performance to a greater extent than product based firms and that then to use. In UK most companies rationalized or optimized their supple base to include fewer total suppliers. Western countries were no t getting involved in direct supplier development; Japanese companies were successful because they were involved in direct supplier development. Toyota is purchasing product from the same supplier since 1937. GM adopted this strategic supplier development in Europe. Motorola and Ford also adopted similar kind of supplier development Countries and large firms started to realize the benefits of supplier development, they recognized that supplier development must be worth if its emerging everywhere in Japan. From the national perspective, benefits of supplier development were improvement in domestic suppliers, reduction in off shoring and increase in GDP (Krause Ellram, 1997). From the corporate and large firm perspective, supplier development helped in improving quality, reliability and manufacturability of new design. Besides that supplier development also helped in knowledge sharing and improved collaboration. Furthermore responsiveness to customer needs and market dynamics also increased with supplier development (Krause Ellram, 1997). The data gathered with 527 purchasing executives by (Krause D. R., Supplier development: Current practices and outcomes, 1997) revealed that supplier development attributed to timely delivery, completed orders, reduction in defects scrap and reduced order cycle time. Research by (Blonska, Rozemeijer, Wetzels) established that supplier development guide towards getting a preferential buyer status and supplier adaptability. Supplier adaptation is perceived as an attainment of a goal of supplier development aimed at supplier performance improvement (Blonska, Rozemeijer, Wetzels). With help of two in depth case studies (Reed Walsh, 2002) established that supplier development activities enhance technological capabilities in their suppliers. Also some of the firms expected technological improvement should follow from improved business processes. Supplier development also helped in developing mutual trust in between buyers and suppliers (Reed Walsh, 2002). As mentioned earlier this increase in reliance was due to improvement in performance after implementing supplier development program. BMW strives to be 20% above industry average in quality performance. Management believed supplier development made it possible to attain that quality standard and increase in revenue (Rhodes, Warren, Carter, 2006). Also in Honda dramatic improvement was seen in product quality since Honda began to develop suppliers in North America, In 1985 quality level was 7000 parts defective per million and In 1995 quality level was increased to 100 defective parts per million (Berlow, 1995). A team of purchasing professionals from Honda of America worked with 12 stamping suppliers to reduce cost by $4million in six months in 1995 with its supplier development efforts (Berlow, 1995). In the context of supplier development, suppliers and buyers state that they want to practice more supplier development methods to enjoy its benefits but there are myriads of barriers that hinder the effective supplier development strategies. Research by (Lascelles Dale, 1989) utilizing survey responses from UK based suppliers to 3 major customers in automotive industry illustrated that poor communication and feedback, unstructured quality improvement programs, credibility of buyers, misconception regarding purchasing power and supplier satisfaction are the foremost barriers in the supplier development programs. Also in an empirical study with 89 minority goods and service providers (Krause, Ragatz, Hughley, Supplier development from the minority suppliers perspective, 1999) demonstrated that the main barriers towards minority owned supplier development are poor communication, non-profit situation and racial biases. Results also indicated that small minority owned suppliers were le ss positive about supplier development activities as compared to large minority owned suppliers (Novak, 2008). Survey by (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000) on supplier development strategies with 84 companies established several other barriers apart from already mentioned that deter supplier development strategies. It includes Lack of supplier commitment, insufficient supplier resources, lack of trust, and poor alignment of organizational cultures, unsupportive upper management and insufficient inducement to suppliers. Research by (McDuffie Helper, 1997) established that supplier development might fail if suppliers are not having a strong identification or if suppliers are not dependent on buyers. It will show the way to break down in learning relationship. Another major barrier towards supplier development program found from research by (Forker, Ruch, Hershauer, 1999) is difference between perceptions of buyer and suppliers about supplier development practices. These di fferences in perception are due to disparity in understanding in preference, intention, and process of supplier development program (Forker, Ruch, Hershauer, 1999). Supplier might agree initially for the proposal but later fail to implement due to difference in understanding. This problem can be cured with the help of clarification of issues. Researchers came up with number of conceptual models for building solutions to overcome these barriers. A ten step generic process model was developed based on the examination of in-depth response to open ended survey questions. Such a model was a step towards strategic supplier development. It was ranging from identification of critical commodities for development to systematically instituting ongoing continuous improvement. The model also suggested proposition that firms competing in markets characterized by high rates of technological changes and high level of competition are more likely to be involved with this model (Krause, Handfield, Scannell, An empirical investigation of supplier development: reactive and strategic processes, 1998). This model was slightly changed by proposition of seven steps generic model (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000). Also it was found most organization deployed first three steps but was less successful in deploying later stages. Similar t o previous model a process oriented four step generic supplier development model was proposed. This model was designed to help suppliers sustain and continue the change process and effectively build the capability for improvement within the organization (Hartley Jones, Process oriented supplier development: Building the capability for change, 1997). This model also increases the suppliers capability to act on its own and the improvement effort will continue once the buying firm finishes its activities (Wagner S. M., 2006). Also supplier structure was developed on the basis of specific vendor development strategy. Conceptual link was generated in between generic business unit strategies based on framework proposed by Porter and generic supplier development strategies, in other words linkage between supplier development strategies and company strategies (Chakraborty Philip, 1996). Execution of case study of five firms by (Dunn Young, 2004) results in a process model that enables th e buyers to pinpoint specific areas where improvement is required. Highlighting these small areas can impact on long term strategic supplier development initiatives. A review of the conceptual model and context of supplier development resulted in the identification of several elements that appear to be critical to the success of the supplier development program. These comprise of effective and enhanced communication, supplier commitment, top management involvement, strategic processing and long term commitment and supplier recognition/rewards (Krause Ellram, 1997). Background What is supplier development, why is the supplier development critical, what made this required to study and how the factors might affect the supplier development? Big things happen when you do little things right (Don, 2000). In this case if small generic steps for supplier development are deployed correctly then it can contribute towards success in supplier development. (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000) Developed seven step generic process map for set up supplier development activities. These are recognized as (a) Identify critical commodities (b) Identify critical supplies (c) Form a cross functional team (d) Meet with supplier top management (e) Identify key project (f) Define details of agreement and (g) Monitor status and monitor strategies. A discussion of each as follows. Identify critical commodities and suppliers Upper management involvement is vital to assess the relative importance of commodities and services procured by business unit. A corporate level executive committee analyzes the purchasing portfolio developed during strategic process. This analysis is extension of company strategic planning (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000). As a result critical commodities are identified and warranted for supplier development activities. Steps adopted here are mainly observed in strategic approach supplier development where in reactive approach respondents skip this step in supplier development process (Krause, Handfield, Scannell, An empirical investigation of supplier development: reactive and strategic processes, 1998). Choosing which supplier to develop is a critical task again because supplier development involves resources such as money and time, thus the decision should be strategic not reactive (Gordon, 2008). (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000). Many situations exist which are not mutually exclusive but warrant supplier development. To decide which situation needs supplier development is calculated judgment. Companies have formal supplier measurement system with help of which they assess suppliers performance. If any gap is found in measured and expected results, these suppliers are identified for development process where in reactive approach respondent skip this step in supplier development activities (Krause, Handfield, Scannell, An empirical investigation of supplier development: reactive and strategic processes, 1998). Also buying firm carefully evaluates suppliers quality, volume, delivery cost performance, launch readiness and potential kaizen opportunities to identify a prosp ective supplier development program (Novak, 2008). Hence, Strategic processing and upper management involvement have significant influence on the outcome of this first step of supplier development-identifying critical commodities and suppliers. These two will be among the variable of interest in the research thesis. Form a cross functional team Each firm must develop their suppliers according to their requirement. For example, some firms need managerial assistance and some need technical assistance. Thus it is essential to evaluate each supplier individually to create a plan that benefits both supplier and buyer (Daghfous, Campa, Hamde, 2008). As a result to face this complex challenge of developing dissimilar suppliers, innovative ideas are required to break down knowledge barrier between buyers and suppliers and to facilitate a transition of knowledge transfer from buyers to suppliers, a cross functional team is necessary to form (Blindenbacj-Driessen, 2009). Before approaching suppliers and ask for enhanced performance, it is also important to build up cross functional consensus and build up their own house before expecting commitment from suppliers (Monczka, Handfield, Glunipero, Patterson, 2009). In particular commitment of buyers and strategic approach is essential for buildup of cross functional consensus. Also a b uyer must establish its supply chain strategies and roles of procurement so that the business objectives are clear. Hence, Commitment and strategic process have significant influence on the outcome on creation of cross functional team. Therefore, these two will be among the variable of interest in the research thesis. Meet with supplier top management Upper management involvement again prevails but this time it is of suppliers side. Cross functional team must meet upper management of supplier side and establishes stra Analysis of Supplier Development Strategies Analysis of Supplier Development Strategies ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS Any activity undertaken by a buying firm to improve supplier performance, supplier capabilities, or both and to meet the buying firms short and/or long term supply needs can be termed as supplier development activity. A study by the Harvard Business School concluded that a primary reason for declining US competitiveness is that US companies invest less than foreign rivals in intangible investments such as supplier development. Half of the companies fail in this supplier development effort if executed. As supplier development help in increasing competitiveness and is not successful every time if implemented, it is essential to examine supplier development and factors which result towards the success of supplier development. This paper will examine aspects associated with the success of supplier development strategies within different set of industry. This research will put forward a specific set of aspects are significant contributors to supplier development; also this paper will show that some factors of supplier development have significant influence on other factors of supplier development. Data from the population of buyers and suppliers will be collected to test the extent of relationship between significant factors and success of supplier development process. Agreement was noted between dependencies of success of supplier development process on several factors. Recommendations to supply managers and purchasing manager will be provided regarding upper management involvement, enhanced communication with their suppliers, recognition of their suppliers and development of strategic processing instead of reactive processing will be offered. chapter 1 introduction This thesis is a report of ethnographic study of critical factors for supplier development strategies. The study was based primarily upon the survey with supplier development managers and professionals involved in this field. This first chapter of the thesis will discuss the context of the study, intention of the study, describe the importance and will present the overview of the methodology used. Background of Study A global economy is emerging and resources are concentrated on core business rather than the diversification which show the way towards outsourcing. Outsourcing is increased from $91 billion to $416 billion in 20 years (Tunstall, 2002), and it is expected to increase further. In 2009 the value of outsourcing deals in logistics area were projected to $ 80 billion (Hyatt, 2009) which shows the intensity of use of suppliers. Due to this voluminous use of suppliers buying companies have to rely on their suppliers to deliver defect free product in a timely and cost effective manner. To compete in their respective markets, buying firm must ensure that their supplier capability equals the expectations (Krause Ellram, Success factors in supplier development, 1997). When a supplier is incapable of meeting the buying firms need the buying firm has three alternatives: (1) Bring the outsourced item in house and produce it internally, (2) Resource with a more capable supplier, (3) Help improve t he existing suppliers capabilities. All the three strategies can work. (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000). Supplier development is defined as Any effort of a buying firm with its supplier to increase the performance and capabilities of the supplier and meet the buying firms supply needs. (Krause Ellram, Critical elements of supplier development, 1997) When the suppliers are innovative and exclusively supplying a product then the supplier development option comes into the picture. When a company is using a supplier, it is necessary to have a good relationship with them. The Harvard research suggested that supplier development started very late in USA but it was started very long ago in the Japan. Toyota, Honda and Nissan implemented these supplier development activities in their plants a long back. Although similar research has been done previously, the theme of research was same but this new research is capable to generate new knowledge , First the populations is different and for the variety of reasons they will be having different opinions and attitudes than the previous cohort . There might be a different type of interaction in between me and those to which will generate the new idea, the sample data is from different set of industry and places so the research context will be totally different from the previous researches. Even the subject might be same but the contextual issues are very different. The Problem Statement Supplier development requires both supplier and buyer to commit their maximum to get the maximum out of the program. Even though both the sides agree that the commitment is required it is not necessary that supplier development program in which they are involved will be successful. In early 90s companies start reducing the number of direct suppliers and began evolving from adversarial relationships to more cooperative ones with the remaining suppliers. (Hartley Choi, 1996), Approximate one-third projects are failed due to suppliers underperformance. So the success in the supplier development is not a foregone conclusion. Supplier development is considered as a long term business strategy and there are various factors which affects this long term strategy. These factors not only affect the end result of supplier development process but also influence each other. This research tried to establish the critical success factors for supplier development and their inter-relationship with ea ch other. Regression models approach helped to develop the interrelationship among critical success factors. Anyone especially supplier development manager and procurement professional can refer the model over the wide range of circumstances and structure. The main objective of the research paper is to create the model for critical success factors for supplier development strategies. Professional Significance Large number of companies does the supplier development and they fail as well at surprising rate. Not all supplier development initiatives are successful in fact, as many as 50% are not successful, due to poor implementation and follow-up. (Handfield R. , 2002) The failed efforts consume tremendous amount of resources over months or even years. As multiple studies have shown over half of the supplier initiatives fails. This failure takes a toll that is not only financial but also psychological. Failure demoralizes employees who have been labored diligently to complete their share of the work. As the supplier development success factors depends on both the parties so a dedicated study is required to find out what factors make the supplier development process a success. In 2000, according to the study 53% of the companies claimed that they are involved in the supplier development program but it was found that only 20% of the companies are contributing for the financial support for the suppliers and only 14% of the companies are putting their employees in the suppliers place for the development purpose. Eleven percentages of the companies are giving the chance to the suppliers to come at the buyers place and learn. Only 11% of the companies are having the formal program for supplier development, others are doing it without any of the formal program. (Anonymous, 2000). It shows that even though companies are involved in supplier development program but not fully implementing in an appropriate way. In General Motors, after implementation of supplier development program supplier productivity was improved 50%, lead time was reduced by 75%, and inventory reduction happened around 70% during their one week workshops. On one project alone, Honda of Americas Best Practices (BP) team reduced a suppliers costs by more than $200,000 per year by changing the layout of a welding process. Furthermore layout change might increase the efficiency of supplier and ultimately give advantage to buying company. (Hartley Choi, 1996). Also one of the purchasing pro for a power tool producer said that in three years of developing suppliers, his company has seen quality rejects fall from 38.4% down to 0.5% while supplier on-time delivery has risen from 76% to 97.5%. Likewise, another proponent of supplier development cites an average supplier quality metric of 98.5% and on-time supplier delivery at 97%. They claimed to have improved quality, response time, prices and cycle time improvements, The VP f or a major California-based computer maker talks about how assistance from his firm allowed one subassembly supplier to ramp up to 50,000 pieces per month in only six weeks. (Anonymous, 2000).Although it took only 6 weeks to ramp up the production but usually supplier development is very time consuming and long process which consumes plenty of resources, so it is very much required to do it correct first time. To get the results mentioned above -$200,000 saving /year it is essential to learn what are the success contributors and failure contributors of supplier development. Overview of Methodology A structured survey questionnaire with five-point Likert scale was developed. Web and email were used to circulate and gather information regarding what group of supplier development professionals thinks about supplier development activities. Survey was divided in 6 small sections and every section was having 3 questions. Total of 20 questions were mailed to random sample of 300 supplier development professionals. The survey solicited about a single instance of supplier development performed by them. Survey was face validated and content validated with the help of thesis chair and committee. Of 300 surveys circulated 50 usable responses were obtained, which provides the perception of large group of supplier development manger regarding the nature of their supplier development project. The responding population represents a wide range of industry types. Also before e-mail survey set of interviews with supplier development managers was conducted. The interview was designed to validate the success factors collected after reviewing literature review and to help focus on reliable, important success factors which have extremely high control on supplier development success. Delimitation The research study was conducted at San Diego State University during the end of the fall semester-2009. This research was limited to supplier development manager who updated their resume on resume bank. This research was limited to professionals in North America continent to reduce cultural differences within the population used in the study. Multiple Regression model was used to prove the interdependency in between critical factors instead structural equation modeling. Survey instrument was developed with the help of existing instruments. This will allow us to compare new results with the old results. This research was limited to 3 questions per factor to keep instrument short. chapter 2 literature review This chapter will review the past researches that serves as the foundation for the thesis report presented. The research papers are basically associated with critical factors associated with success of supplier development. The research paper will present purpose and rationale for writing research paper on supplier development strategies. Following will be the review of literature on Strategic process, Upper management involvement, Supplier recognition, Effective and enhanced communication and commitment of suppliers. The chapter will conclude with a summary of literature. Examples of the key word used while finding the scholar research papers were supplier development, supplier relationship, supplier evaluation, supplier management, supply chain management and buyer-supplier relationship. Combinations of keywords were used to get different research papers. Search engine used during literature search were SDSU library search engine and Google scholar. (Ekholm Pashei, 2009). Past Literature First document application of supplier development comes from Toyota in 1939. Toyota discussed the need of working together with suppliers to improve collective performance. Thereafter in 1963 Nissan implemented first supplier development project, Honda joined the club in 1973 (Monczka, Handfield, Glunipero, Patterson, 2009). It is essential to understand the significance of each factor and the role it plays in supplier development process. Past researches can be categorized in (a) Theoretical, (b) Conceptual, (c) Empirical, (d) Conceptual and Empirical. Table 1 gives the brief of past literature which were identified. Previous to mid 1990s, the supplier development literature consisted mainly of theoretical studies covering cases of several companies and surveys and the purpose was to learn the barriers which comes in the way of supplier development. In 1990s the research moved towards establishing relationship in between various supplier development constructs where in 2000 the re search moved towards influence of supplier development towards innovation and purchasing strategy (Easton, 2000). In todays business increased trend of reliance on supplier is observed. Most of the buying firms need to pursue aggressive strategies in order to increase the future rate of capabilities improvement. (Monnczka, Trent, Callahan, 1993) Having mentioned that supplier is becoming increasingly critical to the competitive success of US firms, there are several reasons behind that. First manufacturers are beginning to focus on their core competencies and areas of technical expertise. Second, developing effective supply base management strategies can help counter the competitive pressures brought about by intense worldwide competition. Third, Suppliers can support directly a firms ability to innovate in the critical areas of product and process technology. Study showed 95% of business unit sample indicated supplier contributions were increasing throughout in terms of importance. There was a 232% increase in people from 1989-1990 who agreed with the statement that suppliers are extremely imp ortant to the achievement of competitive market strategies. More and more people started to outsource and started rely on suppliers. There was a growth of 15% of people from 1991-1992. Furthermore for each sample period, respondent projected and increasing dependency on suppliers for future product technology. More and more companies started to use supplier development process. Some of them are HP, Epson, Apple Computer, 3M, and BMW etc. Strong belief is supplier warrants improvement. If improvement does not occur firms across many industries may lose market share to competitors who are able to maximize supplier performance input. Sample was non random so the result can be generalized. Thus the trend is towards increasing reliance on supplier to help achieve competitive market strategies. This reliance on suppliers and improving their performance was initially documented from Toyota in 1939. Toyota discussed the need of working together with suppliers to improve collective performan ce. Thereafter in 1963 Nissan implemented first supplier development project, Honda joined the club in 1973 (Monczka, Handfield, Glunipero, Patterson, 2009). Supplier development was ubiquitous in Japan and Korea for number of years but less evident in US firms due to perceived lack of instant return on investment allied with setting up resources required to make it successful. Interestingly this practice was recognized early in the 1900 in the US automotive industry when Ford required improving supplier capacity (Krause, Handfield, Tyler, The relationships between supplier development, commitment, social and capital accumulation and performance improvement, 2006). In 1970s other Japanese automakers implemented the system and made their own modification like Honda developed a program called BP (Best practices). Review of case studies by (Sako, 2004) allowed examining differences in between supplier development activity in Toyota, Nissan and Honda. In 1939, Toyota purchasing rules stated that- Toyota suppliers must be treated as a Toyota branches and Toyota must continue to do business with these suppliers without switching to others and also develop the suppliers if required. Toyota bifurcated supplier development activities into TPS (Toyota Production System) and TQC (Total Quality Control). TPS was having different existence from TQC which allowed suppliers to take advantage of continuous improvement. Hyundai also realized that their small suppliers cannot again and again recruit engineers thus they sent engineers from their own shops to improve suppliers productivity. Hyundai do not financially support their suppliers but offer personnel support (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000). Nissan also implemented supplier development program which were significantly different from Toyota in the terms of number of point of contacts for suppliers, approach towards sharing the ideas and one to one training strategy during program. Honda and Nissan unified the TPS and TQC offering a single point of contact (Sako, 2004). The common features of the supplier development programs at Honda, Nissan and Toyota are multipl e channels for supplier development to transfer both tacit and explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is more difficult to accumulate as it needs closer interactions especially face to face with suppliers and more time thus it is difficult to replicate tacit knowledge (Clarke, 2007). In contrast to these companies in Japan, the suppliers in US and Europe distrust the buyers intention and also buyers dont have identical level of authenticity as in Japan to act as trusted well wisher who can suggest their suppliers how they should invest their resources (Sako, 2004). A recent study from Harvard school concluded that primary reason for declining USA competitiveness is that US companies invest less in supplier relations and development thus considering these points from Japan the supplier development was adopted in Eastern countries like UK and USA (Monnczka, Trent, Callahan, 1993). Supplier development activities were transferred to USA as buying firms commissioned their own plants in USA due to government regulations. By 1996 General Motors had completed supplier development projects with over 2000 suppliers and claimed productivity improvements over 50%, lead time reduction of up to 75% and inventory reduction of 70% (Hartley Choi, Supplier development: Customers as a catalyst of process change, 1996), (Clarke, 2007). By 2001 John Deere was involved in 426 different projects with 92 different supplier development engineer and delivering annual saving of $700,000 along with improvements in quality, cost and delivery. By 1994, Allied-Signal expe cted to save up to $300,000 from supplier development activities and also expected for increase in shares price (Monnczka, Trent, Callahan, 1993). At Deere and Delphi, a $100,000 investment in supplier development yields at least three to ten times the original investment (Nelson, Moody, Stegner, 2005). This illustrates that large firms adopted supplier development and it became strategic tool for them to improve quality, reduce cost and improve the delivery. The basic development process started with reduction in supplier base and then developing the remaining suppliers. Also it was adopted in service based companies from product based companies. But more focus was on the product based companies. Service based relies on the competitive pressure of market forces instigate supplier performance to a greater extent than product based firms and that then to use. In UK most companies rationalized or optimized their supple base to include fewer total suppliers. Western countries were no t getting involved in direct supplier development; Japanese companies were successful because they were involved in direct supplier development. Toyota is purchasing product from the same supplier since 1937. GM adopted this strategic supplier development in Europe. Motorola and Ford also adopted similar kind of supplier development Countries and large firms started to realize the benefits of supplier development, they recognized that supplier development must be worth if its emerging everywhere in Japan. From the national perspective, benefits of supplier development were improvement in domestic suppliers, reduction in off shoring and increase in GDP (Krause Ellram, 1997). From the corporate and large firm perspective, supplier development helped in improving quality, reliability and manufacturability of new design. Besides that supplier development also helped in knowledge sharing and improved collaboration. Furthermore responsiveness to customer needs and market dynamics also increased with supplier development (Krause Ellram, 1997). The data gathered with 527 purchasing executives by (Krause D. R., Supplier development: Current practices and outcomes, 1997) revealed that supplier development attributed to timely delivery, completed orders, reduction in defects scrap and reduced order cycle time. Research by (Blonska, Rozemeijer, Wetzels) established that supplier development guide towards getting a preferential buyer status and supplier adaptability. Supplier adaptation is perceived as an attainment of a goal of supplier development aimed at supplier performance improvement (Blonska, Rozemeijer, Wetzels). With help of two in depth case studies (Reed Walsh, 2002) established that supplier development activities enhance technological capabilities in their suppliers. Also some of the firms expected technological improvement should follow from improved business processes. Supplier development also helped in developing mutual trust in between buyers and suppliers (Reed Walsh, 2002). As mentioned earlier this increase in reliance was due to improvement in performance after implementing supplier development program. BMW strives to be 20% above industry average in quality performance. Management believed supplier development made it possible to attain that quality standard and increase in revenue (Rhodes, Warren, Carter, 2006). Also in Honda dramatic improvement was seen in product quality since Honda began to develop suppliers in North America, In 1985 quality level was 7000 parts defective per million and In 1995 quality level was increased to 100 defective parts per million (Berlow, 1995). A team of purchasing professionals from Honda of America worked with 12 stamping suppliers to reduce cost by $4million in six months in 1995 with its supplier development efforts (Berlow, 1995). In the context of supplier development, suppliers and buyers state that they want to practice more supplier development methods to enjoy its benefits but there are myriads of barriers that hinder the effective supplier development strategies. Research by (Lascelles Dale, 1989) utilizing survey responses from UK based suppliers to 3 major customers in automotive industry illustrated that poor communication and feedback, unstructured quality improvement programs, credibility of buyers, misconception regarding purchasing power and supplier satisfaction are the foremost barriers in the supplier development programs. Also in an empirical study with 89 minority goods and service providers (Krause, Ragatz, Hughley, Supplier development from the minority suppliers perspective, 1999) demonstrated that the main barriers towards minority owned supplier development are poor communication, non-profit situation and racial biases. Results also indicated that small minority owned suppliers were le ss positive about supplier development activities as compared to large minority owned suppliers (Novak, 2008). Survey by (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000) on supplier development strategies with 84 companies established several other barriers apart from already mentioned that deter supplier development strategies. It includes Lack of supplier commitment, insufficient supplier resources, lack of trust, and poor alignment of organizational cultures, unsupportive upper management and insufficient inducement to suppliers. Research by (McDuffie Helper, 1997) established that supplier development might fail if suppliers are not having a strong identification or if suppliers are not dependent on buyers. It will show the way to break down in learning relationship. Another major barrier towards supplier development program found from research by (Forker, Ruch, Hershauer, 1999) is difference between perceptions of buyer and suppliers about supplier development practices. These di fferences in perception are due to disparity in understanding in preference, intention, and process of supplier development program (Forker, Ruch, Hershauer, 1999). Supplier might agree initially for the proposal but later fail to implement due to difference in understanding. This problem can be cured with the help of clarification of issues. Researchers came up with number of conceptual models for building solutions to overcome these barriers. A ten step generic process model was developed based on the examination of in-depth response to open ended survey questions. Such a model was a step towards strategic supplier development. It was ranging from identification of critical commodities for development to systematically instituting ongoing continuous improvement. The model also suggested proposition that firms competing in markets characterized by high rates of technological changes and high level of competition are more likely to be involved with this model (Krause, Handfield, Scannell, An empirical investigation of supplier development: reactive and strategic processes, 1998). This model was slightly changed by proposition of seven steps generic model (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000). Also it was found most organization deployed first three steps but was less successful in deploying later stages. Similar t o previous model a process oriented four step generic supplier development model was proposed. This model was designed to help suppliers sustain and continue the change process and effectively build the capability for improvement within the organization (Hartley Jones, Process oriented supplier development: Building the capability for change, 1997). This model also increases the suppliers capability to act on its own and the improvement effort will continue once the buying firm finishes its activities (Wagner S. M., 2006). Also supplier structure was developed on the basis of specific vendor development strategy. Conceptual link was generated in between generic business unit strategies based on framework proposed by Porter and generic supplier development strategies, in other words linkage between supplier development strategies and company strategies (Chakraborty Philip, 1996). Execution of case study of five firms by (Dunn Young, 2004) results in a process model that enables th e buyers to pinpoint specific areas where improvement is required. Highlighting these small areas can impact on long term strategic supplier development initiatives. A review of the conceptual model and context of supplier development resulted in the identification of several elements that appear to be critical to the success of the supplier development program. These comprise of effective and enhanced communication, supplier commitment, top management involvement, strategic processing and long term commitment and supplier recognition/rewards (Krause Ellram, 1997). Background What is supplier development, why is the supplier development critical, what made this required to study and how the factors might affect the supplier development? Big things happen when you do little things right (Don, 2000). In this case if small generic steps for supplier development are deployed correctly then it can contribute towards success in supplier development. (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000) Developed seven step generic process map for set up supplier development activities. These are recognized as (a) Identify critical commodities (b) Identify critical supplies (c) Form a cross functional team (d) Meet with supplier top management (e) Identify key project (f) Define details of agreement and (g) Monitor status and monitor strategies. A discussion of each as follows. Identify critical commodities and suppliers Upper management involvement is vital to assess the relative importance of commodities and services procured by business unit. A corporate level executive committee analyzes the purchasing portfolio developed during strategic process. This analysis is extension of company strategic planning (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000). As a result critical commodities are identified and warranted for supplier development activities. Steps adopted here are mainly observed in strategic approach supplier development where in reactive approach respondents skip this step in supplier development process (Krause, Handfield, Scannell, An empirical investigation of supplier development: reactive and strategic processes, 1998). Choosing which supplier to develop is a critical task again because supplier development involves resources such as money and time, thus the decision should be strategic not reactive (Gordon, 2008). (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000). Many situations exist which are not mutually exclusive but warrant supplier development. To decide which situation needs supplier development is calculated judgment. Companies have formal supplier measurement system with help of which they assess suppliers performance. If any gap is found in measured and expected results, these suppliers are identified for development process where in reactive approach respondent skip this step in supplier development activities (Krause, Handfield, Scannell, An empirical investigation of supplier development: reactive and strategic processes, 1998). Also buying firm carefully evaluates suppliers quality, volume, delivery cost performance, launch readiness and potential kaizen opportunities to identify a prosp ective supplier development program (Novak, 2008). Hence, Strategic processing and upper management involvement have significant influence on the outcome of this first step of supplier development-identifying critical commodities and suppliers. These two will be among the variable of interest in the research thesis. Form a cross functional team Each firm must develop their suppliers according to their requirement. For example, some firms need managerial assistance and some need technical assistance. Thus it is essential to evaluate each supplier individually to create a plan that benefits both supplier and buyer (Daghfous, Campa, Hamde, 2008). As a result to face this complex challenge of developing dissimilar suppliers, innovative ideas are required to break down knowledge barrier between buyers and suppliers and to facilitate a transition of knowledge transfer from buyers to suppliers, a cross functional team is necessary to form (Blindenbacj-Driessen, 2009). Before approaching suppliers and ask for enhanced performance, it is also important to build up cross functional consensus and build up their own house before expecting commitment from suppliers (Monczka, Handfield, Glunipero, Patterson, 2009). In particular commitment of buyers and strategic approach is essential for buildup of cross functional consensus. Also a b uyer must establish its supply chain strategies and roles of procurement so that the business objectives are clear. Hence, Commitment and strategic process have significant influence on the outcome on creation of cross functional team. Therefore, these two will be among the variable of interest in the research thesis. Meet with supplier top management Upper management involvement again prevails but this time it is of suppliers side. Cross functional team must meet upper management of supplier side and establishes stra

Alfred Stieglitz and Gallery 291 :: Armory show Art essays

Alfred Stieglitz and Gallery 291 A Modern Art Revolution Before the Armory Show â€Å"Quite a few years ago†¦there got to be—a place†¦. The place grew—the place shifted†¦the place was where this man was†¦. —Shift—is something that cannot be tied—cannot be pigeonholed. It jumps—it bounds—it glides —it SHIFTS— it must have freedom†¦. It seems those who do that worth the doing are possessed of good eyes—alive eyes—warm eyes— it seems they radiate a fire within outward. The places they inhabit have a light burning— a light seen from near and far by those who need this light— and this light sometimes dim—sometimes brilliant—never out—†¦. To realize such a place— a very tangible place was and is this man’s dream.† John Marin about Alfred Stieglitz[1] On February 17, 1913 the International Exhibition of Modern Art, or the Armory Show, opened to the public. It is unlikely that the some 4,000 guests milling around the eighteen rooms of the 69th Regiment Armory in New York that night could have realized the extent to which the artwork displayed would set off a revolution that would sweep the nation. Response to the Armory Show, however, was sensational. During the month long exhibition the, Armory Show became the talk of the town. The galleries were constantly full of people who came to gape at the spectacle, artists who came to study or deride, and celebrities and socialites who came to see and be seen. Former President Teddy Roosevelt even made a visit to the show praising the spirit of modernity present in the venture, but distrustful of the so called ‘radical’ art of the European avant-garde. In his response to the show published in Outlook, Roosevelt commented: â€Å"It is vitally necessary to mov e forward and to shake off the dead hand of the reactionaries; and yet we have to face the fact that there is apt to be a lunatic fringe among the votaries of any forward movement.†[2] In this statement Roosevelt summarized the public reactions to the show.

Education in the UAE Essay

Modern educational system of the UAE, which was introduced in the beginning of the 1970s, comprises a number of private and governmental educational establishments available both for male and female students. It has 4 academic levels, including primary, preparatory, secondary and higher education. The first three levels are compulsory. Governmental schools, colleges and universities are opened for the students to study for free. Currently, about 40% of educational establishments in the UAE are private (The US Department of State, 2007). The development of the country’s educational system started in the early 1900s, when a lot of engineering schools and colleges were opened throughout the country, including the Taimia Mahmoudia (opened in 1907), Al Ahmadia (1912), Al Otaiba (1930), Al Qassemia (1935) and many others. By the early 1950s, Al Qassemia became the first systematical school, where students were provided with organized curriculum and a system of exams, and it was the first educational establishment to launch school diplomas. In 1971, when the Emirates were united and the Ministry of Education was established, the modern era of education in the UAE has started. Several important educational reformations were implemented and a series of universities were established, including UAE University (1976), Higher Colleges of Technology (1988), Zayid University (1998) and others. In 2003, the first international education zone was opened in Dubai, which is currently a center of the country’s e-learning, development and research. According to the US Department of State, 25% of total federal spending is directed to education (The US Department of State, 2007). As a part of the governmental plan â€Å"Education 2020†, since the beginning of the century such important structural changes took place in education, as enhancement of elementary school curriculum, introducing new English language programs, launching innovative teaching techniques focused on self-learning, opening new up-to-date educational facilities and so on. References Taboor, A. A. (2008, February 28). History of Education. The Ministry of Education. Retrieved November 27, 2008, from: . The US Department of State. (2007). United Arab Emirates country profile. Library of Congress. Federal Research Division. Retrieved November 27, 2008, from: .

Han china and imperial rome Essay

Rome was very successful because of its superior military authority. That is the main influential factor that cemented Roman power for nearly a thousand years. They had several advantages – rapid development of the latest technology and vast numbers of infantry along with a stable senate system and much wealth to fuel their ambitions. It had sewers to control waste, aqueducts for plumbing and paved roads for transport – which many other nations simply did not have. Rome had a large assortment of choices when it came to battle. Their army usually consisted of Hastati, Principe’s or Legionary Cohort in the later years – marvelous soldiers and very useful ones to say the least. Having said this, they had access to exceptional horses as well and it was this mixture of troops that was a deciding factor in conflicts. Rome used its sheer force of numbers to overwhelm most enemies and surround them or cave in on their flanks causing a route very quickly. Mind you, tactics were used, but not effectively. The Romans took advantage of technological progressions and were only to happy to inflict deadly harm upon their foes with ballistae, catapults, onagers and numerous other siege equipment. The land they conquered poured much profit into the treasury which was distributed to the armed forces. This was able to give them the latest weapons, brand new armour, plenty of supplies and good morale. You can also look at the sheer amount of land they claimed through war – the empire covered Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, parts of the Middle-East, Egypt, and the Africa coastline. Finally, the Romans brought the ideology of Christianity to the people in Europe – influencing the events that were to proceed in the future greatly, something that has changed the world today. They will be looked upon in 1000 years (during the Middle Ages) with their beliefs, attitudes, values, lifestyle and ingenuity being emulated.

Marketing and Dove Essay Example

Marketing and Dove Essay Example Marketing and Dove Essay Marketing and Dove Essay The brand refused to call its product a soap for 40 years and insisted that it was something entirely new. This hints that it could have tried to be a pioneer in a new category of the health and beauty sector thus aiming for central positioning. Nevertheless, the brand was considered by the target market as soap with a unique value proposition, I. E. Allowing oneself to clean the skin without drying out. Thus, it was positioned differentiated offering a unique benefit in an existing product category that allowed it to be distinguished from other brands. Dove chose a product-as-hero positioning with regard to other brands. The marketing campaign pronounced the functional benefits f the product, illustrating how the attribute that differentiated Dove from other competitors (cleansing cream) was added to the soap. The brand provided two main benefits to the consumer: cleaning and moisturizing. While cleaning is the primary benefit that triggers action by a consumer (realizing dirtiness / need to clean), moisturizing is a secondary benefit that sets Dove apart from competitors and addresses an existing problem in the sub-category of soap bars. The need to clean oneself while not drying out is deliverable by Dove as indicated in the marketing campaign due to the product attribute of 25% cleansing cream. Finally, the uniqueness of the brand is purely defined by the moisturizing effect. The Dove campaign for its beauty bar put a strong focus on the benefit of its products. With respect to the a-b-e model, a combination of baby and e- b was chosen to stress the key benefit of not drying the skin when using the soap to clean oneself. Illustrating the attribute of added cream to the product is used to support this benefit (bob). This is communicated in the second part of the main message of the campaign (Dove soap doses t dry your skin because it s one quarter cleansing cream). Furthermore, he negative emotion attached to having dry skin when using traditional soap bars is addressed in the first part of the campaign message. The negative emotion attached to dry skin is dispelled with the benefit of the Dove soap (e- b). Mastermind era When Milliner decided that Dove would become a Mastermind, one thing that product. As a Mastermind, many different brands with differing product attributes were combined under the umbrella of Dove. Thus, focusing on a single functional product benefit was no longer possible as there were many different ones and Dove changed to representing a general point of view. This point of view would be developed with the campaign for real beauty. The brand was positioned as differentiated once again in the health and beauty sector. This time however, it did not do so based on a unique product feature but rather based on their point of view on beauty which was vastly different from the rest of beauty brands in the industry. While the beauty industry traditionally presented an unattainable stereotypical image of beauty in marketing campaigns (young, white, blonde, thin) Dove chose to start a campaign addressing all the women that had problems with their self-esteem as they did not feel beautiful. Dove started to develop marketing campaigns using more realistic women with different shapes, sizes, ethnicities and age groups. This change from aspiration to reality was the aspect of the brand that differentiated it within the product category. As a Mastermind, Dove no longer pursued a product- as-hero positioning due to the already mentioned fact that it combined a large variety of products with different benefits. It rather decided to choose a user-as-hero positioning placing their target market at the center of the campaign. The feelings of women having problems with low self-esteem were central to the marketing strategy ND many different customers were portrayed in different parts of the campaign (Tick-Box, Six real women, Daughter-film, Evolution etc. ). The benefit that the brand was offering was real beauty as it tried to make women feel beautiful that currently din t do so. To the target market this was a highly important benefit as the studies conducted by Dove showed the large percentage of the population that actually faced self-esteem challenges related to beauty. As it portrayed realistic images of women in their campaigns and how Dove could change how they felt about themselves the rand managed to show that it could actually deliver the benefit of making women feel better about themselves. Finally, as it was the only brand that chose to market this benefit was also unique distinguishing Dove from the traditional approach of beauty brands. Question 2: How was the meaning of the Dove brand controlled in the age of mass media? How is it controlled in the era of Youth and other interactive media? The use of mass media such as billboards, magazines, radio, television or newspapers allows for a higher level of control over the transported marketing message than the SE of interactive media such as blobs, networks or other internet platforms. During the functional era, Dove communicated the benefit of its products through mass media and was able to exert a high level of control over the meaning of the Dove brand that reached the target market. It was a one-way communication with Dove transporting the meaning of its brand to the customers and controlling what exactly it wanted the target market to see, hear and associate with the brand. Dove also controlled who would receive the message to a great extent as it knew its target audience as well as its target market and the channels through which it could reach of male-dominated sport such as the Super Bowl since the audience would have had very little in common with the mainly female target market. When Dove switched to including interactive media into its communication strategy the level of control it had on the meaning that was associated with the brand decreased. With interactive media, the audience exposed to Dove advertising and anything associated with the Dove brand has the possibility of giving immediate feedback to the message. As an example, an advertising film on Youth, such as the Dove Evolution ad, can receive instant feedback from anyone who has seen it through commenting and like-button tools. Thus, anyone viewing the video after feedback has been given will not be exposed to the original and pure marketing message that Dove had communicated with its film. Rather the message received by subsequent viewers will be altered by the feedback of previous ones. This means that one difference from mass media to interactive media is that Dove cannot be sure to transport its originally desired and clean message that it wants to communicate to the target audience about the meaning of the brand. Thus, advertising had changed from a one-way communication to a two-way communication in which the audience added to the brand meaning that was transported. Furthermore, the use of interactive media can result in a much faster and more extensive spreading of the message than mass media. The people that ultimately get exposed to a marketing campaign could be highly different from the audience that the campaign had been planned for. However, in the case of Dove this loss of control over the receivers of a marketing campaign is not a great problem but rather an advantage. This is due to the fact that the target audience of the real beauty campaign was a lot larger than the target market. While the market that Dove wanted to tap into and ultimately buy its products did increase to include females of all age groups, shapes and sizes as compared to the more narrow approach from the functional era, the target audience increased to a far greater extent. Dove intended to start a public debate about beauty within all areas of society and thus wanted to reach all people in America with their campaign. They wanted people to become aware of the self-esteem challenges hat women faced in connection with the unattainable image that the beauty industry tended to portray in advertising. After becoming aware of this problem, Dove wanted the target audience of its campaign to think about and start discussing this issue. Therefore, the fact that the campaign could be spread rapidly with the interactive media used turned out to be a favorable factor as more people would be talking about the self-esteem issue on blobs and social networks. With respect to this issue it is important to notice that Dove continuously tried to fuel the debate and keep it alive. This was the brand s way to exert a certain level of control over the meaning of Dove. As long as people were talking about the beauty issue they would also be connecting it with the meaning that Dove intended to stand for. Concluding it can be said that overall the level of control that Dove could exert on the meaning that was transported about the brand was significantly lower after the switch to interactive media. In the functional era Dove fully controlled the meaning of the brand that was transported to the target audience simply through changes in advertising (slogan, images, channels used etc. As the communication was purely adapt to the audiences feedback to control the original message of the brand while also fueling the beauty debate to raise brand awareness. Question 3: Is the Dove brand out of control? Is Dove making a risky bet? The strategy of employing interactive media instead of traditional mass media to market the real beauty campaign was undoubtedly risky. But even though the level of control that Dove can exert over the meaning of its brand that is transported to the audience it is not completely out of control. Dove was able to raise brand awareness to a far rater extent than it could have done through the use of mass media mostly by allowing itself to let go of completely controlling the communicated message and shifting part of it towards the consumer. Of course this was largely helped by the fact that Dove did not simply transport the meaning of its brand but rather start a public debate in society that went beyond the use of Dove products. It tried to make people think and debate about the meaning of real beauty and shift perception from the unattainable and aspiration beauty image portrayed by the majority of the industry towards real beauty. The key lay in making the audience connect this debate about beauty with the Dove brand. As long as this was the case and as long as the debate would continue to go on the brand had achieved its goal. Thus, it can be said that while the risk was definitely given it was also controllable. Dove knew the large number of females that had problems with their self-esteem so it knew that it only had to spread the message of real beauty far enough for enough of these women to react to it. The choice to include interactive media was therefore a very reasonable and rational decision as it helped to spread the message farther and more rapidly Han mass media could have done. As Dove knew that there were enough women out there to care about the message that it was sending, the only real risk was that the audience would not believe that the brand was really caring about these women. Authenticity was the key issue and it was crucial that people believed that Dove was serious in trying to change the way women felt about themselves and their self- esteem problems. In my opinion, Dove did an exceptional Job in communicating the brand s authenticity about the issue and this was the key to the success of the campaign. Whenever there were doubts about the campaign Dove did not retreat from the issue but instead went one step further and communicated the self-esteem challenges of women and the switch from aspiration to reality even in a more pronounced way. Dove was not afraid of losing the aspiration element and thus the incentive of customers to buy the brand. Instead it answered to the concerns with the highly emotional daughter-film. Dove was also unafraid to communicate its message to the male-dominated Super Bowl audience. It did not assume a defensive position upon meeting criticism and to its campaign from news reporters and nonusers but rather embraced the critique to fuel the beauty debate even further. Finally, it also did not retreat from walking-the-talk and investing funds in the establishment of the Dove Self Esteem Fund to actively help young women with their problems. All of these steps were necessary to convince the target audience about the authenticity of the brand and ultimately allowed Dove to keep control over the had no choice but to acknowledge that Dove was serious about the important issue of women s self-esteem and therefore whatever alteration was done it could not change the meaning of the brand to spin out of control.

Individual Achievement Tests for Special Education Students

Individual Achievement Tests for Special Education Students Individualized achievement tests are useful for assessing a students academic abilities. They are designed to measure both pre-academic and academic behavior- from the ability to match pictures and letters to more advanced literacy and mathematical skills. They can be helpful in assessing needs, monitoring a student’s progress, diagnosing a student with a learning disability or identifying benchmarks on a student’s Individualized Education Program, which the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act requires special needs students to have. A team made up of teachers, parents and others develop the program and update it periodically to meet students’ needs as they grow. 1. The Woodcock Johnson Test of Achievement The Woodcock Johnson Test of Achievement is another individualized test that measures academic areas and is appropriate for children from the ages of 4 to young adults to 20 and a half. The tester finds a base of a designated number of consecutive correct answers and works to a ceiling of the same incorrect consecutive answers. The highest number correct, minus any incorrect responses, provide a standard score, which is quickly converted into a grade equivalent or age equivalent. The Woodcock Johnson also provides diagnostic information as well as grade level performances on discrete literacy and mathematical skills, from letter recognition to mathematical fluency. 2. The Brigance Comprehensive Inventory of Basic Skills The Brigance Comprehensive Inventory of Basic Skills is another well-known, well-accepted criterion based and normed individual achievement test. The Brigance provides diagnostic information on reading, math and other academic skills. As well as being one of the least expensive assessment instruments, the publisher provides software to help write IEP goals based on the assessments called Goals and Objective Writers Software, which sells for $59.95. 3. KeyMath 3 Diagnostic Assessment KeyMath 3 Diagnostic Assessment is both a diagnostic and progress monitoring tool for math skills. Broken into three areas: Basic Concepts, Operations and Applications, the instrument provides scores for each area as well as each of the 10 subtests. Along with the flip chart books and test booklets, KeyMath also provides scoring software, to generate scores and reports.

BOCHK Risk Management and Financial Performance - Smart Custom Writing Samples

BOCHK Risk Management and Financial Performance - Smart Custom Writing Inchoate CrimesInchoate crimes are also referred to as incomplete crimes. They are acts in which one is inclined to commit a crime or one participates indirectly in a criminal offence. These crimes include attempt, conspiracy as well as solicitation. Inchoate crimes also include the act of being an accomplice or an accessory to a crime (Larry , 2006). Attempt is a type of inchoate offence which is regarded as the closest to the actual crime than all the others (Larry , 2006). Attempt involves an intent to carry out an act which amounts to a crime. It also involves the intent to bring about consequences which are equal to a crime as per the law (Larry , 2006). Attempt doesn’t stop at the mere intent but it involves an act that furthers that intent. Policy wise, a person who attempts a crime is punished because a person intending to commit a crime is a socially dangerous person (Schmalleger, 2006). The punishment administered is a bit lenient though than that which would have been administered in the event that the crime was completed (Schmalleger, 2006. Conspiracy is an inchoate offence in which a person collaborates with others to commit a crime (Smith, 1995). Unlike attempt, conspiracy can be charged in addition to the crime itself. For instance, a person who commits murder in collaboration with others can be charged of the murder itself as well as the conspiracy with the others to commit the crime of murder (Smith, 1995). Solicitation is considered a substantive crime on its own. Solicitation involves the inducement of a person by another one to commit a crime (James, 2006). The list of Words that create an inducement is referred to as the list of proper utterances for the crime of solicitation. These words advise, command, counsel, encourage, entice, importune, incite, instigate, order, procure, request, solicit, or urge a person to commit a crime (James, 2006). Elements of solicitation include: mens rea :- the specific intent to persuade someone else to commit a crime while not intending to commit a crime. This involves the act of purposely wanting to persuade a person to commit a crime without the use of casual comments or joking around. Actus reus:- this refers to the utterance of words which that can cause inducement. This utterance can be oral, written or even electronic (James, 2006). Amy can be charged with conspiracy to commit a crime. This is because she collaborates with her husband Hank to break Lisa’s leg by having the husband push Lisa down some stairs. For one to be charged with conspiracy, the intended crime doesn’t necessarily have to be successful. . Hank can be charged with two cases of conspiracy. Firstly, he collaborates with Amy to push Lisa down some stairs so as to injure her leg. Secondly, he collaborates with Tess to hurt Lisa’s leg by a method not specified. He can also be charged with solicitation as he entices Tess with $2000 to hurt Lisa. Tess can be convicted of the crime of conspiracy as he collaborates with Hank to injure Lisa’s leg. She can also be convicted of the crime of attempt as she tries to shoot Lisa in the thigh with a gun at the parking lot though unsuccessful. References James W. ( 2006). Criminal Law and Procedure for the paralegal: a systems approach. London: Routledge. Larry , K. (2006). Criminal Justice in Action: The Core. London: Thomson-Wadsworth Publishing. Schmalleger, F. (2006). Criminal Law Today: An Introduction with Capstone Cases. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall Smith, J. (1995). Some Comments On The Law Commission's Report. London: Routledge.

Re-Branding Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Re-Branding - Case Study Example Utilizing the case of Hunter Boots and the case study which was provided concerning how the firm was able to rebrand and ultimately turn the company around from near insolvency to rampant sales generation and growth, this brief analysis will be able to draw a high level of inference upon the means by which re-branding is effected as well as pointing to some of the key marketing concepts and theories that are oftentimes utilized in order to bring effective re-branding about. As such, rather than merely restating the case study in question, this particular analysis will seek to define the means whereby Hunter Boots was able to effect its rebranding and turn around via several different applications of marketing strategy and theory. Moreover, rather than merely elaborating upon some of the marketing mechanisms that Hunter Boots utilized in order to bring the firm back from the brink of extinction within the marketplace, the analysis will close with a particular word of warning. Such a w ord of warning is of course with relation to the fact that such a rebranding process that is ever-mindful of the realities of the marketplace is demanded to be perpetually engaged with if such a firm wishes to continue to have a place within the market. One of the very clear and present realities of the way in which markets behave and interact with the consumer and vice versa is with respect to the rapid level of change and fast changing consumer tastes. As such, the market for Hunter Boots had all but died out prior to the successful rebranding that took place. In this way, the relevant stakeholders of the firm found it necessary to institute a series of marketing theories and concepts in order to evoke a level of positive change within overall sales of Hunter’s line of boots. The first of these was to seek to reposition the brand. Whereas previously Hunter Boots had experienced a degree of appeal among wealthier segments of British society, the allure had since been lost as the style and limited product choice had come to be seen as stodgy and outdated. In such a manner, repositioning the brand to make it appeal to a broader audience was direly necessitated. Running tangentially to this need and reality of repositioning the brand, the firm found it expedient to seek to leverage the â€Å"upmarket†. This of course is a marketing concept that useful to understand with regards to the target market that the firm is attempting to leverage. With regards to how Hunter Boots sought to upmarket the product line, it was the understanding and realization of key individuals within the management of the firm that successful rebranding should not deviate too far from the originally strength and stigma that Hunter Boots originally entailed. In such a way, the ultimate intention was to market Hunter Boots as something of a chic aspect of â€Å"haute couture† that denoted a degree of sophistication and wealth. In such a way, the rebranding effort utilize d consumer desire to represent this exclusivity as a means of not only increasing sales but increasing the price per pair of boots approximately 20% (Coster, 2009). Two further marketing concepts which were heavily utilized in order to engage the consumer were with respect to the level and extent to which product differentiation and expansion of the product line were effected to increase overall sales. Whereas before the restructuring and rebranding of Hunter Boots, there were only two specific product offerings that the firm was able to exhibit, as a result of the rebranding efforts, the firm set out to explosively increase the overall number of style

National Gallery Still Life Assignemnt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

National Gallery Still Life Assignemnt - Essay Example Still life painting began in the 16th century and became a serious art form in the 17th century when artists began to realistically dramatize their works (Charles 49). Most still life painting of the early painters got used to convey messages about the futility of worldly life and material decay. Early painters of still life centralized around moral and religious themes when painting their work. The church represented a strong influence upon early still life painters. An analysis of Michelangelo Merissi Da Carravaggio ‘supper at Emmaus’ is of great use in understanding still life painting. ‘Supper at Emmaus’ is an example of a still life painting carried out in 1601 by Caravaggio (Charles 68). In the painting, the artist includes arrangement of fruit, wine, bread, and cooked fowl. The table in the painting gets used to lay out the still-life meal. A closer look at the fruit basket in the painting will reveal to the viewer of its precarious position at the table’s edge. The painting depicts a story from the bible where Jesus Christ is said to have appeared incognito to two of his disciples who failed to recognize him after his resurrection. Later, Christ appeared to the disciples at a supper meal in Emmaus where he blessed the meal and shared it to them. When the disciples began to recognize him, he disappeared. Caravaggio’s painting depicts the moment when Christ blesses the bread, and in turn revealing his true identity to the two disciples. Christ is shown beardless in the painting. The artist provides a further emphasis on the still life meal on the table. The gestures and expressions of the disciples reveal their intense emotion at recognizing Christ. The depiction of a beardless Christ at the table may be confusing to the viewer at first instance of viewing. The viewer might think that Christ is just any other person or disciple at the table. This depiction of Christ makes the viewer to feel a participant in the