Analysis Of Nella Larsen And Young Goodman Brown - 904 Words

The topic I found interesting was the meaning of space in the stories we’ve read. What is it and how do we explain it? This is useful because when it comes to understanding the meaning of space there isn’t just only one way of doing so. Were able to discover this through the different author s stories, and poems we’ve read. The stories that I will look into for this paper are â€Å"Passing† by Nella Larsen and â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In both the stories the character s use these open spaces to hide in and conceal the things important to them. What does it mean to hide? It means to prevent something from being seen. Putting someone or something in a place where it won t be seen or found. There are many different ways of interpreting space. For instance, a meaning of space is a place where one feels security and freedom, although in â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† and â€Å"Passing† they use their space to hide in. The meaning of spaces and places get established through the person-to-place bonds that evolve through emotional connections, and understandings of a specific place. From birth you are routinely brought into a culture where your identity is unsurprisingly given to you. An individual’s attachment to a space and place increases in proportion to its proximity to one’s home and the frequent use of the space. Space is transformed into â€Å"place†. Space is used to refer to general/ abstract ideas like home or nation while place is referring to the specific locations

The Role Of Managers Is Vital - 1734 Words

The role of managers is vital because it is a manager’s responsibility to plan, develop, and implement strategies that will be profitable for the organization. A plan is less effective if there is not a strategy implemented within it. Knowing how to allocate resources and responsibilities among people and divisions within the organization is a very vital part of the manager’s job. To being an effective leader one must first understand the mission and goal of the company. A leader is a person who commands, guides, or directs a group or organization. A successful leader has outstanding communication and people management skills which will connect and motivate a group of people to work together to accomplish a shared goal. As a leader one†¦show more content†¦Leading is the managerial tasks that most feel is the only responsibility that is required of a manager; however, that is a misperception. Leading necessitates a manager to convey a clear vision and energize and enable organizational members so they can fully understand the part they play in the success of the organization. Effectual leadership produces organizational members working harmonious to achieve goals. A leader is specifically a person, whereas, leadership is a process by which a person influences others to achieve a common goal. When attempting to identify leadership qualities within a manager, one should seek if the candidate challenges the status quo, develop visions and set direction among the people, and motivate and inspire the people to work hard and efficiently to accomplish the goal. These leadership skills can be developed and even enhanced at any stage of a manager’s career. Leading is the managerial tasks that most feel is the only responsibility that is required of a manager; however, that is a misperception. Leading necessitates a manager to convey a clear vision and energize and enable organizational members so they can fully understand the part they play in the success of the organization. Effectual leadership produces organizational members working harmonious to achieve goals. With that being said, it is vital that one in the managerial role understands the team’s needs theories. The premise

Budgetary control free essay sample

Nowadays management’s philosophy revolves around the idea of planning. According to McKinsey (1922), chief executives have come to the realization that today’s task can only be properly fulfilled thanks to the meticulous planning of yesterday. The budgetary control framework has been openly accepted and widespread as a tool for management and overall organisation control. Nonetheless, recent evolutions in the managerial sciences have come to jeopardise the reliability of budgeting as an effective method for the control of performance and organisation. The concern of whether budgeting is in fact an apt tool has created mixed views and debate amongst scholars. This essay will aim to evaluate whether budgetary control is concerned primarily with the control of performance, or if it has of late taken on greater importance especially as a more integrative control mechanism for the organisation. In order to do so it will firstly define the meaning of two fundamental concepts such as budget and budgetary control. We will write a custom essay sample on Budgetary control or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Secondly it will evaluate the use of budgetary control as a tool for today’s organization. Thirdly it will follow debates and criticisms on its the effectiveness and use and Lastly it will conclude by assessing to what extent budgetary control has become a more integrative control mechanism for organisations. The work of key specialists in management such as Bhimani, Otley, Van der Stede and McWatters, will be drawn on in order to cover the key issues of the discussion. Before commencing on a discussion of budgetary control, it is immanent to clarify and define the two key terms that will be used in this essay: ‘budget’ and ‘budgetary control’. On the one hand, as defined by Bhimani et al. (2008) â€Å"a budget is a quantitative expression of a proposed plan of action by management for future time period and it is an aid to coordination and implementation of the plan†. On the same line McWatters et al. (2008) highlights the importance of budgets as a planning control system for a company, which ‘translate’ organisational objectives into financial terms. Drury (2009) exemplifies the many different purposes that budgets serve, such as: coordinating activities, conveying various arrangements to different responsibility centres, arranging and controlling operations, motivating employees to attain organisational objectives and assessing the execution of managers. According to Johnson (1996), it was in the 1960s that associations started to highly regard the utilization of budgets as tools for performance measurement and the control of managerial objectives. On the other hand, budgetary control is described by Periasamy (2010) as â€Å"a system of controlling costs which includes the preparation of budgets, coordinating the department and establishing responsibilities, comparing actual performance with the budgeted and acting upon results to achieve maximum profitability†. A similar, yet more formal, definition of budgetary control is given by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants of England and Wales (CIMA): â€Å"the establishment of budgets relating to the responsibilities of executives to the requirement of a policy and the continuous comparison of actual with the budgeted results, either to secure by individual actions the objectives of policy or to provide a basis for its revision†. There are two main purposes of budgets which scholars have identified: planning and controlling. The first purpose, which McWatters et al. (2008) discusses, is that budgets have a fundamental role in undertaking planning decisions. In fact, the integration of budgets into a strategic planning of long term and short-term objectives is crucial to the harmony of the project itself. This claim can be explained by Bhimani et al. (2008) who proposes that, budgets provide a more realistic view on the possible outcomes of investments, which consequently leads managers to adjust their strategic goals accordingly. To put it another way, when a company wants to match its potentials suitably with the prospects of the marketplace, it undertakes a strategic analysis to then set several long-run and short-run goals. On this basis a budget is formulated. However, as stated before, once the budget that has been formulated projects a more realistic view on the strategic objectives, these strategic objectives are then readjusted once again. The second purpose that Emmanuel et al. (1990) discusses is to do with budgets as a form of control and a tool for monitoring a company’s performance. McWatters et al. (2008) describe this function by outlining the idea that budgets are frequently used to assign responsibilities by allocating resources to different managers. A budget may be given with more or less flexibility, for example by assigning a large sum of money for ‘advertising’ to be used at the managers discretion, or by highlighting the different ways that this money should be used. The optional flexibility of budgets allows for a company to give the adequate level of responsibility to its employees and thus the organisation is able to maintain a level of control. McWatters et al. (2008) further elaborates on the function of budgeting for control by suggesting that â€Å"the numbers in a budget are also used as goals to motivate organisational members†. This motivational aspect of budgeting can be explained by Bhimani et al (2008) who states that â€Å"the manner in which a budget is administered can adversely impact on the managers’ behaviour†. A manager must believe that the budget is achievable in order to actively attempt to pursue it, Bhimani et al (2008) adds that through the constraints and goals set by budgeting targets, managers are often motivated to â€Å"effect changes in a forceful way†. The way that a budget is formulated, and the demands and pressures that it targets are key in encouraging the right degree of motivation, â€Å"an enterprise can set a difficult to attain budget in an attempt to motivate good performance. This is because, in practice, budgets that are set up to a certain degree of tightness often become stronger motivators† (Bhimani et al. , 2008). A final point to consider with the role of budgetary control is the function that it plays in enhancing communication within a company. Internal coordination between the steps of production , as well as communication among departments are key aspects for a company’s performance. Dury (2009) states that â€Å"the budget serves as a vehicle through which the actions of the different parts of an organisation can be brought together and reconciled into one common plan†. Hence, hierarchical and inter-departmental communication within the organisation is extremely facilitated thanks to the use of budgets. For instance, considering a multinational corporation that, due to its size, has difficulties in communicating between the production department and the sales department, budgets could in this circumstance be the most operational manner of communicating, as they set common goals between different departments. As it is clear form the paragraphs above, the controlling side of budgets play a stronger role than the planning aspect. An example that instead criticise this view can be found in the strategic planning of investments. Maximising performance of a company can be synonymous for maximising the shareholders value. Akintoye (2008) argues that equality in investment decisions are fairly dependent on the solidity of the budgetary control system, which in turn is key to maximise the company’s shareholders value. Therefore, it is arguable that a weak budgetary control system may be the cause of unprofitable investments and consequently may trigger the loss of shareholders value (Akintoye, 2008). There are many examples that reflect this issue, such as one reported by the European Journal of Economics Finance and Administrative Science where the Coca-Cola Company, with the purpose of differentiating production, failed miserably in their investment on food and wine in that the investment rate of return resulted to be beneath their cost of capital. The tremendous loss of money caused by this investment and other failures of this type grab the attention of scholars, raising questions on the salience of the budgetary control system, as well as whether budgets are mainly used to control or plan organisations. Other criticisms towards budgetary control as a main form of performance control, argue instead that the use of budgetary control in performance management has of late taken on greater importance especially as a more integrative control mechanism for the organisation. This stands on the basis of different points of view of the role that motivation and communication play within a company. Bhimani et al. (2008) argues that current speculation concerning budgetary control systems prescribes two inverse perspectives. From one perspective, there is the view that upholds incremental change to budgetary process in terms of interfacing such forms more closely to operational prerequisites, arranging frameworks, expanding the recurrence of plan amendment and the arrangement of rolling budgets. A second perspective supports the abandoning of the budgetary control system as a method of organisational control, and supplanting it with elective systems to empower firms on their adaptability and adjustability. The second perspective arose because of the consequences caused by the conflictual role of budgets between planning and controlling. To summarize; in planning and settling choices, budgets convey specialised information between different departments and hierarchy of the organisation, whereas for control, budgets serve as benchmarks for performance measurement (Otley, 1978). According to McWatters et al. (2008) if too many boundaries are placed into performance targets, then specialised executives will settle down and stop disclosing accurate predictions of prospected occurrences, and instead rely more on budgeted figures, which ease the achievement of the targets. A clear example of this conflict is given by the marketing sector. Salespeople according to McWatters et al. (2008) are usually very specialised and can very well forecast future sales. Their predictions are very important to settle the amount of goods to be produced. Inasmuch budgetary control of sales takes place at the end of the year, and it is used as a tool to evaluate performance. Salespeople are reasonably incentivised to under-forecast future sales in order to assure a positive evaluation of their performance. Nevertheless this behaviour induces the company to have higher production costs, creating counterproductive results. However, this behavioural theory is contrasted by Van der Stede (2000) in his study on the relationship between two consequences of budgetary control: slack creation and managerial short-term orientation. In his experiment he attempts to find the relationship between rigid budgetary control and slack creation, where he defines slack as the action by business unit managers that leads them to â€Å"†¦ exploit their position of superior knowledge about business possibilities vis-a-vis corporate management to get performance targets that are deliberately lower than their best guess forecast about the future† (lukka, 1988). Van der Stede’s (2008) statistical correlation showed in fact that rigid budget control reduced slack. To strengthen his view, Bhimani et al. (2008) states that â€Å"budgeted performance measures can overcome two keys limitations of using past performance as basis for judging actual result†, meaning that, not only budgetary control is a good â€Å"judge† of performance, but it also develops better aspects in comparison to other evaluation techniques. In conclusion, this essay has highlighted the role of budgetary control and it’s functions in terms of planning the organisational control of a company, as well as its role in performance management. Motivation and communication are both key aspects in the management of performance, and both of these functions are met through the system of budgetary control, either by setting achievable incentives, or by providing the necessary requirements to improve communications within a company. Having underlined the role of budgetary control as an enhancer of performance management, it is clear to see how it has become a key mechanism for the integrative control of an organisation. Nonetheless, this essay has outlined some of the key disputes of the reliability and effectiveness of budgetary control as an adequate method of performance management. An example of this is highlighted by the fact that when managers are given strict budgeting figures, they sometimes deem the goals to be too easily achieved, and hence give a lesser input of motivation. Despite the many critics of budgetary control as a tool for the organisation of a company, scholars such as Van der Stede (2000) and Bhimani et al. (2008) have confidently stated that when a budget is set correctly, it can significantly improve an organisations performance, including the integrative function within a company; and is in fact a more effective tool than other existing methods of control.

Spain - Decline Essays - Philippine Dynasty, Knights Of Santiago

Spain - Decline OUTLINE THE FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO A DECLINE IN SPANISH POWER BY THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY The general perception of the historical world is that Spain, once a powerful nation, declined from its period of grace around the commencement of the seventeenth century. However, more recently a number of historians have come to refute such a claim. One of the leading figures in the study of this period is Henry Kamen who argues that no such decline occurred at all. Contemporary historians, for example Gonzalez de Cellorigo, often believed the opposite, in that Spain was indeed suffering a decline in status which may have been the result of such characters not wishing to face the possibility that Spain never enjoyed hegemony at all. Kamens main area of dispute is that he believes there to have been no economic decline at all, whilst still agreeing that there was indeed a political decline, he states we cannot question the obvious fact that there was a decline in imperial and military power, the likes of which can be backed up by the events in 1637 and 1643 the battles of the Downs and Rocroi respectively. His argument is that for Spain to suffer an economic decline they must have been financially strong in the first place, thus providing the platform from which to fall. Jeronimo Fernandez de Mata claimed it is said that when empires reach their peak, they begin to decline. Indeed this is correct but peaks can only be highlighted when examining events in hindsight and contemporaries would have been blissfully unaware of such a downfall. Kamens ideas can certainly be supported by little more than common historical knowledge. Even as early as the reign of Philip II, Spain experienced frequent bankruptcies mainly due to multiple foreign wars which could be supported by income from taxation and a monopoly on trade from the Indies alone. In conclusion Kamen believes that Spain was simply incapable of economic decline because Spain never rose. He also claims that no real timing can be identified for the precise moments of decline, a point refuted by Professor Israe l. Israel claims that the majority of belief is now pointed towards a decline beginning in the early years of the reign of Philip III and ending in the mid-seventeenth century. The key obstacle that barred Spains path in the eyes of Israel, is that of unavoidable natural disasters such as plague and famine, the latter of which can be partly blamed on the financial crisis itself as well as poor agriculture. In a period of approximately twenty-five years at the start of the seventeenth century, the population of Spain fell by over one and a half million. Such adversities counter-balanced against efforts to improve Spanish finance in the sixteenth century through industrial growth, particularly in textiles. However, before Kamens theories began to cause disagreement, historians of the early to middle twentieth century had moulded the foundations for his hypothesis. Historians such as Ranke and Hume pointed out that the ignorance and foolhardy toils of the leaders of Spain themselves had brought decadence onto their empire. With the advent of Earl Hamiltons article in 1938, the economic dimension was introduced, but it was not until Professor Elliott published his article in 1961 that each idea began to materialise together. Until now the idea of a general decline had been accepted but now Elliott had highlighted the difference between a political and economic fall, which could only lead on to each other and not occur simultaneously. Whilst agreeing that international trade difficulties were indeed partly responsible he made it clear that internal problems were the key to Spanish failure. Similarities can easily be drawn with Professor Israels theorem, particularly regarding the importan ce of agricultural and demographic crisis in the eventuality of the decline itself. It was made clear that the economic decline, occuring at the turn of the sixteenth century, came before the political fall, which he pinpoints to 1640. It is such evaluation which conflicts with Kamen, who must surely agree that in the second half of the sixteenth century Spain was undoubtedly the most powerful nation in Europe. If this is so then the fact that this hegemony

Analysis of North and South by Elisabeth Gaskell Essays

Analysis of North and South by Elisabeth Gaskell Essays Analysis of North and South by Elisabeth Gaskell Essay Analysis of North and South by Elisabeth Gaskell Essay Galleys novel comes to term with the loss of an idealized rural past, and the ascendancy of the urban. The book has It all: class conflict, policy, religion, womans right, society. Through the story of Margaret Hale, the middle-class Ethernet who moves to the northern industrial town of Milton, Seashell skillfully explores issues of class and gender in the conflict between Margaritas ready sympathy with the workers and her growing attraction to the charismatic mill owner, John Thornton. Although we have quite a few themes to examine In the Victorian age. The working class people, north and south division, class and gender issues will be elaborated especially. It was In Queen Victorians reign that merchants, manufacturers and bankers started to gain political power, and began to exert pressure on the legislative body, he Parliament. We can understand the gravity of the situation through some professional information. Furthermore, Many of the established landed elite not only prospered through the effects of general economic expansion on their estates, which generated buoyant incomes and capital appreciation that were welcome financial sustenance in keeping up their position, but also themselves formed part of the leading edge of economic development by undertaking or encouraging the building of docks, harbors, railways, mines, or housing estates. They did not, therefore, present a blankly hostile OFF or Allen race to ten capitals entrepreneurs, even IT no memoir AT ten relocate would have cared to be classed as a businessman (153). The condition of working and middle class people can be learned from both novels like Galleys and other books examining that time. As Rutgers states in his book; Working class people could make upward or downward movement within their class only. Movement from working class to middle class was almost impossible. Again, the social mobility depended on education. For many working class families, however, education was a luxury. The system of that time is also stated by Mr.. Thornton and Mr.. Hale when they all sit including Margaret; Mr.. Hale states Is there a necessity for calling it a battle between the two classed? And Mr.. Thornton answers It is true ; and I believe it to be as much a necessity as that prudent wisdom and good conduct are always opposed to, and doing battle with, ignorance and improvidence. It is one of the greatest beauties of our system, that a working-man may raise himself into the power and position of a master by his exertions and behavior ; that, in fact, every one who rules himself to decency and variety of conduct and attention to his duties, comes over to our ranks ; it may not be always as a master, but as an overlooked, a cashier, a book keeper, a clerk, one on the side of authority and order'(96). Another theme to argue is gender in North and South In recent years, psychologists and historians have been exploring gender and its effect both men and masculinity should be approached as femininity is. We can see clear examples of this issue in the novel. Mr.. Thornton states that I take it that gentleman is a term that only describes a person in his legislation to others ; but when we speak of him as a man, we consider him not merely with regard to his fellow-men, but in relation to himself-to life-to time-to eternity. A castaway, lonely as Robinson Crusoe- a prisoner immured in a dungeon for life-nay, even a saint in Pathos, has his endurance, his strength, his faith, best described by being spoken of as a man I am rather weary of this word gentlemanly, which seems to me to be often inappropriately used, and often, too, with such exaggerated distortion of meaning, while the full simplicity of the noun man, and the adjective manly, is unacknowledged?that I am induced to class it with the cant of the day (194). And as Ginger S. Frost states in her book Courtship, Class and Gender in Victorian England men were expected to be brave, facing the consequences of their actions. For one thing, men were cowardly to refuse go through with bargain (42). And in the same book she says probably the most interesting insight into masculinity from breach-of-promise cases was the courts reaction to male sexuality. Once a man had sex with a woman, he was responsible for her. In this way the action undermined the harsh Victorian strictures on female chastity (44). We can say that the possible marriage between John and Margaret could be affected by all the gender and social Issues. The last theme we will examine is the north and south divide, while analyzing the social, intellectual and artistic developments in Victorian Britain, we must mainly think of the Industrial Revolution, the economic factors and the rise of the middle classes which radically altered the means of production, the politics, the customs, and culture. In a conversation between Mr.. Higgins and Margaret, she states; You must not go to South said Margaret, for all that. You could not stand You would not bear the dullness of the life; you dont know what it is; it would eat you away like rust. Those that have live there all their lives are used to soaking in the stagnant water. They labor on from day to day, in the great solitude of steaming fields-never speaking of lifting up their poor, bent, downcast heads. The hard spade- work robs their brain of life; the sameness of their toil deadens their imagination; hey dont care to meet to talk over thoughts and speculations, even the weakest, wildest kind, after their work is done; they go home brutishly tired, poor creatures! Caring for nothing but food and rest. You could not stir them up any companionship, which you get in a town as plentiful as the air you breathe, whether it be good or bad (364). In the novel, John works hard to earn the respect of his workers and tries to comprehend the life conditions. This is probably a good idea because Karl Adamant states in his book As the inner city grew more congested, the homes of the manufacturers and merchants, no longer used as places of business, migrated up the hillsides in order to escape the filth disease and noise of the city(103). Consequently, we can say that Elizabeth Seashell combines the themes of that time brilliantly and renders the issues visible for all trying to figure out Victorian Era. Primary Source: Seashell, Clincher Elizabeth. North and South. Oxford University: Chapman and Hall, 1855. Secondary Sources: Frost, Ginger Suzanne.

Free Essays on Civil Rights Movement

The Civil Rights Movement The Civil Rights Movement was a very important point in the history of the United States. The self-proclaimed, â€Å"Land of the free† promoted the segregation and mistreatment of the colored people of American whether they be Black, Asian or Hispanic. The Civil Rights Movement was aimed at gaining equality for the Blacks but it came with the added bonus of gaining rights for the other races as well. During this period the eyes of whites and others were opened and started to change the errors in their way. Though the majority might have changed there was still those who believed that all other races were inferior to the White race and treated them poorly and some times just brutally. Thurgood Marshall was the director of legal defense and the educational fund for the N.A.A.C.P., a lawyer, Federal Judge, solicitor general and the first African-American Supreme Court Justice in America. He was also one of the best (if not the best) known black Lawyers in the United States. He played a major role in the civil right movement by winning many cases that led to more rights or improved rights for the black race. As Director of Legal Defense, Marshall fought in the majority of the civil rights cases. The most famous of these cases would be the â€Å"Brown vs. Board of Education† (1954) which resulted in the â€Å"beginning† of the end of segregation in schools and public areas. It was people like Thurgood Marshall that fought for the rights of colored people in the courts. At the age of 26 Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. became the unofficial leader of the civil rights movement in America. His leadership and efforts for racial equality eventually earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. King’s first taste of the civil rights movement came when Rosa Parks sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott when she refused to give her seat up to a white man and was arrested for doing so. With Television being a common... Free Essays on Civil Rights Movement Free Essays on Civil Rights Movement The first massive direct action in the civil rights movement came in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. Under SCLC leadership, the black community boycotted the city’s bus system, which required them to ride at the back of the buses. After many months of boycotting, the U.S Supreme court declared that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional, and the boycott was bought to an end. This was a very significant event for the civil rights movement. It caught the attention of the entire nation. People around the country were made aware of the event because it was launched on such a massive scale and lasted for more than a year. It also set the tone for the civil rights movement, which led to more struggles and protest. There was the school integration in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957, where nine black students were admitted to Little Rock’s Central High School. President Dwight Eisenhower sent federal troops to enforce desegregation. There were public accommodation sit-ins in North Carolina and Georgia in 1960, when four black college students began protesting racial segregation in restaurants by sitting at â€Å"white only† lunch counters and waiting to be served. There were the freedom riders who traveled around the South in buses to test the effectiveness of the 1960 Supreme Court decision of illegal segregation in bus stations. There was also education and voter registration drives in Mississippi in 1961, which organized voter registration campaigns in black counties. Many of these protests where organized by the student affiliate of SCLC, many northern white liberal supporters, and the SNCC which stands for Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. The SNCC was founded in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 1960 to help organize and direct the student sit-in movement. They also concentrated on voter registration, believing that voting was a way to empower blacks so that they could change racist policies in the South. ... Free Essays on Civil Rights Movement The Civil Rights Movement The Civil Rights Movement was a very important point in the history of the United States. The self-proclaimed, â€Å"Land of the free† promoted the segregation and mistreatment of the colored people of American whether they be Black, Asian or Hispanic. The Civil Rights Movement was aimed at gaining equality for the Blacks but it came with the added bonus of gaining rights for the other races as well. During this period the eyes of whites and others were opened and started to change the errors in their way. Though the majority might have changed there was still those who believed that all other races were inferior to the White race and treated them poorly and some times just brutally. Thurgood Marshall was the director of legal defense and the educational fund for the N.A.A.C.P., a lawyer, Federal Judge, solicitor general and the first African-American Supreme Court Justice in America. He was also one of the best (if not the best) known black Lawyers in the United States. He played a major role in the civil right movement by winning many cases that led to more rights or improved rights for the black race. As Director of Legal Defense, Marshall fought in the majority of the civil rights cases. The most famous of these cases would be the â€Å"Brown vs. Board of Education† (1954) which resulted in the â€Å"beginning† of the end of segregation in schools and public areas. It was people like Thurgood Marshall that fought for the rights of colored people in the courts. At the age of 26 Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. became the unofficial leader of the civil rights movement in America. His leadership and efforts for racial equality eventually earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. King’s first taste of the civil rights movement came when Rosa Parks sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott when she refused to give her seat up to a white man and was arrested for doing so. With Television being a common...

Strategic Financial Management(business report) Essay - 1

Strategic Financial Management(business report) - Essay Example According to Kanter (1995) such an action will not constitute an adequate response. This is so because success is based on an organisation’s ability to create, rather than predict the future by developing those products that will literally transform the way the world thinks and view it self and the needs (Kanter 1995:71). This paper is aimed at analyzing the case study of Amazon.com. In an attempt to implement a strategic and management turn around strategies by the CEO Jeff Bezos. The objectives of this paper can be examined from three dimensions. In the first instance, the paper seeks to outline, analyse and discuss the main issues concerning the case study Amazon.com. The first part of the paper provides the background while looking into the market in which the company is operating. The section also highlights the profitability and liquidity position of the company. Part two of the paper looks at the marketing strategies of the company by utilising the four Ps. The section further looks at the Human resource management strategies, operations analysis, the SWOT, PESTLE with respect to the case Amazon.com. The last part of the paper provides the conclusion and recommendation through the development of the strategic direction for the company. Amazon .com worldly known as Amazon is a key and strategic player in the field of electronic commerce. Being a worldwide brand selling virtually everything through its online shopping experience with customers. Today, Amazon serves customers in more than 200 countries through its several retail websites. Its e-commerce business model has become a benchmarking platform for other businesses to develop their e-business. Through its online shopping access webpage customers can shop virtually everything from financial services to diamond rings. Thus, to sum up, while operating as an online and e commerce supermarket,

To what extent does Karl von Clausewitz explain the changing nature of Essay

To what extent does Karl von Clausewitz explain the changing nature of warfare after 1798 - Essay Example Clausewitz’s main claim in his book ‘On War’ published in 1831 revolves around the fact that in order to understand warfare, it must be considered as a social phenomenon. War comes from deliberate circumstances and these circumstances make wars easier to understand. This statement was considered in the light of two conceptions of war at that time, first, that war is capable of linear solutions, and secondly, that war is basically chaotic and cannot be rationally evaluated (Gat, 1989). This view of war led to the perception that it is merely an offshoot of politics, mixed is with violence. This perception hid a more complex phenomenon. First and foremost, war has changed over time. Since social organizations have changed over the years, the nature of parties competing has also changed. Secondly, in seeking a better understanding of what is happening in conflicts, there is no longer a need to consider the military events in a political setting. Third, there is a nor mative element in the formula. Clausewitz was of the belief that force was more acceptable when it was considered as a tool for state policy. Considering the suffering caused by war, this was the justifiable reason utilized in the use of violence; however a normative failure would not negate the analytical process. (Clausewitz, eds, Howard and Paret, 1979, p. 586). In order to establish a practical understanding of war, there was a need to evaluate the relationship between military activities and the political climate of these events. On the outset, there was a direct linear link between the scale of the goal sought and the extent of force required to fulfill it. In a conflict which was carried out to conquer an opponent who aimed to totally conquer and annex a country, one is almost always certain to expect significant efforts to defeat the aggressor. On the other hand, where a smaller objective was sought, a smaller consequent action would be seen. Clausewitz was of the understand ing that events on the battlefield and in the political arena are very much related to each other. A battlefield victory might prevent other nations from being embroiled in any conflict, it may also convince them of the fact that a victor has become a threat to them (Szabo, 2008). A victory may also convince a nation that its competitor is weak and that it needs to improve its objectives. The consideration of a country deciding to intervene or step away from a conflict would

The State Children's Health Insurance Program Essay

The State Children's Health Insurance Program - Essay Example Before the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was enacted, Medicare and Medicaid was the only available, federally funded health insurance program offered by the government. Medicare was specifically designed to help the aged, the retirees, the survivors, and the disabled among others, pay for health care services like: inpatient hospitalization, home health care, hospice care, physician consult, outpatient hospital, prescription drugs, and the like (Klees, Wolfe, & Curtis, 2010). Medicaid, on the other hand, is the biggest source of government funding that covers medical, and other health-related services for the poorest people in the United States (Klees, Wolfe, & Curtis, 2010). However, Medicaid does not provide for all poor people; it covers only those who qualify for the inclusion criteria set by the legislators (Klees, Wolfe, & Curtis, 2010). The State Children’s Health Insurance Policy was established in 1997 to afford health care services to unins ured, low-income children; who were not eligible for Medicaid (American Academy of Pediatrics [AAP], 1997).

Tour Operations Sector Of The Travel Industry

Tour Operations Sector Of The Travel Industry The aim of this assignment is to investigate the tour operations sector of the travel and tourism industry, including the different types of operator, their products and services, the scale of the sector and how it has been affected by trends and developments. Learners will explore the stages involved in developing a package holiday and develop skills associated with determining a selling price for a holiday and the distribution methods used by tour operators to sell holidays. The travel industry predicts a continuing move away from packages towards independent travel coupled with Britains slow exit from the recession; tour operator bookings show that the desire to take holidays in 2010 is stronger than ever, as compared to December 2008 to March 2009. (Aito 2010) The demand for cheap deals are no longer the driving factor in tour operator bookings, consumers are now more concerned about customer service, and this is jumping ahead of price. Spain remains Britains favourite holiday destination. It is familiar to many, and easy to reach from across the UK on no-frills airlines. The Canaries Island for example is a bright spot for tour operators with a lot of new-build accommodation over the past decade and more all-inclusive than in other areas. The big two are increasingly branding major resort hotels for particular client types. The Gran Melia Palacio de Isora in Tenerife will be part of Thomsons flagship Sensatori resorts brand from May, offering luxury f or adults with an emphasis on spa treatments. First Choice is adding a new Holiday Village in Lanzarote at the Flamingo Beach hotel, offering families all-inclusive holidays in apartment-style accommodation. Specification of Assessment This assignment is in two parts Task 1 Covers Learning Outcome 1 and Learning Outcome 4 (LO1 and LO4) Task 2 Covers Learning Outcome 2 and Learning Outcome 3 (LO2 and LO3) TASK 1 You are required to write a report on Tour Operations in the 21st Century showing how the Industry has developed, the size, scale and complexities of tour operations today and to examine the implications of current trends and decision making on the industry. Within this task you are expected to address LO1 and LO4. (P1, P2, P9 and P10) Please read requirements 1 and 4 for this task. TASK 2 Within the Tour Operating Industry, you are required to develop and distribute a tour operator package, explain the stages of the product development, draw up timescales, prepare a package costing, evaluate and recommend distribution. Within this task you are expected to address LO2 and LO3. ( P3, P4, P5, P6, P7 and P8) Please read requirements 2 and 3 for this task. Requirement 1 -Investigate the tour operations sector of the travel and tourism industry Describe the tour operations sector of the travel and tourism industry Pass P1 1.2 Explain the effects of current and recent trends and developments on the tour operations Sector of the travel and tourism industry Pass P2 Desmonstrate creative thinking for tour operations current, recent trends and future developments discussed in Q.1.2 Distinction D3 Requirement 2 Explore the stages involved in developing packages 2.1 Describe the stages and timescales involved in developing the holiday package Pass P3 2.2 Explain the suitability of different methods of contracting for different components of the Package holiday and different types of tour operator Pass P4 Determine a selling price for a package holiday from given information Pass P5 Identify and apply strategies in developing a package holiday to a particular destination as discussed in Q.3.1 Merit M1 Present and communicate appropriate findings as required in Question 3.3 Merit M3 Requirement 3 Review the role of Brochures Methods of Distribution used to sell Package Holidays Explain the planning decisions taken for a specified brochure Pass P6 Explain the suitability of alternatives to a traditional brochure for different types of tour operator Pass P7 3.3 Explain the suitability of different methods of distribution used to sell a holiday for different Types of tour operator Pass P8 Use critical reflection and Evaluate the different types of tour operations and different methods of Distribution used to sell holidays and justify conclusions as discussed in Question 4.3 Distinction D1 Requirement 4- Examine strategic and tactical decision making for tour operators 4.1 Explain the strategic decisions made by different types of tour operator Pass P9 4.2 Explain the tactical decisions that could be taken by a specified tour operator in different Situations Pass P10 Apply methods and techniques used by different types of tour operators to make strategic decisions discussed in Question 2.1. Merit M2 4.4 How to take responsibility for managing and organising activities to explicate the deliberate decision that could be taken by a specified tour operator in different situations discussed in Question 2.2 Distinction D2 Plagiarism and Collusion Any act of plagiarism and collusion will be seriously dealt with according to the regulations. In this context the definition and scope of plagiarism are presented below: Using the work of others without acknowledging source of information or inspiration. Even if the words are changed or sentences are put in different order, the result is still plagiarism. (Cortell 2003) Extension and Late Submission Collusion describes as the submission of work produced in collaboration for an assignment based on the assessment of individual work. When one person shares his/her work with others who submit part of all of it as their own work. If you need an extension for a valid reason, you must request one using a coursework extension request form available from the college. Please note that the lecturers do not have the authority to extend the coursework deadlines and therefore do not ask them to award a coursework extension. The completed form must be accompanied by evidence such as a medical certificate in the event of you being sick. Outcomes Assessment criteria for pass To achieve each outcome a learner must demonstrate the ability to: 1 Investigate the tour operations sector of the travel and tourism industry 1.1 Describe the tour operations sector of the travel and tourism industry 1.2 Explain the effects of current and recent trends and developments on the tour operations Sector of the travel and tourism industry 2 Explore the stages involved in developing packages 2.1 Describe the stages and timescales involved in developing the holiday package 2.2 Explain the suitability of different methods of contracting for different components of the Package holiday and different types of tour operator 2.3 Determine a selling price for a package holiday from given information 3 Review the role of brochures and methods of distribution used to sell package holidays 3.1 Explain the planning decisions taken for a specified brochure 3.2 Explain the planning decisions taken for a specified brochure 3.3 Explain the suitability of different methods of distribution used to sell a holiday for different Types of tour operator 4 Examine strategic and tactical decision making for tour operators 4.1 Explain the strategic decisions made by different types of tour operator 4.2 Explain the tactical decisions that could be taken by a specified tour operator in different situations Note: All outcomes must be met for a pass Merit Descriptor Distinction Descriptor M1: Identify and apply strategies to find appropriate solutions. D1: Use critical reflection to evaluate own work and justify valid conclusions. M2: Select/design and apply appropriate methods/ techniques. D2: Take responsibility for managing and organizing activities. M3: Present and communicate appropriate findings. D3: Demonstrate convergent/lateral/creative thinking. Achievement of a Pass grade A pass grade is achieved by meeting all the requirements defined in the assessment criteria for each individual unit. Achievement of a merit or distinction grade All the assessment criteria and merit grade descriptors need to be completed within a unit to achieve a merit grade. All the assessment criteria merit and distinction grade descriptors must be completed within a unit to achieve a distinction grade. Suggested Support Materials Books Holloway J C The Business of Tourism (Longman, 1999) Bull A The Economics of Travel and Tourism (Longman, 1998) Laws E Managing Packaged Tourism (International Thomson Business Press, 1997) Middleton, Victor T C and Clarke J Marketing in Travel and Tourism, Third edition (Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001) Yale P The Business of Tour Operations (Longman, 2000) Further reading ABTA/AITO Code of Conduct ABTA Handbook ABTA Information Bureau Holiday Statistics CAA document number 221, 384 International Passenger Survey Package Travel Regulations Travel Trade Gazette Travel Weekly Websites Websites www.abtanet.com Association of British Travel Agents www.aito.co.uk Association of Independent Tour Operators www.caa.co.uk Civil Aviation Authority www.firstchoiceplc.co.uk First Choice Holidays www.fto.co.uk Federation of Tour Operators www.mytravelgroup.com My Travel Group www.thomascook.com Thomas Cook www.tui.com TUI ASSESSMENT FEEDBACK SHEET GUILDHALL COLLEGE Programme: BTEC Higher National Diploma (HND) in Travel Tourism Management Unit Number and Title: Unit 15 Tour Operations Management Unit Level: H1 Assignment Ref Number: 15.1.1 Tour Operations Management Module Tutor: Margaret Amankwah Email: [emailprotected] Date Set: 22/March/2010 Learner Name: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Learner ID: Information/feedback on assessment and grading criteria Assessment Criteria (Pass-P) Achieved Evidence Feedback Remarks P1Describe the tour operations sector of the travel and tourism industry Yes/No P2 explain the effects of current and recent trends and developments on the tour operations sector of the travel and tourism industry Yes/No P3 Describe the stages and timescales involved in developing the holiday package Yes/No P4 explain the suitability of different methods of contracting for different components of the package holiday and different types of tour operator Yes/No P5 determine a selling price for a package holiday from given information Yes/No P6 explain the planning decisions taken for a specified brochure Yes/No P7 explain the suitability of alternatives to a traditional brochure for different types of tour operator Yes/No P8 Explain the suitability of different methods of distribution used to sell a holiday for different types of tour operator Yes/No P9 Explain the strategic decisions made by different types of tour operator Yes/No P10 explain the tactical decisions that could be taken by a specified tour operator in different situations Yes/No Grading criteria (Merit-M; Destination-D) Achieved Evidence Feedback Remarks M1 Identify and apply strategies to find appropriate solutions. Yes/No M2 Select/design and apply appropriate methods /techniques. Yes/No M3 Present and communicate appropriate findings Yes/No D1 Use critical reflection to evaluate own work and justify valid conclusions. Yes/No D2 Take responsibility for managing and organizing activities. Yes/No D3 Demonstrate convergent/lateral/creative thinking. Yes/No Assessors general comments: Assessors Signature à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Date à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Print Name: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..Resubmission Date.. Learners comments: Signature à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Date à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Print Name: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Feedback of this coursework will normally be given to students four weeks after the submission of an assignment.

Expansion Opportunities Abroad Essay

With the proposed expansion of CPI in other countries like Brazil and the some European states, we need to consider three things: 1) the market share of giant corporations in the same business, 2) the company’s capital size, and 3) the price elasticity of the products to be sold (in those countries). While all these factors are of salience in the company’s operations, it is assumed that the relative complexity of the market is an avenue of uncertainty. Other factors like political stability may influence considerably the company’s operations as much as the presence of giant corporations in the business. The presence of giant corporations in the same business can be staved-off by setting commercial offices in places that are without the presence of these corporations. For example, if giant corporations are well concentrated in a particular city, the company should establish subsidiaries in semi-urban areas. This would stave off competition as well as maximizing the limited consumer base (semi-urban areas have a considerable consumer size). The company’s capital size should also be considered. Capital provides a firm the working materials to produce goods and services to the public. Capital and labor make up the so-called â€Å"inputs of production† of a firm. Therefore, if the company is going to expand overseas, it must first negotiate on the volume of capital that is needed for expansion (and of course, the associated risk). In this case, 5 to 20 % of the company’s capital will be used for expansion. This is a fair evaluation of risks involved in the venture as well as the proposed distribution of capital in â€Å"host† countries. The real problem though lies in determining the price elasticities of products to be sold in the market. Although the company fared well by concentrating its sale to regional places, this would not be the same when it goes international. Price elasticities generally become stable and somewhat inflexible once prices also become inflexible. The implication: those companies with large capital bases will tend to survive; those with small capital bases will either merge to survive or exit in the market. Even if the company set-up subsidiaries in semi-urban places to prevent competition, there is no assurance of success. Below we shall discuss nature and definition of price elasticities. There are two primary types of elasticities: price elasticity of demand and price elasticity of supply. Here we are concerned only with the former since the company’s expansion abroad depends on the sensitivity of consumer demand to price changes. Price elasticity is defined as â€Å"the measure of responsiveness of a factor or variable to another factor or variable† (Buchholz, 1996). Price elasticity of demand is defined as â€Å"the measure of responsiveness of quantity demanded to a change in price, all other things held constant (ceteris paribus)† (Price Elasticity of Demand, 2007). General relations of price elasticity of demand: †¢ If PED > 1 then Demand is Price Elastic †¢ If PED = 1 then Demand is Unit Elastic (equal response) †¢ If PED < 1 then Demand is Price Inelastic In the case of products manufactured by CPI, specifically Super Clean, it generally experiences the third relation. If Super Clean raises the prices of its product by 5%, percentage change in quantity demanded would be less. The implication: by setting subsidiaries in places where there is the minimal presence of giant corporations, Super Clean would be able to control minimally the prices of its product due perhaps to the relative inflexibility of consumer demand. This would maximize profit. Even if giant corporations enter, revenues would tend to be stable because consumer demand is stable. This would generally reduce the overall risk of the company.

Information Systems Case Study

Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs  ± case studies J. G. Thoburn Coventry University, UK S. Arunachalam Coventry University, UK A. Gunasekaran University of Massachusetts, North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, USA Keywords Information systems, Agile production, Small-to-medium-sized enterprises Introduction Today, manufacturing organisations are increasingly required to be highly optimised.Abstract The ability to respond swiftly and effectively The necessity of maintaining optito produce new products and services has mal operations and becoming an agile and responsive enterprise is become not so much a method of gaining competitive advantage, but more a means of becoming increasingly important to survive in the global market. survival. Many companies have seen the need Consequently, all resources in the to adopt a whole range of practices that reduce companies need to be effectively inputs and waste, and allow greater responmarshalled.Tradit ionally SMEs siveness to customer needs and the markethave concentrated on the 4Ms  ± money, materials, machine and place. In reaction to changing requirements manpower but have often neand conditions, manufacturing paradigms glected the effective management continue to be defined. It is possible to identify of information, which many authors suggest is at the heart of two trends: those addressing predominantly any agile organisation.The effect the relationships required in local and global is inadequate or fragmented infor- trading environments such as that described mation systems (IS) that do not by Porter (1996) and those systems focusing on address the demands of operational or the wider strategic needs organisational structures within an enterof the company. The study reprise such as business process re-engineering ported here examines the diversi(Hammer and Champy, 1993).Arguably, the ties of problems that occur in agile manufacturing paradigm combines both. three different companies and, Changes in information technology and compares their systems to the communications in the last two decades have ideals of agile manufacturing. further shifted the balance towards the customer. There has been a huge growth in the number of computers in use, putting huge power on the desktop, at ever-decreasing hardware cost.The arrival of the Internet and the expansion of the free market in telecommunications present the option of simple and low cost communication. Now it has become easy for all players in the supply chain, or even individual consumers, to measure specification, price and supply performance against their needs. They can purchase goods that precisely meet their requirements from anywhere in the world, bypassing any perceived shortcomings of their local marketplace.In response to the need for agility or the requirements to link different parts of the International Journal of Agile organisation or elements of a supply chain Management Systems 1/2 [1999] 116 ±126 effectively, systems are emerging that may # MCB University Press fundamentally change the organisation of [ISSN 1465-4652] manufacturing. In order that they might [ 116 ] achieve this, companies must clearly understand and organise their information resources at the earliest possible stage in their development.It is clear that only those enterprises that are able to respond to market demands with minimum delay will survive. Kidd (1996) argues: The agility that arises can be used for competitive advantage, by being able to respond rapidly to changes occurring in the market environment and through the ability to use and exploit a fundamental resource, knowledge. People need to be brought together, in dynamic teams formed around clearly defined market opportunities, so that it becomes possible to level one another's knowledge. Through this process is sought the transformation of knowledge into new products and services.High reaction flexibility will be no more than a qualif ier in the future, just as high quality is today. This flexibility cannot be realised by high-tech equipment alone. Human creativity and organisational ability, if necessary supported by advanced computer based tools, will be the basis for survival and success strategies. This paper describes studies over a period of 15 months, of three companies, and analyses how far they are away from possessing the ability to become agile, by examining the areas that were dysfunctional.It explores the importance of information management and appraises information systems in place in these companies. It discusses the need for a more structured and holistic approach to transferring information in its various forms to the different areas of an organisation, aiming to give optimal access to information while eliminating wasteful duplication as well as generating and testing new knowledge about the firm's changing requirements. Information defined The term information is widely and often inaccurately used. Many authors agree that J. G. Thoburn, S. Arunachalam and A.Gunasekaran Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs  ± case studies International Journal of Agile Management Systems 1/2 [1999] 116 ±126 there are three elemental types: data, information and knowledge. However, this paper argues that there is a fourth, intelligence, which is distinct from the others. All but data require an understanding of the socially defined context  ± where the information, knowledge and intelligence came from, the assumptions surrounding them, and their importance and limitations. Each of them may be defined as follows: .Data: a series of observations, measurements or facts. . Information: information is data organised into meaningful patterns by means of the application of knowledge. The act of organising data into information can itself generate knowledge, when a person reads, understands, interprets and applies the information in a specific wor k situation. . Knowledge: the intellectual capital resident within an organisation. The facts, experiences or competencies known by a person or group of people, or held within an organisation, gained by individual or shared experiences, training or education. Intelligence: what a company needs to know about its competitive, economic, technical and industry environment to enable it to anticipate change and formulate strategies to best provide for the needs of the marketplace and its specific customers. Yet many aspects of a company's IS are based, not around formal or technology based solutions, but rather on informal or human oriented systems. Mintzberg (1997) examined a wide range of managerial work, predominantly in large organisations. He reported that managers, while 40 percent of their time was devoted to gaining and sharing information, usually used informal systems centred on people.Nevertheless, he concluded that: the job of managing is fundamentally one of processing inform ation. that managing a company was essentially a matter of control. However, this implies a rigidity of framework and formality that does not fit well with today's organisation, and certainly does not promote agility. Flatter, less hierarchical business systems localise control and make it difficult for management to achieve enterprise-wide regulation. Smith (1984) however, believed that the vitality of living systems was not a matter of control, but rather of dynamic connectedness.Veryard (1994) argues that: systems are a dynamic interplay between adaptation and non-adaptation. This is precisely what is required in agile organisations, where there remains the need for stability and accountability, in an environment of necessary and perhaps rapid change. Dynamic connectedness in an agile organisation is provided by the flows of formal and informal information. Veryard further suggests that: the future belongs to symbiosis  ± external integration in pursuit of common business aims. The authors' research and experience shows that informal systems are equally important in every part of the organisation.This appears to be especially true in smaller organisations, where they have less developed formal systems, or formal systems are not performing optimally. In order to better understand and integrate the IS, the vital role of informal systems must be taken into account. The need for information systems in SMEs to successfully communicate and control For the better part of this century, classical management writers such as Henri Fayol (1949) and Gulick and Urwick (1937) taught This is evidenced in those extended enterprises now reported to be emerging.If this biological view is pursued, it can be seen that biological organisms, especially human ones, achieve precisely the continuous adaptation that is described in the agile paradigm. The most successful individuals are able to blend information from their external environment, with knowledge of their own capabilit ies, using formal and informal systems, whilst retaining information and knowledge in memory. There is constant building and retention of knowledge, with competencies taught by example as well as by the formal methods to be found in education and training.Concurrently, many of the control and co-ordination systems, even those learned, become largely autonomic, permitting more effective processing of environmental and circumstantial changes. Such systems may be clearly observed at work in individuals when they are, for example, driving a vehicle. Failure to function effectively in those circumstances leads to severe consequences. Also, by combining with other individuals, capabilities may be extended to be far more than the sum of the parts.Accordingly, biological systems may provide useful models for what may be expected to occur in manufacturing organisations of the future. With biological organisms, the need for adaptive ISs is most profound in growth and early learning stages, or in times of a significantly changing environment. Failure to adapt and learn from conditions [ 117 ] J. G. Thoburn, S. Arunachalam and A. Gunasekaran Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs  ± case studies International Journal of Agile Management Systems 1/2 [1999] 116 ±126 ay lead to survival difficulties. Similarly, small or growing companies, or those adapting to rapidly changing market conditions will require a dynamically linked IS that binds together all parts of the enterprise, and allows it to adapt to its external environment. This may be very different to the rather rigid systems of the past, operating on pre-defined rules and algorithms. Yet it must be within the reach of the smallest company functioning at low resource levels, which may well preclude expensive and complex IT based systems.Information management differences between large companies and SMEs The EC and the UK Government's Department of Trade and Industry have identified SMEs as critical to future economic growth and job creation within the European Union. They form large and important sectors in most industrialised countries, especially in Europe and the USA. Yet significant differences exist between the management of SMEs and larger companies, where much of the research in this field is concentrated.Just as a small fishing boat and a passenger liner may share the same ocean, so SMEs share the global trading environment with large organisations, and are no less susceptible to environmental effects. Indeed it may be argued that just like the smaller vessel, they are much less able to ride out the storms of uncertainty and rapid change, because of their lower resource base. As a result, they must be more, not less vigilant and adaptive than their larger counterparts, with intelligence systems able to influence their strategy and knowledge base much quicker.The Society of Practitioners of Insolvency in the UK concluded (SPI, 1998) from thei r 1998 survey that many companies, mostly SMEs, fail from lack of information  ± with loss of market being the single most important factor. Case studies Research took place in three companies over a period of three months with Company A, and more than six months each for Companies B and C, when one of the authors was in daily attendance. The companies were self-selected for study. Full access was allowed to every part of the business, its operations, management and financial systems, and to all employees.Research took the form of observation, participatory ethnographic and action research. Questioning of employees used unstructured or semi-structured interviews. [ 118 ] Company A was part of a large international group, operating in a number of countries and in every major geographical area in the world, with a group turnover at the time of the study around ? 1 billion. The group consisted in total of eleven divisions each producing a different product. The division studied was l ocated in France, and had approximately 200 employees. The company has been established a number of years and operates under an ISO 002 based system, as well as a number of other quality assurance regimes. The organisation manufactured a variety of special, large-scale products for the oil field, nuclear and defences industries worldwide. These complex products were produced individually to specific customer requirements. Lead times on nuclear products ranged from one to two years, and for the others, from six to 12 months. The products were manufactured as individual one-off specials, in a job-shop operation. The company was divided into seven departments, three by product sector, and the remainder by function.One of the latter was the information technology department. Unlike other departments, although it had a functioning office in the French division it was not a part of the local company; IT was attached directly to the parent company in Germany. Its responsibilities encompass ed the development and operation of the main computer and software systems used on the site for production management, purchasing, sales, production costing, and time and attendance systems. The department had additional responsibilities for networks and PCs which variously ran under MsDOS, Windows and Macintosh formats.Where information transfer took place between departments, it was almost entirely carried out manually, transferring information to paper, and then manually transferring it to the next system. No section used the same nomenclature or data dictionary for parts and components. The organisational design was partly hierarchical and partly a matrix structure, and used a predominantly formal communications network. There were a substantial number of formal and informal meetings, through which much of the departmental and inter-departmental co-ordination was attempted.All formal systems describing the company's operation and administration were well documented. Each departm ent, though relatively autonomous, seemed to be run with apparent efficiency. The operations and production management elements were especially highly developed, Company A J. G. Thoburn, S. Arunachalam and A. Gunasekaran Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs  ± case studies International Journal of Agile Management Systems 1/2 [1999] 116 ±126 and had been subjected to repeated internal scrutiny as well as by local universities.Despite this, the company experienced considerable difficulties in meeting quoted leadtimes. Those lead-times were already longer than their major competitors, and the company was also losing price-competitiveness. As much as 50 percent over-run on lead times was common, and substantial underachievement of possible turnover, and erosion of market share resulted. Otherwise the company and its products enjoyed a long-standing high reputation, though the managers believed that without this, considerably greater eros ion of market would have occurred.Their major competitors, predominantly Japanese and American, through price, technical improvements, and a significantly better responsiveness and delivery performance, were nevertheless making increasing gains at the company's expense. The company was a self-contained profit centre, a division of a larger group that trades throughout the UK. There were approximately 25 employees on the site, though there were wide fluctuations in the total due to a self-imposed seasonality in turnover. Certain support services such as accounting and human resources management were provided from the central holding company.Otherwise the company was responsible for all aspects of its operations. The company was engaged in metal finishing to the engineering industry and as a first tier supplier to several Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). It had two production lines and operated under an ISO 9002 system. The formal IS of the company revolved around the sales or der processing (SOP) system operated from group headquarters and accessed remotely over a fixed link. SOP formed part of a non-standard accounting system, originally written for another group company operating in a non-manufacturing sector.The system itself was user unfriendly and slow, and no intuitive use was possible. At the start of the study only one person, the production supervisor, had any training in SOP. However, that training gave even him only limited knowledge of the system. Cryptic codes and generic descriptions entered by him into SOP made it impossible for others to distinguish between one product and another, and the division could not operate in his absence. Product and process knowledge was almost wholly vested in the production supervisor's head.There was no formal planning or production scheduling system, and no collection system for information concerning production times and material usage. Inter- Company B nal and external rejects were not generally noted or analysed. The company had three stand-alone personal computers, two of them extremely outdated. The central management-accountant exercised the most stringent control, and the company was expected to make bottom-line operating profits each month. The whole operational objectives became focused only upon this, and ignored other fundamentals.To reduce costs, â€Å"non-essential† spending such as machine maintenance, health and safety, training, housekeeping and sales were ruthlessly cut. Those â€Å"savings† often represented all of the profits made by the division. The lack of an IS significantly increased the time spent preparing reports, reduced their accuracy and eroded local management time. At the start of the study, new management was installed in the company. Several initiatives aimed at improving operating performance were considered. The absence of any suitable or appropriate IS soon emerged.In some cases, lack of coherent historical information prevented the j ustification of proposed initiatives, while the effectiveness of others could not be judged within the imposed monthly timescale. Machine and process measurement systems were designed and put into place. They quickly showed that processes were incapable. Similarly, measures of rejects and returns showed that external rejects were in excess of 30 percent while internal rejects were almost 60 percent. An analysis indicated the causes of the problems, and allowed them to be addressed.Reject rates fell to less than 1 percent within a few weeks. However the centre continued to rigorously apply the accountant's previous control measures. A monthly operating profit remained a continuous and absolute requirement even though large backlogs of rejects, and uncoated, badly corroded customer parts required processing, and machines needed to be brought to reliable operating condition. Consequently, employee training was vetoed, and workforce stabilisation measures overturned. In a climate previo usly dominated by dismissals and redundancy, the workforce actively delayed the implementation of an IS.After some time, substantial employee involvement began to overcome this barrier, and they became enthusiastic participants in data collection and process improvement. Customer confidence began to return and the customer base marginally improved. However, the new IS also begun to uncover previous managerial shortcomings, especially at group level. In response, draconian short-term financial measures were applied [ 119 ] J. G. Thoburn, S. Arunachalam and A. Gunasekaran Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs  ± case studies International Journal of Agile Management Systems 1/2 [1999] 116 ±126 rom the centre, and initiatives overruled. The workforce was further reduced, and training programmes cancelled. Workforce morale and customer confidence fell sharply. The division has now closed. Company C was a private limited company, whose dire ctors were its owner-managers. There were approximately 60 employees, with recruitment rising because of rapid growth and expansion. The company was in its third year of trading. The company operated under a newly introduced ISO 9002 based system. The company had two product lines. The first produced simple, low volume components for the automotive sector.The second built components for the machine tool industry. The operations involved in both of these activities were largely manual. The second group of products were much more complex  ± many containing more than one thousand sub-components. A number of variants of each were produced, and all work was carried out by hand. Much of the information within the company was held on personal computers. The internal system was networked into three sections; operations management (OM), purchasing and administration. OM includes quality assurance and control (QA), and a computer aided design (CAD) station.Each section was independent of th e others. Employees were inadequately trained in the use of software and frequent problems arose through their lack of understanding of the packages in use. There was considerable duplication of data entry, with employees in each of the sections entering and extracting information in an unstructured manner. Where information transfer took place between sections, it was almost entirely carried out manually, transferring information to paper, and then manually transferring it to the next system. No section used the same nomenclature or data dictionary for parts and components.Manufacturers' references and descriptions were entered in a casual and unstructured way, making cross-referencing impossible. The data structure of each system was entirely different, and there were further large differences even within systems. CAD and QA were not integrated into the OM system. Consequently, internal systems were largely unsynchronised. As they grew in size, so the problems that they created we re progressively magnified. Build and wiring order was an important factor, particularly in the case of control cabinets. It could significantly affect productivity, quality and finished appearance.Company C Consequently, the order and format of cutting and build lists were central to production aims. Despite this, methods of list production failed to recognise this. It was difficult to derive build-order from examination of design information alone. Product variants caused additional difficulties and required translation by unskilled production operatives. As a result, operatives frequently transferred build instructions onto handwritten sheets and maintained unofficial work instruction systems. There was no formal method of transferring or retaining their build-order knowledge.Comparative attributes, and a summary of the most significant problems arising from the collection and use of information, knowledge and data for each of the three companies are shown in Table I. Identified success factors/ dysfunctional areas In order to more accurately compare and analyse the areas of dysfunction in each of the companies it is necessary to use an objective measure. Bailey and Pearson (1983) have produced one of the most definitive and widely used lists of factors that identify the success factors in ISs. Li (1997) added a further seven factors.These 46 elements have been used to form a matrix, shown in Table II, against which the ISs of the case study companies can be compared. However we have made minor modifications to some of the original criteria to widen references from a computer based information system (CBIS) to simply information system (IS). A hash (#) is shown in the description in these cases. A seven-point scale has been used to describe the degree of success or dysfunction of the IS when first observed. The scale used is as follows: 0 Not applicable 1 Significantly unsuccessful or dysfunctional 2Moderately unsuccessful or dysfunctional 3 Broadly neutral  ± neither successful nor unsuccessful 4 Moderately successful 5 Significantly successful X No information available. Discussion and analysis The companies studied were self-selected, with the only common factor being that they were experiencing operational difficulties which extended to their trading environment in one form or another. There was nothing to suggest that they were other than typical of [ 120 ] J. G. Thoburn, S. Arunachalam and A. Gunasekaran Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs  ± case studiesInternational Journal of Agile Management Systems 1/2 [1999] 116 ±126 Table I Company attributes Company B UK Manufacturing General engineering Throughout UK Yes Yes 25 Very high Low ? 170k ? 40 million Low Hierarchical High Very low Central Mixed, central file server, local PCs High Low Very low Yes No Very low Manual Management accountant Very high Yes Medium High Very Low Yes Yes Low Directors High Yes Company C UK Manufactu ring Automotive/machine tools English Midlands No N/A 60 Fairly high Low ? 1. 8 million ? 1. million Both high and low Team based Low Medium Local owner/directors Local PCs Characteristic Company A Country of operation Type of company Sales sector Sales area Part of a group High degree of central control Approximate number of employees on site Employee turnover rate General level of employee skills Approximate site sales turnover Approximate group sales turnover Product complexity Organisational structure Organisational formality Degree of manufacturing sophistication Origin of principal control Type of information systemDegree of manual systems Degree of computerisation Degree of IS training Islands of information Local networking Degree of IS integration Transfer between systems Provider of IT support Informal information systems External audit systems (e. g. ISO 9002) France Manufacturing Nuclear engineering/oil and gas production Worldwide Yes No 180 Low Very high ? 12 million ? 900 million High Hierarchical/matrix High Very high Local Mixed, central mainframe (financial), local mainframe and PCs Low High Medium Yes Some Low Manual IT department Medium Yes 121 ] (continued) J. G. Thoburn, S. Arunachalam and A. Gunasekaran Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs  ± case studies International Journal of Agile Management Systems 1/2 [1999] 116 ±126 [ 122 ] Table I Company B . . . . . . . Characteristic Company A Company C Principal symptoms . . . . . . . Poor lead time performance Higher prices than competitors Loss of market share Serious loss of available turnover through lower throughput times . .Poor quality performance Poor lead time performance Extremely small customer base offering low value work Low profitability High degree of seasonality Poor quality performance Poor lead time performance Poor cash flow Frequent stoppages due to material shortages High degree of duplication and wasted effort Principal ca uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Failures in communication in verbal systems  ± formal and informal Need to manually transfer data between separate IT systems leading to delays and inaccuracy Poor communication with suppliers and failure to keep adequate ata on vendor performance Lack of unified IT and IS strategy . . . . . . . . Lack of any formal operations management and scheduling system Failure to keep manufacturing performance records Control using inappropriate measurements Failure to monitor customers' records and address reasons for erosion of customer base Failure to understand market conditions Failure to understand employment market Self-imposed seasonality High staff turnover and absenteeim Constant loss of skills and competencies Lack of skills sharing Poor training Inappropriate SOP systemInformation systems unable to cope with rates of growth Unstructured data gathering Inappropriate transfer of information to factory floor leading to proliferation of informa l systems Failure to feed back information and knowledge from production Failure to understand employment market Limited knowledge base and deliberate limiting of skills base Lack of understanding of quality failures Lack of appropriate IT training Inappropriate IT systems Ad-hoc IT systems leading to Lack of unified IT and IS strategyJ. G. Thoburn, S. Arunachalam and A. Gunasekaran Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs  ± case studies International Journal of Agile Management Systems 1/2 [1999] 116 ±126 Table II Success factors and dysfunctional areas Factor no. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 Description factor Top management involvement Competition between computer based information system (CBIS) and non-CBIS units Allocation priorities for IS resources (#) Chargeback method of payment for services Relationship between users and the CBIS s taff Communications between users and the CBIS staff Technical competence of the CBIS staff Attitude of the CBIS staff Scheduling of CBIS products and services Time required for systems development Processing of requests for system changes Vendor's maintenance support Response/turnaround time Means of input/output with CBIS centre Convenience of access Accuracy of output Timeliness of output Precision of output Reliability of output Currency of output Completeness of output Format of output Features of computer language used Volume of output Realisation of user requirements Correction of errors Security of data and models Documentation of systems and procedures User's expectation of computer-based support User's understanding of the systems Perceived utility (worth vs. ost) User's confidence in the systems User's participation Personal control over the IS (#) Training provided to users Job effects of computer-based support Organisational position of the IS unit (#) Flexibility of th e systems Integration of the systems User's attitude toward the IS (#) Clarity of output Instructiveness of output Support of productivity tools Productivity improved by the IS (#) Efficiency of the systems Effectiveness of the systems A 3 2 3 X 4 4 4 3 3 3 2 X 4 4 4 3 2 3 3 2 4 4 4 2 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 Company B 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 4 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 C 2 3 2 0 4 2 2 2 2 2 3 1 2 3 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 1 2 4 2 3 3 4 4 1 2 5 4 2 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 companies of their size or sector. The studies aimed to determine the extent of use of ISs, report effectiveness and what contribution, if any, their systems had to the areas of dysfunction. They were intended to be preliminary studies from which initial conclusions could be drawn, with reference to published work. By spending a considerable amount of time in each company, and becoming involved with various aspects of their operations, and interacting with employees at all levels in each company, there is a high level of confidence that the systems observed were unaffected by short term experimental bias.Company A, with the highest turnover and backed by a large multi-national parent company was the most resource rich [ 123 ] J. G. Thoburn, S. Arunachalam and A. Gunasekaran Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs  ± case studies International Journal of Agile Management Systems 1/2 [1999] 116 ±126 company. It possessed a highly sophisticated and well-designed production and operations management system, backed by logistics, quality and design departments each equally efficient in their own right. The IS appears from Table II to perform reasonably well. Yet consistently it was unable to meet promised lead times, often by a substantial margin.It was found that the purchasing department was at the centre of many of the problems, with poor communication with suppliers, and adversarial purchasing based p rincipally on price. The consequence was many late deliveries and variable quality. Yet the true cause of the problems was not discovered to be there. The principal means of information transfer between different sections of the company's IT system was manual. Because of incompatible systems, even at PC level, where both Apple and MsDOS based systems were employed, communication was impossible. Each department's system had grown on an ad hoc basis to fulfil its own needs, without reference to others. Each data transfer took place using printed information, usually in the form of schedules, which was translated, then re-entered manually.There were often delays, some considerable, while this process took place. Subtle yet cumulative changes of data and information took place because of translation errors. This had the effect of de-synchronising the whole system. But the most significant effects on leadtime were not to be found in the IT system, but rather in verbal communication syste ms. A large number of formal and informal meetings were held to exchange information often in response to increasing delays against the planned schedule. In response to pressure, the spokespersons from individual departments often gave incorrect answers, sometimes inadvertently because of the cumulative errors or delays in information transfer.Other times, errors were deliberate, where attempts were apparently made to save face, or under pressure from a senior manager or colleagues, to agree to plans that they knew to be unrealistic. Different participants often repeated this process in turn during a meeting. Accordingly, this information was recorded and became crystallised into the formal system with the result that delays were progressively magnified. Thus it was lack of true dynamic connectedness of the system that created the problems that led to continual poor lead-time performance. In contrast, the IS in Company B was not only seriously deficient and absent in many places, bu t was dysfunctional in every area where it did exist. IT systems were limited, unfriendly and uncoordinated, with training and documentation absent.In the wider system information, and particularly feedback, was deliberately withheld, and knowledge generation stifled in response to the corporate culture. The annual haemorrhage of accumulated skills combined with the lack of training and poor human resources policies substantially added to the problem. Inappropriate measurement and control of the feedback systems that did exist reinforced this culture, and the problems that were occurring. Because of poor management techniques, both internal and external intelligence was ignored for considerable periods of time. At the times attention was placed upon this aspect, the system was incapable of multiple focus, and one set of problems was replaced with another.The response of senior group managers was particularly interesting. As IS was put in place or repaired, long-accumulated problems began to emerge which pointed to previous management failures. Their immediate response was to try to dismantle newly implanted systems, and halt knowledge generation and dissemination, and return to the previous culture. Once they took these steps, failure was inevitable. In Company C, the problems were quite different. There was a clear belief in the ability of computers to solve problems by their mere presence. Yet the growth and structure in their IS was wholly unplanned and uncoordinated, and was incapable of supporting the rapid growth of the organisation.There was substantial redundancy and duplication of software systems, and poor understanding of their capabilities that led to the disablement of important reporting and control facilities. Poor system management and training allowed proliferation of duplicated files, and it was often difficult to determine the correct version of any instruction. As a consequence, a considerably higher level of employee time was expended than necessary, substantially increasing costs. Poor data gathering, knowledge management and information generation techniques exacerbated these problems, and informal systems proliferated. Yet simple trial measures to return acquired manufacturing process and merge formal and informal systems, improved quality, productivity and worker-satisfaction.Information systems in an agile company should contribute to responsiveness as well as to overall corporate and organisational aims (Burgess, 1994; Goldman and Nagel, 1993; Kidd, 1994). There are a number of broadly accepted principles of the agilemanufacturing paradigm that provide the [ 124 ] J. G. Thoburn, S. Arunachalam and A. Gunasekaran Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs  ± case studies International Journal of Agile Management Systems 1/2 [1999] 116 ±126 basis for a rapid and flexible response to changing trading conditions. That is to say there is emphasis on strategies (Goldman et a l. , 1995), technologies, systems (Cho et al. , 1996; Gillenwater et al. , 1995) and people (Goldman et al. , 1995; Kidd, 1994).In many cases, many authors have placed great emphasis on the technological capabilities of the organisation (Adamides, 1996; Medhat and Rook, 1997; Merat et al. , 1997). Such resources may not be available to smaller companies. Does this necessarily mean that small companies may not be agile. This would be directly contradictory to the long held view that the strength of smaller companies is their inherent flexibility and responsiveness. Nevertheless, from the comparisons shown in Table III it is possible to conclude from this study that the more dysfunctional, and less dynamically connected the IS, the less able the company is to achieve agile outcomes, flexibility and responsiveness, in the broadest sense of its definition (Gehani, 1995; Kidd, 1996). Conclusion and implicationsIn this section consideration is given to three broad issues arising from the case studies: potential implications of the results; preliminary conclusions; and plans for further work. The studies found broadly in line with previous work, though we have suggested that the normal three-part definition of information of data, information and knowledge be extended to include a fourth, intelligence. We have further observed the fundamental importance of informal systems particularly in the case of the two smaller companies B and C. Here personnel at every operational level relied heavily on informal information, and constructed their own systems, either to protect their position, or to operate more effectively.We have also propounded the biological view that human behavioural systems in particular provide a useful view of how responsive organisations should behave if flexibility and responsiveness is the desired outcome. This paper then considered the companies against the background of agile manufacturing and compared their actual performance to the ideals of the paradigm. It can be concluded that in every case in this study, the more dysfunctional and less dynamically connected the IS, the less able the company is to be agile in the broadest sense of its definition. However current tools and techniques of evaluation and design of ISs are far less wellTable III Comparative performance against agility principles Company A Strategy Agile principles Technology Systems Lack of direct integration of IT systems and connectedness of IT and people-centred systems Absent, deficient or dysfunctional. Without effective coordination or integration People Flexibility Outcomes Responsiveness Low Good strategic Good to awareness excellent Low People highly trained, valued and rewarded but failure in communications in people-centred systems People poorly valued and rewarded. No training and deliberate withholding of knowledge in response to company culture Poor B Poor strategic Badly provided, maintained and awareness  ± understood with lack of internal and external intelligence Poor C Strategy held in individuals at board levelLimited, uncoordinated and unplanned. Computers seen as an answer by simply being present Uncoordinated and incapable of adapting to rapidly increasing demand Poor HR policies Rapidly decreasing leading to staff shortages and low reputation. Poor knowledge management Rapidly decreasing [ 125 ] J. G. Thoburn, S. Arunachalam and A. Gunasekaran Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs  ± case studies International Journal of Agile Management Systems 1/2 [1999] 116 ±126 suited to the needs of many companies (Sauer and Lau, 1997), SMEs in particular, and the achievement of their strategic, commercial and operational goals.This suggests that a new and simpler technique is required that aims to lay down the foundation for an IS at an early stage in the development of a company. This system must be capable of being applied by non-specialist managers in circumstances where there may be a mix of information technology and manual systems. 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