AIS Implementation Case Study

Steve Cowan is the owner of a distribution company of salon hair products. The company, Professional Salon Concepts, (PSC) was growing and decided to upgrade their AIS to support the demands of the company. Steve hired Mike, his brother-in-law to assist him and the two of them began to research the different products available believing they could better determine the needs of the company than a consultant could. After a short time they bought first one and then changing their minds and bought a second system. After a short training period the new system was installed with some very problematic first few days. Eventually the system was up and running but never fully doing what they had originally wanted from the new system. Romney & Steinbart (2009). Implementing new AIS is something that businesses everywhere have to consider at some point and time. The case of PSC and how they went about choosing and implementing their AIS is what we will be looking at. There are six main points of consideration I will be covering in this study. The first is a look at how good of a job PSC did in selecting, installing and implementing their new system. We will look at what they did wrong and what they could have done differently. We will try to determine how PSC could have avoided the missing features, the conversion and reporting problems they had. Next we will review Steve’s analysis of his numbers and determine if his conclusions were correct. Looking at his new shipping system we want to see if there is a way that PSC’s customers can defraud the company. Finally, we will take a look at the level of service PSC received from the company where they purchased their new AIS and how it could have been improved. Steve’s Assessment Selecting the New AIS PSC spent months researching software and attending demonstrations. While doing research on their own is not a bad thing they however dismissed the possible use of consultants. Again not always a bad thing but when they did their research, it is not clear if they had a confirmed set of requirements of their needs in the new AIS. As a result PSC never compared companies through a request for proposals, (RFP); if they had they could have sent their requirements to the vendors. The vendors would then have sent back their proposals to PSC. After eliminating vendors that do not meet the minimum requirements, PSC could then do a comparison of the remaining vendors before making a final decision. Romney & Steinbart (2009). The key is the set requirements and minimum standards they were willing to settle for. In the end they had decided on one system, paid for it and had started installing it when they changed their minds and went with a different company. The company, DSM was chosen almost on a whim. DSM could not demonstrate all of the features PSC had wanted and took a reassurance that they would get those features without documentation. PSC also did not do an extensive background check into DSM before they purchased the new AIS. Installation Installation and implementing of the new AIS was anything but smooth. In retrospect even Steve knew they did not take the time needed to properly test or to train employees on how to use the new system. Three months was not sufficient time to try and work out the possible problems they would have with the new AIS. While Steve felt that training was very important he greatly underestimated the amount of time that was needed for proper training of employees on the new systems. The operators should have been involved from the beginning to determine what was needed and how it was being implemented into the new AIS. Each of these operators should also have been included in the design of the interface they would be using. If their input was not a possible part of the design they should have at the very least been included in the original installation and testing part of the new systems to determine what the possible problem failures would be and to better learn the new systems. Missing Features How could PSC have avoided the problem of the missing features? If PSC had gotten RFPs the problem of missing features in the system they chose would have been eliminated during the vendor selection process. However, in the route they did take those features that were important to Steve but were not included in the AIS could have been included by having a systems requirements list and a written contract with the specifications explicitly written out. Conversion and Reporting How could PSC have avoided some of the conversion and reporting problems it faced? As I stated before, more time was needed in the testing and training portion of the conversion before the new AIS went online. One trick I learned from our own system change at the city I work in is to train a few operators on the new systems during the testing phase and then have them train a few more in their own departments. By using your own employees to train each other they are gaining a better understanding of how the system works. This way on the day of the change you have more people who understand the system and how to fix or correct the things that can go wrong. The more people you can have trained this way before the system change the better off you will be at the critical moment. Steve’s Analysis Steve’s analysis of the numbers is incomplete in my opinion. Steve looked only at the initial cost of the package but he did not look at recurring costs of up keep of the hardware and software, systems maintenance, conversion cost, training expense, cost of running the testing phase as well as several other things. The conversion alone cost him a 15% drop in sales and none of these expenses were calculated into the cost of the new AIS. Steve and Mike should have consulted an accountant to help with the crunching of numbers before they had purchased the AIS from DSM. One other mistake they made in this purchase was not to have the extra features written into a contract as a part of the cost. Shipping and Fraud Is there a way PSC could be defrauded by the new multi-box shipments? After looking online for ways the only thing I could come up with was for the customers to claim that not all of the boxes were received. Because they only require one packing slip for multiple boxes, one of the boxes could just not make it to the stores or items could go missing from the shipments. I don’t think it would be hard to say that one of four or five boxes was missing an item. Without a packing slip in each box it would be easy for something to be overlooked when they are being packed. I’m not sure if there is another way the multi-box one packing slip approach could be defrauded. Level of Service On a level of one to five, one being the best, I would probably rate DSMs level of service about three. DSM was not the worst company I have read about but they could have stepped up their service. One of the things they could improve on is their training. Training was something of a disaster judging from the first day. More of the employees should have been trained and trained much better than they were. Another area of improvement would be in the testing phase of the installation before the new system went online. The sales person made assurances that it was apparent after the fact that they had no right to made or no intention of keeping. The extra features that PSC was told would be included in their package were only going to be added for an extra fee that PSC would have to shoulder the majority of. One feature was added at an additional cost of ten thousand but the second feature was never added. Conclusions In the end Steve was satisfied with the new AIS. While the new AIS did decrease the turnaround time to only twenty minutes from five hours it never did do all the things they had wanted. PSC is negotiating with DSM to write the programs that will complete the processes he wants the AIS system to do, for an additional cost. Upgrading from the system they had was necessary but, I can’t help wondering if they wouldn’t have been better off sticking with the original $20,000 purchase and having a company write the programs they were missing. The price PSC paid for the AIS from DSM was rather steep in comparison. In the end Steve said he was satisfied but I have to wonder if he really was or if he was just trying to feel ok with what had happened and what he paid.

The internal stakeholders refer to the employees

The current business environment is characterized by a considerable level of competitive rivalry and as a result businesses have to constantly reengineer their internal operations in order to build and maintain a competitive advantage.In this respect, a business organization has three strategies at its disposal: differentiation, cost minimization and focus. However the effectiveness of these strategies depends on effective communications between the internal stakeholders and the external stakeholders.The internal stakeholders refer to the employees and the top management while the external stakeholders are the channel members such as the customers, the distribution intermediaries and the suppliers. The top management in a business organization has to coordinate between the different stakeholder groups in order to maximize operational efficiency.This is particularly relevant in the case of international business which is characterized by differing customer tastes and preferences acros s political boundaries. As a result, integrated marketing communications are the critical success factors in building and maintaining a competitive advantage.A business organization has three strategies at its disposal: differentiation, cost minimization and focus (cited in Chanaron & Jolly, 1999).In order to make these strategies effective, the management of a business organization has to conduct marketing programs on a periodic basis so that customer tastes and preferences can be tracked. For this reason, marketing is essential to improving business performance.In this respect, the high state of competitive rivalry means that achieving sustainability in competitive advantages is no longer simple. For this reason, organizational structures have to be maintained flexible (cited in Culpan, 1989).This allows the organization to adapt to changing circumstance in the market. However the management must have information about market dynamics in the first place. For this reason marketing metrics must be developed and according to these metrics performance measures must be developed.Marketing shapes consumer needs and wants through efficient application of the 4Ps of marketing. The four Ps are price, product, place and promotion (cited in Hitt, 2007). Marketing managers can make use of the 4 Ps to manipulate consumer needs and wants because consumers are not always aware of their own needs.Therefore it is left to the marketing manager to determine what needs are hidden and then to develop the products that would satisfy those needs (cited in Greenley, 1989). In this manner, the marketing manager creates both fresh needs and wants.For example, computer users did not know that they needed a graphical user interface until Microsoft introduced the concept (cited in Kotler & Armstrong, 2005). In this case the need was user-friendliness in operating computer applications. By identifying this need, Microsoft created Windows which created the consumer want. Consumers wanted Windows to satisfy their need for user-friendly computing experience.This example serves to illustrate that the marketing manager can certainly shape consumer needs and wants. He can do so by collecting information about the market and by forecasting future market demands based on this information.Collecting information about the market takes place through market research. This information enables the marketing manager to conduct market segmentation effectively. Market segmentation facilitates target marketing.The marketing manager shapes consumer needs and wants through the process of target marketing. The four Ps serve as the tools with which to conduct target marketing. In Microsoft’s example, the product was given the features of a graphical user interface in order to enhance user-friendliness of the product.The pricing method followed was the value-in-use pricing. Considerable expenditures were made in promotion in order to illustrate to the consumers how they could bene fit from using the product.Finally, place was attended to in the form of product bundling in which IBM personal computers were packaged with a version of Windows, thus facilitating product availability. The strategy at the heart of Windows’ campaign was product differentiation and through this strategy Microsoft shaped the needs and wants of the IT market.The marketing manager has to monitor the stage of the product lifecycle. He has to maintain the product in the growth stage because either in the maturity or the decline stage, the product will have to be discontinued (cited in Dess, 2007).However the threat of competitive rivalry means that the marketing manager will have to constantly introduce new features into the product in order to maintain it in the growth stage. In this respect, the marketing manager is shaping consumer needs and wants by differentiating product features in line with his reading of unstated needs in the market. However with effective market research, the market manager can also create wants unaccompanied by any needs.This is the phenomenon of consumerism which leads to purchases for the purpose of personal satisfaction and not to satisfy any actual needs (cited in Martin, 1985). Consumerism is an example of the way in which marketing shapes consumer needs and wants.Because of the high state of competitive rivalry, businesses must conduct the continuous improvement program. This means that managing change on a continuous basis becomes a critical success factor (cited in Zineldin, 2000).However, as mentioned before, the challenge in making change work is to maintain alignment with the strategic focus of the company. This alignment cannot be maintained unless employees are involved in the process.Most change management projects fail because of employee resistance (cited in Aaker, 2004). Employees are unwilling to give up traditional practices in which they had built up a considerable level of experience and expertise.For this reas on the top management must involve the employees when it comes to implementing change. However involvement of the employees must depend on external market conditions which will set the direction of change. In other words, the perspectives of learning and growth and internal business processes must be aligned to the customer perspective (cited in Bank, 1993). This illustrates the importance of marketing to the rest of the organization.Because of the fast change in the current business environment, businesses can no longer continue to conduct their operations as before. For this reason they need a forward-looking performance management system which creates an evolving framework of metrics for performance measurement. That is why the balanced scorecard is valuable management tool.However the effectiveness of this tool can only be maintained with marketing because marketing enables the management to assess the future direction of demand patterns according to which internal processes can be reengineered. Even though employees are the most important assets of an organization, they are only relevant to the extent that they are able to satisfy market needs. So marketing is critical to improving business performance.As mentioned before, the current business environment is characterized by a considerable level of competitive rivalry. This means that businesses have to constantly reengineer their internal operations in order to build and maintain a competitive advantage (cited in Grover & Kettinger, 2008). Therefore the process of managing change becomes a critical success factor.When it comes to managing change involving a techno-structural intervention, the strategic alignment process becomes relevant. This alignment process takes place between four areas: IT strategy, business strategy, organizational issues and information systems issues (cited in Stair & Reynolds, 2007). IT strategy is the process of selecting the best software and hardware platform while business s trategy refers to the financing strategy.Organizational issues refer to the employees’ skills sets while the information systems issues refer to the knowledge management system. In this respect, the alignment process cannot be achieved effectively unless there is an efficient and effective communications structure.Employees are the most important assets of an organization and therefore the top management has to focus on creating the best possible working conditions (cited in Armstrong, 2005). In this respect, the critical consideration is to create an efficient and effective performance management system. This is so because the strategic focus of an organization should be to align employee interests to organizational interests.Therefore the management has to build a communications structure which will indicate to the employees as to which behavioral aspects are desired by the top management. In this respect, the learning contract becomes relevant. The learning contract is a d ocument which specifies the activities that will be taken in order to attain a learning goal.The learning contract is an example of integrated marketing communications because it represents an agreement between different stakeholder groups such as the employees, their immediate managers and the external stakeholders (cited in Ross & Perry, 2002). The advantage of this learning process is that the learning goals are aligned to the strategic focus of the organization.Organizations in the current business environment have to maintain a continuous improvement program. As mentioned before, this refers to the process of managing change.However when it comes to managing change, integrated marketing communications become more important than ever because employee resistance is the main reason behind the failures of most change management projects (cited in Hoyle, 2007).Therefore the most important aspect when it comes to managing change is that the top management has to stay in constant comm unications with the employees in order to promote the cause of change. In this respect, the management must determine how the change is aligned to enhancing the strategic focus of the company.Once this alignment has been facilitated, the management can communicate with the employees to promote the potential of higher productivity as a result of the change. The main reason behind employee resistance to change is that the employees will have to learn news ways of conducting the operational processes.Integrated marketing communications are critical when it comes to building a culture based on ownership, responsibility and accountability (cited in Besterfield, 2002). As mentioned before, organizations have the three strategies of differentiation, cost minimization and focus.The problem with implementing these three strategies is that they create competitive advantages that are not sustainable. As mentioned before, the current business environment is characterized by a fast pace of chang e driven by both technological sophistication and managerial developments. Therefore achieving sustainability is the critical success factor (cited in Shannon, 1999).However that objective cannot be met with the aforementioned three strategies because the competitor organizations can copy these strategies quickly in order to create similar operational improvements and thus the competitive advantage is gone quickly.As a result, the management must create an organizational structure which can be the source of a sustainable competitive advantage (cited in Higgins, 1972).This organizational structure is based on a specific cultural orientation which can be built through integrated marketing communications.Integrated marketing communications are critical to building a culture based on innovation and learning. In order to maintain innovations, the management of the company has to conduct training and development programs on a periodic basis.However the problem with formal training and dev elopment programs is that they cannot anticipate all the issues that are likely to arise in the actual business environment. An additional problem is to create a framework which can assess the return on investment in these training and development programs.These problems are avoided with the learning contracts. This is because in the learning contract the learning outcomes are individually negotiated between the learner and the teacher.Therefore the learning outcomes are directly tied to the strategic focus of the organization. In this respect the learner, the employee, is in the best position to determine the training needs while the teacher, the manager, is in the best position to determine whether these needs can be aligned to the strategic focus of the organization.Integrated marketing communications also involve external channel members. This can be illustrated with the case of Dell Inc (cited in Leseure & Brookes, 2004). The computer hardware manufacturer implements the e-comm erce business model.This facilitates the direct distribution model which enables the company to eliminate distribution intermediaries from the value chain. In this manner, the company has managed to implement the cost minimization strategy effectively. However in order to maintain this effectiveness, the company has to coordinate closely with the suppliers in order to ensure that the needed components are delivered timely to the factory floor.In this respect, the integrated marketing communications take place in the form of information sharing. The information sharing network enables the company to share demand forecasts with the suppliers so that they can maintain their own inventory accordingly (cited in Fred, 2006).Implementing this system has enabled Dell to achieve the highest level of inventory turnover in the industry. The success that Dell has had in creating a market leadership position would not have been possible without integrated marketing communications.Integrated mark eting communications become even more important when it comes to international business. When it comes to globalizing operations, a business organization has three strategies at its disposal: acquisitions, joint ventures and Greenfield projects.Depending on the level of cultural differentiation, the international business can select one of these strategies when it comes to globalization. However those companies which focus on maintaining a particular cultural orientation adopt the strategy of Greenfield projects because it allows them to recreate the same organizational structure as there is in the home country.In this respect delegation of authority becomes a critical consideration because companies must customize their strategies to align with the local cultural attributes. In this respect, the issues of standardization and customization become important. However in order to address these issues effectively, integrated marketing communications become critical. In this respect, the management must communicate with different stakeholders.For both public and private sector organizations, adopting the strategy of integrated marketing communications is a vital component of improving operational effectiveness in terms of maximizing the value of each dollar spent. According to the traditional framework, different marketing activities are conducted in separate silos.However there is no need to maintain separate silos as the different marketing programs are communicating with the same target market (cited in Raffee & Kreutzer, 1989). Therefore the result is duplication of efforts and the waste of resources.In order to make the communications process effective, the separate silos have to conduct market research activities. As a result the activities are being duplicated across the organization. In this framework, the strategy of spending is not in alignment with the strategic focus of the organization.In order to create this alignment, the management in both public an d private sector organizations must conduct integrated marketing communications. This means that different departments across the organization are coordinating their marketing efforts and therefore expenditures are not being duplicatedIn conducting integrated marketing communications, the process of internal benchmarking becomes effective (cited in Chandra, 1993).According to the process of internal benchmarking, the different departments within an organization compare internal processes to identify those which are producing the best results. In this respect, a database of best practices is developed and these best practices are implemented throughout the organization, thus organizational effectiveness is maximized.The process is relevant when it comes to conducting integrated marketing communications. In this respect, different departments can compare their success rates in terms of communicating with the public via different promotional media and thus consolidate the operations in terms of focusing only on those media which have been producing the best results.This maximizes operational effectiveness not only in terms of minimizing costs but also in terms of maximizing the effectiveness of promotional messages that are sent to the target market.In order to make the process of integrated marketing communications effective, the management has to conduct market research in order to facilitate the process of market segmentation (cited in Omachonu & Ross, 2004). The process of market segmentation enables a business organization to determine the stakeholders in terms of their demographics and psychographics so that specific needs can be addressed in the communications process.However as the case of Dell Inc. illustrates, the advent of the Internet has changed the communications process fundamentally. The advent of the Internet means that the consumers are inundated with information. Therefore both private and public sector organizations have to work harder in orde r to grip the consumers’ minds.In addressing this difficulty, integrated marketing communications are the critical success factors. This is because the modern business organization has a knowledge management system which maintains information on the different promotional media that are being applied. Integrated marketing communications enable the management to capitalize on this knowledge management system.In order to maximize the effectiveness of integrated marketing communications, both private and public sector organizations have to develop unique positioning strategies. This means identifying the needs of the target market because an effective positioning strategy must address these needs. However because the consumers are inundated with information from all kinds of media, it is difficult for an organization to get their attention.Therefore the organization must broadcast its message in such a manner that it will grab the audience’s attention immediately. This obj ective can only be met through integrated marketing communications because under this framework, the different departments are coordinating their activities so that a variety of promotional strategies can be synergistically combined (cited in George & Weimerskirch, 1998).This maximizes the efficiency of the communications process. Therefore the process has to start with identifying the needs of the audience. Once these needs have been identified, the management can create an effective positioning strategy (cited in Goetsch & Davis, 2003).The effectiveness of integrated marketing communications lies in the fact that consumers are indifferent as to which source of information the message is coming from. They certainly do not discriminate between different promotional media. Yet it is only through broadcasting through different promotional media that a private or a public sector organization can get the message across to its audience (cited in Pearlson & Saunders, 2007).Therefore the d ifferent departments in an organization must coordinate in order to send a consistent message using different promotional media. Therefore the process of integrated marketing communications also ensures that a consistent message is delivered to the audience.This strengthens the positioning strategy of the company. This is a critical consideration in the current business environment which is characterized by a considerable level of competitive rivalry which drowns the market in information in the form of promotional campaigns. This creates a challenge for public sector organizations which must engineer an integrated marketing communication process to cut through the staticFor both private and public sector organizations, marketing communications are the vitals tools of ensuring the viability of their operations. This has been long recognized. Therefore all organizations are conducting the communications process in one form or another. However particularly in public sector organizatio ns the communications process is highly fragmented across different departments.As a result, the same organization may be transmitting different messages to its target audience. These inconsistencies can be eliminated through the integrated marketing communications process which is essentially a process of addressing the needs of the stakeholders by targeting them with the same message across a number of different promotional media. Therefore the process has to be driven by the needs of the audience.Depending on the needs and the segmentation characteristics of the audience, the private or public sector organization has to develop the message and select the right promotional media.ReferencesAaker, David A. (2004). Strategic Market Management. McGraw Hill/Irwin.Armstrong, Michael. (2005). Strategic Human Resource Management. Prentice Hall.Bank, John. (1993). The Essence of Total Quality Management. McGraw Hill.Besterfield, Dale H., et al. (2002). Total Quality Management. 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Personal Development Plan - Essay Example Humans made huge advance due to the doctrine of Empiricism (Power Point Lesson 2011) Enlightenment, a notion of break through in knowledge, emerged in the sixteenth and seventieth centuries in Europe. Thinking has four idols which Francis Bacon (1561-1626) warned of removing from human mind; Idols of the Tribe, Cave, Market Place and the Theatre. Tribe limits human thinking, Cave sets narrow perspective, Market Place determines regions for trading and Theatre that stages act is prepared by human thought systems (Power Point Lesson 2011) The core component of knowledge is fact. Research is made on the basis of facts. All facts contain data and all data is created by human action. Each individual determines as to how the data created by someone is to be used. Appendix 1 shows the complex process of interpreting data as facts. The problem of concepts arises with the truth and relativism in data which is dealt in philosophy by a special branch called Epistemology; the theory of knowledge (Power Point Lesson 2011) Most human beings wish to understand their world and many build theories to sense it. Various aspects of world require enormous efforts for comprehension. Mostly people abandon their efforts at sometime and point where they feel satisfied with what they have achieved. The issues in Epistemology as described in Appendix 2 deals with the nature of the knowledge which is an inquiry into a certain concept or idea (Epistemology 2011) The main objective of the study program is to enhance my knowledge while working. The continuous education is supported by my job and my work is supported by the education I get at the University. It helps understand and implement best practices at my work Skill is a set of abilities in an individual consisting of thinking, acting and performing. Skills are achieved through inheritance, training, observation, practice and experience. Skills such as reading, writing and speaking

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Motivational Methods Paper - Assignment Example However, despite setting up individual rewards, there will be a reward for the whole team if it achieves the set objectives. This will ensure that the team members do not concentrate just on individual performance, an aspect that would affect the overall performance of the team. Team achievements will be celebrated through employee-of-the-month awards. In addition, in some cases, the team will take time off and spend time together outside the work setting (Rigolosi, 2013). During this time, the team will celebrate the achievement of the goals through partying. This will bring the team members together and motivate them to take up the next task. Employees have different grievances that affect their levels of motivation. Constant disagreements demoralize them, an aspect that lowers their performances in the organization. In order to increase their motivation levels, I will introduce the open office policy and various employees’ benefits. The subordinates are a very rich source of information. They are the ones that interact with the patients daily. Therefore, when they are demotivated, they fail to pass the critical information concerning the service delivery to the top managers. Therefore, in order to increase the level of motivation in the team, all team members will be free to meet the top-level managers at any time without the use of intermediaries. This will be an important aspect in ensuring that all issues that might affect the performance of the employees are dealt with before they get out of hand. In addition, personal issues that require unique solutions will be addressed without the information being passed to any third party. This will play a significant role in motivating the employees to work harder towards the success of the organization. On the other hand, team members are constantly disturbed when they are not insured in terms of health. Therefore, the organization will provide insurance benefits to the employees.

Justify the Importance of the Safe School Collaborative Process Essay

Justify the Importance of the Safe School Collaborative Process Considering the Social Cognition of School-age Children - Essay Example School, society and organizations should form collaboration for this purpose because the lives of school-age children revolve around the school and the society. According to Winer and Ray (1994), partners who are coming into collaboration usually have in mind services they want to integrate so as to achieve some long-term goals together. Therefore, they must overcome various layers of resistance to policies, attitudes and relationships within and across institutions, throughout the community and among consumers. This means they have to develop a process of change that will enable them overcome any resistance. These partners have to device a process of working together and this process should be flexible enough to accommodate or allow adjustments to new circumstances. After agreeing to collaborate, the first and most important thing that has to be done by the collaborative is the creation of the process itself. This involves the development of important guidelines that will serve as the framework on how the parties involved will work together throughout the project. For collaboration to succeed, there needs to be a full support of the management. At times, collaborative can find themselves repeating milestones and stages because new people have become involved or because the group has clarified its intent and purpose another level (Winer and Ray, 1994). For successful collaboration, tactical planning and strategic planning are very crucial. Strategic planning entails visualizing something and then coming up with a way of making it actualize. Therefore, strategic planning is a tool that gives direction of actions and builds systems that will lead to the achievement of the desired outcome or goals (Kono, 1994).On the other hand, the purpose of tactical planning is to link the strategic plan or the long-term business plan of the collaboration to operations. It provides a motivational and intellectual framework for

International business final exam Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

International business final exam - Assignment Example The conditions imply that cotton in Africa is cheaper than in the United States in production. In fact, Dunavant pays about half of the world prices for the African cotton. This strengthens that assertion that the low cost of production translates to lower prices. The low cost are brought about by abundance of land to grow cotton, labor, and low barriers to trade in the commodity. Also, the availability of professional advice and microfinance services from Dunavant has increased production. Trade between Dunavant and Africa is beneficial to various parties which in include the farmers, the company and textile industries across the world. Unlike the US farmers who rely of subsidies, African farmers are reliant on financial services extended by companies like Dunavant (Zachary 2007). The price benefit derived by the company extends to other firms that buy the cotton from it. This has the effect of bringing the world cotton prices down. Consequently, it raises competition among cotton producing regions. The information can be explained by porters diamond of national advantage whose interest in factor conditions, structure and rivalry in the industry, available demand, related and supporting industries Factor conditions include skilled labor and technology. Cotton in Africa is labor intensive and thus benefits from a large population. Moreover, availability of funds from companies and governments aid the industry. A local market is preferable as it triggers more production. The industry becomes more competitive thus deriving better services to farmers. Global companies acting on a national stage opens up the country for international demand that further enhances cotton farming. The cotton industry is competitive. Production in Africa closely follows the United States, placing Africa as a strategic player in the industry. The advantage is that many international suppliers have ventured into the region to provide market

The Role of Behavior and Cognition in Learning Essay Example for Free

The Role of Behavior and Cognition in Learning Essay Learning is an integral part of psychological development. Many perspectives exist concerning learning. Two areas of interest in psychology concerning learning are behavior and cognition. Two theories that explain fundamental learning is classical conditioning and operant conditioning. These two theories also show the correlations of learning and behavior. Theories concerning the relationship between cognition and learning are of particular interest in psychology. Some theorists believe behavioral changes are the direct results of learning because the effects learning have on behavior and the relationship of cognition concerning learning. Defining learning and the role of behavior in learning The definition of learning has two aspects concerning behavior. First learning creates a permanent change in behavior comparatively. Second, learning is the behavioral potential that results from acquired experiences’. Variables such as illness, fatigue, and chemical substances will alter behavior. However, these factors are not conducive to the theory of relatively permanent behavioral changes and the potentiality for learning, which changes behavior. Learning cannot be measured easily because it purely a mental function. One can only observe the learning process through the behavioral changes that occur (Olson Hergenhahn, 2009). Therefore, independent variables such as experience, which creates an intervening variable such as learning that produces dependent variables, which cause behavioral changes. Experiences are a result of environmental stimulus that many organisms process and adapt their behavior to meet their needs. With most organisms, this learning involves nothing more than learning what the environment has to offer in the form of basic needs such as food, water, and shelter. In addition, an organism would want to know what is harmful or dangerous in that environment. The organism would know through experience what benefits the organisms’ survival and what to avoid. These experiences would cause behavioral changes observable to others (Olson Hergenhahn, 2009). Two observable types of learning Two types of learning that show observable results of behavioral changes are classical and operant conditioning. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov first observed classical conditioning from research concerning his work on the physiology of digestion. Using dogs Pavlov was researching how the stomach produced gastric secretions in dogs. The research inadvertently had produced gastric secretions without feeding the dogs. He decided to modify the studies and measure salivation (Clark, 2004). This research produced Experimental psychology and psychopathology in animals (Clark, 2004, p. 283 para 1), which Pavlov published. Pavlov called the phenomenon classical conditioning. He conducted research to prove his theories. Salivation is a reflexive response or unconditioned response that happens when food an unconditioned stimulus is introduced to dogs. Both these responses happen naturally. Pavlov introduced a neutral stimulus a bell and there was no response from the dog. However, when Pavlov introduced the bell and food to the dog for a consistent period the dog came to expect food when the bell was rang. The unconditioned stimulus then involved the bell and food, which created the unconditioned response of salivation. Pavlov eliminated the food and when the bell rung; the dog salivated. The bell became the conditioned response, which made the dog salivate this became a conditioned response. The dog learned through association. This means the dog associated the two events happening simultaneously and responded to those events behaviorally (Clark, 2004). Operant conditioning is a second type of learning. Many theorists believe that the learning processes are unobservable except through behavioral changes. The exception to this widespread belief among cognitive scientists is B. F. Skinner who argues that behavioral changes are a direct result of learning. This is known as Type R conditioning as well. Operant conditioning involves escalating the times a response occurs or the likelihood that a response by manipulating the circumstances by reinforcements. The reinforcements ensure the chances that the response will happen again. These reinforcements can be positive or negative. This is not a new concept in behaviorism. Theorists have long known consequences affect behavior and through punishment or reward and positive or negative reinforcement’s behaviors can be taught or learned (B. F. Skinner Foundation, 2011). B. F Skinner created a box that many call the Skinner box today. The box had a food dispenser and a lever for the test subject a Rat. The rat would learn to pull the lever and a door opened and food dispensed. Another experiment showed when denied food from pulling the lever the rat soon lost the desire to pull the lever. The rat lost the urge to pull the lever, which was conducive to popular theories of extinction. Another experiment showed when a light was on in conjunction with the lever or the lever and light was off the rat showed it could discriminate between the light and dark. The rat learned differentiation as well when different amounts of pressure (B. F. Skinner Foundation, 2011). Cognition’s relationship to Learning Both classical and operant conditioning are effective learning tools in human learning and behavior. However, humans exhibit complex behaviors because of certain cognitive abilities. The cogninition abilities of humans are a variable that goes beyond basic animal conditioning. The relationship of cognition concerning learning is important. The root of cognition ‘cogni’ in Greek and Latin mean ‘to learn,’ therefore, the two words are interchangeable. Cognition relates to the mental process of learning such as perception, reasoning, decision making, judgment, memomory, and problem solving. Humans learn from experiential learning, which is people learn from experience(Kirsch Lynn, 2004). Cognition not only establishes what is experinced but also what is affected by experiences. Cognition is important because it allows two situations to happen assimilation and accommodation, which helps an organism interact with the environment. Sensory input is processed from the environment and mentally processed. The perceptional output interprets the sensory input and deciphers the information. Cognitions role in learning allows people to experience the physical through a biological stimulus and use the knowledge gained to make choices that benefit them or helps them avoid unpleasent experiences (Olson Hergenhahn, 2009). Two areas of interest in psychology concerning learning are behavior and cognition. Learning is intregral to human behavior and cognition. Learning can be aquried many ways. Two types of learning involve classical conditioning and operant conditioning, which correlates to how organisms and people behave. Cognition is important to learning because it allows two situations to happen assimilation and accommodation, which helps an organism interact with the environment. Without this experiential learning, people learning from experience, learning would be impossible. Behavioral changes are the direct result of learning because the affect learning has on behavior and the relationship of cognition concerning learning.

Business operational plan of Apple Inc

Business operational plan of Apple Inc Apple Inc. designs manufactures and markets the personal computers along with other mobile communication services, music and digital players. It also provides hardware, software and networks solutions and peripherals. Apple Inc. sells its products throughout the world on its retail stores, online stores, through the third party wholesalers and its direct sales force. It also deals with the variety of Macintosh i.e. iPhone iPod etc. It provides the services of the complete software solutions on its iTunes stores. Its consumers are those who purchase its products directly, enterprises, educator and governments. This company is California based and founded in 1977. It has capability to design and manufacture its own operating system. Business operational plan of Apple Inc. Strategic plan sets up the business plan of a company while business plan in turn establishes the business operation plan. Operational plan is the key to run the entire business of company. Operational business plan covers the all areas of company including the finance, manufacturing, internet, operations, RD, human resources and marketing. Apple Inc. was known because of its lenient business thinking. Apple Inc. has the design, marketing and manufacturing services. Company develops designs and markets the musical players with important accessories. The business of Apple Inc. is managed on geographic basis. There are five operating segments of Apple Inc. such as America, Europe, Japan, retail and others. In US, Canada, UK and Japan Apple owned stores are currently operating. Like other organizations Apple Inc. all the departments are formed by the placing the similar functions in the groups. As described before the main divisions of Apple Inc. human resource, finance, marketing and productions are adopted by the functional approach. In each division the functional subsystem and departments create hierarchies. Operational management is linked with the production divisions activities. The people in Apple Inc. are grouped together on the basis of their expertise and resources. It enabled the Apple Inc. to learn from its functions. The present structure in Apple Inc. has focused upon those activities which reduce the costs and increase the flexibility in its operations. The managers in Apple Inc. have a greater control of the organizational activities and avoiding the tall and other several hierarchies. A relative flat structure of the Apple Inc. has decentralized the authorities and responsibilities of its management. The managers and employees at lower levels are encouraged to take part in fostering the companys strengths. The advantages of decentralization are numerous i.e. enhancing the planning, decision making and control processes. Apple Inc. has focused on its marketing operations on the major business areas like iPod and iTunes. The marketing department shows a great responsiveness to the outside world. The finance treasury division of Apple Inc. provides the financial policy to company. This department is responsible to handle the international capital transactions of company, liquidity guaranteeing and risk management. In Apple Inc. the role of the financial manager is crucial for the strategic management. The capital required for the RD is raised by the Finance division which maintains the innovation position of the Apple Inc. Internal problems of Apple Inc. were in the form of the sale force accessing directly to corporations. Apple Inc. relied on the 300 manufactures while IBM had 6000 to 7000 direct salesman. However the Apple Inc. has focused to establish more sales staff. Many issues concerning to these sales person were noted regarding the prices of products. Apple Inc. has also marketing problem as it failed to communicate the Macintoshs business image in market. The fact that marketing strategy was not according to requirements and did not make it more famous in market; i t also did not focus upon the technology. Products are manufactured on the basis of customers needs. Apple Inc. needed the fundamental importance of getting close to market. Apple Inc. possessed the organizational structure which too had the management problems. The production and shipment problems exist in Apple Inc. as the IBM its supplier experienced the manufacturing problems and delayed the shipment of various products. In a market the speedy delivery of products is critical. Due to the Apples key dependency on other companies put it at the competitive disadvantage. Human Resource in Apple Inc. has administrative tasks such as meetings, conferences, special projects and seeks the solution for the fast paced store environment. Discuss both the internal and external factors that impinge on the business operations plan. Apple Inc. has faced the serious challenges during the last 30 years but recovered from those serious situations with advent of innovation. Apple Inc. faces the threat of competition because of free services in market. A good business achieves the market share by creating better legal services to customers. It can be compared with the bottle water which is better in quality as compared to tape water which is in approach of every person. However there is legal competition ahead in market. No company was successful to attach the market the before the Apple Inc. did so. Better service is directly related with the new and better technology. Roxio was the first company which followed the Apple Inc. to produce the products on the concept iTunes Music Store. Sony and Microsoft are other big players of market to download the services. On the other hand Dell Computers are partnering with MusicMatch. Traditional retailers like Amazon and Wal-Mart have presented their own plans. Apple Inc. is f acing the competition from these competitors and profiting the leading position in market. Copy rights issues are also concerned with Apple Inc. Apple Inc. faces the issues of jobs as a part of their system. Sales force for the direct access to corporation is required for the success of business operation plan. IBM has the direct salespeople more than 6000 while Apple Inc. relied only on the 300 manufacturers representatives. The reason behind the small number of sales force may be the selling Macintoshes at lower prices as compared to dealers (Brady, 1989). Economic Conditions Apple Inc. Economic conditions of world impact directly on the performance and financial results of Apple Inc. investor must not consider the historical trends for the future performance of Apple Inc. there are several reason behind this which pose the risks on business of Apple Inc. Uncertainty about the current global economic conditions are also posing threats because business could not continue due to tight credits, negative news about finance, decline in asset values. Apple Inc. sets the prices of its products to consolidate the Dollars value. Macroeconomic factors along with other factors affect Apples business operation plan. The demand can be influenced by the increase in prices of fuel and energy, condition of mortage real states markets, consumers confidence and health labour costs. These economic factors adversely affect the demand for companys product. It also affects the operating results and financial conditions of Apple Inc. Impacts of environmental and technological changes on the business plan of Apple Inc. Apple Inc. has made efforts to satisfy its stakeholders in various ways. It included all the environmental issues for its corporate governance. It has satisfied the employees, local communities and general public by minimizing the environmental impacts on its entire business operations; integrated the sound environmental, safety management and health practices. The environmental mission statement of Apple Inc. has integrated all above mentioned practices into all business operations to ensure that it offers technologically innovative products. Apple Inc. aims to communicate on the policy which provides the benefits of environmental consciousness, safety maximization, energy efficiency and health protection to its various stakeholders. In the HRM objectives Apple Inc. has adopted the strategies because of the consumers preferences as the external environmental force. The HRM of Apple Inc. has established the partnership agreements to keep the trust and fairness. The recruitment policy of the HRM is modified in the ways to adapt the external changes in environment. Therefore the higher number of skilled staff is recruited in the area of web development; web is considered a preferred medium for the technology professionals for applications. A positive work environment has proved that Apple Inc. is outstanding for the visionary products. The organizational competency of Apple Inc. is increased by the HRM. Apple the Inc. is in an exclusive position. It has produced both software and hardware; it cannot be analyzed only the PC manufacturing company. It is also providing the software solutions, server producer and online contents. Technology Advancement The changes in technology has affected the barriers of entry and impacted the business operations of Apple Inc. The changes in digital music industry are working now on common format to make them available for the music players. The reason behind the limiting the download contents is to determine the users acceptance of Apples product. Bundle of solutions are provided by the Apple Inc. with refined and good products. By providing high quality products to end users the technology sector is making changes rapidly. These are the diversified efforts which Apple Inc. keeps its design and innovation more focused with the use of best performance and prices according to the external and internal environmental changes. Due to its distinctive competencies like product design, innovation, educational skills and digital entertainment; company has acted as a leader in the digital lifestyle. Apple Inc. has used its strengths for the purposes of creativity, technological development and innovation. It has gained competitive advantage over other companies in the industry because it offers multiple products with lower values. Organizational structure and control system of Apple Inc. improved the information and knowledge availability. For the Apple Inc; innovation and technology are the key driving forces of its mission and strategy (Morden, 1993). For the effective operation management system IT is a driving factor and management information system is the basic requirement for the strategic development. Efficiency of operation management is improved by the use of IT as it increases the quality and availability of information and leads to cost saving (Ibid, 1993). Apple Inc. is using the SAP and ERPs systems to speed up the customers orders. Apple Inc. has implemented the i2 technologies (www.industryweek.com/currentarticles). Importance of good business operations planning to the overall success of the business at Apple Inc. Apple Inc. has many successful factors that determine its success in key areas of the operations. An important factor that is apparent is about the vision of the organization. It is true that creative energy always begins with vision. These organizations impact significantly on the world (Collins Porras, 2004). Apple has a very clear and purposeful vision which can be seen through the innovative products for the last many years (Senge, 2006). The main purpose of the Apple Inc. was to develop the computers for the world and making contribution to the world by its advance technology products. Beside this vision Apple Inc. takes further steps of actions which are practiced throughout the organization. In the Apple Inc. employees were able to lay the foundations to achieve the long term goals. They were able to start the business at small scale and contributed at a higher level. The company acted upon the Kotters model and understood the potential uses. The success of the Apple Inc. is attributed to the capability of the company making refinements and building the more powerful products. The company has changed the core nature of the business. The Apple Inc. innovated the (GUI), file folder and desktop metaphor. Kotters 7th step manifests by using the credibility to make changes in system, policies and structures (Kotter, 2007). Apple uses the core competencies which the employees have acquired through redefining the market segmentation. Apple has met many successes and overcome the challenges. Apple Inc. has made changes and implemented new policies because of changing trends of computer markets. Apple Inc. is a computer technology which is best known due to its innovative structure. It is focusing upon the production of personal computers. In the advent of evolving technology it has shifted into the electronic market. Apple Inc. operates its business in more than 170 retail stores in US, Japan, UK and Canada. It has produced more friendly computers for the consumers. All of the achievements at Apple Inc. are attained through the people who design and develop the products and staff at the retail stores. Why is the business operation plan important at Apple Inc? This business operation plan is important because it generates the steady increasing revenues and sending its products in the big markets of the world. Due to its good leadership the Apple Inc. achieved the high profile. Three manufacturing facilities are shaping the foreign operation in countries like Ireland and Singapore. Due to its internal strengths and successful business operation Apple Inc. has become a competi tive company. It has footed in the computer market with an innovative style in the computer market. It production system is well handled as the operating system is free of all tangles of the Microsoft operating systems. In the physical appearance, usability and specifications; it has given a large degree of control to company. Apple Inc. encourages the RD environment and constantly releasing the products as seen in the latest Mac mini and iPod. It has made the Apple Inc. a big innovative company and brings the creative and new ideas in the computer market. Capital Structure: Corporate policy has yielded good results. Apple has paid all the debts which suggested that desired operations of company and growth of company by equity and not by the debt. Managerial qualities and resources necessary for effective business operation planning The issues in quality of products attracted the attention of business. The management concept is rendered by the wave of successful entrepreneurship. Top managers are committed to make decisions before communicating fully with all those who are involved in it. When subordinates ask for the decision the top managers think about the organizational response towards the decision for strategic plan. Ways of decision making enhance the business operations and credibility throughout the organization Apple Inc. People love to purchase the products of Apple Inc. because of power, easier way to use and reliability. The business managers at Apple Inc. ensure the delivery of the products to companies according to their requirements. Business customer contacts the business managers and long term relationships are established between them (http://www.apple.com/jobs/us/retail.html#business). Apple Inc. management has the ability to sell its products having no supply chain system. It earn the revenu e by the selling the iPod devices and Mac computers. Its iTunes virtual stores are generating the revenue more than $ 1 billion every year (David, 2010, p: 72). The managers at Apple Inc. face the incentives of using the strategies to control the earnings in many traded companies. The managers are allowed to purchase the stocks. In this way the staff at Apple Inc. is encouraged (www.sec.gov). The management system of Apple Inc. has policies and procedures, responsibilities and roles of its managers. For example a best health management system is maintained by the concerned managers to ensure the safety and health of its employees. If any inadequacy is seen in this system then top managers adopt the corrective actions including the verification through audit processes. Apple procurement managers are responsible to manage the business relationship with suppliers and coordinate the Apples supplier responsibility auditor. Apple Inc. has five divisions to manage the products and marketing departments of the company. These five divisions are responsible to evaluation and manufacturing of the devices, software and hardware of computer system. The four support divisions also work to handle the marketing and post sale products. A new position of Chief Operation Officer was created by Scully to centralize the operations and involving the senior management in the daily business decisions (Annual Report, 1988). Human Resource (HR) is responsible for the safeguarding the most valuable assets of the Apple Inc. It handles the many programs of the company to achieve the companys goals. Human resource at Apple Inc. is also responsible to reach at the needed resources. The Apple Inc. has six important valued creation functions including the marketing, RD, finance, Human resource management, information systems and operations and logistics. The chain of activities required to transform the inputs into outputs are pr imarily concerned with actual design, manufacturing, delivery, marketing of products and customer support activities. The ultimate task of the RD resource at Apple Inc. includes the new innovation and use of technology which meet the customers requirements (Hill Jones, 2004). Information system at Apple Inc. is an important asset which provides the business assisting facility. For the success of the business operation plan the information system is a core to keep the business run online without any obstacles. Other valuable resources which have potential powers for the customers as well as the management at Apple Inc. include the servers which distribute the information about Apples products and create new internet resources for the mailing list, online feedback and further open the communication lines. From the above discussion it can be concluded that Apple Inc. is a well known development and business company of the world. Its success lies in its business operation plan which indeed depends upon the various necessary actions taken from the design of the product to sale of the product.