Monday, December 30, 2019

Multiple Personality Disorder - 1415 Words

We’ve all experienced the feeling that we’ve moved into a different life, dissociation from reality, just mild like when we daydream, delve into a good book or become engrossed with a project. But then after that, we do still come back to reality. However, some people are diagnosed with a dissociative identity disorder or the popular multiple personality disorder (MPD). This differ from mild dissociation that all of us commonly experience. People who have this live a fairly complicated life. Sadly, people who have this experience traumatic physical, sexual or emotional abuse during their childhood. MPD is a severed form of dissociation from reality in which it reflects a person’s extreme lack of connectivity to the world he is in†¦show more content†¦When put under hypnosis, the personality that could emerge may be responsive to the therapists requests. Underlying this somehow scary phenomenon, the person can be experiencing depression, mood swings, and suicidal tendencies. Accompanying this disorder, these persons can also have sleep disorders like insomnia or somnambulism. They may have anxiety disorders, alcoholism, and eating disorders as well. They often have hallucinations, both auditory and visual, which aggravate the situation. Even more alarming than the already frightening aspects of the disorder, some MPD patients even have a tendency to self-persecute, sabotage themselves and inflict on the their own bodies violence. They would also do what normal persons would not, like go into risky activities and commit crime because they feel like they are b eing compelled to do it. In a way, they truly believe that they have no other choice but to do it (WebMd). As a person without the disturbing disorder, I could only read about stuff and think whether MPD is real. But then, with so many accounts on people having multiple personality disorder, and then experts giving out their diagnosis whether they are still confused or not, I still believe there are people really with MPD. But then, we cannot discount the possibility that criminals can fake to have another personality and they are compelled to do the criminal act they did, right? I also cannot help but sympathizeShow MoreRelatedMultiple Personality Disorder1920 Words   |  8 PagesMultiple Personality Disorder One particular disorder in the medical field called Multiple Personality Disorder, has caused controversy between those who believe it is real and those who think it is purely part of an individual’s imagination. Multiple Personality Disorder is characterized by the existence of two or more distinct alters or personality states that persistently have control over a person. For those who believe strongly in its existence, it poses very real consequences and hardshipsRead MoreMultiple Personality Disorder (MPD) Essay example756 Words   |  4 Pages Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), which is now called Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), is a Dissociative Disorder. This disorder is when a person has two or more distinct personalities that often control the person’s behavior. This disorder has many controversies because of the fact that it is not scientifically proven. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;One personality is usually restrainedRead More Multiple Personality Disorders1032 Words   |  5 Pages â€Å"Multiple Personality Disorders† nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Sometimes people undergo traumatic experiences in their lives that are either physical or mental and maybe even a combination of both. If the experience was so intense, and so horrible, that the mind didn’t want to remember it, or possibly didn’t know how to deal or cope with it, then that one experience has the power to split a person’s mind into â€Å"another personality†. If this happens, the other personality or personalities comeRead MoreMultiple Personality Disorder1423 Words   |  6 Pagesfrom reality, just mild like when we daydream, delve into a good book or become engrossed with a project. But then after that, we do still come back to reality. However, some people are diagnosed with a dissociative identity disorder or the popular multiple personality disorder (MPD). This differ from mild dissociation that all of us commonly experience. People who have this live a fairly complicated life. Sadly, people who have this experience traumatic physical, sexual or emotional abuse duringRead MoreThe And Multiple Personality Disorder1261 Words   |  6 PagesHypnotherapy/Multiple Personality Disorder Hypnosis can help with therapeutic evolvement while someone has Multiple Personality Disorder or MPD for short. Often times many cases of MPD are found in the United States,according to Joseph Goldberg, a doctor at webmd.com, 1 out of 100 people in the United States get MPD per year.The subject that has MPD does not realize they have a problem,because the subject believes that what they are seeing and feeling are real. Many of the cases of MPD are foundRead MoreMultiple Personalities Disorder Analysis1037 Words   |  5 PagesMultiple Personality Disorders (MPD), or what has been re-classified, Dissociative Idenitfy Disorder (DID), is a deliberating and frightening illness for the DID individual; as well as their friends and family. The meaning of DID (Dissoiative Idenity Disorder) usually means that a person has more than two self-states or identities, which often times appear like entirely different personalities. When one is under the control of one identity, the person usual ly is unable to remember some of the eventsRead MoreThe Theory Of Multiple Personality Disorder1486 Words   |  6 Pageslocation, name, age, or their entire identity (Residential). This could be multiple personality disorder- or MPD for short. Multiple personality disorder was first thought to be nonexistent, or extremely rare, but now after thousands of diagnoses (Carter), multiple personality seems to be in the in the spotlight of psychological disorders. Though multiple personality disorder only became a legitimate psychiatric disorder in 1980, there had been cases reported before then. Various individuals believeRead MoreMultiple Personality Disorder Essay1635 Words   |  7 PagesMultiple Personality Disorder Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) is a mental disease that exists in about one percent of the population. Much research supports the existence of this disease and its origins, causes and effects on the people in who suffer with it. This essay will clearly define Multiple Personality Disorder along with a detailed synopsis of the disease itself. The diagnosis, alter personalities, different treatments and views will indicate the disease is real. The AmericanRead MoreTypes Of Multiple Personality Disorder848 Words   |  4 Pagesis multiple personality disorder? Multiple personality disorder also known as Dissociative Identity Disorder is a severe condition in which two or more distinct identities, or personality states, are present in and interchangeably take control of an individual. DID is a disorder categorized by identity division rather than a creation of separate personalities. The disorder is not due to the direct psychological effects of a substance or of a general medical condition. DID was called Multiple PersonalityRead MoreSymptoms Of Multiple Personality Disorder1704 Words   |  7 Pagesand not knowing what you had just done; imagine having seven different people living inside of your head all competing to become you. This is a daily struggle for those who are suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder. There are many misconceptions in the United States about Multiple Personality Disorder. First off, it is an actually disease, that cannot be just â€Å"turned off†. It is generally brought on by a traumatic event in that person’s youth. More often than not it is seen in those who were

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Summary of Where are you going where have you been by...

Fallen Angel We all have been there. After a long days work, all we are thinking about is getting home. As you head towards your car, you notice the darkness around you and suddenly feel that you are not alone. Your pace increases and you begin to sweat mildly. If you could just get there, you’d be safe. Suddenly, you hear a noise and decide the best thing for you to do is ignore it. As you approach you car and unlock it, you sigh with relief that you’ve finally have made it. For many, our minds play tricks on us when we feel a moment of fear, however for others it may turn out to be their worst nightmare. In the story, â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?† by Joyce Carol Oates, a young girl is forced to make a decision†¦show more content†¦Whereas Connie is considered beautiful, June is seen as â€Å"plain and chunky† (496). Regardless of their differences, both girls have one thing in common, they both love to spend time with friends and Connie uses this to her advantage. On several occasions, a friend’s father has left them off at the mall, however once they arrive, Connie travels across the street â€Å" to a drive-in restaurant where older kids hung out† ( 497). It is here that she comes into contact with her future assailant, but at the time she ignored his attention. As the story progresses, it is Sunday morning and her family is getting ready to attend a family bar-b-queue. However, Connie insists on not attending and is left alone at home. As she is washing her hair, she hears an unfamiliar car driving up to her house and her heart begins to pound for she does not want the visitor to see her undone. When Arnold Friend, a man she has seen at the restaurant before, but has never spoken to, shows up on her doorstep, she is someone curious as to why he is visiting her. Throughout the scene, he is attempting to persuade Connie into taking a ride with him and his friend Ellie. The m ore he speaks to her, he reveals to her that he knows many things about her such as her friends, her name, and family and where they are currently at. As the scene develops, Connie no longer has interest in Arnold for she now is scared and is fearful of what his intentions are. In the end, Arnold threatens ConnieShow MoreRelatedSummary and Continuation of the story: â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been† By Joyce Carol Oates1461 Words   |  6 PagesErika Villanueva â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been† By Joyce Carol Oates There are things that happen when we are growing up that change us when we are grown. There are things that change us forever. Every human being is different, and there is a reason why . All of us had a childhood and all kinds of experiences some good, some bad, some full of joy but also others very painful. Eventually we grow childhood and mature depending of what we have gone through. The way we are able to handleRead MoreSummary Of Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?854 Words   |  4 PagesSummary: According to Barstow, Connie represents American innocence and powerlessness. Connie has a hard time defending herself against Arnold Friend because of her lack of knowledge and the impact of American culture. The mother-daughter relationship plays a significant role in the story because had Connie and her mother communicated better, Connie, who is still a child, would have be protected from the evil of the world. Barstow also points out that the modern American is unable to di stinguishRead MoreThe Journey to Adulthood in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates1119 Words   |  5 Pages â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?† Analysis In the American society, when individuals reach adolescence, they begin to search for their identity by exploring their interests and opening their mind to new notions and ideas. This is the psychological and physical human development that ultimately leads them to their adulthood. Joyce Carol Oates short story depicts a fifteen year old girl with typical teenage concerns. She has to face the realization of the meaning of maturity in the AmericanRead MoreNotes On The Novel Fences And Pied Piper Of Tucson 1080 Words   |  5 PagesStudents examine the ways in which mystery, tension, and surprise are used in informational and literary texts to engage and intrigue readers. First, students read short stories and poetry, including a close reading of Joyce Carol Oates’ short story, â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?† and Mara Bovsun’s article, â€Å"Pied Piper of Tucson;† they identify and describe ways authors ‘hook and hold’ readers with specific choices. Next, students read the play Fences by Pulitzer Prize winner August WilsonRead MoreJoyce Carol Oates Is An American Writer Who Writes Poetry,2120 Words   |  9 PagesJoyce Carol Oates is an American writer who writes poetry, short stories, novels, and nonfiction. She published one of her short stories called: â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?† in 1993. In this particular story, Oates writes about a young teenage girl, who in my perspective the fifteen-year-old girl liked getting the attention from everyone, especially from boys. Her name was Connie; the young girl who lived in her own little world dozing off most of the time, and always standing outRead MoreWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been?1733 Words   |  7 PagesWhere there is desire, there is hope, despair, and struggle. Joyce Carol Oates illustrates animatedly the asphyxiated struggle of desire in her short story â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?† The story narrates the life of a young girl, named Connie, and her fated and enigmatic con frontation with a strange man. Feeling trapped in her own home with her own family, Connie, a self-conscious and rebellious teenager, tries to figure out a way to identify herself with the world around her. HerRead MoreA Continued Study Of The Real Life Story Behind2311 Words   |  10 PagesDiana Dean ENG 1102 Sandra Rourke December 7, 2014 A CONTINUED STUDY OF THE REAL LIFE STORY BEHIND â€Å"WHERE ARE YOU GOING, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?† AND OF SERIAL KILLERS IN GENERAL The name of the man behind Joyce Carol Oates’s short story, â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?† is Charles Schmid, Jr. or â€Å"Smitty† as he was called by most everyone who knew him. I use both names interchangeably. The names of Schmid’s victims were Alleen Rowe whom he killed on May 31, 1964, with the help of twoRead MoreAmerican Youth in the 1960s1593 Words   |  6 PagesAmerica has in a short time been established as a nation that symbolizes acceptance and change. It has progressed into a country of equality that finds its foundation in its personal freedoms and the progressive movement of technology, politics, economics, social views, ethics and so forth since the American Revolution. It has been changing rapidly since the influx of immigrants that came here before the Revolution. The 1950s were a happy time. I Love Lucy and Leave It To Beaver were on televisionRead MoreEudora Welty a Worn Path12166 Words   |  49 Pagesretrieval s ystems without the written permission of the publisher. For complete copyright information on these eNotes please visit: http://www.enotes.com/worn−path/copyright Table of Contents 1. A Worn Path: Introduction 2. Eudora Welty Biography 3. Summary 4. Characters 5. Themes 6. Style 7. Historical Context 8. Critical Overview 9. Essays and Criticism 10. Compare and Contrast 11. Topics for Further Study 12. Media Adaptations 13. What Do I Read Next? 14. Bibliography and Further Reading 15. Copyright Read MoreEudora Welty a Worn Path12173 Words   |  49 Pagesretrieval systems without the written permission of the publisher. For complete copyright information on these eNotes please visit: http://www.enotes.com/worn−path/copyright Table of Contents 1. A Worn Path: Introduction 2. Eudora Welty Biography 3. Summary 4. Characters 5. Themes 6. Style 7. Historical Context 8. Critical Overview 9. Essays and Criticism 10. Compare and Contrast 11. Topics for Further Study 12. Media Adaptations 13. What Do I Read Next? 14. Bibliography and Further Reading 15. Copyright

Friday, December 13, 2019

Ford Motor Company Supply Chain Management and Strategic Fit Free Essays

string(37) " that the automotive industry faces\." This report covers the performance of Ford Motor Company over the past 10 years and analyzes the results of its â€Å"One Ford† business plan. The main question this report answers is whether Ford’s resent actions match the supply chain strategy of the new plan. There is also a short comparison between Ford and it closest competitor in the United States, General Motors. We will write a custom essay sample on Ford Motor Company: Supply Chain Management and Strategic Fit or any similar topic only for you Order Now Data was collected from different sources such as, annual and quarterly reports, company websites, organizations such as the United Nations, along with independent sources. This data was review and non-financial and financial computations were performed to see it if Ford’s overall performance had improve since the implementation of â€Å"One Ford† and the assignment of new management. The results show that the company has made improvements to it performance both financial and quality based off forecasting, employee efficiency, contribution and cost margins, net income, and higher prices demanded for their products. Table of Contents Industry Overview In their industry report, First Research (2011) describes both the United States and global automobile manufacturing industries. The industry in the United States is comprised of about 200 companies . In 2010, two of the larger manufactures, Ford and General Motors, had combined annual revenues of approximately $235 billion . The automobile manufacturing industry is a global industry with players from several major countries. Some of the larger global companies based outside the United States include Toyota (Japan), Volkswagen (Germany), Hyndai (South Korea), Peugeot (France), Fiat (Italy), and SAIC (China) . Although these manufacturing companies are  foreign based a few have manufacturing facilities inside the United States. Some of these include Honda, Nissan and Toyota . While other manufactures have facilities here in the United States, Ford and General Motors have located facilities in other countries. Companies that locate facilities in foreign countries are attempting to maximize profits by taking advantage of lower labor costs, locate near suppliers and customers, and lower tariffs and other taxes. There are other challenges that are faced by the automobile manufactures besides the distance between their facilities and customers. These challenges include world economic conditions, fuel prices, regulatory standards, and the amount of loanable funds available to consumers . To combat macroeconomic issues such as these, firms must find other ways to increase profitability. Ford Motor Company is one of the automobile companies that has been able to do just that. Ford Motor Company Brief Overview, Products and Services The following information was compiled from Ford Motor Company’s 2010 Annual Report (2011) and www. Ford. com. Ford Motor Company manufactures and distributes automobiles across six continents, employs about 164,000 people at approximately 70 plants. The major bands manufactured by Ford Motor Company are Ford and Lincoln. Ford Motor Company also owns approximately 30% of Mazda that is located in Japan. Besides automobiles, the company also sells parts and offers financial and repair services for their products to the consumer. In its car segment the Ford brand offers economical and sports cars, and a sedan. The economical cars include the Focus, Figo, Fiesta, and Fusion. The sports car and sedan are the Mustang and Taurus, respectively. MSRP of these cars rang from just over $13,000 to almost $26,000. The SUV and crossover segment includes the Escape, Flex, Explore, Edge, Kuga, Expedition, and the EcoSport. MSRP for these two types of automobiles from Ford ranges from $21,000 to $38,000. Ford brand also has a truck line that includes the F-Series, Ranger, Transit Connect, Super Duty, and E-Series Wagon. MSRP for the truck line ranges from $18,000 to $29,000. Ford Motor Company also has a domestic luxury car segment. The Lincoln brand of automobiles includes sedans, crossovers and an SUV. The sedans include the Town Car, MKZ, and MKS. These cars range from $35,000 to $47,000, MSRP. The crossovers include the MKX and MKT and range in MSRP from $40,000 to $45,000. Lincoln’s SUV is the Navigator and starts at an MSRP of almost $58,000. Ford Motor Company’s Changes in Their Supply Chain Strategy Over the past decade Ford Motor Company has had its financial ups and downs and had not been able to maintain a stable net income (See graph below). To combat this problem in the middle of the last decade Ford made some management changes to try and improve their industry position. They addressed supply chain efficiency problems that the company was facing. Some of the needed changes included closing plants, retooling, building flexible manufacturing facilities, and contracting with new logistics firms. The plan to make the transformation was coined â€Å"One Ford† . â€Å"In September of 2006 William Clay Ford, Jr. was named CEO of the Ford Motor Company. . In Liker and James’ journal article (2011) they noted that Ford brought in Allan Mulally whose job it was to use borrowed monies to bring Ford Motor Company back to a more stable and profitable state. Mulally had to decide where to use the borrowed $23 billion and where to cut cost. To help with this he appointed Derrick Kuzak, former vice-president of Europe’s product development. Kuzack was appointed as the vice-president of global product development . To combat cost Ford has closed approximately ten of its facilities since 2006 . In addition to closing facilities, Ford had to pare down supplier to bring all of its production facilities and products across the globe into alignment. In 2010 James Tetreault, vice-president of North American manufacturing stated, â€Å"[it was] expensive to maintain separate product and supply chains† . The company in 2006 started working on standardizing the architecture of the all it body panels, vehicle plat forms, die designs and processes . In addition to making manufacturing changes Ford addressed it logistics problems in the United States. From 2000 and into 2009 Ford had used United Parcel Services (UPS) as its logistics partner for transporting both inbound and outbound inventory . Since then, Ford contracted with Penske to be its logistic partner. Penske works with Ford not only in the United States but also in Europe, South America, and United Kingdom . In addition to internal process challenges, there are other internal and external challenges that the automotive industry faces. You read "Ford Motor Company: Supply Chain Management and Strategic Fit" in category "Management" External Challenges to Ford’s Changes In the middle of all of its changes Ford Motor Company had many different challenges besides its, financial and process changes to make the â€Å"One Ford† concept work. First, it had communication issues from upper levels to lower levels, and they could not get past â€Å"improvements† fully implemented. Second, relationships with vendors needed improvement. Third, the world was about to enter into a recession starting in 2008. Even though the world’s GDP was falling, there was continuous inflation all over the world. Finally, iron ore price continue to rise even during the recession. In their case study, Liker and Morgan (2011) said information dissemination was described as â€Å"hand grenades† and â€Å"scud missiles. † To improve this, two types of meetings were started inside the company. First, were the â€Å"Skip-level† meetings that allowed engineers and upper level management to communicate. Second, they had â€Å"All-Hands† meetings twice a year where the entire organization gathered to discuss the status of the improvements. Liker and Morgan (2011) also quoted Mulally as saying â€Å"supplier were treated like enemies† and not partners of Ford. To fix the battles between Ford and its suppliers â€Å"a process of dialogues between matched pairs of Ford engineers and buyers in purchasing who were responsible for the commercial side of working with suppliers† was put into place . This can help the buyers know what, how much, and when supplies are needed, and hopefully this will increase the supplier confidence in the processes at Ford. Shortly after Allan Mulally came on in 2006 the world was about to enter into a recession that some news reports were saying could be the next Great Depression. According to a United Nations, World Economic Situation and Prospects 2010 report, the rate of growth for GDP in most, if not all, countries began to decline in 2007 and actually entered into declines sometime in 2008. Although GDP was falling, inflation continued without any period of dis-inflation, meaning that prices were still on the rise but just at a slower rate . See the two graphs below for a graphical view of the United Nations data. These results show that the cost of living (prices) were still on the rise, but the amount of production (income) is in decline between 2007 and 2009. This makes it harder for consumers to purchase products like automobiles. Even with the upturn in the economies between 2009 and 2010, there is still a likelihood that people are going to be reluctant to purchase expensive durable goods. Unfortunately for the automobile industry its greatest commodity is steel. Over the past ten years world iron ore prices have been on the rise, except for a dip in prices between mid-2008 and the first quarter in 2010 . â€Å"About 98% of iron ore is used to make steel† . These price increases will drive the price of inputs for the car industry up because everything from the nuts and bolts, engine, frame and body panel, on most cars, are made from steel. Higher input prices means either lower gross profits and/or higher prices to the final consumer. The graph below shows the price changes of iron ore from 2001 until the end of 2010. Ford’s Forecasting, Inventory, Transportation, and Revenue Management To compete, keep cost down, be profitable, and stay in business Ford has had to address the fore mentioned internal and external issues even after getting its â€Å"Ford One† plan in place. To do so it appears that management has addressed the forecasting, inventory, transportation, and revenue management functions of their operations. First, Ford had to address its forecasting so that it would not over or under produce its product to a level that would be detrimental to profitability. Second, inventory and transportation was outsourced to capitalize on the knowledge inside a firm that specialized in logistics and also had the physical resources. With an improvement of the first and second topics in this section the third topic’s, revenue management, tasks are made much easier. After a review of the company’s quarterly reports from 4Q 2007 to 3Q 2011 and the 2001 to 2010 annual reports, it can be determined that Ford uses historical quantitative information in its aggregate forecasting. Some of this information is not automobile industry specific but macroeconomic information that affects sales inside the industry. It appears that Ford’s aggregate demand forecast uses historical data and the macroeconomic information for world production forecasting and then they base their production off of recent market share percentages they control. Ford also recognizes that there is seasonality to its customers purchasing patterns and adjust projection levels. In the notes of the â€Å"Outlook† section of the 1Q 2008 report (2008) Ford commented that â€Å"results generally have been stronger in the first half of the year, with the first quarter being the strongest† . After having forecast errors in 2008 and 2009 that totaled 1.9 million units, Ford’s forecast for 2010 was only off 149,000 units worldwide. As addressed earlier, Ford had shifted its logistics in 2010 from UPS to Penske Logistics. Penske claims that they have lowered Ford’s domestic plant inventory by 15% with the use of Order Dispatch Centers (ODC) and training suppliers on a uniform set of carrier procedures . With the ODCs Ford’s suppliers were no longer delivering to the plant facilities but to the ODC where supplies were cross-docked. This was done because Penske found that delivery trucks were traveling at 50% capacity and crossing routes. Penske now reports that â€Å"most trucks are at 95% capacity when they depart for a plant . On their website, Penske states that they have setup other logistical functions to streamline Ford’s transportation portion in its supply chain activities which include information technology and finance management systems. Their information technology system communicates schedules and shipment information up and down the supply chain and the finance management handles all of the freight bill payments, claim processing and resolutions throughout the supply chain . We have all seen the ads on television and in newspapers that start around October and run through the end of the year. The manufacturers and dealers give them titles like â€Å"Year End Blowout† and â€Å"Year End Clearance. † The specials they are running are to clear out the previous year models. These sales are a form of revenue management used to increase sales during the upcoming holiday months when consumers are more focused on Christmas and vacations. Specifically, it is a form of dynamic pricing. Dynamic pricing is used to sale inventory that is becoming less valuable as time persists . Ford is one of those automobile companies that partake in such pricing practices. They also offer discounts to consumers that finance through their Ford Motor Credit Company. Visit Ford’s website www. fordspecialevent. com and you will see the special interest rates, some even at 0%, and rebates that are offered on select units from the previous year models to help move them off of the dealer lots. This type of sales practice is an example what happens with an inventory push system. The Performance and Financial Results of â€Å"One Ford† After just over three years from when Alan Mulally took the helm as CEO for Ford Motor Company, how have they performed? To determine if Ford’s changes have actually worked we can look at several metrics. First, we will look at the aggregate forecasting numbers from 2008 to 2010. Next, the utilization of employees that are working in the automobile sector of Ford will be analyzed. Finally, we will look at some financial performance numbers to see if the plan has had an effect on Ford’s bottom line. Ford’s forecasting has greatly improved over the past several years. When forecasting, an organization, such as Ford, must take into account its existing inventory and base its production forecast on expected demand that exceeds inventory. In 2008 Ford had forecasted that it would produce just over 4. 5 million units, but actually produced only 3. 8 million. Sales that year totaled 5. 5 million units. This means that the annual forecast had an error of 1. 7 million units. In 2009 the total production forecast was 3. 7 million units, but the actual production was 4. 6 million. Sales in 2009 were almost 4. 9 million units. That’s a forecast error of -247 thousand units. In 2010 Ford’s forecasting improved even more. Production was forecasted at 5. 4 million units, but actual was 5. 6 million units, and sales were 5. 5 million units. This results in a forecasting error of 149 thousand units. Ford has lowered its forecasting error by more than 10 times from 2008 to 2010 (See chart below). It has also lowered its mean average deviation between quarters from 1Q 2008 to 4Q 2010 a total of 367 units (See chart below). These kinds of results could show that Ford is moving from a push to a pull type of inventory control system. Since 2003 Ford has reduced the number of employees that are in their automobile sector. Along with a reduction of employees, the implementation of the above discussed â€Å"One Ford† plan to improve and standardize production processes has had a positive effect on the company’s financial performance. Between 2003 and 2010 employment went from approximately 279,000 down to 157,000, a reduction of 44%. But with this reduction in employment, production per employee rose from 24. 1 to 35. 2 or 46%. The increased number of units per employee has had a positive effect on the company’s revenues from auto sales and gross profit margin. Revenue from the sale of automobiles per employee has risen 53%, $495. 56 million to $759. 75 million. The total employment at Ford has dropped from 328,000 down to 164,000. This includes both the manufacturing and service sectors of the company. The effect on total net revenue per employee has increased from $501. 75 million to $786. 3 million or 57% from 2003 to 2010. See the graph below for a depiction of the above employee utilization and contribution results. Now we will look at how Ford’s change in their business model has affected the unit contribution and cost, and gross profit margin of the company. The average contribution per unit between 2001 and 2010 was $18,668 and $21,593, respectively. That is an increased contribution of 16% per unit. In 2001 the average cost to produce one unit for Ford was $18,324. This rose to a high of $23,558 in 2007, but the company was able to reduce this cost back down to $18,908 in 2010. The percentage reduction in cost per unit from 2007 to 2010 is 16%. The negative correlation between contribution and cost per unit has a positive effect on the gross profit margin for the company. Ford’s gross profit margin from 2003 to 2010 increased 100% from 6% to 12%. That is after dipping to lows of -4% and 1% in 2006 and 2008, respectively. See the below graph to see how the changes in Ford’s operations has affected the above mentioned financials. To analyze the total effect the â€Å"One Ford† plan has had on the company’s bottom line let us look at the revenue and income side of the financials. First, we need to take into account that the world has been in a recession since about 2008. This has had an effect on the total sales and revenues that Ford has experienced over the last several years, and the difference between 2001 and 2010 results are $160 billion and $129 billion, respectively. To understand how the changes (One Ford) have affected the net income for the company we must look at the trend between sales and cost of goods sold. Starting in 2006 the cost of goods sold for Ford trended downward, as did total sales and revenue starting in 2007, but in 2009 there started to be a change between the rate of growth between sale and cost of goods sold. The rate of growth from sales increased at a faster pace than cost of goods sold. From 2008 to 2009 the change in sales was a reduction of 19%, and the cost of goods sold fell by 22%. Between 2009 and 2010 sales rose 15% while cost of goods only increased by 6%. These differences are a result of the above mention average contribution and cost per unit. Other changes that could be making this difference are the outsourcing of its logistics and relations with suppliers. These increases in gross profits from operations have been enough to offset the reduced revenues (22%) from the financial sector and have resulted in a 141% increase in net income between 2009 and 2010. (All of the above employment, production and financial data was collected from annual and quarterly reports published by Ford Motor Company and can be found on their website, www. Ford. com, and the Securities and Exchange’s website, www. sec. gov. ) Comparison of Ford and General Motors Performance To compare General Motors to Ford Motor Company we will look at worldwide sales revenues, cost of goods sold, and net income. In its 2010 Annual Report (2011), General Motors claims to lead Ford in worldwide sales . This is true, in the number of units sold. In 2010 General Motors did out sales Ford by almost 2. 8 million units. This has been the trend even back to 2004 where the difference was in General Motors favor at 2.2 million units. Even when it comes to some financial performances General Motors has the advantage. In 2010 average unit cost for a General Motors unit was $14,200 dollars and Ford’s average unit cost was $18,900. That is a difference of $4,700. Between 2006 and 2010 General Motors was able to reduce their average unit cost by 28%. Ford only reduced its average unit cost by 19% in the same period. The big differences that gives Ford the advantage between the two companies are the average gross profit per unit and the net income. Ford is able to demand a higher average price, $21,600 versus $16,100, than General Motors. This has given Ford the advantage in net income with a difference of almost $1. 9 billion in 2010 alone. Plus, Ford has done this all without a bailout from the United States government like General Motors. Conclusion Over the ten years this report covers, Ford has been able to make major improvements in its operations. It has been able to make architectural changes to the body assembly and tooling that makes their production facilities more flexible. Penske was able to come in and reduce waste in the inventory and logistics that was not found by their previous logistics company. The big hurdle that Ford overcame was the implementation and communication issues they had in-house and with suppliers. With all of these changes Ford has been able to alleviate some of the financial woes it was experiencing several years back. Finally, the result of the automobile sector and the total company shows that Ford Motor Company as a whole is moving in the right direction with its â€Å"One Ford† plan. How to cite Ford Motor Company: Supply Chain Management and Strategic Fit, Essays

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Organizational Behavior Organization - and Social System

Question: Discuss about the Organizational Behavior Organization, and Social System. Answer: Introduction: Organizational behavior is the application and research of ability by expertise about how an individual, group act in a firm. It identifies and interprets employee-firm relationship regarding whole people, organization, and social system. Its primary focus is on building relationships by achieving targets, structure, and social intentions. The coarse of an enterprise depends on the executives view, mission, goals, beliefs, and philosophy. This turns the enterprise skill consisting of formal and informal organization and cordial situation. The corporate experience derives kinds of power, group dynamics, and communication in the firm. The final result is individual satisfaction, performance, growth, and development. Together they combine to form a framework that an organization operates (Wilson 2013). The four famous models the team works are Autocratic, Custodial, Supportive and Collegial (Bratton 2015). In Autocratic, the staff members are inclined close to dependence and obedience on their senior. The need and work development of the staff are minimum. The staff is inclined towards benefits, safety, and confidence on the organization. The work result is an acceptable collaboration. The basis of Supportive is power with a managerial direction of base. The managers are inclined towards work development and cooperation (Storey 2016). The status and recognition of the employee are met, and the return report is derived. The base of Collegial is the cooperating with a managerial direction of unity. The employees are inclined on self-discipline and answerable action. The demand of an employee met is self-realization. The result of work is medium energy. The Big five personality trait concept has been adopted from psychology which includes five main domains describing an individual's personality and behavior. This represents a structure behind all personality traits. These five characters have been explained by various researchers but it not powerful in describing the actual behavior of an individual. The traits are Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Neuroticism and Openness. The traits can be explained by giving a real life example of my internship period in a company selling organic products. Openness to experience shows a human degree of mental curiosity, creativity, and choice for innovation and variety. For instance, during the internship period in a company I was asked by my Team Leader to approach a client who use organic products and convince him by using a different approach to buy our product. Conscientiousness show self-discipline tendency, completing duty and focus on success. During the internship period in a company, I was asked to complete the target by the end of the month to sell the organic products and I was successful in completing the target by planning and organizing the sales process. It refers to planning, organizing, and dependability. Extroversion describes positive energy, emotions, confidence, sociability, talkativeness, and the tendency to chase incentive in the others organization. During the internship period, a colleague was lagging behind in completing his sales target and the Team Leader approached me to motivate my colleague to work smartly. Agreeableness is the habit to be merciful and harmonious towards others instead of skeptical and hostile. When a colleague was unable to complete his sales target during my internship, I was asked to help him in completing his target so as to maintain the sales target of the company. Neuroticism refers to an individuals stage of emotions and its control on anger, anxiety, vulnerability or depression (Judge et al. 2013). After completing the target in the first month, the target was increased by the company after looking at my performance. I was happy that my senior was impressed with my work but tensed about increase in the target and how can it be achieved (Klimstra et al. 2013). These traits are scored in percentile for individual feedbacks. For example, a conscientiousness rating 94 percentile indicates a strong sense of orderliness, responsibility whereas an extraversion score in the 42nd percentile indicates a person is neither particularly social nor reserved. The staff is examined on the big five personality traits to know what attributes they can include to the company. The organizations can also use these features during the interview process when a team is hiring candidates to know a candidate's behavior towards a particular situation (Wortman, Lucas and Donnellan 2012). A company understanding its employees is as important as understanding the operations and management. A group structure is a combination of individual relation communicating in many methods. The structure consist people and relationship among themselves. The attitude of individuals can influence exactly on the attitude of the rest. The general network exchanges ideas, goods, and beliefs with the surrounding nearby. The skill is surrounded with beliefs, customs, knowledge, and practices. It impacts the behavior of a particular. People depending on culture provide them strength, safety, empathy and the skill to react to a given scenario. This is the reason humans are scared of change. They fear the structure might become fickle; safety can get lost and might not adapt to the new course and how to react to new scenarios. Organizational improvement is the operation of detectable science skill at different stages of class, inter-class, firm, to bring a difference. The purpose is high quality job-life, adaptability, richness, and validity. It can be accomplished by a change in attitude, values; behavior, strategies, procedure and structure the firm can react to technological advances, aggressive force, and change in environment. The quality of job life is the favorable or unfavorable work scenario. The objective is to enhance job surrounding which is good for the staff and the firm (Leonard et al. 2013). The selection and development of leaders are an important matter for organizations. Personal characteristics of an individual are related to leadership which is of important significance (Cogliser et al. 2012). Recently, the big five personality attributes Extroversion, Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness and Openness have emerged as a unifying framework to understand a typical character. Results show that five personality trait of Conscientiousness and Extroversion show the highest effect on control, while the effect of neuroticism, openness and agreeableness differ more. The importance of extroversion, conscientiousness, and psychological hardiness influences leader effectiveness and tells that social judgment can be significant. The factors of Big Five personality can affect leadership in different organizational context. Various research have been organized to know the tendency of job-related behavior and attitudes like the relation between job performance and big five personality attrinutes (Bartone et al. 2009). Organization commitment is known as a powerful motive to stick to a precise company, giving great efforts to the organization, accepting the goals and values of the firm. Personality denoting the phenomenon to firms devotion and action is the ultimate outcome of organizational engagement. Effective commitment refers to emotional attachment and involvement of the employee towards the organization which will affect positive attitude and behavior in their work. This will result in excellent job performance. Affective commitment is directly proportional to overall job performance. Extraverts with high percentile are positively related with extrinsic career success. Extraversion is a nature kind which shows attributes like being expressive, socially active, fluent having a strong desire for praise, recognition, power and status. The extraversion score in the big five personality test conducted online is 42 percentile which denotes that a person is neither reserved nor particularly social (Cobb-Clark and Schurer 2012). Conscientiousness personality indicates careful, responsible, hardworking and organized. These people with high percentile form a relational contract in their exchange relationship with the organization. Conscientiousness is positively related to affective commitment. It is the most constant character forecaster of work conduct. The Conscientiousness score in the big five personality test conducted online is 94 percentile which denotes that the person is well organized and can be relied upon. Neuroticism includes traits such as depression, anxiety, worry, embarrassment. Neuroticism avoids scenarios demanding to take control and limited socially. These individuals face negative feelings in life than any other person. This negative perception can lead to a negative work-related attitude and behaviors which will result them to stay with the firm due to the cost related with quitting the job. They feel uneasy while facing a new work environment which can be harsh on them. The Neuroticism score in the big five personality test conducted online is 18 percentile which denotes that Neurotics probably remain calm, even in tense situations. Neurotics are easily connected to constant engagement which is adversely connected to overall work conduct (Huang 2014). Agreeableness includes traits like forgiving, cooperative, trusting and tolerant. Its connection with work conduct is weak, which is not a fundamental element of work conduct (Barrick, Mount and Li 2013). The agreeableness score in the big five personality test conducted online is 44 percentile which denotes that the person is neither extremely forgiving nor irritable. Agreeableness is related to teamwork. Openness includes traits like broad-minded, intelligent, curious and cultured. Openness to action is known as predisposing people to sense both great and awful experience very deeply. The transparency score in the big five personality test conducted online is 30 percentile which denotes that the individual is somewhat conventional. Openness trait has been a topic of controversy among various researchers. Openness to action is not a great forecaster of work conduct (Ahmad, Ather and Hussain 2014). Organizational Citizenship Behavior is known as individual behavior on the part of the employee which is unrestricted and not directly identified by formal reward system or given a penalty for the presence of lack of by the firm. It is known to have a significant influence on the efficiency and effectiveness of team and organization, contributing to the overall production of the group. A researcher gives two main reasons why Organizational Citizenship Behavior is not troubled by Organizational influence. First reason is Organizational Citizenship Behavior profound which is hard to rate and make it difficult during the appraisals. The second reason is various forms of Organizational Citizenship Behavior may drag away people from their job to help another (Shih and Chuang 2013). Every organization depends on multiple acts of cooperation, suggestions, helpfulness, goodwill gesture which we call it Organizational Citizenship Behavior (Lpez-Domnguez et al. 2013). A crew which is committed towards their duty is an important asset of the firm where the biggest challenge of the business is to survive in this competitive world. A company cannot survive long without its management by taking part in the organization-relevant behavior. Organizational Citizenship Behavior is an important formulation in organization behavior and western business. Personality can be predicted in delicate situations. Organizational Citizenship Behavior can represent an individual's behavior occurring in sensitive cases. It can be said that in Organizational Citizenship Behavior we can find a kind of performance which gives attribute to the personality. An individual with a trait of high openness enjoy working on new ideas and have interest and appreciate the novelty. Various researchers came to know that openness to actions is easily connected to Organizational Citizenship Behavior. People with high Conscientiousness have a better job performance than those with low Conscientiousness. They can perform work with fewer mistakes. Individuals with high Conscientiousness are hardworking and dependent. They are more methodical and take part in solving a problem. People with this trait show a higher result in Organizational Citizenship Behavior performance. Extraversions are the key propensity determinant of social behavior. Individuals who are flexib le are highly extraverted who is likely to show more active Organizational Citizenship Behavior. Employees with high agreeable trait show respective competence and cooperate properly when a group performance is required. Thus, agreeableness performs better and is positively related to Organizational Citizenship Behavior. Neuroticism is the key inclination factor of social behavior. People with low neuroticism should be able to reflect Organizational Citizenship Behavior. Thus, neuroticism is negatively related to Organizational Citizenship Behavior (Swaminathan and Jawahar 2013). The online big five personality test found the relationship between job performance and big five personality attributes with an act of negotiator of complex organizational responsibility. A miniature is created which is former to organizational responsibility and conduct is the outcome of organizational authority. Organizational commitment has been an act of negotiator in finding the character-conduct relationship. The affective commitment will intercede in figuring the relationship between job performance and extraversion. It is also seen that the relation between job performance and neuroticism can be resolved by constant engagement. The various outcomes of organizational engagement can be a motive to stay or leave the organizational citizenship behavior. The big five personality trait, leadership, motivation, and job commitment can have a great impact on the job performance of the employees. Defining big five personality trait as stable individual differences in people's reactions to various circumstances can be hoped to revive human nature. Personality and job satisfaction and big five personality traits are all inter-related. It can appear as a relationship between job satisfaction, and big five personal traits is more an outcome of the social aspect of the firm than the actual ability. Staff's level of competition contributes to the performance of the enterprise. Employers must provide facilities for their employees' training. Companies should give a good working environment to increase their staff's motivation and increase job satisfaction. A comfortable place for their work and the human relation is necessary to maintain worker's loyalty towards their employers. Big Five personality trait can be improved with a good relationship between the employees and employers and among themselves. References Ahmad, J., Ather, M.R. and Hussain, M., 2014. Impact of Big Five personality traits on job performance (Organizational commitment as a mediator). In Management, knowledge and learning international conference (pp. 25-27). Barrick, M.R., Mount, M.K. and Li, N., 2013. The theory of purposeful work behavior: The role of personality, higher-order goals, and job characteristics. Academy of Management Review, 38(1), pp.132-153. Bartone, P., Eid, J., Helge Johnsen, B., Christian Laberg, J. and Snook, S. (2009). Big five personality factors, hardiness, and social judgment as predictors of leader performance. Leadership Organization Development Journal, 30(6), pp.498-521. Bratton, J., 2015. Introduction to Work and Organizational Behaviour. Palgrave Macmillan. Cogliser, C.C., Gardner, W.L., Gavin, M.B. and Broberg, J.C., 2012. Big five personality factors and leader emergence in virtual teams relationships with team trustworthiness, member performance contributions, and team performance. Group Organization Management, 37(6), pp.752-784. Judge, T.A., Rodell, J.B., Klinger, R.L., Simon, L.S. and Crawford, E.R., 2013. Hierarchical representations of the five-factor model of personality in predicting job performance: integrating three organizing frameworks with two theoretical perspectives. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(6), p.875. Leonard, H.S., Lewis, R., Freedman, A.M. and Passmore, J. eds., 2013. The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of the psychology of leadership, change and organizational development. John Wiley Sons. Lpez-Domnguez, M., Enache, M., Sallan, J.M. and Simo, P., 2013. Transformational leadership as an antecedent of change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Business Research, 66(10), pp.2147-2152. Shih, C.T. and Chuang, C.H., 2013. Individual differences, psychological contract breach, and organizational citizenship behavior: A moderated mediation study. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 30(1), pp.191-210. Storey, J. ed., 2016. Leadership in Organizations: Current Issues and Key Trends. Routledge. Swaminathan, S. and Jawahar, P.D., 2013. Job satisfaction as a predictor of organizational citizenship behavior: An empirical study. Global Journal of Business Research, 7(1), pp.71-80. Wilson, F.M., 2013. Organizational behaviour and work: a critical introduction. Oxford University Press. Wortman, J., Lucas, R.E. and Donnellan, M.B., 2012. Stability and change in the Big Five personality domains: Evidence from a longitudinal study of Australians. Psychology and aging, 27(4), p.867. Cobb-Clark, D.A. and Schurer, S., 2012. The stability of big-five personality traits. Economics Letters, 115(1), pp.11-15. Klimstra, T.A., Luyckx, K., Goossens, L., Teppers, E. and De Fruyt, F., 2013. Associations of identity dimensions with Big Five personality domains and facets. European Journal of Personality, 27(3), pp.213-221. Huang, J.L., Ryan, A.M., Zabel, K.L. and Palmer, A., 2014. Personality and adaptive performance at work: A meta-analytic investigation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 99(1), p.162.

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Effects Of Social Networking

Networking basically means putting up or coming up with a viable social system that when implemented will generate new value-adding social relationships of likeminded persons who seek to make a competitive niche for themselves in the work environment.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Effects Of Social Networking specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Networking in a nutshell works in the same principal just like how computer networking works where a set of computers are linked together to a joint server system. In our case we are more interested in networking as a form of increasing one’s power, this means the main focus lies in networking as a social capital. Social capital refers to the value of having social relationships in respect to cooperation as a means of getting confidence to pursue collective economic results. For a person or a firm to be able to effectively cover a wider scope in form of market base w ithout having a substantial capital base, then social networking becomes the next best alternative. An effective social networking strategy can empower a person in a number of ways. To begin with, networking ensures that a specific subject gains valuable connections with the right people in the industry that he or she intends to work after clearing with formal education. For instance, a person who is interested in working with the banking industry can enhance his or her chances of working in such an industry by ensuring that he relates effectively with the people who have major influences in the decision making process of the banking industry. This way, a person ensures that his or her chances to gain a rewarding employment opportunity in the desired industry are enhanced. Networking also enhances a person’s power by ensuring that the confidence of the said person is boosted by the virtue of his working with people of great repute in an industry (Aydogan Yiu, 2008). As noted by (Castiglione, Deth Guglielmo, 2008) people learn new skills through relevant interaction which ensures that there is a continuous transfer of knowledge from one experienced party to the lesser experienced party. This continuous transfer of knowledge ensures that a person’s worth is enriched thus empowering him or her.Advertising Looking for essay on business communication? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In the new era of technological based social networking, social capital can be enhanced by ensuring that one contributes to relevant social forums such as e-boards that are in the relevant area of specialization (Steinfield, Ellisona Lampe, 2008). This strategy can be an efficient form of expanding networks as one can get to know many actors in a field of interest. If the quality of the information sent is excellent, then the contributors tend to recognize one’s efforts, which can be beneficial in the proce ss of enhancing a person’s social network. References Aydogan. N. Yiu P., C. (2008). Social capital and business development in high- technology clusters: an analysis of contemporary U.S. agglomerations. Springer Castiglione, D., Deth J, W., Guglielmo. W, (2008). The handbook of social capital. New York: Oxford University Press Steinfield, C., Ellisona N., B. Lampe, C. (2008). Social capital, self-esteem, and use of online social network sites: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. 29(6). 2008. Pp. 434-445. This essay on Effects Of Social Networking was written and submitted by user Maliyah K. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Strong Electrolyte Definition and Examples

Strong Electrolyte Definition and Examples A strong electrolyte is a solute or solution that is an electrolyte that completely dissociates in solution. The solution will contain only ions and no molecules of the electrolyte. Strong electrolytes are good conductors of electricity, but only in aqueous solutions or in molten form. The comparative strength of an electrolyte may be gauged using a galvanic cell. The stronger the electrolyte, the greater the voltage produced. Strong Electrolyte Chemical Equation The dissociation of a strong electrolyte is apparent by its reaction arrow, which only points toward products. In contrast, the reaction arrow of a weak electrolyte points in both directions. The general form of the strong electrolyte equation is: strong electrolyte (aq)  Ã¢â€ â€™ cation (aq) anion- (aq) Strong Electrolyte Examples Strong acids, strong bases, and ionic salts that are not weak acids or bases are strong electrolytes. Salts much have high solubility in the solvent to act as strong electrolytes. HCl (hydrochloric acid), H2SO4 (sulfuric acid), NaOH (sodium hydroxide) and KOH (potassium hydroxide) are all strong electrolytes.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

The Rule of St. Benedict and Beowulf books Essay

The Rule of St. Benedict and Beowulf books - Essay Example The Rule of St. Benedict was written at a time when the world was ravaged by great political and economic upheaval brought about by warfare. It was during this time that there was immense chaos and hardship and there was no integrated community whatsoever. Even the monks and hermits spent their lives in tiny cells, huts or caves with self imposed hard rigor. Most of them lived on bread-crusts, indulged in self-flagellation for decades together. Saint Benedict understood that such living was not healthy for community living and therefore revolutionized the existing rules to make life much better. The most important thing he did was to allocate specific time for different activities. He divided the Pg. 2 day by setting aside time for work, prayer, study, relaxation and sleep respectively. This arrangement was rather innovative and well accepted all around since it made life much easier to lead even while creating a good community atmosphere by bringing about order in their daily lives. An ideal ruler always wants the best for his subjects and considering the masterpiece he offered his subjects, there is no doubt that St. Benedict could be called an ideal ruler because he had the good of his people at heart. As a good ruler he was responsible for bringing about peace and harmony through community life by releasing his people from the bondage of hardship and chaos. Even though Benedict was a monk himself, he was not a rigid taskmaster who penalized his subjects. In fact, in his book he states that these rules were ‘nothing harsh, nothing burdensome.’ (St. Benedict ( 1998) On the other hand, he was a concerned leader who wanted to bring about order and peace in his environment. Benedict’s rule is an integral and invaluable guide to us in this contemporary society because it forms the basis of order and structure in our daily lives. Benedict’s vision of order was aimed at bringing people much closer to God. According to Benedict, all indivi duals are equal before God and therefore equality within a community lays the foundation for spirituality and drawing people closer to the Divine. Benedict’s rules have great significance and Pg. 3 relevance in today’s society as it continues to help us maintain order and discipline in our lives. Beowulf is in sharp contrast to ‘The Rule of St. Benedict’ because it is a narrative that comprises of both fact and fiction. It is a mixture of images of people and creatures who are less human and comprises of both comedy and tragedy. Written in the early part of the tenth century A.D. Beowulf is one of the oldest epics in British literature that has managed to survive. Presently a house timber British library in London, Beowulf describes the interesting adventures of a well known Scandinavian warrior belonging to the 6th century. While ‘The Rule of St. Benedict’ is based on factual evidence of real people within a real environment, ‘Beowulfâ €™ is based on fact as well as fiction to express the thoughts and ideas of its author. Throughout the narrative, the author speaks of the descendants of each warrior, the conquests they fought and the manner in which they lost their lives, but constantly keeps close proximity with the Divine and expressing that God is ever present and is a solace and guide to mankind. One such warrior was Shield who though was an orphan, put an end to many enemies and took care of his people like a good king. This idea of a good king is

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

SHORT STORY, EXPOSITORY STYLE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

SHORT STORY, EXPOSITORY STYLE - Essay Example reater good of the child realize that though there are constitutional guarantees for equality men seems to be less equal than women in this perspective. During the divorce process, the father has to undergo child custody evaluation at which point he learns that the daily access to rear the child is shared or fully impeded. The father has to take immense efforts to convince the custody evaluator by pointing out the reasons why he is good as a custodial parent. The evaluation is a questionable process because it can be either rational or fair since evaluation is carried out without any benchmarks or standardized testing. It is even more difficult for fathers to be a custodial parent because the mother is usually given custody in the best interest of the child. According to Old Bureau of Census statistics the proportions at which the father and mother obtained to be the custodial parents in the early 90’s stood at 1:90, while 9% of the kids were assigned to the care of family members.. Though custody evaluations takes place, the evaluators conclude with an expected judgment which usually favors the mother to be the custodial parent because the child has been raised by the mother and she would be able to offer a more stable life. This leads to a reason that a father is disqualified for custody because they do not spend much time with the kids since they were working. But this should not be a reason to penalize men (Hughson, D). Court orders are sometimes biased even if the evaluation process finds the father to be most suitable custodial parent. On the social front, children who grow up without a father at home is at an increased risk of transforming into a criminal in the society. Children are also likely to drop out of school, indulge in drug abuse, commit suicide or get pregnant. Therefore gender bias towards fathers in gaining custody must undergo a change (Child Custody and Support). Fathers are back lashed when it comes to the custody of the child because

Monday, November 18, 2019

Delusional Disorders Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Delusional Disorders - Research Paper Example DD is also known as psychosis or paranoid disorder and persists for at least one month (Bustillo, 2008). DD may be related to the patient’s life history or his experiences in the past and is seen in elder people normally who combine it with auditory hallucinations. However, DD patients do not show any abnormal or bizarre behavior when they socialize. DD is of various types depending upon the kind of delusions being experienced by the patient. According to the Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders (2010), these types include Erotomanic (the patient has the delusion that someone famous is in love with him which may cause the patient to stalk him); Grandiose (the patient thinks that he has great abilities that make him better than others); Jealous (the patient thinks that his partner is betraying him); Persecutory (where the person thinks that he is being spied or harrassed); Somatic (the patiemt thinks that he has some physical abnormality); and, Mixed (the patient may show multiple types of DD). Research has shown that DD patients do not act strange or weird when they are being social, and this is what makes this disorder different from other psychotic disorders (Schultz & Videbeck, 2008, p. 174). Unless the patient himself discusses the problem with the healthcare professionals, it is very difficult to tell whether a person is suffering from DD or not. However, the patient is apt to make choices and decisions depending on his delusions which he may not make otherwise. For example, if he believes that his spouse is betraying him, he may choose not expand his family which is a choice he would not have made otherwise. Another reason why DD are not obvious is that a DD patient sometimes holds so strong opinion that he does not even think that he is wrong in believing what he think is true no matter how troubled he feels about the situation (Sedler, 1995). Instead of detecting

Friday, November 15, 2019

A Study Of The Indian Food Processing Industry

A Study Of The Indian Food Processing Industry Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have been considered one of the driving forces of modern economies due to their multifaceted contributions in terms of technological innovations, employment generation, export promotion, etc. Of these, the ability of SMEs to innovate assumes significance because innovation lends competitive edge to firms, industries and ultimately, economies. Therefore, technological innovation has the potential to spur growth of individual enterprises at the micro level and aggregate industries and economies at the macro level. Given the above, this paper attempts to understand issues such as what factors drive SMEs to innovate, what is the nature of SME innovations, what the achievements of SME innovations are and what the outcomes of these achievements are. Overall, this paper attempts to address the question: does SME innovation facilitate the growth of firm size? This question has been probed in the context of SMEs in Sunrise Sector of our economy. This paper probes the drivers, dimensions, achievements, and outcomes of technological innovations carried out by SMEs in the food processing industries in India. The Food Industry is divided into organized and unorganized wherein the maximum contribution is made by small and unorganized. Hence the focus of the study will be organized food processing sector. The research methodology is empirical study for this the evidences will be collected, in the form of case studies as evidences, through secondary data. Further, it ascertains the growth rates of innovative SMEs in comparison to non- innovative SMEs in terms of sales turnover, employment, and investment. The study will confirm that the Innovative SMEs have shown better and sustained growth. Keywords: Technological Innovations, Sales Growth, Organized Food Processing, Agriculture. Introduction Innovation is a new way of doing something or new stuff that is made useful. It may refer to incremental an emergent or radical and revolutionary changes in thinking, products, processes, or organizations. Following Schumpeter (1934), contributors to the scholarly literature on innovation typically distinguish between invention, an idea made manifest, and innovation, ideas applied successfully in practice. In many fields, such as the arts, economics and government policy, something new must be substantially different to be innovative. In economics the change must increase value, customer value, or producer value. The goal of innovation is positive change, to make someone or something better. Innovation leading to increased productivity is the fundamental source of increasing wealth in an economy. Those who are directly responsible for application of the innovation are often called pioneers in their field, whether they are individuals or organizations. In organizations A convenient definition of innovation from an organizational perspective is given by Luecke and Katz (2003), who wrote: Innovation . . . is generally understood as the successful introduction of a new thing or method . . . Innovation is the embodiment, combination, or synthesis of knowledge in original, relevant, valued new products, processes, or services. Innovation typically involves creativity, but is not identical to it: innovation involves acting on the creative ideas to make some specific and tangible difference in the domain in which the innovation occurs. For example, Amabile et al. (1996) propose: All innovation begins with creative ideas . . . We define innovation as the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization. In this view, creativity by individuals and teams is a starting point for innovation; the first is necessary but not sufficient condition for the second. For innovation to occur, something more than the generation of a creative idea or insight is required: the insight must be put into action to make a genuine difference, resulting for example in new or altered business processes within the organization, or changes in the products and services provided. Innovation, like many business functions, is a management process that requires specific tools, rules, and discipline. From this point of view emphasis is moved from the introduction of specific novel and useful ideas to the general organizational processes and procedures for generating, considering, and acting on such insights leading to significant organizational improvements in terms of improved or new business products, services, or internal processes. In the organizational context, innovation may be linked to performance and growth through improvements in efficiency, productivity, quality, competitive positioning, market share, etc. All organizations can innovate, including for example hospitals, universities, and local governments. While innovation typically adds value, innovation may also have a negative or destructive effect as new developments clear away or change old organizational forms and practices. Organizations that do not innovate effectively may be destroyed by those that do. Hence innovation typically involves risk. A key challenge in innovation is maintaining a balance between process and product innovations where process innovations tend to involve a business model which may develop shareholder satisfaction through improved efficiencies while product innovations develop customer support however at the risk of costly RD that can erode shareholder return. Innovation can be described as the result of some amount of time and effort into researching an idea, plus some larger amount of time and effort into developing this idea, plus some very large amount of time and effort into commercializing this idea into a market place with customers. Joseph Schumpeter defined economic innovation in The Theory of Economic Development, 1934, Harvard University Press, Boston. The introduction of a new good that is one with which consumers are not yet familiar or of a new quality of a good. The introduction of a new method of production, which need by no means be founded upon a discovery scientifically new, and can also exist in a new way of handling a commodity commercially. The opening of a new market, that is a market into which the particular branch of manufacture of the country in question has not previously entered, whether or not this market has existed before. The conquest of a new source of supply of raw materials or half-manufactured goods, again irrespective of whether this source already exists or whether it has first to be created. The carrying out of the new organization of any industry, like the creation of a monopoly position (for example through trustification) or the breaking up of a monopoly position Whether innovation is mainly supply-pushed (based on new technological possibilities) or demand-led (based on social needs and market requirements) has been a hotly debated topic. Similarly, what exactly drives innovation in organizations and economies remains an open question. Programs of organizational innovation are typically tightly linked to organizational goals and objectives, to the business plan, and to market competitive positioning. One driver for innovation programs in corporations is to achieve growth objectives. As Davila et al. (2006) note, Companies cannot grow through cost reduction and reengineering alone Innovation is the key element in providing aggressive top-line growth, and for increasing bottom-line results (p.6) In general, business organizations spend a significant amount of their turnover on innovation, such as making changes to their established products, processes and services. The amount of investment can vary from as low as a half a percent of turnover for organizations with a low rate of change to anything over twenty percent of turnover for organizations with a high rate of change. The average investment across all types of organizations is four percent. For an organization with a turnover of one billion units, this would represent an investment of forty million units. This budget will typically be spread across various functions including marketing, product design, information systems, manufacturing systems and quality assurance. The investment may vary by industry and by market positioning. The latest index was published in March 2009. To rank the countries, the study measured both innovation inputs and outputs. Innovation inputs included government and fiscal policy, education policy and the innovation environment. Outputs included patents, technology transfer, and other RD results; business performance, such as labor productivity and total shareholder returns; and the impact of innovation on business migration and economic growth. SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SMEs) IN INDIA With the advent of planned economy from 1951 and the subsequent industrial policy followed by Government of India, both planners and Government earmarked special role for small-scale industries and medium scale industries in the Indian economy. Due protection was accorded to both sectors, and particularly for small scale industries from 1951 to 1991, till the nation adopted a policy of liberalization and globalization. Certain products were reserved for small-scale units for a long time, though this list of products is decreasing due to change in industrial policies and climate. SMEs always represented the model of socio-economic policies of Government of India which emphasized judicious use of foreign exchange for import of capital goods and inputs; labour intensive mode of production; employment generation; non concentration of diffusion of economic power in the hands of few (as in the case of big houses); discouraging monopolistic practices of production and marketing; and finally effective contribution to foreign exchange earning of the nation with low import-intensive operations. It was also coupled with the policy of de-concentration of industrial activities in few geographical centers. It can be observed that by and large, SMEs in India met the expectations of the Government in this respect. SMEs developed in a manner, which made it possible for them to achieve the following objectives: High contribution to domestic production Significant export earnings Low investment requirements Operational flexibility Location wise mobility Low intensive imports Capacities to develop appropriate indigenous technology Import substitution Contribution towards defense production Technology oriented industries Competitiveness in domestic and export markets At the same time one has to understand the limitations of SMEs. In spite of these limitations, the SMEs have made significant contribution towards technological development and exports. SMEs have been established in almost all-major sectors in the Indian industry such as: Food Processing Agricultural Inputs Chemicals Pharmaceuticals Engineering; Electricals; Electronics Electro-medical equipment Textiles and Garments Leather and leather goods Bio-engineering Sports goods Plastics products Computer Software, etc As a result of globalization and liberalization, coupled with WTO regime, Indian SMEs have been passing through a transitional period. With slowing down of Economy in India and abroad, particularly USA and European Union and enhanced competition from China and a few low cost centers of production from abroad many units have been facing a tough time. Those SMEs who have strong technological base, international business outlook, competitive spirit and willingness to restructure themselves shall withstand the present challenges and come out with shining colors to make their own contribution to the Indian economy. FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRY Present Status and Future Prospects of Indian Food Processing Industries As per the Ministry of Food Processing Industry as data source, the food processing sector is highly fragmented industry, it widely comprises of the following sub-segments: fruits and vegetables, milk and milk products, beer and alcoholic beverages, meat and poultry, marine products, grain processing, packaged or convenience food and packaged drinks. A huge number of entrepreneurs in this industry are small in terms of their production and operations, and are largely concentrated in the unorganized segment. This segment accounts for more than 70% of the output in terms of volume and 50% in terms of value. Though the organized sector seems comparatively small, it is growing at a much faster pace. Indias Position in Worlds Production Largest producer of milk in the world (105 million tonnes per annum) Largest livestock population(485 million tonnes per annum) Second largest producer of fruits vegetables (150 million tonnes per annum) Third largest producer of food grain (230 million tonnes per annum) Third largest producer of fish (7 million tonnes per annum) 52% cultivable land compared to 11% world average All 15 major climates in the world exist in India 46 out of 60 soil types exist in India 20 agri-climatic regions Key Growth Drivers of Food Processing Sector in India Increasing spending on health and nutritional foods. Increasing number of nuclear families and working women Changing lifestyle Functional foods, fresh or processed foods Organized retail and private label penetration Changing demographics and rising disposable incomes Key Opportunities in Food processing Sector Processable varieties of crop Contract farming Investments in infrastructure through Public Private partnership (PPP) Mega Food parks Integrated cold chain Food safety Management Systems Key segments in the food processing industry Fruits vegetable processing Fruits and vegetables is one of the most important and fast growing sub-sectors of the food processing sector. Over the last few years, there has been a positive growth in ready-to-serve beverages, fruit juices and pulps, dehydrated and frozen fruits and vegetable products, tomato products, pickles, convenience vegspice pastes, processed mushrooms and curried vegetables reasons being increase in consumption by nuclear families, working women, students and single employees staying alone. There are abundant investments opportunities are there in expanding the export market. An increasing acceptance of new products with market development efforts has been witnessed lately given the fact that there is a good international demand for certain fruits and vegetable products. The Indian food processing industry is primarily export oriented. Indias geographical situation gives it the unique advantage of connectivity to Europe, the Middle East, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Korea. In 2008-09, Indias export of fresh fruit and vegetable was estimated at US$ 0.79 billion and in case of processed fruits and vegetables it stood at US$ 0.68 billion. Meat Processing In meat and meat processing sector, poultry meat is the fastest growing animal protein in India. The estimated production of meat was 6.5 million tonnes during 2007-08. India exports more than 500,000 million tonnes of meat of which major share is buffalo meat. Buffalo meat production during 2008-09 is estimated at 2.8 million tonnes and out of this about 21% is exported. Indian buffalo meat is witnessing strong demand in international markets due to its lean character and its near organic nature. India is the 6th largest exporter of bovine meat in the world. In 2008-09, Indias export of meat products (including buffalo meat, sheep/goat meat, poultry products, animal casings and processed meat) stood at U$ 1.25 billion. Dairy processing India is number one milk producing country in the world with an estimated production of 105 million tonnes in comparison to world milk production of 693 million tonnes during 2007-08.Buffalo milk is estimated to account for 57% of the total milk production in India. India has a unique pattern of production, processing and marketing/consumption of milk, which is not comparable with any large milk producing country. Approximately 70 million rural households in the country are engaged in milk production. Over 11 million farmers are organized into about 0.1 million village Dairy Cooperative Societies (DCS). About 35% of milk produced in India is processed. The organized sector (large scale dairy plants) processes about 13 million tonnes annually, while the unorganized sector processes about 22 million tonnes per annum. In 2008-09, export of dairy products was estimated at US$ 0.21 billion. Fisheries Sector In India nearly 10 million people, living in 4,000 coastal villages and more number of interior villages, depend on fisheries sector. The export of marine products has steadily grown over the years from a mere US$ 0.84 million in 1961-62 to US$ 1,849.08 million in 2008-09. Marine products account for approximately 1.1 % of the total exports from India. Frozen shrimp continued to be the single largest item of export in terms of value accounting for about 44% in the total export earnings. In terms of quantity, fish accounted for the major share at 40% (shrimp 21%).European Union (EU) was the largest market during the year 2008-09 with a percentage share of 32.6% followed by China 14.8%, Japan 14.6% , USA 11.9%, South East Asia 10%, Middle East 5.5% and Other Countries 10.6%. Grain processing sector India during the year 2007-08, accounted for 8.73% of the worlds oilseed production of 7.63%; 7.31% of the worlds oil meal production of 6.74%; 7.53% of the worlds meal export of 6.78%; 6.03% of the worlds oil production of 5.86%; 9.22% of world oil imports of 9.58% and 9.33% of the worlds oil consumption of 9.28%. On the export front, export of oil meals, oilseeds, minor oils (fats) and castor oil during the financial year 2007-08 is reported at 62.6 lakh tonnes valued at US$ 2.32 billion against the exports of 58.9 lakh tonnes valued at US$ 1.39 billion in the previous year. The solvent extraction processing of oilseed, oilcakes and rice bran during 2007-08 is reported at 121.2 lakh. However, the overall production of solvent extracted oils during 2007-08 form rice bran, oilcakes minor oilseeds and soybean is reported at 19.4 lakh tonnes. Consumer food industries Consumer food industry includes pasta, breads, cakes, pastries, rusks, buns, rolls, noodles, corn flakes, rice flakes, ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook products, biscuits etc. Bread and biscuits constitute the largest segment of consumer foods. Indias biscuits industry is the largest among all the food industries and has a turnover of around US$ 0.64 billion. India is known to be the second largest manufacturer of biscuits, the first being USA. Indian consumer food industry is classified under two sectors: organized and unorganized. Bread and biscuits are the major part of the bakery industry and cover around 80 percent of the total bakery products in India. Biscuits stand at a higher value and production level than bread. This belongs to the unorganized sector of the bakery industry and covers over 70% of the total production. Major Players in Indian Food processing: ITC Limited Parle Products Pvt. Ltd. Agro Tech Foods Amul Perfetti India Ltd. Cadbury India Ltd. PepsiCo India Holdings Nestle India Pvt. Ltd. Britannia Industries Ltd. Hindustan Lever Limited Milkfood MTR Foods Limited Godrej Industries Limited Gits Food Products Pvt. Ltd. Dabur India Ltd. Unilever Conagra Foods Nissin Foods Walmart Venkys Foreign Direct Policy in Food processing Industry: 100% FDI is allowed under automatic route in food processing industry and food infrastructure including food parks, distillation brewing of alcohol, cold storage chain and warehousing. The total inflow of Foreign Direct Investment in food processing sector during the last five years since April 2004-March 2009 is US$ 409.41 million. Future Outlook: Indian food industry expected to grow to US$ 280 billion by 2015 and generate an additional employment for approximately 8.2 million people. Also, food consumption in India is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 5.32 % by 2013.Futher, it is expected that processed food output will grow at a strong 7 % CAGR in terms of value from 55.6 billion US$ in 2005 to 95.6 billion US$ in 2013. Foreign Direct Investment in Food Processing Industry: The total inflow of FDI in FPI sector during the last five years since April 2004-March 2009 is Rs 1892.02 crore. Key Dimensions of Growth Strengths in Food Processing India has plenty of natural resources that provide it a competitive advantage in the food processing industry. Due to its unlike climatic conditions, it has a wide ranging and large raw material base appropriate for food processing industries. The semi processed and ready to eat packaged food segment is comparatively new and constantly changing. Indias cost advantage in manpower can be used to set up large low cost production bases for domestic and export markets. If one is to add on significant investments that have come into the country, food processing industry is in a favorable position. Research The well established RD and technical expertise of Indian research institutions like Central Food Technological Research Institute, Central Institute of Fisheries, National Dairy Research Institute, National Research and Development Centre etc have been a great support for food processing sector in India. Government Regulations The government has introduced several steps to enhance the growth of food processing industry. In order to further enhance investment in the food processing industry, several policy initiatives have been initiated in the recent past. The initiatives include Full repatriation of profits and capital. Immediate approvals for foreign investments up to 100 per cent. Import duty would be zero for 100 per cent export oriented units. Reduction in customs duty on packaging machines. Income tax rebate granted (100 per cent of profits for 5 year and 25 per cent of profits for next 5 years) for upcoming industries like fruits and vegetables. Government gives financial aid for establishing common facilities in Agro Food Park. Full duty exemption on all imports for units in export processing zones. Processing Technology At present most of the processing in India is manual. Usage of Technology like pre cooling facilities for vegetables, controlled atmospheric storage and irradiation facilities is very negligible. Modernizing and bringing in state of the art technology should be given paramount importance by both existing and upcoming manufacturers. Supply Chain Management According to estimates nearly 20 to 25 per cent of the production is lost during various stages of cultivation. Adding to this factor are issues like poor quality of seeds, planting material and sub standard technology in increasing productivity. Hence there is an urgent need for backward linkages with the farmers with the help of techniques like contract farming to improve the quality of the produce. Contract Farming It is nothing but an agreement between the food processor (contractor) who would mostly be a very big organized investor and the farmer, where the farmer is under contractual agreement to plant the contractors crop in his land, The farmer also agrees to cultivate and deliver to the contractor a portion of the produce, calculated on the basis of expected yield and contracted land usage at a pre determined price. The contractor also provides technology and training to the farmer. This is a tremendous advantage to both the farmer and contractor. It guarantees to the farmer a regular source of income and guarantees qualitative output for the contractor. Product Innovation In the case of certain processed food like snack foods, the customer would look for innovation, new varieties and brand loyalty. Neat and attractive packaging would also help by making the product more visible. Another factor to be given due importance is the pricing. Consumers are extremely price sensitive and due attention should be given to this factor. Future Trends It is believed that the food processing industry can do to the rural economy what the information technology industry has done for urban India. The Indian food processing industry is forecasted to grow at 9% to 12% in the coming years. The industry has set a goal of increasing its share in the global processed food trade from 1.6% to 3% within the next 8 years. India having an advantage of a strong agricultural base should tap this potential favorably and become a preferred sourcing destination for food products globally. Key outcomes The fruit and vegetable processing industry in India is highly decentralized. A large number of units are in the cottage/home scale and small scale sector, having small capacities upto 250 tonnes/annum though big Indian and multinational companies have capacities in the range of 30 tonnes per hour or so. The prominent processed items are fruit pulps and juices, fruit based ready-to-serve beverages, canned fruits and vegetables, jams, squashes, pickles, chutneys and dehydrated vegetables. More recently, products like frozen pulps and vegetables, frozen dried fruits and vegetables, fruit juice concentrates and vegetable curries in restorable pouches, canned mushroom and mushroom products have been taken up for manufacture by the industry. The processing level in India is estimated to be around 2%, as compared to about 80% in Malaysia, 30% in Thailand, and 60-70% in the UK and USA. Indias share in the world trade of horticultural processed products too, is miniscule less than 1 per cent. This compares very unfavorably with countries like Malaysia (83%), Philippines (78%), Brazil (70%) and US (70%). Indias major exports are in fruit pulp, pickles, chutneys, canned fruits and vegetables, concentrated pulps and juices, dehydrated vegetables and frozen fruits and vegetables. Supply chain efficiencies together with a focused approach to enhance exports are the key to ensure that India is able to successfully tap new product/market opportunities. India has the potential to achieve a 3% share in the world trade of agricultural and food products by 2015. Key Achievements India is the worlds second largest producer of food next to China, and has the potential of being the biggest with the food and agricultural sector. The total food production in India is likely to double in the next ten years and there is an opportunity for large investments in food and food processing technologies, skills and equipment, especially in areas of Canning, Dairy and Food Processing, Specialty Processing, Packaging, Frozen Food/Refrigeration and Thermo Processing. Fruits Vegetables, Fisheries, Milk Milk Products, Meat Poultry, Packaged/Convenience Foods, Alcoholic Beverages Soft Drinks and Grains are important sub-sectors of the food processing industry. Health food and health food supplements is another rapidly rising segment of this industry which is gaining vast popularity amongst the health conscious. India is one of the worlds major food producers but accounts for less than 1.5 per cent of international food trade. This indicates vast scope for both investors and exporters. Food exports in 1998 stood at US $5.8 billion whereas the world total was US $438 billion. The Indian food industries sales turnover is Rs 140,000 crore (1 crore = 10 million) annually as at the start of year 2000. The industry has the highest number of plants approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) outside the USA. The food processing sector in the country with its vast potential has emerged as one of the major driver of economic growth. It is encouraging to note that while the countrys GDP growth rate had increase from 3.5 per cent in 2002-03 to 9 percent in 2006-07; the food processing sector has grown from 7 per cent to 13.1 per cent during the same period. India is a country of over 1.10 billion consumers, there is a large untapped domestic market of 1,000 million consumers in the food processing sector and 200 million more consumers are expected to shift to processed food by 2010. Case Study: Mrs. Bector Cremica Group Three decades ago in 1978 when Mrs. Bector had established a small enterprise, today known as Cremica Group a $90 Million company, is flagship bearer in food retailing and food services industry. Company is exporting to 50 countries including Africa, the USA, UK and the Middle East. Cremica Group included Cremica Frozen Foods, EBI Foods, Mrs. Bectors Desserts and Cremica Agro India. Its products include biscuits, sauces, bread spreads, ready to eat curries and syrups catering to the needs of the food processing industry that seems to be one of the reasons of its being the largest player in food services business in India. Since 1996 Cremica has been supplying buns, ketchups and toppings to McDonalds its key business partner. It has also partnered with Cadburys ITC and EBI Foods, a UK based firm. Its clientele today includes some of the premier names of the food processing industry like Cafe Coffee Day, Taj Group of Hotels, Spencer, Pizza Corner, Pizza Hut, Dominos, Jet Airways, Air India, Big Bazar, Spencer, Barista and HUL. As a companys policy to assists its customers succeed in the marketplace by helping them develop new products, substitute ingredients with local alternatives and reformulate existing products, company had came a long way. The companys value proposition lies in the fact that it can deliver better quality products at the same price. Its core competence in this business arises from its extensive product development and RD capabilities, its team of experienced food technologists and its plants, which are specifically designed for food service applications. Company had been innovative and rejuvenating its existing products with launch of products and services in India and Internationally. For example their sauces are being exported to Australia. In 2009 they launched a new range of chip-dips and bread spread in the ethnic Indian range and these are going abroad to a number of countries. Earlier, company was producing liquid condiments like sauces, Mayonnaise, Toppings and Syrups with its partner company, the erstwhile Quaker Oats Inc of the United States, but in 1999, Quaker Oats withdrew from the joint venture. Cremicas liquid condiments and biscuits are very popular. Cremicas automated biscuit plant has a monthly capacity of producing 10,000 tonnes of biscuits. Its dominant role in the biscuits segment arises from its excellent quality, widespread distribution and extended range. Almost all the divisions of the company are growing fast. With the positive response from the market the