Programming III ( Advanced ) Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Programming III ( Advanced ) - Assignment Example ation and deserialization is independent of the platform used, that is, data serialized on one machine is able to be deserialized on a completely different machine with a different platform (DAnjou, 2005). Serialization in java has been used mainly to facilitate communication between different machines, for persistence, deep copying, caching and cross java virtual machine synchronization. The use of serialization is advantageous since it allows for refactoring , it is customizable and easy to use, allows encryption, compression and authentication thus facilitating secure computing and lastly, the mechanism allows interchange of libraries between java and other programing languages such as C++ among other advantages. Despite the above stated functions and advantages of serialization in java, there are too many disadvantages associated with serialization. Serialization offers significant overhead thus it cannot be used with large objects. Also, the serialization facilitates increased memory requirements for a system. The use of data serialization also leads to breakage of identity of an objects, and invasion of the programming model. To address this disadvantages and limitations of serialization, an input/output process mechanism has been introduce. This mechanism is referred to as Externalization. Not only is Externalization used to eliminate the limitations of serializations, but also in some cases, it is exclusively required. Externalization refers to the process in which externalizable interface is implemented to facilitates persistence and restoring of the object. Basically, the externizable interface works by extending the serializable interface. Moreover, the externizable interface facilitates definition of custom rules and also, definition of customizable serialization mechanism. Thus, it can be easily said that externalization is an extension of serialization. The process of using Externalization is similar to the implementation process of

Promotional and advertising strategies Research Paper

Promotional and advertising strategies - Research Paper Example The further discussion will illustrate different recommendations for the organizations in terms of utilizing marketing information to different themselves within the marketplace. The study will also discuss the use of consumer-oriented promotion methods for the sports apparel industry along with the pricing decisions used by leading organizations. Finally, it will also discuss the most effective advertising methods and mediums for the organizations of sports apparel sector. The compare and contrast analysis of Nike and Adidas will emphasize on the similarities as well as different approaches of the organisations in terms of promotional procedure. Nike is an American retail brand which deals in manufacturing and marketing sports apparel and accessories. The organization has established their business in 1971 and they are headquartered in Oregon, USA. They possess near about 1600 retail stores across major cities of the world (Nike Inc. 2014). Adidas is a German multinational sportswear retail company which is headquartered in Bavaria, Germany. The organisation was founded and established in 1949 and it currently possesses almost 1746 concept stores (Cullers, 2013). The organization prefers to use informational appeal by the celebrity endorsement. Nike has hired a number of athletes, such as well known soccer players and famous basket ball players, to promote their brand to the potential consumers worldwide. Strong brand promotion through powerful slogan and distinctive logo has been also a pull promotional strategy of the organization. â€Å"Just do it† can be considered as one of their convincing slogans while their â€Å"swooch† logo creates a powerful impact to pull the potential consumers. Adidas also highly focuses on celebrity endorsement in terms of promoting their marketing activities. In comparison to Nike, Adidas prefer to promote their product marketing through athlete as well as movie

Jet Blue Airways, A new beginning Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Jet Blue Airways, A new beginning - Case Study Example This analysis evaluates the effectiveness of the strategic change management and the core areas impacted by this strategy. and implementing change at various levels and involving employees at various levels along with strong leadership support. This process was successfully implemented at JetBlue Airways, which was experiencing huge losses due to various external factors like fluctuation in prices, bad weather conditions, etc. A deeper study and observation revealed that performance of the company could be improved by altering their business strategies, operations processes and employee engagement practices. This paper evaluates the strategic change process adopted by JetBlue Airways in modifying their irregular operations (IROP) management to create better management and processes that resulted in formation and implementation of the IROP Integrity. cost service to people and to connect more places within the US. Their business strategies worked well and yielded enormous profits and growth for the company during first few years. The secret to this success was attributed to their operational capabilities, employee management and outstanding customer service1. However, some of their business strategies entailed serious glitches that eventually caused huge revenue losses for JetBlue during bad weather conditions because their operations were not designed appropriately to handle flight cancellations and other related activities. Revenue losses during bad weather conditions were due to inappropriate management, inappropriate information and communication, payback to customers for losses, logistics issues, additional costs incurred for crew members’ duty modifications in addition to losses because of flights cancellation. Until the worst ice storm in February 2007, JetBlue’s focus was solely on growth and expansion2.

Contrast of Carrefour and Wal-Mart Essay Example for Free

Contrast of Carrefour and Wal-Mart Essay Since the American entrepreneur, Clarence Saunders, opens his first Piggly Wiggly store in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1916, the concept of self-service store has swept the globe. With the largest population in the world, China is expected to be the world’s biggest retail market which is now already the world’s fastest-growing market. ( Anon, 2011:1) As the world’s first and second largest retail groups, Carrefour and Wal-Mart are one their way piling in. However, with 5000 years of traditional history and 30 years of planned economy, china has already formed its own market tradition. Though, the two giants both need to face the special Chinese market, in some aspects, they use different strategies and have different market feedback. This essay will illustrate the similar strategies the two retail groups have been using and also analyze the ways they use to adapt to the Chinese market differently. To begin with, for opening the Chinese market, Carrefour and Wal-Mart both choose to cooperate with the local commercial. $1 billion was given to Wal-Mart’s 100 hypermarkets’ supply chain, ranging from food to electronics (Shu-Ching, 2010, P. 1). Similarly, Carrefour also tried to adapt to local conditions, i. . cooperate with Lianhua Supermarket Company in Shanghai. The reasons why they cooperate with local partners is not just because of the legal considerations, but also to have a deep understanding of the difficult and complex Chinese market (Peter, 2006, P. 6). Nevertheless, they use different strategies according to different company development plan. Wal-Mart focuses more on the long term partnership nationally or even internationally. Considering the different regional culture and local policy, Carrefour changes partnerships by local markets (Peter, 2006, P. ). Furthermore, Carrefour adopts different strategy throughout all its global market, focusing on locally sourced products, as well as its local management teams, which are almost comprised of domestic employees to be more familiar with the local tastes. Also, on purchasing larger market shares, expansion strategy is common used by the two retail market giants. Since Carrefour opened its first store in china in 1995, it has already operated 73 hypermarkets in 29 cities which makes about $2 billion profit (Peter, 2006, P. ). Likely, 338 shops in 124 cities makes Wal-Mart $7 billion annually which is just a little bit lower than whole Carrefour shops’ profit (Anon, 2011, P. 2). Moreover, they both regard second- and third-tier cities as a good growth opportunity, and have already built shops in western cities which are not so developed. Even though, they perform different strategies in expanding their market. Firstly, Wal-Mart aims at making central distribution center, while local distributors are more considered by Carrefour. Secondly, hypermarkets often constitute larger shopping and entertainment complexes, therefore, a large amount of Carrefour stores are built at the city center for customers to go by foot or by bike. Comparing to this, edge-of-town is where Wal-Mart outlets often located, where customers can have large parking facilities or even shuttle bus provided (Moreau, 2008, P. 1). Last but not the least, Carrefour builds its stores based on the organic expansion primarily. By contrast, Wal-Mart combines organic growth with large-scale acquisitions, which leads to its Chinese revenues doubled. Lastly, to perform well in Chinese tradition market, Carrefour and Wal-Mart both have their changes in shops and marketing. On the one hand, for saving a million yuan in electricity and water costs, two retail chains’ common aim is to achieving â€Å"zero-carbon† stores by next year, which forces them to open a range of new energy saving stores in China, such as using waste gas to heat water and fluorescent lights, making use of natural lighting and integrating energy-saving technologies (Anon, 2009). On the other hand, to discover new growth areas in retail profit, selling medicine has been put on the agenda. The two giants have already been in close contract with the Ministry of Commerce on the medicine retail business and affirming that world’s largest retailer’s distribution network will be covered by medicine sales (Anon, 2005). Although there are a lot of similar strategies in market development, the two retail groups also have their different development focus. In the first place, Wal-Mart awards its employees based on profit-sharing stock, which will improve employees’ skills, trust and constant work, while Carrefour focus more on salaries. In addition, Carrefour adopted a multi-format strategy, i. e. open smaller outlets in the discount format to create another profit growth, while Wal-Mart develops its presence in the hypermarkets format exclusively (Moreau, 2008, P. 3). In details, proved to be a dynamic format competing against hypermarkets operators, department stores get a CAGR increase of 9%, 2002-2007. Therefore, department stores sales continue to be boosted by the expansion period decided by Carrefour (Moreau, 2008, P. 2).

Leadership And Corporate Social Responsibility The Indian Way

Leadership And Corporate Social Responsibility The Indian Way Abstract Indian society has come a long way. Ancient Culture of India is if full of spiritual and ethical values. In those times, Kings and rulers used to refer Upnishads and Vedas to take guidelines for ideal practices and decision making. Today such kingdoms have converted into business empires where business leaders make decisions that impact the business and the society as a whole. As Business organizations play a vital role in the management of demand and supply in the society at one side and provide employment opportunities on the other to allow the people to possess purchasing power, it is therefore, important for them to follow ethical codes and understand their true social responsibilities other than their financial obligations towards shareholders and financers. With this view, this paper explores the changing phases of leadership and social responsibility from kings to current Indian business leaders. May be, it not a fresh thought on this topic but the authors have tried to showcase the current practices followed by various companies to discharge their social responsibilities towards the society. Key Words: Spiritual Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility; Indian Ethos, Values and Ethics; Leaders in world business are the first true planetary citizens. They have worldwide capability and responsibility; their domains transcend national boundaries. Their decisions affect not just economies, but societies; and not just direct concerns of business, but world problems of poverty, environment, and security. World business will be a key actor in the ultimate resolution of the macro-problem. It crosses national boundaries with much more ease than do political institutions and the business corporation is far more flexible and adaptive organization than the bureaucratic structures of government.  [1]   Willis Harman, author of Global Mind Change The Above statement reflects the growing importance and changing role of business leaders in the society. Business organizations are the essential components of the social system and therefore, with such an influential role there comes a sense of great responsibilities for these business leaders. In the ancient Indian culture, ethics and moral responsibilities defined by the Vedas and scriptures were the guidelines for behavior of leaders and kings who had to play such roles in the management of social and economic systems. Historical Background: From Raj Dharma to Corporate Social Responsibility The ancient Indian folklore and sacred Hindu texts have embodied rules and regulations pertinent to preservation of environment and ecology. They have repeatedly espoused the notion of Dharma (balancing act between own duties and others rights) and Satkarma (good deeds) through various scriptures and texts. Be socially conscientious, dont mischief the nature by your actions, attain the riches through fairer means and compassion for all creatures is the philosophy of the primordial books. Unlike the present day piecemeal and ad hoc approach towards the issue, ancient Indian environment consciousness was holistic in its approach and it sprang from the Upanishadic gospel Vasudhaiva kutumbakam (all the beings of the whole universe belong to the same family). This is echoed in several verses in the Vedas, especially in Upanishads. Some excerpts are- One shall follow the path of righteousness. (Dharmam kara Taittiriya Upanishad i-11) One shall not sin against his neighbor or a foreigner. (Rig Veda Samhita v-85-7) Wealth has to be won by deeds of glory. (Rig Veda Samhita vi-19-10) One shall be led by the fair path to riches. (Vajasaneya Samhita v-36) A man shall strive to win wealth by the righteous path. (Rig Veda Samhita x-31-2) Help others to win wealth. (Rig Veda Samhita iv-50-9) One shall not be selfish and consume all by itself. (Rig Veda Sam x-117-6) Wealth accumulated through 100 hands should be distributed to 1000 hands. (Atharva Veda Samhita iii-24-5) The leader is the distributor of wondrous wealth. (Vajasaneya Samhita xxx-4) Let the rich satisfy the poor with a broader vision. (Rig Veda Samhita x-117-5) One shall produce fair wealth for today and tomorrow. (Rig Veda Samhita vi-71-6) Earth, atmosphere, sky, sun, moon, stars, waters, plants, trees, moving creatures, swimming creatures, creeping creatures all are hailed and offered oblations. (Taittiriya Samhita i-8-13) One should protect the habitation. (Rig Veda Samhita vi-71-3) Air is God (vayu devta) and it shold be free from pollution. (Atharva Veda) Yajna should be performed by everyone to purify the air. (Atharva Veda) One should not destroy the trees. (Rig Veda Samhita vi-48-17) Plants are mothers and Goddesses. (Rig Veda Samhita x-97-4) Trees are homes and mansions. (Rig Veda Samhita x-97-5) Nature has to be protected from mans exploitation (Rig Veda Samhita vii-75-8) Plants and waters are treasures for generations. (Rig Veda Samhita vii-70-4) Waters bear off all defilements and cleanse people. (Vajasaneya Samhita iv-2) Whoever injures the forests and mountains is a robber who sinks both itself and its offspring into destruction. (Rig Veda Samhita vii-104-10) Offerings should be dedicated to waters of wells, pools, clefts, holes, lakes, morasses, ponds, tanks, marshes, rains, rime, streams, rivers and ocean. (Taittiriya Samhita vii-4-13) Waters and herbs should have no poison. (Rig Veda Samhita vi-39-5) Waters are to be freed from defilement. (Atharva Veda Samhita x-5-24) Besides Vedic Samhitas and Upanishadas; 18 Puranas, Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, Dharmasastras, Arthasastras etc. have also enchanted a lot not only about concern for environment but they have specifically emphasized on Raj Dharma (duties of a king) which pertains to modern days Corporate Social Responsibility. Corporate Social Responsibility is therefore defined as a concept whereby organizations consider the interests of society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, employees, shareholders, communities and the environment in all aspects of their operations. The notion of corporate social responsibility was untainted in terms of philanthropy or charity up till the 1990s. Welfare programs or initiatives were introduced not as a duty or a responsibility but as a form of charity that was supposed to connote the virtues of the big organisations. However the post-liberalization phase has seen a primary shift from this patronage-based model of corporate social responsibility to a stakeholder-participation based model. In the stakeholder model the community in which the corporation is present is seen as a stakeholder in the company and therefore, the company has certain obligation and duties towards it like it has towards its other stakeholders (customers, employees, shareholders). It is a recognition of the fact that companies have to perform in non-financial arenas too, such as human rights, business ethics, environmental policies, corporate contributions, community development, corporate governance, and workplace issues and company should be held accountable for its triple bottom line that includes social and environmental facet and not just the financial performance. The question that arises at this juncture is what the reasons for the shift are in the basic paradigm of corporate social responsibility. Rationale for Corporate Social Responsibility Successful corporations need a healthy society. This is widely divergent from the perspective of corporate social responsibility in Western economies as well. Reflected in the observation by Arthur Page, vice president of public relations at ATT for around 20 years and former advisor to the US President:à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ all business in a democratic country begins with public permission and exists by public approval à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Priority of business is getting widened from 4 P to 7 Ps by inclusion of People and Planet with Profit. Short-term, charity-based welfare interventions are being replaced by long-term, empowerment-based Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Based on the realization, Business cannot succeed in a society that fails, CSR is being considered as an imperative for carrying on business in the society rather than as a charity. Broadly speaking, advocates of CSR have used four arguments to make their case: moral obligation, sustainability, license to operate, and reputation. Business is the element of society, which is operating with the societal resources (land, labour, material) and is providing the output to the society. Therefore society is vital for survival of business enterprise. CSR is an essential starting point in understanding why a new approach is needed to integrating social considerations more effectively into core business operations and strategy. Recognition of the importance of reputation capital for capturing and sustaining markets. Therefore corporate social responsibility is basically a new business strategy to reduce investment risks and maximize profits by taking all the key stakeholders into confidence. The significance of eco-social stability i.e. social and environmental stability and sustainability is necessary for the survival of an enterprise in the long run. The importance being attached to accountability and transparency as the key aspects of corporate governance. Education, health care, and equal opportunity are vital to a prolific workforce which is the very foundation of business unit. Safe products and good working conditions lower the internal costs of accidents and increase the efficiency of employees. Efficient utilization of land, water, energy, and other natural resources makes business more productive. Good governance and property rights are indispensable for competence and innovation which is inevitable for extensive survival. Strong regulatory standards protect both consumers and competitive companies from exploitation. Healthy society creates expanding demand for business, as more human needs are met the aspirations grow. It is used as a tool in building blocks between communities and companies. Frugal financial management and good performance increases the shareholder value thereby increasing the dimensions for surplus funds. Concern for customers increases the market share of the company leading to economies of scale and greater profitability. CSR awards and positive CSR ratings amplify the popularity of company between media, public and state. The mutual reliance of corporations and society denotes that both business decisions and social policies must follow the theory of shared value. That is, choices must benefit both sides. If either a business or a society pursues policies that benefit its interests at the expense of the other, it will find itself on a dangerous path. A temporary gain to one will undermine the long-term prosperity of both. CSR interventions therefore- based on commitment, mobilization of employees-voluntarism, innovative approaches, appropriate technology and continuing partnership -can make lasting differences in the life of the disadvantaged. Further, synergy of corporate action with the government can make the CSR interventions more effective and facilitating the corporate carrying on business in the society. Key Areas of Corporate Social Responsibility From philanthropic concept, social welfare activities have taken the shape of a full-fledged discipline. Corporate governance has also become the part of corporate social responsibility in todays times. Government is giving various awards to the socially responsible companies. In recent years business organisations are proving themselves as good corporate citizens in the following areas: Shareholders and Government Customers and Marketplace Employees and Workplace Community and Health Environment and Ecology Growth and appreciation of capital Constant focus on innovation Nurturing and developing human capital Promoting local employment Ecological diversity Transparency in financial statements Reasonable and affordable prices Following labour laws Infrastructural support (roads, electricity, telecom, water supply) Biological habitat Strong future prospects After sales services Ensuring employee health and welfare Promoting education through schools, scholarships, sponsorship of education programmes Plantation of trees in the locality Consultancy to government in various policy matters and Use of lobbying Avoid misleading through wrong publicity and advertisements Consistency between work and remuneration Maintaining ecological balance of the local community Sustenance of natural resources Constant efforts for value maximisation Providing information with dangerous products Better career prospects Disease awareness programmes (AIDS, Hepatitis, Dengu, Cancer etc) and family planning Recycling of waste and obsolete material No such practices like insider trading Avoiding unfair trade practices like high sales commission and heavy discounts Job security, provident fund, group insurance, pension, retirement benefits etc. Protecting, supporting and respecting social values, local culture and human rights Greenhouse gas emissions Accountability towards all operations Quality consciousness Promoting conducive environment Ethical research practices (e.g., animal testing, Genetically Modified Organisms) Conservation of wildlife Compliance with laws, regulations and conventions Product and consumer safety Good working conditions Upliftment of weaker and backward sections of the community Non pollution of rivers and water bodies to save water life and poisoning of water Corporate governance Regular supply of goods Promoting safety from accidents Modernisation and development Packaging use and disposal Payment of taxes to government Under weighing and adulteration must be avoided Housing, eating joints and transportation facilities Rehabilitating the population displaced Transportation impacts (congestion, logging roads) Not to indulge in corruption Dealing with customer grievances Crà ¨che facility for women employees Relationships with universities Energy water usage Thus business has to execute number of social tasks, as it is a part of the society. It should be bothered of those who are instrumental in securing its subsistence and survival. However, while doing so two things need to be distinguished to view it as social responsibility of business. First, any such activity is not charity. It means that if any business bestows some amount of money to any hospital or temple or school and college etc., it is not to be considered as discharge of social responsibility. Secondly, any such activity should not be that it is noble for some sections and dire for others. Social responsibility implies that a corporation should not do anything detrimental to the society in course of its business activities. Therefore, the concept of corporate social responsibility dampens businessmen from adopting unfair means. Instead, it persuades them to make yield through judicious administration of the business, by providing healthier working and living conditions to its personnel, providing superior products, after sales-service, etc. to its customers and concurrently to control pollution and conserve natural resources. Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives by Indian Companies Even much before the issue became a global concern, India was aware of corporate social responsibility, due to its deep religious roots and the efforts of organisations like the Tata and Birla Group. The corporations have moved away from the charity and are focussing on initiatives that are people-centric that would make a real difference in the target communities. Following are the niceties of CSR activities undertaken by topmost Indian companies. Corporate Social Responsibility programmes at the Tata group of companies extend across a wide spectrum including rural development, community development and social welfare, family initiatives, tribal development and water management. About 7000 villages around Jamshedpur and Orissa benefit from development programmes run by the Tata Steel Rural Development Society (TSRDS). Programmes of TSRDS cover issues like education, irrigation, afforestation, adult literacy, vocational training, handicrafts and rehabilitation of the handicapped persons. The Community Development and Social Welfare Department (CDSW) at Tata steel carries out medical and health programmes, blood donation drives, mass screening of Tuberculosis patients immunization camps and drug de-addiction. In 1999, Tata Steel embarked on an AIDS awareness programme, which has now become an integral part of all training programmes. Tata Steels Centre for Family Initiatives (CFI) was successful in influencing 59 per cent of Jam shedpurs eligible couples practicing family planning, compared to the national figure of 35 per cent. To build upon this heritage the Tata Council for Community Initiatives (TCCI) has created the Tata Guidelines on Community Development, an effort of over three years from the field evolved into a framework of best practices. Infosys is actively involved in various community development programs. Infosys promoted, in 1996, the Infosys Foundation as a not-for-profit trust to which it contributes up to 1%PAT every year. Additionally, the Education and Research Department (ER) at Infosys also works with employee volunteers on community development projects. They have taken initiatives to work in the areas of research and education, community service, rural reach programme, employment, welfare activities undertaken by the Infosys Foundation, healthcare for the poor, education and arts culture. Their CSR team has been distributing books and stationery to underprivileged children across Karnataka since 2001. Infosys also manages a dedicated intranet portal to help employees support education of the children of our housekeeping and security staff. In 2009, 1,500 members contributed approximately Rs. 14, 00,000 to support more than 370 students. Also meritorious students were awarded for their performance. The Birla group of companies is also among the pioneers in the field of corporate social responsibility in India. As part of the Aditya Vikram Birla Groups Social Reach, the Birla group runs as many as 15 hospitals in India; includes adult education and schools conducting as many as 78 schools all over India; rehabilitates handicapped persons having touched more than 5000 physically challenged individuals. More than 1,00,000 patients have been examined under the Groups medical programmes. Over 15,000 children along with 2000 pregnant women have been immunized, over 500 cataract patients operated, 2000 TB patients provided medical care, 100 leprosy-afflicted attended to, free of cost. It also provides Vocational Training, having provided training to over 3000 women and having distributed over 1400 tool kits in a variety of areas like electrical, auto repair, electronic equipment maintenance and repair and tailoring. It has adopted several villages under its Village Infrastructure Deve lopment programme and has provided extensive training to over 10,000 villagers in its Carpet Weaving Center. Lupin India Ltd, Indias third largest manufacturer of pharmaceuticals has started a project for providing sustainable development in 154 villages across Rajasthan. The scheme instead of providing for piece-meal assistance that does not lead to effective alleviation of poverty or adequate development is designed as a holistic action plan that includes an Agricultural Income Generation Scheme, land cultivation and fruit plantation programs, fodder preservation schemes, sericulture and water-recycling programs, establishment of medical and educational centres, adult literacy programs and credit schemes. ITCs initiatives are not only praiseworthy but innovative in this regard. ITC partnered the Indian farmers for close to a century. It is now engaged in elevating this partnership to a new paradigm by leveraging information technology through its trailblazing e-Choupal initiative. ITC is significantly widening its farmer partnerships to embrace a host of value-adding activities: creating livelihoods by helping poor tribals make their wastelands productive; investing in rainwater harvesting to bring much-needed irrigation to parched drylands; empowering rural women by helping them evolve into entrepreneurs; and providing infrastructural support to make schools exciting for village children. Through these rural partnerships, ITC touches the lives of nearly 3 million villagers across India. Cipla, another Indian pharma major has found a novel approach to fulfil its corporate social responsibility obligations by offering to sell a cocktail of three anti-HIV drugs, Stavudine, Lamivudine and Nevirapine, to the Nobel Prize-winning voluntary agency Medicine Sans Frontieres (MSF) at a rate of $350, and at $600 per patient per year to other NGOs over the world. This offer has to lead to an significant decrease in the prices of these drugs worldwide increasing the accessibility of these drugs especially in the developing countries. Cipla also donates several million rupees every year to the Cipla Cancer and AIDS Foundation for the cancer and AIDS patients. Mahindra and Mahindra dedicates 1% of its profit (after tax), on a continuous basis towards Corporate Social Responsibility. A unique kind of ESOPs Employee Social Options was launched to enable Mahindra employees to involve themselves in socially responsible activities of their choice. The Group also announced a special gift: to provide free cochlear (hearing loss solutions) implants to 60 profoundly hearing-impaired, under-privileged children. In addition to giving impetus to the Nanhi Kali project for the girl child and the Mahindra All India Talent Scholarship for the economically disadvantaged, the Mahindra Group has also set up Mahindra Pride Schools. These schools are offering a variety of courses, with an emphasis on employability, including training for information technology, retail, automotive engineering etc. They are supposed to provide new skills and capabilities to the weaker sections of society, particularly the scheduled castes and scheduled tribe youth. Similar commitment to CSR has been displayed by other corporates in India. The list, which at best can be far from complete, includes Arvind Mills, Escorts, Dabur, Bajaj, Godrej, Hero Honda, DCM Sriram, Ashok Leyland, Ballarpur Industries, Eicher, Kinetic Group, Kirloskar, Reliance, Ranbaxy, Wipro, each of these has been deeply committed to their communities engaging in programmes encompassing education, health, education, integrated rural development. Beyond the private sector, corporate players in Indias public sector too have been actively involved in corporate social responsibility initiatives. The Indian public sector has had a long tradition of corporate social responsibility and the initiatives of corporations like the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) and Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL) have been remarkable in the development of several backward regions of the country. Indian Airlines and Bharat Heavy Electronics Ltd. (BHEL) have been widely acclaimed for their disaster management efforts. Most public sector units in the heavy engineering industry have not only set up townships around the plant, but also established schools, hospitals and several other civic facilities for their employees and those that live in that area. Several organizations have introduced benchmarking exercises for their CSR activities and industry bodies like Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Fed eration of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) have introduced cross-sectoral programs in CSR related areas. Future Outlook: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility The new economic era embarked the total renovation in CSR related practices in the country. The change was two fold: makeover of the conceptual understanding of corporate social responsibility and innovations at the implementation level. At the abstract level, there is a fundamental transformation from the charity-oriented approach to the stakeholder-oriented approach where stakeholders are seen as target group whose well-being is integral to the long term success of the corporation. The real revolution is experienced at the implementation stages where companies have started committing other resources in addition to financial ones so as to provide a host of services, programs and schemes catering to the needs of the intended community. The CSR initiatives have also seen greater participation and rigid accountability standards. The issue of norms for corporate social responsibility seems to have been adequately dealt with by industry practices like benchmarking, CSR ratings and certif ication by different agencies. While the performance of the honchos seems satisfactory, there is fierce debate on the social role of the MNCs and small companies. The social concern in these companies is too little and whatever miniscule they are performing it is only for fulfilling obligation and keeping records. MNCs are rather found to be engaged in unethical and unfair business practices as well. Corporations escape from CSR by counting on the hurdles like: Lack of interest of the local community in participating and contributing to CSR activities of companies. No awareness and confidence in the local communities about CSR initiatives. Dearth of trained and efficient organisations that can effectively contribute to the ongoing CSR activities initiated by companies. Lack of transparency on the part of the local implementing agencies. Non-availability of statutory CSR guidelines, the scale of CSR initiatives of companies should depend upon their business size and profile; bigger the company, larger its CSR programme. Narrow outlook towards the CSR initiatives. CSR initiatives are viewed as donor-driven than local in approach Strategic approach to Corporate Social Responsibility is the pathway to all these hurdles and lack of interest in CSR activities. Strategic CSR is all about integrating the societal issues into the core business strategies to gain competitive advantage. While practising Strategic CSR corporates have to identify the on-going social setbacks and have to invest in them so as to strengthen their competitiveness. The success of the company and the success of the community become mutually reinforcing therefore. Characteristically, the more closely tied a social issue is to the companys business, the greater is opportunity to utilise the firms resources and capabilities, and benefit society. For any company, strategy must go beyond best practices. It is about choosing a unique position-doing things differently from competitors in a way that lowers costs or better serves a particular set of customer needs. These principles apply to a companys relationship to society as readily as to its relationship to its customers and rivals. Strategic CSR moves beyond good corporate citizenship and mitigating harmful value chain impacts to mount a small number of initiatives whose social and business benefits are large and distinctive. Strategic CSR involves both inside-out and outside-in dimensions working in tandem. Many opportunities to pioneer innovations to benefit both society and a companys own competitiveness can arise in the product offering. Citing the examples from west. Toyotas early response to public concern about auto emissions gave rise to the offering Prius. Toyotas Prius, the hybrid electric/gasoline vehicle, is the first in a series of innovative car models that have produced competitive advantage and environmental benefits. Hybrid engines emit as little as 10% of the harmful pollutants as compared to conventional vehicles. The Prius has not only significantly reduced pollutants; it has given Toyota an enviable front over rivals in hybrid technology. Toyota has created a unique position with customers and is well on its way to establishing its technology as the world standard. Urbi, a Mexican construction company, has prospered by building housing for disadvantaged buyers using novel financing vehicles such as flexible mortgage payments made through payroll deductions. It engages in purchasing land, and designing, building, marketing, and selling housing developments for the low- and middle-income and residential markets in Mexico. Crà ©dit Agricole, Frances largest bank has differentiated itself by offering specialized financial products related to the environment, such as financing packages for energy-saving home improvements,  energy-saving loans, support to organic farming, financing for renewable energy etc. conducting audits to quantify their carbon emissions   and to certify farms as organic. They also sponsor projects to restore and conserve the treasures of Frances regions, projects to renovate historic sites, buildings and religious edifices in France. To penetrate Indian market, Nestle required establishing local supply of milk from a large, diversified base of small farmers. It obtained government permission to erect a dairy in Moga (Punjab). But there, farmers were impoverished, death rate in calves were high, and lack of refrigeration vetoed farmers from distributing milk and keeping it fresh. Nestle erected refrigerated dairies as milk assortment points and sent its trucks to the dairies to collect the milk. With the trucks went veterinarians, nutritionists, agronomists, and quality assurance experts. Farmers learned that milk quality centred on adequate feed crop irrigation. With financing and technical assistance from Nestle, farmers dug deep-bore wells. The ensuing improved irrigation reduced calves fatality rate 75%, amplified milk production 50-fold, and allowed Nestle to compensate higher prices to farmers than those set by the government. With steady revenues, farmers could now obtain credit. Mogas standard of living im proved with supply of electricity and telephones; primary, secondary, and high schools; and adequate medical facilities. Meanwhile, Nestle gained a stable supply of high quality commodities-without having to pay middlemen-and saw demand for its products increase in India. Above are few illustrations to reckon but their approach and practices are commendable and well known. Hence, by identifying crossroads between own company and society, selecting social problems to address and endowing small number of initiatives can generate large and distinctive benefits for society and business unit. If approached strategically, CSR can be much more than just a

Operation Management In British Museum And London Zoo Tourism Essay

Operation Management In British Museum And London Zoo Tourism Essay British Museum is one of the largest and most comprehensive museums in the world which was found in 1753 in London. The collections exhibited there were collected all over the world from the origins of human being to present day. By visiting those fantastic objects, people will experience a historical and cultural journey. As the mission cited below from the museum website, British Museum is more than a non-profit making institution, it is a great treasure belongs to all mankind. The Aim of the British Museum (the Museum) is to hold for the benefit and education of humanity a collection representative of world cultures (the Collection), and ensure that the Collection is housed in safety, conserved, curated, researched and exhibited1. -British Museum Governance Policies and Principles London Zoo is also a famous attraction in London opened to public since 1828 which is two years after since The Zoological Society of London has been found. Over 720 different species of animal exhibited here, it is a place not just for visiting, it is a playground in which you can interact with animals and get better known of their living. The main purpose of this essay is to find out the similarity and difference of operation methods between two organizations. Therefore, the operation procedure of British Museum will be illustrated at first, which will be generally indentified through several aspects, such as layout and 4Vs. Afterwards, the necessary comparison and contrast will be analysed between British Museum and the given case London Zoo. And some recommendations will be given in the end. Facilities of British Museum In order to study the operation system in British Museum, the facilities used in the Museum will be illustrated in the following. Furthermore, the analysis will be taken specifically and try to find out the deficiency  it needs to improve. 2.1 Operations management in not-for-profit organization As the obligation mentioned in introduction, British Museum is a trust funding organization which is free to the public, so generally speaking it is a non-profit making organization. However, the Museum makes the profit in some certain ways, such as recruiting the members and selling the souvenirs in the shop. To make it simple and clear, in the following research, British Museum will only be considered as an organization which only provides service to satisfy people by creating a good atmosphere and to promote its reputation all over the world. Layout and flow style With 8 million objects housed in British Museum, the layout would be a little complex. After several expansions over the centuries, it went through the changes from a normal mansion in the past to todays 75,000 m2 scale, which equals to nine football pitches. British Museum has three floors, which are lower floor, ground floor and upper floor. For my observation, the main visiting area is ground and upper floors. Ground floor Ground floor has four levels from level-1 to level 2. (see figure1) When entering the building from the main entrance, two small desks stand beside the passageway which only offers the free maps. Except for the securities, no staff can be found there. After gathering the map, I walk into the great court, and a large information desk at the right side of court, some staffs are working there for any requires. In addition, there is a special service provided here which is a multimedia guide (audio descriptions) can provide eleven different languages, by doing this the cost of staff is much reduced and the quality of service is increased. At this level ( level 0), there is a reading room opened for special exhibitions in the centre of great court and several shops and cafes opened in the corner of great court. And other facilities such as toilets for man, woman, disabled and a baby changing room are on the two sides of great court. Around the great court, more than thirty galleries are opened to the public on the three sides of the ground floor. On level -1,1,2, there are also some galleries opened. And both lifts and stairs are available between different levels. Visitors can choose any sequence of visit, clockwise, counter clockwise or random. Figure 1 Lower floor On this floor, there is less worth to visit on this floor, which only contains three galleries and two educational centres organized by enterprises ( see figure 2). Very few visitors reach this floor. Figure 2 Upper floor The galleries on this floor were arranged on the four sides of court (see figure 3). And the amount of rooms are more or less the same as ground floor, which include five themes, Ancient Egypt on the north side of level 3, Ancient Greece and Rome on the west side, Japan culture on the north side of level 5, Europe on the south side and Middle East on the right side. Figure 3 Furthermore, as more and more precious objects will exhibit in the museum, the display is very important for the operation management in British Museum. They even formed a policy of display to process the layout and flow aimed to ensure all kinds of demand from customers and to make them satisfied. Transformation process model Input to the process In the operation process, there are two sets of inputs, one is transformed resources which are always transmuted, and the other set is transforming resources which made transformed resources (Slack el al., 2004). Applied to the operation of British Museum, transformed resource will be the customers, and transforming resource is the staff, also includes all the collections. To improve the operation performance, the museum needs to explore new collections, but more importantly, it should train the staff to enhance their professional skills in two ways, the exhibitions maintenance and customers service. Within the process In the process, Slack el al. (2004) point out that different inputs transformed can be determining different types of process. Here the types of process will be divided into three categories; respectively they are materials process which is to transform the physical products, information processing which concerned with informational properties and customer processing which means customers are considered as major input throughout the whole process. As the above clarification, it is obvious that the British Museum belongs to customer processing, because at the beginning of transformation, each customer is fresh without any experience to the museum, but when tour ends, the physiological state of customers are equipped with basic knowledge and feeling about what they visited. Outputs from the process After studying the operation process, it is can be found that very few organizations produced pure product or service, in most of cases, services and products are merging together to enhance their competition in the market. Generally speaking, the output of British Museum is service, which is intangible and hard to qualify. Some organizations adopted the customer feedback mechanism to qualify the fulfilment of customers need. This kind of processing requires a high qualification to satisfied customers psychology needs. Characterizes of process : 4Vs 2.4.1 Analysis of 4Vs between London Zoo and British Museum After identifying the outputs and inputs of British Museum, the volume, variety, variation and visibility should be analysed. Firstly, as the biggest national tourist attraction in UK, both British Museum and London Zoo have a high volume of visiting. In 2009/2010, 5.7 million people visited the British Museum. And in busy days, the visitors of London reached 4000 to 6000 per day in average. Next, the variety of service in London Zoo and British Museum is relatively high. Although a large amount of exhibitions provided by the two organizations, visitors can choose the touring routines according to their needs and preference. There is no fixed routine. Thirdly, the variation of demand in British Museum is low due to it just experiences a small fluctuation in summer holiday compared with normal days. Conversely, customers demand of London zoo on weekends and special events will spur to 18000 per day while on Christmas Eve only 48 visitors there, so the variation of London Zoo is relati vely high. Finally, visibility means customer contact which made by organizations. As the case shown that London zoo has high visibility, in such circumstance, they realise the importance to improve service and to meet customers need. Similarly, British museum usually arrange the short period tours and try to benefit visitor to fulfil their need. However, the contact between staff and visitor is not frequent here. Table 1. Organization Volume Variety Variation Visibility London Zoo High High Relatively High High British Museum High High Low Medium 2.4.2 The implication of 4Vs of operations Compared with the ideal dimensions in the four aspects, high volume, low variety, low variation in demand, and low visibility, the operation process of British Museum seems closed to the ideal model and cost less in its operation management. However, the high variation of customers demand requires London Zoo to explore what customers really want from them. And it is the point for London Zoo to keep a sustainable increase. Pros and Cons of operation process in British Museum 3.1 Pros 3.1.1 Specify and categorize customer demand: Explore  the Museums highlights As a huge amount of collections exhibited in the museum, for most visitors, it is impossible to visit all the galleries in such a short period. To give the visitors a worthy visit, the museum selected a few of most valuable objects and created several options according to different length of tour. This is providing an opportunity for visitors to explore the highlight exhibitions, then visitors can plan their own trip by those suggested routine. Thus, the satisfaction of visitors can be largely improved. Meanwhile, it can also avoid the crowd in peak season and shorten the operation process. The routine suggested currently as below (Visitors can find the information at information desk) 1 hour at the Museum 3 hours at the Museum Objects to see with children A history of the world in 100 objects As the four selected routines designed by British Museum, on one hand visitors will tour the museum with the purpose, the time of visiting is much saved and it also make this touring much clear and effective. On the other hand, it makes the process flow fluent and efficient. 3.2 Cons 3.2.1 Complex layout for the large galleries Generally, the collections are categorized in related to the nature and history of objects. So in British Museum, the main permanent galleries are Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Rome, Europe, Asia and Middle East, Africa and America. And some large galleries contain two levels. The situation is when you wanted to visit the galleries completely, you have to go upstairs. If you pass through the way-out upstairs, your routine of the whole visiting will be disturbed. Otherwise, you have to go downstairs go on the visit to other galleries. Additionally, for such a layout, visitors are easily getting confused and lost directions, because there is no any sign of direction. During the visiting, I found the division between different themes was not so clear, especially for those big galleries which contain two levels. 3.2.2 Less space on the hot spot area Another layout problem is that it was a little bit crowed in the popular galleries such as the gallery of ancient Egypt. For my observation on that day, so many people were interested in Egypt Mummy and stopped to take photographs or pay a notice on particular object. In such way, it made the gallery too crowded to visit, and visitors must feel unsatisfied at this moment. Comparison and contrast between British Museum and London Zoo 4.1 General introduction of case London Zoo London zoo is one of the most popular animal collections in the world which opened in 1828; the aim of it is to house and display live animals and makes profit. In the past few decades, visitor attendance keeps high although there is a fluctuation because of zoos reconstruction and some other public reasons. But by the mid-1950s the visitor numbers began to decline from 2 million year by year, and by 1995/96, the budgeted level was just nine hundred thousand. The main reason is from social-economic changes including changing of living habits, growth in car ownership, leisure preferences and inflation as well as fierce competition. Due to the decrease in visitor attendance and lack of investment in zoos developments or its image, urgent action needs to be taken to change the situation. With the support of zoos staff, a new development plan was published and adopted in 1992 in order to improve the facilities and the service quality. Relevant surveys also need to be made in advance. Profit and not-profit The British Museum can be regarded as a non-profit organization sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, but it also has self-generated income through retail, international touring exhibitions, Membership, and fundraising programmes. By contract, London Zoo mainly relies on the financial profit to keep running its daily operation and maintenance and also partly relies on the public fund. To some extent, British Museum is trying to achieving a high reputation worldwide by create the most comfortable environment to visitors, however, London Zoo aims to enhance the quality of service to attract more visitors and increase the income. Defined the targeted visitors Both British Museum and London Zoo understand the importance to define their target visitors. Generally, the target customers of British Museum are tourist including individuals, couples and families, some specific researchers as well. After define the customer and their need, the museum provides selected touring options to normal visitors, which is a convenient service to visitors. Same as London Zoo, after specified the visitors, it is important to improve their service by knowing what their particular needs. By categories the visitors and figure out the characters of each group, organization will be easy to improve the service to meet their exact need. Quality of service As my observation of British Museum, it is hard to feel the existence of service even they provide the short free tour occasionally. Except for the information desk, you can hardly find any staff for help. Compared to British Museum, London Zoo also suffers from quality problem, due to capacity problem. London Zoo operated badly during peak periods because of lack of staff. As a result, the column contact with staff received the lowest score in the investigation. Long queues, delays, lack of contact lead to problems in quality in London Zoo Conclusion recommendation As the study above, although both British museum and London zoo belong to service organizations, the commercial purposes are different. However, they aim to provide the best service to achieve the success in their own business area. As the big national organizations, even though both London Zoo and British Museum are fully equipped in facilities, there are still some operation problems in service quality and process of layout. For British Museum, in terms of layout, they may provide the visitors more comfortable environment by expanding the space in the hot spot galleries; in the large galleries, the museum can display the collections all in the same level to avoid making visitors confused or lost. While in terms of service, I suggest that the staff may contact with visitors face to face more. For London Zoo, the capacity should be improved through recruiting the temporary staff during peak season. As the survey adopted in the case study, they have to create more contact with visitors and supply more qualified catering to increase the performance. No matter how big the organization scale is, it still has its strength and weakness. The obligation of management team is keeping optimize the operation process and continuously making profit and get a great reputation in the business area.

Do People Who Are Trafficking Human Organs Help Other People? Essay

Do People Who Are Trafficking Human Organs Help Other People? (Campbell & Davison, 2012), say that the unlawful business in human organs special kidneys has advanced quickly and unexpectedly. The reasons why selling kidneys has advanced quickly is that nowadays many countries have wars so there are many poor people who need money to live a good life. Also, after wars, there are many sick people that felt desperation because they lost their organs in the war and no one donated to them, so they needed to buy organs to stay alive. Other reason is because people have two kidneys so when they sell one kidney for important reasons, they won’t die. Most countries punish those people who sell their organs that are why in those countries there are many illegal trafficking of human organs, but in some countries trafficking human organs is legal like Iran. People who are trafficking human organs help other people to live a good life, also help sick people to feel healthy again and not to die. The desperation of many people needing transplantation s urgery and the poverty of many people with healthy organs often results in the trafficking of human organs. It’s a trade where the two persons win, because trafficking human organs help many poor people who don't have money to buy food or clothes by selling their organs that they can live without for money to the sick people who need this organ to stay alive. Selling organs can help the sick person to stay alive and give the poor person money to help his family from humiliating life. I read something posted on (ALL THINGS PAKISTAN blog, 2007) about a poor Pakistani guy who holds with his hand a paper with a sign that says â€Å"Would you buy my kidney please?.† I think that poor guy needs money t... ...ngs pakistan blog. In (2007). Retrieved from http://pakistaniat.com/2007/10/17/would-you-like-to-buy-my-kidney-please/ Caplan, A. R., & Arp, R. (eds.) (2013). Contemporary debates in bioethics. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved from http://books.google.com.kw/books?id=-RsoAAAAQBAJ&dq=how much does the middle man make trafficking organs&source=gbs_navlinks_s Denis, C., & Davison, N. (27, May, 2012. Illegal kidney trade booms as new organ is 'sold every hour' Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/may/27/kidney-trade-illegal-operations-who Gross, R. (2008). Noblesse oblige blog. Retrieved from http://noblesseoblige.org/2008/01/12/egyptian-man-sells-wives-kidney-on-black-market/ Parry, W. (2012). How poverty, false promises, fuel illegal organ trafficking. Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/19237-illegal-kidney-organ-trade.html