Management Business Operation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Management Business Operation - Essay Example Quality management aims at planning, controlling, assuring and improving the quality of products and services offered to the customers (Rose, 2005, p. 41). This paper presents an in-depth description of basic principles of supply chain management and quality management and it attempts to apply those principles with the Airline industry. The basic processes included in both supply chain management and quality management are detailed in this work. Most industries have recently been forced to invest in and to concentrate their efforts on supply chain due to severe competition, introduction of certain products with shorter life cycles and high customer expectations. Ongoing advances in both transportation and communication technologies have paved the way to evolve much evolution in supply chain management (Wisner and Leong, 2005). The Airline Industry has greater opportunities to invest and to make use of potential transportation facilities to enhance the effectiveness of supply chain management. Qatar Airways has recently launched Qatar Airways Cargo in order to address the supply chain needs of its customers. The new step forward by Qatar Airways Cargo services as part of its supply chain shows that old business rules and processes are being replaced with new ways of business strategies of supply chain management (Qatarairways, 2010). When global market competition increases, business have to pay greater attention to where the raw materials are extracted from, how the products and services of their suppliers are developed and designed and how the end products are being transported (Hugos, 2006, p. 3). Simchi-Levi and Kaminsky (2004) emphasized that supply chain management always gives much attention to the facilities that have an impact on cost and it plays key roles in making the product ultimately conforming to customer requirements, from supplier and

Housing Department at Murray State University Research Paper

Housing Department at Murray State University - Research Paper Example The university is the only public university in Kentucky with a population of 10,600 students. The campus has housing department that comprises of administrative and residential halls. New buildings are being put up to replace the old residential hall. The following are residential halls at Hurray University housing department; Clark hall, Elizabeth hall, Franklin hall, Hart hall, Hester hall, Regents hall, white hall and Richmond hall. Murray state university has a residential section that is not only where the student will live but will also be where the student will be involved in various aspects of their life in the campus. They will be involved in such activities as intramural sports, traditions and other various activities enjoyed. The main aim of housing department is to ensure secure, well priced and maintained residence for Murray University. The residential halls provide services to college students and the faculty. The halls are usually supervised and the staff trained on how to maintain the halls. The residential halls have greatly assisted students in personal growth, involving themselves in activities, improved interaction between residential, faculty and students, and ensured academic success. The objective of the housing department is to provide a good and safe student accommodation, improved and well maintained social facilities. The residential facilities are enjoyed by both graduates and undergraduates students at a reasonable fee. The accommodation caters for students with children. The purpose of housing department is to provide music and sports facilities to the faculty, students and supporting staff so as to encourage social status among all. The main objective of the project is to avoid congestion of students in their residential halls. The housing department has increased the number of halls to curb this situation. The other objectives of this department are to ensure improvement of the student accommodation facilities, expansion and gr owth of residential areas, development and progress of the department (Housing & Residence Life Mission Statement, N/D). This will involve maintenance and renovation of the current building infrastructure and possibly erection of new buildings in order to avoid congestion. Budget Justification Agency Name: Proposal Name: Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2012-2013 Submitted By: Date: November 26, 2011 Cost: Year Total General fund Federal Fund State Funds Other 2010-2011 $ 141,529,822 $ 51,805,500 0 0 $89,724,322 2011-2012 $ 147,647,946 $ 50,295,400 0 0 $97,352,546 2012-2013 $ 153,722,524 $55,226,358 0 0 $98,496,166 Introduction Summary: The murray state university housing department offers an affordable. and secure residence area for the students. It also provides a place where students will be involved in various aspects of their life. They will be involved in such activities as intramural sports, traditions and other activities. Statement of Need: The changes in the budget have bee n reflected as there are a number of buildings that will be erected in order to accommodate more students. The proposed budget has major changes where some field have increased quotation than previous years while some have a decreased quotation. For instance, in housing auxiliaries there is a rise in the quotation. This is an estimation of the expected rise as noticed in previous years. There was a previous increase of 1.7% therefore if we match the same increase the new figure will be 11,217,466. This will be also applicable in housing fee that had an increase of 0.2%. Housing custodial recorded a previous increase of 5.7%. Housing maintenance has increased in the 2012-2013 budget proposals as there are plans to erect new buildings thus there will be increased costs.

SouthWest Airlines Case Study

SouthWest Airlines Case Study SouthWest Airlines Case Study Executive Summary Thousands of people travel by air; Southwest Airlines provides low-fare air transportation service among 58 cities in the United States. Although the industry suffered a major blow from the terrorist attack of September 11th, the company is still holding strong; while other airline companies are in debt. The information was majority gathered and analyzed from the internet; sources such as News Week, and Wall Street Journal. According to the acquired knowledge of Southwest, the company maintains steady sales. The major success to their continued success is due to their low-cost model and competitors are aware that they cannot match Southwest Airlines low prices therefore, by dropping the price even lower; Southwest Airlines can force a company to go bankrupt. Introduction In 1971, Rollin King and Herb Kelleher started an airline service with one simple notion: If you get your passengers to their destinations when they want to get there, on time, at the lowest possible fares, and make darn sure they have a good time doing it, people will fly your airline. They were right about that. Southwest Airline is now a major airline, in fact, the fourth largest airliner in the United States that is trading under the Symbol LUV on NYSE. The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of customer service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit. It primarily provides short haul, high-frequency, point-to-point, low-fare air transportation service among 58 cities (59 airports) in the United States. Here are some numbers that will give a brief idea how the company is operating: Net income: $241 million Total passengers carried: 63 million Total RPMs: 45.4 billion Passenger load factor: 65.9 percent Total operating revenue: $5.5 billion The airline industry has been hit hard by the terrorist attack of September 11th. There is a 13% insurance raise for the airlines and the government is enforcing fees regarding security problems. The operation cost increases dramatically and there are less people traveling by air. Most of the airliners are losing money expect a few. Southwest is one of those airlines which have remained profitable. Organization of Southwest Airlines is described as an upside-down pyramid. The upper management is at the bottom and supports the front line employees (~35000), who are the experts. This is Herb Kellehers unorthodox leadership style, in which management decisions are made by everyone in the organization, not just the head executives. The company is described to not have much emphasis on structure; instead employees are encouraged to think freely without constraints such as titles. Kelleher, for example, is said to know the names of virtually all his employees. Southwest Airlines is characterized as a C-corporation with duration distinguished as a normal perpetual existence. The shareholders are not normally liable for debts of the corporation and they preserve an operation that is normally more structured, requiring more meetings and (in some states) more reporting requirements. Management is very centralized through the board of directors (elected by the shareholders) and the officers (elected by the directors). The corporation is taxable entity, although the income which would normally be taxed at the corporate level can normally be paid out in salaries (and in other deductible ways) so that there is in fact no tax at the corporate level. As far as transferability of interest, it is normally fully transferable and raising capital is in the choice of public companies. Southwest Airlines values employees, initiating the first profit-sharing plan in the U.S. airline industry in 1974 and offered it ever since. In 2000, Southwest offered its employees a record-setting $138M in profit sharing. This tax-deferred compensation represented an additional 14.1 percent of each employees annual salary. Methodology In order to explore Southwest Airlines corporate structure, the method in which we obtain our information is a critical component in our mission. Therefore, this analysis describes a methodology that utilizes Southwest Airlines official website to attain background history, company particulars and financial statistics. In addition, the librarys electronic journals, business research databases (Wall Street Journal, Business Week) and accredited search engines on the Internet such as Yahoo! are also major resources for our investigation in conducting a fundamental SWOT analysis and acquiring information regarding the companys main competitors and customers. Our research will not be limited to just Southwest Airline, our research involves Boeing 737 as well as a few of the opposing companies. Research on these additional topics will be specific, material that pertains or assists in elaborating our recommendations for the company of Southwest. Results According to the attached figure covering the past four years of Southwest Airlines financial progress, they have maintained steady net sales. In 1999, they had total net sales of $4,735 million which had risen to $5,585 million. Their slight drop in 2002 to $5,521 million was due to the September 11th incident. However, this is nothing compared to other major airline industries where they have lost so much more. Many have even gone bankrupt and been forced to close down. In fact, Southwest Airlines was the only major US air carrier to remain profitable since then; albeit Southwest Airlines were affected by the poor economic conditions. Few of their main competitors are Continental Airlines and American Airlines. Substitute products include the train (Amtrak) and bus (Greyhound) which cover long distances. While these alternates cannot offer the speed of travel, most of Southwest Airlines customers are attracted to the low price. Suppliers include those who provide service/products necessary for Southwest Airlines to their business function. For Southwest Airlines, suppliers include mechanics(and other maintenance people), providers of fuel, food(the snacks that are offered). The suppliers do not have much bargaining power. Customers include both residential and commercial sectors. There is no bargaining power for customers, as there is no threat of backward integration; it is unlikely that customers of Southwest Airlines are going to build their own airplanes and fly themselves. Rivalry among competitors sets the price-Southwest Airlines is a discount airliner. Rivalry is increasing, as the market decreases, and competitors downsize, the competitors become more or less equal in size and capacity. This means that as economic conditions worsen, competitors downsize and then compete for the same remaining market. The threat of new entrants is low, the demand is not high. On top of that, there are hurdles, not necessarily the greatest; the FAA. Government regulations and restrictions imposed on those involved in this industry. Such would be government sanctions consequent of international issues. At a glance, the companys source of competitive advantage is its low price tickets. Most of its customers are people who are willing to forego in-flight meals, direct routes and fancy seats if that would mean for a cheaper ticket. Not to imply that Southwest doesnt provide direct flights, but that is offered at a higher price. Southwest Airlines was in better shape than its competitors after recent attacks on September 11 for a simple reason: their low-cost model. Terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center had a devastating effect on the airline industry, particularly because the instrument of destruction of these attacks was hijacked airplanes. The public lost faith in the airline industry immediately following September 11th, and for many airline companies this meant going into severe debt or even declaring bankruptcy. Even after some time, the majority of the airline industry experienced lower profits and massive downsizing. However, for smaller companies like Southwest, they were able to turn a profit and were in a more enviable position than the larger counterparts. The reason for Southwest Airlines success is due to their low-cost model. The Southwest Airlines consists solely of Boeing 737s and offers only coach seats (there is no business or first class). Southwest Airlines also do not offer in-flight meals, only peanuts and other snacks. Southwest is simple and direct at the goal of their service; a primarily short-haul airline that flies directly from city to city, with just one type of planethe Boeing 737 and the lowest costs. With a simple goal, Southwest has excised many of the luxuries that competitors have offered, such as luxury seats; this is made evident by their decision to enforce a rule for passengers who could not fit into the seats to purchase an additional seat. This rather unpopular move (whereas other airlines would have suggested a more luxury class seat) is simple in its purpose-get passengers from point A to point B. Services, such as in-flight meals and luxury seats, which have become standard to competitors, have been s een as unnecessary for an airline that provides a short-haul trip from city to city at the lowest cost. To have opted for a first class, business class, or any form of luxury class seat would have been excess baggage; most people would prefer to do without it if it meant for cheaper ticket price. While Southwest Airlines offers no frills, Southwest Airlines do meet customer expectations when it comes to service. They base their model on the motto, which states that if theyre happy, satisfied, dedicated, and energetic, theyll take real good care of the customers. When the customers are happy, they come back. And that makes the shareholders happy, Southwest has very good relations with all their employees. Employees are either of independent unions or have flexible contracts which allow employees to work longer hours. Southwest Airlines, however, is not without weaknesses. No matter how successful, Southwest Airlines serves only 29 states and cannot compete against the bigger companies that serve nationally or even internationally. Furthermore, Southwest Airlines does not utilize a hub system that allows for bigger competitors to reach further out. Such competitors are aware that they cannot match Southwest Airlines prices; their market is larger and is not feasible to offer cheaper tickets at the cost of no in-flight meals. Instead, competitors narrow the price difference between Southwest Airlines and themselves and stress on the quality of these frills (such as roomier seats). Others, through use of flight hubs, are the only ones who can economically serve remote customers. Another weakness of Southwest Airlines is their preference of Boeing 737s. Being limited to one type of airplane leaves them with little flexibility when the model receives a bad reputation or a critical flaw is discovered. Such would be a costly venture for this company, whove used only one type of airplane and in the face of a dire situation would face a costly venture of finding replacements or counteracting bad publicity. Southwest Airlines success is primarily because they have focused sharply on their goals. This is evident by their no-frills, low-cost model: their goal is to provide the cheapest form of short air travel between two cities; providing the bare necessities. Driven by the idea that customers can be satisfied without having expensive options available for them, Southwest Airlines have stepped on the toes of many of its bigger competitors. Southwest Airlines was able to differentiate themselves from their competitors by offering the lowest prices. This appealed to many people who were not impressed with the additional services such as in-flight meals or wanted to avoid busy airports. Coupled with the utilization of the internet, Southwest Airlines almost became a trend, a sort of an underground hit, bypassing travel agents and their fees. Southwest Airlines provided a medium in which city-to-city transportation was possible with the lowest costs. Part of their success is due to their focused group; Southwest Airlines serves only 29 states a substantially smaller portion of geography, when compared to those who serve customers coast-to-coast. While the company was able to enjoy their success in the earlier years, recent events and poor economic conditions have made competition fierce. Now, the bigger companies are trying to emulate Southwest Airlines style. By narrowing the price gap, the luxurious services previously deemed too expensive has become more affordable. A possible drawback is that because Southwest Airlines strategy has proven so effective, it will be duplicated and emulated by its competitors to a point where it would lose the originality. This could result in competitors offering low rates to the areas covered by Southwest and beyond, making Southwest Airlines range and limitations more obvious. It would be very possible in the near future where a big company, with its hubs(something Southwest does NOT have), basically introducing Southwest Airlines low-cost model to a wider market, encroaching and outdoing Southwest Airlines. When a comparatively small, new company is able to take on major players in an extremely competitive industry, gain market share, please customers and employees alike, it is time for others to take notice. We will initially evaluate Southwest Airlines competitive business strategy of their maintenance of a low cost and exceedingly reliable service approach (forgoing perks such as meal service, first-class preference and assigned seating), as a major transportation corporation. We will ultimately make supplementary recommendations and improvements based on the stratagem of their already flourishing company. As a company that still faces continuous growing challenges before them, it is essential for Southwest Airlines to expand on their existing achievements. Our analysis and promising suggestions will be developed with intent to better serve customers by improving their routing system, offering enhanced accessibility and minimizing delays. As business consultants, we anticipate to pav e the way of one of the leading travel industries into becoming the best of the best. Recommendations: Southwest Airlines were able to operate their business relatively undisturbed. It was only in the poor economic conditions that suddenly Southwest Airlines method of operation became the ideal model for its competitors. While the publicity is beneficial in raising employee morale, and raising stock prices; Southwest Airlines is now target of competitors focus. A tactic that Southwest Airlines can do to inflict damage to competitors is to slash prices. This type of tactic is typical of a big company that has a monopolistic rule in an industry squeezing other competitors. This tactic is advisable when competitors are near bankruptcy or are in dire situations. Because competitors cannot match Southwest Airlines prices, the most they can do is narrow the gap of the price difference. Southwest Airlines, which has consistently made a positive profit, can increase the price gap by lowering their prices. Southwest Airlines will incur losses from this move, but the goal of this move is to drag the competitors further into debt. Because this move affects both companies, this move is very risky and should not be done unless Southwest Airlines is sure that their competitor is near bankruptcy. Possible reasons for this move would be to eliminate the weakest competitor in the industry, which would free up the market held by that company. The reason for the creation of Southwest Airlines started when its founders saw an opportunity. Frequent trips between cities were exploited by providing a quicker form of transportation. Southwest Airlines has weathered through several crisis and has proven itself to have potential for to be a leader of its industry. The poor economic conditions has placed many airline companies in debt, while Southwest Airlines was able to make a profit. With its competitors weakened, Southwest can take the initiative and expand-not foolishly, but with the same drive and precise execution the company was founded under. The genius behind Southwest Airlines success is location; and if researched properly, this can be applied to other areas. The appeal of Southwest Airline is the cheap tickets, as they offer none of the luxuries(such as in-flight meals). Southwest Airlines no frills approach may not be pleasing to all, it would be good for Southwest to make a few changes in which the aesthetics would be more accommodating. Upgrading seats may be a costly venture, but it would open Southwest Airlines to a larger market. The medium of choice for customer referral is the internet. Internet referrals have been the main source of customers (it further cut costs by charging a lesser fee to book seats through the internet than through a travel sales agent). With the saturation of discount websites, however, Southwest Airlines is losing the grip it held advertising on the internet. More websites offer competitive rates and special discounts-which if Southwest Airlines does not take immediate action can end up losing customers. Since advertising through the internet is risky, as people hate pop-ups or spam e-mails, it is our general consensus that Southwest should find ways to be listed on these price comparison websites. Before, there werent many sites that offered price comparison and finding deals was difficult. With these sites, information is available at the fingertips of the web surfers who can make better informed choices. Southwest Airlines should ensure that their voice is heard through this mediu m, as it is sure to attract people in search of deals. Conclusion First and foremost, Southwest Airline has developed a great low cost model for the past thirty year that fits todays economy the best. It has expanded from a tiny company with merely three aircrafts to one of todays major airliners that flies between 58 cities carrying over 60 million customers each year. As everyone can see, Southwest Airline has been a big success. Now, it is given an opportunity to grow even bigger at this extremely hard and critical time for the airline industry. After the incident of September 11, Southwest Airline is one of the few airliners that remained profitable; other airline companies are losing millions of dollars due to the insurance raise, the security cost and lack of customers. We recommend Southwest airline to take this opportunity to expand to greater regions. It is the time for Southwest airline to use its low price tickets to drive its competitors out of business and take over their market. We believe, giving up some of the profit to cut the ticket price even lower and upgrade hardware can open Southwest Airline to a much larger market that will bring more profit in future. Implementations of cost saving technology such as internet is needed to lower the operation cost to give customers better deals.

Do People Have the Right to Die? Essay -- Euthanasia, Physician Assist

Living life at age twenty-eight is an amazing adventure. People are at their prime – being active and living life to the fullest. However, for Nancy Cruzan, a terrible car accident took that all away. One night, driving on a quiet road in Missouri, Nancy’s car rolled off the road and into a ditch. For twenty minutes she lay there alone and lifeless. Then, a paramedic car drove by and saw the car in distress. They pulled Nancy out, and miraculously revived her back to life. However, she had damaged her cerebral cortex, the vital end of the brain that gives humans all motor functions, senses, and communication. Nancy was left in what is called a persistent vegetative state (PVS), which â€Å"is a legal term defined in 765.101 (12) Florida statutes as: ‘a permanent and irreversible condition of unconsciousness in which there is – a) the absence of voluntary action or cognitive behavior of any kind; and b) an inability to communicate or interact purpos efully with the environment.† (Snow 3). Many people refer to this state as being a â€Å"vegetable.† After contemplating the situation for a long while, Nancy’s family decided that it would be best to remove the feeding tube that was forcibly keeping her alive. However, Nancy had no living will or health care power of attorney which was needed by law to remove the tube. Does her family have the right to make the decision to end her life, when she cannot make that decision herself? Who does have that right? Do people have the right to die? This incident started many people thinking about what they believe about the issue of the right to die and physician assisted suicide. The story of Nancy Cruzan is only single scenario out of many that people have to decide where they... ...ec. 24 November 1998. Video. Right to Die. Public Broadcasting System, Oregon. Newman, Ed. â€Å"Part Five: Making The Final Choice: Should Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legalized.† The Truth Seeker 121.5 (1992). 15 October 2005 http://www.cp.duluth.mn.us/~ennyman/DAS-5.html> Newman, Ed. â€Å"Part Three: Local Perspectives on the Right to Die Debate.† Detroit Free Press FREEP 15 October 2002 http://www.cp.duluth.mn.us/~ennyman/DAS-3.html> Paris, John. â€Å"Hugh Finn’s Right to Die.† America (1998). 15 October 2005 http://www.americapress.org/articles/ParisFinn.htm> Snow, Constance. â€Å"The Right to Die?† Tampa Bay New Times May/June (2000). 23 October 2005 http://www.altnewtimes.com/e03csn.html> â€Å"The Perspectives in Brief.† Public Agenda Online (2002). 13 October 2002 http://www.publicagenda.org/issues/debate_brief.CFM?issue_type=right2die>

Csr Essay

â€Å"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently. † Warren Edward Buffet, Entrepreneur. Social responsibility of business is a very contradicting topic and there clearly can be no perfect answer as to what extent corporations should employ it. Milton Friedman and Ivar Kolstad have contrasting opinions on the issue, and both of them listed weighty arguments for their positions. In this essay I would like to express my view on the problem presented in the articles.The argument can in fact be called â€Å"shareholders vs. stakeholders†. Management is bound to be responsible to shareholders; otherwise there will be some other management who will be responsible to them. In this respect, management does not have a choice. But they do have a choice whether or not to be responsible to other stakeholders as well, that is, employ some general and non-legislative principles of doing business. Sh areholders are central in Milton Friedman’s opinion. He believes that a company exists in order to satisfy the shareholders and give them the most possible out of it.I cannot agree with this view and I think that it is quite narrow, because most companies are so much more than just profit-generators for stockholders. Of course companies need to make profit – otherwise they cannot survive, but owners should indeed feel the difference between fair profits, fair return on their money, and unlimited profits created at someone’s expense. Let’s look at managers’ choice between maximizing profits and caring for stakeholders from the perspective of different schools of normative ethics.Kantian deontology states that there are actions that are always good and actions that are always bad, and humans should act according to their moral duties, not to selfish motives and wishes. In the world of capitalists, this theory is quite hard to apply, since businesses inherently pursue the goal of profit generation, which is selfish by its nature. However, an idea of universal law can be used to evaluate moral actions: if one manager chooses to deceive his customers, let’s assume that all managers choose to deceive their customers. What would the result be?All customers would be deceived and would no longer trust the companies. So when making decisions, Kant suggests thinking in terms of universal laws. The opposing theory – consequentialism, suggests that the moral value of an action only depends on its consequences. However, let’s imagine that an employee of a nuclear power station decides to talk to his friend on the phone instead of controlling the process. If everything goes right and no catastrophe happens, can his action be considered ethically good? In this sense, the theory is not very useful.However, if we are talking about managers’ decisions, they should always think about consequences that their actions ca n cause. Another theory is utilitarianism, which evaluates the moral value of an action in terms of the summed happiness of all members of society that resulted from it. Shareholders make themselves â€Å"happy† by maximizing profits at any expense, but a whole lot of stakeholders are left â€Å"unhappy†. Therefore, owners of the company minimize the good in society by maximizing profits. On the other hand, a company can make a lot of people deliriously happy by giving out its products for free, and soon go bankrupt.So where does the thin line lie between maximizing customers’ value while staying financially sound and giving up profit opportunities for ethical motives, getting no or a very moderate return? It’s a very hard question, but in my opinion, companies should try to avoid doing harm to customers, employees and environment whenever they can. Another school is called classical school, and it states that the moral value of an action depends on its n ature, motives and consequences. In my opinion, this theory is the most sensible one, because it comprises all other theories and does not look at actions from a narrow perspective.As long as customers are concerned, CSR is integral when dealing with them. If customers are dissatisfied with the quality of a product or service they get, or a company somehow deceives them, thus maximizing its profits, it receives a bad reputation and as a result can lose all of its customers and the shareholders would not get any returns. However, all too often companies cut costs at the expense of their customers’ well-being: for example, feed chickens with hormones that can have adverse effect not only on an individual, but also on his genes; or use low-cost resins in the production of furniture that poison humans’ breathing system.Frequently customers do not know about these hazards and assume that the product is of decent quality. I am not saying that companies should openly declare that their products are harmful, but rather that from the ethical point of view it would be right if the customer could have an overall image of the product that he is purchasing. It makes sense to also mention the billboards advertising make-up products where all women seem perfect and consumers subconsciously think that if they buy the product, they would be closer to the perfect image presented to them.However, it appears that most of these photos are heavily photoshoped and there is no way a real woman can look like this. However, these images do affect the overall standards of beauty, and make many women depressed about their appearance and many men to admire not the real natural beauty, but a fake photo of a woman he might never notice in the real life. In this sense, Dove has made quite an ethical move and launched a â€Å"Campaign for Real Beauty† (although it may as well be that this so-called â€Å"responsible† campaign was nothing but a fresh marketing move) .However, it attracted attention to the topic and made more people aware of it. From Friedmanian point of view, can good quality goods be seen as a deviation from maximizing profits? Or should a company’s managers strive to cut costs, but so that it is not so evident to customers, in order to get more money? For example, a manager of a food company knows that he can substitute one ingredient for another, cheaper one, which may cause cancer if often consumed, and the customers most probably won’t realize it, because the appearance and the taste of the product will not change.Should he maximize profits in this case? According to Friedman’s view, if a manager knows about the possibility but decides not to use it, he taxes the shareholders who would not get this additional profit. In the end it all comes down to the agent-principal theory, which states that managers have skills and knowledge that the shareholders do not themselves possess, therefore owners often can not estimate, whether or not the management is doing a good job, so they need to trust the management.It follows that the management indeed has a choice, because shareholders do not really know to what extent management acts in owners’ interests. And again, shareholders most often can go away, sell their shares and have nothing more to do with the company, so they are likely to involve with strategies that damage other stakeholders. If we talk about employees, would it be fair to use child labor or underpaid labor in some third world?Kolstad says that companies have bigger responsibility in poor countries than in rich countries because poor countries’ governments cannot guarantee their citizens’ rights. I agree with him and I believe that there should be some sort of a moral code for companies, which defines that a company cannot exploit these unethical means of getting profits and involve in such â€Å"dirty† operations. Also, if we talk about layoffs, w ould it be fair to dismiss employees who have worked in a company for many years and who actually created its image and reputation?Shareholders are sort of blank in this sense – they are not involved in the development and production and often they do not put anything personal into the company, nor are they loyal – if the company does not promise good returns, they simply invest their money somewhere else. It is rather an ethical question whether these people need to be a priority for the management. Sure, their expectations need to be met, otherwise management will be dismissed, but a company is not its shareholders – in fact, they can be anyone.I believe that the main principle a company can adopt in relation to its employees is guaranteeing that everyone involved in the process gets a fair return. This means that there should be no miniscule salaries, regardless of where a company does business. However, if we talk about countries’ differences, surely a salary of a worker in China would be lower than that of the same worker in Finland. The point is that a company should not aim to just exploit the labor force of the country it chooses for its production, but rather think about how to make life for the workers better as well.If workers in a China are prepared to work for 100$ a month, but in this case it only gives them a chance to get by and not die, it would be very ethical from a company’s point of view to pay them 140$ a month. It would still be many times cheaper than hiring the same worker in Finland, but at least a company would give Chinese workers a chance to live decently. So all in all I believe that a company should not aim at employing people at the lowest possible salary in order to cut costs, but instead respect employees and ensure they get a fair return on their work. Another dimension of corporate responsibility is environment.It is special because the environment cannot cry for help, and if not enough att ention is paid to it by the state or people, and a company does not treat it healthily, it becomes absolutely insecure. European and American companies that have factories in the third-world countries have no pragmatic interest in caring for the environment. Governments of these countries have to make a difficult choice between food and goods for its citizens and pollution caused by First World companies that choose Third World because environmental laws are much less strict there than in developed countries.So how should a company behave in regard to the environment? I believe that it is integral that a company does not just exploit it and leave the state and the population of the country dealing with the negative consequences. For example, managers are frequently tempted to cut costs by not installing waste filters and pouring unfiltered dump into rivers, lakes and soil. They can foresee that the consequences of this negligence can be disastrous, but they just do not care because they can always move their factories to another poor country with loose environmental legislation.This behavior is morally ill from the point of view of classic school of normative ethics. The nature of an act in obviously damaging – they pollute the environment. Their intention is to cut costs by involving in this negligence, and is by no means noble. The circumstances are bad and the managers actually could foresee it, but they are either too happy themselves with the stream of money or shareholders make the decisions for managers and make them behave in an environmentally harmful way.In this case managers become â€Å"Dams† and the organization can be considered ethically ill. However, who could directly punish companies for such actions? Their customers in the First World may have some idea of this irresponsibility, but they like the cheap product and most of them still are not so environmentally conscious. Home government does not really care what the company does in some Third World country. So in the end it all falls down on the Third World country, its government and especially people.It also has to be said that all environmentally irresponsible decisions are relatively short-term from the whole mankind’s point of view, because for now we have only one planet with the fixed amount of non-renewable resources. However, the safety and sustainability of nature is always dependent on numerous individuals who face trade-offs between clean environment and their own advantage, and people are generally prone to choose what is best for them. In conclusion, it has to be said that there are no perfect companies – each business inevitably pursues its own selfish aims.However, in modern globalized world, where corporations have a lot more influence and power than ever before, they also have a lot more responsibilities to the society. Unfortunately, managers all too often forget that they are the ones who can make all the difference to a c ompany that is avoiding its responsibilities. â€Å"It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities† Josiah Charles Stamp, English Economist and President of the Bank of England

Can you use CAD, CAE, CAM, CIM, and FMS to manufacture better parts more easily? Essay

CAD, CAE, CAM, CIM, and FMS can be used to manufacture better parts easily in a small-sized production unit. The Use of Computer Integrated machining, CIM, means a completely automated production system, integrated using CAD/CAM software. The Flexible Manufacturing Systems, FMS, can also be integrated with the CIM systems. This means the production of newer products can be very fast. In addition smaller test production runs could be made for custom-made products efficiently. Also the system being almost entirely in software, means the manufacturer can react faster to a change in the environment. These technologies represent a new production approach which will allow the factories to deliver a high variety of products at a low cost and with short production cycle (Masood & Khan 2004) If your final product requires several unique subunits that are all produced with different machinery and in differing lengths of time, what facility layout will you choose and why? In the case where the final product requires several unique subunits that are all produced with different machinery and in differing lengths of time, the facility layout that would best work would be the Manufacturing cell. Here manufacturing facility is divided into production cells, where each cell produces a part family. While the method is not usually used because of the actual small percentage of time spent in actual machining leading to more states of machine being idle, it is perfect for this situation, primarily because of the varied length time. This leads to reduction in set-up times, material handling, tooling and in-process inventory (Henry). The other methods primarily rely on grouping similar processes and applying time-sharing to the machinery, which is not possible in this case due to the different machinery needed for manufacturing. These methods would not reduce any appreciable amount of time in his case. Look up on the Internet `franchising`. Based on your readings, from an operational perspective, why is purchasing a franchise such as Wendy`s or Jiffy Lube an attractive alternative for starting a business? Franchising win hands down when compared with small business. Most of the experts maintain that franchise operations have lower risk of failure, as companies like Wendy’s or Jiffy Lube have proven track records of success. In addition franchisee is give exhaustive training and has continuous support from the parent company. Also the cost input for setting up the business is comparatively lower than starting a business form scratch. Finally there is a huge scope of expansion by developing multiple franchises (FCA 2007) What things could you learn about a company’s culture by observing the layout and design of its production facility? Discuss both goods and services operations. Layout and design of production facility is a very critical task of the production management. Observing a company’s layout and production facility design can tell a lot of things about the company. First of all, it tell about the amount of capital the company has. The quality or the machinery, the newness of the machinery etc. tell about the financial capabilities of the company. In addition the design of the layout tells about the planning and organizational capacity. It reflects things like the factory efficiency, material flow, transparency, quality and costs (MAS 2005) References Masood T, Khan I, â€Å"Productivity Improvement through Computer Integrated Manufacturing in Post WTO Scenario†, 2004, â€Å"http://www. szabist. edu. pk/NCET2004/Docs/ZSession%20II%20Paper%20No%202%20(P%20171-177). pdf â€Å"Advantages of the Franchising System†, FCA, 2007, http://www. franchise. org. au/content/? id=185 â€Å"Manufacturing Management: Factory Layout and Flow†, MAS, 17th October 2005, http://www. mas. dti. gov. uk/pluto-resources/1130407489261. pdf Henry C, â€Å"Facility Design and Layout†, http://www. csupomona. edu/~hco/POM/05FaciltyDesignLayout. ppt#15

Insanity Is it in our Schools essays

Insanity Is it in our Schools essays What exactly is the definition of insanity? Insanity is being in a mental state of mind that does not allows you to make correct decisions on events that are occurring at that moment. But this definition is not always the same through out the United States. One persons definition is not always the same as the next. This comes into conflict when trying to decide someones fate in court cases, and this is especially important when it involves a minor that has committed a serious crime. As an example to the seriousness of some of the crimes, look at all of the school shootings that have been occurring throughout the United States. What are we to do with young children that are now sentenced to prison for life without parole? To call them insane is not the answer. We need to find something that can be done to help stop the huge number of young people in the correctional system. Because the huge amount of money it costs to house inmates per year is extreme, and it is costing the t axpayers enough money already to house the adult inmates. We need to find alternate solutions other than sending these young men and woman to prison for the rest of their life, and causing them to legally go insane. What can we do to prevent these young adults from committing such extreme crimes? We need to look at the home and see if anything is wrong there first before anything else is even looked at. Because, to take away the children from their parents is only a good if they are part of the problem. Parents are extremely important in a child life and set the foundation for what is to come in the future from him/her whether in the positive or the negative. There are many reasons for there being problems at home. It could be the lack of supervision by an adult, the absence of punishment, and many more reason why the child is not having a good home life. There are still many more reasons why child resort to violence when faced wit...