Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Management - Research Paper Example Proper management is crucial to the success of any business or organization. However, if management is poor, it may end up having more disadvantages than advantages for a business or organization. This paper will discuss the need for management, highlighting its pros and cons. The need for management The need for proper management in any organization or business can never be underestimated. Businesses are ongoing activities that cannot operate on their own. Just as a car needs a good driver to steer it to its destination, or a ship needs a sailor to lead it to its destination, so does a business or organization requires a good manager(s) to lead it to success (Griffin, 2010). It is important to note that management can either aid or deter the success of a business or organization. With proper management, a business or organization will have set goals and objectives that it aims to achieve, and it will most likely succeed at achieving them. On the other hand, without proper management , businesses and organizations are likely to fail since improper management is worse than no management at all (Kochan & Schmalensee, 2003). Therefore, management has its pros and cons in any business or organization. Pros of management Proper management usually has very many advantages for businesses and organizations. Management helps organizations and businesses to achieve group goals. Through management, the factors of production can be arranged together, and resources can be organized and assembled (Kochan & Schmalensee, 2003). Management can then integrate the factors of production and the available resources in an effective manner that will assist in the achievement of goals. Management can direct all group efforts and resources towards goal attainment. Management is also responsible for defining organizational objectives, thus minimizing the waste of effort, money and time (Plunkett, Attner, & Allen, 2007). Management also ensures that there is optimum and proper utilization of organization resources. This is by making productive use of all human and physical resources that are available. This promotes efficacy within an organization or business. Management selects the best possible use of scarce resources, thereby ensuring optimum utilization. The need for management is also important because an organization’s management makes use of the services, knowledge and skills of professionals and experts in achieving organizational goals (Kochan & Schmalensee, 2003). Therefore, if management ensures that both physical and human resources are producing their maximum results, then management is totally necessary in any organization or business. Management is necessary in a business or organization because it is responsible for reducing costs. Management should ensure that maximum results are achieved through minimum input. This can only be possible if management carries out its core functions. The core management functions include planning, staffing, coo rdinating, organizing, leading, directing and controlling (Daft & Marcic, 2010). When planning, management is responsible for setting objectives and deciding the best possible courses of actions that can be taken to achieve the predetermined objectives. In the staffing function, management is

Lifespan Development Essay Example for Free

Lifespan Development Essay Lifespan development, also known as human development, is a field of study that is devoted to understanding constancy and change throughout a person’s lifespan (Berk, 2010). Lifespan development begins with infancy and looks at several points in a person’s life in which significant change takes place. The study of children did not begin until the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Berk, 2010). Throughout the years, there was much speculation about how people grow and change and when combined with research, theories of development surfaced. These theories were vital and provided organized frameworks for observations of people and they are verified by research and provide a basis for practical action (Berk, 2010). Many theories developed to study the development of infants and children through out life and these theories continue to have an impact on society and research today. There are many notable development researchers and schools of thought such as Locke, Rousseau, Arnold Gesell, Ivan Pavlov, Lawrence Kohlberg, Social Learning Theory, Stages of Moral Development, and Ethiological Theories just to name a few (Crain, 2005). There are some researchers and schools of thought who still have an impact today such as Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution, Jean Piaget and his Cognitive-Developmental theory, and the Psychoanalytic theory first developed by Sigmund Freud. Charles Darwin is significant to developmental studies today because it was he who paved the way, or opened the door for the many schools of thought that followed. Darwin is known as the forefather of scientific child study (Berk, 2010). Darwin was a naturalist who observed the variation among plant and animal species but along with that, he also noticed that within a specific species, no two individuals were alike (Berk, 2010). Darwin developed his theory which emphasized the principles of natural selection and survival of the fittest. Darwin’s theory stated that certain species survive in particular environments because they have characteristics that fit with or are adapted to their surroundings (Berk, 2010). Those within the species that best meet the survival requirements live long enough to reproduce and keep the species going (Berk, 2010). Darwin, in his travels and research, noticed some similarities in prenatal growth among species. Darwin noted that the embryos of most species are highly similar in their early forms revealing their descent from a common ancestor (Crain, 2005). Today, in the broad scheme of things, Darwin’s theory is correct in that there is variation within species and only some survive long enough to reproduce and pass along traits. What Darwin did not understand was the mechanisms underlying the transmission of traits (Crain, 2005). Because of this, Darwin is considered the starting point for the vast amount of research done on lifespan development. Another important aspect of the study of lifespan development is the Cognitive-Developmental theory of Jean Piaget. Piaget’s theory stated that children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world (Berk, 2010). Piaget did not believe that a child’s learning depended on reinforcers as the behaviorists believed. Piaget developed stages and he realized that children pass through his stages at different rates and did not pay specific attention to the ages at the various stages but noted that they all pass through the stages in the same order (Crain, 2005). Piaget’s theory consisted of four periods: Sensorimotor Intelligence (birth to 2 years), Preoperational Thought (2 to 7), Concrete Operations (7 to 11), and Formal Operations (11 to adulthood) (Berk, 2010; Crain, 2005). Piaget was able to convince people that children are active learners whose minds consist of rich structures of knowledge (Berk, 2010). Piaget’s research influenced much of the research today that focuses on children’s concept of self, other people, and human relationships. Many educational philosophies and programs that place emphasis on discovery learning and direct contact were encouraged by Piaget’s theory (Berk, 2010; Crain, 2005). Piaget’s theory did not come without criticism and challenges. Some researchers believe that Piaget actually underestimated the competencies of children. This called for much research to be conducted to challenge and refute Piaget’s theory and also to find ways to expound upon and improve his theory. The most influential school of thought is that of the Psychoanalytic perspective developed by Sigmund Freud. This perspective states that people move through a series of stages in which they confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations. (Berk, 2010). The school of thought basically focused on the fact that psychological change is governed by inner forces such as feelings, impulses, and fantasies (Crain, 2005). Freud had all of his patients use free association in their sessions allowing them to talk freely about the painful events of their childhood (Berk, 2010). Freud developed the psychosexual theory based on theiry unconscious thoughts. This theory states that how parents manage their child’s sexual and aggressive drives in the first few years is crucial for healthy personality development (Berk, 2010). Freud’s theory was considered the first to place importance on the influence of the early parent-child relationship and its involvement in development (Berk, 2010). Freud’s theory received much criticism because he did not study children directly and was heavy on the sexual influences in development (Crain, 2005). The controversy surrounding this particular school of thought, prompted much research making it one of, if not the influential theories in development. Research on the many aspects of emotional and social development which includes infant-caregiver attachment, aggression, sibling relationships, child-rearing practices, morality, gender roles, and adolescent identity grew from the theory of Freud (Berk, 2010). There are many different ways in which development is researched. One way is systematic observation. There are different ways in which observations of children and adults can be conducted. Some researchers choose to go into the field or the natural environment and record the behavior which is known as naturalistic observation (Berk, 2010). Through naturalistic observation, researchers are able to get a first hand look at the subjects. On the other side though, some people may not display the same behavior in their everyday life. Structured observations happen when the researcher sets up a laboratory situation that evokes behavior of interest so that every participant has equal opportunity to display the response (Berk, 2010). The ways that the research is gathered varies depending on what is being researched. Systematic observations tell how people actually behave but fail to provide the reasons behind the behavior. Self-reports allow participants to provide information on their perceptions, thoughts, abilities, feelings, and other things of that nature. They are normally structured interviews, unstructured interviews, questionnaires, and tests. Clinical interviews allow for researchers to use a flexible, conversational style to probe for the participant’s point of view (Berk, 2010). Structured interviews, which includes tests and questionnaires, asks all participants the same set of questions (Berk, 2010). They are easier to score and the researchers are able to identify a behavior of interest because the participants is given alternatives in answer choices. The case study methods brings together a wide range of information on one person, including interviews, observations, and test scores (Berk, 2010). This method is generally used when one wants to study a particular group that may be small in size but varies in characteristics. This method can be viewed as bias because the information that is collected is sometimes done unsystematically and is subjective and geared toward the researchers theoretical perspective. There are other ways of studying development such as ethnography which is aimed at studying a culture as a whole or a distinct social group through participant observation. Ethics plays a major role in the study of development as well. It is important to consider things such as the rights of the participants. This includes, protection from harm, informed consent, privacy, knowledge of the result, and beneficial treatments (Berk, 2010). Informed consent is especially important because it provides safeguards for children and elderly people who are cognitively impaired or have to be cared for in settings for the chronically ill (Berk, 2010). Research generally creates ethical issues because of the search for scientific knowledge and at the same time has the opportunity to exploit people. References Berk, L.E. (2010). Development through the lifespan. (5th Ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon Crain, W. (2005). Theories of development: Concepts and applications. (5th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall

Customer Relationship Management Business Dilemma Marketing Essay

Customer Relationship Management Business Dilemma Marketing Essay The most influential person in cafà © or in any business are the customers, since without customers, one does not have a business. Everything in a business environment revolves round customers. Similarly, in case of our cafà ©, customers are a key to a successful business at the end of the day. Knowing your customers and providing satisfaction to those customers would gain customer loyalty. Grandfather gave priority to customers thats why he knew all his customers. However, just knowing your customers is not enough; one needs to keep a record of its customers so that its easy to analyze. Since customers are really influential towards a business, business (in our case, cafe) should treat each and every customer as if they were the only customer. While serving each customer, one must keep in mind the needs of that particular customer only and should serve in such a way that the service exceeds their expectation. Giving most priority towards customers would enhance customer loyalty an d keep that customer attached to a particular business. Through customers, a business can improve its business as said by Bill Gates Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. Customer complains in fact is a key to improve the service, for instance, if a customer complains that the way coffee served was not pleasant and did not met the expectation, that complain can be used as a tool to improve the coffee serving process through further training workshops for employees in that area. Thus, customers complain can be seen as a challenge to be met in future to make him/her (customer) happy and attracted to the cafe. If you treat your customers well, your customers will go out of their way to return to you. Therefore, customer feedback and suggestion can help improve a service. However, the cafà © may not have answers or response for all of customer questions and suggestions. Customers could help or hurt the cafe through viral marketing. Word of mouth marketing is the largest determining factor for a service business image, which can be either online chatting or physical talk. If the service in cafà © is up to the expectation of the customer, it would help the cafà © to attract more customers through viral marketing and gain market share. However, if the products and service in cafà © is very poor which made the customer unhappy can spread negative impression on other customers, hurting the company through losing its current and potential customers. Moreover, online comment or complain on the cafes website can be injurious such as comment on You Tube. Literally, the customer does not intend to harm or hurt the company; they just want their needs to be fulfilled and service is up to their expectation. As already mentioned customer complains can provide an opportunity, thereby, helping the cafà © to improve its service. My employees will agree that customers are the most important part of cafe since thats the reason they are in cafe. If there wouldnt be any customer, there wouldnt be need for employees. Thus, customers determine or secure the period of employment of the employee. If there are fewer customers, employees may be laid off to cut down costs. However, some employees may feel that they are the most important part in a business. Employees are the most important asset of any business. If cafà © doesnt value its staff, it would demoralize them which can impact their performance in service. And as a result, their poor performance can hinder customer growth of cafà ©. Thus, some employees value themselves as the most valuable person in a business when compared to customers. MAKING BUSINESS DECISION I Virtual world is a 3D, electronically-generated environment where users can interact, create and communicate just as they would in the real world for example, second life (http://ictwm.org/news/virtual-worlds-help-real-businesses). Virtual world provides people with experiences rather than processing transaction. Once people get attached to virtual experience, they would be excited about experiencing it in real life. This would only be possible through going to the real cafà © which would help the business in transaction processing. It also aids in mass customization as customers design or suggest what they exactly want. Virtual world encourage interaction, collaboration and communication. It can be accessed from anywhere in the world, thus, keeping people and cafà © connected. If cafà © provides continuous updates in virtual world, people nearby the cafà © would go for new and innovative products in that cafà © just because of that cafes presence in virtual world which would enhance the business/cafà © operations. It could also be a marketing tool for the cafe to promote its menus for the day through frequently changing attractive ads in the virtual world. Customer relationship in virtual world is very delicate matters since one does not physically meet to create impression. Virtual world should be designed in such a way that it is appealing and attractive to a customer. In virtual world, cafe business would be better able to meet customer satisfaction with minimum or no cost by changing designs to strengthen virtual customer relationship. Customer wont need to wait in long lines to be served, one can just go to the cafes website and get the taste of coffee or of service in that cafà ©. Virtual world does not restrict the access to any person; any person can access to the website to have a taste. In other words, there is a greater reach and contact to maintain strong customer relationship. Cafà © can be always available to its customer through virtual world without any disruption. Customers would be in a position to demand what they want based on their own specification. This makes the customer feel like king through providing their customized products and enhancing better customer relationship. In traditional customer relationship management strategies, there has been lack of customer experience, co-creation, co-production and collaboration with customers. Thus, our strategy to manage customer in new virtual world is through co-creation and co-production with customers. Co-creation and co-production with customers is different than traditional customer-centric approaches in that the focus is not to learn as much as possible about customers but instead consider them as equal problem solvers (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5858/is_200711/ai_n32252899/pg_2/). Giving customers an important role in the value chain can affect customer satisfaction. Value in co-creation derived by customers purposeful interaction cannot be obtained merely from asking the customers to answer questions and leave comments. Virtual worlds may provide an experience space that supports experience networks which go beyond the domain of a single company and its suppliers to one that is experience -centric to the customers. (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5858/is_200711/ai_n32252899/pg_3) Moreover, since there is a growing use of internet, it would be easier for company to collaborate with its customers through electronic CRM. Electronic CRM has a wider scope for managing customer relationship in a variety of ways and not just collaboration ranging from designing and pricing of digital products to loyalty programs. Supporting Second Life customers differs from supporting website customers as well as traditional customers. In second life, cafà © can design and create those products and services that a particular customer wants. It allows basically for customization as well as reaching out to customers for ideas, prototyping and feedback in a particular area giving cafà © a better competitive advantage. This means that customer support in second life would need to be met in real time especially to a customers demand. Second life is basically everything being electronic whereas traditional revolves around physical presence. Moreover, collaboration between customers and company is a major support in second life unlike traditional customers. Website supports customers with visitor information and product review. It does not allow a customer to get the feeling of being in cafà ©. However, second life gives a customer a virtual feel of being part of that cafà © in addition to visitor information. To make the experience of a virtual world customer great, second life location should offer free virtual coff ee, music, and chairs with tables for customers to hang out. In the traditional (physical) environment, the cafà © needed to be closed off at a particular time, even though customers were involved in deep discussion. This does not happen in second life. Second life supports customers to continue with whatever they are doing in the virtual cafà © without any time limit and can chat as late as they want. Furthermore, upcoming events, artwork and music should be available to customers visiting second life so that it becomes interesting and encourages them to explore the site. Another difference between traditional and second life customer support is in terms of advertising. In past, business would use advertising agency to promote their products but now the cafà © can do in house advertising in virtual world attracting wider range of customers all round the world. Second life does not provide authentication of a persons identity. There is no access control and anyone can easily get into the second life and if there is any confidential information for customers only, that can be easily leaked and used to the disadvantage of the business, that is, the cafà ©. Moreover, phishing can easily take place whereby an intruder who is against the cafà © business can create a website similar to the cafà © site and trick the customers into inputting confidential data. This confidential information can be used as a tool to harm the image of the cafà © through missing the customers information which would tremendously impact on the cafà © business. Similarly, misrepresentation can be another issue just like phishing, whereby someone designs an avatar that looks just like the avatar of a customer service representative. Other issue involves the obsolesce of real life location. Since people get attached to second life, they dont go or visit the real life cafà ©. Second life cafà © can be visited by anyone but real world cafà © may not be. People in a region would only be visiting the cafà © and if those limited people get attached to second life cafà ©, there wont be much importance of real life cafà ©. Thus, issue arises that second life should be positioned and designed in such a way that real life cafà © does not get obsolete and people remain attracted to it as well to have real currency flow in business. Due to lack of authentication, privacy concerns arise. Maintaining customer confidentiality becomes an ethical issue and a challenge for businesses. MAKING BUSINESS DECISION II You Tube can be an important vehicle to communicate with the cafes customers. It is a popular free video sharing website where people can also comment on a particular video. We would design and create video clips of the cafes products and the way service is provided in cafà © and then share it on You Tube, using cartoon characters and other imaginary characters making the clip funny, interesting and informative. Through these clips, we can conveniently show our customers how we have minimized the problem of long wait lines. Firstly, we would make clips showing more counters for serving as well as drive in windows. Long wait lines are basically because of few or only one counter, thus showing a clip with more counters can be seen as a reasonable rectification to the problem. Moreover, for travelers who want to be served instantly while in their vehicle, drive in windows would be a solution to avoid waiting in lines when in rush as in case of McDonalds in Fiji. Clip can show a custome r ordering and being served in just few seconds through drive in windows. Furthermore, online ordering and tele-ordering can also be a rectification to long waiting lines. Through virtual world or cafes website, customers can order online as well as through phone calls before actually going to cafà © so that on their arrival, their order is prepared and no waiting is required. These solutions can be depicted on You Tube through videos using animated characters. You Tube as a communication vehicle, is free and easy to use. Unlike advertising over television, which is associated with costs, You Tube provides this for free whereby anyone can watch the videos and pass comments about how they feel about that particular video. As already said, it saves money on marketing since advertising can be done through clips to promote the cafà ©. You Tube has a wider reach in terms of customers and markets. It is not restricted to a particular geographical region or location. Customers all around the world and in different market can get access to You Tube and learn about the cafà ©. Also through You Tube, cafà © can get a great deal of information to many people in a short amount of time just through one clip. These benefits show that You Tube can be an efficient communication vehicle for any business whether it be cafà © or a car dealer. However, there are various disadvantages for You Tube as well. Since it can be viewed by anyone in the world, it may capture unwanted attention, for instance, is a person does not love coffee, he/she may not like the clip based on coffee and would comment negatively which would create bad impression to other customers. You Tube also in some cases compresses the content of clips and other files, making it unappealing to customers as its not presented in the right way intended and information can be chopped in that compression. Products may not be clear to customers, thus, proper communication of that product such as coffee maybe hindered. Also due to missing information or half information, it could become difficult to understand what the file tries to reveal to customers. Issues of privacy concern and copyright infringement can be cons of You Tube. Privacy can be made vulnerable as amount of information on video can be dangerous such as unintentionally showing where an employee lives or showing someones bio-data while promoting the product or service. Therefore, before starting to use You Tube as a medium of communication vehicle, one must clearly study the pros and cons of it to see whether benefits are there or not. Other new technologies that can be used as a customer communication vehicle that would be more effective than You Tube are social networking sites such as twitter and facebook. It allows more than just posting video. One can post comments, pictures, update information and create events on it. Twitter and facebook help bringing customers together. With help of twitter, cafe can send an alert about new deals or offers in the cafà ©. Blogging can also be a publishing medium. If a customer complements the cafes service or the products and food in cafà © in his blog, it would be a free advertising for the cafà ©. But can also harm the image if blogger comments in a negative way. APPLY YOUR KNOWLEDGE To obtain high quality data, systems in the cafà © must be integrated, since quality information does make a difference in any business. Major importance of quality information is that it induces enhanced, accurate and appropriate decision making. The quality of information used to make business decision determines the quality of decision made. Having real time system in cafà © would provide real time information in response to decision makers queries and requests. High quality decisions can significantly impact the cafes bottom line, thus, profitability. For instance, having integrated and real time system, cafà © can provide what customer wants in an instance which would meet customer satisfaction, thus, improve profitability. Moreover, high quality information enables any business to track valuable customers who generate most revenues. Having proper information about a particular customer visiting cafà © frequently can help cafà © identify the loyal customer and could reward him or her so that they keep coming in future. Uses can place confidence on information of high quality since it is reliable. For instance, if cafà © post on its website information generated from its systems, customers could be easily in a position to rely on it. On the other hand, low quality information results in various business effects. Low quality information are those which has missing information example no first name of customer, incomplete information example no street or missing area code, probable duplicate information such as similar name, same address or phone number and potentially wrong information. The effects of this on cafes business would be its inability to accurately track customers, difficulty identifying valuable customers, inability to identify selling opportunities of cafes product, marketing to non-existent customers, difficulty tracking revenue and inability to build strong customer relationship (net: slides). Low quality information would hinder cafà © to follow up with its profitable customers who frequently such as daily visit cafà © since there may be name confusion. Also if systems are not integrated, it becomes difficult to provide accurately what customer wants and may lead to providing wrong products. Thi s will affect the demand and supply of a particular product which would not be reliable. Also cafà © may be marketing and promoting its cafà © and product to a non-existent customer online due to fake or same names who are not cafes usual customers. Overall, low quality information vigorously degrades the decision making quality in managing a customer and the cafà ©. The examples of information that can be used by The Broadway Cafà © to gain better understanding of its customers are customers taste and preferences. If the cafà © gets a picture of what their current and potential customers would like to consume, cafà © can be prepared for the product and provide the customer that product when they actually came and demand. Moreover, having a brief idea about the customers disposable income would help understand the affordability of prices by customers. This would give the cafà © a view as to what prices customers would be willing to pay for the cafes products such as coffee. Changes in environment and weather would also help in getting to know the customers and their wants, for instance, coffee would be largely demanded during colder seasons in Fiji. Some of the data quality issues are as follows. Firstly, dirty data issues due to data errors which can be attributed to human errors or an application error due to legacy systems. Since theres a large quantity of data to be fed in the system, humans are prone to make errors. Missing and duplicate data are other two issues (Turban, E., and Volonino, L., 2009). The cafà © lacks in proper management of its data which can lead the data to be easily lost as well as to be entered twice. This could really affect the output results thus affecting decision making. Moreover, data can be non-standardized and massed up due to lack of standards. The strategies the company can use to avoid such data quality issues are to implement Master Data Management system. It is comprises a set of processes and tools that consistently defines and manages the non-transactional data entities of an organization. MDM has the objective of providing processes for collecting, aggregating, matching, consolidating, quality-assuring, persisting and distributing such data throughout an organization to ensure consistency and control in the ongoing maintenance and application use of this information. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_data_management) MDM would reduce or eliminate the data quality issues, giving a unified view of enterprise data. It can also use automated data entry, Web forms for individual entering data with data integrity checks and drop down menus and radio buttons. (Turban, E., and Volonino, L., 2009) having frequent data audits in the system can also aid in preventing the above mentioned issues since data would be continuously reviewed and any errors would be detected and corrected appropriately without further problems in future. CAFES BEST CUSTOMERS** Customer ID Total Sales Amount ($) 3548 18,261.86 4438 26,474.28 5657 11,342.98 6891 10,585.94 13801 33,555.50 13959 19,593.65 270177 14,355.99 294896 11,348.40 305668 49,647.45 540135 16,338.02 1309948 11,401.60 ** We have assumed that the cafes best customers are the ones that bring in sales amount dollars of more than $10000. Listed above are the cafes best customers. The cafà © should offer to its valuable customers loyalty marketing programs such as point programs whereby a customer would get points for every purchase they make and when they reach a certain level and collected enough points, will get a special reward such as Jacks of Fiji which is using this marketing system to keep their loyal customers attached. Moreover, the cafà © can give its valuable customers loyalty cards as MH in Fiji is dong with its flash and gain card. Providing customers with promotional vouchers would also give them a feeling of appreciation for their service. Keeping in touch strategy can also be a way of marketing campaign towards valuable customers. Giving personal attention towards the profitable customers is a way to build relationship and keep them in your business. This can be done by sending them promotional messages personally through email or calls frequently and asking for their feedbacks as to what they would like in future and their expectation from cafà ©. Broadway Cafe Question Name Total What is the best selling product? Music CD $776,813.17 What is the worst selling product? Kids CD $96 What is the best sales month? 3 $569,339.10 What is the worst sales month? 5 $58,501.06 What is the best selling product during the best month? Music CD $235,054.45 What is the worst selling product during the best month? Kids CD $64 What is the best selling product during the worst month? Music CD $33,684.43 What is the worst selling product during the worst month? Food $63.2 * For answering the above questions, we have taken our base as sales amount values to reach an answer. SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT BUSINESS DILEMMA Broadway Cafà © can reinvent the cafà © by making use of demand planning software. This software would enable the cafà © to be prepared in peak hours of business since it would capture and give information as and when a customer enters either the cafà © or the car park of the cafà ©. For instance, as part of software set, a camera can be attached at the roof of the cafà © to capture information on people entering the car park and determine what they would normally order at that particular time of the day. Also, it would allow the cafà © to keep track of its regular customers and their demands, thus, have the items available for them without having them wait in lines. This can be done before a customer enters the cafà ©. The software would also enable in ensuring whether the cafà © has enough of the products that that would be demanded by the customer such as a particular type of coffee. Although the implementation of such a software would be costly at its initial stage, it w ould be beneficial for cafà © in future as it is located in Suva, to obtain customer satisfaction and where people are always in rush. Thus, demand planning software would be a great benefit for the cafà ©. Like Netflix, we would not see cafà © becoming a supplier in another business supply such as hotel industry since our cafà © itself is very small at this stage. First, it needs to widen its customer base with the help of demand planning software and online ordering system (electronic ordering). Since our cafà © has a website, we could include in that a feature where customers order online, paying through credit cards or paying subscription fee for being in that account. The cafà © can based on customers order deliver the items to the customer within the Suva area if large quantities are ordered such as Pizza King which delivers pizza to people living in urban and suburban areas. Moreover, a customer would also order online so that before their arrival in cafà ©, the items are prepared for them before hand such as coffee. Thus, innovating ordering system would also attract more customers in the cafà ©. With the help of these supply chain technologies, the cafà © can expand its customer base and from there on can think bigger and better options such as becoming supplier of coffee/coffee beans to hotels or other businesses such as MacDonald. MAKING BUSINESS DECISION I The success of any business depends on its ability of short and long term planning. As a concerned business operator, I would always maintain some inventory in my warehouse for such unexpected events especially coffee beans which are in demand. Since not being able to meet customer demand would lead to losing out customers. Thus, our cafà © would keep with its operation regardless of disruption in supply chain du to dockworkers strike and would run on warehouse inventory (Brazil Beans, China Tea and custom Coffee press machines). Moreover, based on available inventory analysis in the warehouse, we would determine how long supply would last. Is our warehouse inventory wouldnt be able to meet up with the disruption period, we would resort to redundant suppliers since all suppliers wont be affected at once with the same problem. We would consider our temporary local suppliers such as Nestle to supply us with similar products as long as we are able to operate efficiently, although the cost in emergency need may be higher than usual price paid to our fixed suppliers. Since the cafà © has been going towards demand-driven manufacturing, Radio Frequency Identification Technologies (RFIT) would be the newest and most efficient solution to supply chain problems. RFIT is the most valuable technology to track inventory. If inventory level in any case would be low, it would trigger automatic alert to our suppliers. It is an important device in global transportation both land and sea. It ensures that inventory level are checked and replenished on need by need basis. Although this strategy would be bit costly for the cafà © in the initial stage at present, it would provide benefits in the future. Another strategy I would recommend is to create a position as freight specialist whose job would be to enable transportation of products in whatever the situation maybe and at any cost. The freight specialist would guarantee that products would reach the cafà © on time to meet customer demand and if not than they would be responsible for the loss. MAKING BUSINESS DECISION II Broadway cafà © No move Broadway Cafà © Units sold per month: 20,000 Unit variable costs: $0.50 Average unit sales price: $2.20 Current fixed costs: $5,000 Added lease payment, new offices: $2,500 Projected fixed costs: $7,500 Sales month Units Sales Fixed Costs Variable Costs EBIT January 6,582 $14,480 $5,000 $3,291 $6,189 February 11,121 $24,466 $5,000 $5,561 $13,906 March 14,178 $31,192 $5,000 $7,089 $19,103 April 13,692 $30,122 $5,000 $6,846 $18,276 May 11,597 $25,513 $5,000 $5,799 $14,715 June 9,599 $21,118 $5,000 $4,800 $11,318 July 9,913 $21,809 $5,000 $4,957 $11,852 August 10,926 $24,037 $5,000 $5,463 $13,574 September 14,349 $31,568 $5,000 $7,175 $19,393 October 12,965 $28,523 $5,000 $6,483 $17,041 November 6,972 $15,338 $5,000 $3,486 $6,852 December 2,455 $5,401 $5,000 $1,228 ($827) Sum $151,393 Broadway cafà © Move Broadway Cafà © Units sold per month: 20,000 Unit variable costs: $0.30 Average unit sales price: $2.20 Projected fixed costs: $7,500 Sales month Units Sales Fixed Costs Variable Costs EBIT January 6,582 $14,480 $7,500 $1,975 $5,006 February 11,121 $24,466 $7,500 $3,336 $13,630 March 14,178 $31,192 $7,500 $4,253 $19,438 April 13,692 $30,122 $7,500 $4,108 $18,515 May 11,597 $25,513 $7,500 $3,479 $14,534 June 9,599 $21,118 $7,500 $2,880 $10,738 July 9,913 $21,809 $7,500 $2,974 $11,335 August 10,926 $24,037 $7,500 $3,278 $13,259 September 14,349 $31,568 $7,500 $4,305 $19,763 October 12,965 $28,523 $7,500 $3,890 $17,134 November 6,972 $15,338 $7,500 $2,092 $5,747 December 2,455 $5,401 $7,500 $737 ($2,836) Sum: $146,263 APPLY YOUR KNOWLEDGE Broadway Cafà © Shipping Analysis Number to ship from DC to Roasting Plants: DCs Total Salt Lake Chicago Albeq <

A Life Changing Experience Essay -- essays research papers

First day of the rest of my life, my stomach is in knots and I can’t seem to do anything with my hair. I have all my pens, papers, notebooks and other miscellaneous items stuffed into my brand new blue book bag. My mother is down stairs on the patio drinking her morning tea watching the world wake up. I gave my brand new shoes a quick shine, checked my hair about three more times each time finding something new wrong. Mother yells at me from down stairs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å" You’re going to miss the bus!† The bus! I can’t believe my ears. I can’t show up to high school on my first day by riding the bus. I was scared I needed my mother to drive me to school. Somehow knowing my mother was going to be there part of the way made it a little bit easier for me to go. I need her in a way to hold my hand as I embark on a new chapter in my life. Plus I was a little brat and felt too good for the public transportation system. My mother could sense that I felt uneasy and drove me. The drive to the newly built high school was just under fifteen minuets away. As we traveled my mother gave me some tips to make it through the day. She told me to introduce myself to my teachers on personal bases, to sit up front and to eat a good lunch. As we arrived at the entrance I felt my breakfast wanting to jump out of my stomach. I was shaking and on the verge of tears. Mother gave me a hug and a kiss on the forehead, told me everything was going to be just fine. I jumped out of the car and stood on the sidewal...

MAS 500 operating system

MAS 500 operating system can increase efficiency in management. It was built up with Microsoft office and Visual Basic and has been seen as good financial accounting software. (Sage software) MAS 500 can integrate business intelligence; order processing, distribution and manufacture (Sage software) and is designed to help companies manage operations. The software is dependable and reliable and covers all areas of e –business and can support large volumes of data and respond to growth in the business. (Tech target. 2008) MAS 500integrates with other applications and can be customised without programming.(Tech target. 2008) The disadvantage in its implementation is the cost involved to purchase the software and then train staff to use it. However, with the increased efficiency MAS 500 is often seen as a good investment reducing costs in the long run. The time taken to upgrade can be seen as a disadvantage as it cuts into business profits. MAS 500 have been seen that leading comp anies have taken this new software. Fortune Brands has upgraded and MAS 500 performs general ledger, accounts payable and cash management tasks. (Best software, 2003).MAS 500 can automate areas of business management such as core and advanced financials, customer relationship management, project accounting, time and expense tracking, wholesale distribution, discrete manufacturing, warehouse management, human resources, payroll, e-business and business intelligence. (TechTarget. 2008)MAS 500 is user friendly and allows most companies to run it quickly in less time then previous soft wares. (Best software, 2003) Thus the cost constraint would eventually be outweighed by the many benefits this software has to offer.References Best software (2003) A most admired company selects MAS 500 and ASP. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on the 14Th of November 2008:http://whitepapers. silicon. com/0,39024759,60040974p,00. htm Sage software. Sage MAS 500 retrieved from the World Wide Web on the 1 4Th of November 2008: http://www. sagemas. com/products/sagemas500/ Tech Target. (2008) Sage Software. Sage MAS500. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on the 14Th of November 2008: http://www. 2020software. com/products/Sage_MAS_500. asp

Reaction Paper in Opening Bank Account Essay

Opening bank account today would seem so easy. We can easily avail of a wide range of deposit products that answer our needs for greater accessibility to our funds, value-added features, competitive rates and convenience. Upon opening an account to the bank (RCBC), the bank gave me a registration form that includes details and some basic information about my identity. Honestly, I find it uneasy to fill up those forms because of lots of information it requires. However, I just used to think that the reason for this is to protect them and to comply with a variety of banking regulations. Aside from signing the information sheet, the bank also requires me to sign their banking terms and agreements which only mean that I have to abide to certain rules and accept responsibility for certain actions. Like other banks, the RCBC also offers ATM card known as MyWallet card. This all-in-one card allows us to enjoy electronic banking convenience anytime, anywhere and it will allow us to do transa ctions like a regular ATM card: withdrawals, cashless shopping, balance inquiry and bills payment–all these, without the hassles of keeping a monthly maintaining balance. Plus, no penalty will be charged even if we’re going to withdraw all the money in our account. For me, this is really advantageous especially for us as a student who only have limited budget and allowance for savings. Also, having bank account is really convenient. For example, if I have a bank account, I can easily pay bills using ATM. It’s also cheaper than buying a money order (and I will have proof of bank statements that I paid my bills). If I get an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) or debit card for the account, I can withdraw money easily or make payments at stores since a debit card is usually accepted for purchases anywhere credit cards are accepted. I can say that opening a bank account is an opportunity for me to learn how to manage financial aspects especially in the near future if Ià ¢â‚¬â„¢m already a professional.