Business related Essay

1. Define Marketing. What is marketing process as set out in your text book. Explain the various elements of marketing process. ( LO1; Assessment Criteria 1.1) 2. Select an organization of your choice, identify the marketing orientation it focuses on and evaluate the benefits and costs of the marketing orientation for the selected organization ( LO1; Assessment Criteria 1.2) 3. The Dunkin’ Donut Case: ( LO1; Assessment Criteria 1.2) For more than 50 years, Dunkin’ Donuts has offered customers throughout the United States, and around the world, a consistent experience – the same donuts, the same coffee, the same store dà ©cor – each time a customer drops in. Although the chain now offers iced coffee, breakfast sandwiches, smoothies, gourmet cookies, and Dunkin’ Dawgs in addition to the old standbys, devoted customers argue that it’s the coffee that sets Dunkin’ Donut apart. To keepcustomers coming back, the chain still relies on the recipe that founder Bill Rosenberg crafted more than 50 years ago. The company is so concerned about offering a consistent, high-quality cup of coffee that managers in Dunkin’ Donut’s â€Å"Tree-to-Cup† program monitor the progress of its coffee beans from the farm to the restaurant. The result? Dunkin Donuts sells more cups of coffee than any other retailer in the United States – 30 cups a second, nearly one billion cups each year. Building on that success, the company plans to more than triple its current number of stores, amassing 15,000 franchises by the year 2015. What marketing orientation does Dunkin Donut follow here and why? Give reasons and justification Learning Outcome/s achieved in the assignment: By completing this assignment successfully, the student will achieve the following learning outcome:Learning Outcome LO1 Understand the concept and process of marketing Assessment Criteria 1.1 explain the various elements of the marketing process 1.2 evaluate the benefits and costs of a marketing orientation for a selected organisation Grading Criteria PASS The student will be awarded a PASS grade if he/she achieves all assessment criteria MERIT: The student will be awarded a Merit grade if he/she The learners evidence shows for : M1 Identify and apply strategies to find appropriate solutions †¢ effective judgements have been made †¢ complex problems with more than one variable have been explored †¢ an effective approach to study and research has been applied DISTINCTION: The student will be awarded a Distinction grade if he/she The learners evidence shows for: †¢ conclusions have been arrived at through synthesis of ideas and have been justified D1 Use critical reflection to evaluate own work †¢ the validity of results has been evaluated using and justify valid conclusions defined criteria †¢ self-criticism of approach has taken place †¢ realistic improvements have been proposed against defined characteristics for success

Warehouse Management System

In a WMS, we aim to observe the maximized profits with a minimized cost with certain computerized procedures to enable a seamless process of warehouse operation. With the above consideration, we come up with 4 main special features that are essential to be equipped in the WMS. First of all, we need to have barcode labeling for all the stocks in the warehouse in order to identify each product, keep record in the system and find them out easily.It is necessary for us to have detailed information of every stock in the warehouse by simply identifying the barcode labels with wireless inventory scanner, which could save time, reduce paper work and greatly increase the productivity and accuracy when handling stocks. Barcode labeling is fundamental for WMS as we need to keep tracking the stocks throughout the whole warehouse operation process. Secondly, we think that efficiency is also an undeniable element in WMS, which we consider auto-conveyer as one of our choice of special features to e nhance the efficiency.Auto-conveyor could reduce the need of man power and it is much speedy than the manually controlled way when moving stocks as it could quickly retrieve wanted items. Auto conveyor could also handle some simple sorting and identification work, which greatly reduce the need of manpower. Thirdly, virtual warehouse would be our core feature in the WMS, it acts as an important role in both order management and put away and packing. It provides a comprehensive physical view of the warehouse. With a virtual warehouse, we could have a clear idea of the operating warehouse through the browser.It could facilitate the decision making in the WMS as we could control a lot of process with a virtual warehouse. Indeed, a virtual warehouse is a system that involved a lot of components, but we are now focusing on the order management and the put away and picking management. With WMS, orders could be generated easily on the internet as the information of customers, suppliers and the stocks are kept in the system. It is convenient to add items, notes and select the customer or supplier for your purchase or sales order.This may improve the efficiency and is environmentally friendly when compared with the paper file. It is much less time-consuming to find out the order and customer information. For the put away management, the WMS could utilize the optimum locations for the stocks received in the warehouse automatically. Also in the picking management, the WMS could decide the best location for picking. With this system, we do not have to waste time on finding storage location, while having a greater control in the allocation of resources and facilitates time management.In fact, the virtual warehouse could not work alone, while barcode labeling and auto-conveyor assisted the virtual warehouse a lot in the stance of automation and computerization. They three are interrelated and the virtual warehouse is in the leading position among them, which means it is impo rtant in connecting different parts of a warehouse and make the WMS works. Although the above 3 special features has provide us convenience, efficiency and accuracy, we could not fully rely on a computerized system but to have a feature that could reduce our mistakes to the minimum, ideally, zero mistake.Thus the last feature we include in our WMS is cycle counting. Cycle counting reduces the need for the time-consuming and costly process of shutting down the manufacturing process in order to count inventory, which the inventory auditing procedure is carried out according to a continuous schedule. The result would be a more accurate calculation of stocks in the warehouse. To conclude, we think these four features are able to make a WMS that could control material movement efficiently and most possibly making the maximum profit.

Csr Toyota

Assignment 1 / Essay Assignment question: It is sometime suggested that CSR activities are increasing strategic in that it affects that core business of the firm and its growth, profitability and survival? Drawing on an example of a corporation/company (National/ International), discuss this in the context of business strategies, in particular on the issues of competitive advantage and firm performance. Introduction In this essay, we will discuss why organizations began CSR and how it is or can be or why should it be implemented. CSR usually get started off either as an integral part of the business strategy or corporate identity, or it can be used as a defensive policy, with the latter being used more often by companies targeted by activists. Rationale for CSR implementation is based on either a moral, a rational, or an economic argument (Werther & Chandler, 2006). Campbell (2007) which is a representative of a group of studies that create testable propositions related to the conditions under which organizations will move toward CSR. Studies show that corporations’ level of social responsibility as being influenced by factors such as financial conditions of the firm, health of the economy, and well-enforced state regulations. Reason why companies take on CSR is also being discussed in the literature in terms of the specific initiatives under which CSR may fall. Ways of describing these rationales varies, from the more skeptical view of cause-related marketing to a more generous attribution of genuine socially responsible business practices (Kotler & Lee, 2005). To ascertain how CSR is implemented in organizations, some researchers uses a developmental framework to show change in awareness, strategy, and action over time, and posits stages of CSR from elementary to transforming (e. g. , Mirvis & Googins, 2006). Jackson and Nelson (2004) take more of a how-to approach, offering a principle-based framework for mastering what they call the â€Å"new rules of the game. † Examples of principles include harnessing innovation for the public good, putting people at the center, and spreading economic opportunity where in this essay will discuss on how Toyota Motor Corporation applies this. CSR of Toyota Motor Corporation Many companies have established their corporate identities using branding through CSR, which has eventually becoming a focal point of their success and competitive advantage (Werther & Chandler, 2006). Toyota Motor Corporation recognizes corporate social responsibilities and emphasis on safety, the environment and education to offer to people the tools needed to make a difference to help and protect the environment. The company operates under the guidance of a global earth charter that promotes environmental responsibility throughout the organization worldwide. Toyota becomes the leader in leading the industry to lower emissions and improving fuel economy vehicles. Not only did Toyota create the world's first mass-production gas/electric hybrid car, they are also working ahead in the development of future fuel cell vehicles. (Toyota. com 2011) Toyota Motor Corporation’s commitment to preserving the environment doesn’t stop at just their vehicles. Two of their manufacturing plants have been designated as zero landfill producing operations. Green† complex in California has one of the largest commercial solar panel systems in North America which conserves more than 11 Million gallons of drinking water annually through special pipelines that supply recycled water for cooling and landscaping. (Toyota. com 2011) In addition, contributing to their dedication in environmental preservation, Toyota has also developed strong partnerships with organizations such as The National Arbor Day Foundation and The National Environmental Edu cation ; Training Foundation. The corporation partners with organizations, schools, universities and other businesses to support programs that help make the world a better place. Toyota Motor Corporation has a variety of national programs like Toyota Driving Expectations Safety Program, Toyota Youth For Understanding Summer Exchange Scholarship Program, Toyota International Teacher Program, National Center for Family Literacy, Toyota Community Scholars, United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Internship Program and others. Strategic Models of CSR Strategic planning as opposed to operational planning concerns the general long-term planning of a Toyota Corporation with the aim to gain economic advantages in the competitive market place. Operational planning in contrast incorporates concrete short- or medium-term activities in line with the strategic goals of the company (Wohe 1993: 141). A strategic plan usually consists of an analysis of the firm and its environment, the development of strategic goals and alternative strategies, the assessment, evaluation and selection of strategic alternatives, and the implementation, evaluation and control of the strategies (Grant 2005, Hopfenbeck 1997: 40) in which Toyota Corporation did when they came up with their CSR It has been demonstrated by Porter and Kramer that a strategic approach to CSR can incorporate competitive advantages for Toyota Corporation but even more importantly, it allows for an integrated and effective implementation of CS. Following this argumentation, an inclusive strategic model of CSR was developed combining central ideas of CSR theory with the classical model of strategic planning using narrow view and boarder view. Narrow view On the contrary, supporters of narrow view in CSR claim that Toyota corporations have just one objective- make money. They believe that caring for the environmental, society and other problems are the responsibilities of government and non-profit making organizations sponsored by governments. A bright supporter of the narrow view is as mention in Milton Friedman theory that those who claims that diverting corporations from the chase of profit makes our economic system less effective. Friedman states: â€Å"The stockholders or the customers or the employees could separately spend their own money on the particular action if they wished to do so. The executive is exercising a distinct â€Å"social responsibility,† rather than serving as an agent of the stockholders or the customers or the employees, only if he spends the money in a different way than they would have spent it† ( M. Friedman 1970). Another defender of narrow view in corporate social responsibility is famous economist Adam Smith, whose â€Å"invisible hand† argument states that if every member of society in a free market economy strives to promote his own economic interests they are led to promote the general good. This may be a good argument in other eras of economics, but using this argument to justify for support of the narrow view will reasonably arise criticisms. The hand-of-government argument of the narrow view states that businesses should have no social role other than making oney. According to inept-custodian argument business executives lack    moral and social expertise, and can only make economic decisions. To ask executives to take charge of non-economic responsibilities is equal to putting social welfare in the hands of inept custodians. Broader view Supporter of broader view believe that Toyota Corporation have other obligations apart from pursuing profit because of their great social and economic power, Toyota corporations must carry social responsibility towards society and wider community. Businesses cannot make decisions which are made solely with economic point of view, because Toyota Corporation are interrelated with the whole social system. Business activities have deep implications for society. As a result, society expects Toyota Corporation to pursue other responsibilities as well. A social contract between society and business represents a unstated understanding within society about the proper goals and responsibilities of business. This social contract is an on-going process of negotiation and change. Conclusion This is the basic reason why the doctrine of â€Å"social responsibility† involves the acceptance of the socialist view that political mechanisms, not market mechanisms, are the appropriate way to determine the allocation of scarce resources to alternative uses. The New York Times Magazine (1970) To illustrate, it may well be in the long run interest for Toyota Corporation that is a major employer in a small community to devote resources to providing amenities to that community or to improving its government. That may make it easier to attract desirable employees, it may reduce the wage bill or lessen losses from pilferage and sabotage or have other worthwhile effects. Or it may be that, given the laws about the deductibility of corporate charitable contributions, the stockholders can contribute more to charities they favor by having the corporation make the gift than by doing it themselves, since they can in that way contribute an amount that would otherwise have been paid as corporate taxes. The New York Times Magazine (1970) There are many different views regarding corporate social responsibility. Some people defend â€Å"broader view† saying that corporations should contribute back to society from their profits they make by selling their products and services to the members of that society. Others defend â€Å"narrow view† justifying they stand by claiming that executives are not moral agents and it would be a mistake to include to the scope of their responsibilities to care about nature, wider community and society in general. My personal view is that profit maximization should not be the only objective of any business corporations. Every company uses resources to manufacture its products or bring its services. These resources include land, human resources, and other resources from nature including gas, water, oil, etc. The fees the companies pay for these resources when obtaining them are insignificant if one compares them with the huge amount of profits companies make when manufacturing products using these resources. Corporations must, therefore, contribute part of their earnings to society and environment as a way of paying back, even if they have paid when obtaining resources. Thus, I agree to â€Å"broader view† in Corporate Social Responsibility and Toyota Motor Corporation is justly and generously contributing to environment and the society and considered a model corporation fulfilling its corporate responsibilities. Referencing Alessia D'Amato, 2009. Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Business: A Guide to Leadership Tasks and Functions. Edition. Center for Creative Leadership. Campbell, J. L. (2007). Why would corporations behave in socially responsible ways? An institutional theory of corporate social responsibility. Academy of Management Review, 32, 946–967. Grant, Robert M. (2005): Contemporary Strategic Analysis, 5. ed. Malden, Oxford, Carlton Hopfenbeck, Waldemar (1997): Allgemeine Betriebswirtschafts- und Managementlehre: Das Unternehmen im Spannungsfeld z Jackson, I. A. , & Nelson, J. (2004). Profits with principles: Seven strategies for delivering value with values. New York: Doubleday. Kotler, P. , & Lee, N. (2005). Corporate social responsibility: Doing the most good for your company and your cause. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Mirvis, P. , & Googins, B. K. (2006). Stages of corporate citizenship: A developmental framework [Monograph]. Chestnut Hill, MA: The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship. The New York Times Magazine, September 13, 1970. Copyright @ 1970 by The New York Times Company. Werther, W. B. , Jr. , & Chandler, D. A. (2006). Strategic corporate social responsibility. New York: Sage Publications.

Walter Röhrl Takes The Porsche Panamera GTS To…

Afzal Kahn, owner of the eponymous A. Kahn Design outfit (formerly Project Kahn), has unveiled his latest creation in what has become a long line of customized luxury and high-performance cars. Treading more along the lines of sophistication and style rather than overt showiness often shown by rival tuners, A. Kahn Design’s British-based team has taken the Porsche Panamera and made it not only more visually appealing but sportier too. Afzal Kahn has re-designed many a Porsche over the years. However, the end result of the A. Kahn Design Porsche Panamera in carbon gray complete with the F1 number plate is particularly aggressive. A new wide-body styling package has been fitted, which consists of wide vented front and rear wheel arches as well as an integrated rear air dam, lower boot wing, billet aluminum side vents, and red brake calipers. As a final touch, the windows and rear tail-lights have been tinted also. But it’s not just about looks. A. Kahn Design engineers have also installed a custom stainless-steel exhaust system and lowered suspension. And those wheels you see are a set of Kahn’s own 22-inch RS600, which can be ordered in any color and is designed to fit most OEM center caps. Another unique feature of this model is the impressive interior, which has been upgraded with a blend of dark red quilted and perforated leather and a matching red speedo and rev counter. In case you’re interested, this particular Panamera is on offer for sale with a pricetag of ?86,875 (approximately $136,440). However, all of the pieces mentioned can be ordered separately from A. Kahn Design.

Business Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 4

Business Environment - Essay Example This lies solely as a theoretical benchmark of measuring performance of companies operating under perfect competition. In practice, one of the many deviations may be the possibility and that the firms and customers may not have perfect information about the market. Some firms operating in the market may not have access to information that older firms do (Rees et al, 2005). Similarly, customers in emerging markets may also be at a lower access to information about the products and the industry than already developed and mature markets. This will lead to a change in structure of the theoretical perfect competition structure. Moreover, the imbalance in perfect information may also affect other factors such as the firms being price takers and barriers to exit and entry may persist for some firms while others may not face the same consequences. Firms may not exactly be operating on the floating prices as many market prices may be either exaggerated or deflated due to an overall nature of the industry at a given time. Many firms may drastically lower their prices in order to beat upcoming competition and if a new entrant takes the floating price at that time to try to equate marginal cost to marginal profit- it may lead to a long run closure of that new entrant (Worthington, 2006). Furthermore, pessimism and optimism in the market may also lead the market to deviate from the perfect competition theory as the cost of factors of production along with the floating price in the market may be perceived by the customers and firms in a different way both in the long and the short run. Many firms, therefore, may (along with the industry as a whole) may start functioning as a price setter rather than a price taker as generally assumed by the theory of perfect competition (Rees, 2005). Building upon supply and demand of the factors of production and the supply and demand of the product itself, the

See attched Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

See attched - Essay Example The moral law is based â€Å"not in the nature of man, nor in the circumstances of the world in which man is placed, but †¦. A priori solely in the concepts of pure reason.†2 The categorical imperatives of Kant demand us not to tell a lie even when the life of someone may be at risk due to our rigid adherence to the moral rules.3 Helga and Springer have pointed out another outcome of the traditional rules of morality, that is, some feminists have started demanding the moral laws to be based on emotions and personal relationships. According to them, the traditional approach of moral rules places too much emphasis on abstract principles and the role of reason. Though both the views have some weight and there is also some room for criticism on the Kantian morality as well as the feminist approach of ethics of care and emotions, moral theory certainly should be based on rules. The main criticism of the moral theory based on rules is that these rules restrict our actions to do good which have good consequences. The human nature resists such restrictions and seeks liberty and freedom to do what pleases it. As the end of morality is to give happiness to the humanity, this happiness individual wish to seek through doing things according to their instincts rather than guided by some set of rules. That is why; the rules of morality often fail to bind human being to do good according to the set of rules. However, it is wrong to say that our ethical values should be based on our feelings more than the rules. Certainly, rules of morality provide us guidelines to do certain things and help us become civilized. For example, if people are let to do thi ngs instinctively, they would start fighting with other human beings just for the sake of their own pleasure. And if people are guided by their own feelings, they would prefer to do things according to what gratifies them rather than what is based on rational and reason. For instance, it is my feeling sometime that the

The Effect of Rural Population Density on Socio-economic Dissertation

The Effect of Rural Population Density on Socio-economic Characteristics of Rural Communities - Dissertation Example From the research it can be comprehended that rural population or settlement density is a very important factor or variable in identifying, delineating, analysing and categorising the rural communities. Modern day rural communities are typically formed out of a symbiosis between a central urban centre and a rural matrix within which it is embedded, in terms of the labour market, service provided, social interaction and other activities. The concept of the rural population and the nature of these settlement densities are essential variables as one tries to comprehend the important factor in understanding the socio-economic, the population density and the settlement matrix of the sparsely populated rural areas, where the thin and decreasing population densities presents both theoretical and practical problems for those involved in rural planning. Rural population density has a strong influence over the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the various non-urban communities, especially in the developed world, and forms to be a fundamental variable within the realms of planning and public policy framing. Thus, we find that study of rural population density is an essential subject in order to develop these spresely-populated areas better. However, a closer look at this subject of rural population shows us that not much work has been done in this line owing to the complex nature of the population density. It is not easy to distinguish between cause and effect, while explaining the various planes of human density, and the type and depth of their relationships with different social aspects. The complex nature of population density also implicates the involvement of the socio-economic, environmental, and historical factors that help to create a specific density spectrum and kind, like, linear, clustered, or randomly distributed, in respect to any type of rural community (Argent, Smailes, & Grif?n, 2005). The perceived density or the qualitative dimensions of population density are yet to be explored in details. only a few researchers have worked in this regards, as for example, Irving and Davidson (1973) defined social density (interpersonal relationships between members of a rural community), and Tuan (1977) in his papers emphasized that the feelings of crowding or loneliness were created owing to an individual’