Comparing and contrasting the presentation Essay

  Comparing and contrasting power in Hawk Roosting and Human Interest The effects of power seem to be largely psychological in both poems. In Human interest the damage coursed by love and jealousy drives the man to kill his lover , to show power not only to himself but to his girlfriend. Later on in the poem we see the man in his prison cell questioning his motive behind his sudden outburst of rage; whereas in Hawk Roosting the hawk believes there’s no need for other predator’s existence as nature is ‘all’ his and ‘no arguments can assert’ his right to his power to kill. In Hawk Roosting the hawk has no restrictions in life and does as he pleases as he see’s himself as an all mighty being. But in Human Interest the man has a spur of the moment action that has a long-lasting effect, both on the dead girlfriend and on him in terms of a prison sentence. The effect of power on the hawk causes him to become arrogant and this making the pointlessness in other animals while the effect of power on man drives them insane and blind to those around us. The hawk wishes to ‘keep things like this’ and although we know this is about the hawk wanting to keep himself above all the rest he will eventually crumble and fall just as nature intended. The hawk abuses his power by killing those smaller then him to increase his status in the food chain. The effects of power leave contrasting images of a grief-stricken man left in a secluded room and the arrogance of roaming free, though both eventually are seen as murderers in life and will be nothing more.

Marketing of Burj Al Arab in Dubai Essay

Abstract: This paper discusses the marketing of Burj AlArab hotel in Dubai. It contains a brief description of the hotel and his history. It describes about the culture in Dubai and how it affects the hotel. A SWOT analysis has been discussed in the paper to know about its situation in Dubai. It also shows you the competitor of Burj Al Arab in Dubai and the marketing audit shows that how the hotel is positioned in the market .It concludes by stating how Burj Al Arab can maintain and develop its policies to keep it top in competitive market of Dubai. BURJ AL ARAB – The Arabian Tower of the Jumeirah Beach Resort. With 321 meters, this is the world ´s tallest hotel, only 60 meters shorter than the Empire State Building. This all-suite hotel stands 27 double-height storeys high and comprises 202 duplex suites. Your transfer to the hotel may be arranged by one of the world ´s largest fleets of Rolls Royce. Reaching new heights of luxury and service levels, Burj Al Arab offers a choice of 142 1-Bedroom DeLuxe Suites, 18 1-Bedroom Panoramic Suites, four 1-Bedroom Club Suites, 28 2-Bedroom Suites, six 3-Bedroom Suites, two Presidential Suites and two Royal Suites. The finest materials have been sourced from around the globe for your luxury and comfort, coming together in exclusively designed and handcrafted interiors. All suites feature floor to ceiling windows and are of course equipped with the latest technology like interactive television (with a camera that views all visitors to the suite – and you can give access to them without leaving the comfort of your bed or the armchair), all-purpose office equipment, laptop computers and internet access(First class travel 2006)Dubai :-Dubai is the most populous and second largest emirate (in terms of size) in the federation after Abu Dhabi.Dubai is distinct from other members of the UAE in that revenues from oil account for only 6% of i ts gross domestic product. A majority of the emirate’s revenues are from the Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZ) [2] and now, increasingly, from tourism. Dubai is currently the second largest developing city in the world after Shanghai.With enormous construction and development in various industries.Dubai has attracted world attention through innovative real  estate projects, sports events, conferences and guiness records.(Wikipedia 2006)SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS:-To know marketing strategies, it is essential to know as much as possible about the market place or environment in which the property operates. A situation analysis researches the properties current position in the marketplace and reveals potential opportunities to promote the property. (Abbey1998,pp54-55)Cultural Influence:The cultural environment holds deeply influence on marketing behavior. Hotel industry needs to be sensitive to cultural variation in the environment and grasp opportunities for expanding. For instance, In Dubai there is 80 percent foreigners who have investments, businesses and employments. Over 1100 staff members from 50 different nationalities work in different areas of Burj AL Arab hotel. Therefore, they bring the diverse cultures from all different home countries such as religions, values, and social behaviors, etc. There will be slight or even severe varies between different guest groups, product suppliers, and hotel employees. It is crucial important for the managerial level to treat people with equal respect and revere different cultural norms.(sevenseashotels 2006). SWOT Analysis :SWOT defines the desired output from the formal analysis which must precede the selection of the strategy and the formulation of the plans to implement it.(Baker 1998,p139)STRENGTHS :†¢The infrastructure of the building which is like a sail boat which gives the guest a very fine and different experience. †¢All the restaurant , bars has a different outlook and are very famous world wide. Ex:Al Mahara – seafood restaurant accessible by a three minute virtual submarine voyage. Magnificent oval aquarium visible throughout the restaurant. Al Iwan – sea view restaurant. Finest Arabian hospitality with dà ©cor of dramatic gold, red and black†¢Member of the leading hotels of the world.(sevenseas hotels 2006)WEAKNESS:†¢Dubai is promoted as a tourist destination but is more of a commercial destination which have a great impact on the hotel. †¢The rigid climate and the culture of Dubai does not help the hotel to stay flexible. †¢The major economy of Dubai is based on oil and gas so the Dubai government does not stress on hospitality and tourism sector. OPPORTUNITIES:†¢Dubai as slowly developing as a commercial destination which will help the hotel to attract lot of business travelers. †¢Dubai is pressurizing more on building lot of theme parks and sports activities which can help the hotel to attract lot of international tourist. THREATS:†¢Lot of new entrants as Dubai is developing in to one of the best commercial cities. †¢High prices of the accommodations which gives advantage to the other hotelsCOMPETITOR ANALYSIS:As Dubai is one of the biggest developing commercial centers there is a lot of competition in the hotels to attract the tourist. The detail comparison for product differentiation Burj al arab and its competitors are as follows:Burj Al Arab : world class duple suites-non smoking rooms-data ports-complimentary news paper-hair dryer-room service-spectacular views-bar-spa-jaccuzi-sauna-shopping center-private health and fitness facility-theropy rooms-Aerobic room-restraunt. (Burj Al Arab 2006)Sheraton Jumeira Beach Resort And Towers :cabletv-hair dryer-child care-wake up service-see view -spa-sauna-bar-shopping center-outdoor tennis-water sports-squash courts-golf course. (Star wood hotels 2006)Hyatt Regency Dubai : Non smoking rooms-cable Tv- complimentary news papper-roomservice-child care-spa-sauna-bar-shopping center-fishing-tennis-restraunt. (Regency hyatt 2006)Le Meridien Mina Seyahi Resort :Wheel chair-free news papper-child care-modem lines-room service-TV with cables-Hair dryer-Mini bar-outdoor pool-spa-tennis-fitness center-shops-restraunt. (Le Meridien Mina Seyahi Resort 2006)PORTERS 5 FORCES APLICATIONS TO BURJ AL ARABRivalry Among Existing Firm:HIGHIt has a lot of competitor as above mentioned which have strong brand names among the local and international travelers. In order to leverage brand equity, Burj Al Arab hotel must possess better quality of service facilities more than its competitors. Threat Of New Entrants:HIGHBurj Al Arab has got many loyal customers but a small mishandling in customers expectations may cause the loyal customers to switch to another property. Dubai being a commercial developing city there are lot of hotels coming in. Bargaining Power Of Buyers:LOWMajority of the customers always pay close attention to the hotel price .It has all suite rooms which in all is different from other hotels so the people which the hotel target is specific so the bargaining power of customer is less. Bargaining Power Of Suppliers:LOW The hotel has to face a pressure from their suppliers; however the hotel can reduce it by partnering with travel agencies or big market chains purchasing high volume of products. Threat Of substitute:LOWBeing a very high class property and having a great brand name there are almost no threats to the beautiful property of Burj Al Arab. MARKETING AUDITS:A marketing audit is a systematic and thorough examination of a companies marketing position. (J.Baker1998,p237). POSITIONING:In the case of BURJ AL ARAB hotel Dubai, due to great occupancy rate and high industries growth rate , it experienced the high market growth and strong competitive advantage. Burj A Arab have a lot of competitor like Le Meridien Sayahi ,Hyatt Regency Dubai, Sheraton Jumeira Beach hotel And much more ,Which have a strong brand reputation among local and international travelers. In order to leverage  brand equity , Burj Al Arab hotel must possess better quality of service facilities above its competitors. CONCLUSION:The above report provides detail report on the market analysis of Burj Al Arab in Dubai and reviewing the marketing strategies, influence of the culture on the hotel, its position in the market and its competitors. The city of Dubai is a highly developing commercial centre, with many new hotels coming up with recognized brand names. In order to develop a competitive advantage the hotel should maintain and develop the following points:1)To emphasise propagating the architectural miracle and there unique suite rooms. 2)To continue implementing high quality of service. 3)To persist in high price and standards strategy. 4)To promote sports events, and Dubai shopping festival. REFERENCE LIST: Abbey.J.R(1998)Hospitalaity Sales And Marketing,Educational institute of the American Hotel & Motel Association. Baker.M.J(2000)Marketing Strategy And Management, Palgrave MacmillanKotler.p,Keller.k(2006)Marketing management 12e,Pearson Prentice Hallhttp.//www.firstclasstravel.de/burjalarab.htm (last visited 16/4/06)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/dubai (last visited 16/4/06)http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/search/hote_detail.html?propertyID=1326(last visited 16/4/06)http://dubai.regency.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/(last visited 16/4/06)http://www.lemeridien-minaseyahi.com/-14k(last visited 16/4/06)

Discuss and evaluate the Nixon administration in terms of its foreign Assignment

Discuss and evaluate the Nixon administration in terms of its foreign and domestic policies - Assignment Example es included negotiation with China to reduce commitments of manpower to foreign nations, detente with the Soviet Union to negotiate peacefully, limit weapon trade between the U.S. and USSR, minimize public support for the war, and have peace through honor with the Vietnam (Tindel & Shi 1167). In 1970s, President Nixon decided to lower the prices of goods in order to achieve economic efficiency and lower the inflation rate that was high at 4.7% (Tindel & Shi 1119). He argued that lowering the prices of goods creates less supply and increase demand, thus creating shortages (Tindel & Shi 1119). A significant number of economists supported Nixon’s price control policy and argued that lowering prices of goods is a more efficient strategy in solving relatively mild inflation. Nixon’s primary target was to trim down the inflation rate by doing everything possible to stop the Korean War and Vietnamese war in which the U.S. was involved in (Tindel & Shi

Wal-Mart Article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Wal-Mart Article - Essay Example Much of Walmart success in Mexico can be attributed to NAFTA. NAFTA solved the logistics problems that Walmart faced by improving infrastructure. This enabled Walmart to transport the goods and open up more stores across Mexico with much ease than before. The reduced import tariffs also encouraged importation of goods from other countries and this enabled Walmart to reduce the prices of their goods thereby attracting more customers. Walmart success in the region is also a result of Walmart’s high bargaining power, which enables it to obtain goods at a fair deal thus offering its customers much lower prices than other retail stores. Walmart has been a threat to other retail stores in the region. As Walmart continues to reduce the prices of goods, other retail stores such as Comerci reduced the prices too to combat the completion. Comerci and other retail stores have also filed complain to Mexico’s federal competition commission to curb the unfair pricing. This kind of strategy can only be helpful to Comerci if price control bill is passed. With the stiff competition from Walmart, other retailers need to come up with other new strategies to enable them remain in the market. The need for other retailers to improve on their bargaining skills is also of great importance, as it will enable the retailers reduce prices as Walmart. Opening production plants for some good may also help combat the competition Walmart brought in Mexico since this will enable the retailers obtain goods at rather reduced

Business Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words - 1

Business Environment - Essay Example (Tesco, 2011). 1. Mission, Objectives and Responsibilities of an Organization (a) The Core Mission of Tesco deals with creation of value for its customers through the rendering of quality products and services. Through the rendering of quality products and services the company aims at enhancing the loyalty parameter of the customers. Further the company also sets a mission of caring for its people in both the external and internal sphere. The internal groups of people consist of the employees of the company who by dint of their hard work makes the company succeed in a competitive business environment. External group of people are the customers and other stakeholders like suppliers and government who render due support in making the company succeed in its operations. The company believes that helping the customers in getting the right products caters to the event of repeat purchases by them. Similarly the company also works to motivate its internal people to work in a devoted manner t o fulfill customer delights. Moreover the customers and the staff are regularly contacted by the management team of Tesco to get fruitful suggestions in developing its service and product qualities. (Tesco, n.d.). The above mission of Tesco helps the company in fulfilling its stated objectives which can be underlined as follows. Tesco fulfills the needs of the customers by rendering quality products at reasonable market prices. The customers of Tesco are regularly contacted by the company for getting suggestions which would help in both product and service enhancement. Tesco also satisfies the needs of its stake holders like investors and shareholders by producing high returns on the investments made. The company also helps in quality enhancement of its employees through effective training and management policies. Tesco also maintains a strong supplier environment which aims to deliver to the company quality products at effective price ranges. Finally in total Tesco works tightly in fulfilling the responsibilities of the company to the society in a complete manner by satisfying all legal and environmental obligations. (Corporate Objectives, n.d.). (b) The giant departmental store Tesco has large group of stakeholders starting from customers, supplier groups, investors and shareholders, the different levels of staffs and the union groups to which these people belong to, the community of people who sponsor the company and whom the company sponsors and finally those who render influences on the government of the region and on the business as a whole. Tesco in a bid to cater to the customer groups have helped in creating stores which would remain open for full 24 hours every day. These stores help in catering for the buying community who fail to avail time to conduct shopping during the day owing to their busy schedules. The company also encourages the customers to conduct transactions online through their membership card which helps enhancing customer loyalty. Wh ile maintaining a relation with the supplier groups Tesco acts in a strict manner through administering, monitoring and evaluating their demands. If in turn a supplier group of the company demands an increase upon the agreed amounts and thereby tries to disturb the operations, Tesco does not wait from altering

Entrepreneurship and venture creation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Entrepreneurship and venture creation - Essay Example In the current scenario, concept of entrepreneurship has expanded, in terms of including social and political activity. Entrepreneurs are often regarded as leaders who are even denoted as risk takers. These leaders undertake risks so as to accomplish set goals and explore market opportunities. Entrepreneurs are even inclined towards planning, employing and organizing resources. There are two forms of entrepreneurial skills – to improve upon existing product line or design a completely new product. Changing mind set is also observed within entrepreneurs and this leads to formation of social entrepreneur, knowledge entrepreneur, political entrepreneur, etc. Successful entrepreneurs basically possess two important attributes such as team building skills and management skills (Audretsch and Lehman, 2005). A new business idea is also generated by Marvin Hill as per the case study. Marvin Hill in present scenario is a multi-millionaire. He has been able to deliver creative ideas and develop solutions for market based problems. Marvin Hill had worked for Ford Motor Company since six years and then he decided to shift towards building his new business. He was determined to design computer aided software for providing assistance to engineering projects. This CAD software was a relief for many large scale organizations that undertake engineering projects. MarvCAD Inc., had been able to acquire desirable profit margins within few years of its incorporation. The company was more inclined towards addressing critical issues related to engineering products. Software quality designed by Marvin Hill was much higher and it was user friendly. Users could easily work with CAD in terms of facilitating search capabilities, visual, proprietary and website content, audio, etc. The different pieces of this software were highly customized and modularized. It enabled users to attach add-ins as and when required.

UKs Policy on Training and Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

UKs Policy on Training and Development - Essay Example This is a very important feature of the UK government policy on training on development. UK â€Å"will progressively introduce a new loan facility , which will remove grant funding from the 2013/14 academic year, providing the capacity to sustain learner participation with government-backed fee loans for individuals aged 24 or over studying at qualifications at level 3 and above† (BIS 2010a, p. 4). BIS (2010a, p. 4) elaborated â€Å"there will be no up-front costs and the repayments made on an income-contingent basis.† In addition, â€Å"the government has made available  £129m in 2013-14 and  £398m in 2014-15 for these fee loans† (BIS 2010a, p. 4). The BIS claims, however, that while public investment will be reduced, the UK government will â€Å"free the sector from top-down targets and direction to enable a truly demand-led system to develop† (2010a, p. 4). Government will seek â€Å"greater contributions from individuals and employers who benefit most and can afford to pay† (BIS 2010a, p. 4). For 2011-12, â€Å"the total Teaching and Learning budget will be  £3.1bn, of which  £605m will be earmarked for adult apprenticeships† (BIS 2010a, p. 4). However, spending on adult apprenticeships and, relative to the previous government, â€Å"will increase by up to  £250m by the end of the SR period† (BIS 2010a, p. 4). Informal adult and community learning will be retained although they will be â€Å"reformed† (BIS 2010a, p. 4). There will also be â€Å"progression routes for those looking for a way into formal learning† (BIS 2010a, p. 4). Importantly, â€Å"there will also be help for those who are unemployed on active benefits† (BIS 2010a, p. 5). ... 4). There will also be â€Å"progression routes for those looking for a way into formal learning† (BIS 2010a, p. 4). Importantly, â€Å"there will also be help for those who are unemployed on active benefits† (BIS 2010a, p. 5). The UK government policy on training and development comes with â€Å"fundamental policy changes† (BIS 2010a, p. 5). The â€Å"Train to Gain† will be abolished (BIS 2010a, p. 5). â€Å"Funding for workplace training on SMEs will be prioritized† (BIS 2010a, p. 5). Government will more conduct consultations for other changes (BIS 2010a, p. 5). BIS (2010a, p. 5) pointed out that government will reduce bureaucracy by training providers and simplify the further education and skills landscape by abolishing central targets. For example, the BIS (2010b) document localized targets and programs for England based on BIS (2010a). The BIS (2010a, p. 5) said â€Å"colleges and training organisations will be more publicly accountable to le arners, employers, and their communities.† This portion of the UK government program â€Å"will be supported by the introduction of lifelong learning accounts and by the new All Age Careers Service.† As per the claim of the BIS, the UK government training and development policy is founded on three principles (BIS 2010a, p. 1): fairness, shared responsibility, and greater freedom. According to BIS (2010, p. 1), the first principle justifies the â€Å"special attention to young people and those with basic literacy and numeracy skills.† In the second principle, citizens will be called upon to â€Å"take greater responsibility for ensuring their own skills are met† (BIS 2010a, p. 1). Lastly, the principle of â€Å"greater freedom† means â€Å"trusting people to do their job† and the â€Å"primary

Why did Qatar Win the FIFA World Cup IN 2022 Essay

Why did Qatar Win the FIFA World Cup IN 2022 - Essay Example The pinnacle of this beautiful game is the FIFA World Cup, which is held once every four years. As billions of people love this game, it is not easy for a country to win the hosting rights of a FIFA World Cup. It happens so rarely that many people only get to see the FIFA World Cup played on their home soil once during their lifetimes. To decide which country has the right to play at a world cup, all of the countries play qualifying matches against each other in the preceding three years. From this, thirty-two teams get to go and play in the greatest show on earth. Qatar has a developing interest in football because of its popularity among its youth. Football is just one of the things that Qatar is trying to use to expose itself on the world’s stage. Because of its vast wealth, the Qatari government has the objective of getting as many people as possible to learn about Qatar. This is done through festivals, scientific  conferences, and sporting festivals, of which the FIFA W orld Cup is the most prestigious. It is very clear that not just any country can win the hosting rights of the FIFA World Cup. FIFA has very strict criteria that potential host countries must abide by in order to be able to host the cup. Whenever a world cup is hosted, FIFA demands that its laws must override any local laws. This has proved to be a problem with the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. The FIFA secretary general, Jerome Valcke, has recently said: â€Å"Either we do (the Cup) together or we will never manage it (Murphy, 2011). Some of these requests include the price of match tickets, penalties for counterfeit goods, and banning the sale of certain alcohol brands in the stadiums. Also, because of the magnitude of the event, the country that wins the hosting rights must provide adequate security  for all the players and fans. Hospitals, hotels, and food are some of the major logistical requirements that need to be taken care of. Because the aim of the event is to make as much money for football as possible, the host country is required to have a certain number of large stadia so that revenue from ticket sales will be high. One of the goals of FIFA is to publicize football all around would and to assist poorer countries that rarely get the chance to participate in such an event. FIFA thinks of football as a global game, and that is why it wants to take the game to new places. Every region  of the world  has already  organized  the FIFA World Cup at least once. The Middle East is the last major region yet to have hosted FIFA’s most prestigious event. Quite a few people predicted that it would be too difficult for Qatar to win the hosting rights for the FIFA World Cup compared to the rival bids of the United States of America and Australia. There were many reasons why this was thought to be so. First of all, Qatar is a hot country. FIFA has a limit on what heat is considered to be okay to play football in, and Qatar’s climate is w ell above this range (Marcus, 2010). Also, geographical area  of  Qatar is very small when compared with other large countries. In addition, the Middle East is not considered to be a safe place for tourists. Many Western governments warn their citizens who travel in the region simply because of the level of violence that is associated with the area. The latest political protests in countries such as Syria, Egypt, and Libya have shown that things can get out of hand very quickly. On the other hand, the Qatari government used this disadvantage and pleaded that the FIFA World Cup could help to unite the divided region. Also, to alleviate foreign concerns, the Qatari bid team promised to install air

Humanitarian Action Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Humanitarian Action - Essay Example This paper highlights that according to international humanitarian law, the right to water entails the right to sufficient, acceptable, safe, affordable and physically accessible water for both domestic and personal use. In terms of quantity, an adequate amount of water is that amount needed to reduce the threat of water-related diseases, prevent death that could arise out of dehydration, and to cater for cooking, consumption, and domestic and personal hygiene requirements.This study stresses that  the provision of humanitarian support in form of water sanitation and hygiene is important as it is attached to the value of water which is inextricably related to other human right rights such as the right to food, health and housing. This means that sanitation and water are key determinants for survival in the first stages, and indeed all stages, of a disaster. In most cases, vulnerable groups are susceptible to death from disease and illness which are closely related to poor sanitatio n, inadequate water supplies, and inadequate sanitation.  Water and sanitation programmes are mainly aimed at reducing the exposure to disease vectors and transmission  Ã‚   of faeco-oral ailments through the provision of safe drinking water, promotion of good hygiene as well as the reduction of risks that are related to poor hygienic conditions. Closely related to water is sanitation which involves vector control, excreta disposal, drainage and waste disposal.

Characteristics of Highly Effective School Administrators Essay

Characteristics of Highly Effective School Administrators - Essay Example e school administrator must be able to communicate goals and vision of his/her institution, and plans, achievements and challenges that the institution faces. The administrator should also be able to attract input from other stakeholders and develop the stakeholders support for ease in development and implementation of administrative policies. Administrative leadership, also known as managerial leadership, is another characteristic of an effective administrator. This feature incorporates abilities to balance between priorities, delegate leadership roles, facilitate innovation and improvements, and to ensure accountability. In balancing priority, an effective administrator identifies activities with their priorities and allocates time, in duration and order, to each activity to ensure effectiveness in completion. An administrator with the trait also identifies and recognizes potentials of each subordinate and promote growth. In addition, the successful administrator is accountable, setting standards for other to emulate, and leads in innovation and development of potentials. Highly effective school administrators also have educational leadership trait, also known as instructional leadership. The administrators ensure that instructional ventures are best on reliable vision towards effective learning. The administrators also ensure that instructions are improved continuously and that high levels of expectation and favorable culture for development are established in their

An experiment to obtain Zinc Oxide from Calamine Essay Example for Free

An experiment to obtain Zinc Oxide from Calamine Essay This will be repeated until the weight of the test tube with its contents is identical. E. g. 1st reading= 17. 24g, 2nd reading= 17. 18g, 3rd reading=17. 15g, 4th reading=17. 15g The underlined readings are identical; consequently I would stop and record these readings. I would do it like this because when the readings are the same it means that the reaction has stopped and there is no need to go any further. This is done for every amount. Fair Test There are many things that can be done to keep this experiment a fair one. Firstly the same test tube must be used as all of them have different weights. The amount of time you leave the test tube on the Bunsen burner is also crucial, as it would not be a fair test if you left one test tube in the heat longer than the others. You must measure the amount of mineral wool you put in the test tube so that you can deduct that and the weight of the test tube to get your result. Errors will be kept to a minimum with the use of digital weighing equipment. Preliminary work My preliminary work consists of an experiment titled Obtaining Copper Oxide from Malachite. Malachite is a mineral that contains copper. In the experiment we heated the Malachite in an attempt to obtain Copper Oxide. From the experiment I acknowledged that as the mass of Malachite increased so did the mass of Copper Oxide. The experiment was extremely similar to this experiment, thus I would expect the same to happen in this case. Therefore, in this experiment, the more Calamine that is used the more Zinc Oxide that will be produced. It doesnt take a genius to work that out though. -7- Jack Mariner Chemistry Coursework Results: Chart 1 Reading Amount of Calamine (g) Amount of Zinc Oxide produced (g). Shown above are the results from the experiment and below is a graph plotted from these results. -8- Jack Mariner Chemistry Coursework Graph 1 is a bar chart showing the amount of Calamine used, plotted against the amount of Zinc Oxide produced. Although this graph may look pretty, it is not very useful. From just using these results, it is difficult to explain and understand the graph, so something else is needed: The theoretical amounts. Chart 2. No. of readings Amount of Calamine (g) Theoretical amount of ZnO Predicted (g) Actual amount of ZnO Produced (g). These theoretical amounts have already been calculated. To add these to the graph like on the next page will help us to analyse the results in more detail. -9- Jack Mariner Chemistry Coursework Now this graph is worth looking at. It shows the theoretical amounts of Zinc Oxide produced, plotted against the actual amount of Zinc Oxide produced. So theoretically, in perfect conditions, with a perfectly fair test in practise, the theoretical results would be achieved. My experiment however wasnt done in these conditions, which is why the results do not resemble each other perfectly. -10- Jack Mariner Chemistry Coursework Graph 3 is a line graph, which I feel shows the information more clearly. From it you can see that the theoretical amounts are similar to the actual amounts of Zinc Oxide produced, however there is room for a lot of improvement. For instance, reading 2. This was done using 1. 5g of Calamine. Something definitely went wrong here because it is so out of proportion to the other results. Due to the obvious mistake I took the liberty of requesting a glimpse of another groups results, to compare with mine and to see their result for 1. 5g of Calamine. Chart 3 Reading Amount of Calamine (g). Actual amount of ZnO Produced (g) Other Group Comparison of ZnO Produced (g) From Chart 3, you can see that my results are in fact relatively similar to the other groups results that I have compared with. The reasons for the differences are probably due to spillages or how concentrated the substances were, etc. Analysing the Results To analyse my results I shall look back at them individually. Chart 1 shows only my results. These were very pleasing because they were nearly as I predicted. At this stage I wasnt aware of any anomalous results as the relationship between them looked good. I am still satisfied with my results but would like to redo the test for 1. 5g of Zinc Carbonate. This would give better results to analyse and to draw a conclusion from. The second chart, Chart 2, showed the theoretical amounts. I included these into my experiment so that I could see how accurate my results were. Comparing with another group is good, but their results could also be wrong. Comparing with these theoretical results would show me immediately the accuracy of my results. I have drawn the graph on the next page to demonstrate this. -11- Jack Mariner Chemistry Coursework So the graph is really a way of measuring your accuracy. To do this I worked out the percentage (%) yield. This was done by using the equation; % yield = actual amount theoretical amount From the graph you can see that the majority of my results were very accurate. I have done readings 2 and 4 in a different colour because they are obviously wrong. They both have a percentage yield of over 100%, which is impossible. The reason for this is probably due to contamination and impure Calamine. These two readings are therefore anomalous results. Chart 3 shows that my results are actually fairly similar to those from the other group. Apart from the obvious experiment error in reading 2, the thing that catches my attention most is the fact that my results are all higher than those from the other group. This could be resulted from a number of things, for example the use of different pieces of equipment, or the stopwatch counted seconds at slightly different rates, consequently that group leaving the test tube under the heat for a longer period of time. Or on the other hand these results maybe higher then the compared groups results as a complete coincidence. -12- Jack Mariner Chemistry Coursework Conclusion From graph 3, you can see that my hypothesis is of high quality stating that I predicted a graph with strong positive correlation. This was almost a perfect prediction. My conclusion really for this experiment is that as the amount of Calamine increases so does the amount of Zinc Oxide produced from this. Theoretically this is done proportionately, but actually anomalous results interfere, leaving the results strongly related with strong correlation as apposed to a theoretical graph with perfect correlation. Evaluation I consider this experiment to be a success. The plan was followed very well and the results were of good quality. The measurements were done accurately, and a fair test was achieved. The procedure used was also a very fair and efficient one. Although the experiment was a success, I am still bothered by the fact that anomalous results occured in my experiment. I think that the reasons for these results were because of time limitations. We had very little time to accomplish this task successfully, so mistakes were inevitable. The improvements, which could be made in doing this experiment, are to have a longer time to do the experiment so that isnt done making careless mistake and if mistakes were made, there would be enough time to redo what was needed. Secondly more high tech equipment could be used to get more reliable and accurate results. Also, an essential thing is for the Calamine used to be pure. This is important because impure calamine could react at a different rate to more pure Calamine. This would have a huge bearing on the final result. Lastly, more readings could have been taken. This would lead to averages being taken giving better results.

Collaborative Planning Forecasting And Replenishment Commerce Essay

Collaborative Planning Forecasting And Replenishment Commerce Essay Consider a company XYZ which produces various automotive parts. One such part is ABC, for which there is a rise in inventory level. The marketing team decides to launch a promotional campaign to boost the sales and ABC and curtail this rising inventory level. This promotional campaign was a great success and there was an increase in the sales of product ABC. The production department noticed this rise in sales of product ABC and they started producing more of ABC in anticipation of rising demand. This again resulted in an increase in inventory level (negated the entire motive of the campaign). This is a perfect example of the importance of information sharing (collaboration and Communication). A similar kind of issue occurs, when we do not share information in a supply Chain, resulting in Bullwhip Effect. In an organization, if different departments have different owners with different views and goals, they all try to maximize their individual profits. In the path of achieving this, they get deviated from their common goal of maximizing the overall profit of the entire Supply Chain. This deviation from the true goal leads to lack of coordination Inappropriate flow of information Due to incomplete sharing of information between stages (inter-organization and intra-organization), information is distorted. Today, for a given organization, there are a thousand of products. This increase in variety of products makes it next to impossible for the companies to exchange all information among all its suppliers Such inappropriate flow of information results in BULLWHIP effect. Here, fluctuations in orders increase as we move up the supply chain from consumer to retailer to wholesalers to manufacturers. Proctor and Gamble was the first to observe the bullwhip effect in its supply chain for Pampers diapers. They found that the raw material replenishment order at the supplier side had huge fluctuations as compared to fluctuation in demand at retail stores. Same way, HP also found that the fluctuations varied significantly with being very little at resellers point and increasing as moving up in the chain towards integrated circuit division (ICD). Here also, while the variation in product demands were very little, replenishment orders placed with ICD saw much more variability. A similar phenomenon can be seen in apparel and grocery industry. Lack of Coordination and its effects on Performance The Bullwhip effect A supply chain is said to be lacking in coordination if each stage (level) is concerned about optimization of its own objective. In doing so, various individual entities get deviated from a common objective or organizational goal to satisfy consumers by satisfying their needs and there by generating maximum profit for the organization. Information distortion is also one of the causes of Lack of Coordination, as in the case of diaper supply chain of PG. Areas affected by Bullwhip effect Manufacturing cost Inventory cost Replenishment lead time Transportation cost Labor cost Levels of product availability ( service level) Relationship across the supply chain Manufacturing Cost As a result of Bullwhip effect, Manufacturing unit of PG have to produce to satisfy the demand of diapers with much more variability. PG can respond to such variability by either holding of excess inventory or by producing more capacity, both of which leads to increase in manufacturing cost. Inventory cost The Bullwhip effect also results in increase in inventory cost. With increased variability in demand, P%G has to carry a higher level of inventory than would actually require in absence of Bullwhip effect. Thus, we can see a major increase in Inventory cost. A higher level of inventory will also mean an increased warehouse space requirement (again an increase in cost). Replenishment Lead Time The Bullwhip effect results in increased replenishment lead time. With the increase in variability in demand due to Bullwhip effect, scheduling at suppliers and PG are much more difficult as compared to a level demand. There are situations when the available resource (inventory) is not enough to meet the demand and there by resulting in higher replenishment lead time. Transportation cost The Bullwhip effect results in higher transportation cost. With the increased fluctuations in demand due to Bullwhip effect, there is a proportional fluctuation in the requirement of transportation. This results in a rise in transportation cost Labor Cost Labor cost increases in presence of Bullwhip effect. Labor cost at PG and its suppliers increase due to fluctuations in demand. Also, labor cost for receiving at retailers end increases due to this increased uncertainty. Now all these stages have option of either operating at excess labor or variable labor, both of which results in increase in labor cost. Level of Product availability One of the major outcomes of Bullwhip effect is the Out Of Stock situations. As we know, with increase in fluctuations in orders, PG is not capable of satisfying the needs of all its retailers on time, which in turn increases the likelihood of retailers going OOS resulting in a sales loss in the supply chain. Relationship across the supply chain The Bullwhip effect, having a negative effect on performance at all levels of supply chain results in bitterness in the relationship between these various stages of supply chain. Since each stage is working independently and is trying to achieve its individual goal, they are under an impression that they are doing it in right way. They start blaming other department of inefficiency and there by resulting in loss of trust. Performance Measure Bullwhip effect Manufacturing cost Increase Inventory Cost Increase Replenishment Lead Time Increase Transportation Cost Increase Shipping and Receiving Cost Increase Level of Product availability Decrease Profitability DecreaseThus, we can say that the Bullwhip effect has a significant effect on the overall profitability of the supply chain. There is an increase in cost and decrease in responsiveness. Obstacles to achieving coordination in Supply Chain Factors leading to local optimization at various stages of supply chain or increase in information delay are the root cause of difficulty in coordination in supply chain. The five major categories of obstacles are Incentive obstacles Information processing obstacles Operational obstacles Pricing obstacles Behavioral obstacles Incentive obstacle When there is a variation in incentive offered at different stages in a supply chain, there is an increase in variability in the productivity and reduction in total supply chain profits. Local Optimization: Suppose that the incentive of a floor manager at a local grocery store depends up on the profit they generate for that particular store. Here, the managers take all their purchasing and inventory decisions to achieve this goal only and not for the benefit of the entire supply chain. Buying and stocking decisions which are based on single stage optimization can never result in over all supply chain profitability. Improper sales force incentive: Very often, sales force incentive are designed in a manner to achieve local goals. Sales force incentive are based on the quantity sold to the distributors and not the end consumers. For example, consider an umbrella manufacturing firm, which offers its sales force an incentive on the sales target achieved in off season. To maximize their bonuses, sales force convinces distributors to buy more umbrellas even though there is no demand. This results in order variability with more demand in off season and less demand when actually there are sales. This kind of sales forces incentive result in order variability more than customer demand variability. Information processing obstacles Information processing obstacles occurs in a situation when there is a distortion in information regarding demand as it moves from customers to retailers to distributors to manufacturers. Forecasting based on orders and not on customer demand When there is a Bullwhip effect is a supply chain, the only communication between different stages is the orders they receive. Each stage sees its responsibility as fulfilling orders to its downstream. In such a scenario, a very small change in customer demand will result in large variability in orders placed by the distributors. The fact that each stage in a supply chain forecasts demand based on the stream of orders received from the downstream stage results in a magnification of fluctuations in demand as we move up the supply chain from the retailer to the manufacturer. Lack of information sharing Suppose a retailer increases the size of order for a particular product due to its planned promotion. Now, if the manufacturer is not aware of this planned promotion, it will see this increase in order as increase in customer demand and place orders with suppliers accordingly. So, when the retailer finishes its promotion, both manufacturer and distributor has a piled up inventory. Operational obstacles Operational obstacles occur at the time of placing and filling of orders. There are a number of fixed costs associated with placing of order, receiving or transportation of an order. Different retailers may prefer orders in lots to minimize such costs. Thus at the suppliers end there is large variability in order as compared to demand variability at retailers end. Now, if there a number of retailers associated with the same supplier, and due to placement of orders in lots, there might be some days when order may be erratically high as compared to other days as compared to demand. Such situations may also lead to large replenishment lead time. Pricing obstacles Lot size based quantity discounts occurs when there are discounts offered on large lots of order placed. These resulting large lots magnify the Bullwhip effect. There are a number of trade promotions and short term discounts. Such offers always boost orders, which are nowhere in sync up with the real demand. Such forward buying result in large orders during promotional activity or special discount rates but very small orders after that. Behavioral Obstacles Behavioral obstacles are problems in learning within organizations which later on contribute to the Bullwhip effect. Each stage of supply chain acts locally and is not aware of the consequences of its action on others. Different stages of the supply chain react to the current situation locally rather than trying to identify the root cause. Due to lack of common understanding and mutual trust, each stage plays a blame game on each other with no one taking the responsibility of these fluctuations. Lack of trust with in supply chain makes them all opportunistic at the expense of the overall supply chain profitability. This also results in duplication of efforts. Since individual entities do not share ideas and work in isolation, many a times they turn up doing the same task. Means to Overcome obstacles of Collaborative information sharing Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment Means to overcome these obstacles Improved information accuracy Alignment of goals and incentive across the channel Building strong partnership and mutual trust Improving Operational Performance All these efforts can be achieved by Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment. So what exactly is Collaborate Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR)? Here, both sellers and buyers at all the levels come together and collaborate along all or few of these activities. Strategy and Planning Demand and Supply Management Execution Analysis At strategy and planning stage, all the partners involved discuss upon the scope of collaboration and assign roles and responsibilities and define checkpoints. They align all their activities including promotions, new product introduction, store opening and closing and inventory policies. Then, at demand and supply management, sales forecast using point of sales data give an accurate picture of demand. Now, as the forecasts become firm, they are converted to actual orders. Then, processes like production, shipping, receiving and stocking are executed. Now the last but most important task is analysis of KPI. There is always a need for identifying exceptions and evaluating metrics that are used to access performance. One successful CPFR implementation has involved Henkel, a German detergent manufacturer, and Eroski, a Spanish food retailer. Prior to CPFR, Eroski saw frequent stock outs of Henkel products, especially during promotions. At the inception of CPFR in December 1999, 70 percent of the sales forecast had an average error of over 50 percent and only 5 percent of the forecasts had an error below 20 percent. But, just within four months of CPFR implementation, the numbers changed drastically. Forecast errors above 50 percent reduced to 5 percent and more than 70 percent of the time, forecast error was below 20 percent. Customer service level also increased to 90% with an average inventory of just 5 days. CPFR implementation Scenarios Mentioned below are the most common CPFR implementation scenarios CPFR scenario Where applied in Supply Chain Industries where applied Retail event collaboration Highly promoted channels All industry other than those that practice EDLP DC replenishment collaboration Retail DC or distributed DC Drugstores, hardware, grocery Store replenishment collaboration Direct store delivery or DC to store delivery Mass merchants, Club stores Collaborative assortment planning Apparel and seasonal goods Specialty retail Common CPFR Scenarios Retail event Collaboration: In any retail supermarket, there are a number of events such as promotional activities and they affect demand very much.OOS and excess inventory, unplanned logistics cost and order placement costs are sometimes very high and may affect the overall profitability in the supply chain. Here the two parties involved identify specific brands that are to be included in collaboration. Each and every minute detail like promotion time and place, display tactics, advertisement are shared. Once, information sharing is done, a demand forecast is prepared and shared with in the two parties. PG is one such example which has implemented Retail event collaboration with many big retail chains including Wal-Mart. DC replenishment Collaboration This is one of the simplest and mostly used collaboration scenarios, where partners need to collaborate for forecasting on demand and DC withdrawals. This collaboration is comparably easy to implement since this collaboration requires aggregate forecast and does not require sharing of point of sales data. And slowly, with due course of time, this collaboration can be moved up to all other storage points in supply chain (from retail shelves to Inventory warehouse) Store Replenishment collaboration Store replenishment collaboration is one step ahead of DC replenishment collaboration. Here, collaboration is on store level point of sale forecast. These forecasts are used placing store orders. Benefits of store Replenishment collaboration is increased replenishment accuracy, improved service level and less Out of Stock situations, reduced inventory and greater visibility of point of sales data. Collaborative Assortment Planning For fashion apparels and seasonal products, demand follows a seasonal pattern. Thus, collaborative planning in these categories follows seasonality Hence, the forecasts rely more on collaborative understanding of industry trends, customer tastes and less on horizontal data. Why is CPFR important? Consider a consumer walking in to a retail grocery outlet to find that the product which he is looking for is not available (out of stock). For the consumer, it is great inconvenience and for the store owner, it is a loss of revenue. Such a situation is not only a plague in retail industry, but also a nightmare for manufacturing sector. Out Of Stock of one particular inventory in the manufacturing line can lead to zero overall production (bottlenecks). Mostly (70% to 75%), out of Stock occur at retailer level. Reasons for Out of Stock at retailer level: Lengthy Ordering Processes/Cycles Underestimated demand Un stocked shelves even though the products are at the store So, what is required to tackle such problems? End to end information channel Point of Sale information coming from retailer to the supplier. CPFR is one such process where we use common tools to capture data at all stages in the supply Chain. Pioneers to this practice are Wal-Mart and Tesco. They first linked their Point of Sale data from Retail stores to their Warehouses. This laid down the bricks to the building of an open information infrastructure. The second and more critical task in implementation of CPFR is managing cultural change. There has to be a willingness to share information. A mutual trust between different stakeholders is a must, since the required information to be shared is confidential most of the time. Benefits of Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment Lower inventory levels Increased sales Less overhead Reduced human errors ( data exchange) Better insight in customer demand resulting in better resource utilization, reduced inventory requirements. Improved and direct communication with customers Opportunity to provide category management Reduced replenishment time Less redundancy Increase service level and reduced stock outs Lower Inventory Level By having knowledge of exact inventory status of customer, the supplier has better control on lead time of his inventory. He knows his exact inventory requirements due to lower uncertainty. A better forecasting leads to lowering the need for safety stocks (also termed as buffer stock is the level of extra stock maintained to mitigate the risks of stock outs due to uncertainties in forecasting). All these factors combine to result in lower inventory. Increased Sales CPFR in place ensures the product availability at any given point. This results in a better customer experience and customer satisfaction. A satisfied customer becomes your loyal customers. A loyal, regular customer generates more revenue than a first time customer. Also, less stock outs at outlets result in less customers returning without any purchase. This results in increased sales. Better Resource Utilization Proper knowledge of customer demand due to end to end information sharing, results in a better forecasting. An improved forecasting numbers result in more planned decisions, clarity of mind in terms of inventory requirements and so a better RU plan. Increased Service Level Collaborative Planning, forecasting and Replenishment builds up a better forecasting model. In CPFR system, at each level, a supplier has access to real time sales and inventory data of a customer. As soon as the inventory goes below the safety level, a replenish order call is triggered. It helps customers to operate at higher service levels and lower inventories. Now, these are the benefits every supplier aspires for. Challenges in implementation of CPFR It is a universal truth that no benefit comes without a cost. Same way, with so many benefits associated with Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment, there are also few risks and hurdles to its implementation. With sharing of information at such a large scale, its misuse is one such risk. Often, one entity may have relationship with various competitors. Another risk involved is viability of change in technology. If one of the partners in collaboration changes its technology, the other is forced to do so or it may lose its collaboration. Thirdly, with the requirement of close interaction of the partners, a variation in their cultures can also play a very important role in making decisions of CPFR implementation. The inability to foster a collaborative culture across the partner organizations can be a major hurdle to the success of CPFR. However, one of the biggest challenges is that the demand information which is shared between the partners is often not used in an inte grated manner within the organizations. It is imperative to have integrated supply and demand, logistics and corporate planning within the organizations. This will help in maximizing the overall profit generated in the supply chain. Factors affecting Distribution Network design Elements of customer service influenced by network structure: Response time Product variety Product availability Customer experience Order visibility Return ability Supply chain costs affected by network structure: Inventories Transportation Facilities and handling Information Supply Chain Costs affected With a better visibility due to information sharing, the inventory requirement decreases, thereby reducing overall inventory cost. Also, a common supplier may have information (real time) of all its customers and can very easily club in various orders. This can be achieved by using MILK RUN model of distribution One truckload stopping at multiple points to replenish various customers. This helps him to reduce his transportation cost also. Implementation of centralized information systems (ERP, SAP) may eliminate the hassles of manually data entry and transfer. Though, the onetime cost of implementation of such systems might be very high, they reduce the human error probability. Such errors may result in inaccuracy in forecasting which will again result in higher inventory costs and out of stocks (loss of sales). Elements of Customer Services influenced Response time and Product availability CPFR builds up a better forecasting model. The actual demand information is used to generate replenishment orders. This helps vendors to improve their response time and less out of stock situations in the retail outlets. Customer Experience When a customer walks in to a retail store, there is a lesser chance of him finding an out of stock situation. Product availability (right product at right place) helps to increase customer satisfaction. Order Visibility With CPFR in place, the supplier can see the customer demand in actual and can anticipate the orders. This helps in reduction in errors in forecasting. A well informed and collaborated partners increases order visibility. All this is possible only due to Collaborative information sharing in the system.

A Case Study In IBM Services Information Technology Essay

A Case Study In IBM Services Information Technology Essay Improving customer relationships is the deployment and management of the customers CRM application. Outsourced call centre services are delivered by an IBM business partner. Customers choose the CRM application components that fit their needs: Marketing, Sales and Customer Service. Balancing cost, the customer experience and revenue enhancement are truly differentiate the contact centre (Pritchard, 2004). The contact centre environment has changed dramatically in recent years. Early call centres were cost centres, built to take advantage of the telephony technology of the time. Typically confined to one physical location, they relied on interaction-based, frontline support and had little financial justification of costs. Frequent handoffs among agents created inconsistencies, as did paper-intensive processes and product-based structures. Today, contact centres are becoming increasingly customer-focused and are gearing up to solve problems and generate revenue. A proliferation of channels is giving companies a variety of opportunities to communicate with their customers. And with more opportunities for up-selling and new ways to cut costs, the contact centre is transforming into a profit centre. As organizations make this transformation, they are faced with identifying areas for change, reducing service costs, providing a differentiated service, increasing sales, supporting a multichannel customer experience and leveraging technological advances. The challenges, coupled with increasing customer expectations, have created a renewed focus on transforming the contact centre (Pritchard, 2004). IBM Regional Contact Centre (RCC) exemplified what an ideal contact centre should be; a single contact point which provides effective, efficient and improved service to partners and clients through the consolidation of resources and services. The centre serves as a strategic component of IBMs own on-demand initiatives. Organizations are taking a new look at governance of contact center functions and the way calls are handled. Traditionally, contact centers have been organized by geography and business unit. Advance in telephony technology presents new opportunities for streamlining call handling and routing. Virtual contact center queues route calls to the appropriate agent, regardless of geography or department, allowing calls to be handled based on factors such as customer need, the type of transaction or function, the value of the customer or the particular customer segment. This can help boost cost-effectiveness and bring more value to callers, since theyll deal with the best-qualified agent for their particular issue. Leading companies are also adopting a cross-functional approach to the organizational structure of contact center operations. In addition to geography-based service delivery functions, companies are developing global Centers of Excellence for self-serve programs, customer data management, workforce forecasting and scheduling, metrics and reporting, and global queuing and call routing. These Centers of Excellence manage key processes globally, identify opportunities for improvement and work with the operational service delivery functions to implement transformation-related change programs (IBM Business Consulting Services, 2004). IBM Values Dedication to every clients success: IBM employees are passionate about building strong, long-lasting client relationships. This dedication spurs IBM to go above and beyond on its clients behalf. IBM sells products, services and solutions, but all with the goal of helping its clients succeed, however they measure success. Innovation that matters for our company and for the world: IBM employees are forward thinkers. IBM believes in progress, believes that the application of intelligence, reason and science can improve business, society and the human condition. IBM loves grand challenges, as well as everyday improvements. Whatever the problem or the context, every IBM employee seeks ways to tackle it creatively to be an innovator. Trust and personal responsibility in all relationships: IBM employees actively build relationships with all the constituencies of its business including clients, partners, communities, investors and fellow IBM employees. IBM builds trust by listening, following through and keeping its word. IBM Mission To Drive Client Loyalty and Profitable Growth through Service Delivery Excellence IBM Vision To be the IT Service Provider of Choice in Asia Pacific IBM Commitments Growth Client Referenceability Drive client satisfaction by aligning IBMs efforts to its clients business imperatives, priorities and challenges Delivery Service Excellence Protect its clients business through a strong controls posture and operational discipline Provide competitive high quality service through standardization and automation Enable IBM Team for Growth Develop and nurture IBM people to play an active role in the globally integrated enterprise IBM Goals Excel in delivering competitive, high quality and efficient IT services to its clients Meet and exceed all IBM financial objectives Achieve and exceed IBM Quality targets Protect the IBM brand by maintaining Satisfactory control posture and delivering with integrity Promote a culture where IBM work as One Team and promulgate best practice Equip IBMs employees with skills and knowledge to deliver quality services to its clients and make the right investment in training and certification Accelerate the development and growth of IBM leadership talent Foster communications to IBM staff and ensure key messages are delivered in a timely and consistent manner Literature Review Today, IT departments are pressured into doing more with less, and that this will require innovative approaches to management and operating staff. Innovations in technology are also supporting this, as silos within operations, and between operations and the service desk and application development, are slowly being bridged by innovative management and monitoring software solutions designed for modularity, cohesiveness and automation. Currently, IT services are delivered through a mix of structured and unstructured work activities. Structured activities rely primarily on standardized processes, procedures, and tools. In IT service support and delivery, an increasingly popular standardization effort is embodied by Information Technology Infrastructure Libraries (ITIL) which prescribes processes for capacity management, availability management, service-level management, financial management to achieve high quality IT service (Bailey, Kandogan, Haber, Maglio, 2007). As IT departments pl an to bridge this divide, it is important to keep in mind that the automation can empower us to become more efficient, but we will be sacrificing some of the gains if we are not willing to leverage the advantages of automation as a transformative, cultural and process catalyst because they are interdependent. Definition of Terms There are many terms involve in implementing Call Centre as an outsource business to the company and for IT outsource, it has its own standard to follow. For example, IBM conducts IT service delivery (ITSD) based on Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) standards. IT service management (ITSM or IT services) is a discipline for managing Information Technology (IT) systems, philosophically centered on the customers perspective of ITs contribution to the business. ITSM stands in deliberate contrast to technology-centered approaches to IT management and business interaction. Feldman (2007) mentioned that Providers of IT services can no longer afford to focus on technology and their internal organization, they now have to consider the quality of the services they provide and focus on the relationship with customers. The Service Delivery Structure describes accumulations of the customers accumulated in the system. The derivative between flow-in, customer flow rate, and flow-out, service completed rate, determine stock level. The dynamics of service delivery management will be comprised of four feedback structures: labor structure, capacity structure, cost structure, and service delivery structure. Service backlog or work in process, the stock of the service delivery structure, depending on customer flow or order rate and service completed rate or order fulfillment rate. Accumulations of stock stem from derivative of flow-in and flow-out at the points of time (Phoomphuang S., 2004). Service Desk is the place where exist the receipt and resolution of service requests, technical guidance, communication, etc. The central contact point between users and IT staff (Steel, 2008). Also it is the first place that the customer contacts when they have a problem or any request. Service Level Management (SLM) ensures that the agreed services are delivered when and where they are supposed to be delivered. SLM is a very important concept concentrating on value which is an intangible concept. If this value is destroyed by breaching any part of the Service Level Agreements (SLAs), it can have some negative consequences for the service provider as the customer will be dissatisfied. Information Technologies Infrastructure Library (ITIL): ITIL best practices were first developed in the 1980s by the British governments Office of Government Commerce (OGC) formerly called the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency. ITIL is a collection of best practices that have become widely observed in the IT service industry and a detailed framework of a number of significant IT practices, with comprehensive checklists, tasks, procedures, and responsibilities that are designed to be tailored to any IT organization. ITIL suggests that any IT operation should have some form of help desk where users of IT can ask questions or resolve problems. ITIL describes recommended best practices such as how to investigate and solve reported problems called into the operations help desk. These are the best practices and processes that are necessary for IT to process its applications in an efficient, controlled environment (Moeller, 2008). ITIL and IBM Service Delivery Process IBM has its own implementation of ITIL for IT service management. The service starts as soon as the contract is signed between the customer and IBM. Service delivery and service support team take control after contract is signed. IBM uses its own processes in order to deliver the services agreed contractually. IBM staff has to be familiar with these processes in order to deliver the services without any problem. These processes are standard and consistent across the globe for IBM and they are collected under different folders at IBM. These can be thought as related processes defined in ITIL collected under different titles. IBM procedures are confidential and cannot be described (Nazimoglu Ozsen, 2010). In business, the fit between the business strategy with respect to products and services provided to external customers and the internal structure of the enterprise is critical for economic performance and efficiency. Henderson and Venkatraman (1993) had concluded that the strategic alignment fits between external and internal business and IT strategies. Business strategy can drive IT strategy as well as the organizational and IT infrastructure, but IT strategy can also enable new and enhanced business strategies. Functional integration of business and IT makes IT a source of Competitive advantage. Environment The IBM Regional Contact Centre (RCC) has empowered IBM Malaysia to be more responsive, variable, focused and resilient by enabling the company to respond with flexibility and speed to any customer demand, market opportunity or external threat. The RCC is the sixth regional centre that IBM has established in Malaysia, after the Asia Pacific South Regional Administrative Support Centre, the Asean/ South Asia Regional Technical Sales Support Centre, the Asean Regional Support Centre for Integrated Technology Services, the Asia Pacific South Accounting Centre, and the IBM Global Financing Regional Centre for Asean/ South Asia, Greater China and Korea. The RCC supports four prime business functions: Teleweb marketing suport services, backoffice customer support services, and integrated technology support services, which cover the Asean region. The fourth business function is the strategic outsourcing helpdesk which supports the Asia Pacific region. The RCC is the latest of the companys 11 regional shared-services centres and is equipped with a multilingual workforce that caters for nine languages, including Tagalog, Japanese, Korean and Thai. Organization IBM has eleven regional centres located in Malaysia to support the IBM Corporation globally. Six of these centres are Operational Headquarters (OHQs), a status awarded by the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) to companies serving their offices regionally and globally. Located in Plaza IBM, headquarters in Bandar Utama, these centres are: IBM Asia Pacific Accounting centre: Provides accounting services for IBM in Asia Pacific, such as costs and revenues, Inventory/PIMS, DSW Software Accounting, monthly financial closing and reporting, expense accounting, APSC, WTAC, IGF accounting, services accounting, business control, SOX, statutory accounts and country accounting operations. IBM Asia Pacific Competency centre: Provides end-to-end administrative services, such as customer records, loading of customer orders, contract preparation, scheduling (negotiating with various plants in the world for supply to meet customer requirements), inventory management, billing, accounts receivable collection, systems controls and testing. Asia Pacific IBM Global Financing centre of Excellence: Manages most of the administrative and back-office tasks for the whole of the Asia Pacific region, such as contract creation, lease inception and booking of contracts into a lease portfolio system. Supports contract management, fulfillment, pricing, financial planning and internal controls. It also centralized financial management information and planning support to IBMs country leaders and management teams across the Asia Pacific region. Other areas of support include administration, forecasting, budgeting and financial analysis. IBM World Wide Competency centre: Delivers efficient, global common processes, tools, and applications with standardization, simplification, and automation, in order to accelerate IBMs positioning as a global integrated company. ASEAN Regional Technical Sales Support centre: Provides pre-sales technical support and technical enablement to ASEAN, Asia Pacific and other parts of the world which cover IBM hardware and software offerings. IBM Regional Contact centre (RCC): Provides integrated technology support services, pre-sales technical support and strategic outsourcing help-desk for the ASEAN region. Offers technical assistance in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korea, Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Indonesia, Vietnam and Thai. IBM is a company that strives to lead in the creation, development and manufacture of the industrys most advanced information technologies (IT), including computer systems, software, networking systems, storage devices and microelectronics. The companys business in ASEAN/SA is primarily comprised of sales and distribution of services, hardware, and software. These offerings are bolstered by IBMs research and development capabilities. IBM can also provide financing depending on its customers needs. The fundamental strength of this model is IBMs ability to assemble the optimal mix of these offerings to design tailored solutions for customers. IBMs operations in ASEAN/SA cover countries including Singapore, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. IBM in Malaysia is a wholly-owned onshore subsidiary of IBM World Trade Corporation. In IBM Malaysia, there are a few thousand employees of diverse backgrounds and talents serving in professional and support function roles, including regional positions. IBM Malaysia is committed to playing a major role in cultivating the use and development of IT in Malaysia, a mission that mirrors the Governments objective of making the country a regional and global hub of knowledge-based industries. IBM Malaysia is to be completely local organization in terms of expertise, 52% of our employees are women. The company is also heavily involved in developing local capability through a string of alliances (Are you an IBMer, 2010). Moreover, IBMers collaborate every day with their over 390,000 colleagues with growing networks of clients, advocates, experts and peers and with our neighbors, local organizations and millions of people they have never met and never will meet. This is simply how business is done in a globally integrating economy (About IBM, n.d) to support the integration of processes and operations; IBM has Globally Integrated Enterprise (GIE) governance. It puts the focus of decision makers on end users, productivity, standards, and integration to achieve maximum value from business transformation investments (BT/IT Governance, n.d). Furthermore, the GIE governance system emphasizes cross-functional and cross-unit team. Leadership and management roles are designed to pro vide clear ownership of the end-to-end business model and create a means to coordinate processes and transformation initiatives across organizations (BT/IT Governance, n.d). IBM has chosen Malaysia for its regional contact centre to serve the Asean region amid keen interest shown by other nations to have one here. The IBM Asean Regional Contact Centre (RCC) is due to start operation in Cyberjaya in the middle of the year 2003. The RCC, to be managed by some 60 staff, would provide support services to IBM business units, business partners and customers in five Asean countries namely Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. Currently, the numbers of IBM clients have increased and the support countries among Asia Pacific have also been added China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, India and Australia. Thus, the numbers of IBM RCC staff now have been increased to more than 100 including both local and international staff to support clients based on native languages offer. The support services include tele-sales and tele-marketing, customer support operations, and so on. Locale IBM Malaysia Sdn Bhd is investing RM 8 million to set up its Customer Support Operation (CSO) center in Malaysia that would operate as a hub for end-to-end order procurement covering 17 countries in Asean and South Asia. The CSO allows electronic ordering from IBMS manufacturing plants, receiving orders from its customers and business partners, collaboration among co-workers through e-mail and supporting of IBM Asean and South Asia business units and partners (IBM Malaysia to Spend RM8 MLN on Customer Centre, 2000). The location of IBMs CSO is in Cyberjaya. This department provides integrated technology support services, pre-sales technical support technical enablement, strategic outsourcing help-desk for the ASEAN region which cover IBM hardware and software. This department also provides post sales technical support and services and also remote technical support for all IBM hardware and software. A customer support representative also will assist the clients about their contract enquires, invoice enquires. IBM CSO Offers technical assistance in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Indonesia, Korea, and Thai. The case study was conducted at IBM Regional Contact Centre (RCC), Cyberjaya. The company is focusing on IT outsourcing which offering IT support; service desk or helpdesk to IBMs clients. There are only three main departments at RCC; Human Resource Recruitment, Financial and IT department. There are many sub departments under IT department, each department has its own name based on the client or project that their handle such as IGA (IBM Global Assistance), Merk, Maxis, Michelin, DBSchenker, Singapore Airline, BMW, Lenovo, JLL, DOW, Celestica, Philips, Affin Bank, and etc. Each department or team may have some different application based on clients application, but there are some applications and software that most of the team have such as Windows XP, Microsoft Office, Lotus notes, Sametime, Citrix (Mainframe), AS400 and others. The team will have their own Knowledge Management and Knowledge Based which provided by IBM databases, so they can find their source of knowledge, better understanding and solve the problem within short period of time. IBM provides IT outsources to the clients based on Service Level Agreement (SLA) and Service Level Objectives (SLO). In IBM RCC, one manager and one agent can handle more than one projects, at least one person should support two projects based on Global Delivery Framework (GDF) standards. Both teams that an agent or manager handle may have some different and similar applications to support. Protagonists The case was conducting at IBM, Cyber Jaya. We made an appointment with one of Transition managers to be our interviewee. His name is Trevor Thum and his position is under Integrated Technology Delivery (ITD), End User Support. Trevor is a young manager who handles many projects. He started working at IBM RCC as first level support; service desk. After few months, he had become Windows support for Affin Bank project. Two years later, he has been promoted to be a manager. During the interview session, there was a weakness; most of IBM information are confidential and cannot be disclosed. However, he provided us some guidance for our reference. Referring to the organizational chart of a team, it will consist of manager, focal manager, team leader, and agents. The agents will be more than five depends on customers request and how large the project is. Moreover, if there is any issue from customers such as complaint, an agent will raise it to Team lead, then team leader will discuss with focal manager. Later on, both of them will have a meeting with Trevor and he will decide what should the team handle this complaint and prevent it in the future. If he cannot find the solution, he will propose it to his manager or upper level for finalize and explain to the customers for the mistaken or any other reasons. Furthermore, when there is an additional application requested by clients, manager will have a meeting for more information and explain to team leader to train all agents to ensure that everyone is educated and ready to support users before it launches. In addition, if there is a new client registered to IBM RCC, the top manager will assign the project to one of team manager who deserves for the project, then the team manager will have meeting with client for SLA, SLO, and other requirements based on customers request. After that the team manager will start to hire new agents to support customers and handle the call. For recruitments, the team manager will cooperate with Manpower on staff hiring. Once Manpower got a new candidate with qualification, they will make an appointment with team manager for interview session. Then the team manager will decide whether hire this candidate or not. If IBM team manager decide to hire that agent, the agent will be first trained by Manpower staff and proceed with the training of particular project mentors by team leader and other experience agent. After one month of training, the team leader will do test call with the agent to make sure that the agent is expert enough to handle users calls and re ady to Go Live (the date of project begins with IBM starting from the day that has been signed on SLA contract. The team performance will be depended on SLA and Key Performance Indicator (KPI). However, IBM will decide either to increase agents salary or monthly incentive amount based on agents daily performance, compliment from customers, and team contribution. Figure 1. Team Organization Structure Situation Nowadays, nobody disputes the IT importance as the backbone for commerce. IT implementation helps company to reduce operational cost and increase revenue and profit significantly, although some of company not so well in utilizing IT resources. Beside many good stories from some of company, others also have the failure story in adopting IT capabilities caused by collaboration or implication on high investment, structure complexity, dependencies, changes of trends, dynamic environment, etc. Arguably, it affected the strategy direction of some company with IT and business alignment concept was proposed to improve marketplace competitiveness and increase financial performance. The concept comes at the picture to bridge the gaps of the difference between IT capabilities and business value whereby some organization fail to exploit the full potential of IT investment, adaptable infrastructure and service integration into their environment. Most company stayed still to look which product cou ld be accepted by customer significantly and then come up with clone product with achievable or imitable capabilities like the first one. It happened because the high competition in the market place to locate, not only what product customers want tremendously but also satisfaction and prestige point as well as the consideration. It involves high risky IT investment that might lead the financial become unbalanced so some organization became really careful to make decision, better wait rather than as the pioneer. The trend of IT and business alignment such as virtual office, electronic transaction, off shoring, utilizing private cloud, clone product, high tech consumption, etc. IBM, HP and Dell see other opportunities in renting their knowledge in technical solution as the service to other companies. For IBM, the service delivery optimization is not only about cost savings. IBM views optimization as the process of producing the highly efficient and dynamic infrastructure in exploiting full potential business value from IT investments, and of course emphasizing the responsive improvement and return on investment. IBM approached with holistic and client centre by the reduction of architectural complexity, integration and automation of IT process, business innovation support, customer expectation satisfaction and scale more effectively. IBM has gone through hundred processes engaged various customers across industries in the two decades, these experience and knowledge should be treated as the cr itical asset of the organization or as the intellectual capital consists of solution templates and reference architectures. In short, IBM didnt learn service delivery optimization from a book; IBM is writing the book. By establishing a clear understanding of an organizations optimization objectives and goals, IBM can help to ensure that IT investments are in alignment with the overall business strategy so that subsequent projects can provide real value. The evolution of IT from a technology to a business focus consider various factor drivers those are the compliance, complexity, speed of change and cost. The need to evolve IT should involve the three key ingredients at the heart of service delivery optimization as well, which are IT governance, operating model and funding management while a deficiency in any of these areas will alter and disrupt the outcome significantly. Before the evolution takes the step closer, the identification of IT environment also necessary for opportunities and optimization those are application and data, network, computing and storage, finance and process. For example, the business strategy of one company need to integrate the decentralize data store into centralize data warehouse that need, its the chance to be utilized to remain competitive. Meanwhile, the different culture in organization might be consideration too, that make the difference in priorities, assets and process. IBM will elaborate the stan dard approach with the end-to-end solution that applies the industrys best practice in the reference architecture concepts. Figure 2: IBM Strategic IT Model The strength of the relationship between customers (business side) and service providers (IT organization) decide the direction of success in service management. Beginning in 1997 and 2007 (IT optimization as a source, 2007), IBM started optimizing its own complex, far-flung environment, reaping substantial benefits in operational cost savings as the figure 1 depicted. Its important for the IT organization to provide the lowest-cost operation, but its not sufficient to support business strategies and planning. IT needs to develop other strengths out of efficiency in costs, such as supporting business customers have optimistic view to compete in the markets as well as faster the operation scalability. In this case, figure 2 shows the significant changes happened in IBM company that chose to have a proven, pragmatic and holistic view that even reduce the number of manager inside the organization with the most experience person as well as single source funding by consolidating infrastru cture and application at competitive rates. The level performance is also a point of developing the maturity of the service management capabilities, which drive the operation model of the technology organization. The organizations faces the dreadful challenge of increasing the quality and quantity of services provided to the business such as cloud computing and clone products, while addressing rising technical complexity, cost pressures and tension, faster trend changes and compliance issues at the same time. However, with traditional resources and system management approaches, its clearly impossible to provide effective support for the business and efficient use of technology resources. In the end, IT service management has evolved as the standard for managing effective service delivery optimization that requires: Enable comprehensive business capabilities to support the complete service life cycle from service design to service optimization. Differentiates the value of what you offer, on what terms and in what form, so that it surpasses what customers consider as alternatives. Building a clear understanding of the uncertainty, risks, change and trends. Gather both business and technology stakeholders to define the common goals and future goals. Decide the important priorities and sequence opportunities to improve the financial performance. Competitive payment terms and single-contract simplicity to increase the flexibility. Identifying, articulating and gaining executive management support. End-to-end solutions supported by a worldwide knowledge network as the minimum standardization for supporting business plan. Reduce complexity and cost as well as improve value-added service to meet service levels. Promote customer satisfaction and internal efficiencies to obtain innovativeness and creativeness. In the easiest way, IBM tries to do approach by translating into four elements IT value in meeting with business planning which consist of enablers, improvement, reduction and promoter. The main issues in this case regard the service delivery is how to maintain the service delivery as the competitive advantages in relation with other similar offered-service company that could accommodate right solution matching with latest situation in the environment. The approach to service delivery optimization

Ideal Women :: essays research papers

The American women of today can never be too thin or too pretty. In most cases thin equates beauty, so the present ideal is a thin, fit, radiantly healthy, young woman. In magazines stuffed with models and advertisements, billboards on the highway, and actresses on TV, the message of what women should look like is everywhere. The inescapable presence of these images in effect shapes the image of women today. It is very unfortunate that the media influences American society to the point that it defines the "ideal woman." According to Naomi Wolf, author of the bestselling book, <a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=pcZ8g7DjAzA&offerid=6424&type=2&subid=0&url=http%253A//search.borders.com/fcgi-bin/db2www/search/search.d2w/Details%253F%2526mediaType%253DBook%2526prodID%253D2647098" >The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women<IMG border=0 alt=icon width=1 height=1 src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=pcZ8g7DjAzA&bids=6424&type=2&subid=0" >, one reason media is so influential is "advertising is a 130 billion dollar a year industry. The average American watches 30 hours of TV a week and spends 110 hours a year reading magazines. That adds up to exposure to 1500 ads daily" (45). Advertising is a powerful educational force in our culture due to the simple fact of exposure. Eco nomics is also a significant factor in the development of the ideal image. There is a wealth of businesses that depend upon the American desire for thinness to survive. Exercise and diet companies are an example. In order to create a market for their product, they attempt to make women feel inadequate about their own bodies through advertisement. According to Wolf, "the diet industry has tripled its income in the past 10 years from a $10 billion industry to a $33.3 billion industry" (47). Other companies that cater to the current "large" population sell beauty, tactfully. As William Lutz points out in his article, "With these Words I can Sell You Anything," girdles are called body shapers or control garments (158), and in Diane White's article, "Euphemisms for the Fat of the Land," extra-extra large is changed to queen size (176). Either way, it is their diet, exercise, or control product that will get women on the way to the thinner, and better, more popular, sexy ideal. Advertisers manipulate women into thinking their value is dependent on their physical appearance. They appeal to that basic human desire to be wanted, accepted, and sexually attractive, as Charles O'Neill points out in his article, "The Language of Advertising"(163). One reason this "ideal" has manipulated the American society in particular, is that it appeals to some basic American values. Ideal Women :: essays research papers The American women of today can never be too thin or too pretty. In most cases thin equates beauty, so the present ideal is a thin, fit, radiantly healthy, young woman. In magazines stuffed with models and advertisements, billboards on the highway, and actresses on TV, the message of what women should look like is everywhere. The inescapable presence of these images in effect shapes the image of women today. It is very unfortunate that the media influences American society to the point that it defines the "ideal woman." According to Naomi Wolf, author of the bestselling book, <a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=pcZ8g7DjAzA&offerid=6424&type=2&subid=0&url=http%253A//search.borders.com/fcgi-bin/db2www/search/search.d2w/Details%253F%2526mediaType%253DBook%2526prodID%253D2647098" >The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women<IMG border=0 alt=icon width=1 height=1 src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=pcZ8g7DjAzA&bids=6424&type=2&subid=0" >, one reason media is so influential is "advertising is a 130 billion dollar a year industry. The average American watches 30 hours of TV a week and spends 110 hours a year reading magazines. That adds up to exposure to 1500 ads daily" (45). Advertising is a powerful educational force in our culture due to the simple fact of exposure. Eco nomics is also a significant factor in the development of the ideal image. There is a wealth of businesses that depend upon the American desire for thinness to survive. Exercise and diet companies are an example. In order to create a market for their product, they attempt to make women feel inadequate about their own bodies through advertisement. According to Wolf, "the diet industry has tripled its income in the past 10 years from a $10 billion industry to a $33.3 billion industry" (47). Other companies that cater to the current "large" population sell beauty, tactfully. As William Lutz points out in his article, "With these Words I can Sell You Anything," girdles are called body shapers or control garments (158), and in Diane White's article, "Euphemisms for the Fat of the Land," extra-extra large is changed to queen size (176). Either way, it is their diet, exercise, or control product that will get women on the way to the thinner, and better, more popular, sexy ideal. Advertisers manipulate women into thinking their value is dependent on their physical appearance. They appeal to that basic human desire to be wanted, accepted, and sexually attractive, as Charles O'Neill points out in his article, "The Language of Advertising"(163). One reason this "ideal" has manipulated the American society in particular, is that it appeals to some basic American values.

Essay --

What assessment data is relevant to this patient that must be recognized as clinically significant to the nurse? The patient's vital signs are within normal limits for his age and patient has had good enteral intake for nurses shift and has had good output. Patient shows no signs of retractions and has good aeration. Patient IV access has been changed to a saline lock to keep the line open. Patient has no pain at this time. Rationale: has the status of the patient improved or not as expected to this point? What data supports this evaluation assessment? The patient has improved as was expected as evidenced by vital signs within normal limits for his age and patient has had good enteral intake for nurses shift and has had good output. Patient shows no signs of retractions and has good aeration. Patient’s IV access has been changed to a saline lock to keep the line open. Patient has no pain at this time. What pre-procedure teaching is needed for Jaxon and his family regarding the PICC insertion? What are appropriate techniques should be used for the teaching? Teach the family tha...

Visiting Mountain City :: Descriptive Essay About A Place

Visiting Mountain City Mountain City, Tennessee, is my hometown. I have lived in this small town located in East Tennessee all my life. It has many attractions, shopping places, and great places to eat. Most people don’t realize what the town has to offer--everything from shopping in the downtown area to relaxing in one of the numerous parks. There are also several creeks and camping facilities for the outdoor man. This makes Mountain City a great place to go and forget about all your troubles. Mountain City was established in 1885; the town was first called Talyorsville. The town has grown tremendously since its establishment. Located about 45 miles from Johnson City, it’s a perfect place to visit for a day. The drive is only about an hour from E.T.S.U. Mountain City is also located about 30 miles from Boone, North Carolina, where skiing’s a major attraction. Since I have lived in Mountain City all my life, in my opinion, the fall season is the best time to go. The trees all around are full of color. This time of year is a perfect time to hike on one of the various trails, which will lead you deep into the Appalachian Mountains. Some of the trails lead to spectacular views of the town. The Deer Run Trail is a wonderful trail to hike in order to view the small town. The trail is about a mile long and very challenging. During the fall season, the weather seems warm during the day and cool throughout the night. I’d suggest taking some short sleeve shirts for the day and some long sleeved shirts for the chilly nights. If the outdoors does not interest you, then Mountain City offers several stores to shop at. Downtown Mountain City is packed full of little stores filled with all kinds of treasures. There’s a variety of stores and wide selection of items to choose from. Some stores located in the downtown area are the City Shoe Store, Cornet Furniture, Auto Zone, Downtown Antiques, Hidden Treasures Antiques, and for the young people, Corner Pocket Arcade. The downtown area is not the only place to shop. I learned from my visit that there is a Dollar Store, Family Dollar, Tumbleweed Western Wear, Family Book and Card, and a Stanley Knitting Mill Outlet store. Some of my favorite places to shop are the little booths set up along side of the road, that feature crafts and different selections of souvenirs.