Animation Essay

MICHELLE LEE IAT 343 – D104 #301097226 ANIMATION ESSAY The two three-dimensional animated films that are chosen are Pocoyo animation shorts and a music video by Genki Rockets. I am using music video and short animation for comparison is because they are wonderful at sending messages within a short amount of duration. Also, I will be comparing the cinematic style and techniques of the animations. Pocoyo animations is originated in Spain and targeted towards pre-school children. Their videos often present a certain moral or â€Å"lesson† in them.In the animations, Pocoyo (the main character) and his friends often dance around and play. In an animation, physical actions and facial expressions brings audience into tense anticipation. The narrator talks throughout every episode and leads audience into the story. There are zero backdrops and environmental set design, which gives their targeted audience (pre-schoolers) a more room for endless imaginations on how the surroundin gs may look like depending their background. Hierarchical structures are within Pocoyo animation as some groups of 3D objects are more dominant than other ones.For example, some characters are smaller/further than other ones, and their body structures. This defines importance of the parentschildren relationships. Color creates mood; bright colors flatter children in a content way. The composition of each shot and scene help audience to understand the characters in the story and their actions; keep in mind that their targeted audience are preschoolers, therefore it is more about the storytelling, and compositions will not be complex. In this series, diverse camera views are being lacked.There is only one camera view throughout every episode. Therefore, emotions might not be able to present at its maximum potential. However, tilts and rolls is in there every now and then so it gives scene a stylized look that helps visualize the audience actions and scene tensions. Lighting is also on the minimal setting. It could be the sun being the infinite light, or in a room with fluorescent lights. The music video by Genki Rockets is called â€Å"make. believe†. Genki Rockets is a Japanese virtual band with non-existent musical band and a fictional ocalist. According to their webpage, the vocalist, Rumi who was born â€Å"in space† and has â€Å"never been to Earth†. Due to the fact that the vocalist claims to be from the future outerspace, most of their music videos are computer-generated. Various camera views are widely used and not only can those camera views deliver information, but also able to maximize the scene emotion. Backdrops are shown and surroundings are beautifully illustrated. Slow motion or sudden pause creates time being stopped and makes audience anticipate on the upcoming events.The vocalist (girl in the music video)’s facial expression remains straight for the majority of the video gives 1 MICHELLE LEE IAT 343 – D104 # 301097226 ANIMATION ESSAY the impression that she does not obtain human emotions and traits. Many 3D modeling were done in this video. Scenes like forest, outer-space, castle, desert, skyscrapers are implemented. Lightings play a heavy role in the music video, especially the lighting stimulations with ray-traced reflections, which create realism. Colored lightings always create dramatic in the video.Because of the band and background nature, this video especially captures audience who are interested in space. With both being animations, different mood is conveyed in both of them. Both are created to cater their targeted audience with different compositions. Each shot aids the views to expand their knowledge of the story and characters more. Therefore, both videos have same objective but different results. References: Kerlow, I. (2009). The Art of 3D Computer Animation and Effect. (4th ed).New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Lee KJ (2011). IAT 343 Animations Lecture Notes (Week1 â₠¬â€œ Week11). Zinkia Entertainment. (2011) Pocoyo. http://www. pocoyo. com/ Granada International. (2011) Pocoyo USA. POCOYO – WHALES BIRTHDAY. Youtube Video http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=gh0KClm8w2s Sony Records. (2011) Genki Rockets. http://www. genkirockets. com/en/ Sony Music Publishing. (2011) Akatoubutudan (2010). Genki Rockets – make. believe. Youtube Video http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=tRDo13wthew 2

Supply Chain Management system of ‘Aarong’ Essay

1. Introduction: In today’s competitive world of Business competitive advantage can be gain by proper information system and developing that information system. Aarong information system is a sign of the modern business organization of Bangladesh. Supply chain management is the streamlining of a business’ supply-side activities to maximize customer value and to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Supply chain management (SCM) represents an effort by suppliers to develop and implement supply chains that are as efficient and economical as possible. Supply chains cover everything from production, to product development, to the information systems needed to direct these undertakings. 1.1. Background of the study: Aarong emanated from BRAC’s core mission of alleviating poverty and empowering people. In the 1970s, BRAC was examining any and all possibilities for alternative forms of productive livelihood, especially for women, and the proper commercialization of art and crafts turned out to be a promising option. In December 1978 when BRAC decided to open its own retail outlet under the brand name Aarong, meaning ‘village fair’, it broadened its arms to include other artisans and master craftsmen throughout Bangladesh who were involved in the making of handicrafts for generations, and were finding it extremely difficult to survive in the newly formed country. Ever since then Aarong has been helping to establish market linkages for rural artisans, revive crafts and interpret them for the contemporary marketplace. 1.2. Objective of the Study: The main objective of the report is to find out the supply chain management system of Aarong by using Management information system. The main objectives of these reports are, 1. To know Aarong’s information system 2. To know how they use MIS for supply chain management 3. To know the organizational structure of Aarong 4. To know the product promotion of Aarong 5. To know their office management 6. To know the communication structure of Aarong for the management of supply chain. 1.3. Limitation of the Study: In every research work there exist some limitations that the researcher faces while conducting different activities. In the process of research work, we also come across certain limitations that hampered the actual findings and analysis of our research work. Some of limitations can be identified are: 1. Employees of Aarong are usually busy with their daily work and activities, so it is quite impossible sometime to get time from them for getting information about our report. 2. Sometimes the authority does not provide their internal information which is very difficult to collect from any other sources. 3. This is quite difficult to collect all the data of supply chain management of Arong by using Management Information System. 2. Methodology of the study: Methodology is the life blood of a report. The methodology of these report’s are, 2.1. Data collection technique: 1. Questionnaire: A structured questionnaire was asked to the different people of different areas where the Aarongs super store is situated. 2. Observation: we were visited Aarong’s Mohammadpur Branch and observed their products prices and their shop’s environment. 3. Secondary information: secondary information has collected by reviewing websites, Journals and some other relevant documents. 2.2. Sources of Data Collection: 1. Primary Source: the primary information is gathered through informal interviews of the employees working over there under management level, their salesman who are directly involved with selling product and also observation while visiting the office premises. 2. Secondary Source: Secondary sources had also used to collect information. Secondary sources include: a. Features and articles published in newspapers and other journals. b. Visiting website of Aarong super store. 3. Current Scenario of Aarong: Today, Aarong’s reach has spread from where it started, Manikganj, to the rest of the country. From a single shop, Aarong has grown into one of Bangladesh’s biggest retail chains offering one-stop shopping experience through 10 stores spread across the major Metropolitan areas of the country – in Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Sylhet and one in London, UK. Aarong showcases over 100 product categories from clothing to household items, gifts and fashion accessories to children’s toys, ethnic wear to beautiful crafts, from silks, handloom cotton, Endi to Terracotta, bamboo, jute and much more. Aarong also plays the role of protector and promoter of traditional Bangladeshi products and designs. It houses an extensive design library where remnants of our rich craft heritage, such as Nakshikantha art and Jamdani patterns, have been widely researched and archived for present as well as future use. 3.1. Aarong’s Mission: Aarong’s mission is to help sustain rural craftsmanship and find a wider market for their product nationally and internationally. 3.2. Aarong’s Vision: Aarong has one outlet in London and exporting to other countries of North America, Europe and some Asian countries. Because of migrating Bangladeshis in those areas, they are targeting to make more franchising activities in those North American and European region. They basically are targeting those activities after fulfillment the customer demand in domestic market. 3.3. Products of Aarong: Some products picture is given below. 4. Aarong’s Supply Chain: Figure 1: Supply chain system of Aarong Aarong’s supply chain is the movement of materials as they flow from their source to the end customer. The whole supply chain of Aarong includes purchasing, manufacturing, warehousing, transportation, customer service;  demand planning, supply planning and Supply Chain management. It is made up of the employees, activities, information and resources involved in moving a product from Aarong’s supplier to its customer. 4.1. How Aarong’s Supply Chain Management System is build: Aarong’s supply chain management system is a group of things working together. Computers, fax machines, data storage system, operating personals, procedures for the employees and the most vital components of Aarong’s supply chain management system are its telecommunication system. Cell phones helped Aarong to create a communication network with every suppliers and transportation partners across the country. All this components work together to provide information to collect products, manage the suppliers, to provide services, create report etc. Different computer software’s are also used in the supply Chain management of Aarong but the main supply chain management software is developed by Aarong. This software is used for both supply chain planning and to help them to execute the supply chain steps. Aarong has hired trained professionals to operate its supply chain management system and keep updating. Aarong’s supply chain management system can be divided into two systems. Both of this system is vital for Aarong’s business. 1. Supply Chain Planning System and 2. Supply Chain Execution System. 4.2. Supply Chain Planning System: Aarong’s supply chain planning helps Aarong to create a model for its existing supply chain, its helps management to measure demand forecasts for different products and develop a way to find best source for meeting those demands and manufacturing plans. Aarong have turned to their customers for help. By communicating directly with customers about what they want and by getting their feedback on existing products, management are able to more accurately understand the needs and wants of their target audiences. With  this information, they can make a forecast that reflects customer reality. Furthermore, improved technology has of Aarong made it even easier to get their hands on customer feedback. The Website of Aarong for example, makes it possible for organization to communicate with customers in real-time, so they can then use the data immediately in their forecasts. Aarong has developed a central database for all the information and it gives access to suppliers and partners. These technology improvements along with real-time customer feedback have made it possible to more accurately predict revenue, profit, and sales in the near future. More accurate planning means that Aarong can work together with their vendors and distributors to outline a plan that makes sense based on those forecasts so that no one is put into a negative situation. Overall, supply chain planning is a critical component of Aarong’s supply chain management. Without accurate planning abilities, businesses end up cutting into their revenue unnecessarily and possibly putting vendors and distributors into difficult situations that may strain the supply chain relationships in the long run. 4.3. Supply Chain Execution System: Aarong’s supply chain execution system is mainly consists of its transportation partners. They manage the flow of products though distribution centers and warehouses to ensure the products are delivered to the right locations in the most efficient manner. Aarong track the physical status of goods, the Management of materials, warehouses, transportation operations and financial information involving all parties. 4.4. Aarong’s Supply Chain Management Process: 1. Planning: Aarong’s supply chain management planning starts at the top of the management. Management tries to balance out the demand and supply to meet Aarong’s sourcing, production, delivery and return requirements. 2. Sourcing: Aarong has large pool of sources to meets it supply. As the demand requires suppliers come up with raw materials and goods. Then it creates a product which we can exploit. 3. Making: Co-operatives comes up with final goods and they deliver them to  the final processing section of Aarong. The goods or products are ready to use for the customers. 4. Delivering: Aarong’s delivering process is managed by its own transportation. Aarong directly distributes its product to the consumers. Their job is to distribute shipments properly. â€Å"Just-in-time† is followed in delivery process. 5. Returning: Return process is consisting of product returns and post delivery customer support which is done by Aarong. Generally Aarong obtained their products to their consumers within 30days.Its also includes Aarong’s return process. 6. Logistics: Aarong’s top level management plans, supportive relation to their consumers and control of all other factors that have an impact on the supply chain. 4.5. Aarong’s Supply Chain Management Information Flow: Information flows from customers to Employee or from employees to operating personnel in the information system. Then information goes to the floor manager. Floor manager shows it to the consultants of Aarong. Consultant shows it to the top level management of Aarong. Top level orders its suppliers to modify, improve or create product to meet the customer demand. 4.6. Managerial Skills: Aarong has trained operating personnel for its accounting department and website. Operating personnel job is to maintain the information system and repair if any error ever occurs. Aarong’s operating personnel are highly qualified in their job sectors. Aarong’s information system is designed to be employee friendly. Employees do not have to know lot about technology to operate its regular applications. Its information system is very secure. Employees strictly follow all the principled rules. All customers’ orders, addresses or any kind of information is remaining private. Accuracy is practiced and monitored by operating personnel’s. Access of employee information is strictly forbidden. So Aarong has the ability to adjust  technology strategy alignment to accommodate the use of IT and manage business process. The Internet has emerged in the recent past as a dynamic medium for channeling transactions between customers and firms in virtual marketplace. In particular, the World Wide Web has emerged as a powerful new channel for supply chain, rendering many intermediaries obsolete, and drastically revamping the value chain. So Aarong has taken the opportunity to expand its business through net. Aarong’s employees can see as an asset for this kind of expansion. But in our country the growth in e-business seems slow although internet is challenging the traditional supply chain structures that firms have employed to get goods and services to market. Aarong has re-evaluated their value proposition to customers, and meet the challenges of more nimble rivals. Aarong seems to be one of the organization which is interested provide online based order and information system to its customer. So Aarong has a very dazzling managerial skill in internet based supply chain. 4.7. Aarong’s performance improvements by Supply Chain Management: 4.8. Competitive Advantage of Aarong’s Supply Chain Management System: Competitor analysis in marketing is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and potential competitors. This analysis provides both an offensive and defensive strategic context through which to identify opportunities and threats. Competitor profiling coalesces all of the relevant sources of competitor analysis into one framework in the support of efficient and effective strategy formulation, implementation, monitoring and adjustment. Aarong has its own version of the competitive analysis and its function is clear: to line up your product with other products and show where yours falls short and where yours is superior. Each industry brings a different spin to this old favorite and user experience design has its own set of criteria by which to judge competitors. 5. Graphical Analysis: A structured questionnaire was asked to the different people of different areas where the Aarongs super store is situated. We surveyed this questionnaire of Aarongs employees and gather much information about supply  chain management. On this basis we made some graphical chart for showing some important issue. 5.1. Systems are currently used in Aarong: For the calculation see Table no: 2 at page 19 5.2. Facing the problems below when using these systems: For the calculation see Table no: 2 at page 19 5.3. Competitors Analysis of Aarong: Aarong has competitive advantage over its competitors on almost every factor. Only few companies have ability to chase some sort of advantage like Aarong. Such as qualities and innovativeness, Kay-Kraft and Anjan’s supplier, Rang’s color and Khubsoorti’s cost. Aarong has gain competitive advantage through its supply chain management system. Aarong has a vast network system with its thousands of suppliers and manufacturers which gave Aarong superior production and resource allocation power. Competitors do not have power that can match Aarong’s production capability so they are losing shelves. SCM keeps track of its supplier and its inventory properly so there less costly and hustle free for the employees. Performance of service has increased more than its competitors so there are more satisfied customers of Aarong. 6. Conclusion: There is a reason why Aarong is at the forefront of the urban fashion-scene. Their innovative clothing line fuses ethnic wear with global trends using traditional Bangladeshi materials. Aarong is a support enterprise of BRAC. A significant portion of their earnings are invested towards improving the socio-economic standards of disadvantaged artisans and underprivileged rural women of various communities. Aarong organizational vision will be achieved smoothly and that is the women will be empowered through â€Å"grass-root level women entrepreneur development† and this empowerment will change the overall scenario of economic condition. 7. Recommendations: With multiple stores in Dhaka, Aarong is a leader in superstore retail  organizations. The combination of quality and price under various brand name offers customers value for their money. We have examined and evaluated the operations of Aarong. We recommended the following in to order to ensure continued success for the future of all Marks and Spencer stores. 1. Find alternative sources to marks and Spencer stores abroad. 2. Increased marketing efforts.

The Leader as a Strategist Report

The Leader as a Strategist Report Holly A. Shones Argosy University Perspectives in Change Leadership B6027 A01 Dr. Karen Ivy April 22, 2012 In late 2009 Mayo Clinic (MC) updated the vision, mission and strategy of the institution to better align with the ever changing healthcare industry. The primary value at MC is â€Å"the needs of the patient come first†. The mission is â€Å"to inspire hope and contribute to health and well-being by providing the best care to every patient through integrated clinical practice, education and research†.The vision is â€Å"Mayo Clinic will provide an unparalleled experience as the most trusted partner for health care†. The four strategic requirements at MC are â€Å"solution and hope, trusted and affordable, knowledge to delivery, and transforming health care delivery† (Mayo, 2012a). According to Porter (1996) it can be useful for a company to look at the history of the business and implement the strategy of the past wit h a modern twist. An approach such as this can help to re-energize a company’s strategy and gain the commitment of the employees to carry out the strategies in their daily activities.The idea of â€Å"the needs of the patient come first† was originally attributed to Dr. William Mayo. By aligning the vision, mission and strategy of the institution around the value of the Mayo brothers, MC is able to inspire employees to work towards the goal of the mission statement. In the past MC relied on reputation and word of mouth to attract new patients. The patients had to travel to a physical location for a consultation and/or treatment. The institution did not advertise and was very low key.Only in the past several years has MC considered how to reach the large market population which is unable to access healthcare from MC with such a narrow view of the target market segment. The economic situation of the late 2000’s and the uncertainty of healthcare reimbursements has required MC to take a new look at possible patient populations in order to remain competitive in today’s market. The new motto at MC for targeting customers is â€Å"Mayo here, there and everywhere† (Mayo, 2008). MC is expanding its target market to include populations other than the core business of patients visiting the physical sites.MC is now expanding the target market to include people globally through partnerships in other countries including India, Sweden and the Czech Republic (Springer, 2011). The institution even has a space at the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN in order to reach more patients with health and wellness information (Adams, 2011). The healthcare industry is becoming increasingly more customer driven rather than physician driven. MC is starting to utilize the Internet to reach out everywhere to empower people to take control of their healthcare decisions.Patients are using the Internet to research medical issues. They want to be informed and understand the choices in their own healthcare plan. MC provides accurate information on diseases and possible treatments via the Internet. Another way MC has expanded beyond its physical walls is through a collaborative venture with an outside partner to create medical applications for cellular phones (Pesek, 2012). The institution is working on e-Consults and AskMayoExpert sites so physicians at other locations can tap into the knowledge of the MC team.The institution is expanding its sphere of knowledge through an affiliated practice network in several locations within the United States. The affiliated practice network allows other medical institutions within the network the ability to draw on MC’s knowledge. Through the creation of affiliated practice networks MC’s â€Å"new strategy is to extend the Mayo Clinic's geographic reach without building costly new facilities, spending money to acquire hospitals or consolidating with another health system† (Tockne ll, 2011) and at the same time meeting the needs of the patient here, there and everywhere.Another recent addition to MC is The Center for Social Media to bring to the forefront the importance of social media use in healthcare for this generation and the generations to come. With the new target market strategy MC will continue to grow and come closer to the vision of the institution. â€Å"Strategy is the creation of a unique and valuable position, involving a different set of activities† (Porter, 1996, p. 68). MC has delivered value to patients through its integrated approach to healthcare. The physicians are compensated a flat rate salary rather than compensated based on number of patients seen or procedures done.The physicians are able to fully focus on the patient’s medical issues during consultations without considering their own financial gain from the visit. Dr. William Mayo stated in a speech in 1910 â€Å"The best interest of the patient is the only interest to be considered† (Fox, 2010). This statement has been a cornerstone of the Mayo culture and work practice since its inception. Through the team based approach of Mayo’s model of care, MC is able to provide superior care compared to other institutions which do not have the team knowledge.Mayo is able to perform similar activities in different ways compared to other healthcare institutions due to the team based philosophy and the integrated approach to healthcare delivery. Porter (1996) considers this key to strategic positioning. MC’s sustainability is different from the competitors due to the reputation of the institution. MC is able to attract and retain a well qualified workforce in all areas. MC was rated as the third top hospital in the nation in 2011(U. S. News ; World Report, 2011).In addition, MC ranked 71 out of the top 100 companies to work for this year (CNNMoney, 2012). MC is able to build on the institutions past reputation to create their unique pos ition in the healthcare market. MC has implemented several new areas or themes to stay ahead of the competitors, also. MC is focused on innovation within healthcare with the creation of the Center for Innovation. To align with the four strategies, MC is investing in cutting edge research and continuing education. The institution recently created three new Centers.The Center for Regenerative Medicine which is focused on ways to healing damaged tissue and organs, the Center for the Science of Healthcare Delivery which is focused on using scientific method to bring efficiencies to medicine, and the Center for Individualized Medicine which is focused on â€Å"leveraging genetic knowledge to find treatments, identify risks, or determine the right drug or dosage for patients† (Discovery’s Edge, 2012). By remaining at the forefront of discovery and translational science MC is able to stay ahead of the competition.The investment into the innovative centers will be the conduit which will allow MC to be able to achieve the mission of providing the best care to every patient through integrated clinical practice, education and research. The strengths of MC as a formidable competitor are abundant, but there is always room for improvement. Dr. William Mayo stated â€Å"If we are satisfied, we are lost† (Mayo, 2011). Table 1 is a SWOT analysis of Mayo Clinic. One of the most important strengths for MC would be its reputation as a world class healthcare facility which helps to reinforce brand recognition.Our reputation has been built on the institution’s patient centered approach to healthcare, education, training and team environment. The institutional reputation has helped with recruitment of quality staff, also. In order to recruit and retain staff, MC offers many career development opportunities such as tuition assistance, continuing education classes and other seminars to increase staff satisfaction. Compensation trends for job classifications are monitored on a yearly basis and salaries are adjusted every year to stay competitive as a way to attract and retain quality employees. Mayo’s strong financial performance is another strength.MC had an operating margin of 6. 5 percent in 2010. In 2011 the operating margin increased to more than 7 percent (Mayo, 2012b). Since Mayo is a non-profit organization the profit is reinvested into the future of healthcare. MC announced the institution will reinvest $3. 5 billion on capital projects in the next five years which will be spent on information technology, equipment, facilities and other strategic investments (Snowbeck, 2012). With such a great financial performance, MC is able to act on opportunities such as telemedicine and cutting edge research to strengthen their position in the healthcare market.The use of electronic medical records (EMR) at MC is an important strength. It enhances the collaboration between teams by allowing any staff member who needs access to a pa tient’s medical record to have immediate access to the data. The EMR system increases efficiency and quality of care for the patient. SWOT Analysis STRENGTHS * Brand recognition * Reputation * Patient-centered approach * Strong financial performance * Quality of staff * Electronic medical record integration. Three shield concept – Practice, Research, Education * Senior leadership’s commitment to the vision and strategic plan| WEAKNESSES * Decision making process – execution of plans are slow * One Mayo concept slow to implementation * Quality differences perceived across campuses * Size of institution continues to grow increasing communication challenges * Geographical location| OPPORTUNITIES * Ability to be a leader in healthcare reform – influence government * Pioneer in healthcare delivery science * Innovation through new strategic initiatives * Telemedicine * Scientific advances with new technologies| THREATS * Healthcare reform/every changing political climate * Aging population * Increasing healthcare expense vs. diminishing healthcare reimbursements * Competitive market * Reliance on philanthropic gifts * Increased dissatisfaction in healthcare among the general population | Table 1 – Mayo Clinic SWOT Analysis Some of the weaknesses which MC faces are related to the size of the institution and the philosophy surrounding decision making. MC is a consensus led institution with many levels of oversight committees.Projects are vetted by many individuals within the organization before they are approved. Mayo thinks about their reputation and is risk adverse in many decisions made. As the institution continues to grow it is becoming more of a challenge to communicate throughout the organization in a personal way. MC continues to add small healthcare sites into the Mayo Clinic Health System. Leadership is working towards a one Mayo concept, but it is a slow process to integrate the newly acquired institutions within Ma yo. Each new site has different systems and processes which must be integrated into Mayo’s system. As Mayo expands its presence there is a perceived quality difference by other campuses.As an example, I am working on a project within the Institutional Review Board (IRB) to integrate four new Mayo Clinic health sites into the electronic system. The sites will be able to submit research protocol applications electronically at an enterprise level rather than each site approving their own research protocols. I have seen first-hand that staff at one location does not believe the quality of the review of the protocols at another site is sufficient. Attitudes such as this can lead to a breakdown of teamwork across the sites. The geographical location of MC can be seen as a weakness, also. The campuses are not located in large metropolitan locations. The weakness will decrease as the use of telemedicine increases. Exciting opportunities in healthcare are happening at MC.With the disc ussion of healthcare reform at the governmental level, MC has been tapped as a resource for discussion surrounding what healthcare should look like in the future. The institution can influence future governmental decisions on healthcare to spread the mission and vision of our institution. As MC continues to invest in the new strategic initiatives of healthcare delivery, regenerative medicine and individualized medicine the doors of opportunity to change health care delivery and increase translational science to practice in a shorter time than in the past. With new technologies healthcare is changing on a daily basis which allows for many new opportunities for discovery of better ways to meet the patient’s needs. Telemedicine is an area of great opportunity for Mayo, also.It could become a fast, efficient way to diagnose and treat patients which cannot physically travel to a MC campus. MC faces threats in the healthcare industry, though. The current state of healthcare reform is in flux. The political climate is continually changing. In addition, healthcare expenses continue to rise as reimbursements continue to decline. The payer mix is changing as the baby boomers are covered by Medicare. Medicare reimbursement is less than the other payers. As the population ages, revenue will decrease. The institution must discover new ways to increase efficiency and quality at the same time. Another financial weakness is the fact that a large portion of Mayo’s research funding comes from the National Institute of Health.As an employee in the research arena, I know the institution does not know what the next year’s governmental budget will be. Each year the selection of grant recipients grows more competitive with fewer grants awarded. Loss of the research funding would have a huge impact on the institution. Another threat is the reliance on philanthropic gifts to support Mayo’s mission. In 2011 $318 million was donated to support Mayo (Snowbeck, 2012). A poor economic climate can cause a decrease of benefactor gifts which would be a threat to the continued success of MC. Finally, the general dissatisfaction in healthcare among the general population could be perceived as a threat to the institution.MC must realize that healthcare can no longer be a physician driven business, but must become a customer driven business. The internal environment at MC is team based and focused on collaboration to accomplish our key value of â€Å"the needs of the patient come first†. MC is a physician led institution. The person in the CEO position must have an MD. The structure of the institution is team orientated. The Board of Trustees determines the direction of MC operations and strategic plan. The Board of Governors is the executive committee of the Board of Trustees. There are Management Teams throughout the institution to ensure the strategies and operation directive are effectively executed by all departments under Mayo leader ship.Executive Operations Committees direct the daily operations within the institution. These board and committees are part of Administration. The Management Teams and Executive Operations Committees are present for all three shields at MC. There are Chairs for each department within the three shields to help with the daily direction of operations. The direction of the institution comes from top leadership, but each department is given flexibility to determine the best way to accomplish the strategies set by the institution. To help reinforce the strategies, MC has adopted a project plan template which includes a section which requires the project group to think about how they will accomplish MC’s strategy with each project.Figure 1 is an example of the project charter (Mayo, n. d. ). Strategic Alignment| People| Processes| Create the healthcare workforce of the future that sustains Mayo’s values (People) D1. Improve staff’s ability to deliver high value care a . Facilities/Equipment b. Training/support for process changes * Implement individual provider scorecards including quality and cost metrics (outcomes, safety, service, cost, competence, adherence to standardized practice guidelines) * Invest in continuous staff development to improve staff satisfaction and retention * Increase diversity of staff and development of diverse staff * Improve leadership training and mentoring Increase the number and skill of physicians and clinical and basic scientists engaged in generating new knowledge * Increase our capacity and skill in comparative effectiveness and health care delivery research| Transform Mayo Clinic’s knowledge management and healthcare delivery process (Process) * Provide solutions and hope for patients a. Clinical Trials b. Implement Individualized Medicine into the practice c. Regenerative medicine d. Advance commercialization of research discoveries research discoveries * Standardize, improve effectiveness (outcomes, sa fety, service), and reduce cost a. Standardization b. Outcomes ; Safety c. Service d.Manage to Reimbursement * Explore new payment mechanisms * Generate, evaluate, integrate, and manage knowledge and information a. Information b. Knowledge c. Delivery * Create global value-adding relationships, alliances, and partnerships a. Patients and Consumers b. Providers C6. Increase our offerings for health and healthy living| Primary Operating Objective (Choose one from above, need sub-objective where applicable):| Secondary Operating Objective Optional (Choose one from above, need sub-objective where applicable):| Figure 1 – Project Charter Example In some ways MC is ahead of the curve by the use of systems to coordinate work throughout the organization. In other areas it is still a work in process.The EMR system is an excellent example of systems working to enhance communication, collaboration and coordinating between groups in the institution which aligns with the strategies of the institution. Finance has been working on a system to help with financial management forecasting and planning. The system is rather new and all of the functionality of the system is not being utilized at the current moment. The culture at Mayo is consensus and collaboration. The organizational culture is an enabler for the institution’s strategy in most cases. All employees are able to speak up and discover areas which need improvement. They are also given the chance to create solutions.MC works diligently to communicate the strategy to everyone. They create internal videos highlighting the vision, mission and strategies of the institution called â€Å"The Mayo Effect. There is a website dedicated to the subject. The culture at Mayo is everyone plays a part in the needs of the patient come first even if you do not have any patient contact. There is a sense of pride to be part of such a noble cause. Sometimes the culture can be a hindrance to the strategy, though. Innovation can be difficult at times in a consensus driven institution. By the time everyone agrees or accepts an idea, another group outside of Mayo could have run with the innovative idea.Another issue is the risk aversion created with consensus decision making. When you are risk averse, it is difficult to be innovative. Mayo incorporates Kouses and Posner’s five practices of exemplary leadership throughout the institution. The following summary highlights some of the ways Mayo has been able to model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act and encourage the heart. Modeling the Way * Setting a positive example: The founders (Will and Charles Mayo) strong belief in helping individuals, researching for solutions, and educating future care givers. Later generations of healthcare individuals are also highlighted. Achieve small wins by creating opportunities: Staff, physicians, and administration are empowered to promote and/or implement cost saving ide as or patient centered healthcare improvements. * Stand up for what you believe in: Mayo’s Three Shields are displayed throughout the organization reminding employees of practice, research, and education. Inspiring a Shared Vision * Envision an uplifting future: Websites and media promote a patient advances, success stories, and innovation improvements. * Let others know how you feel: Patients, external/internal focus groups, and external organizations are regularly polled for feedback, which is used to improve the organization. Believe in the organization: â€Å"We can do anything we set our mind to† is often a common quote used by staff. Challenging the Process * Search for Opportunities: Teams of improvement agents are available to evaluate and act upon suggestions. * Experiment and Take Risks and Challenge the Status Quo: Funding a leading â€Å"Center of Innovation† * Adopt the â€Å"great idea† of others: Entire division devoted to quality improveme nts throughout the entire institution. Enabling Others to Act * Always say â€Å"we†: In publications, both print and electronic, â€Å"we† is commonly used. â€Å"One Mayo† philosophy. * Strengthen people by making them heroes: Mayo allows staff time off to volunteer.It is not uncommon to find physicians playing music for patients, management in blue jackets directing patients, or staff donating blood. * Value teamwork and trust: Consensus and collaboration are key words within the organization. Encouraging the Heart * Recognize individual contributions: Mayo recognizes volunteers and staff who go to extraordinary lengths to support patients or make a difference in healthcare delivery. * Celebrate team accomplishments: â€Å"Team excellence† awards are distributed and highlighted throughout the organization. * Motivate others: Management are encouraged to write â€Å"thank you† notes to staff and may include a small discretionary gift card as reco gnition. Overall, Mayo is taking great strides towards achieving some lofty strategic goals.As long as everyone continues to remember the patient’s needs come first when making decisions which will ultimately affect outcomes, Mayo will stay competitive in the healthcare industry while at the same time delivering the best healthcare outcomes to people throughout the world. References Adams, J. (2011, August 10). Mayo Clinic opening high-tech outpost at the Mall of America. Retrieved from http://www. startribune. com/business/127497038. html CNNMoney (2012). 100 Best Companies to Work For. Retrieved from http://money. cnn. com/magazines/fortune/best-companies/2012/full_list/ Discovery’s Edge (2012). Research Centers. Retrieved from http://discoverysedge. mayo. edu/de11-1-research-centers. cfm Fox, F. (2010, December 2). Clinic Guide. Retrieved from http://www. clinicguide. org/the-best-interest-of-the-patient-is-the-only-inter

PERSPECTIVE PAPER MEXICAN WAR Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

PERSPECTIVE PAPER MEXICAN WAR - Essay Example The population nearly tripled in less than half a century! And, with the high volume of immigration coupled with the need for larger families to sustain farms, this trend will likely continue at a more rapid pace. Acquiring land from Mexico would greatly help with this problem, by giving more land for our growing population to live in. Secondly, because of the harsh economic conditions that many in this country have faced, frontier land offers new possibilities. The economic depressions suffered by this country in 1819 and again in 1837 left many with next to nothing. Westward expansion offers a fresh start for such people. The reason for this is that frontier land costs very little, and in some cases, is free. This means that many people who could never have the means to become landowners presently may now have the chance. This is important, since landownership signifies wealth, power, and independence. At the same time, westward expansion opens the opportunity for new forms of commerce. A struggling craftsman on the East coast must deal with the competition of other craftsmen of the same trade. Place this same craftsman out west, and he may find that while need for his craft has not changed, he is experiencing little to no competition from rival craftsmen. He may even end up with more customers than he can handl e. Imagine the riches! Also, merchants who relocated out West will open West coast ports. This will allow trade between the United States and Pacific countries, making our nation even more prosperous. Lastly, it is our duty to spread democracy to the world. Democracy is God's plan for the world. And, seeing as how the United States is the perfect embodiment of God's plan, who better than us to spread democracy far and wide To not spread democracy to these unfortunate people who no nothing of the joys of democracy would be a sin. We must open their eyes and show them that this is the best way of life. We can begin to fill this duty by acquiring Mexican land and extending democracy to those who happen to inhabit it. As you can see, the desire of land acquisition is not solely a selfish one. I hope I have done my part to persuade you. We must declare war on Mexico in order to further the prosperity of this great country. I am afraid that without expansion, this country will never recognize its full potential. And, in the end, the acquisition of Mexican territory is what's best for everyone involved, both Americans and Mexicans. Thank you for your time, Sincerely, Good job of giving three reasons for the importance of territorial expansion - Might have specifically mentioned California and its potential May 2, 1846 Mr. President, I am writing you in hopes that this letter will aid you in your decision as to whether or not to declare war on Mexico. This is something that I believe very strongly in. I feel that a declaration of war is entirely unnecessary, and in fact could prove disastrous for this nation. First of all, I believe that expanding this nation would prove to weaken democracy. Ours is an experimental government and therefore, its boundaries are unknown. Our nation seems to be running smoothly at its present state, so why tempt fate It is my strong belief that the reason our government works so well is because this country is relatively small and the government is close to the people.

I have to send it to you through email Coursework

I have to send it to you through email - Coursework Example This will create a huge flow of Euros in the local and international monetary market. The excess supply of Euros combined with the imminent reduced demand for Euros will have an adverse affect on the strength of Euro against the other strong currencies such as US $ and British Pound. It will certainly result in a downward spiral for Euro as it will lose strength against its nearest competitor US $. It is however uncertain whether the quantity of Euros being traded in the market will increase or decrease since that it relative to the extent of increase or decrease in the supply and demand of the Euros. The trickle-down effect will continue to harm those consumers who buy US goods in the entire EU. As the weakened Euro will be able to purchase only a fraction of what they used to purchase earlier. The demand for US products will fall as the purchasing power of the buyers will be reduced. Giants like Nike, Nestle, Adidas, Dell and others will face tough competition from local producers as their goods will now be cheaper relative to the imported American goods and services. On the other hand, European luxury goods being imported to US will become cheaper for Americans, so a greater demand will be seen for Euro denominated goods in the US and other countries like Japan and England. The EU country manufacturers will find it hard to cope with increased demand since they are already operating on a limited capacity for luxury items. Another setback will be to financial institutions in the US and Japan holding Euros in their vaults. Since governments and other institutions keep a balance of various currencies in their basket, those that would be holding too many Euros will find themselves at a great disadvantage and would tend to get rid of their excess Euro stock as soon as possible to minimize their loss. This whole process gives a gloomy outlook of Europe and its developed economies in the next 10 years. People are speculating that this trend will sweep across

Georg Cantor Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Georg Cantor - Research Paper Example Georg had first been private tutored but later went to primary school in St Petersburg before they migrated to Germany. This was as a result of the Russian weather being very unfavourable. Cantor attended local schools and also made friends who would later on be of significance in making and creating theories that would change the world of mathematics. Cantor’s early interest and basis in mathematics formed a crucial step in helping him come up with credible mathematical theories. Cantor was a very good mathematician and was known for his exceptional skills in trigonometry. He entered the University of Zurich where he continued to do well. His study at the University of Zurich was cut short by the death of his father. After receiving a substantial amount of inheritance from his father, he was able to transfer to the University of Berlin where he attended lecturers by influential scholars. He later attended the University of Gottingen where he took mathematical research. In this research he was able to complete his dissertation on number theory. While in Berlin, he was elected the president of the Mathematical Society Berlin Chapter. He was also a member of several teams that met and discussed mathematics as well as how they could come up with Mathematical theories. In the same light Cantor taught at a local girl’s school. At the same time he worked on improving his theory of mathematics and presented his theory again. The Personal life of Georg Cantor was one that was adventurous as at a tender age he played the Violin and his family was very musical. He also came from a mixed family where his mother was of Russian descent and his father German. His Father was also a successful businessman who was involved in the setting up of the St Petersburg Stock Exchange. Cantor was also the first born child in a family of six. Cantor’s work was also heavily criticised and

Organisational Change Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 5

Organisational Change Management - Essay Example For organization or firm to achieve sustainable change it need to begin with clear understanding of the current state of the firm , then followed by implementation of appropriate and targeted strategies ( Capps & Hazen, 2002). Whereby the focus of change management will be on the outcome that will emanate from change. The new arrangement need to be clearly understood, where the change process usually apply mainly to structural or task change which can either be transformational or incremental (John & Suzy). From Cao and McHugh (2005), Organization change is often stimulated by external factor, which often lead to loss of market opportunity and dramatic increase in services. Organization undertake technical, structural and strategic shift. Thus organization evolve to different level in their life cycle e.g. an organization can change from being reactive organization to a more proactive and stable organization (U.S. Congress, 1990). Key changes in D2 firm include those presented by com peting firm, world economic crises’, increased competition from well-developed firm, competition from international market. In responding to these changes D2 need to change and improve the product and the way they channel those product to the market. It is not only D2 that is facing substantial change, many similar firm are facing similar changes where global competition and technology innovation are transforming the expectation of involved work force (Byeon, 2005). D2 to mange within the emerging environment need to adapt and adaption mean change, it is a fact that we can replicate yesterday practice and expect to achieve the success we had in the past , reality is that yesterday assumption and practices are no longer valid and may no longer work for today thus , if a firm is to maintain competitive advantage , and deliver strategic objectives. Attract and retain base customer, a firm need to respond to respond to new circumstances in a very proactive, measured and in an agi le manner (Brown & Eisenhardt, 1998). It can be inferred from Boulding (1956), that a comprehensive management change strategies should lead to the desired objectives in a way that create sense that enable sustainable and measurable improvement in a way that build capability of responding in the future. Organization face strong resistance to change, this mainly because people often have fear of unknown ( Beeson & Davis, 2000), while many people think things are fine the way they are and don’t understand the immediate need of change, hence recognizing the need of change and acting on it can proof to be difficult decision for managers and leaders to implement (U.S. Congress, 1990). Change require proper management of people confusion and anxiety, (Bausch, 2002) on the other hand management of people excitement over the change and engagement, this are major emotion that most managers find difficulty in handling (Ashmos & Huber, 1987). Management of change process play fundamenta l role in the success of change oriented project (McKenna & Mitchell, 2007). Many people are often inherently cynical about change, and conflicting goals during change process often set drawback to organization change (Alter, 2007). Resistance is often seen as natural defense mechanism for those who are at the verge of losing something (Tsoukas, Haridimos & Robert ,2002), hence reason for resisting change are so varied, they can include loss of security, money

See below Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

See below - Essay Example The normal flora also harms the human body by promoting disease. Some components of the normal flora namely the commensals, neither harm nor benefit the human body. The normal floras are found in every part of the human body, and each part has specific microorganisms adapted to the particular area. There are skin flora, nasopharyngeal flora, intestinal flora and urogenital flora among other flora. As explained by Shlaes (2010), use of antibiotics may lead to loss of lactobacillus which forms part of the urogenital flora. Lactobacillus keeps the female reproductive organs’ pH level at about 4.5 which is hostile to pathogenic microorganisms. Therefore, loss of lactobacillus leads to higher pH levels, which may lead to candida invasion and yeast infection. Antibiotics were also previously used to kill the H. pylori bacteria that resides in the human stomach of gastric ulcers patients. Recent studies, however, suggest that the bacteria may not be a causal agent of the ulcers but j ust part of the normal flora. As described by Pelczar (2011), microbes can be found everywhere on earth. They are found in the soil, in water, in air and on plants and animals. The human body is covered in many different kinds of microbes. The few sterile parts of the human body free from microbes include the brain, lungs and the circulatory system. The human body, as a host to microbes, has three different kinds of symbiotic relationships with microbes of different kinds. Mutualist relationship is where both the host and the microbe benefit from each other. A commensalistic relationship is where neither the microbe nor the host seems to obtain any benefit or harm from the relationship. A parasitic or pathogenic relationship is where the microbe benefits while the host is harmed by the presence of the microbe. A parasitic relationship is where the microbe benefits from the host, while a pathogenic relationship is where the microbe causes harm to the host. According to Pelczar (2011) , normal flora microbes fall under two broad categories. These are the resident microbes and transient microbes. Resident microbes are mainly found on the skin, in the digestive tract, in the mucous membranes, in parts of the respiratory system and parts of the urogenital system. Transient microbes visit the human body and some try to colonize parts of the human host body. However, this usually fails owing to competition from resident microbes, protective action by human immune system and human body changes that inhibit the settlement of transient microbes. Most microbes forming the normal flora are beneficial to the human body. Nevertheless, some changes may occur that make these microbes become harmful to the human body. Dysfunctions in the human immune system may result in overpopulation of normal flora or their migration to areas where they are not ordinarily found. Additionally, when broad spectrum antibiotics are administered on a body the resident microbes may be annihilated and pathogenic microbes may gain an advantage. Physical trauma, such as invasive surgery procedures, may introduce microbes into areas where they are not normally found. As expounded by Shlaes (2010) antibiotics are one of the greatest advances in medicine and their use began in the 1940’s. They are used to fight bacterial infections, some fungal infections and some parasitic microbes. However, they are ineffective against viral infections. Antibiotics kill bacteria in the human body and

Purchase Journal Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Purchase Journal - Case Study Example Less attention on the goods and products needed for daily use. This creates pressure on the budget and sometimes the expenditure is not well planned. If goods for day to day use are not bought regularly and in a planned way, serious problems in consumption patterns may arise. The individual has spending power, but he is reluctant to buy the food products, fruits, vegetables, detergent, etc. This may give rise to health and hygiene problems. In the case too much money is spent to buy branded goods, there will be no funds left for medical emergencies, sudden price hike, etc. The expenditure is already high, so funds are being exhausted rapidly. It is necessary to revise the present purchase pattern. If the present purchase pattern is maintained, it will simply lead to financial mismanagement. However, the problem appears to be at a preliminary state. There is too much tendency of buying expensive, branded goods (this tendency can be checked, of course). No plan for significant savings discernable. More attention is needed on the daily expenses. The daily expenses must be focused to obtain a quality diet. Bank deposits or suitable investments at small scale are a good savings option. There should be more planning for a more economic living. The plans may include proper fund allocation, stoppage of buying expensive and sometimes unnecessary goods, investment in saving scheme,

The Role of a CIO (Chief Information Officer) Essay

The Role of a CIO (Chief Information Officer) - Essay Example However, he is considered to be a key player in the CEO's panel. According to Tim Arnoult "the predecessors to today's CIO was the Senior Vice-President of Data Processing. The role was to post transactions to customer accounts and run daily financial statements for the bank. Today, every core process in the company is enabled with technology and the strategic focus is on the use of information to improve customer satisfaction and to gain competitive advantage. Twenty-five years ago, technology consisted of mainframes in the back-office; today the customer and the bank have the advantage of interacting directly with each other through technology."1 The accomplishment of the efforts put forth by the CIO highly depends upon the technological developments in the following six sectors namely information systems, system infrastructure, business systems, human resources, technology and relations. A competent CIO works by executing modified measures in the above-mentioned spheres in order to boost the IT operations being carried out in the respective company. The following paper is aimed at studying the roles of CIO in diversified fields, ranging from the discipline of learning to the administration sectors keeping in view, the challenging past of the CIOs and the prospects for them in the coming years. CIOs are the administrative executives whose primary task is to look after the services related to the information systems department. Integrating business stratagems into the technology sector of the firm is one of their primary objectives. Furthermore, they are also associated with the tasks of improving the organization's Internet and web projects and assist the CEO in attaining the targets aimed by the company by streamlining the business processes and the underlying features for IT operations. Above all, CIOs are the gurus, the symbols and the architects framing the global economy. Business Environments Affect the Role of A CIO Varying environments have a remarked impact on the roles being served by a CIO. Following are some of the milieus that could be experienced by any CIO working at any level in an organization. The first and the initial one being the Startup IT milieu in which the major responsibility of a CIO is to lay the basis for the IT infrastructure and incorporate it with the business-specific implementations. In this environment, it is the task for a competent CIO to work out ways for the expansion of business units. Next one being the High-tech business environment requires the CIO to indulge himself in the exploration of new scientific and technological discoveries and inventions in the fields of sales and marketing. He should work for the improvements of systems, for instance, emailing, VoIP businesses, video conferencing, etc. The third environ is said to be the Bricks and Mortar environment, during which an extensive stress is being laid upon conventional business methodologies. It can be categorized into setting up the IT infrastructures in health-care or governmental departments. The fourth and the most significant one is the Internet environment. The situation under discussion affects the CIO to a great extent and the CIOs of the current scenario are also the dwellers in the same environment.

Save Girl Child Essay Example for Free

Save Girl Child Essay The driving force behind our lives is values (desires). A value can be defined as our highest priority in life. It may be Peace, Self Awareness, Money, Beauty, Power, Prestige, Sensual Pleasure, Contentment, Love etc. Whatever in our hierarchy of values, the top most value will be happiness. A better understanding of happiness is necessary to be happy in life. All the sensual pleasures are subjective, vary from person to person. One may like to hear a famous song while other may prefer to be with a beautiful girl or boy. If we seek repeated sensual pleasure, after each incident pleasure will decrease. The same incident will not give same amount of happiness; law of diminishing return applies to it. So every time we need something new to be happy. If we run behind new things to be happy, we will either drain out or will face depression of success. Are there any ways to be happy without any external stimulus or with same routine or same work or same dish or same spouse? Let us examine happiness further; is it possible to be happy without any object of enjoyment? Suppose if we win in one situation or receive praise, we become happy without any objects of enjoyment. Hence, happiness is a state of mind. And the objects or external stimulants are just a provocative cause to evoke that state. Let us examine this state of mind. We understood happiness is not coming from external stimulus and the happiness happens when our mind becomes still. Therefore happiness should be our true nature and our mind is the hindrance to experience it. If we could create the stillness of mind without any external stimulus, we could experience our true self or true nature orswarupa: sat-chit-ananda (pure blissful consciousness). The bliss can be defined as pleasure without any cause. The consciousness is the simultaneous awareness of the witness, the process of witnessing, and the object of witnessing. The objects were just reflecting the ananda or bliss in us and when it is reflected through objects or external stimulus, it is called happiness. When we experience bliss, we feel oneness with God. When this union or realization happens, we tuned with the natural laws. Mind is a collection of thoughts. It is a useful instrument to handle situations in front of you. We collect some thoughts of past or future (desires or values) to choose better in the present. We opt consciously or unconsciously each and every moment. Our choice causes an effect in the Existence and the Existence responds according to its own laws. Since the consequences of choices are beyond our direct control; we face stress or aadhi in decisions. Since happiness depends on external stimulus and law of diminishing return applies to it, each incident will increase our desire for a new. Thus vulnerability to aadhi increases by each incident. We may run behind objects of enjoyment or a stimulus to evoke the state of happiness. It creates continuous aadhi by forming a vicious circle. Our mind will occupy with either thoughts of past or future without taking the relevant decisions. Because, since there are too many considerations and the need to assure happiness; we will lose our courage to fix in one option. In such conditions, we follow mind or conscience as a guide. The mind and conscience may contain samskaras or imprints or memory of the past or future which may prevent appropriate action in the present. If we try to sort it out by thinking, it strengthens the mind and creates more trouble than before. The distorted mind cause to lose present moment or awareness or consciousness. Thus, the mind causes separation or ignorance of our blissful nature.

Independent Basis Service Set or IBSS Essay Example for Free

Independent Basis Service Set or IBSS Essay Independent Basis Service Set or IBSS is the most basic wireless local area network topology. Sometimes IBSS is also called an Ad Hoc Network. The IBSS is a form of WLAN network topology wherein the set of stations are being recognized by each of the stations. They are connected by the use of a wireless media in a fashion of peer-to-peer. In an Independent Basis Service Set topology, there is a direct communication between the mobile stations. There is a limitation in the communication between a mobile station to the each and other mobile stations because of the limitations in range. Relay functions are not present in an IBSS topology, so all the mobile stations that are connected should be within the range to be able to communicate properly (FallsConnect. com, 2007). Another Wireless LAN topology is the Infrastructure Basic Service Set. The component of the IBSS is termed as an access point (AP). The role of the access point in the Infrastructure BSS is to supply relay functions for the entire basic service set. Communication in the entire BSS is already done in the local points and direct communication is longer occurring. Relay of frames are done by the access points between the mobile stations. The relay function of the access point is effective and efficient in doubling the rage of the Infrastructure Basic Server Set. The access point of the Infrastructure Basic Service Set is also able to offer a bond or a connection that will be linked to the delivery system. The distribution system is also considered as the strength of character of the wireless local area network. The distribution system is the one which provides communication in an access point with other access points. The communication goals are to replace frames for the stations in their basic server set, to promote frames to pursue mobile stations as they move from one basic server set to another basic server set. Swapping over of frames to with a wired network is also a goal of the communication in the distribution system (FallsConnect. com, 2007). IEEE 802. 11 gave distribution system a definition that it may either be wired network similar to the 803. 2 or a special point box wherein interconnection of the access points and supply of required distribution services is given. There is a creation of an extension of the mobility range to an arbitrary range. And this is made possible by the 802. 11 by using the Extended Service Set. Extended Service Set is a set of communication for the basic server set. This is where the access points are able to communicate within themselves. Facilitation of movement from a station to the other station of the basic server set is the goal of the access points’ communication with other access points (US Robotics, 2007). The determination of a traffic done that was forwarded to the basic server set is being identified by the distribution system. The determination and evaluation of the traffic if it should be communicated back to the destination where it came from or if the traffic should be promoted to other access points are some of the roles of the distribution system. Access points have been able to transmit communication to the mobile station. This communication was made possible by the use of distribution system. The communication transmitted will be received immediately by the mobile station. The single MAC Layer is composed of the extended set server. Another composition of the MAC layer network are the mobile stations outside the extended server set. In the single MAC Layer network, all of the work stations are immobile. Network equipments outside the extended server set is not allowed to have mobility unless they are inside the extended server set. These kinds of indirection equipped with the 182. 11 architecture permits other network protocol outside the extended server set to operate properly in the wireless local area network where mobility is available and present (US Robotics, 2007). The data link layer of the Ethernet Local Area Network system was derived from the Medium Access Control protocol. The Media Access Control protocol is the one which summarizes a SDU. Carrier-Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance is the shared wireless media. This is where the MAC Layer offers controlled access. It is commonly like the impact detection access method of the 802. 3 Ethernet Local Area Network. The summary is started with the addition of a 14 byte header before the data and after the data there will also be an addition of a 4 byte (32 bit). The 14 byte header is the Protocol Control Information while the 4 byte is the Cyclic Redundancy Check. Reliable data delivery for the upper layers is being provided by the IEEE 182. 11 MAC Layer. 802. 11 MAC Layer provides security and privacy services to the delivery of the data. Services like authentications offer security together Wireless Equivalent Privacy. The Wireless Equivalent Privacy is the data delivery encryption service for the wireless local area network.

Molecular Docking: Experimental Techniques

Molecular Docking: Experimental Techniques Experimental techniques for the determination of three-dimensional structure proteins crystallographic and magnetic resonance protocols have contributed for the deposition of over 12,000 protein structures in the Protein Data Bank. Although the number of available experimental protocols is large and improving rapidly, the determination of the structure of all detected protein-molecule interactions experimentally at high resolution is still an impossible task. Hence, reliable computational methods are of increasing importance. Protein docking involves the calculation of the three-dimensional structure of a protein-molecule complex. The molecule can be another protein, a small peptide or other small molecule (e. g. ligand). Ligand docking is nowadays of great importance in the drug discovery area, with great scientific and commercial interest. The main goal of protein docking is to predict how a pair of molecules interact, predicting accurate ligand poses and evaluating the main existi ng interactions. It should be able to adequately search the conformational available space and calculate the free energy of each conformation to identify the minimum energy conformation. Goals and Steps Protein docking requires the structures of the elements that form the complex and aims to predict correctly the binding site on the target, the orientation of the ligand and the conformation of both. At the end, a rank of possible docking poses based on estimated binding affinities or estimated free energies of binding is given. To successfully predict a target/ligand complex three steps are needed: (1) have accurate structures of the molecules involved in the interaction, (2) location of the binding site, and (3) determination of the binding mode and evaluation. According to Gray, the best docking targets are single-domain small proteins with known monomer structures, with experimentally-determined micromolar or better binding affinity, and minimal backbone conformational change after binding. The docking problem becomes more complicated when one of the structures undergoes significant conformational changes upon binding , for proteins whose structure was solves by homology modeling or for molecules with high degrees of freedom. However there have been reported successful docking results with modeled targets. The second step depends on the algorithm behind the docking software. Some of the used algorithms will be described further on. The hypothesis behind docking predictions is that the structure of a complex is the lowest free energy state that is accessible to the system. In Nature a protein-molecule complex change their conformations to become more compatible to one another, shifting two equilibriums progressively from less compatible to most compatible conformations for both, located at the local minimum of their potential energy surfaces. However ligands do not always adopt their lowest potential energy conformations when binding to their protein targets. Combining these two facts, the results can be influenced by the previous knowledge of the system. If a ligand has to explore a large area of the protein surface to find an adequate docking location, there is a lower probability of find the energy minimum than in the case of docking to a well-defined binding site on the protein. If a putative interaction region has been experimentally determined, this information can be used as useful input to guide the docking algorithm. Several new techniques to locate putative binding sites based on physicochemical properties or evolutionary conservation have been developed in recent years and are reviewed elsewhere. However, a good docking algorithm has to be able to predict realistically the docking site and distinguish it from nonspecific and/or energetically unfavorable ones even when performing a blind docking calculation. The third step is the determination of the binding mode and it mainly depends on the atoms surrounding the docking site and the distance between suitable interacting pairs, as well as the specific conformation and orientation of the molecules of the complex. The resulting conformation is ranked according to its evaluation by the used scoring function. Docking Approaches The speed and accuracy of the docking results depends on the used docking approach. Two major docking approaches are used by the available docking softwares. Shape Complementarity/Matching Methods This is the most common docking technique. The molecules are described in terms of descriptors, which may include structural complementarity terms (solvent-accessible area, overall shape and geometric constraints) and binding complementarity terms (hydrogen binding interactions, hydrophobic contacts and van der Waals interactions). Taking these terms into account, a given molecule is docked into the protein target by matching features. A combination of different descriptors is found to be able to enrich the number of near-native solutions in the set of best ranked docking solutions. This is a fast and robust technique that has been used successfully to screen large compound databases. Its main disadvantage is based on the incapacity of modeling accurately large protein motions and dynamic changes in the conformations. Simulation Methods The second approach simulates the real molecular recognition mechanism, a more complicated and detailed process. According to this method, the two molecules from the complex are distanced by a physical distance and the ligand explores its conformational space and finds its docking site after a finite number of moves. These moves can be translations, rotations, torsion angle rotations or others, and each have a different contribution to the final total energy of the system. The advantages of this approach include a better incorporation of ligand flexibility and a physically closer approach to what happens in reality. However, as the ligand has to explore a large energy landscape, this approach takes longer to evaluate the best docking site. Grid-based techniques and fast optimization methods are being developed to overcome this disadvantage. Mechanics of Docking The success of a docking software depends on two components: (1) the search algorithm, and (2) the scoring function. The combination of these two components will dictate the overall results of the docking task. Search Algorithm All possible rotational and translational orientations, distortions, backbone and side chain flexibility and various degrees of freedom make it impossible to perform an exhautive sampling. To lower the possibilities, most docking programs account only for ligand flexibility (e.g. representing it as a ensemble of structures), maintaining the target rigid. Others attempt to insert some target flexibility by using rotamer libraries, or some degree of side-chain flexibility by using soft interfaces and scaling sterical interactions, or a further side-chain refinement stage. Some of the most used search algorithms are described below. Systematic or stochastic torsional searches about rotatable bonds Rigid body methods This searching method is based on a simplified rigid body representation of the protein onto a regular 3D Cartesian grid. Then it distinguishes grid cells according to whether the two molecules are near or intersect the protein surface, or are deeply buried into the protein core and the degree of overlap is scored. This method generates a large number of docked conformations with favorable surface complementarity. The disadvantages of this searching method are that it maintains the target protein rigid and it cannot find binding modes with a high degree of accuracy due to its inherent simplification of the complex. However, most rigid-body procedures result in good docked conformation if the used structure of the target protein used is obtained by experimental data. Molecular dynamics simulations In this approach the protein is kept rigid while the ligand explores freely the conformational space, obtaining a ensemble of states accessible to the complex. The generated conformations are docked and a determined number of minimization steps are performed, followed by an overall ranking. This is a computational complex method, although it does not need a specialized scoring function and it provides a useful tool to generate ligand conformations. In principle, it allows for full atomic flexibility or flexibility restricted to relevant parts of the complex during the docking task. Genetic algorithms These searching algorithms perform global conformational searches particularly well. Based on the language of natural genetics and biological evolution, their goal is to evolve previous conformations into new low energy conformations. Each spatial arrangement of the pair is represented as a gene with a particular energy and the entire genome is a representation of the complete energy landscape which will be explored. Similar to biological evolution, random pairs of individuals are mated using a process of crossover and there is also the possibility of a random mutation in the offspring. During each iteration, high-scoring features in the current generation are preserved in the next cycle. This approach permits exploring of large conformational spaces. The main disadvantages include requiring the target protein to remain fixed during the docking task and multiple runs to obtain reliable results, which makes it a poor candidate to perform large databases screening. Limiting the conform ational space to explore and the explorations of conformational changes at sites of interest can largely increase the performance of the docking task using this algorithm. Scoring Function In docking, the goal of a scoring function is to serve as a mathematical method to predict the strength of the non-covalent interaction between the two molecules. Usually, this value is represented as the binding affinity, and indicates how favorable the binding interaction is. An ideal scoring function should be able to recognize favorable native contacts and discriminate non-native contacts with lower scores, and rank a set of molecules, predicting the correct modes of binding. These scoring functions can be parameterized (trained) against a set of experimental data for combinations of binding affinities, buried surface areas, desolvatation and electrostatic interation energies and hydrophobicity scores of molecular species similar to the species in study. There are four classes of scoring functions, which are described below. Choosing a scoring function should always be based on the resolution of the search method. Most scoring functions are physics-based molecular mechanics force fields that estimate the nonbonded interaction energy of the docking pose. Affinities are estimated based on the total internal energy, which is estimated taking into account the strength of intramolecular van der Waals and electrostatic interactions and the desolvation energy. It is know that the free energy of binding is higly dependent on the system and it is often dominated by desolvation or electrostatic contributions. Other software also take into account the torsional free energy and the unbound systems energy as penalizing terms. At the end, a low (negative) energy indicates a stable complex, with a likely binding interaction. Empirical scoring functions define simple functional forms for interactions between the two molecules of the complex. Some examples include the number atoms in contact between ligand and receptor, change in the solvent accessible surface area, number of hydrogen bonds, conformational entropy, and hydrophobic and hydrophilic contacts. These provide a fast method to rank potential inhibitory candidates. Knowledge-based scoring functions are based on statistical analysis on intermolecular interactions and interactions distances extracted from large databases of protein-ligand complexes (e.g. PDB). This method is based on the assumption that there are intramolecular interactions between certain atoms that occur more frequently, which will be energetically favorable. If detected these interaction will contributed more to a favorable binding affinity. Hybrid scoring functions combined one or more features from the ones described above. There has is always a focus on the scoring function when developing a new docking program. Newly developed scoring functions are evaluated based on their ability to reproduce known ligand-binding patters for well-studied receptors. Despite the development of new and improved scoring functions, there is still a difficulty in identifying the best docking solutions from a list of false positives or decoys. Disadvantages of Molecular Docking Docking calculations can be hampered by a number of reasons: (1) the ligand binds to deep specific pockets of the protein structure; (2) does not consider the presence of solvent, which can be crucial to allow hydrogen bond interactions to occur; (3) if there is an attachment of the ligand to a solid surface (e.g. resin) via a spacer arm; (4) ligands with high flexibility; (5) weak interactions between the ligand and the protein; (6) large-scale motions of the peptide backbone. However, new optimizations and extensions are being developed into existing programs to overcome these drawbacks. AutoDock Autodock (version 4.0.1) was the program package that was used for the docking task in this work. It is used for automated docking of small molecules (e.g. peptides, enzyme inihibitors and drugs) to macromolecules (e.g. proteins, antibodies, DNA and RNA). It is a very complete software package, allowing a robust and accurate procedure and a reasonable computational demand. AutoDock which allows the use of ligand with fixed and flexible degrees of freedom. The searching function used by AutoDock is the Lemarkian Genetic Algorithm (LGA), throughly described by Morris et al. LGA is a hybrid searching algorithm that combines the advantages of the global search of the common genetic algorithms and the advantages of a local search method to perform energy minimization, enhancing the performance relative to genetic algorithms. The local search does not require gradient information about the local energy landscape, facilitating torsional space search and allowing to handle more degrees of freedom. The AutoDock scoring function (described by Huey et al is a semi-empirical free energy force field scoring function that evaluates conformations and calculates the ligand-receptor binding affinity. The force field was parameterized using a large set of complexes with known inhibition constants (Ki), structure and binding energies. It evaluates enthalpic contributions (e.g. repulsion, hydrogen bonding) using a molecular mechanics approach and evaluates de changes in solvation and conformational mobility through an empirical approach. At the end of the docking task, Autodock returns a set of the top ranked answers according to the input system and parameters. Each is accompanied by the information regarding the estimated Ki and estimated free energy of binding, which is decomposed into (1) final intramolecular energy (van der Waals, hydrogen bond, desolvation and electrostatic energy), (2) final total internal energy, (3) torsional free energy, and (4) unbound systems energy and estimated as: (1)+(2)+(3)-(4). Due to its technical characteristics, automated docking with AutoDock is not widely used to screen a large number of compounds. However, Park et al performed a benchmarking which showed the potentialities of this software for database screening, with a overall better average docking time and performance than other tested docking software. The vast conformational sampling, degrees of freedom, complicated steric and chemical complementarity still offer a challenge for the computational approach to molecular docking. The inclusion of all possible conformational changes during docking searches is still impossible, and it would be of particular importance where only homology modeled structures are available. Slight modeling inaccuracies can result in false negatives, weak binding or even wrong docking poses. Better insights into the nature of protein folding and binding, protein dynamics and biomolecular energetics will allow the development of better docking algorithms. Unilever Case Study Analysis: SWOT Unilever Case Study Analysis: SWOT INTRODUCTION: There are many kinds of business everywhere; where there are many issues related to the growth of the company and Different strategies will enable different companies to reach those goals. Unilever is a company started in 1930 formed of Dutch Margarine Company and British based lever brothers. Unilever holds a wide range of products which include food, personal care, beverages, canned foods, ice creams and many more which are worlds best consumer brands. The case study describes a lot of information regarding Unilevers business strategies, key elements of Unilevers path to growth, how they rejuvenated and restructured the companies slow moving performance to wide range of brands across the world. BRIEF CASE STUDY: Unilever was created in 1930 as an outcome of merger with dual chairpersons and headquarters one in Netherlands and other in United Kingdom. This is of one the giant and best competitors in the industry which holds wide range of products. The two chairpersons have launched a strategy in early 2000 to recover the companys performance which was said to be lackluster. With the new strategies the company showed a significant progress and has gone through many dealings over the next years, this made the company to open 20 new acquisitions worldwide and increased the sales of the company. Thus the companys business was restructured, renovated and improved through its acquisitions. Then their came companies likes nestle which effecting the growth of Unilever. Unilever then started efforts to attract and motivate young, talented and innovative managers from outside its company. TASK 1: SWOT : A planning technique which is used for summarizing the key issues and evaluates the Strengths (S), Weaknesses (W), Opportunities (O) and Threats (T) in any business is called an SWOT analysis. Analysis is the brief study of any case how they are going to be obtained, who are responsible for causing it and solving it by planning which involves internal and external factors of a business or an organization; internal factors are classified as strengths(S) or weaknesses (W) and external factors are classified as Opportunities (O) or Threats (T). Strengths are those characteristics of a person or a company that are useful to achieve the goals. Weaknesses are the characteristics of a person or a company that is destructive to achieve the objective. Opportunities and threats are the external factors that are helpful in achieving and damaging the business performance respectively. The figure1 show the illustrative diagram of SWOT analysis. The internal factors include personal, finance, manufacturing capabilities, etc and the external factors may include technological changes which may cause changes in products and processes that is inventing a new product or making the product better which include quality of the product and the consumer desire, market influences due to unemployment rates effect the company and price factors is one of the important thing to keep in mind , market place is one more thing which is very important that is the company or a business should be located in a convenient environment to the consumers to attract and the product should be user friendly. Another important factor is that its external appearance the packing and the name of the products should be eye catchy. At last he customer relations should be friendly and consumer satisfaction is very necessary. Other than these there are some more factors which may be changing due to econ omic and social factors and competitive positions which may create new opportunities or threats. SWOT analysis is useful in decision making when most wanted these include nonprofit organizations, individuals. It is the only method for classification and has its own weaknesses. A SWOT which produces no strategies is of no use whereas which generates important strategies is useful. Unilever had a very tough competition during that time when it was bringing about the changes it was probably at this stage that these companies had moved forward with there various strategies. Skills, assets, finance, facilities are the resources which are used in any business to compete in the industry. In the same way Unilever used their own resources to grow as giant company. They have implemented SWOT analysis and implemented new business strategies and rejuvenated their company from lack lust to significant progress in sales. It has concentrated on marketing and advertising its business and gained increased pricing with supermarket vendors. Unilever was lagging in sales when compared with nestle, Procter Gamble, Kelloggs etc its path of growth strategy which met considerable uncertainty which made Unilever to undertake a series of actions by cutting the companies profile to reach corporate goals and introduced 20 new acquisitions worldwide and restructured the company into two divisions one includes all food products and other household and personal care. Then started other two new businesses across the world. The external market factors such as technological changes, social factors, and other companies growth made a very big impact on the consumer preferences and Unilever had to cut its revenue growth. Later it continued to obtain more products across the world and these products gave managers to make their own decision making to set priorities by introducing new initiatives. Unilever has even motivated and attracted young talented managers from outside the company to join their company. According to Unilevers SWOT analysis the strengths of the company are recognized as it is a global company with strong brand profile with worlds best brands and maintains strong relation with its retailers. But coming to its weaknesses it has insufficient management of brands and doesnt not connect with customers. And inability to maximize acquisitions has reduced spending for R D. Thought it has got many opportunities by introducing many products by changing customer preferences and increase in productio n of quality goods. There are threats equally which cause decrease in revenues with high market competition, increasing the number brands and exchange rates. There are many growth expectations, risks, profit margins in food and house hold industry which is composed of many sectors and sub sectors by challenging the change of customers preferences with challenging rival firms to gain market shares. Then with competitive achievement by creating attractive products through acquisitions and with capability of growing sales of the brands which existed and improve margins. For all this the many key to success was advertising the products. By improving the profits of the company not only included shifting sales of the products but also boosting efficiency and unit costs. There were three factors which worried in 2000, the consolidation pressures in food industry which bothered were slower growth rates in food industries, rapid consolidation among grocery markets that is between branded manufactures and private manufactures for good self space in the grocery stores. In the United States for several years the food industry was miserable and was expected to continue for few more years due to more women working and decreasing house hold sizes, single parents and singles. But the food industry in Europe, Asia, Africa and other less developed countries were attractive. Thought the competition between branded and private manufactures was a never ending issue, private manufactures improved their quality of products by growing market shares. Then there came many giant super markets and gave an opportunity for private brands with attractive prices below branded products and even provided checkout scanners to help the customers know price difference which tempt them to BRIEF SWOT ANALYSIS OF UNILEVERS CASE STUDY STRENGHTS WEAKNESSESS Global company. Reduced spending for R D. Best Brands. Inability to maximize acquisitions. Strong relation with retailers. Insufficient management of brands. Dual Leadership. OPPURTUNITIES THREATS Increasing in need of quality products. Decrease in revenues. Changing customer preferences. Strong competition. Increase in brands. shift to the private brands. Due to the heavy competition among them manufactures had to cut down the costs of the products, number of versions of the products and weed out weak brands and concentrate on those brands which were popular among the customers and those could develop into global brands. Introducing dual headquarters by dividing the food industry which consisted of 6 categories and household industry which consisted of 8 categories there were many benefits such as improving food and household industry by focusing more on them regionally and globally. Accelerating decision making and successful integration of R D though there were some critics that Unilever has been paying more for some of its acquisitions such as acquire Amora Maille. Unilever as of then in 2003 had been seen as a growing organization which probably had all the necessary requirements to make it a force to recon with, during the Path to Growth strategy many aspects of the company had come out some of them included the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strengths, probably the biggest strength that the company had at that time was the correct selection of the brands and the products it had in store unilever had done many researches and had to make many decisions to get the right combinations products that where to be sold it also had the right ideas to increase the sales and all the leading brands to help its cause. Unilever was very good at that time even if the financial aspect was taken into consideration it could experiment with various aspects of its store cause had the financial backup which was required at that time to help it implement various ideas and deal with the market pressures, for any company to improve its sales marke ting always plays a very important role this was probably there biggest strength as the marketing strategy applied by them managed to grab peoples attention as they easy to be connected to and much more simplistic and realistic. Unilever did manage all its clients very well considering that during a phase when they where cutting on the brands it would have been a risk to out anything at that time but it was very well managed by the company. Mainly the fact that unilever was now looking to make the higher range or the brands which where more famous as there core brands which made it much easier for them to advertise considering that it is much easier to promote a very well known and a trusted brand rather than a normal or new brand to increase the sales. Weaknesses, though unilever had a very good policy and all the right objectives to make a difference in the industry it couldnt happen basically due to the lack of proper organization, it was actually much like a bureaucratic organization where things where divided between too many people and it had become difficult to get the ideas moving due to the lack of proper organization, it probably all started with the fact that the company had to deal with too many brands in the first place it would obviously have the impact when the Path to Growth strategy came up cause of the then 1600 brands only 400 brands where retained and rest all where either removed or replaced, that shows that due the lack of proper organization and too many brands being part of it didnt help it in making the changes it wanted to in a better and quickest way. The organization was probably one field in which the company was lacking because it was felt that at the top of the company as there were too many people mak ing decisions and these decisions had to be put forward and this delayed the process of improvement for the company. Opportunities, during this phase of development and renewing it content and upgrading of the stock it turned out to be very fruitful as it provided many working opportunities for people it was at that time that many people where starting to get full time work, during this phase a lot of acquisition also took place with the major brands which resulted in some alterations in plans to that which were planned. SlimFast which is a private company is another acquisition of Unilever after implementing path to growth strategy in 2000 the company bargained an agreement to purchase slimfast diet foods. It had strong sales and network and has a special space in every super market and drugstores these products were made from natural ingredients and added vitamins and minerals to provide good nutritional profile. It also maintained a very good relationship with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other agencies. Unilever has concentrated more on this Slimfast since the company was growing fast and attracted the customers to buy more of it for healthier and long living life .Management of Unilever utilized the opportunity to globalize the product in other countries like Europe, Australia due to increase in the percent of obese. According to the world health organization percent of the obese was increasing gradually. UNILEVERS TOP COMPETITORS ? Figure: Competitors Performance Comparison http://finance.aol.com/company/unilever-plc-amer/ul/nys/top-competitors Ben Jerrys acquisitions which produces one of the finest ice creams anywhere in pint cartons and wholesale at groceries. Their sales slogan was Vermont finest All Natural Ice cream. They never use any artificial flavors thought the cost is little more it is worth the price. According to the time magazine Vermont makes the best ice cream in the world with 29 flavors in pint cartons and 45 flavors in bulk cartons. There products were distributed throughout the world. On demand Ben jerry operated three manufacturing plants where Vermont plant produces super premier ice cream and frozen yogurts where as spring field produces ice cream, lot fat ice creams in bulk, pint cartons and half gallons. Dreyers and Haagen-Dazs were the two major competitors of Ben jerry and other competitors were Colombo frozen yogurts, Kemps ice cream and star bucks. Ben Jerry produces a wide range of ice creams products like sticks, bars, frozen yogurt pops etc. Though Haagen- Dazs was the global market leader followed by Ben jerry it had an insignificant market share in United States where as Haagen- Dazs was more significantly sold in foreign markets. Both Ben jerry and Haagen-Dazs produced ice creams with cookies and candies in it. Bestfoods was a global company across the world almost in 60 countries which was busy in manufacturing and marketing the food products. Bestfoods profits are almost from outside of the United States that is almost 60 percent of its profits. It is one of the best managed food companies among United States who has much number of employees working with in their company in which half of them were at non US locations. The company increased payments for 14 successive years has its revenues grow by7.8 percent annual rate and suddenly slow downed during the period of 1997 and 1999. Then the company introduced a strategy with four core elements. Globalization of the companys core consumers: Products which are new in the market are needed to be globalized that is the products which are less popular among the consumers, are needed to be advertised and market those products to increase its sales and profits of those products. Few such products are knorr product line, salad dressing and food service operations. The advertising of such kind of products was done very well in order to get those products globally recognized and be accepted among many big brands and soon they became household names. Improvement in cost effectiveness: With changing customer preference the quality of the products must be improved and therefore there should also be improvement in cost effectiveness as the quality improves cost increases. Cost effectiveness is nothing but it is a way by which you show to a customer that a certain is product is worth using or is better than other product or the money u spend on it is worth it. Cost effectiveness in simple would be defined as showing the worth of the product. Looking for new market opportunities: Extending the product sales all over the world via new product introductions and extending sales of the products which are existed in the market. It is very important for any company to be always alert and look for opportunities to extend the business to a large scale and see it in a bigger picture based on the opportunities it gets. Using free cash to make new acquisition: With expanding the products and brands company has created 60 acquisitions in the global market. After struggling a lot in June 2000 best foods agreed to be acquired by Unilever. Best foods were the largest acquisition undertaken by Unilever by as far as concerned and which makes a largest combination of food companies in 12 years. Management of Unilever believed that combining and assimilating bestfoods would result in pre tax cost saving, better efficiencies in business process, synergy in distribution marketing, reformation of general and administrative functions and improved economies of scale. By creating robust business in United States market, increasing strengths of Unilever and best foods in Europe, building of best foods in Latin America to speed up the growth of Unilever brands, by distributing strengths in Asia- pacific to grow and sped up Bestfoods brands and increasing the sales of Unilever products by food service channel of Bestfoods. The work culture was so casual to make the atmosphere fun and lively with communication between the management and employees. The company respected the employees suggestions and respected them even paid the employees a reasonable salary Finally Unilever has announced sale of Bestfoods Backing Company to Canadian food and super market group known as George Weston for $ 1.76billion though Unilever declared to divest Bestfoods Baking Company and Unilever other products and bakery products does not exit any more at Unilever. Bestfoods has 19plans across the United States with a strong management team and was entirely US based. It was one of the best distributing for delivering the baked products which are really baked fresh and sent directly to the retail stores. With its dedication and hard work Bestfoods sales has increased its profit margins by 8 percent. Later again Unilever announced to sell 19 Bestfood brands across North America to ACH food companies which is a supplementary of Associated British Food. By successfully combining the operations of bestfoods with Unilever by the year end of 2003 the two companies had been merged in 63countries across the world TASK 2: Path to Growth: Path to growth strategy was initiated in 2000 and was restructured for several years for better and significant results. The key elements of this Unilevers path to growth strategy were cutting down its brands from 1600 brands to 400core brands to achieve top line sales and increase profits by advertising the brands which are more popular and leading brands across the world and concentrating on R D. Another important key element was divesting underperforming brands and theirs companies and introducing more innovated things to enhance the internal development of the organization and making new acquisitions. Unilevers years of slow performance and its lack of corporate strategy in the competition industry with low number of brands and ordinary performance in growing markets with a little global presence made to create a path to growth strategy which was a 5 year growth plan which made them to concentrate on more brands and product innovations for internal and external growth of the company. And made the company to grow with acquisitions. According to FitzGerald and Bergmans path to growth strategy they predicted to manufacture double digit wages per share growth and superior positions. Focusing on the key brands by advertising and marketing made business grow higher and build brand value and increased brands prices. The case study shows Unilever as a global company according to SOWT analysis after introducing the path to growth strategy the company had really increased its sales and with introducing more number of acquisitions and cutting down the cost of revenues. As the acquisitions like Slimfast, Ben jerry and best foods were rapidly growing their market across the world building a very strong profile and providing customers attractive products and offers. Slim fast has 20%anual growth rate with strong sales and distribution all over the world and also maintained good customer relation. Where Ben jerry was worlds giant ice cream products and yogurt maker with strong brand equity. Bestfoods was USs 10 largest foo d products company with a strong global position. The two key elements of the Unilevers new business strategy was to cut down on the number of brands that were being sold or being marketed by the company, at that time Unilever was operating with as many as 1600 brands and much more products due to this the cut down on the number of products and brands was considered, the 1600 brands that where part of the company were cut down to as many as 400 core brands, the core brands mostly included all the famous and popular brands which are generally very popular among people, this idea came up as to make sure that the products where sold and by doing this it would not be much of a problem for the marketi8ng of these products as most of these brands where already day to day and very famous brands which people would generally prefer buying, which would mean that it would take much less an effort to connect to the people and more over the marketing was also done in such a way that people where able to connect to it very easily, the other key e lement of the unilevers strategy was to remove all the underperforming companies or brands and introduce some other new brands or companies in order to enhance the internal development of the organization and make new acquisitions which would enhance the sales of the company and make it more likable for the people this strategy was designed to increase the sales of the company and get rid of the companies which where not much in demand . Weaknesses according to SWOT analysis showed the company has dual leadership, insufficient management of brands and reduced R D after all this slow performance and small global presence the management has introduced path to growth strategy, which increased the company sales with cutting down it costs and introducing more acquisitions resulted in globalizing the company. As a result there were few expectations to achieve a double digit growth and securing a better position in global market for food and household products by increasing the quality of the product to gain pricing power and attract more customers. But according to the strategy plan the targets which were set was really high that is top line sales growth of 5-6 percent annually, increasing profits, and plan to complete by the end of 2004. If we look and analyze the path to growth strategy we can tell whether the strategy is working or not, we can say that it is working by its success rates and increase in profits and increase in brands and acquisitions that is the consumer preferences have changed due to which the products quality has changed and prices have changed the leading brands sales have increased from 75 percent to 93 percent. Food and personal care industry have increased its profits consistently. Operating assets have also improved by 9 percent. Acquisitions like slim fast, Ben jerry and best foods have gradually improved its growth and established its acquisitions all over the world. But the other side it is completely not yes, Unilever was gaining profits significantly after introducing new strategies but it was losing too yes it reported a net loss of $318M as the competitions was increasing and new brands were coming in to the market and rivals were introducing new strategies to compete Unilever. In th e year 2004 sales grew only by .4 percent leading brands by .9 percent so this proves that Unilever was lagging behind competitors in terms of innovation and advertising. Unilevers lack of advertising and marketing failed to improve sales. The company was small and not globalized. In this case Unilever attracted the new young talented manages to join their company with innovated ideas to increase its company profits by new methods of advertising and marketing. To justify Unilever strategies it maintained dual headquarters and dual chairpersons which reduced effective thinking and slow downed the decision making. Unilever is divided into Unilever Plc and Unilever NV. This made Unilever to focus on the needs of the customers and increase its sales profits in various industries like food, personal case, and household industries all over the world. As customers demand the products which are of the best quality and branded but at the same time convenient, cheap and attractive. The market for household products have been decreased its profits as the numbers of single parents have been increased and the rate of females working out have been increased and the demand for the healthy and high quality food has been increased. The consumers preference of the products such as its look, quality of the product and nutritional values has been increased by providing a strong competition against its giant competitors and private manufactures. This allows Unilever to focus on the need of its customers by increasing its sales. In 2003 Unilever executing its path to growth strategy by increasing its operating margins to over 15percent, but the sales of the leading brands growth as slowdown and raised questions among the investors and retailers that whether company brands could deliver some 5-6 percent of growth in revenues in the next coming years. TASK 3: Unilevers current business Strategies: Ever since the ‘Path to Growth strategy ended in 2005 there has been a 15% increase in the sales and development in the overall progress of Unilever. After the ‘Path to Growth came to an end a new process was developed by Unilever called as the Brand Imprint which helped the marketing teams in understanding how the business could face risks as well as opportunities from the social, economic and environmental issues. In this process each brand was scrutinized by a team looking into various aspects of it such as the direct as well the indirect impacts of the product, it also checked how the brand would go ahead in the future looking at the products possibilities of growth both from a customer and a stakeholders point of view. The outcome of the Brand Imprint is that the process has helped in making important decisions for the company keeping the future in perspective it also developed in addressing social missions, social and environmental issues. The Brand Imprint provided a perfect experience to find some systematic and measurable ways to explore different brands and improve the brands by addressing social issues, helping people the product well and reducing the environmental issues. When the S.W.O.T analysis was done on the ‘Path to Growth strategy many different aspects of the strategy where scrutinized using the SWOT analysis in which it dealt with many aspects such as the strength, weakness, opportunities and the threats that are being faced. After the analysis it came out that it had been very useful to determine the various aspects attached to it. Unilever for years had been a slow developing company, though the company had the right infrastructure and the capital but it couldnt utilize it properly that was basically the reason why the path to growth and various other strategies where starting to come up to help the company to increase the sales of the products and improve the business. Path to growth played a major part in the development of the company. The Path to Growth strategy did prove to be quite a useful thing considering the fact that during this period almost all of the unsuccessful brands where removed or replaced and the brands which where trusted and kept managed to increase the sales by 75% to 93%. Unilevers growth was considerably slow during this phase because the company was at that stage making very drastic changes and for these changes to come up and make a difference was something unexpected but the companys growth was obvious in certain fields thanks to the new strategies that had come in to improve the sales of the company so as to improve the business of the company. It was due to the fact that the company probably took way too much time u started and implement its plans that it caused the success to be not as higher as expected. Many business analysts and commentators felt that most of the strategies of the path to growth where working fine but there was always a speculation that what ever progress was talking place was happening too slow considering the competition the market was in with at that time, it was also felt that as the basic functionality of the business was spread among way too many people made the management way to complex and it would have been better off if it was simpler. It did work out fine when it came to the advertising of the product and getting it known to the people as it was more public oriented and it used the sources to the full extent to connect to the people. It did experience a drastic growth during that period as the analysis had proved that the company had the highest growth percentage as compared to any other company during that period it did bring in high profits to the company but looking at the whole picture it did prove to be a huge loss for the company considering the fa ct that they faced a countable loss in the revenue margin and that proved to be the difference, though it did have the right amount of sales and customers due to the slowness of there analysis to sort out and remove or replace the stuff did make a difference to analysis in the larger picture. But the company did grow during that time which might as well have effected the revenue cause many new store where started and large number of employees where starting to be employed on a full time basis. It did do quite well on the international market as well. By looking at the way the company had grown during this stage is quite remarkable many business analysts and commentators had felt that they probably had the right scheme of action because during that time they where handling 1600 brands and which was way too much and among those were quit few brands which hardly made any diff to the company so then the whole idea of brands cut based on the market outlook and sales reports was looked into to classify as to which of the products or brands where fast selling and which had the scope to sell more. It was that idea to cut down on the number of brands and start promoting only few brands which where much easier to be marketed and which where more likable by the people by which it would increase the sales and also make the marketing of these products easier cause when you are promoting bigger brands which are often very well known to public would mean that u don have to spend much on the marketing. Did the company experience growth during this period? Yes, would be the right thing to say voiding the minor things which might effect the outcome but it did see the light of success though slowly and there process and ideas where starting to get implemented in a better way and in a more successful way to deal with the growth of the company, the process of cutting down on the under selling companies was probably the decision that started to turn the tide for the company as it was when the losses where starting to be covered and it was mor