Climate refuges Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Climate refuges - Essay Example After all, when people lose their homes and source of livelihood, they are left with no other choice but to move to other places in order to seek a solution to their problems. However, climate refugees are making the problem worse by taxing the resources of other nations. Therefore, climate change is no longer a scientific problem but a social and political one. The movie has shown me that climate change poses multiple problems for all of us, regardless of whether we are climate refugees or not. The reality of the situation is that we are all affected by what happens in other countries and the solution to the problem does not lie in the handouts that international organizations give. Rather, the solution can be found by working together towards a common goal, that of eradicating climate change. Although science will be at the forefront of the issue, the solution to the problem has to come from various sectors of society. Unless those solutions come, and come fast enough, the next Hollywood disaster film will be all about climate refugees from around the

What Is A Carbon Footprint Environmental Sciences Essay

What Is A Carbon Footprint Environmental Sciences Essay there are many definitions used by different organizations; a carbon footprint is The total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) (timeforchange.org); The total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by an [individual, event, organisation, product] expressed as CO2.'(carbon trust). Some organisations such as direct.gov and the carbon trust provide online calculators which allow individuals and businesses to calculate their individual carbon footprint and how you can go on to minimise and/or offset it. Government campaigns and initiatives such as Act on CO2 encourage and provide information on how the CO2 output can be reduced (which is the main contributor to greenhouse effect) by making changes to their lifestyle and daily routine. For households this includes switching to energy efficient light bulbs, switching of appliances when not in use and red ucing the temperature of laundry washes. For businesses there are incentives and aids such as online help for reducing co2 emissions and costs, carbon surveys and 0% interest loans for energy efficient equipment upgrades (carbon trust). Companies such as carbon trust set up by the government are providing  £50 million in interest free loans to help the public sector save energy. It is clear that an incentive for both individuals and businesses is that reducing their carbon footprint will inevitably save them money; replacing an old boiler (10-15 yrs old) with and energy efficient boiler could save a household  £90 each year. (direct) Savings such as these are enough of a driver to encourage those people to consider reducing their carbon footprint. However it is important to consider if initial costs are relatively small and how easy and practical it is to make these changes. ( exoand on this) There is a need to reduce the CO2 emissions contribution to greenhouse gases (GHG) compared to other GHG as the actions of humans mostly contributes to Co2 . Since the last industrial revolution there has been a rise to tens of billions of tons per year from human greenhouse gas emmisions. Figure 1 shows human produced greenhouse gases. Figure 1 Currently over 30 billion tonnes of CO2 is emitted each year by the burning of fossil fuels which releases co2 directly into the atmosphere. 7 billion tonnes is emitted from land use changes such as deforestation which changes the natural process of trees removing Co2 from the atmosphere. (actonco2) different activities which contribute include; Industry: more than 40%, Buildings (homes, offices and the like: about 31%, transportations: around 22% and Agriculture; about 4%. (robert henderson) The contribution from other GHG to global warming can be calculated by converting them into their carbon equivalent (carbonfootprint.com) The previous bullet point describes the carbon emissions of different sectors and countries. There is an increasing need for businesses in the private and public sector and local authorities to reduce carbon emissions as well as individuals. The UK government is introducing new legislation in order to meet the target of reducing emissions by 80% by 2050. This legislation includes charging businesses if their energy usage is greater than 6000MWh per year. (reference). If these requirements are not met then the result is being placed in a low league table (carbon footprint-crc) and the possibility of facing other penalties. EU and UK legislation regarding reducing carbon emissions and energy in the UK is discussed in sectionxxxx of this report. Local authorities are encouraged to be fore frontiers of combating global warming in their areas and societies; encouraging others to make changes in order to reduce carbon emissions. Local authorities will need to calculate the carbon emissions of their buildings and services yearly and report them to DEFRA. Under new regulations they are encouraged to raise awareness of reducing carbon footprints in the local area ( carbonfootprint.com). The Carbon emissions of LAs will be published annually. There are also a number of campaigns such as Act on Co2 being advertised to the public to highlight the problem of carbon emissions. The Government is putting pressure on tenants, buyers and the public for making their buildings more energy efficient. Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) were introduced in 2008 (carbon foot) and are required when a building is constructed, sold or rented out. It rates the energy performance of a building; informing buyers, possible occupants if the building is energy efficient. A recommendation report is always produced along with the certificate listing the potential opportunities to increase the buildings energy efficiency. Landlords are open to Heavy penalties of 12.5% of the rateable value of the building if an EPC is not presented when requested by a tenant/buyer. The equivalent for public buildings are Display Energy Certificates; where the building is rated on its operational efficiency every 10 years, with the result certificate displayed in a publically visible place (cfprint) How is a carbon footprint calculated? Online calculators provided by organistations including direct.gov, carbon trust and carbon footprint allow both businesses and households to calculate their carbon footprint. In order to get an accurate idea of a carbon footprint it is important to use calculators regulated by Government bodies. For households, data which is usually sort for calculation of the footprint are statistics such as gas and electricity bills, motor vehicle mileage and Miles per Gallon (MPG) the products contained in homes and the main source of heating the home gas or electricity (act on co2),. For businesses this can includes all of the above as well as employee travel and fuel usuage for example. A carbon footprint is made up pf the sum of a primary footprint and a secondary footprint These are defined by Carbon Footprint Ltd. below 1. The primary footprint is a measure of our direct emissions of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels including domestic energy consumption and transportation (e.g. car and plane). We have direct control of these. 2. The secondary footprint is a measure of the indirect CO2 emissions from the whole lifecycle of products we use those associated with their manufacture and eventual breakdown. To put it very simply the more we buy the more emissions will be caused on our behalf. The graph below shows the main elements of an individuals lifestyle which contributes to a carbon footprint. The pie chart above shows the main elements which make up the total of an typical persons carbon footprint in the developed world. This is different for residents of other countries; on average a UK resident has an annual carbon footprint if 11.6 tonnes; 40% manufacture/construction, food 5%, services 6% housing 20%. Compared to a US resident of 25.9 tonnes 38% manufacture/construction, food 45%, services 6%, housing 18%, personal travel 34% and resident of Africa resident 0.9% from services solely ( robert henderson book) How to reduce a carbon footprint When considering reducing and how to reduce a carbon footprint it is important to consider the persons lifestyle and for a company; the type of business. Everyone leads different lives and will be able to make differences depending on their lifestyle. Some people require travelling abroad for instance so it may be difficult to minimise travel co2 emissions. In almost all instances reducing co2 emissions inevitably results in reducing costs in the long term. Changes can be made in all aspects of life in order to reduce a carbon footprint; this includes in the home, changing transport and travel, shopping and recycling. Initial costs outweigh benefit At home switching to low energy light bulbs, and investing in attic insulation can reduce the energy lost in a home resulting in less energy and money required to heat it. Some utility companies also allow customers to specify that some or all of the power supplied to your home is from renewable sources (roberthenderson). This works by the company putting energy into the grid in an amount equal to your consumption. Households could also switch to renewable energies such as photovoltaics and wind turbines. The benefits and reality of such technologies smaller households will be discussed in sectionxxx Businesses Table xxx shows methods to help reduce an indivuals carbon footprint Home Travel shopping Business-buildings product Loft insulation Switch to cycling and walking Consider the materials used and transport mechanism for products Turning elcetircla equipment off at night Deisng for environmentally friendly products Double glazing Making fewer and shorter journeys by car uses a lot if energy Choose local products, and farmers market products and organic products Invest in energy saving plant/ technology Draught excluders Choose energy efficient vehicles-hybrid Buying in vulk and ingeredients instead of ready made foods Install movement sensitive lights in lower used areas such as toilets Cavity wall insulation Plan route, save fuel, time and money getting lost Improve insulation and lowering the thermostat temperature Carbon offsetting Carbon offsetting is the process of compensating for carbon emissions which are generally unavoidable (i.e lifestyle essentials) by funding an equivalent co2 saving project somewhere else. carbon credits are awarded in order to balance to emissions from defined activities measured in carbon dioxide equivalent (co2e) (qas). It is highly stressed (act n co2) that carbon offsetting is not an alternative to reducing an individuals/organisations carbon emissions to combat climate change but provide a mechanism to reduce GHG emissions in the most cost-effective and economically-efficient manner (carbonfootprint.com) carbon offsetting is defined as (offsetting.decc.goc.uk) Offsetting is also used by global corporations such as HSBC (get some more) Some online travel services and airlines also offer customers the possibility to offset their air travel emissions. The UK Governments Quality assurance Scheme (QAS)- for carbon offsetting introduced in xxx. It has been created to help individuals and companies choose approved quality offsets. The QAS effectively vouches for the quality of offsets provided with a quality mark. The aim of the scheme is to tackle public confusion and distrust of carbon offsetting whilst providing better information and high quality standards for customers of carbon offsetting. The main process of carbon offsetting (carbon neutral) is (directgov offset) calculating the emissions produced- this can be done using QAS offset providers which have carbon calculators -choose which activity/activities you would like to offset Buy an equivalent amount of carbon credits from projects- which use the fee paid to fund the projects Some projects include: harnessing river hydropower  in Fiji establishing the first wind energy plant in Cyprus collecting methane to generate electricity from landfill sites in Durban, South Africa (offsetting .decc.gov.uk) QAS offsetting providers include: -Energy Saving Ttust Crabon Trust The offsetting argument Offsetting fees are not regulated they do vary over time- however there are plans to set these costs from European emissions trading which are measured in cost per tonne. Therefore I is currently difficult to say if consumers and businesses are getting their monies worth of carbon offsets. Projects such as tree planting are slightly controversial as there is evidence to show that there may be longer lasting ways to beat climate change (henderson). When trees die most of its stored carbon is restored to the atmosphere anyway and It may be more important to protect the rainforests which are still remaining from deforestation. The actual deforestation of forests is a very large source of greenhouse emissions- the burning of trees contributes to around a fifth of co2 produced emissions (Henderson) Now with governmental standards it should make it easier to pick offsets which actually work. It can take years to see the environmental benefits of tree planting to take affect and It also difficult to measure exactly how much carbon dioxide is saved preventing projects such as these from receiving the QAS mark (offsetting.decc.goc.uk). There are many different types of offsetting projects,  generally involving energy efficiency or renewable energy. Here are some examples of the kind of projects that could produce a credit used for offsetting: providing people in Aceh, Indonesia with solar cookers and heat retention containers for cooking, heating, sterilising water and preserving food introducing energy efficiency measures at a resort hotel in India harnessing river hydropower  in Fiji establishing the first wind energy plant in Cyprus However carbon footprint offsetting does allow people to start making the effort to combating co2 and for some (due to busy lifestyles which require releasing larger amounts of co2 9e.g-needing to travel) it is easier to do this than invest in renewable energies in the home/office. It can take decades for the carbon produced to be offset by projects such as tree planting. Whilst investing in lower energy light bulbs and insulating a loft can lead to benefits in a year.

Physics of Skydiving :: physics skydiving

The Forces at Work Gravity ... God OBVIOUSLY intended for us to skydive. After all He DID create gravity! So exactly what forces are acting on the skydiver? Well, of course there's the obvious one, the force of gravity of the Earth. This force is exerted on everything on the Earth and is exerted on the skydiver even though there is no direct contact between the skydiver and the Earth. This type of force, when two objects exert forces on one another even though they are not touching, is known as a noncontact force. According to Newton's second law, the acceleration of an object as produced by a net force is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force, in the same direction as the net force, and inversely proportional to the mass of the object; or Fnet =ma The gravitational force that the Earth exerts on the skydiver is equal to the weight of the object on Earth. The acceleration of the gravitational force is the acceleration due to gravity (g), which is the acceleration of an object under the sole influence of gravity. Thus, the weight of an object is a product of its mass and acceleration due to gravity or W=mg The acceleration due to gravity (g) near the Earth's surface is a constant that was determined to be 9.80 m/s. So, the weight of an object depends on how much mass an object has. The mass of an object is a quantitative measure of inertia, where inertia is the natural tendency of an object to stay at rest or in motion at a constant speed along a straight line. Air Resistance Another force acting on the parachutist is air resistance. Air resistance is the colliding of an object with molecules of air. The falling skydiver collides with air molecules during the downward fall. These air molecules create a force pushing upward which is opposite to the skydiver's direction, as well as the force of gravity. Air Resistance is more complicated force than the force of gravity because it is a nonconservative force. A nonconservative force is one in which the work it does on an object moving in between two points depends on the path of the motion between the two points. The amount of air resistance encountered by the skydiver depends mainly on two factors: 1: The speed of the skydiver. 2: The cross-sectional area of the skydiver. An increase in the speed and/or the amount of cross-sectional area leads to an increase in the amount of air resistance encountered.

Qualities That Are Important for a Successful Teacher

1. makes the course interesting; 2. teaches good pronunciation; 3. explains clearly; 4. speaks good English; 5. shows equal interest in all students; 6. encourages student participation; 7. shows great patience. One of the most important aspects of a successful learning environment is the rapport a teacher has with her students. Establishing this rapport is probably one of the hardest things to teach, as it very much depends on individual personality and teaching style, but with some effort can be the key to success in language learning.Working with children for example is a very demanding job as it requires a lot of patience and creativity. Being energetic and full of ideas and the children motivated throughout classes isnt necessarily easy especially when English is not their mother's tongue. I also use the whiteboard to highlight the topics we are discussing and end up brainstorming our entire class thereafter. Although having said that, i think its very important to be patient (w hich i must admit can be nerve wrecking) and encourage the kids to speak up. Some of them are either very shy or worried that they may be judged incorrectly.I normally tell my little ones that it doesnt matter if they make a mistake, as long at theyre trying and practise makes perfect. I find pop up quizzes and challenges seem to encourage them all the more. Funny enough, the competition amongst one another, seems to motivate them to focus more. Outgoing Working abroad in some cases can be painfully lonely, especially if you are working in somewhere isolated, or in a country where the language is very different to our own. Adaptable You might be immersed in a totally different culture Positive attitude: The tight a teacher through anything without negavatively impacting students.High expectations: Letting students achieve your level of expectations thereby gfiving them a boost in confidence which will help students learn and achieve more. Consistency and fairness: A consistent teach er is the same person on a daily basis and a fair teacher treats her students equally. Flexibility: A flexible attitude is important for your stdents who expect you to be in charge and control of any situation. Lesson plans: Well prepared and organized. Effective communication/listening: by developing a friendly but structured base with your students and make them feel connected to you, is all the more merrier.They will be content as they will feel more confident to speak up as they know you have met them half way and are actually listening to them. Positive attitude, good problem solving skills and monitoring student progress is essential. Being passionate about teaching and learning is vital in being a successful teacher Self-evaluation and reflection are also vital in creating a successful language learning environment. I find it very helpful to evaluate each lesson on completion, both the good and bad points of the lesson. By doing this we learn by our mistakes and improve on ou r success.In a monolingual class I think it’s a great idea to try to learn your students' language, at least at a basic level. Learning their language and an understanding of language acquisition make their difficulties (especially in pronunciation) easier to identify. Additionally, talking about your own language learning experiences will encourage the students and make you more credible. In the language classroom, tying grammar to real-life settings will help the students see the use of the structure and help them to remember what they've learnt. They'll be inspired to learn if you provide real-life examples and use authentic materials. Qualities That Are Important for a Successful Teacher 1. makes the course interesting; 2. teaches good pronunciation; 3. explains clearly; 4. speaks good English; 5. shows equal interest in all students; 6. encourages student participation; 7. shows great patience. One of the most important aspects of a successful learning environment is the rapport a teacher has with her students. Establishing this rapport is probably one of the hardest things to teach, as it very much depends on individual personality and teaching style, but with some effort can be the key to success in language learning.Working with children for example is a very demanding job as it requires a lot of patience and creativity. Being energetic and full of ideas and the children motivated throughout classes isnt necessarily easy especially when English is not their mother's tongue. I also use the whiteboard to highlight the topics we are discussing and end up brainstorming our entire class thereafter. Although having said that, i think its very important to be patient (w hich i must admit can be nerve wrecking) and encourage the kids to speak up. Some of them are either very shy or worried that they may be judged incorrectly.I normally tell my little ones that it doesnt matter if they make a mistake, as long at theyre trying and practise makes perfect. I find pop up quizzes and challenges seem to encourage them all the more. Funny enough, the competition amongst one another, seems to motivate them to focus more. Outgoing Working abroad in some cases can be painfully lonely, especially if you are working in somewhere isolated, or in a country where the language is very different to our own. Adaptable You might be immersed in a totally different culture Positive attitude: The tight a teacher through anything without negavatively impacting students.High expectations: Letting students achieve your level of expectations thereby gfiving them a boost in confidence which will help students learn and achieve more. Consistency and fairness: A consistent teach er is the same person on a daily basis and a fair teacher treats her students equally. Flexibility: A flexible attitude is important for your stdents who expect you to be in charge and control of any situation. Lesson plans: Well prepared and organized. Effective communication/listening: by developing a friendly but structured base with your students and make them feel connected to you, is all the more merrier.They will be content as they will feel more confident to speak up as they know you have met them half way and are actually listening to them. Positive attitude, good problem solving skills and monitoring student progress is essential. Being passionate about teaching and learning is vital in being a successful teacher Self-evaluation and reflection are also vital in creating a successful language learning environment. I find it very helpful to evaluate each lesson on completion, both the good and bad points of the lesson. By doing this we learn by our mistakes and improve on ou r success.In a monolingual class I think it’s a great idea to try to learn your students' language, at least at a basic level. Learning their language and an understanding of language acquisition make their difficulties (especially in pronunciation) easier to identify. Additionally, talking about your own language learning experiences will encourage the students and make you more credible. In the language classroom, tying grammar to real-life settings will help the students see the use of the structure and help them to remember what they've learnt. They'll be inspired to learn if you provide real-life examples and use authentic materials.

Marketing strategy of the organisation

In order for us to understand any administration we have to either cognize about or make some research on it. So in this assignment I have chosen an administration. The administration I am making my assignment on is Polyflor South Africa. The administration will be described, including their products/services and their clients. In order to understand the administration we need to carry on a SWOT analysis, besides looking at barriers. If we have all the needed information from above we will understand the administration better and can get down with the selling program.Question 1The administration I am traveling to depict is Polyflor Gross saless Africa otherwise known as Polyflor South Africa. Polyflor S.A is an industrial flooring company. The South African subdivision was established in 2004 by Denver Coleman and Sheila Coleman. The administration really originates from the United Kingdom where the first Branch of was established in Manchester.Polyflor is all over the universe, they have subdivisions all over the universe. There are subdivisions all over Europe, Asia, North America and Australia. So they are fundamentally on every continent. Polyflor Manchester is the chief caput office. Polyflor S.A is a household concern, where they all work together. The administration believes strongly in â€Å" Team Work † . And is all about profiting the consumer.Polyflor S.A has a figure of different merchandises. All their merchandises are heavy responsibility, industrial merchandises. They do chiefly shocking but they got some other merchandises that is non flooring, it ‘s really got to make with plumbing.Their chief merchandise is heavy responsibility, industrial vinyl flooring. Another merchandise of theirs is industrial meshing gum elastic tiles. They besides do wooden block mosaics. The merchandise that is non shocking related that is comparatively new at Polyflor S.A is specialized industrial drains. As you can see all their merchandises are industrial merchandises so they meant to be used in topographic points where the merchandises will be introduced to a batch of wear and tear. You will happen their merchandises in mills, large edifices etc. The vinyl flooring can really be seen chiefly in infirmaries and in many of the luxury coach line drives. The merchandises are non truly used in a private capacity. Polyflor does n't acquire their merchandises from merely one topographic point, their merchandises come all over the universe. Their vinyl shocking comes from the United Kingdom, from Manchester. That ‘s the majority of their merchandises they do. The specialised drains are imported from Germany. They do hold a local manufactured merchandise and that is the meshing gum elastic tiles that they really get from down the route from them. They do n't truly supply a service as they sell shocking and other merchandises, but they do hold support systems where they will the aid at anytime. They ever there for their clients. They besides got a station sale service where they will help refering their merchandises. If a client is necessitating aid or general aid refering their merchandises, the employees of Polyflor S.A will ever be at that place to assist every bit much as they can.For these types of merchandises there is non a immense mark market, as these merchandises are non used in a personal and private capacity. They are used in a industrial capacity, intending mills, infirmaries and so on. Polyflor S.A does non put in the shocking they sell their merchandises to the administrations who install it.So Polyflor ‘s has non got an limitless sum of clients, but they do hold a big client base. Which the bulk of them are regular, on traveling purchasers of their merchandises. Basically, Polyflor merely sells to shockin g contractors. Polyflor is non allowed to put in their flooring. So other shocking companies who do besides sell flooring and put in it. Purchase from Polyflor. Some of the chief flooring contractors that are regular clients are Peter Bates, Turner Piercing, Kevin Bates, Albert Carpets and many others.Question 2Looking at assorted administrations we need to understand them more. We can make this by carry oning a SWOT analysis. Basically a SWOT analysis is structuring of information, which is collected from the internal and external environment. It gives us a theoretical account in order to get down the selling planning procedure. Shows us the strengths, failings, chances and menaces of the administration. Cloete ( 2010,21 ) So the SWOT analysis of Polyflor is:Strengths:They are a recognized administration, good known in the flooring trade.They are known for holding the best quality merchandises.They are an international administration, so they are recognised all over the universe.Polyflor has one of the best proficient backgrounds in the flooring trade.They are a household concern so the squad of employees work truly expeditiously and good together.Keeping up in the new manner tendencies of today with their new designs on the flooring.They are a really environmentally friendly company.Failings:Finding reps that know about shocking who will be able to sell their merchandises.Finding employees who are able to work with the merchandises and know about flooring.Not holding plenty South African manufactured merchandises.Geting bulk merchandises from abroad states, people need to acquire the merchandises and start assorted occupations utilizing Polyflor ‘s merchandises but they cant because Polyflor has non received the merchandises due to detain being imported from abroad.Opportunities:The manner tendencies are altering all the clip, so Polyflor can hold new manner tendencies in the designs of their flooring.Most people and companies are going â€Å" Green † , so they want to utilize more environmentally friendly merchandises. So Polyflor can sell environmentally friendly merchandises and present new â€Å" Green † merchandises.Besides they could sell more locally produced goods, .Polyflor could non merely merely sell to shocking contractors for industrial usage, but besides opening up a new market for people to utilize it in a private capacity.Menaces:Of class their chief menace is competition ; there are other shocking companies besides Polyflor. So they have to invariably maintain happening ways to remain on top and maintaining competitory advantage.Another menace would be that most merchandises come from other international states, which sometimes the merchandis es are n't delivered in clip. So clients could travel looking other topographic points.Besides coming from abroad, the monetary value of the merchandises could alter easy, due to currency, revenue enhancements, import and export responsibilities.All of these facets can hold deductions on the selling scheme of the administration. Therefore it is of import to make this analysis.

Open Innovation Essays

Open Innovation Essays Open Innovation Essay Open Innovation Essay UNIVERSITY OF BATH, MSC IN INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT Connect and Develop PGs big stake in open innovation Limali Panduwawala Suvidha Venkatesh Pedro Parraguez Xiajing Zhang 27/11/2009 Abstract: This report explores Ps Connect and Develop open innovation initiative. Its focus is to analyse this innovation strategy in the context of the formal academic theory, other PGs programmes and the company situation. Its objective is to understand the impacts, challenges and problems of implementing a large open innovation initiative inside a corporate giant such as P. Keywords: Procter Gamble, P, Open Innovation, Connect and Develop, Innovation Networks Connect and Develop, Ps big stake in open innovation 1 Introduction Innovation is the main driver for economic growth and progress of companies. In the age of the internet, it assumes even greater importance as maintaining competitive advantage becomes tougher with technology that brings the world closer and collapses the concept of time and space. Procter Gamble is a company that has been a pioneer in this field of innovation. They are global manufacturers and marketers of consumer products with complex operational networks. PG have been able to maintain their position in the market by adopting various innovation techniques and strategies. This report looks at the innovation strategies adopted by PG, particularly with a focus on Open Innovation. The report describes the theoretical framework of the innovation model the company has used along with its Innovation strategy and its management, followed by an analysis of the PG Open Innovation model, its problems and challenges and our conclusions. 2 2. 1 Theoretical Framework Innovation networks One assumes that innovation is a stand-alone concept which works well independently. In reality this is not true. To convert a good idea into a profitable product/service a lot more input from different people and different perspectives is required. Making innovation happen is about bring people or teams together in a creative and productive manner. In the era of globalisation with access to high-speed infrastructure and with teams on the move all the time, building, maintaining and developing networks becomes the key issue in the process of innovation. Usually innovation is seen as core process with a defined architecture with external influences acting on it. However, in reality it is not such a simplified structure. It is far more complex than that. The path of knowledge around an innovation project is more complex and interactive, appearing like some kind of ‘social spaghetti’ where different people talk at different times about different issues. (Tidd and Bessant, 2008) A network can be defined as a complex interconnected system or structure, which is used to get work done. A network consists of nodes or points of action which are occupied by 2 Connect and Develop, PGs big stake in open innovation individuals, companies, research institutions, universities, governments, customers and so on. These networks are greatly affected by how economic activities are influenced by the social setup and the position that the nodes or points occupy in the network. Therefore, a network can be influenced in two ways, i. e. by the interaction within the network and through the differences in position of the nodal players, which can cause power and control imbalance. Networks work best when the advantages of Co-specialisation, sharing infrastructure and standards and other benefits outweigh the costs of network governance and maintenance. (Tidd and Bessant, 2008) The above mentioned innovation networks, are the conceptual grounds where the Open Innovation (OI) model emerges, thus they are a critical structure to understand Ps Connect and Develop model. 2. 2 Open innovation In the traditional model of innovation, the focus was mainly on research and development laboratories, where invention of new concepts and technologies were carried out using internal and external sources of information. These RD labs usually concentrated on bringing out new technologies for self-commercialisation. This process can be viewed in the form of a funnel, where a large number of varied ideas and concepts can be trimmed down to few of those concepts and ideas that best meet the requirements of the company. (OECD, 2008) In recent times, companies have become more open with their innovation process, leading to revolution described as â€Å"Open Innovation† by Chesbrough (2003). This ‘open innovation’ model is a more dynamic model when compared the traditional model as there is much more interaction between knowledge assets outside the company as well as inside. Henry Chesbrough (2003) in his book â€Å"Open Innovation: New Imperative for creating and profiting from technology† defines open innovation as a concept in which companies must use ideas from inside as well as outside sources and find internal and external ways to reach the market in order to advance their technological capabilities. Open innovation combines these 3 Connect and Develop, PGs big stake in open innovation concepts of inside and outside ideas into systems and structures so that there is some order in the chaos. In another book â€Å"Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovative Landscape† he defines open innovation as the flow of knowledge internally and externally such that it moves the process of innovation at a much faster pace and so that new markets can be found for the use of this innovation. Open innovation means that firms should start using ideas and technologies from external sources and knowledge assets to create new and improved products/services. In the process, they should let others use their unused ideas which in turn can become a profitable venture by itself. This process would require an open business model to be in place. 3 Innovation Strategy at P One of the core strengths of the company is its Innovation strategy. Its CEO A. G Lafley believes that innovation is at the heart of P business model. The company uses innovation to create value with retail partners, satisfy customers and to create new business models to maintain sustainable growth (Datamonitor, 2009). The company boasts of a range of industry firsts (Appendixes 7. 1 and 7. 2). P uses a unique design for innovation comprising of five major categories (Datamonitor, 2009): ? ? ? ? ? Defining innovation broadly Investing in innovation at industry levels Managing innovation with discipline Delivering innovation that builds consumer trust and loyalty over time Using global brands and an outstanding team of innovation leaders to lead innovation One unique feature in P strategy is that innovation is involved in every area of the product which makes contact with the customer, such as the packaging, the shopping experience, the in-home product usage experience as well as the product itself (Datamonitor, 2009). A good example is the company’s family care business where the innovations are customer focused rather than technology focused. This means that each product offers customized benefits to meet different consumer needs. The company also involves its customers in the innovation process on a daily basis. 4 Connect and Develop, Ps big stake in open innovation The company supports sustainable innovation, investing heavily in RD to bring better quality products to the market. PGs budget for RD amounts to nearly $2 billion an year: twice the amount spent by Unilever, PGs biggest competitor. This proves the company’s dedication towards sustainable innovation (Datamonitor, 2009). 3. 1 Managing Innovation at PG Historically PGs innovation strategy was focused on its internal capabilities. The company had minimal experience externally and was not involved with its competitors. The model used by the company was a traditional stage gate model (Heimberg, 2008). This model (See appendix 7. 5) helped PG until 2000 when the company faced major financial difficulties. With the increase in the pace of innovation, costs, fast followers, constrained resources and more consumer demands the traditional model was unable to deliver the required results (Heimberg, 2008). The company required a growth rate which exceeded the industry growth rate†. This Figure 2, Open Innovation Model (Heimberg, 2008) Figure 1, Stage gate Model (Heimberg, 2008) equired collaboration with external sources (Lafley, 2008); commonly known as Open Innovation. This initiative was named connect and develop where the company collaborates with external sources for innovative ideas and technologies. When the process began the 10-15% of the innovations at PG included ideas from external sources and today this has increased to 50%, resulting in the company achieving a 6% organic growth in an ind ustry, which is growing at 2-3 %. ( Lafley, 2008) 5 Connect and Develop, PGs big stake in open innovation The company today works on a ‘proudly found elsewhere’ culture which has opened the door for many innovations. Although Connect and Develop is now considered the major Innovation initiative taken up by the company, there are several other strategies which drive the success at P. 3. 2 Complementary P Innovation Strategies 3. 2. 1 User driven innovation: User driven innovation mainly focuses on developing products based on customer needs. P carries out user driven innovation by engaging their customers as co-designers (Datamonitor, 2009). 3. 2. The Corporate Innovation Fund: This can simply be described as an in-house venture capital firm which hands over successful innovations to the relevant business units in the company. The firm carries out the initial concept, design, engineering and qualifications work prior to handing over the ideas; and specializes in high-risk, high reward ideas (Datamonitor, 2009). 3. 2. 3 Innovation Net: A knowledge sharing solution at P, Innova tion net provides access to 18,000 knowledge workers at P from the R to the Patent/Legal and Business Information systems (AskMe, 2001). The main function of innovation net is to allow users to catalogue, locate and maintain employee knowledge. This provides employees with the ability to take immediate action when required. (Haimila, 2002) 3. 2. 4 Enterprise 2. 0: This is P version of web 2. 0 which is a set of web based software service that helps increase the involvement of employees in establishing and managing data. In addition to this, the company is also allowing its employees to personalize its web portal by adding RSS feeds of news and business information (Hines, 2007). This web-based service includes the customer and the suppliers web portals, online hubs for all the interactions with supermarkets, suppliers and technology providers around the world Recent research has shown that innovation within the business can only occur if the structure of the business and the internal talent of the organization are structured to encourage collaboration between the employees and knowledge sharing (O’Hara, 2009). 6 Connect and Develop, Ps big stake in open innovation Therefore, the above initiatives indicate the efforts taken by PG to promote successful innovation within the company. . 3 PG’s Connect and Develop Model Explained From RD to CD Besides all the innovations above, PG has given great attention to product innovation. At first, like every other company, they had an RD group which is good for exploiting knowledge and doing research inside the firm itself. However, the drawbacks are also obvious. There is no guarantee that all these blue-sk y researches will be a success and it has high risk and cost associated (Bessant and Tidd, Table 12. 2, 2007). Besides, only by getting out of the lab can researchers find and listen to customer wants and needs. Initially, less than 10% of PG technologies were being used in products. Which meant that many unused technologies were being kept hidden, much like antiques-valuable but useless. What’s more, with knowledge increasing and refreshing at an exponential rate and much important innovations being carried out in small entrepreneurial firms (Bessant and Tidd, 2007), PG realized it is impossible for them to complete everything alone while at the same time create satisfactory operating results for their shareholders. Things had to be changed. Therefore, PG decided to introduce a new business model to cope with both the desire for external ideas coming in and own ideas going out. Instead of the traditional inhouse research model â€Å"Research and Development†, they formed a department called â€Å"Connect and Development† which is based on â€Å"Open Innovation†. The idea was to bring together external research institutions, customers, suppliers, individuals and even competitors to develop the market for new products. They established a web site (www. pgconnectdevelop. com) to communicate with the resources outside. The mechanism works like this: they simply put all their needs on this website in classified categories, and then anyone who is interested or has the solution could propose their ideas and get assessed by a specialized team. Payments can range from US$10,000 to US$100,000 (Bessant and Tidd, 2008). After this model has been applied, PG is able to drive new innovation through collaboration with external partners in at least 50% of the cases (Sakkab 2002, cited by Dodgson, Gann, Salter 2006, P. 6). Furthermore, this model seems to work 7 Connect and Develop, PGs big stake in open innovation well: in 2004, P reported a 17% increase in volume, a 19% increase in sales, a 25% rise in earnings and a total shareholders return of 24% (ANOY 2005). Thanks to the invention of the internet, another way for P to gain more external resources is to find solutions in other technology brokers such as Innocentive, Yet2 and NineSigma. 4 Discussion: Connect and Develop problems and challenges Mixing elements from open innovation models, articulating multiple innovation networks and investing heavily in knowledge management tools, (i. . Innovation Net) P has created its own novel way to deal with the new challenges of generating growth in mature markets through innovation. Nevertheless, they are not exempt from problems and challenges. Below are briefly described some of the most critical issues identified, that if not addressed properly might put in risk P long term success. 4. 1 The dangers of â€Å"outsourcing† innovation Bein g able to access external knowledge and leveraging in this way, innovation sounds like a very reasonable strategy. Nevertheless, important risks lie behind it; Firstly Lean innovation might become fragile innovation and lead to a progressive loss of internal capabilities to develop their own innovations. This might damage in the long term their most important competitive advantage, their expertise to innovate. One example of this risk is in the aeronautical industry, were Boeing and Airbus are distributing their manufacturing and R capabilities so widely, that experts believe they might lose an important part of their critical knowledge over time. (Aron, Singh, 2005) 4. Managing the intellectual property and its negotiations in an open environment Although P believes that connect and development will become the dominant innovation model in the twenty-first century (Huston, Sakkab, 2006), the drawback is obviously about how to protect its intellectual property. Case becomes much more complicated after the open innovation model is applied. In the past, all the innovations were kept inside of the co mpany, and P only needed to decide whether to apply for the patent for a certain 8 Connect and Develop, Ps big stake in open innovation innovation or not, fairly simple. However, in this model, there are many in-licensing and outlicensing of innovation and technology, which makes the protection of the intellectual property a big problem. The company needs to consider the most appropriate way to protect their new inventions. For example if the inventor does not have good protection, they are creating something that others can have for free (Docherty, 2008). Therefore, patents should be looked at closely. Another problem that arises from this issue is how to manage hundreds or thousands of relationships with small technology providers (individual inventors, university departments, private RD labs, etc. that have no formal relationship in the long term with PG and do not share the same incentives. Internal success cases (shown in appendix 7. 3), like the Magic Eraser shows clearly the complexity of the Connect Develop programme and how it must deal in an ad-hoc way to handle every case. Thus to innovate systematically in an open environment, huge trans actional costs are usually incurred; cost that are not present when the innovation occurs in a closed fashion. 4. 3 Issues about how to select and filter really innovative ideas To cope with the complexity found in the CD model, PG tries to select technologies as mature and proven as possible (Huston, Sakkab, 2006). This is good to reduce implementation and technological risks, but it reduces the chances to customize and produce radical innovations because PGs R department intervenes only in the final stages. This filter certainly limits the potential of the open innovation model, adding a cap on it, and also generates a problem because internal R capabilities are less exercised, aggravating the issue expressed in point 4. 1. . 4 Identifying the Serial Innovators† According to the Pareto Principle (80-20 rule) we should expect that most of the valuable innovations come from a very reduced group of bright individuals. This is particularly important when the challenge is to identify the serial innovators in an open innovation environment. This is because of the high number of individuals involved and the fact that they are not inside the company. For PG identifying and nurturing this valuable group will became a key issue and an interesting potential competitive advantage. 9 Connect and Develop, PGs big stake in open innovation 4. 5 Connect Develop financial results In spite of the fact that sales and profits increased over time after the implementation of CD and some of its notorious success cases (Appendix 7. 4), it is still not clear if this strategy has given PG a significant advantage compared with their traditional model of innovation before the year 2000. Stock market trends indicate that PG has followed a very similar stock price trajectory compared with its industry (Figure YYY) and so the real effect of CD is difficult to calculate in financial terms. Regardless of all the original hype, CD does not seem to be a real game changer in this business arena, or at least not yet. Figure 3, PG stock price evolution, Yahoo! Finance 10 Connect and Develop, PGs big stake in open innovation 4. 6 The complexity of the system and its interactions Connect and Develop and all the other innovation initiatives inside PG, have created a complex set of structures and interactions, transforming the management of this system into a challenge by itself. At the heart of these interactions and the management of innovation, PG have two critical positions; The Technology Entrepreneurs and the Research Fellows, the first are the scouts, hunting new innovations outside of the company and later lobbying inside to bring them in. The second are in charge of the conceptual development and continuous refinement of CD, acting as the back office of this intricate system. To understand better this sort of spaghetti model of innovation and the challenges of its management a simplified overall view of the system is provided below in figure 3. PG’s Innovation Ecosystem User Driven Innovation Corporate Innovation Funds Innovation Technologies Connect Development Suppliers Networks Proprietary Innovation Net Technology entrepreneurs Research Fellows Open NineSigma (Multidisciplinary) Suppliers Portal Customers Portal YourEncore (senior RD talent) Selection usually restricted to mature technologies Enterprise 2. 0 Idea search focus: ? ? ? Top ten consumer needs Adjacencies Tech Game Boards Yet2. com (IP broker) InnoCentive (Specific problems) Figure 4, PGs ecosystem 11 Connect and Develop, PGs big stake in open innovation Conclusions PG’s Connect and Development programme has become a clear business case when it comes to implementing an open innovation initiative inside a large company. They have created a completely new set of complex tools, networks inside and outside their company and invested strategically in this specific option to drive a major part of their innovation in new products. Thus, Connect and D evelop represents a big stake and compromise in the long term, with a new business paradigm that has not fully been tested yet, and involves an intricate network of activities and concepts. On the Backstage of CD, we find several interconnected innovation networks with customers, suppliers, internal staff and external innovation agents. Knowledge management tools are also embedded deeply in the structure, supported by innovation technologies based on information and communication technologies (ICT) such as web platforms like â€Å"Innovation Net† and other special software that help the work of the research fellows and technology entrepreneurs, who are the vital links in the Open Innovation implementation of PG. All this involves great complexity, new risks and challenges. So far, in terms of financial growth (Appendix 7. ) it seems that Lafley (PG’s CEO) has chosen the right path. Nevertheless, this is clearly just the beginning of a long journey that depends greatly on the skills to manage a heterogeneous and worldwide network of innovators without losing the vital internal capabilities and competitive advantages in this process, something that is yet to be proved. 12 Connect and Develop, PGs big stake in open innovation 6 References ? Annon, 2005. Procter Gamble’s innovation success- new research, new products, new markets. strategic direction, VOL. 21 NO. 7 ,p. 13. Annon, 2009. Yahoo! Finance Website. [Accessed 26 november 2009]. Available from: http://uk. finance. yahoo. com/q? s=PGm=USd=. Aron, R. , Singh, J. (2005). Getting Offshoring Right. Harvard Business Review, 83(12), 135143. Retrieved from Business Source Premier database. AskMe, 2001. Procter and Gamble enhances innovation by purchasing another instalment of AskMe enterprise [Online]. Available from: realcominc. com/pdf/PGPressRelease. pdf [Accessed last on 16 November 2009] Bessant, J. and Tidd, J. , 2007. Innovation and Entrepreneurship. England: John Wiley Sons Ltd. Bessant, J. and Tidd, J. , 2008. Managing Innovation. 4th ed. England: John Wiley Sons Ltd. Carvin,N. 2009. PG: Look ahead to September 2009 quarterly results. [Online]. Available from financial-gauges. com/2009/09/pg-look-ahead-to-september-2009. html [Accessed last on 17 November 2009] Chesbrough, H. 2006. Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovative Landscape. Harvard business School press, Boston, Massachusetts Chesbrough, H. 2006. Open Innovation, The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Massachusetts Cooper, R. G and Mills, M. S. , 2005. Succeeding at new products the PG way: Work the Innovation Diamond[Online]. Available from proddev. com/pdf/Succeeding_at_New_Products_the_PG_Way. pdf [Accessed last on 15 November 2009] Datamonitor, 2009. Procter and Gamble Company, The. [Online]. Available from http://web. ebscohost. com/ehost/pdf? vid=9hid=4sid=6810e15d-3545-4d7b -9b0440b0f06408d8%40sessionmgr4 [Accessed last on 14 November 2009] Docherty, M. , 2008. Protection beyond patent[Online]. Available from: http://venture2. typepad. com/innovationnet/intellectual_property/ [Accessed last on 25 November 2009]. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 13 Connect and Develop, PGs big stake in open innovation ? Dodgson, M. , Gann, D. , AND Salter, A. 2006, RD Management. The role of technology in the shift towards open innovation: the case of Procter Gamble, pp. 333-346. Friscia,T. ,2008. A Conversation With Procter Gamble CEO A. G. Lafley. [Online]. Available from amrresearch. com/Content/View. aspx? compURI=tcm:7-37226 [Accessed last on 15 November 2009] Haimila, S. , 2002. Procter Gamble pampers RD. [Online]. A vailable from kmworld. com/Articles/News/KM-In-Practice/ProcterGamble-pampers-RD8498. aspx [Accessed last on 17 November 2009] Heimberg, J. 2008. Open Innovation at PG from Research Develop to Connect Develop. Online]. Available from gdch. de/strukturen/fg/wirtschaft/vcw_va/heimburg. pdf [Accessed last on 20 November 2009 ] Hines, A. , 2007. Web 2. 0 inside Procter and Gamble. [Online]. Available from http://blogs. bnet. com/intercom/? p=394 [Accessed last on 24 November 2009] ? ? ? ? ? Huston, L. , Sakkab, N. (2006). Connect and develop –inside PG’s new model for innovation. (cover story). Harvard Business Review, 84(3), 58-66. Retrieved from Business Source Premier database. Learning Markets, 2009. Procter Gamble down but not out; PG, KMB, CL . [Online]. Available from earningmarkets. com/index. php/200908053510/News-Feed/NewsFeed/procter-a-gamble-down-but-not-out-pg-kmb-cl. html [Accessed last on 22 November 2009] O’Hara, J. , 2009. Sustainable Innovat ion. [Online]. Available from realinnovation. com/offsite. asp? A=FrUrl= busmanagement. com/p astissue/article. asp? art=26868issue=165 [Accessed last on 22 November 2009] Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2008. Open Innovation in Global Networks [Online] Available from:http://lysander. sourceoecd. org. ezp1. bath. ac. uk/vl=2368171/cl=13/nw=1/rps v/cgibin/fulltextew. l? prpsv=/ij/oecdthemes/9998010x/v2008n14/s6/p64. idx [Accessed last on 24 November 2009] Reuters, 2009. Warner Chilcott Ltd. To Buy Procter Gamble Co. Unit For $3 Billion. [Online]. Available from reuters. com/finance/stocks/keyDevelopments? symbol=PGpn=2 [Accessed last on 19 November 2009] ? ? ? ? 14 Connect and Develop, PGs big stake in open innovation 7 7. 1 Appendixes General Company Profile Procter and Gamble commonly known as PG started as a soap and candle company in Cincinnati, Ohio in the year 1837. Today it is a global manufacturer and marketer of consumer products. There are three main Global Business Units (GBU), the company focuses on: Beauty, health and well being, and household care (Datamonitor, 2009). The role of each GBU is to recognize common consumer needs, develop new product innovations. By successful innovations and marketing strategies GBUs also helps build the PG brands. The other main sector of the business is the Global operations group which is subdivided into Market Development Organization and Global Business Services. Being the world’s largest consumer goods company, PG markets more than 300 brands in over 180 countries and functions in Europe, Asia and he Americas (Datamonitor, 2009). Some of the company’s major products include Tide, Pampers, Pantene, Pringle, Gillette and Ariel (Carvin, 2009). The major strengths of the company include its focus on Innovation, Leading market position, strong brands portfolio and a diversified range of products. One of the major weaknesses of the company is its dependence on Wal-Mart. This can lead to a weakness in the bargaining power of the company especially considering that fact that 15% of PGs revenue since 2006 is through sales to Wall-mart (Datamonitor, 2009). An increase in PG product recalls were also noticed in the past couple of years and this can tarnish the brand image of the relevant products. The company should also expect to face difficulties due to Global economic changes, counterfeit goods and increasing regulations on products (Datamonitor, 2009). In the fourth quarter of the Fiscal year 2009 PG faced one of the most difficult financial periods in decades (Learning Markets, 2009). The company has sold off its Folgers coffee business and in August 2009, signed a deal to sell its Global Pharmaceutical business. (Reuters, 2009). 15 Connect and Develop, PGs big stake in open innovation PGs Major Competitors (DataMonitor, 2009) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Unilever Avon Products, Inc. Colgate-Palmolive Company Henkel KGaA Kimberly-Clark Corporation Reckitt Benckiser PLC Energizer Holdings LOreal S. A. 7. 2 List of PG Innovations (DataMonitor, 2009) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Tide: the first heavy-duty laundry detergent Crest: the first fluoride toothpaste clinically proven to prevent tooth decay Downy: the first ultra-concentrated rinse-add fabric softener Pert Plus: the first 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner Head Shoulders: the first pleasant-to-use hampoo effective against dandruff Pampers: the first affordable, mass-marketed disposable diaper Bounty: the first three-dimensional paper towel Always: the first feminine protection pad with an innovative, dry-weave top sheet Febreze: the first fabric and air care products that actually remove odours from fabrics and the air Crest White Strips: the first patented in-home teeth whitening technology â€Å"PG continues to be one of the few companies in the consumer product industry that create new categories and brands, new performance standards, and new definitions of consumer value. Swiffer and Febreze created entirely new product categories. Crest ProHealth, Olay Regenerist and Definity, Pampers Baby Stages of Development, and Tide with Bleach redefined high performance in their categories. Olay innovation has created new 16 Connect and Develop, PGs big stake in open innovation consumer experiences that are as good as/ or better than several-hundred-dollar department and specialty store brands† (DataMonitor, 2009). PG has formed a unique design for innovation which has helped them maintain consistent innovations across the wide range of products the company manufactures. 7. 3 Successful cases Pringles potato crisps In order to make the potato crisps more fun and attracting, PG is thinking of putting animals, jokes on each crisp. One researcher suggested ink-jetting pictures onto the potato, nonetheless, it was very difficult because this need a very fast-processing printer and also provided different images and colours. For PG, they also have to negotiate with an ink-jet printer company which will take at least two years. However, they discover a professor from Bologna, Italy, has already invented an ink-jet method for printing pictures on cakes through their European network. It only takes less than a year for PG achieve double-digit growth from technology provided to market penetration. Pampers diaper Pampers diapers, with annual sales of more than 8 billion U. S. dollars, is the worlds first disposable diaper brand. Nonetheless, the none-leaking underlying coating technology was actually not first invented by Pampers. It is transferred from a U. S Navy department which researches in the submarine technology. Mr Clean Magic Eraser (The Osaka case) This interesting case shows how scattered the product development process can be. Everything starts with a PGs technology entrepreneur looking for new products in Osaka, Japan when he finds in the shelves and interesting new cleaning solution based on a novel sponge. After tracking the sponge providers, he ends up in BASF (German Chemicals manufacturer) who developed originally this solution as effective insulation for buildings. After negotiating directly with them PG starts commercializing an 17 Connect and Develop, PGs big stake in open innovation innovative new set of household cleaning sponges developed in close alliance with BASF. 7. 4 Financials All numbers in thousands PERIOD ENDING 30-Jun-09 79,029,000 38,898,000 40,131,000 30-Jun-08 83,503,000 40,695,000 42,808,000 30-Jun-07 76,476,000 36,686,000 39,790,000 Total Revenue Cost of Revenue Gross Profit Operating Expenses Research Development Selling General and Administrative Non Recurring Others Total Operating Expenses Operating Income or Loss Income from Continuing Operations Total Other Income/Expenses Net Earnings Before Interest And Taxes Interest Expense Income Before Tax Income Tax Expense Minority Interest Net Income From Continuing Ops Non-recurring Events Discontinued Operations Extraordinary Items Effect Of Accounting Changes Other Items Net Income Preferred Stock And Other Adjustments Net Income Applicable To Common Shares Figure 5, Income Statements 07-09, Yahoo! Finance 24,008,000 16,123,000 25,725,000 17,083,000 24,340,000 15,450,000 560,000 16,683,000 1,358,000 15,325,000 4,032,000 11,293,000 462,000 17,545,000 1,467,000 16,078,000 4,003,000 12,075,000 564,000 16,014,000 1,304,000 14,710,000 4,370,000 10,340,000 2,143,000 13,436,000 $13,436,000 12,075,000 $12,075,000 10,340,000 $10,340,000 All numbers in thousands 8 Connect and Develop, PGs big stake in open innovation PERIOD ENDING 30-Jun-09 13,436,000 30-Jun-08 12,075,000 30-Jun-07 10,340,000 Net Income Operating Activities, Cash Flows Provided By or Used In Depreciation Adjustments To Net Income Changes In Accounts Receivables Changes In Liabilities Changes In Inventories Changes In Other Operating Activities Total Cash Flow From Operating Activities Investing Activities, Cash Flows Provided By or Used In Capital Expenditures Investments Other Cashflows from Investing Activities Total Cash Flows From Investing Activities Financing Activities, Cash Flows Provided By or Used In Dividends Paid Sale Purchase of Stock Net Borrowings Other Cash Flows from Financing Activities Total Cash Flows From Financing Activities Effect Of Exchange Rate Changes Change In Cash and Cash Equivalents Figure 6, PG Cash Flow 07-09, Yahoo! Finance ,082,000 (1,265,000) 415,000 (742,000) 721,000 (728,000) 14,919,000 3,166,000 1,769,000 432,000 134,000 (1,050,000) (712,000) 15,814,000 3,130,000 921,000 (729,000) (273,000) (389,000) 435,000 13,435,000 (3,238,000) 166,000 719,000 (2,353,000) (3,046,000) (50,000) 547,000 (2,549,000) (2,945,000) 673,000 (211,000) (2,483,000) (5,044,000) (5,689,000) (81,000) (10,814,000) (284,000) $1,468,000 (4,655,000) (8,180,000) (2,815,000) (15,650,000) 344,000 ($2,041,000) (4,209,000 ) (4,079,000) (4,190,000) (12,478,000) 187,000 ($1,339,000) 9 Connect and Develop, PGs big stake in open innovation Last Trade: Trade Time: Change: Prev Close: Open: Bid: Ask: 62. 87 $ Nov 25 0. 07 (0. 11%) 62. 80 62. 94 N/A N/A Days Range: 52wk Range: Volume: Avg Vol (3m): Market Cap: P/E: EPS : 62. 70 63. 48 43. 93 64. 55 8,244,877 12,486,000 $183. 25 B 14. 65 x 4. 29$ 1. 72$ Dividend: 1y Target Est: 66. 25$ Figure 7, PG Long Term Stock price, Yahoo! Finance 7. 5 PGs Innovation or Initiatives Diamond Figure 8, PGS Innovation Diamond. Cooper Mills, 2005) The initiatives diamond is used by PG to guide their new product efforts and focuses the management’s attention on the criteria important for success. The diamond can be divided into two sections where the top half involves strategic aspects which identifies the product innovation strategy such as goals, the mix of new products required to meet the goals and the essential resources(Cooper Millsa,2005). The bottom half fo cuses on delivering specific new projects/initiatives. It is more operational and helps identify how the methods to manage projects successfully using PGs idea-to-launch SIMPL method (Cooper Mills, 2005). 20 Connect and Develop, PGs big stake in open innovation SIMPL: Successful Initiative Management and Product Launch Model This is PGs version of a stage-gate model and is a method used to impel products from the idea phase to the launch and post launch phases. Figure 9, PGs SIMPL Process (Cooper Mills, 2005) As can be seen from the diagram the SIMPL model has four main stages. These

Ming And Ottoman Empires Essays - Ottoman Turks, Free Essays

Ming And Ottoman Empires Essays - Ottoman Turks, Free Essays Ming And Ottoman Empires Timothy S. Palko World History II Dr. Skaff MWF 2:00-2:50 World power can be seen today in two very different but extremely vast empires. They are the Ming Empire and the Ottoman Empire. To contrast these empires in order to predict their futures, it is necessary that I observe and analyze key factors such as leadership, military strengths and weaknesses, and morals among the people. The two empires have different types of leadership, and from this it is possible to find the core of any disadvantage. From the leadership, it is possible to continue into the military and values that these empires embody. The Ming Empire is led by brilliant philosophical scholars, The man who is promoted to the higher degrees in this field prides himself on the fact that he has in truth attained to the pinnacle of Chinese happiness (Andrea/Overfield 116). The Ottoman Empire has dedicated and knowledgeable leaders as well, but they are of a more warlike and brutish character. These leaders rise in service by merit alone (Andrea/Overfield p.88). Indulging in the writings of Matteo Ricci, who observed first hand the workings of the Ming government, and the writings of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, who observed the government under Suleiman I of the Ottoman Empire, the prediction of success will be able to be made knowledgably. The Ottoman Empire began around 1300 as a tiny state built on the strength of an army of Turkish nomad warriors and a few Christian converts to Islam in northwestern Anatolia (Bulliet 601). It quickly proved to be a military strength and threat to the surrounding civilizations. The Turks expanded their empire through brilliant military tactics, including using Janissaries on foot, who used the new weapon called a gun in battle, and the same horseback archery that made them so successful in their previous military accomplishments. The selection of Turkish leaders has greatly influenced the success of the Ottoman Empire. A Turks grandeur is not defined by his birth, however; the respect to be paid to a man is measured by the position he holds in the public service (Andrea/Overfield 88). The men who attain office are not the products of hereditary luck, but partly the gift of God, and partly the result of good training, great industry, and unwearied zeal (Andrea/Overfield p.88). De Busb ecq was greatly impressed by the way that these Turks found their leadership; he made it a point to describe their feelings towards it in detail. De Busbecq also wrote extensively about the military strengths of the Ottoman. The soldiers of the Ottoman army are well trained and experienced in the arts of warfare and survival. The distances they must travel are so great, that the soldiers often have to carry a pack horse on which they carry many of the necessaries of life (Andrea/Overfield 89). The weapon that was affluent and extremely effective among the soldiers is the Turkish bow. From the eighth, or even the seventh year of age they begin to shoot at a mark, and practice archery ten or twelve years. This constant exercise strengthens the muscles of their arms, and gives them such skill that they can hit the smallest marks with their arrows (Andrea/Overfield p.89). The great riches and skilled military forces have served this Empire well to this day. The Turks also showed very little ignorance towards new advancements in technology originated in other parts of the world. There is no nation that has shown greater readiness t han the Turks to avail themselves of the useful inventions of foreigners, as is proved by their employment of cannons and mortars, and many other things invented by Christians (Andrea/Overfield p.89). These open-minded and innovative new ways of becoming a powerful country greatly impressed De Busbecq. It is true that no empire is without flaw, and the Ottoman is no exception. The role of Sultan in the Ottoman Empire was a hereditary role, the exception to their other laws about leadership. The sons of a Turkish Sultans are in the most wretched position in the world, for, as soon as one of them succeeds his father, the rest are doomed to certain death Andrea/Overfield p.90). The successor will certainly kill all the other sons

How to Break and Conquer Your Worst Work Habits

How to Break and Conquer Your Worst Work Habits Bad habits. Everyone has at least one. Staying up too late, eating packaged ramen  too often, or canceling plans at the last minute- everyone is guilty of a self or social faux pas, probably regularly. It stands to reason that if no one is perfect in his or her personal life, that same person has some flaws in their professional life as well. However, while personal idiosyncrasies might just cause eye rolls from significant others or minor disagreements with friends, bad habits at work can lead to dings in your professional reputation, or even damage to your career progress. Let’s look at some of the most problematic habits that people tend to develop at work, potentially endangering everything from productivity to the job itself, and strategies for overcoming them.Chronic LatenessIt was the subway. Traffic. A freak earthquake. Whatever the reason was today, it doesn’t change the fact that you were late. Everyone has commute issues sometimes, but regular lateness is a problem. It suggests you don’t have the discipline to show up on time, or that you don’t care enough to be on time (even if that’s not the case).The solution: Adjust your routine. If you hit your snooze button three times, set your original alarm earlier. If your daily Starbucks stop makes you late, either bring your coffee or adjust your schedule. Look at your daily routines, and identify what you can change, and what you can move around to make sure getting to work on time is your priority.ProcrastinationYou may be able to get everything done at the last minute (flashbacks to writing those final papers at 4 a.m. the night before they were due), but if you do that at work regularly, you could be impacting your coworkers. If someone’s waiting on you to do something, and you wait until the last second to do it/send it, you’re putting that person at a disadvantage. Again, stuff happens, but if this becomes a pattern, it undermines your colleaguesâ⠂¬â„¢ trust in you and your ability to work toward shared goals.The solution: Set timelines, with check-in points and smaller goals throughout, so that you’re not doing everything at once at the end, in a panic.Lyingâ€Å"I never got that email!† â€Å"Oh, I thought Smith was supposed to be handling that?† Or there are more serious ones, like throwing someone else under the bus when a problem or mistake was your fault. Whatever the lies are (little white lies or more serious ones), they can have major consequences for your job and your career. At the very least, you don’t want a reputation as a liar. At worst, you could be severely disciplined or fired for lying.The solution: Be honest. If you didn’t get something done on time, own up to that, as well as why, and what you’re doing to make sure it gets done. If you made a mistake, admit it and come up with a plan on how to avoid that next time.Being Openly NegativeThere’s honesty, and then there’s being Debbie Downer. If you’re always griping and sniping, you risk getting a reputation as someone who’s difficult to work with.The solution: Find the positive. Sometimes things will just suck. In times like those, don’t start venting to the nearest coworker, or sit at your desk muttering curses under your breath. You can vent outside work to loved ones, your dog, your therapist- anyone who’s not on the job with you.Talking SmackThis one is related to being negative. If your coworkers think you’re just going to say nasty things about them behind their backs because you never have anything nice to say, why would they trust you?The solution: Resist your inner Mean Girl (and that goes for non-girls as well), and don’t say anything about anyone that you wouldn’t want repeated to their face. In email or office instant messaging, don’t write anything you wouldn’t want broadcasted to the entire company.Chro nic MultitaskingOn its face, this one seems like it would be a good thing- you’re such an efficient employee that you’re doing four things at once! However, it means you’re doing four things at once, and are giving each one a quarter (or less) of your attention. This is especially problematic if you’re multitasking while talking or meeting with others. They can tell you’re not really paying attention, and if you miss a necessary detail because you’re too busy replying to an email while talking to your coworker, that can have consequences.The solution: Set aside specific times for specific tasks, especially ones that require in-person conversations or face time.Losing Your TemperBeing professional means handling disappointments or problems with a degree of calm. If you yell, scream, or otherwise show rage at work, that can very quickly earn you a reputation as a hothead that no one wants to deal with, for fear of risking the Red Rage. Temper tantrums are never acceptable for adults in a work environment, no matter how calm and productive you feel after you’ve unburdened yourself and the rage has subsided.The solution: Find ways to channel that anger into temporary zen, so you can move on with your day and deal with the anger later, in a more appropriate way out of work. Try learning some meditation techniques that you can reach for when you feel the anger bubbling up in your brain.Lousy CommunicationIf you have poor grammar or bad email etiquette, it undermines how people see you. People may think you’re uneducated, less intelligent than you are, or uncaring about how you come off to others.The solution: If written communication is a weak point, brush up on some of the most common grammar issues you’re likely to encounter in a professional environment. If appropriateness is your issue, make sure not to use swears or slang at work.LazinessIf you’re shifting (or shirking) responsibilities becau se you don’t want the aggravation or want something easier while someone else does the heavy lifting, people notice. They’ll either think you’re incapable of accomplishing tasks, or that you just don’t care.The solution: Make the effort to go above and beyond. Offer to help people with tasks (assuming you’re not ignoring your own in the meantime). Take initiative to develop new responsibilities, and/or talk to your boss to see what else you can be doing to expand your role.Being Inconsiderate of OthersThis one is especially problematic in crowded or open plan workplaces. My office has an open plan sea of cubicles, and that makes it a minefield for poor or obnoxious office behavior. Things like being loud, eating strong-smelling food, or leaving messes everywhere you go fall into this category. Will you get fired for this kind of transgression? Not likely. Will it make your colleagues like you less and damage your rep? Quite possibly.The solution: W henever you find yourself having a phone conversation in a public place, ask yourself, â€Å"would this annoy me?† In fact, â€Å"would this annoy me?† is a good rule of thumb in general. It’s important to keep in mind that work behavior is public behavior.Not Being a Good Team MemberChances are you don’t work in a vacuum, and work as part of a team in some capacity. If you shun others as much as possible, and try to handle everything without input from others, that makes it easy to dismiss your contributions. It also amplifies any problems or mistakes- if you plow ahead on your own without input from other stakeholders, that puts the onus on you to succeed, or else.The solution: Go out of your way to initiate conversations with coworkers, whether it’s social (work appropriate) small talk or related to specific work responsibilities. If a task or project has a number of people involved, go out of your way to ask for their input, or at least make su re they know what you’re working on.Over-promisingLike the hypermultitasking, this one likely comes from a desire to be a good, productive employee. But if you say you are going to get something done at a certain time, you need to make good on your promises. If you don’t, then it undermines your reliability and trustworthiness- two of the most important workplace currencies.The solution: Set realistic priorities. If you originally said something could be done by Tuesday but now it’s looking like there’s no way it’ll be done by Thursday, be up front about that. If you’re struggling with something and it’s slowing you down, talk with your boss to prioritize tasks so you can manage expectations. If you need help, ask for it. Better organization and planning up front can also help you set more realistic timelines and help ensure that you get done what you say you’re going to do.If any of these sound uncomfortably familiar to you (I ’m definitely guilty of at least one of these), all is not lost- you’re not automatically going to end up fired and shunned for your sins. Like Ebenezer Scrooge after his revelation, it’s not too late. You can still change that future!Be conscious of what you’re doing wrong. A little extra mindfulness goes a long way.Be adaptable/open to change. According to career coach and consultant Lisa Lahey, â€Å"immunity to change† is a sure way to ensure that your bad habits don’t improve (best case scenario) or end up derailing your goals and career (worst case scenario).Understand how your bad work habits are sabotaging you. If your bad habit is your temper, which of your goals could you achieve faster/better if you didn’t fly off the handle? If you’re always late, what are the consequences? If you don’t have a handle on how your bad habits are actually affecting your job, it will be very difficult to clean them up and start t urning them around.Identifying these bad work habits is a great first step; making sure that you’re actively working on them (or at least minimizing them) is harder, but is the more rewarding task. None of us will ever be perfect, at home or at work, but the more work you put into overcoming these bad habits now, the better your professional rep and job satisfaction will be in the long run.

Environmental Report (Shell) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Environmental Report (Shell) - Essay Example In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in charge of making sure industry is compliant with standards set into law. On the worldwide scale some developing countries do not have any guidelines, where as European Union and the United Kingdom do. European Union is responsible for a host of regulations that reduce greenhouse gas emission, preserve bio diversity, protect water supply and impose stiff fines for non compliance. The United Kingdom also has its own sets of rules and regulations, also enforced by fines for non-compliance. The International Standards Organization (ISO) has developed ISO 14000 and particularly ISO 14001 pertains to development and reporting sustainability of a company. ISO 14001 is a voluntary guideline that is compatible with the EU environmental management auditing standard (EMAS). This is one complexity that faces all companies that are trying to develop environmental sustainability. Developing a company that is both environmentally friendly and sustainable is the trend of the times in which the world finds itself these days. Shell is a worldwide company that has accepted this challenge of sustainability and reducing its impact on environments in which it operates. Herein is a brief overview of environmental management systems and environmental performance measure that make up a sustainable company. Thereafter evaluations of which systems have Shell put in to place, followed by a comparison of Shell with one of its competitor’s programs to evaluate how well Shell is in becoming an environmentally friendly and sustainable company. First there will be a discussion of sustainable development, environmental management systems (EMSs) and environmental policy management (EPMs). What is sustainable development? Sustainable development refers to using resources in such a way that fulfill our human needs today as well as save the environment from detrimental

What Were The Causes Of World War One Could The War Have Been Research Paper

What Were The Causes Of World War One Could The War Have Been Prevented Who Was At Fault For The Outbreak Of War - Research Paper Example However, the European continent had experienced less destructive wars such as the Crimean war, the short wars in German as well as the wars that resulted into Turkey withdrawing from the continent. 2The great powers of Europe had avoided any war that emerged for very long time and the outbreak of the World War I was viewed as inevitable. The First World War engaged many nations from Europe including others like the North Americans, The Near East, and Asia. 3Approximately ten million people died as a result of the war in which over sixty five million men fought in the war. It is also estimated that out of the sixty five million men who participated in the war, one out of every eight people were killed by the concomitant disease. 4The aftermath of the First World War resulted into the deaths of more than twice the number of deaths caused by the previous wars. More than fifteen million people were also injured as a result of the war and another eight million soldiers were taken as POWs. 5The war was therefore very destructive and if any participant nation of the world would have known the consequences, they could have not participated in the war but instead could have prevented its occurrence. The immediate cause of the First World War may be stated to be the failure of diplomacy as a result of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. However, there are certain underlining issues that resulted into the outbreak of the war. 6Few leaders in Europe were able to correctly determine the causes of the war in 1914 and therefore its avoidance was difficult. 7Most Neorealists believe that it was a conflict that was beyond the control of the people who participated in it and the people never wanted nor expected it. This is the reason why the events that preceded the five weeks of crisis and the crisis itself could not prevent the war. Generally the war was inevitable due to certain foundation issues and therefore could have not been avoided. Structuralism

Peer response Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 7

Peer response - Article Example In terms of concerns regarding sampling, the plan to obtain a representative sample through securing a list of students in remedial classes is deemed to be an appropriate mode. Soliciting these students’ approval to participate in the study is another issue that needs a good technique. Your suggestion to send email message to these students is an alternative. However, one suggests that you could directly endorse request letters to these students while in their traditional class settings. Of course, you have to request approval from the instructors, as well as from the academic authorities prior to solicitation of approval for participation. Thus, through a quick survey-questionnaire, these same students could respond immediately in the same traditional classroom setting to collect their responses. I believe this suggestion would also eliminate sampling biases since the survey would be conducted to all students taking remedial classes in their traditional classroom

How we determine if a portable air cleaner is effective Research Paper

How we determine if a portable air cleaner is effective - Research Paper Example The use of air purifiers assists to eliminate these components, thus helping to relieve respiratory symptoms. These components are harmful to human health, especially for people who suffer from asthma or allergic to the common allergen particles. Air cleaners eliminate about 98 percent of harmful particles in the air. Portable air cleaners that are slow to remove contaminants in the air are considered as extremely ineffective. The electrostatic precipitators removed ozone which aggravated the asthma attacks. On the other hand, portable air purifiers are perceived to be effective if they eliminate all the harmful air particles to create a high indoor air quality. The paper establishes that a portable air cleaner is effective if the air it cleans does not affect a patient with allergic respiratory diseases to common particle allergens, such as, pollen, dander, dust, and mold. This means that the equipment can ensure good air quality. Indoor air pollution is among the top five environmental health risks. Control of air quality is crucial for various reasons including the control of moisture damage, and to ensure proper health of the occupant. Most people purchase air purifiers in order to ease allergies or asthma. The practice cleaning air using portable devices started in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The World Health Organisation has set out standards of air conditioning to ensure to that indoor air quality is maintained. The air pollutants are mainly classified into four categories including particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and sulphur dioxide. There is evidence that ozone and particulate matter pose health risks to humans. Therefore, humans need to stay away from these compounds. Removing the sources of pollution is more effective in contrast to cleaning the already polluted air. Portable air cleaners are tasked with ensuring that air is free from contaminants. In this

Guanxi and corruption in China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Guanxi and corruption in China - Essay Example In this short essay, I will start out by outlining problems of corruption in contemporary China. Then, I will explore to what extent Guanxi may contribute to what many perceive as a crisis of rampant corruption in the country. China has in the recent past been an object of scathing criticisms from both the local and international players over its apparent tolerance to corruption. Gong (2011) portrays the perception of China by Westerners who associate business culture in China with Guanxi. Regardless of the favour or job one wants in China, all that matters most is the ability to give gifts or bribery. Guanxi illustrates the complex form of corruption where relationship with bigwigs and those in powers motivate most of the decisions. In addition to enhancing business prospects for the corrupt in China, Guanxi has further led to the formations of monopolies pegged on capitalistic endeavours. This practise in fact threatened the survival of China as communist country. To further illustrate the problem of corruption in China, a survey one conducted on 100 people who were prosecuted for bribe-giving. The result indicated that 94.2% of them asserted that â€Å"they would â€Å"warm up the relationship† first before they would bribe with money† (Ling Li 7). Corruption through Guanxi has harmed Chinese image on both the local and international spheres. Illegal businesses that fail to adhere to human rights have been allowed to operate without legal charges. Also, the level of property rights violations and manufacture of counterfeit products without concomitant legal actions has left many questioning the willingness of China to fight corruption (Zhang). The Chinese judicial system is one of the areas significantly affected by cases corruption. â€Å"Guanxi† is evidently a factor into a judicial or arbitral decision. However, worth noting is the fact that this corruption does not necessarily assume the traditional form of bribe,

Reasons behind Britains decision to participate in World War I Essay

Reasons behind Britains decision to participate in World War I - Essay Example The news was a surprise because until then Britain had aptly deployed a diplomatic foreign policy, and had substantially refrained from wars and European predicaments (Turner, 1988, p.23). Britain was referred to as the possessor of â€Å"Splendid Isolation,† and, until 1900, it was not a part of any significant military convention with any other states (Woodward, 1967, p.3). The factors that provoked Britain to enter this war has been debated a lot lately and no single factor can be termed as the sole reason behind Britain’s decision to enter the war. This paper is an attempt to unveil those salient factors that pushed Britain to join the Great War. German connection: In early 1500s, Europe entered a modernized era, and nations developed a strategy of "Balance of powers" (Orakhelashvili, 2011, p.123). It was done to eradicate or prevent the evolution of any single state as supremely powerful. However, this equilibrium was drastically shaken due to the occurring of seve ral historically influencing incidents. These include the 16th century Hapsburg Crisis, which resulted in Thirty Years’ War that greatly affected Europe from Hungary to Spain and later broke Hapsburg Monarchy in smaller kingdoms (Kann, 1980, p.45). The period of 1792 to 1815 saw France became a domineering empire on the continent during the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte. The German Crisis further deteriorated the situation and let Germany gain assertive control all over the Europe, which nullified the strategy of Balance of Powers. Hence, as an outcome of this unsettling scenario, two regions substantially gained the status of separate unified powers namely Germany and Italy. Kaiser Wilhelm II transformed Germany into an aggressive state, and ignored the long followed foreign policy of a status quo. (Wintle, 2002, p.55) Germany wanted to become as strong at sea as Britain, and hence, instead of renewing its treaty with Russia, Germany collaborated with Austria. The fear of Berl in’s resentment compelled Russia and France, two significant neighbouring states located on eastern and western sides of Germany, to come together for an alliance. Thus, the power in Europe was divided into two influential groups Central and Entente, and each group shared equal military strength. In 1879, Germany and Austria-Hungary collated together under a treaty called the Dual Alliance and Italy joined in early 1900s, which converted it into Triple Alliance whereas France and Russia collated and formed Dual Entente in 1892 (Wintle, 2002, p.55). In the last decade of 19th century, Germany started to build its navy, which posed great threat to the world’s most influential and powerful maritime state, I-e Britain. Germany’s naval in-charge Admiral Von Tirpitz formulated a new policy in 1897 targeting Britain’s naval powers and decided to outnumber them on Home Waters by building High-Seas Fleet. The Austrian Ambassador in Berlin wrote: Germany’s a lready swiftly growing position as a world power into a dominating one. England is now regarded as the most dangerous enemy which, as long as Germany is not sufficiently armed at sea, must be treated with consideration in all ways (cited in: Afflerbach & Stevenson, 2012, p.116). Before the onset of 20th century, Britain and Germany shared friendly ties. However, this transformation of policy clearly projected the intentions of Germans and by 1907, British government realised that the most potential threat posed to its stability, and supremacy was from Germany. Hence, Britain had no other choice but to collaborate with rival nations Russia and France and the mutual alliance became Triple Entente. (Afflerbach & Steve

Guanxi and corruption in China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Guanxi and corruption in China - Essay Example In this short essay, I will start out by outlining problems of corruption in contemporary China. Then, I will explore to what extent Guanxi may contribute to what many perceive as a crisis of rampant corruption in the country. China has in the recent past been an object of scathing criticisms from both the local and international players over its apparent tolerance to corruption. Gong (2011) portrays the perception of China by Westerners who associate business culture in China with Guanxi. Regardless of the favour or job one wants in China, all that matters most is the ability to give gifts or bribery. Guanxi illustrates the complex form of corruption where relationship with bigwigs and those in powers motivate most of the decisions. In addition to enhancing business prospects for the corrupt in China, Guanxi has further led to the formations of monopolies pegged on capitalistic endeavours. This practise in fact threatened the survival of China as communist country. To further illustrate the problem of corruption in China, a survey one conducted on 100 people who were prosecuted for bribe-giving. The result indicated that 94.2% of them asserted that â€Å"they would â€Å"warm up the relationship† first before they would bribe with money† (Ling Li 7). Corruption through Guanxi has harmed Chinese image on both the local and international spheres. Illegal businesses that fail to adhere to human rights have been allowed to operate without legal charges. Also, the level of property rights violations and manufacture of counterfeit products without concomitant legal actions has left many questioning the willingness of China to fight corruption (Zhang). The Chinese judicial system is one of the areas significantly affected by cases corruption. â€Å"Guanxi† is evidently a factor into a judicial or arbitral decision. However, worth noting is the fact that this corruption does not necessarily assume the traditional form of bribe,

Audustine's Confessions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Audustine's Confessions - Essay Example The traditional understanding of free-will asserts that Adam and Eve were born of Godly nature, but because of illicit impulses or greed were torn away from this goodness and thrown into sin. The resultant occurrence is that all of humanity is then born into sin and requires God’s grace for their freedom. Furthermore, Augustine makes the point that original sin is not only embodied in wayward reason and impulses, but in the very physicality of man. This is, after Adam and Eve committed their act of original sin they had to wear clothing, because their actual pure physicality was an extension of the sin. This concept indicates that man is a physical extension of the depravity of existence. That even as depraved reasoning is an essential characteristic of humanity leading them towards sin, and even as Augustine allows for the concept of the freedom of the will, man is ultimately damned because his physicality is even embedded as a sinful act. This essay considers Augustines conc ept of original sin, arguing that his philosophical construct is misguided as it gives too much credence to deterministic thinking, ignores that wrongdoing is often the result of external circumstances, and doesnt acknowledge the amount of altruism that exists in the world. If all actions are predestined, as Augustine believes they are, then the idea of free will seems impossible, and ascribing responsibility to persons who cannot make their own choices seems wrong. However, to some extent it seems that Augustine’s philosophy demonstrates a hard to define confluence between pre-destination and free-will that have led some scholars to argue that there are actually two different Augustinian philosophies, themselves mutually contradictory (Rist 1972). Adequate research into Augustine demonstrates that these concepts are not necessarily mutually exclusive, as Augustine’s understanding reveals subtle characterizations that bind their philosophic elements in hybrid

The premier food

The premier food EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report aims to critically appraise various internal and external factors which contributed to the success of Premier Foods grocery division restructuring programme. Examples of effective change management disciplines are integrated throughout the project to achieve a successful business strategy. Although, no matter how effective and efficient you plan for change, risks are inevitable. The report aims to identify the key risks associated with the restructuring plan and identify the possible effects on human, physical and cultural resources. In the latter stages, the report will come to a close, highlighting the main points which the author believes has had an influence on the entire grocery divisions restructuring process. ORGANISATIONAL OVERVIEW Premier Foods has been established as the UKs leading food manufacturer, specialising in many known consumer brands such as OXO, Quorn, Hovis, Batchelors and Branston Pickle. Its estimated that 99.4% of the UK population buy at least one Premier Food product each year and a total of 43 million people, eat a leading brand food product every two weeks. Therefore, current turnover is estimated at  £2.6 billion and the company currently employs 17,000 people at 60 manufacturing sites around the United Kingdom and Ireland. Although, these figures would have been unrealistic without Premier Foods  £460 million acquisition of Campbells UK and Irish market share in August 2006. In March 2007, Premier Foods also captured RHMs market share for  £1.2 billion and therefore, turnover figures increased dramatically from  £760 million to the current turnover figure of  £2.6 billion. In 2008, Premier foods had successfully undertaken a comprehensive restructuring programme, which was deemed extremely complex in the UK. The aim was to radically transform the Grocery Division, which would drive the business through lower costs and higher technical standards. Premier Foods wished to implement the following key changes: The eradication of eight manufacturing sites between September 2007 and December 2008. Five core sites would increase the number of consumer brands manufactured. Capability and capacity are critical. The transfer of more than 1500 consumer brands and 2000 materials (136,700 tonnes). Capital Investment of  £47 million, of which  £19 million would need to be delivered in savings. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PLAN REASONS BEHIND THE CHANGES External Market Pressures The United Kingdom has one of the fastest growing food and drink markets in the world (UK Trade Investment Services, 2009). The food and drink sector alone generates sales estimated at  £70 billion and significant growth areas lie in value added products i.e. ready meals or Non-European recipes. Recent studies had estimated the UKs organic sector at  £1.2 billion a year and the chilled food market a staggering  £7 billion. Therefore this accounts for almost 60% of the overall European chilled food market. However, in the East Midlands, food manufacturing is rapidly expanding. 15.1% of the UKs food produce is manufactured here and over the forthcoming years, this figure is expected to increase by 40%. Food companies such as NOM, an Austrian Diary Producer, have taken decisions with the help of the UK government (Trade and Investment) to expand into the UKs rapidly expanding food markets. Therefore, it was imperative that Premier Foods assess the external market and plan for radical change. Premier foods understood that the UK food market is highly competitive, demanding consistent product quality and reliable supply whilst seeking more competitive pricing and innovative new products (Premier Foods, 2010). The company had a policy to, generate economies of scale to reduce production costs in order to support promotional activity, investment in building brand awareness with the consumer and new product development (Premier Foods, 2010). Over the years, Premier Foods had marginalised its market position through organic and inorganic growth. Through this initiative, the company has strengthened its competitive position by undertaking various initiatives in order to boost efficiencies and minimize costs (Just-Food, 2010). During 2009, Premier Foods excelled it strategy of developing growing branded sales and expanding gross margin through the benefits of consumer scales and insights. The company recognised the need to continually develop this through 2010. In this period, the company wishes to deliver efficiency savings over and above the synergies already delivered in 2009. The benefit strategies of 2009 were particularly absorbed by inflation (Input Costs) and by tougher consumer and trading environments. Therefore, this allowed promotional costs to rise and the company are to remain cautious in the 2010 shortfall. Nevertheless, the company has the desire to challenge market growth rates and developed the strategy of identifying particular categories and brands they can push most. This new strategy splits consumer brands into, Drive, Core and Defend. Premier Foods represent Drive categories as the consumer brands which will inherit the most market investment i.e. Hartleys, Quorn, Ambrosia etc. However, Premier Foods agree that cooking sauces / accompaniments, desserts and cakes would have immediate success rates within the consumer market. A company statement had concluded that although the cake category was in decline over recent years, lunchbox, ready-to-eat sweet snacks or treats are proving extremely popular. In theory, taking advantage of this opportunity would eventually start a trend, where Premier Foods would target other popular categories. In other words there is ample room for additional market growth. Bearing this in mind, the company is still confident in delivering a three year market strategy in demonstrating the company is moving in the right direction, ability to make profits and increases in the UK / Ireland market share. Internal Pressures Organisational Reform By successfully developing an external market strategy plan, Premier Foods needed to radically transform the entire business, which would be a rationale for its success. The first phase was to conduct a review of all the manufacturing sites to identify their capabilities, infrastructure and skill base. This activity was conducted in the first three weeks by a small group of senior management. The site review allowed senior management to develop viable options and allowed the initial steps towards a cost benefit analysis. Once satisfied with this, a presentation was developed for the companies board and an agreement was passed to take the initial work to a full business case. A larger team, comprising representatives from each in scope sites, was formed and a clear consensus regarding the optimum option was quickly reached (Wilkinson, 2010). The agreement of the business case, allowed all main stakeholders to be involved within the development. The main intention was to secure a unanimous agreement on the final proposal. Fortunately, agreement was reached within six-weeks of the business case and provided a solid rationale for delivery of the restructuring programme. However, part of the business case recommended the closure of six manufacturing sites in the United Kingdom and two in Ireland. There would be a period of twenty-one months, in which a mixture of consumer brands would be manufactured over five expanded sites. By now, people including stakeholders, board directors, managers etc knew which consumer brands would move from one manufacturing site to another, the expected costs of the entire restructuring programme, target delivery points and detailing the benefits that would occur across the entire organisation. The output of this work also demonstrated the overall level of benefits that could be achieved and provided a baseline for delivering the programme (Wilkinson, 2010). Therefore, market strategy developments, extensive cost cutting exercises, combined with effective efficiency strategies developed a recipe for success. BUSINESS STRATEGY PLAN Rationale In July 2003, Premier Foods were initially floated on the London Stock Exchange with a business strategy of: Development within consumer focused brands. Development through effective consumer relations. Cost Reduction strategies and business simplification. Parallel to this, there was spotlight within the UK and the desire to acquire Great British brands. The integration of these, would rapidly contribute to further strategies based on scale. However, the main aim was to expand company competitiveness with other British food manufacturers, whilst still improving company returns to the shareholders. Premier Foods anticipated that corporate responsibility is a strategic priority that should be parallel to the overall business objectives. The company ensured that responsible business practice should be a fundamental operation of the business and place in the core of the corporate responsibility strategy of, doing the right thing. Premier Foods adopted a business strategy which analyses current issues and attitudes. This allows the company to anticipate any trends which could hamper the business. This business strategy has been untouched and still currently forms the central core of the companies aspirations. Due to the rapid growth of the company, the individuals and the manufacturing sites involved in the restructuring programme had very different cultures and people who came from different work backgrounds. Therefore, there was different levels of understanding in both project and programme management processes. Although, to implement an effective restructuring process, an effective change management strategy had to come into operation and to get an overview; there are five key principles that are extremely important: (Briggs, M., 1995) Individuals tend to react differently to change. Everyone has a desired need, which should be met. Change tends to involve a loss or reduction in something. Realistic targets and expectations. Fears need to be dealt with. Bearing this in mind, Premier Foods had to be open and honest about the entire restructuring strategy. The company were open and not too overoptimistic in theory. In other words, the company set realistic targets and deliverance dates. Project Management Strategy To improve how the company manages large or small scale projects, Premier Foods embarked on integrating a new project management process. Currently, there were various project management systems integrated across the entire organisation and the proposal was to have one standard system based upon Prince2. Prompt, would be the system which Premier Foods integrated across the entire organisation and benefits in Prompt allowed Premier Foods to manage and initiate projects in each work stream. Work stream managers were responsible for this and would manage project teams, to complete any work as necessary. Resource Management Strategy To increase flexibility and reduce project delivery risk, interdependencies between specific work streams and projects were minimised. Time scales and achieving key delivery dates were crucial in this process. However, to support this, Premier foods ensured a structured organisational programme was in place and at the same time, avoided the utilisation of common resources. On the other hand, the company sourced resources at the work stream level, through process of common procurement approach. This allowed work streams to progress at a constant level, whilst having the ability to maintain an overview of contract resource usage and ability to view potential competing priorities at an early stage. Environmental Strategy Due to recent European legislations in place, there are pressures within industry to curb the amount of carbon dioxide produced in the manufacturing of consumer goods. Premier Foods is committed to supporting the UK Governments position on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol (Premier Foods, 2010). The company has a Five Star Environmental Award Scheme in structure, which was rolled out to all manufacturing sites in 2009. The scheme is a benchmark ensuring energy usage, waste, water usage and carbon dioxide emissions are carefully monitored (Wilkinson, 2010). Scheduling Milestone Management Strategies The original business case recommended a tight delivery timescale and was substantially dictated by the seasonality of transferring food categories. In other words, the transferring of a food line had a set delivery date. If the opportunity was missed then the company would have to wait to the next available opportunity i.e. desserts are more popular in the winter and therefore move production to the summer. At different intervals during the project, there was the requirement to assess the restructuring programmes ability to deliver within the target timescales. Whilst towards completion of the programme, various groups of people needed to be coordinated around specific milestone dates. Therefore, Premier foods had to ensure a sufficient scheduling and milestone management programme was in operation. Programme Assurance, Change Control and Scope Management Strategies The scope of the restructuring programme was controlled within overall programme approvals through the formal initiation of projects and associated funding in each work stream (Wilkinson, 2010). Each element within the restructuring programme had strict parameters to adhere too and were closely monitored i.e. funding and timescale delivery. However, if parameter changes were necessary, agreement would have to be obtained through steering committees, by the change control process. Information Communication Strategies Due to a large number of individuals being involved in the restructuring programme, an effective communication strategy was implemented to ensure information was circulated both internally and externally. Therefore, to ensure employees fully understand the strategic approach, Corporate Responsibility Road shows, were presented at all manufacturing sites to Senior Management teams. This ensured that they were aware of the long term sustainability goals and could effectively brief all employees about the planned changes in the company i.e. maintain involvement and commitment to employees whose job role were becoming redundant. Regular meetings with key external stakeholders ensured that the company advised them on any major changes, ensured the company was on the front foot and most importantly, minimised any potential damage to corporate reputation from any foreseeable redundancies (Wilkinson, 2010). Moving food production from one manufacturing site to another, impacts both the suppliers and customers. Therefore, both had to understand the changes which were being devised and reassured that supplies in a particular food category were managed effectively i.e. there was sufficient stock in the warehouses, while the transfer of a particular food line was being made. Quality Management Strategy Quality Consumer Brands Although moving manufacturing lines from one site another is relatively a straightforward process, ensuring the quality of the produce is critical. The company initiated a quality protocol which ensured that an individual product would move to a new location, meeting all necessary standards. Therefore, ensuring you protected the consumer experience was fundamental to the programme. This operation was strictly controlled and managed centrally. This ensures that the steering committee could monitor the quality control process and highlight any problem areas. Quality Control Premier Foods technical and commercial teams ensured that resources were utilised where required. Food tasting panels were utilised to ensured product matching and consumer testing in more severe cases. This ensured that the companies acquisitions of additional food brands were protected from other manufacturers. Efficient Supply Chain Management Peer review stage gate processes were introduced to ensure decisions were made appropriately. Individual project managers would check a list of criteria leading up to a Go / No Go decision. Review teams were constituted from all areas of business, ensuring there specialist area was implemented to high standards. Supply change management and independent business activities were amalgamated into one process, to ensure risks to the business and customer service levels were understood and managed appropriately. Issue Management Strategy Dealing effectively and efficiently with issues was seen as a competitive advantage for whole organisation. Individuals could identify any issues, at any point with the restructuring programme. Once identified, the responsible manager or line manager would deal with the issue. If required, an issue could be escalated to high level through steering committees for example. Alignments between, operational business, programme delivery and benefit achievement, demonstrated clear ownership and responsibility of the programme (Wilkinson, 2010). Therefore, issue management procedures could be reduced, as the result of effective communication forums and clear governance routes (Wilkinson, 2010). Therefore, the delivery of the restructuring programme within, target timescales, benefits and customer service constraints demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach (Wilkinson, 2010). Health and Safety Strategy Premier Foods, employed 16,000 employees across 60 manufacturing sites and they recognise that our employees are our single most valuable asset and we strive to be an employer of choice in areas which we operate (Premier Foods, 2010). Health and safety was a critical aspect in the programme, ensuring a safer manufacturing environment and safety improvements within plant and machinery. Strict guidelines were put in place and key initiatives were presented to line managers in workshops to ensure that risk assessment and risk management initiatives were enforced throughout the company. Value Engineering Approach The value engineering approach was utilised throughout project delivery dates, operational design and high safety food standards. By scrutinising the entire project build i.e. capital costs, then positive decisions could be made. Likewise, a change control mechanism was in place to acquire a cycle of positive feedback. Therefore, changes could be made prior to management decisions. Feedback from the value engineering approach was shared across the entire restructuring programme, in the ability to deliver efficiencies i.e. value for money. PROJECT RISKS Human Physical Impacts As quoted by the Boston Consulting Group (2010), Premier Foods restructuring strategy was one of the largest and most complex restructuring of food manufacturing in the UK. Risks are inevitable with a restructuring strategy the size of Premier Foods and precautions need to be put in place to counteract any eventualities. To begin, risks begin with the agreement of all the key stakeholders within the company. If by any means the stakeholders were unable to come to a unanimous decision, then the entire restructuring process could be in jeopardy. The key to its success would be to present an excellent business case, identifying the key drivers and reasons behind the change. Whenever there are redundancies, it can be a devastating blow to the surrounding area, local economy and families. It may happen because a work place is closing down or because few employees are needed for work of a particular kind (Holland, et al, 2008). In this instance, part of Premier Foods restructuring programme involved closing eight manufacturing sites and distributing current food categories over five existing sites. Senior Management closed a site based upon a number of factors i.e. site throughput. The aim was to improve productivity, lower costs and increase profits. Nevertheless, redundancies were inevitable at this point and the key was to maintain the companies reputation to avoid scrutiny. A reputation of a company is its important and valuable asset. A positive one may bring many benefits to a company, when a negative one may significantly harm it (Westcott, 2005). Although it was a devastating blow, the company would have to ensure all employees were treated in the best possible interests. Fortunately, the company offered generous redundancy packages and liaised with the local councils to ensure all redundant employees would have help getting back into employment. Once the workforce has been restructured, logistics and the redistribution of resources are crucial. The overall business challenge was to redistribute; 1500 products, 2000 materials, build new facilities, transfer 51 manufacturing lines, put a 2.5 million pallet stock build in place to maintain customer supply and complete 1800 line trial activities (Premier Foods, 2010). Besides this, the company needed to maintain both the company image and the customer service performance of a demanding business. Keeping the consumer supplied was at foremost importance, as there was the possibility of loosing contracts with some of Britains major brand stockists i.e. Tesco, ASDA, Sainsburys. As well as ensuring the survival of major cultural brands that have been produce for generations i.e. Hovis. Likewise, due to the rapid growth of the company, individuals and manufacturing sites that were affected by the restructuring programme had very different cultures. Cultural Impacts Culture, is seen as a pattern of beliefs and expectation that are shared by an organisations members (Schwartz, et al, 1981). These factors tend to produce norms which, powerfully shape the behaviour of individuals and groups in the organisation (Schwartz, et al, 1981). Culture, intends to concentrate upon the nature of these expectations. Taking Premier Foods into context, the individuals involved have been told various incentives which are behind the grocery divisions restructuring process. Therefore, the company have the responsibility to deliver their business strategy and individuals are right to dispute whether company expectations are being met i.e. Do they promise what they wish to deliver in the short-term and long term future? There is the risk that Premier Foods simply do not deliver and again, elements including corporate image could be affected. Likewise, the individual and manufacturing sites involved, originated from different work backgrounds. There were different levels of understanding in both project and programme management processes. Although, its good when an organisation is built around people who have different ethics i.e. the ability to share ideas to improve an organisations structure, the problem is getting everyone to agree upon a particular thing and ensuring people work upon a standard level. The key is to ensure everyone has good understanding of both principles, to ensure the restructuring programme is at minimum risk as possible. If not, then conflicts can arise (behavioural factors) and the restructuring programme could have major issues. Generally, it doesnt work if one individual has a strong understanding in one area and a weak understanding in another. Other Potential Risks The organisational restructuring programme was also surrounded by other critical integration projects, which were being implemented at the same time. Some of these included the integration of key administrative functions i.e. Human Resources and Finance. In the marketplace, the company itself faced soaring food cost inflations, as well as the impact of a major economic recession. Human and physical resources were thinly spread and significantly challenged during this tense period. In other words, it was either make or break time and fortunately, the gamble succeeded in the end. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Summary On a generic scale, the implementation of the entire restructuring programme was a complete success, taking the size and complexity of the programme into consideration. From research, the author identified the main critical elements for change. To begin, the author believes that Premier Foods wishes to be the leading competitor in the UK food market, to compete with other competitors. Once this is established, there maybe future business development plans to expand and compete with the European Food Market or on an International Scale. However, current infrastructure could not cope with future expansion and therefore, major internal reform was needed to improve the quality of food produced, the quantity of food produced and overall manufacturing costs. Although there were harsh reforms in the workforce for example, this allowed the company to focus on long-term developments and improve profits. In the short-term, this allows major shareholders to gain a healthy return in investments and can continue to provide investments for the future. Recommendations Taking the following into contention, no major improvements are needed. The Premier Foods restructuring programme demonstrates high professionalism, within a large strategic scale. All project delivery points were delivered on time and within budget. Although, a possible thought to consider is cultural differences. Current levels of project and programme management were at different levels between individuals and the manufacturing sites involved. Offering solutions that allow everyone to have the same level of knowledge may be advantageous. Nevertheless, its good when people have different ranges of knowledge and experience. This allows people to express their own interpretations, leading to new ideas. REFERENCES Boston Consulting Group (2010) Premier Foods. Available at: http://www.bcg.com/2010. 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