Coach case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Coach case - Essay Example This model focused on providing indirect sales to other third parties thus increasing the number of sales of products and thus increasing its brand awareness in the market. These two strategies enabled Coach Company to attain its two primary strategic objectives which were to increase the global distribution of its products and to also improve the store sales productivity. Therefore, through these two strategies, the company has been able to attain competitive advantage over its major rivals, however, it was not certain whether the firm could match some of its prime rivals such as Dolce and Gabbana, and Versace. Coach Company has the principal strength of adequately competing with its competitors on its highly unique and superior luxury goods. Besides the company’s products has an innovative styling that has played a huge role in attracting new customers. Comparatively, Coach Company products are available at major outlets and sold at price less than 50% or more than its chief competitors in the luxury industry. In addition, the company has delivered extra services to the customers such as customer care to cater for their queries whenever they occur. As a result, the company has experienced increased customer satisfaction and loyalty from its customers. Equally important, Coach engaged in strategic associations with other major company such as Movado thereby broadening their market segment. This concept of outsourcing has not only enabled them to cut their maintenance costs but to lower their manufacturing costs as well. This has therefore increased their competitive advantages in the luxury industry. The companies has also various internal weaknesses which should be managed appropriately. For instance, the luxury industry is characterized by rampant change in the fashion trends. This has thus led the factory outlet stores to outperform the retail price stores. Therefore, the company’s products and brand are diluted due to the

International terrorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

International terrorism - Essay Example There is no simple reason why the people choose to join a jihad movement. According to Venhaus (2010), Al-Qaeda preys on the potential recruit’s self-definition dilemma to turn them into violent individuals. Nevertheless, the motivation to join the group is always specific to that individual since each one has to have something he seeks to fulfill in life. There are those that seek revenge and believe that jihad is a way out for their frustrations in life. Those that are looking for status enlist into the movement as a means for recognition. There are still some individuals who join Al-Qaeda as a way of searching for their identity. Furthermore, some see enlisting as an adventurous endeavor that can be thrilling to them. These factors added to the hard-line stance of non-compromising ideologies of the terror group (Aaron, 2008) make the reasons youth join jihadist movements a complex one. Venhaus (2010) gives five misconceptions that people have concerning Al-Qaeda recruits, the first mistaken belief that Venhaus dispels is that the recruits are crazy. The author argues that such recruits are in control of their mental faculties although anyone who is not familiar with the workings of such movements would think otherwise. This school of thought concurs with Sageman (2008) assertion that persons with antisocial disorders cannot to be relied on and are prone to compromising the security of an underground group like al-Qaeda. Such individual cannot be tolerated in the organization and are throw out or some choose to leave on their own violation when they realize that the spirit of suicide terrorism is a readiness one has to have to give up for the greater good. Further, hardship it takes to trace information and training added to the organizational demand for secrecy as applied to its vetting would not accommodate a member with unstable mind. In her article, Curcios (2005) notes actual reasons the recruits

The Impacts Of The El Nino Environmental Sciences Essay

The Impacts Of The El Nino Environmental Sciences Essay Biodiversity refers to the sum of all life and its habitat. Biodiversity is the variety of life and the ecological systems which individuals are actively participating in. Biodiversity is important for maintaining ecological balance in nature. Some benefits of biodiversity include: human benefits, food, industrial and commercial products, medicines etc. Biodiversity hotspot refers to a bio-geographic region that is both a significant reservoir of biodiversity and is threatened with destruction. Philippines, one of the worlds richest biodiversity in the world but also one of the most endangered areas in the world. The country contains many endemic species. 6000 plants and animals reside in forests that occupy barely 7% of the original hotspot. Today, the forests are removed for farming and development plans for the countrys growing population. The major issue is the decline of biodiversity hotspots in the Philippines  [1]  . By examining the environmental impacts, human impacts, p olitical impacts and the conservation strategies needed to maintain biodiversity hotspots in the Philippines, this research paper will aim to develop awareness and understanding of how the decline of biodiversity hotspots may be resolved. Human Impacts Philippines population of 80 million people survive using the countrys natural resources. With a high population growth rate, the demand for timber has increased. Logging activities have declined due to the deterioration of the forests; however, illegal logging activities are still present. Other threats to the countrys forests include mining and land conversion. In 1997, the mining industry occupied more than half of the remaining forests. Roads, waste, power, energy, ports and harbours are current issues to be addressed.  [2]   There have been negative impacts upon introducing the following exotic species to Philippines: fish such as the giant catfish and black bass; toads and frogs including the marine toad, the American bullfrog and leopard frog; and aquatic plants like the water hyacinth and water fern. The presence of exotic species becomes a threat to native biodiversity; predator-prey interactions are more competitive, loss of species integrity through inter-breeding with exotic species, the spread of disease pathogens along with introduced species and habitat loss for native species.  [3]   Only 10% of the sewage in the Philippines is treated in an environmentally friendly manner. With the population rising, there are problems associated with waste management and treatment. The improper waste management affects the countrys ground water, rivers, lakes and coastal areas where the species habitats are threatened.  [4]   Over fishing occurs when the fish are caught faster than they could reproduce. Overfishing increases the vulnerability of ocean ecosystems and may contribute to the loss of species in the region. The main issue in the Philippines involves cyanide fishing where fishermen squirt cyanide into coral holes and crevices, where reef fish seek shelter  [5]  . Other causes of over fishing include catching adult fish too early and in large numbers so the reproduction is impaired. Economic overfishing also occurs when increase in the fish effort lead to profit levels that are below the desired consumption. Environmental Impacts The impact of El Nià ±o affects Philippines biodiversity hotspots. The countrys weather officials define El Nià ±o as a meteorological event that develops in the Pacific Ocean and associated with extreme rains, winds, droughts, etc  [6]  . In the Philippines, El Nià ±o has been seen as drought events. El Nià ±o is also the sudden rise of oceanic temperature and evaporation of surface water; therefore having an effect on coral growth and sea life. Algae living inside the tissues of coral help their feeding mechanism and other processes for survival. The distress to the sudden change of temperature causes the coral to bleach. Fish no longer live inside the coral because the coral is uneatable. The drought creates dry conditions for fish ponds. The drought also creates a negative impact on marine biodiversity by shorter fish production, inhibit fish growth and increase fish mortality due to stress, poor water quality and disease. Philippines primary forests are being destroyed due to logging and agricultural expansion; therefore, decreasing the countrys natural resources. Two particular species of animals are becoming extinct; the tamaraw (the wild buffalo) and the Philippines eagle because their habitats are becoming damaged. Deforestation in the Philippines occurs because of agricultural expansion and illegal logging  [7]  . Forests provide cooling insulation to the climate but with deforestation, the climate shifts from drought into flood. The tamaraw (wild buffalo) escapes into the forest to find limited trees to cling onto. Deforestation causes species to be displaced from their original habitats and loss of top soil causing erosions affecting the habitat for endemic species. Looking back at the farming industrys use of pesticides, erosions may carry the pesticides into the rivers and streams. The water is now contaminated with pesticides affecting the endemic species which live in this habitat. The destruction of costal mangroves is also caused by deforestation. Mangroves are needed to protect the coast from hurricanes and other severe weather impacts. Cutting mangroves for fuel wood limits and degrades coral reproduction. Any endemic species living under the water are affected by losing their habitat causing a negative impact on biodiversity hotspots. Political Impacts Inadequate institutional control and poor law enforcement in the Philippines have impacted the biodiversity hotspot for endemic species. The Fisheries Code was passed in 1998 and now serves as the primary legislation for fisheries and coastal management and protection in the Philippines. The Fisheries Code fails to recognize who may access and control municipal waters for fishing activities. The Fisheries Code is a weak enforcement system which encourages poaching and violation of marine protected area boundaries. Other problems include current property rights, and local power relations to enable local public officials who own or have indirect business with the fishing industry may influence local policy and enforcement outcomes for their personal gain. Political influence enables many to obtain profitable forest profits, enhancing their political power and strengthening their ability to corrupt government officials. This class dominates the farmers and social economic policies with the results of harming the biodiversity hot spots for endemic species. The legislated operational guidelines are often under addressed on the issues that threat environmental events such as lost of biodiversity. The Forestry law of PD705 is out dated because the law does not contain new methods and approaches like biodiversity protection.  [8]   Conservation Plans The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has been working as an international organization in the Philippines since 1997. The organizations mission in the country involves preserving endemic species and biodiversity, maintaining sustainability of natural resources and reducing waste and pollutants in the environment. The organization places strong emphasis on marine biodiversity. WWF-Philippines implanted their plans in 11 provinces and at minimum 28 towns.  [9]   To ensure that the network of protected regions is effectively conserving biodiversity by the conservation of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) where endemic or threatened species are held in restricted areas. In the Philippines hotspot, Conservation International-Philippines created a partnership with the Field Museum in Chicago, Haribon Foundation and other local partners to identify and distinguish KBAs throughout the Philippines. With protected regions, there is also a need for field research in order to support conservation activities. Endemic species continue to be discovered and KBAs are needed to create a plan for their survival.  [10]   In the long term, landscape and sea conservation is necessary to protect the biodiversity hotspots in the Philippines. The Philippine Eagle Alliance has collaborated with other conservation organizations in order to protect the endemic species of the country. Conclusion In recent years, there has been a decline in biodiversity hotspots, particularly in the Philippines. Firstly, human impacts upon endemic species include deforestation, illegal logging, introducing new exotic species, poor sewage management and over fishing. Secondly, environmental impacts such as El Nià ±o, soil erosion, pesticides and destruction of coastal mangroves all affect biodiversity hotspots. Lastly, political impacts include inadequate law enforcement; especially for the fisheries and coastal management, and forestation guidelines are not influential in the protection of biodiversity hotspots in the Philippines. The impacts develop awareness of the collaboration efforts from WWF, Conservation International-Philippines, the Philippine Eagle Alliance and other conservation organizations which minimize the harm to biodiversity hotspots in the Philippines.

Communist Manifesto Essay examples -- Literary Analysis, Karl Marx

Karl Marx in his â€Å"Communist Manifesto† states that the wage gap will eventually result in revolutions of working class across the world, and consequently difference in classes will be vanished. Whereas, Robert Reich in â€Å"Why the Rich are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer† argues that American strategy of economic development, which is based on expansion of the production, will lead to collapse of American economy. Though, the poor people will suffer of various deprivations, wealthy people will be putted into even more unenviable situation in both cases. Moreover, scenario given by Marx in his work proposes the worst position for the rich people than Reich describes. First of all, the equal situations illustrated by both authors are result of over-extension of the market. This is due to the fact that trading relations is no longer bounded by national borders and corporations are selling their products not only in the specific region, but on the every part of the globe, in order to get more profit. Such profit-seeking concept of producers also forced them to make production process as cheap as possible. For example, high-volume production was moved from developed to developing countries with cheap labor force (Reich, p. 5), also as the production becomes automated to exclude the costs due to worker’s salary (Marx, p.44, Reich p.17). According to Reich, policy of American national companies, which is to expand distribution market, will eventually trigger slow but constant economical degradation. â€Å"And as the American corporation sold its goods and services all over the world, the purchasing power of American workers became far less relevant to its economic survival† (Reich, p.43). As the result of this, all classes in America wi... ...ening wage gap. Reich states that economic crisis in America will result in lost wealth of the rich people, but that issue will affect only well-off people in America, consequently they can either immigrate to different country before he gets poor or invest in overseas companies. On the other hand from Marx’s point of view wealthy people will literally get destroyed by proletarians due to three reasons. Firstly, the proletarian revolution will be worldwide, so the rich people won’t have a place to run to, everywhere will be the same equal society. Secondly, proletarian revolution is inevitable therefore rich man can’t stop the Specter of Communism. Finally, if the former rich man will rise against communism he will be punished. Thus, in Marx’s scenario of sinking of wealthy people they are doomed, as there is no way for them to avoid that state of affairs.

Institutions and Securities Essay

Hiring the precise applicant is always a challenge. After you have examination the resumes and applications and done the entire preface base, you narrow your hunt and choose who will be interviewed for a particular position. A review of the literature from the past ten years shows a fairly consistent pattern of concerns and issues about staffing. Articles on staff evaluation, staff participation in planning, and staffing patterns frequently occur, however, the vast majority of such articles focus on larger urban libraries. In articles devoted to rural library staff, most writers point to concerns and problems which can be traced almost always to staff education. Marketing, services to special populations, technology, and recruitment all can be crystallized under the heading of â€Å"educational needs. † How to effectively incorporate the time of volunteers, day care for staff children, and benefits package selection have all been discussed, but education, sometimes referred to as training, is the single most common thread which may be found in the literature treating rural library staffing. Your business depends on people. People make your goods and serve your most important asset: clients. To grow, your industry needs a constant base of people. But hiring the exact people is risky—and tough! You need a partner who can employ, screen and hire for you. For the first part of creating the good talented and performance staff team every company need to choose and developed human strategy. HRProfessional Magazine presents its â€Å"Multi-Level HRM Strategy Key to Flexible Staffing Success† (October/November 2001) by Mary Ann Lesperance, CHRP. The article deals with the main HR principles such as â€Å"flexible firm†. The â€Å"flexible firm† model suggests that we can design our workforces to proactively meet our business needs through flexible staffing arrangements. – state article. The meaning and the main goal of benchmarking we could recognize from thesis â€Å"Seven Steps to Effective Competitor Benchmarking† written by Arik R. Johnson is Managing Director of the Competitive Intelligence (CI) support bureau and consultancy Aurora WDC. â€Å"When it comes to Competitive Intelligence, there are a few simple tools that can provide for sophisticated comparisons of business functions between organizations that can help firms â€Å"benchmark† the constituent processes of the company with direct or indirect competitors, allowing a company to gain the upper hand in a marketplace. But, what is the process for setting the metrics, methodologies, milestones and comparisons which might be used to measure the success of a CI/benchmarking function, or the success of a Strategic Planning department as a whole? † Dina Berta in her article â€Å"Mark Clark: a newcomer to Highlands Ranch, Colo. , but an old hand at sales and staffing success – Red Robin Gourmet Burgers† told about Celia Morden. She has been a server at the Red Robin Gourmet Burgers in Highlands Ranch, Colo. , for only six months, but the restaurant, she says, is vastly different from any other restaurant she has worked at in the past 12 years. The focus is not on what employees do wrong but on what they do right, she says, giving general manager Mark Clark the credit for the way the restaurant is run. â€Å"This is the best management staff I’ve ever worked for; they really care about you,† says Morden, while clearing a table during a recent lunch rush. â€Å"Mark surrounds himself with good people. † When everyone else was hiring more recruiters to deal with staffing shortages, we went in a totally different direction. Who within your organization is responsible for recruitment? The goal is to have a resounding response of â€Å"Everyone! † It is not uncommon to hear the statement: â€Å"We wouldn’t have this staffing problem if only Human Resources would advertise more, etc† While HR is accountable for setting up systems to maximize recruitment, the missed opportunities of an organization relies on the HR department maintaining its staffing for all the organization’s employees– said Nicole Morin-Scribner in her paper â€Å"Staffing! The HR business partner model alternative. Maine in Focus – human resources† HR can run the biggest ad, but most healthcare workers typically pay the most attention to what employees from that organization say about what its like to work there. Study after study demonstrates that business success is dependent on the organization’s people. HR has an ideal opportunity to apply its expertise to help its organization succeed. Proper staffing has, is and will continue to be a major concern for managers around the country. Pundits predict that the problem will continue for at least the next decade and maybe beyond if we don’t do something in the present. You can hardly pick up a newspaper or trade magazine without finding at least one article on staffing. Worked Cite: 1. HAIL, L. AND LEUZ, C. â€Å"International Differences in Cost of Capital: Do Legal Institutions and Securities Regulation Matter? † Working Paper (September 2003): 1-27. 2. HAMADA, R. S. â€Å"The Effect of the Firm’s Capital Structure on the Systematic Risk of Common Stocks. † The Journal of Finance (May 1972): 435-58. 3. HILTON, RONALD W. ; MICHAEL W. MAHER; AND FRANK H. SELTO. Cost Management Strategies for Business Decisions. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. , 2003. 4. PricewaterhouseCoopers â€Å"Financial Management Benchmarking Program Best Practice Findings† 5. Delery, J. E. , and Doty, D. H. (1996) ‘Modes of theorizing in strategic human resource management: Tests of universalistic, contingency, and configurational performance predictions’. Academy of Management Journal 39/4: 802-835.

Glondys Rodriguez Naturalistic Observation Essay

My observation took place in a park where a birthday party was celebrating. I looked at a girl of 6 years old or so. The girl was wearing a pink blouse and white pants. I think she was Hispanic. She was about 40 inch tall and weighed around 30 pounds. I could hear when her mom called her Diana. Physical Development For her age, she had a perfect physical development because I could see how she ran with other girls of the same age. She was jumping the string, and playing hides and seeks, so I could tell that the girl was healthy and had good physical development. Cognitive development (Piaget’s stages) According to Piaget’s stages Diana is in preoperational stage because for example, she played with her friends building a sturdy house of plants’ leaves acting as if it was a princess castle. Also she used branches of the trees as if they were magic wands, so I realized that Diana is in the section of mental representation (Make-believe-play). Another example that I realized was that Diana’s mother offered a juice, and gave her a choice of a bottle or a glass and she chose the bottle allowed more amount than the glass. Emotional and Social Development (Erikson’s stage) According to Erikson’s stages, Diana is in industry versus inferiority because I noticed that she was all the time in cooperation with the other kids. She developed a sense of competence at useful skills and tasks. To support what I say I have an example. She was dancing all the time with the music she liked. She danced with amazing movements. I noticed she had natural skills and ability to dance. The girls competed to see who danced better. That moment was incredible because I enjoyed what was happening, and I realized the competitiveness that exists between girls and boys at this age. To conclude, I can say Diana has a good self-esteem. I don’t think she felt inferiority at any moment. On the other hand, she looked very safe in all the tasks she developed. Does the child meet the milestones and stages for the physical, cognitive, and social/emotional development? Yes, I think this 6 years old girl meets all the milestones and stages for the physical, cognitive, and social/ emotional development. Is there anything unusual or â€Å"off-development† for this child (deficits as well as giftedness)? There was nothing off-development or unusual for this girl, on the contrary, I think she is very intelligent and talented. My thoughts about observation: I think my observation helped me a lot to understand the normal development in middle childhood and to know we should interact, guide, and support them to achieve the best of their abilities. My opinion about what I observed and the application of the theories of development: In my opinion, Piaget’s cognitive development theories and Erikson’s psychological theories are an excellent guide to help us understand the stages in normal growth and development.

Free Essays on The Darkness Of The Congo

The Darkness of the Congo Joseph Conrad’s story, Heart of Darkness is one that deals with many different aspects of nature and man himself. Conrad often associates the nature of man as an offset of Mother Nature. The complex role of the setting, including the jungle, pervasive darkness, and the London frame setting are all examples of man’s innermost fears and joys. In the beginning of the story, the setting is that of a beautiful scene of the London frame. â€Å"In the offing the sea and the sky were welded together without a joint, and in the luminous space the tanned sails of the barges drifting up†¦(Narrator, 185).† It provides a sense of relaxation and space for the mind to dream. After the sun begins to set, and just before Marlow begins to tell his story, the setting becomes to grow darker; dark with the nature of the dark story Marlow will soon prevail. The narrator refers to a â€Å"brooding gloom† to the West just as Marlow (p.187) starts to say, â€Å"And this also, has been one of the dark places on the earth.† So just as you are prepared to hear a story, the setting has changed as if to foreshadow the events to come. Continuously throughout the story, darkness plays a significant role on the setting. I sums up all the evil, fear, and unknown to man simplicities we may or may not face everyday. Also, the darkness is related to the people that were exploited during the expedition by means of racism. The Whites being superior to the Blacks, as they thought. Their inner evil of racism (darkness) was â€Å"justified† by calling the Africans â€Å"criminals, enemies, rebels.† Thus, exploiting the people with a darkness. Darkness seems to be referred to more as Marlow’s story unfolds. He first uses darkness while describing the Roman conquest, as if comparing to his own. â€Å"They were men enough to face the darkness (Marlow, 188),† and, â€Å"†¦It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a grea... Free Essays on The Darkness Of The Congo Free Essays on The Darkness Of The Congo The Darkness of the Congo Joseph Conrad’s story, Heart of Darkness is one that deals with many different aspects of nature and man himself. Conrad often associates the nature of man as an offset of Mother Nature. The complex role of the setting, including the jungle, pervasive darkness, and the London frame setting are all examples of man’s innermost fears and joys. In the beginning of the story, the setting is that of a beautiful scene of the London frame. â€Å"In the offing the sea and the sky were welded together without a joint, and in the luminous space the tanned sails of the barges drifting up†¦(Narrator, 185).† It provides a sense of relaxation and space for the mind to dream. After the sun begins to set, and just before Marlow begins to tell his story, the setting becomes to grow darker; dark with the nature of the dark story Marlow will soon prevail. The narrator refers to a â€Å"brooding gloom† to the West just as Marlow (p.187) starts to say, â€Å"And this also, has been one of the dark places on the earth.† So just as you are prepared to hear a story, the setting has changed as if to foreshadow the events to come. Continuously throughout the story, darkness plays a significant role on the setting. I sums up all the evil, fear, and unknown to man simplicities we may or may not face everyday. Also, the darkness is related to the people that were exploited during the expedition by means of racism. The Whites being superior to the Blacks, as they thought. Their inner evil of racism (darkness) was â€Å"justified† by calling the Africans â€Å"criminals, enemies, rebels.† Thus, exploiting the people with a darkness. Darkness seems to be referred to more as Marlow’s story unfolds. He first uses darkness while describing the Roman conquest, as if comparing to his own. â€Å"They were men enough to face the darkness (Marlow, 188),† and, â€Å"†¦It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a grea...

Free Essays on Racism In Othello

RACISM IN OTHELLO My aim in this study is to show how racist elements dominate the play, â€Å"Othello† by William Shakespeare. Generally, in Othello race and colour are important factors and they repeated in various ways. W. Shakespeare tries to instill the idea of equality in all people.. He thinks that all humans on the earth created equally. Because of this reason, W. Shakespeare created Othello who is a protagonist as a black man. He gives Othello an important duty. Shakespeare portrayed Othello as a commander in the army of Venice and he is the husband of Desdemona who is white and wealthy woman. Obviously, Shakespeare uses black man for the role of important character. Besides, Shakespeare creates a romantic relationship between black and white (Othello & Desdemona) but most people think that their relationship is wrong. At the time the play was written, 1604, even the Queen of England was racist, so there must have been a strong hatred of blacks around that time. Donald Hall asserts that â€Å" Elizabethan society and theatre were more conservative. In this period, society were prosperous, expanding, energetic, adventurous and imperialistic. Elizabethan England was colourful, chaotic and relatively lawless....† (Hall, p:200). As you see, in this period, society is more chaotic and we know that all notions about racism since today rooted from those times. According to Elizabethans all qualities of moors are all negative. At that time, moors were supposed sexual capacity, savage jealousy, superstitiousness and belief in magic, tendency to anger, cruelty and savagery. Truly, it’s still common not only in England but also all around the world. I believe that, by discovering America, slavery developed and in the end, it did not finished but decreased by Martin Luther King’s effort in 70’s. But still today, racist people feel same things towards to black people. That is to say, blackness in Elizabethan Engla... Free Essays on Racism In Othello Free Essays on Racism In Othello RACISM IN OTHELLO My aim in this study is to show how racist elements dominate the play, â€Å"Othello† by William Shakespeare. Generally, in Othello race and colour are important factors and they repeated in various ways. W. Shakespeare tries to instill the idea of equality in all people.. He thinks that all humans on the earth created equally. Because of this reason, W. Shakespeare created Othello who is a protagonist as a black man. He gives Othello an important duty. Shakespeare portrayed Othello as a commander in the army of Venice and he is the husband of Desdemona who is white and wealthy woman. Obviously, Shakespeare uses black man for the role of important character. Besides, Shakespeare creates a romantic relationship between black and white (Othello & Desdemona) but most people think that their relationship is wrong. At the time the play was written, 1604, even the Queen of England was racist, so there must have been a strong hatred of blacks around that time. Donald Hall asserts that â€Å" Elizabethan society and theatre were more conservative. In this period, society were prosperous, expanding, energetic, adventurous and imperialistic. Elizabethan England was colourful, chaotic and relatively lawless....† (Hall, p:200). As you see, in this period, society is more chaotic and we know that all notions about racism since today rooted from those times. According to Elizabethans all qualities of moors are all negative. At that time, moors were supposed sexual capacity, savage jealousy, superstitiousness and belief in magic, tendency to anger, cruelty and savagery. Truly, it’s still common not only in England but also all around the world. I believe that, by discovering America, slavery developed and in the end, it did not finished but decreased by Martin Luther King’s effort in 70’s. But still today, racist people feel same things towards to black people. That is to say, blackness in Elizabethan Engla...

7 Topics You Should Never Talk About At Work

7 Topics You Should Never Talk About At Work It’s great to feel like you have friendly colleagues and even better when they become your friends outside work, but there are a few danger areas to avoid during your 9-5 interactions. 1. [Insert any  political topic here]I am a big offender with this one. I used to have long angry debates with one of my cube neighbors about everything from social welfare programs to LGBT rights. Not only was it unprofessional, it was also distracting for everyone who I now realize could hear us bickering all day. I didn’t change his mind, he didn’t do anything besides offend me with his opinions, and our whole office probably found us annoying. Plus that irritation spilled over into our professional interactions, too.2. â€Å"I’m soooooooooo tired.†I know it’s just small talk, but griping about your exhaustion level, unless you need some legitimate accommodation in your workload, is tedious (and probably self evident if you’re yawning and downing a vat of coffee at your desk every day).3. Office gossip (particularly boss-related)Some experts feel like office confidences build stronger bonds between team members; others see it as divisive and counterproductive since venting rarely actually leads to positive change or resolution of a tense situation.If something bad is coming, you’ve just spent extra time dreading it. If it comes to nothing, you’ve just wasted the time of everyone you spent swapping conspiracy theories with!4. â€Å"You always ______.† and â€Å"You never ______.†Bad for relationships and bad for the workplace, blanket accusations like this rarely have positive results. Try â€Å"I† statements instead- †When you [fail to deliver a report  on time] I [feel frustrated and fall behind on my deadlines].†5. That’s not my job, that’s not in my contract.I have mixed feelings on this one because agreeing to anything asked of you doesn’t usually lend i tself to strong boundary setting. That said, be a team player when you can, since you’ll probably need some help yourself before long.6. â€Å"Well, actually†¦Ã¢â‚¬ I thought only irritating internet commenters employed this one but apparently it’s spread into the outside world. There are more direct ways to voicing your opinion or a differing perspective than this grating correctional phrase. Just leave it out!7. Personal comments on weight, clothing, race, marital status, sexual orientation, etc.Many of these were probably covered in your company orientation, but one that often gets overlooked in many places I’ve worked is weight or eating habits. At my last job I had a well-meaning coworker who could not stop herself from commenting on what I was eating or not eating, characterizing a pizza lunch as â€Å"Oooh, good to you day† or â€Å"You’re so bad!† when I reached for a sweet snack afterwards. She also commented on my weight- bu t only when she thought I’d lost some. Again, she thought she was being sociable, but it made me really uncomfortable and made her somebody I was hesitant to work with in the future.I hate to say it, but sticking to only discussing your job while you’re at work may be the safest way to go.  7 Things You Should NEVER Say to Co-Workers  Read More at Payscale

Has the Study of Gender Illuminated Men's Lives as Much as Women's Essay

Has the Study of Gender Illuminated Men's Lives as Much as Women's - Essay Example John Tosh1 chronicled how manliness and masculinity have thrived in the eyes of society in various times in history. He says that in the prudent Victorian era, gentlemen were expected to be more cerebral than physical. The times called for a â€Å"mingling of the ethical and the physiological†, however, manliness was heavily influenced by concience than by animal insticts that may sometimes overcome a man. Victorian code dictated manliness to emphasize self-control, hard work and independence. Tosh claims that boys were prepared for more competitive and demanding roles as husband, father and breadwinner. Men were expected to provide for their families a comfortable home and food on the table. Inability to do so earns him a lowly place in society. Women, on the other hand, had to struggle to be recognized as being contributory to society. A woman is romantically viewed as the heart of the home, the primary nurturer of the family, the source of emotional support, however, she ha s evolved into something much more than a homemaker. Traditionally, women have been assigned to care for her family and home while men were tasked to go out to seek livelihood for his family. The mother’s role in the family is a powerful one for women even if men insist that they are the heads of their households. Tosh explains that although fathers talk to their sons about the challenges of adult life and gives them advise accordingly, it is the mothers who had control over a large area of moral education, which, odd as it may seem, include the area of ‘manliness’. 2 The seemingly stronger influence of the woman over the raising of the family may be unsettling for men, hence such is underplayed. John Stuart Mill became intensely unpopular due to his statement divulged in conservative circles truths that people wittingly repress in polite society. He announced that â€Å"the generality of the male sex cannot yet tolerate the idea of living with an equal†3 and this statement was met with much fury, defensiveness, as well as quiet illumination. Tosh contends that middle class men in late Victorian Britain faced a difficult dilemma regarding their own masculinity. They realized that their own manliness has been filtered through the feminine sensibility of their own mothers.4 Joan Scott analyzes how gender studies explain the roles of men and women. She claims that gender is a way of denoting â€Å"cultural constructions† of subjective identities of men and women.5 Weisstein contends that gender is a most complex and intricate phenomenon, but at the interpersonal level, a good portion of the oppressiveness of gender arises from the fact that one person has enormous power over the other6. No other time has such conflict of power been more felt than during the previous world wars. Men felt power in being called out to defend their families and their country while the women they left behind felt empowered being given the responsibili ty for their families and home while the men were away. Historically, the trend of women joining the work force was felt more strongly during war time. Historians have differing views of the changes women have undergone in the two world wars. Arthur Marwick’s stand is that the wars brought about women’s realizations of their rights and innate potentials that were put to the test when they were called out of their home duties and into the workforce7. The

Managerial Applications of Technology (Business Intelligence and Assignment - 1

Managerial Applications of Technology (Business Intelligence and Knowledge Management) 2 - Assignment Example The computational power increase enables more data handling, and faster response and resolution of the problems and queries. The two are mere advancements of the field of technology made possible through the business intelligence support system. The impact of these two functions is rapid delivery rates and increased participation of the employees in the working procedures. These three variables work in a complementing manner towards one another. The possible costs of this massive expansion could be the need for establishing maintenance costs. Training the employees to work on the state of the art technology based networks is another constraint. Possible appearance of bug in the network may be another cost and constraint (Levinson, Bell, & Liu, 2011, p. 194). More data nearly always means better decision making. Since it allows clear litmus like test of the performance, achievements and the dates and objectives missed in the quantitative terms. Hence it can be easily advocated for that the data expansion and using business intelligence systems always pays dividends in the form of improved performance, self assessment and better employees understanding (Quintero et.al, 2010). Donovan, F. (2013, Feb 20). Gartner: Microsoft, Oracle, IBM lead BI and analytics market. Retrieved from fierceenterprisecommunications: http://www.fierceenterprisecommunications.com/story/gartner-microsoft-oracle-ibm-lead-bi-and-analytics-market/2013-02-20 Levinson, D., Bell, M., & Liu, H. X. (2011). Network Reliability in Practice: Selected Papers from the Fourth International Symposium on Transportation Network Reliability. Springer Science & Business

Alcatel-Lucent merger Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Alcatel-Lucent merger - Coursework Example Lucent feared Alcatel’s takeover and thus the deal came to a halt on May 29, 2001. It is still not discovered that which company begin the negotiations but Lucent ended them on the basis that Alcatel was not agreeing on equals. Looking into the case, I believe may be the negotiations styles were not accurate for the scenario. According to Anatomy of a merger by James C. Freund, there are two ways of negotiating which let you go no where. One is doing what comes naturally to your mind, not thinking about the other party and doing and saying only what you want. Credibility and sincerity should be prominent in your negotiations and this style of doing what naturally comes to your mind is the worst style of negotiating. The second style is practice what I preach. You should not just read books for the sake of reading them. Practicing all negotiation styles in your merger is important. In 2006, the companies decided to merge again. Co operations begin to build up between the two co mpanies. According to Paris and Murray Hill, N.J., April 2, 2006- Alacatel and Lucent Technologies announced that they are together as an ultimate merger now which is unbreakable. They are creating a genuinely global communications key provider for the entire world with the widest wire line, wireless and services collection in the market. The major reason of this merger is to increase revenues and profits based on market chances for the next-generation services, applications, and networks. The joint company’s scope, scale and global competencies will improve the long term value for customers, shareowners and employees. The contract, which was endorsed by the boards of directors of each company, will build upon the corresponding strengths of every company to generate a global market leader in the alteration of upcoming wireless, wire line and congregated networks. The shareholders in France accepted the merger in September 2006. The CEO of Alcatel invested 10.6 billion euro ($ 13.5 billion then) into the business at that time and remarked that Alcatel- Lucent â€Å"has no equivalent today or in future†. The combined sales of the company mounted to $25 billion in that year and it was believed that Alcatel-Lucent will be the biggest merger of communications in the world with its ongoing success. But mergers aren’t easy to handle! Conflict of interest, different cultural backgrounds and different attitudes towards work were the causes of divergence between the chief executives of both companies. Things start to take a pessimistic turn. Patricia F. Russo (chief executive of Lucent) also believed that things would start to work better for the both companies but they did not. Even though the regulatory hurdles were cleared in both U.S and European markets by the U.S State department and EU regulations but things didn’t take a positive turn. Both the CEO’s tried hard to cooperate with each other but was restricted by their French and American styles. According to an analyst, the corporate culture of Lucent’s clashed with Alcatel’s business model. In July 2008, Lucent’s CEO Patricia F. Russo resigned. She claimed that she could not get along with Serge Tchuruk, her fellow board member. He too resigned after some time. Both of the CEOs were not able to get along with each other. Even though the company official language was proposed to be English, Patricia spoke French as well to be conversant in the

Managing Operations and the Supply Chain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Managing Operations and the Supply Chain - Essay Example In quality improvement teams, employees from the same department, division, or team of the organization brainstorm to identify a list of problems to resolve. The advantage of this approach is that the employees characteristically have the best view of their work environment and associated problems and can develop ideas to improve efficiency and effectiveness. The drawback to this is that the problems chosen by the group may or may not contribute to the Tower Records overall goals. Tower Records with a focused success paradigm can multiply the return on its investment for its quality efforts over an organization without a clear vision. With the myriad of problems any given group can identify, it is important that resources be allocated for problem solving that can contribute positively to the successful implementation of Tower Records strategy. Based on such considerations, it is evident that the need for specific criteria and models to verify the quality fit between the Tower Records and the business atmosphere in that it operates, and to effectively and efficiently manages the relationships among the actors within the network. Such relationships, in fact, are characterised by many-to-many connections instead of more traditional one-to-one. For that reason, a deep revision of current managerial techniques is dramatically requested. Regardless of huge number of works on this subject, (Harland et al., 2001; Lamming et al., 2000), reliable criteria for the analysis and the evaluation of Tower Records networks, based on the relationships among economic actors interconnected through Internet, are not yet available. Accordingly, managers usually operate according to empirical methodologies that often do not assure optimal quality performances. In order to contribute towards the solution of such a problem, preliminarily examined factors that mostly affect the Tower Records quality performances. It may be assumed that effectiveness and efficiency of Tower Records depend on the coherence between the characteristics of the atmosphere in that the embedded actors operate and the way in that relationships among embedded actors are managed. The management of such relationships, consecutively, is based on the following three factors (Cucchiella et al., 2002): The structures adopted to organize the relationships among the actors of the network (Tower Records organisational structures). The criteria adopted to manage such relationships (managerial criteria); and The activities to be carried out for coordinating the relationships (critical activities). With respect to the Tower Records organisational structures, Tapscott et al. (2000) define five types of b-web adopted to manage relationships among embedded actors based on the level of product-service value integration (high vs. low) and control type: Agora, Aggregation, Value chain, Alliance, and Distributive network. According to Nkkentved (2000), the managerial criteria may be instead, defined on the basis of two variables, the market fragmentation and the product/process complexity. Consequently, six types of criteria may be identified: Auction house; Independent

Respond to classmate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Respond to classmate - Essay Example Diversity brings together people with different beliefs and cultures. These people view situations in different perspectives and if brought together, they will make good ethical decisions. If the instructors had employed a check and balance system, the students would have been placed in groups. Moreover, the instructors would have demanded a report on each stage of the processes; hence, ethics violations could have been avoided. I appreciate that I have been able to understand the relationship between ethical decision-making and diversity because it is critical and exists. A combination of the two methods of implementing programs leads to successful teaching. Since realists hold to the traditional scientist values and constructivists on the other hand, implement art and creativity in the science-based disciplines, the science aspects taught are well absorbed by the students. The creativity aspect encompasses modern ways to handle situations (Rainer, 2011). I agree with you because, for the millennials, traditional values demoralize them as they engage in some extra-curricular school activities as well as science-based disciplines (Rainer, 2011). This was evident from few numbers of students that participated in sports as well as school clubs. A new club introduced in the school encompassed designing projects using latest technologies. The students were creative and many projects involved a lot of science technologies as well as engineering. They then converted their free time to designing projects and this way, they perfected their science-based skill s. It is therefore evident that these two methods, when combined together yield better

Discussion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 26

Discussion - Assignment Example It is unfortunate that judges and other top government officials have personal immunity, which comes by professional courtesy and law. After one going through several blogs, one realizes that tyranny is greatly used as a strategy and the best example to illustrate this is the fact that Hamilton had tactics that worked with regard to tyranny. It is obvious that words are not sufficient and there must be true change in the United States of America when it comes to industrial espionage since the threat is not overblown. The main reason behind the US changing is the intelligent activity that the United States gathers foreign intelligence similar to that gathered by all nations globally. Being the superpower country, there must be some data protection, which can only happen with the help of changing the industrial espionage. Having data protection will be beneficial to almost every American citizen but mostly the leaders. Claims that America spies on other nations mean that the threat is not overblown but true change in industrial espionage will cover up

Respond to classmate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Respond to classmate - Essay Example Diversity brings together people with different beliefs and cultures. These people view situations in different perspectives and if brought together, they will make good ethical decisions. If the instructors had employed a check and balance system, the students would have been placed in groups. Moreover, the instructors would have demanded a report on each stage of the processes; hence, ethics violations could have been avoided. I appreciate that I have been able to understand the relationship between ethical decision-making and diversity because it is critical and exists. A combination of the two methods of implementing programs leads to successful teaching. Since realists hold to the traditional scientist values and constructivists on the other hand, implement art and creativity in the science-based disciplines, the science aspects taught are well absorbed by the students. The creativity aspect encompasses modern ways to handle situations (Rainer, 2011). I agree with you because, for the millennials, traditional values demoralize them as they engage in some extra-curricular school activities as well as science-based disciplines (Rainer, 2011). This was evident from few numbers of students that participated in sports as well as school clubs. A new club introduced in the school encompassed designing projects using latest technologies. The students were creative and many projects involved a lot of science technologies as well as engineering. They then converted their free time to designing projects and this way, they perfected their science-based skill s. It is therefore evident that these two methods, when combined together yield better

Importance of Historical Perspectives Essay Example for Free

Importance of Historical Perspectives Essay The organised use of labour or Management as we now call it, is as old as time. However it was only in the 19th century that management and the idea of management thought emerged as an important element of political, economic and social development. I believe that historical perspectives have been critically important to the development of management thought through the centuries. Management ideas have been developed out of social and cultural circumstances, over time the social and cultural circumstances have radically changed and developed but the principle of management and management thought has been slow in keeping up with these developments. From my reading, I would argue that there have been three main phases that have fundamentally shaped management thought since ancient times. These phases are; the early autocratic management approach, the change in management thought following the reformation and thirdly, the new work practices required to support the industrial revolution. From my research, it is evident that major historical events have also had an important role to play in the development of different management styles and structures. In ancient times, management of people was purely autocratic. Many of the work force in these times were slaves. This early practise of management seen in ancient Egypt, continued through to feudal times. It was very effective in supporting some of the great construction projects which ancient Egypt is famous for, such as the building of the pyramids, the irrigation of the Nile and the building of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Similarly in ancient China, the building of the Great Wall of China. These great works provide us with evidence of a very organised and autocratic approach to the use of labour and also project management skills . This early autocratic period of management was heavily dominated by cultural values such as; fear of punishment, fear of god, where people had no sense of individual achievement and they could only look forward to a better life after death. This form of management continued through the middle ages and in these non-industrialised circumstances there was no â€Å"no need to develop a formal body of management thought†(Wren Bedeian, 2011: 37) As long as society was dominated by fear and oppression this form of management was sustained. As long as Christianity and the divine right of kings maintained their hold on society, management thought could not evolve and develop. However, these feudal times where religion was invincible and demanded total subservience ere coming to an end. The crusades were a major catalyst for change in these times and by weakening the strength of the catholic church they were the beginning of a cultural rebirth which led to the protestant reformation. With the reformation came the protestant work ethic which I would argue has transcended the history of management and has fundamentally changed work practises opening the door to completely different and new management styles and structures. Prior to this commerce was viewed as an evil that corrupted peoples’ minds and the idea of trade could undermine the obedience demanded by the catholic church. Max Weber in â€Å"the protestant ethic and spirit of capitalism† urges strongly that the spirit of capitalism grew out of Protestantism and the protestant work ethic. (Wren Bedeian, 2011: 26) It is clear that the transformation in attitudes in society due to the reformation brought with it the need for new management structures which would support creativity and competitiveness. These changes did not happen quickly, but they were pivotal in the fundamental shift to the organisation of labour being managed by many people and many different types of people rather than the autocratic few. These new managers began to think about personal gain and had to consider the best ways to achieve these gains. The shift to personal gain was accompanied by the strengthening of national economies in Europe and further afield as new countries and colonies were being discovered and established. The scene was being set for the industrial revolution. Historical perspectives were changing and along with them, new principles in management thought were emerging. Adam Smith was one of the evangelists of management thought during the early stages of the industrial revolution. One of Smith’s new thoughts on management was that the market economy would be se self regulating, that is to say that the market would be ruled by the â€Å"invisible hand†(Wren Bedeian, 2011: 34). His other contribution were his thoughts on the division of labour culminating in the substantial productivity that the use of technology brought to replace human man power. Smith’s principles are fundamental to modern management thought. The industrial revolution brought with it the move from agrarian life to urban living. Production became large scale and the increasing number of factories coming into production demanded more managers who would have to be capable of successfully organising and managing all aspects of these new work places. There is no doubt that historical perspectives have been mportant in bringing about great changes for the better in management thought as evidenced by the evolution of the three phased covered herein. However I would conclude, that despite the advantages of having historical perspectives, society and the management of society does not really learn from these perspectives. I think this is well summarised in Will Durant’s quote in â⠂¬Å"the story of civilization part 1† where he states that â€Å" a nation is born stoic and dies epicurean†(Durant, 1935: 259). There is no clearer example of this than in Ireland today. We have spent centuries struggling against the autocratic management of Irish society both by the catholic church and by British rule. The adversity of these times was eventually replaced by the development of new management structures bringing with them creativity and competiveness. However, as with many developing societies and civilisations, with this development came affluence and opportunism which in turn undermined the integrity of these management structures. Like the Epicureans, poor thought was given to how this would impact tomorrow. So as in Greece and Rome, the lack of long term prudent management and the lack of learning from the historical perspectives on management thought have meant that we have not escaped the Epicurean death blow that has been rendered to Ireland.

Case Study: Hypertension in Pregnancy

Case Study: Hypertension in Pregnancy Main Complaint My patient Madam Siti a 31 year old Indonesian maid Gravida 3 para 2 at 38 weeks and 1day of Period of Amenorrhoea (POA) was admitted to the ward for blood pressure stabilization and induction of labour (IOL). History of Presenting Illness She was referred from antenatal clinic during follow up in PPUKM on 29/11/2010. During the check up at the follow up, her vital sign showed she was afebrile, pulse rate of 90beats per minute and blood pressure was noted to be 160/100mmHg and no abnormality was found in the urine. During booking her blood pressure was noted to be 100/70mmHg and she was normotensive throughout the pregnancy up until at 38weeks and 1day of POA. She complained to have frontal headache and nausea 2 days prior to admission. She denied symptoms of impending eclampsia such as blurring of vision, epigastric pain and vomiting. There was also no dizziness, shortness of breath, chest pain, reduced urine frequency and leg swelling. She also had per vaginal discharge which was whitish and creamy in nature, no foul smelling and no pruritus vulvae. There was no urinary tract infection symptoms such as urgency and dysuria. Fetal movement was good. She was admitted to the ward for further management. Antenatal History This is an unplanned but wanted pregnancy. Her urine pregnancy test (UPT) was positive at 6weeks of POA. Dating scan done at 15weeks of POA which correspond to date. Booking was done at 15weeks of POA at private clinic at Medviron. Antenatal screening done showed that: Blood Pressure : 110/70mmHg Haemoglobin level : 12.8g/dL Height : 158cm Weight : Pre : 62kg Current : 69kg Blood Group : O Positive VDRL/HIV/HEP B : Non Reactive Urine Albumin/Sugar : Nil No MGTT was done. Despite having a family history of diabetes mellitus. Latest scan done at 38 weeks and 1day POA and all parameters are correspond to date. It was a singleton fetus on longitudinal lie and cephalic presentation. Fetal heart and fetal movement are seen. Amniotic Fluid Index are 11. Estimated fetal weight was 3.3kg and placenta was on anterior upper segment. Otherwise, antenatal visits are uneventful. Past Obstetric History On 1999, she had a full term normal pregnancy and delivered a baby girl by Spontaneous Vaginal Delivery (SVD) at a hospital in Indonesia and weight of the baby was 2.6kg and is alive and well. On 2007, she also had a full term normal pregnancy and delivered a baby boy by spontaneous vaginal delivery also at Indonesia. The baby weight 2.3kg and currently is alive and well. Both of her children stays with her mother at Indonesia. Past Gynaecology History She attained her menarche at the age of 13year old with 28 to 30days regular cycle with 7days of menses. She denied dysmenorrhoea, menorrhagia, intermenstrual bleeding, dyspareunia and postcoital bleeding. As for contraception, she uses Implanon for 4years from 2002 to 2006 between the first and the second pregnancy. She was then on Oral Contraceptive Pills for 2months and had stop taking them afterward until today. After this pregnancy, she is keen to take Intrauterine Contraceptive Device (IUCD). She had never had pap smear done before. Past Medical History Nil. Past Surgical History Nil. Allergy and Drug History No known drug allergy or food allergy. Family History Her mother is alive and was diagnosed to have diabetes mellitus and hypertension and currently on medication. Her father died on 2007 due to renal failure. She had 3siblings and currently all of them are alive and well. Social History She has been married for 12years and came to Malaysia on 2006 which was 4years ago. She lives in a terrace house at Cheras and worked as a maid. Her husband came to Malaysia 5years ago but had recently go back to Indonesia 2months ago. He previously worked as a contractor for the same employer. He planned to return to Malaysia after his permit is renewed. Both of them does not smoke or consumed alcohol. Both of their children were in Indonesia and are taken care by her mother. Relevant Clinical Examination General On examination, she was alert, conscious and she was not pale or jaundiced. Her Blood Pressure was 142/92mmHg lying and 152/104mmHg standing. Her pulse rate was 90beats per minute and respiratory rate was 20breath per minute. She was afebrile. Her current weight was 69kg. There was no pedal oedema noted. Thyroid Gland There was no scar, lump or dilated veins noted around the area of the neck. There was no lymphadenopathy noted. Breast On inspection, both breast were symmetrical and bilaterally in size. Both her nipple were not hyperpigmented or retracted. There was no nipple discharge. Her breast were non tender and no mass was palpable. Cardiovascular System On inspection of the hand, there was no clubbing and peripheral cyanosis. Inspection of the mouth showed that there was no central cyanosis and hydration status was good. There was no surgical scar and no notable abnormalities detected on the praecordium. Jugular Venous Pressure was not raised. Peripheral pulses were present with normal rhythm and good volume. There was no radio-radial delay or radio femoral delay. There was no collapsing pulse. On palpation, apex beat was not displaced it was palpable at the 5th intercostals space and left midclavicular line. There was no parasternal heave and thrills detected. On auscultation, the first and second heart sounds were heard with no murmur or added sound heard. Respiratory System On inspection, the chest moved bilateral symmetrically with inspiration. There was no scars and deformities noted. She did not use accessory muscles on breathing. On palpation, her trachea was not deviated. Chest expansion was equal bilaterally. Air entry was good and equal bilaterally as evidenced by normal vocal fremitus and vocal resonance. Percussion of both lungs were resonant. There were vesical breath sounds equal on both sides with no added sounds on auscultation. Neurological System She was orientated to time, place, and person. All cranial nerves were intact. Both her upper and lower limbs were normal. Muscle tones, power, and reflexes were all good and normal. Abdominal Examination On inspection, the abdomen was distended by gravid uterus as evidenced by cutaneous signs of pregnancy such as linea nigra and striae gravidarum. The umbilicus is centrally located and flat. No scars noted and no dilated veins seen. On palpation, her abdomen was soft and non tender and uterus was not irritable. Clinical fundal height revealed that the uterus was 38weeks in size and was correspond to date. Symphysiofundal height was 37cm. Palpation of the fetus showed that it was a singleton in longitudinal lie with cephalic presentation. The head was 3/5 palpable and not engaged. The fetal back was on the maternal left side. The liquor was adequate and estimated fetal weight was 3.2 to 3.4kg. Pelvic Examination Vaginal examination was not done. Per Rectal Examination Per rectal examination was not done. Summary of Case 31year old maid gravida3 para2 at 38weeks and 1day POA admitted for blood pressure stabilization and induction of labour (IOL) due to gestational hypertention. Diagnosis and Differential Diagnosis Provisional Diagnosis Gestational Hypertension: She develop hypertension which is a blood pressure of 140/90mmHg aand above recorded on 2 separate occasions at least 4hours apart. Hypertension occur in second half of pregnancy which is after 20weeks of gestation. She is previously normotensive. There is absence of proteinuria She had risk factor; family history of hypertension. Differential Diagnosis Pre-eclampsia: Points for: Hypertension at least 140/90mmHg recorded on 2 separate occasions at least 4hours apart. Hypertension occur at second half of pregnancy, after 20weeks gestation. She is previously normotensive. She had risk factor; family history of hypertension. Points against: There was absence of proteinuria of at least 300mg Protein in a 24hour collection of urine. She had no risk factor such as pre-existing hypertension or pre-eclampsia. Chronic Hypertension: Points for: She has a family history of hypertension. Points against: She is normotensive prior to pregnancy. She had no other disease such as renal or connective tissue disorders that can lead to hypertension. Relevant Investigations with Reasons Full Blood Count To check whether patient is anaemic or not (Hb). To confirm patient is not on any infection such as urinary tract infection (WBC). White Cell Count + 14.2 x 109/L Red Cell Count 4.18 x 1012/L Haemoglobin 12.3 g/dL MCV 37.1% MCH 88.7 Fl MCHC 29.3 Pg RDW 33.0 g/dL Mean Platelet Volume 8.0 Fl Platelet 302 x 109 /L Neutrophils ++ 10.3 x 109 /L Eosinophils 0.4 x 109 /L Basophils 0.0 x 109 /L Lymphocytes 2.6 x 109 /L Monocytes 0.9 x 109 /L Nucleated RBC 0 x 109 /L Comment: There is a reduction of Red Cell count. This is due to pregnancy, as there is haemodilutional effect due to an increase in plasma volume. Patient is not anaemic as haemoglobin is on the normal range. However, there is leukocytosis mainly the neutrophils. This suggest an infection most likely bacterial in origin such as urinary tract infection. Renal profle To exclude secondary cause of hypertension due to renal damage. To detect abnormality in the level of serum urea and creatinine that will indicate renal damage or failure. Sodium 139 mmol/L Potassium 4.0 mmol/L Urea 2.3 mmol/L Creatinine 54 umol/L Comment: There is hypouremia. This is normal in pregnancy, as there will be an increase in Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR), therefore there will an increase in clearence of urea in the body. Besides that, a reduction in deamination process in the maternal body will also cause blood urea to be reduce. Liver Function Test To see whether patient had any liver damage Albumin 33 g/L Total Protein 68g/L Bilirubin toral 6 umol/L ALT 19 u/L ALP + 141 u/L Comment: There is hypoalbuminaemia. There is increase level of Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) due to placenta production. Thus, making it a normal physiological reaction. Serum Uric Acid Serum uric acid is a sensitive indicator of renal damage in pre-eclampsia. Uric Acid 371 umol/L Comment: Serum uric acid level is normal. Suggesting there is no renal damage. PE/ Pre-eclampsia Chart To monitor her blood pressure on lying and standing To monitor her urine whether there is albuminuria or not. To detect pre-eclampsia. Result: Other than the increase in blood pressure prior to delivery, there is no albuminuria noted. Therefore, patient did not have pre-eclampsia. Fetal Kick Chart To monitor the fetal well being. If there is decreased fetal activity, it may indicate some degree of fetal compromise. Cardiotocography (CTG) To monitor the heart rate and contraction of the uterus to detect abnormalities in the pregnancy. Ultrasound. To assess the fetal growth. Identify The Problem in Terms of Priority Gestational Hypertension. Induction of labour in gestational hypertension. Immediate and Subsequent Management Admit to ward for BP monitoring and stabilization. Monitor for any signs and symptoms of impending eclampsia. Bed rest. BP monitoring 2hourly for 24hours. If blood pressure reduce or return to normal patient can be discharge and to come again for antenatal follow up. Bed rest continued if persistent. Antihypertensive medication given if BP consistently noted to be 150/100mmHg. Preferred agent are alpha and beta blockers agent such as labetolol or methyldopa. Pre-eclampsia chart to exclude pre-eclampsia. CTG and fetal kick chart monitoring. Gestational hypertension not resolve, induction of labour is recommended. If induction of labour fails or spontaneous delivery is not possible, prepare for lower segment caesarean section (LSCS). Final Conclusion/ Plan for Further Management/ Patient Progress On admission on 29 November 2010, her blood pressure (BP) was high which was 142/92mmHg lying and 152/104mmHg standing. She was then given 200mg labetolol TDS. Pre-eclampsia chart done to monitor albumin in the urine. She is also monitored on signs and symptoms of impending eclampsia. Her BP was monitored half hourly for 2hour and induction of labour (IOL) is done soon after BP is stabilize. On the next day , 7.15am, Bishops Score was done and result was 2/13. Therefore cervix was not favourable. First 3mg of Prostin tablet was inserted into the posterior fornix. CTG was then done after 1hour to monitor for uterine hyperstimulation of fetal distress. The abdomen and cervix will be reassess in 6hours time. Tablet labetolol was continued and signs and symptoms of impending eclampsia (IE) was monitored. Six hour later, patient had contraction (irregular) but no leaking liquor noted. There was no signs and symptoms of IE, per vaginal discharge and fetal movement was good. Her BP was 129/92mmHg which had decreased slightly. On palpation, her abdomen was soft and non tender. Uterus was 38weeks, presenting part was 3/5 palpable. Bishops Score was done again and cervix is still unfavourable at 3/13. Second prostin was inserted at the posterior fornix. CTG was done 1hour post prostin for monitoring. Six hour later, she had 2 contraction in 10 minutes and it was moderate. There was no leaking, no per vaginal bleeding and the fetal movement was good. Her BP on lying was 112/86mmHg and 122/90mmHg on standing, well controlled BP. Vaginal examination revealed normal vulvovaginal, cervix dilated to 1cm, os was 3cm membrane intact and station was -2. 2hour later, the contraction was 3 in 10minutes and no leaking liquor. Vaginal examination showed 1cm cervix, 4cm os. Artificial Rupture of Membrane (ARM) was done. Clear liquor was noted. Patient was in active phase of labour and was sent to the labour room for delivery. Entonox was given for pain management in the labour room. Contraction was 3 in 10 minutes with moderate intensity and os was 4cm. one and a half hour later, patient complained of having strong contraction and felt the urge to bear down. Vaginal examination done and os was fully dilated at 10cm. She delivered a baby boy weighing 2.53kg with apgar score of 8 in 1minute and 9 in 5minutes. The patient developed first degree tear, placenta was complete weighing 590gm. Estimated blood loss is 250cc. Cord pH was 7.312. In the ward, day 1 post SVD she was alert, conscious, comfortable and was not pale. Her BP was 118/83mmHg which was normal and her pulse rate was 96beats per minute. She was afebrile. Abdominal examination showed that her abdomen soft and non tender. The uterus was well contracted at 18weeks in size. The lochia was normal. Breastfeeding was established and she was ambulating well. The patient can tolerate orally and had pass urine and bowel movement. She had completed her family size and plans to use intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD) for contraception. Prescription of labetolol was stopped as her BP has been stable and she had delivered her baby. She was then allowed for discharge and to come again 2weeks later to review her BP. She was given hematinics to increase haemoglobin level. Discharge Summary Name : Siti Arifah Age : 31 MRN : N285492 Race : Indonesian Gender : Female Discharge Date: 01/12/2010 Case Summary Date of admission : 29/11/2010 Date of delivery : 30/11.2010 at 22:35 Date of Discharge ; 01/12/2010 31year old, para 3 @38weeks and 4days of POA, post spontaneous vaginal delivery (SVD) with first degree tear diagnosed with gestational hypertension @ 38weeks. Antenatally, Dated at 15weeks. Antenatal clinic uneventful. Booking blood pressure (BP) 100/70mmHg. Has been normotensive throughout pregnancy (BP range 110-120/70-80mmHg) until on 38weeks, noted that BP at clinic 160/100mmHg. Tablet labetolol 200mg given stat at the clinic. Admitted to ward for BP stabilization and started on tablet labetolol 200mg TDS. Medical/surgical History Nil. VDRL/HIV/Hep B Non reactive. Admitted in for BP stabilization. Before admit and in the ward, patient complaint of headache. On day 2 of admission, cardiotocograph (CTG) showed sleeping pattern. Opted for induction of labour (IOL). Prostin inserted 2 times. After 7hours of second prostin insertion, patient went into active phase of labour, os 4cm. Artificial Rupture of Membrane (ARM) was done with clear liquor. Os fully after 1 hour 30minutes without augmentation. Second stage 10 minutes. Third stage 13minutes. She successfully delivered a baby boy of: Weight : 2.73kg pH : 7.312 TSH : pending G6PD : normal Estimated Blood Loss (EBL) : 250cc Currently she is normotensive. There is no acute complaints. No signs and symptoms to suggest of anaemia. She is tolerating orally and ambulating well. Passing urine/bowel open without problems and there is no excessive bleeding. Her baby is well and active, suckling well. BCG/Hepatitis 1st dose has been given. On examination, Her vital signs are stable. She is pink and alert. Abdomen soft and non tender. Uterus well contracted and 18weeks in size. There is no excessive bleeding. Lochia is normal. Mother Haemoglobin: 12.3g/dL Contraception: Intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD) Plan; Off labetolol EOD BP at local clinic To come again (TCA) in 2weeks to review BP. Continue Haematinics. Medications Tablet Hematinics OD Tablet Gelusil Ponstan TDS Syrup lactulose 15mls TDS Diagnosis: Post- SVD with first degree tear. Prepared by, Connie (CONNIE KABINCONG) House Officer Obstetric and Gynaecology ward UKMMC Referral to Doctor For Continued Management To: Medical officer of Obstetric and Gynaecology Department Date: 01 December 2010 Dear Doctor, Regarding: Siti Arifah, N285492 Thank you for seeing this patient, Siti Arifah, a 31year old Indonesian maid, para 3 post spontaneous vaginal delivery (SVD) with first degree tear at 38weeks and 2days of period of amenorrhoea (POA). She was admitted for blood pressure stabilization and induction of labour. She was referred from antenatal clinic when it was noted that her blood pressure was high which was 160/100mmHg. She never had history of hypertension before until on 38weeks and 1day of POA. However, she had a family history of hypertension. She was given labetolol for blood pressure stabilization and was given tablet Prostin 2times to induce the labour. She was then delivered a baby boy by SVD and her baby was alive and well. Her blood pressure was 118/83mmHg after the delivery. She was then stopped on taking Labetolol. Kindly see this patient for blood pressure monitoring and to exclude pre-existing hypertension in this patient. Thank you. Regards, Connie (CONNIE KABINCONG) House Officer Obstetric and Gynaecology Ward UKMMC Mock Prescription: For Patient on Discharge Name : Siti Arifah Age : 31 MRN : N285492 Race : Indonesian Gender : Female Discharge Date: 01/12/2010 Tablet Haematinics OD Tablet Gelusil/Ponstan TDS Syrup Lactulose 15mls TDS By, Connie (CONNIE KABINCONG) House Officer Obstetric and Gynaecology Ward UKMMC Professionalism Component Communication Issues As communication will be crucial in our future career as a doctor, a good basic has to be established now. As a good communicator we must be able to convey our message and information to our patient either in the form of words or from plain body language. Fortunately, my patient Madam Siti was very cooperative. I was able to establish rapport with her rather rapidly. She became more comfortable while answering my questions. Management wise, I found that she was well assured and well informed about what was being done for her. The doctor in charged informed her about her condition and told her about the possible complication that may arise and enough reassurance was given. Psychosocially, she did admits that she was a little scared of the possible complication that might affect she and the baby. Furthermore, her husband was not able to be by her side for moral support. I spent some times consoling her and she felt better afterward. Financially speaking, she and her husband total household income is currently not sufficient as she only earn approximately RM1000 per month and her husband is currently unemployed and waiting for his permit to return to work to Malaysia. However she claimed that her employer are offering to help her out during her confinement period. Spiritual Issues She is a very religious woman and has a strong spiritual side. She believe that God will helped her through this challenge and it had made her become quite cheerful and optimist despite of her current state. Ethical Issues As medical student, we have been reminded from time to time that medical ethics are crucial in order to be good doctors in the future. A good doctor should always put the patients life at the highest priority and respect the patients right to autonomy, information and privacy. Madam Siti should be counseled on options, pros and cons of the choices and the choice that made by her with guidance and advice by the doctor. No information should be withheld from her. Ethically as patient they also entitled to their privacy and confidentiality. Unfortunately, in a teaching hospital such as HUKM, patients privacy is sometimes compromised. Madam Siti was continuously approached by the students who wished to clerk her although it is very tiring to repeat all the words again and again, she still can tolerate it. Unfortunately there isnt much things I can do to help her but I can learn from this by learning not to disturb patient during the visiting hours or when they are tired while still grabbing every opportunity to learn in the ward. Professional Judgement In managing obstetric patient, we must take into account that we are not only dealing with one life but two. Thus extra caution must be taken. Especially with Madam Siti condition, as hypertension in pregnancy if it is not well controlled and monitored it could easily turns into something terrible very quickly. I felt that the management of Madam Siti was fair, she was properly counseled on maternal and fetal complication that could arise from hypertension in pregnancy. She was also well informed on the results of all the investigation done on her and her current management. Critical Appraisal Hypertension in pregnancy is defined as Blood Pressure more than or equal to 140/90mmHg in previously normotensive women that occur in 20th week of gestation without proteinuria until 6weeks postpartum. Or alternatively, a rise in systolic BP of more than 25mmHg or diastolic BP of more than 15mmHg compared with booking BP. Hypertension in pregnancy caused an increase in maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. Normal BP usually never went beyond 120/80mmHg. However in pregnancy plasma volume increases on an average 1200ml. So vasodilatation is needed to maintain the peripheral pressure. If the vasodilatation action is counteract by arterial spasm, hypertension occurs and lead to reduction in perfusion to all organ. This includes the uterus and placental site. Hypertension in pregnancy can be divided to pre-eclampsia, gestational hypertension, chronic hypertention, pre-eclampsia superimposed of chronic hypertension. Pre-eclampsia is defined as hypertension of at least 140/90mmHg recorded on 2 separate occasions with the significant proteinuria of more than 300mg in 24hours urine collection after 20weeks of gestation in a previously normotensive women and resolve completely by 6weeks postpartum. Eclampsia is a serious complication and life threathening complication of pre-eclampsia. It is defined as convulsions occurs in a woman with pre-established pre-eclampsia in the absence of any neurological or metabolic cause. Chronic hypertension is caused either due to essential hypertension or secondary hypertension. Secondary causes include renal artery Stenosis, glomerulonephritis, cushing syndrome and pheochromocytoma. Chronic hypertension is a hypertension diagnosed prior to 20weeks of gestation or history of hypertension preconception and de novo hypertension in late gestation that fails to resolve postpartumly. Pre-eclampsia superimposed on chronic hypertension is diagnosed when there is: De novo proteinuria after 20week gestation Sudden increase in magnitude of hypertension Appearance of features of pre-eclampsia-eclampsia Sudden increase in proteinuria in women with preexisting proteinuria in early gestation in women with chronic hypertension. Risk factors for women to develop hypertension in pregnancy can be divided into obstetric, medicaland social aetiology. In obstetric aetiology, the risk factor can be further divided into maternal and fetal risk factor where: Maternal risk factors are: Nulliparity or primigravida Advanced maternal age or extreme age (35year old) Family history of hypertension, pregnancy induced hypertension, pre-eclampsia and eclampsia. Previous history of gestational hypertension, pre-eclampsia, eclampsia. Maternal obesity (>80kg) Fetal risk factors are: Multiple pregnancy Molar pregnancy Hydrops fetalis From medical aetiology the risk factors are: Diabetes mellitus or gestational diabetes mellitus Established hypertension Connective tissue disease Renal disease: glomerulonephritis, renal artery Stenosis Endocrine disease: cushings syndrome, pheochromocytoma. From social aetiology the risk factors are: Smoking Alcohol consumption Complication that can arise from hypertension in pregnancy are eclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction, renal failure, thrombocytopenia, abruption placenta, subcapsular haemrrhage and liver dysfunction. Treatment wise, patient need to be admitted to hospital first fo r BP monitoring and stabilization. Used of antihypertensive agents that may be used in hypertension in pregnancy is Labetolol, which is a combined alpha and beta blocker. By blocking alpha adrenoreceptor in the peripheral arteries, it reduced the peripheral resistance. At the same time beta blocking effect protects the heart from reflex sympathetic drive normally induced by peripheral vasodilatation. Nifedipine, a calcium channel blocker can be use as an alternative. Delivery is the ultimate treatment of hypertensive in pregnancy and its timing is dependent on the observation of fetal and maternal well being. Prolongation of pregnancy by drug therapy may reduce the risk of prematurity and improves the chances of delivery. Reference Lists Obstetrics By Ten Teachers, 18th edition; Philip N. Baker. Obstetrics Illustrated, 7th edition; Kevin P. Hanetty, Ian Ramsden, Robin Callander. Handbook of Labour Practice, 2nd edition; Dr. Yun-Hsuen Lim, Professor Dr Muhammad Abdul Jamil, and Professor Dr. Zaleha Abdullah Mahdy. A Practical Approach to Obstatric Problems for the Undergraduate, 4th edition; Professor Kulenthran Arumugam.

Separate Peace Essay: Boys to Men :: A Separate Peace Essays

A Separate Peace: Boys to Men World War II influenced the boys in the novel A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, by making them grow and mature more quickly than they would have had there not been a war. The war makes some boys stronger and more ready for whatever life would bring, while in others it disables them to the point that they cannot handle the demands of life. The maturing influence of the war on Finny is a considerable one, even though it does not seem to the other boys that he is growing up at all. Gene's jealousy leads him to the point where he has to destroy Finny's greatest asset, his skill in sports, just so that he does not have to be the "popular guy's friend.† Gene knocks Finny off the tree limb and he breaks his leg. Everyone at Devon, except for Finny, suspects that Gene, and not Finny’s loss of balance, caused him to fall off the branch. Finny's outlook on the whole situation is very grown up. He does not blame anyone but himself, even though the accident is not his fault at all. Finny seems as though he will never grow up; his immaturity is shown through his silly denial of the war's existence and his habit of always coming up with strange things to do just for fun. Inside he is suffering with the anger and hurt of being excluded from the one thing that he wants to do most: fight in the war. This is an excellent example of how the war suddenly makes the boys grow up into men. They have to face adulthood, and in order to do that, they have to become adults. ***I think you could develop this more. You say that Finny began as immature, but his reaction to his accident is very grown up. Discuss specifically how the accident has made him become an adult. Why did he not react immaturely this time? Another boy in the story who was matured by the war was Leper. When he sees the movies about the ski troops, he thinks that it looks fun and he surprises everyone by enlisting. Leper does not quite know what he is getting into when he enlists. He thinks that it looks like a fun ski trip; he can serve his country and ski around the world at the same time.

Modern Day versus Civil War Racism in America :: Race

Today racism still exists, but not to the extent that it did during Civil War times. There is still the same amount if not more racism today even though it is very subtle in how it is displayed and also, due to laws that protect US citizens from it. Racism can be displayed through the media, marriage, and even at public schools. Usually television commercials are used to bring the good out of different products and the people that consume or sell the product, but sometimes the commercial will bring out the good in the product, but bring out the bad in the person. One example of this kind of advertisement would be a McDonald’s commercial that aired not too long ago. The setting was in a McDonald’s restaurant with two young, blank males. Each talking about how great a chicken dish was off the 1.00 Menu, but at the same time some foul language was being bleeped out. This helps contribute to some people’s beliefs that all black men do not care about the use of their language in public. Although, the use of foul language from rap music may trigger this, but how racist can this get? The media will also show racism in everyday situations. During a 20/20 episode that aired lately there were different situations that helped bring out the racism in everyday, white Americans. The first situations were about a group of young, white, teenage boys that stated to vandalize a car in this parking lot. During this several bystanders took a look and kept on walking by and only some people called the police. The second scenario was another group of teenage boys, but this time they were black. The setting was in the same parking lot, but there was not vandalism going on these young boys were just sleeping in the car. Again several white bystanders walked by and almost all of them called the police on the sleeping boys. These young men were just taking a nap in their car, not causing any problems. The third and last scenario was the same black boys, but this time they were vandalizing a car and every single one of the bystanders called the police like the world was goi ng to end if they did not. This shows the racism when it comes to the difference between white and black men in certain situations.

Ship management perspective

Ship management (KLSM) is a ship management company located in Singapore and involved in the technical management of a fleet of 30 container and tanker ships. It is a fully owned subsidiary company of K Line in Japan and all the ships managed by KLSM are owned by its parent company in Japan. Technical management activities include provision on crew members to man the ships, implementing and malntalnlng safety and quality management systems on board the vessels, maintaining safe and satisfactory vessel operations and maintenance of hull nd machinery on board the ship.The company is involved in procurement and supply management of various goods and services including stores, spare parts, bunkers, food and beverage, manpower etc. One of the major functions of the company Is the maintenance of hull and machinery of vessels under Its management, Technical superintendents are responsible for the maintenance matters on board their controlled ships whilst managers are responsible for formula ting and overseeing policy making and implementation. A major part of maintenance involves the supply of stores and spare parts to the vessel.Each ship is fitted on board with a large number of complex equipments and machinery manufactured by hundreds of different makers and thus spare parts lists for all the equipment and machinery on board, runs into hundreds of pages. With the life of a ship being 20-30 years, several of these equipments/parts become obsolete and even OEM's close shop during such course. Procuring spares and delivering these on board ships (in good time) that are trading worldwide thus becomes a great challenge for the technical department and in turn for the company.Presently the responslblllty of procuring spare parts for each vessel Iles with the echnical superintendent In charge of the vessel. An admin lady assists him in this work. The technical superintendent, who is responsible for the smooth running of the vessel and its machinery, spends a majority of hi s time in such procurement and supply issues. It might be a good idea to outsource this function to another department or to another organization altogether.This would free up the technical superintendents time to work on more critical operational and technical issues where his expertise might be better utlllzed and also perhaps make the procurement and upply management more efficient and organized. The decision to make or buy could be critical and various factors must be considered. Transaction Cost Economics is a central theory in Strategy. It addresses questions about why firms exist, how firms define their boundaries, and how they must govern operations. Transaction cost economics suggests that the costs and difficulties production) and sometimes markets as an economic governance structure.An intermediate mechanism, called hybrid or relational, between these two extremes has recently emerged as a new governance structure. Coase (1937) defined the term transaction costs by asking two fundamental questions: â€Å"Why is there any organization? † and â€Å"Why isn't all production carried out by one big firm? † Reason is that there are transaction costs that determine what is done in the market, with price as the regulating mechanism, and what is done inside the firm, with bureaucracy as the regulator.Within this framework, all transactions carry a cost, either as an external market transaction cost or an internal bureaucratic transaction cost. The limit to the size of the firm is reached when the costs of rganizing additional transactions within the firm exceed the costs of carrying out the same transactions through the market (Coase 1993). The most important market transaction costs are the cost of determining the price of a product or service, the cost of negotiating and creating the contract, and the cost of information failure.Williamson (1975, 1985) extended the argument by noting that two behavioral assumptions are critical. First, indivi duals in an organization are boundedly rational. Meaning individuals in an organization have the ability to make rational decisions ased on the limited knowledge they possess. This limitation makes it impossible to structure perfect contracts, and any contract will be incomplete even if all information is available. Second, individuals behave opportunistically. This means that they will act in self interest with guile. Organizing the vertical chain is an important part of business strategy.Deciding which parts of the vertical chain must be produced in-house and which parts must be out-sourced, is an important strategic decision defined by the vertical boundaries of the firm. This decision is simply called the â€Å"make or buy' decision. The company must compare the benefits and costs of in-house production versus using the market. Traditionally such procurement and supply function has been carried out by technical superintendents so they will always be fully aware of the maintenan ce requirements and status of spare parts and repair.Completely outsourcing the function to another organization could result in the loss of control and loss of critical business contacts in the marketplace. Also then, reliance on a third party for such procurement and supply could be detrimental to the performance of the vessel in ase of non performance or poor performance which might be realized only after the problem occurs. Perhaps a better way to manage the sourcing and supply of spare parts on board ships would be to invest in an integrated software solution linking planned maintenance systems, spare part requisitions and approved vendor database worldwide, to optimize supply management.The procurement and supply part of the can work closely with the technical department or be a subset of the technical department itself. As the maintenance system will be linked to the spare part equisition and supply system, the technical superintendent retains overview and control on this asp ect at all times whilst being able to focus on his primary responsibilities. All planned maintenance is scheduled into the system and spare parts required to perform each maintenance item will also be part of the database.Standard inventory of parts must always be maintained and a requisition for supply of these will be automatically generated for the superintendent's approval as and when a planned maintenance Job is recorded on board the vessel system as complete. The age of the internet and speed of communication between ship and shore as well as amongst parties ashore has changed drastically. Automated information interchange and highly intelligible databases have made online purchasing and inventory maintenance very easy and efficient.Vendor approval and management could be an integrated part of the software solution and any requirement of spare parts supply would come with a recommended approved vendor list which could be targeted for action. A variety of sourcing strategies co uld then be used for procurement of spares onsidering the technical complexity, lead time necessary, logistical issues etc. To help in formulation of appropriate sourcing and competitive strategies, KralJic (1983) developed a simple positioning matrix based on these factors.This model could be applied by the purchasing department for procuring different spare parts with different levels of complexity in terms of source, logistics, coat, lead time etc. Pareto's 80/20 rule may be applied to classify spares into A, B and C class items and determine strategic positioning and risk. Environmental and ethical issues are of growing concern as regulators continue to ighten the already stringent regulations for garbage disposal at sea. All supplies that come on board the vessel packaged substantially and this eventually generates waste on board.A conscious effort needs to be made to push suppliers to use more eco friendly and bio degradable packaging and to have the vessel return all unwanted packaging back to the supplier for safe and eco friendly disposal ashore rather than disposal at sea or incineration. Instructions must be sent to all Vendor management and approvals must include vetting for compliance with standards like ISO 14001 etc. Another important supply management area for the company is bunkers. Fuel oil, diesel oil and lube oils supplied on board vessels are referred to as bunkers and more commonly the work bunkers denotes fuel oil.Challenges faced here are mainly to do with availability, pricing and quality of bunkers stemmed. Since bunkers are supplied worldwide, optimal ports are identified for good quality and reasonably priced procurement. Several vendors are used at various ports worldwide and price negotiations are tough with little guarantee of quality at several of these. Bunker for vessel management and could be integrated with same. Such bunker supply modules help in optimizing bunker stems and also include capability of having an approved vend or database.Hedging against bunker price volatility is another tool that must be considered as the price of fuel oil in the recent times has shown extreme volatility in the short term. Experts must be employed to carry out this function in house or alternatively hedge incorporated supply contracts must be negotiated with standard supplier groups who have the capability to supply bunkers t most major and frequent bunkering ports around the world. Such activity would effectively reduce the risk of exposure to extreme price fluctuations. Besides supply management of goods, the company also faces challenges in the supply management of services.All ships need to be manned with a suitable regulated complement of officers and crew members. These crew members are contracted for a certain period and proper rotation of staff upon completion of contracts poses a logistical challenge. The supply of manpower to each vessel involves a rostering and planning process which becomes highly complex du e to a arge gamut of regulatory requirements on competency, standards and other facets. The crew manning department struggles to have the right people on board the right vessel at the right time and there is a constant struggle with retention rates as well.Resumes of all crew members are manually updated and maintained and the rostering as well is performed manually. An electronic system or module to cover this function will be extremely significant in increasing the departments efficiency and eventually benefit the overall organization as retention rates increase and crew erformance is enhanced. The strategic supply wheel (Cousins, 2006) suggests that it is imperative to maintain an alignment of corporate and supply policies. There seems to be good alignment of policies within KLSM and as a small company with less than 50 staff, this is relatively easy to implement.With acute cost focus without compromise on quality of critical items, the strategy is uniform and understood by all i nvolved. Overall KLSM deals with several unique supply chain management challenges because of the nature of the company's functions and ships trading worldwide. An overall efficient supply management strategy implemented at all levels would become almost imperative for successful achievement of the company's goals which is primarily safe, efficient and cost effective maintenance of the ships and their operations.A comprehensive software solution to replace a lot of the traditional manual work in relation to supply management will certainly help optimize outcome, considerably improve cost efficiency and mitigate risk inherent in the manual system. Careful selection from available range of software in the marketplace will need to be one and suitable packages compared before making the important decision of which product to use.Training of all staff involved with operations both on board ships and ashore will then become necessary to fully exploit the software's capabilities and achiev e desired results.