Implenting Lean Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Implenting Lean - Case Study Example (Womack and Jones, 1996). USA was the first country where the concept of "Lean" has been adopted in service or non-manufacturing concerns. (Womack and Jones, 1996). The advantages and benefits are now known and accepted by almost all top managers. However, there is still a bit of a hesitation in implementing "Lean" in service and non-manufacturing organizations. The reason is not that they do not want to implement the change but rather because they are unaware of the process involved. This paper seeks to describe the modalities and implications of implementing "Lean" in service and non-manufacturing organizations with a reference to the concept of Kaizen as a Continuous Improvement (CI) agent. Simply stated, Lean thinking is about achieving more with less. It is not about 'sweating the assets' but about carefully analyzing how best to achieve a given result with the purpose of utilizing resources to their best advantage. In broad terms Lean is usually defined as elimination of waste and things that do not add any value as defined by the customer. It is also pertinent to note at this stage that "Lean" principles are alternatively known by a number of synonyms e.g. Lean Manufacturing, Lean Production, Toyota Production System, etc. But whatever the name given to the process, this definition holds well. Advantages of Lean in Service Organizations Lean is not just a concept to be implemented at various tiers; it is also a commitment at all levels that can bring about dynamic and far-reaching changes in the very culture of an organization. Its advantages are more pronounced and identifiable in manufacturing concerns but service and non-manufacturing organizations can also reap the same benefits. Some of the advantages of implementing Lean in service environment are as follows:- It can not only improve the standard of services but also increase the competitiveness of the people involved. It can resolve severe organizational problems by uniting the change efforts

Business Strategy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 3

Business Strategy - Assignment Example These analyses have assisted the report to evaluate the critical success factors of the organisation. It has also assisted to design various strategic recommendations for the organisation such as STP strategy, Horizontal and Vertical integration and Ansoff’s Matrix. These strategies have been illustrated to suggest the future activities of the organisation to acquire a strong position in the different market segments of Singapore. Value based pricing and cost plus pricing strategies have been recommended for the new as well as existing product line of the organisation. These strategies will assist the organisation to attract new consumers towards their products and services to improve their global market growth. The report is focused on analysing the strategic position of Quirky Inc. to recommend a competitive positioning for the organisation in the Singapore market. In the first stage the analysis of the current strategic position of the organisation will emphasise the internal as well as external environmental analysis of the organisation. This analysis will allow the assessment of key driving forces and critical success factors of the organisation. In the next stage the report will evaluate various strategic options for expanding the business in the Singapore market. It will also provide valuable recommendations to assist the proper execution of the strategies. Quirky Inc. was founded by Ben Kaufman in 2009 and it’s currently situated only in New York. It is a crowd sourcing company specialized in formulating the innovative ideas of the population. The organisation not only encourages inventors to submit their innovative ideas they also assist them to develop new product as per those ideas. The website of the organisation also allows people to sell their innovative range of products. The organisation has strong partnership with various digital retail outlets for instances, Best Buy

Business Process Reengineering in Service Sector

Business Process Reengineering in Service Sector Over the years, there has been a realization that for all businesses, manufacturing or service, change is key to success. Increasing costs, challenging timelines, cutthroat competition, and technological innovations are some of the major factors propelling change. Since most of the services are people / process oriented, the change is not easy to carry. Add to it, the fast vanishing geographical boundaries make the tasks even more difficult for the organizations. Whether the company operates in manufacturing sector or in services; organizations have been forced to rethink their strategies. Many a time, service sector has been ahead of manufacturing in the Business Process Reengineering queue. Improved Product / Service quality, reduced cycle time, reduced cost to the customer are direct outcomes of BPR. BPR is essentially different from other changes in an organization that it defies the Old wine in a new bottle principle. Business Process Reengineering is by definition, the means by which an organization can achieve radical change in performance as measured by cost, cycle time, service, and quality, by the application of a variety of tools and techniques that focus on the business as a set of related customer-oriented core business processes rather than a set of organizational functions. The shift is imminent. Competition is now global as against Local or regional in the past. Markets are focused in comparison to Mass. Operations are flexible in contrast to controlled. The focus is on Best service than performance. BPR is the answer as it talks of radical change vis-a-vis Traditional approach which limits itself to incremental changes. Business Process Reengineering involves tinkering with the organizations DNA and producing an evolved species. The mistake companies tend to make is pick the wrong process to be reengineered, or make only superficial changes. According to James A. Champy one of the founders of the management theory behind Business Process Reengineering, and proponent of a process oriented view of business management, BPR is not just about reducing cost but also improving quality, speed to market and changing the customer experience. Why BPR? The changing economic environment has led to an increasing interest in improving organizational processes to enhance business performance. BPR has been instrumental in success of various organizations. Sidikat, Ayanda (2008) in paper titiled, Impact Assessment of Business Process Reengineering on Organisational Performance concluded that business process reengineering has become useful weapon for any corporate organization that is seeking for improvement in their current organizational performance and intends achieve cost leadership strategy in its operating industry and environment. Different objectives of BPR include: Reduced transaction process time Improved customer service Increased volume of business Reduced operating cost Higher profitability Improved Employee loyalty Key enablers of BPR BPR involves a rationale change at every level of organization starting with top management. The most important thing to keep in mind while implementing any such exercise is to work across processes and not functions. Equally important is to have a strong internal team that is working on the implementation. Key enablers of BPR can be listed as follows: People Management Leadership Organizational Culture Functional Expertise Instantaneous reaction Performance Indictors Quality, Lead Time, Cost, Service Service Sector in India The service sector has experienced rapid growth over the years as many nations including India shifted from a manufacturing-based economy to a service economy. A major spur in this shift happened as a result of computerization and advancements in telecommunication. Along with this shift, the consumers expectations have grown manifold. It is extremely difficult to meet desired service levels in todays age without a shift from age old systems to high-tech advanced systems. Before discussing about BPR in service sector, a brief list of different Service sectors is as follows. Trade Hotels and Restaurants Railways Other Transport Storage Communication (Post, Telecom) Banking Insurance Dwellings, Real Estate Business Services Public Administration; Defense Personal Services Community Services Other Services BPR Service Sector Though Business Process Reengineering has been instrumental in changing the fate of many manufacturing industries, it has played an equally pivotal role in service sector. Additional Ps People Process that differentiate Services from Products along with PhysicaI Evidence are the most important drivers leading to this overhaul. Suzanne Wintrob (1995) in research paper titled It wont work if users kept in dark discussed the incomparable role of people in Business Process Reengineering. According to Sunil Chandiramani, National Director Advisory services, Ernst Young, The external team (consultants) can facilitate the process, but it has to be led by the internal team. In recent past, many service sector companies have successfully seen the transition from being overloaded with papers to technology driven time-saving systems. In India, with government giving a go-ahead to private players in 90s, public sector companies felt the heat and started losing market share to private counterparts. The private companies implemented modern centralized core processing systems. Banking is one of many Indian industries where this transition holds true. Indian Post and Indian Railways are other two takers of this dynamism. Banking Finance Public Sector Banks in India are the building blocks of Indian economy. Ironically, they had been deprived of all modernized systems till late 90s. They offered the most basic services such as manual deposits and withdrawals as compared to a bouquet of services such as facility of ATM, 24-hour banking, E-banking, M-banking provided today. State Bank of India is one such example which had undertaken a massive computerization effort to automate all its branches, implementing a highly customized version of Bankmaster core banking system. However, because of Banks historic use of manual systems void of centralization and problems in communication systems, it had to resort to decentralized system to start with. The need for reengineering arose because SBI along with other public sector counterparts started losing existing customers and were handicapped to tap the ever growing potential of middle class. In 2000, SBI engaged KPMG for this overhaul and in 2002, KPMG recommended an IT driven systems to counter the private players led competition. To start with 3300 branches were selected for implementation which was later expanded to 14600 of SBI affiliate branches considering unparalleled success. SBI planned to provide a single window system, better customer service, wanted to reach out to urban as well as rural population and control the customer switching along with many other objectives that it sought. The biggest problem that drove this restructuring for this Public sector giant was that since branches were not connected, the customer was a Branch customer rather than a Bank customer. Moreover Information Technology till now, was aimed only at Internal efficiency. Hence, it was planned to share operations for back-office functions and rework the workflows and processes. Indian Postal System BPR has aimed at radical improvements by means of elevating efficiency and effectiveness of the business processes that exist within and across department. The key for BPR is to look at business processes from a clean slate perspective and determine how they can best construct these processes to improve the way business is conducted. Department of Posts occasionally conducts workshops related to BPR involving the people such as Nodal Officers who are part of BPR strategy and implementation. India Post has been making several upgradations to existing systems and has started offering bouquet of services such as Money Transfers, One-stop bill payment (Telephone, electricity), Driving license renewals etc. Speed Post, started by Department of Posts in August 1986 for providing time-bound and express delivery of letters documents and parcels across the nation and abroad, is the market leader in the domestic express industry. Through ePOST service launched in 2004, customers can send their messages to any address in India with a combination of electronic transmission and physical delivery through a network of more than 1,55,000 Post Offices. ePOST sends messages as a soft copy through internet and delivered to the addressee in the form of hard copy at nominal charge of Rs 10 per A4 sheet. ePayment is a comprehensive bill payment service offered by India Post to help meet the needs of the business customers.  This allows collection of bills (telephone bills, electricity bills, university fee, school fee, insurance premia etc) on behalf of any organization. The collection is consolidated electronically using web based software and payment is made centrally through cheque from a specified post office. The payment information can be assessed online by the user. Instant Money Order (iMO), the instant on-line money transfer service, provides speed, mobility, safety and reliability for money transfer. IMO is an instant web based money transfer service through Post Offices (iMO Centre) in India between two resident individuals in Indian territory. Though the number of services offered is many, still huge gaps exist in quality as compared to international standards. To enable Department of Posts to achieve the business objectives of becoming the IT enabled complete service provider, Project Management Unit have been entrusted with the task of creating state of the art electronic network covering all its offices and all products and services including third party services and enable electronic transmission of information for conducting monitoring operations, consolidating transactions data and generating an effective MIS. Business Process Reengineering groups were formed and their reports are being evaluated by concerned Divisions of Directorate, which would form the base to make the comprehensive IT strategy and roadmap for Department of Posts. Indian Railways Its been long since computerized passenger reservation system was started by Indian Railways. Today the reservation related workload has increased manifold but railways have been able to manage the work without much increase in manpower. Different systems incorporated by railways includes- Software Aided Train Scheduling Network Governance Main objectives of train scheduling are that it should be convenient to the passenger and feasible to run on the system. Introducing new train services and augmenting older ones is an art and a select group of planners are highly skilled in this task. Indian Railways have now started using information technology to aid the planning process. Web Enabled Claims System The worlds biggest employer, the Indian Railways, which earlier used to prepare various claim (Court/Accident) documents manually, has shifted to web claims format which maintains up to date database of all such cases. Thereby, eliminating complex file maintenance providing for queries that gives the precise status of registered cases in Chief Claims Office. Punctuality Module This module was implemented in February, 2004. This module captures the delays involved in train running at interchange points and detention causes for the delays at the divisional level. Based on this input, reports are generated for traffic managers. CONCERT Country-wide Network for Computerized Enhanced Reservation and Ticketing developed by CRIS, is a total networking solution to Indian Railways Passenger Reservation System. Seat Availability/PNR/Journey Planner/Fare/Time Table enquiries and e-Reservation of tickets are available on the internet. Along with above initiatives, ATM integration with reservation/enquiry system is being planned as well. A number of Banks in India shall be issuing Reserved and Unreserved Tickets through their ATMs under an arrangement with Zonal Railways. It is not only the old stalwarts who have reengineered. Even the private sector and novice companies in upcoming sectors have seen this change. For Spencers, RPG Groups retail chain, massive ramp-up in operations necessitated a series of restructurings. The chain planned to increase from an area of 2.5 lakh square feet to 15 lakh square ft i.e. from 52 to 400 stores. This meant that the older systems were no longer adequate. Hence, instead of doing an incremental improvement on the existing processes, the company introduced an automatic replenishment system. This has resulted in decreased stockouts and increasing efficiency. It may be concluded that BPR initiatives have less to do with controlling costs and more about managing business, which underlines the importance of this concept.

Essay --

‘Of Mice and Men’ is based on the experiences of a migrant farmer, set in 1930’s America. The characters are also symbolized as realistic people, but influenced by the issues and circumstances based on the Wall Street crash, the American Dream and being set after WWI. I empathies for these characters for the consequences of these historical events are what to have made ‘Of Mice and Men’ a tragedy in relation to loneliness. Each character had the idea of their own American Dream, whether it was based on money, status, happiness, and so on. Yet unfortunately, only the reader realizes that they will never be fulfilled. George and Lennie’s dream of their own ranch conveyed to me as their own image of Heaven. The opening descriptions of Section One, such as the water was â€Å"twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight† quoted in chapter 1, convey to me on how Lennie and George travel on their journey to hopefully recreate these experiences as their ranch, for the sands were â€Å"a few miles south of Soledad† also stated in chapter 1, a land represented of loneliness and depression, which ...

Imperialism Debate Essay

The dominance came every now and then by force of arms, but frequently It occurred because of trade and businesses. At this point, It allowed Imperial powers to the influence the selected civilization. While the Imperials ruled, they usually ‘robbed' the land of Its resources with little payback. These schemes obviously allowed for the imperial powers to gain a large profit and gain dominance. Imperialism was an effective and successful way for civilized countries to gain control over an indigenous countries. So, America should not become an imperial power.Core Democratic Value: Liberty Liberty is the one of the core values of American Constitutional Democracy. But this Liberty should include personal, political, economic freedom of not only American but also all nations. Imperialism based on ideas of superiority and nationalism robbed liberty of the subject country and their human rights In order to gain political, economic, and military benefits. For example, by the late sass , Americans wanted to annex Hall because of Its abundant natural resources and cultivatable lands.America, therefore, began a program of Imperialism In Hawaii and forced political and economic change. Queen Alkalinity wanted to end America's influence over Hawaii and created a new constitution. However, the United States denied it, soon took over the government office at Hawaii, and established complete control over Hawaii. American imperialism robbed economic and political freedom of Hawaii. Data: ‘If a strong people try to govern a weak one against its will, the home government will get despotic, too.You cannot maintain despotism in Asia and a republic In America. If you try to deprive even a savage or a barbarian of his Just rights you can never do It without becoming a savage or a barbarian yourself. ‘ ? Senator George F. Hoar under the pretext of spreading democracy and a Western value system, America's military intervene causes our endless warfare and the sacrifice of young military people. Ongoing Afghanistan civil war could be a good example. Prior Knowledge: Japanese imperialism robbed the liberty of Koreans. From 1910 to 1945, Japan occupied Korea.They forced the Koreans into Japanese culture under the pretext of civilizing the Koreans. Japanese language was taught In schools, and Japanese also forced the Koreans to change of their name in Japanese. Japan tried to destroy all records of histories of Korea and force the people with the conditionals pride to convert to Japanese ways of thinking. Hundreds of thousands of laborers were forced to work In Japanese factories and conscripted Into the armed forces, women were forced into â€Å"comfort stations† which is military brothels. While military power.As a result, imperialism deprived Koreans human rights, destroyed cultural factors, caused economic exhaustion, and lost natural resources. Counter Argument: Colonial officials, doctors, and missionaries strongly believed that all race s could be improved and uplifted by introducing Christianity, and they lived that it's their duty to conquer other nations to spread the religion, but it is opposed to the concept of individual freedom and freedom of religion. The dominating country thinks that their beliefs and laws are superior to the subjected nation.In fact, Imperialism civilizes and modernizes the underdeveloped country for the dominating country to gain economic benefits. If the dominate country uses the nationalistic or cultural factors to take control, there is a chance where the customs and the way of living of the domains will be lost. Conclusion: An average imperialist believed that imperial expansion was necessary for the arrival of their countries. Countries exercise great authority over large and varied territories populated by diversity of ethnic groups, cultures, and religions.Countries which exercise imperial power use a broad range of tools and incentives to maintain the dominance: political persua sive, economic advantages and cultural influences where possible, sometimes using force. But imperialism based on ideas of superiority and nationalism robbed liberty of the subject country and their human rights in order to gain political, economic, and military benefits. The reasons mentioned above are why America should not become imperial power.

Five Forces Model for Industry Analysis Essay

New Entrants The online bookstore industry that Amazon.com has pioneered in was, at first, very hard to penetrate. There were different barriers such as distributing capabilities and the variety of the selection offered that are supposed to be hurdled. Amazon successfully solved the tricky parameters as being the first one to get into the whole idea of online retail. With being the first, they had the luxury to set what were the norms for the industry. Factors that may lower these barrier tactics would be a wider selection and the ability to go to an actual bookstore to exchange or return books or other products. This network of â€Å"actual† retail spaces makes it easier for the consumer to return or exchange the products they were not satisfied with. These handicaps of Amazon were the basis for the emergence of book retail giants Barnes and Noble and Borders in the online shopping industry. Industry Competitors The major competitors of Amazon are Barnes and Noble and Borders. Barnes and Noble is a retail giant offering books and CDs both in their outlets all over the country. It opened their online industry in 1997 and has become the fourth largest e-commerce sites today. Focused largely on the sale of books, music, software, magazines, prints, posters, and related products, the company has capitalized on the recognized brand value of the Barnes & Noble name to become the second largest, and one of the fastest growing, online distributors of books. Their â€Å"advantage† to Amazon is the brand name and the availability of actual retail outlets in which consumers could go in to exchange or return products easily. They also have an established book selection based in their retail operations. Borders is another multi-media retail store found in major cities around the country. Started out as a small bookshop in the college town of Ann Arbor, Michigan, it has since expanded into one of the finest bookstores. In 1992,  Borders was bought by the Kmart group which further flourished the company into a Multi Media Giant with a wide selection of Audio, Video and Books found throughout the United States. The Online Bookstore industry have become a fierce business which involves discounts, varied selections and fast delivery in which all three companies are challenging each other. Buyers The consumers of this industry can be found in every corner of the population. These are mostly people who have had some form of higher education and have access to the Internet and computers. The segment of online shoppers has increased dramatically in recent years due to the convenience of shopping in the comforts of the home and the accessibility of the Internet. These developments have made it easier for consumers to log on and buy on the Internet. Consumers also tend to compare prices among the retail leaders such that buyers are able to buy products with very big discounts compared to ones bought in â€Å"actual† retail outlets. The bargaining power of the consumer is based on the competitive strategies of each active firm in the industry. Thus, consumers can challenge one firm for charging more than the other one such that the firm will beat the price of the competing firm. Suppliers Amazon’s suppliers range from the publishing and media houses to electronics’ manufacturers. Amazon buys all their books, videos and audio CDs from the multi media houses and publishing giants such as Time Warner, Doubleday etc. Amazon also has alliances with other bookstores to cover orders that they cannot serve. Substitutes The substitutes for Amazon and other online bookstores are the â€Å"actual† book  retailers and music stores such as Barnes and Nobles, Virgin Megastore, Tower Records, Sam Goody and other small mom-and-pop outlets. With the rise of online retail, there will be little impact from these substitutes. One impact would be some consumers who would like to hold or listen to their purchases prior to buying and those who are into the whole â€Å"shopping experience†. Barnes and Nobles have jumped into online retail and have succeeded into diversifying into the new e-commerce industry. Industrial Organization Model Degree of Competition Due to the shift of focus for Amazon, it has become the â€Å"Earth’s biggest anything store†. Its competitors have expanded from just online book retailers Barnes and Nobles and Borders to top audio retailers CDNOW.com and online auction house EBAY.com. Amazon has an overall lead of 40% market share against the other online retail firms. Their international business has more than doubled over the past 2 years and this growth increased Amazon’s share in the online business market. Life Cycle Amazon, in it’s first years, had negative income but the rise of e-commerce sites and being the pioneer made the succeeding years led to boom time for them. Their growth period was during 1994 to 1995 when they were the first of its kind in the world. They incurred very high costs in terms of distributions to customers. Still with a negative income, Amazon went public in 1997 and had one of the biggest IPOs of the time. With investors banking on future positive cash flow for this company, Amazon’s market value soared. Many people caught on with the idea of online shopping, thus, Amazon’s success. Amazon’s success as an online retailer prompted bricks-and-mortar rivals Barnes and Noble and Borders to join in. Competition decreased Amazon’s profitability so in the past couple of years, Amazon has expanded to more than books, audio and video to electronics and other retail concepts. Social Relevance Amazon’s products are marketed for every consumer possible. Books, audio, video and electronics are appreciated by majority of the population especially those who have access to the Internet. Amazon is active in pursuing literacy programs for young children by collaborating with the makers of the Dr. Seuss books. They have actively participated in the Dr. Seuss shops, story telling sessions and Dr. Seuss days. Degree of Globalization Amazon’s strength internationally lies within its networks in major ports and cities around the Globe. Amazon first started out in Seattle but as soon as they have established a niche market, they have opened shop all over the nation and in cities such as London, Berlin, The Hague, Paris, Tokyo, Singapore and many more. These branches overseas improves their delivery service to a wide consumer base. Extent of Government Control There has not been many government regulations regarding online retailing. A group of CEOs whose firms that are engaged in such practices have formed an organization called Global Business Dialogue. This GBD group supports the development of a seamless global system that delivers the broadest array of goods and services to the largest number of consumers at the most competitive prices. This work effort will: offer recommendations to the WTO, including making the moratorium on online tariffs permanent; and collaborate with governments to target and eliminate discriminations against, or other non-tariff barriers to global trade in, electronic commerce. This working group will also provide an avenue for the GBDs to consider and promote the growth of the electronic marketplace in an environment unencumbered by detrimental taxation. Degree of Vertical Integration Amazon’s primary value chain includes purchasing/sourcing, marketing, distribution and after-sales services, which includes returns and exchanges from unsatisfied customers. Their main focus is in the purchasing/sourcing and in the distribution of the products to the consumers. Their investments are therefore, geared towards warehouses in key points of high consumer demand areas and an efficient delivery and distributing system to service all its consumers. Thus, Amazon controls most of its distributing system that spans across borders. Inter Organization of Network Economics Amazon in its efforts to sustain its market leadership in the online retailing industry has tied up with various online organizations. Netscape Navigator and Amazon will offer members of Netscape Netcenter a co-branded storefront where Earth’s Biggest Bookstore will be easily accessed through Netscape Netcenter (home.netscape.com). In addition, Amazon.com has multi-year exclusive and premier bookseller relationships with 5 of the top 6 sites on the World Wide Web: AOL.com, Yahoo!, Netscape, GeoCities, and Excite. These partnerships widen Amazon’s presence in the World Wide Web. Sensitivity to Business Cycles The Online retailing business has a very quick cyclical growth. Amazon being one of the firsts to venture in this type of commerce are all ready in what seems to be in their decline stage where market share is declining. Therefore, Amazon is expanding to different industries within online retailing. Amazon and other online retailing firms are very sensitive to business cycles due to the speed of technology involved in the services they offer. Dynamics of New Knowledge Generation Online retailing relies on the work of an excellent distribution system. Amazon has invested their money into expanding their network of distribution centers around the globe. They also have investments in creating better  technology for tracking orders and giving efficient delivery systems for their customers. Amazon.com has remained on top of the online retailing business despite the entrance of giants such as Barnes and Nobles and Borders. Their success is attributed to two factors; timing and continuing to invest heavily into the inventory and distribution systems. Amazon, by being the first of its kind, has a big lead over the nearest competitors due to their experience and its reputation as the first movers. Their thrust remains on improving efficient delivery systems across borders and to build name recognition as the number one retailing firm in the Internet. They have also ventured into different retail options to keep that lead. Marketing, Innovative inventory and distribution systems, and name recall have helped Amazon build a sustainable competitive advantage. In order for any online retail company to remain prosperous and income generating, they must invest a lot of time and money into research and development of more efficient operations and distributions systems. This proved to be key for the Market Leader in online retailing, Amazon.Com.