Hupalo O. - Iryna Steshenko Essays - Legislators, Legislatures

Hupalo O. - Iryna Steshenko Essays - Legislators, Legislatures Hupalo Olha Inp-32 Iryna Steshenko as a translator of Anglophone literature Iryna Steshenko is a spectacular Ukrainian actress and a prominent translator. She was brought up in a family where people treasured folk traditions and customs. All members of her family were related to literature, education and Ukrainian culture in general. In order to get to know her better as a translator, we should dive deeper into her biography. Iryna Steshenko was born on July 5, 1898, in Kyiv. She is the daughter of Ivan M. Steshenko and Oksana Steshenko, the cousin of Lesya Ukraiinka and the granddaughter of Mykhailo Starytsky - the coryphaeus of the Ukrainian Theatre . Iryna Steshenko was the last representative of the renowned ancestry, which, after her death in 1987, ceased to exist. From early childhood, she began studying foreign languages. At the age of three, she had a governess from Germany and at five - from France. Hence she obtained a good command of those languages. In 1918 she graduated from the Faculty of Philology of Higher Women's Studies in Kyiv. After graduation, in addition to her mother language, she was fluent in Russian, German, French, and English. Not every woman back then had the opportunity to obtain such solid and versatile knowledge. In 1920 Iryna Steshenko graduated from the Lysenko Music and Drama Institute. It was then that Pavlo Tychyna - Taras Shevchenko Theatre dramaturge at that time - approached her and asked to translate some comedies by Moliere. These were The Bourgeois Gentleman , The Imaginary Invalid , Scapin the Schemer . Tychyna would later edit her translations to be suitable for the theatre. These plays were often featured in Ukrainian theatres. After that Iryna Steshenko was paying more and more attention to the artistic translation, and from 1949 she devoted herself to it completely. The achievements of Iryna Steshenko as a translator are particularly notable, because she, as a person with a solid education and as a descendant of famous writers, had an extraordinary feeling of the Ukrainian language; she knew it perfectly and used it skilfully . The language of her translations is academic and graceful, but at the same time, it is alive and natural. From the very beginning, Steshenko as a translator set very strict requirements to herself. The translation, in her opinion, is a creative obsession with the work which one translates and its author, not the mechanic "transference" into another language, albeit being done at a high professional level. A translated work must feel as if it was written in the target language: only the stylistic characteristics, peculiarities of thinking and the details of everyday life should tell a reader that it is the work of a writer of another nation. She worked solely with the original pieces and was very indignan t at the offer to translate from Russian to Ukrainian. In her translations she paid great attention to the logical cohesion of phrases in lines and stanzas, to euphony of verses and to the natural ease of speech as well as to the rendition of the inner force pertained to the source language idiom. Steshenko skilfully reproduced verbal images of both representatives of the highest class of society and ordinary people. It distinguishes her among other translators, especially considering the current tendency to use taboo vocabulary in translations and original works. Among contemporary Ukrainian translators who dealt with the works of William Shakespeare, Iryna Steshenko is the most productive . She translated six of his pieces: The Merchant of Venice (1950), Othello (1950), Romeo and Juliet (1952), Much Ado About Nothing (1952), The Comedy of Errors (1954), The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1963). I was lucky to happen upon her translation of plays Much Ado About Nothing (1-2) and Romeo and Juliet (3) . Here are some interesting cases. Beatrice and Benedict's speech is a powerful source of wordplay in the original text. The puns were very popular in the days of Elizabethan England and Shakespeare's texts are full of them . Benedick : O God , sir , here's a dish I love not : I cannot endure my Lady Tongue : ! ... , ; Messenger : And a good soldier too , lady

Idioms About Units of Measure

Idioms About Units of Measure Idioms About Units of Measure Idioms About Units of Measure By Mark Nichol A number of idiomatic expressions refer (often hyperbolically, or with lighthearted exaggeration) to units of English measure to describe something figuratively or make an observation. This post lists and explains many such phrases. To be â€Å"every inch a (something)† or â€Å"every inch the (something)† is to so closely match a stereotypical look or embody a trait that the comparison holds thoroughly, figuratively, from beginning to end. â€Å"Within an inch of (one’s) life† means â€Å"to an extreme degree†; to beat someone to within an inch of that person’s life is to physically attack that person so severely that he or she is very close to (figuratively, an inch away from) death. To move by inches, or inch by inch, or to inch along (or inch one’s way along) is to progress very slowly, in very short increments, whether literally or figuratively. (Other prepositions may, depending on the context, replace along.) â€Å"Come within an inch of† refers figuratively to very nearly accomplishing a goal or experiencing something. The phrase â€Å"every inch† (sometimes â€Å"every square inch†) hyperbolically refers to complete coverage, as in â€Å"Every inch of the room was strewn with toys.† To say â€Å"Give (someone) an inch and (that person) will take a mile† is to express that someone given a modest concession will take advantage to extract more from the giver. â€Å"Give an inch,† on its own (or â€Å"Budge an inch† or â€Å"Move an inch†), is usually part of a statement alluding to someone’s unwillingness to compromise, as in â€Å"You never give an inch.† To say that someone does not trust someone else an inch is to express an utter lack of faith in that person. Something that is inch-perfect is extremely accurate or well judged. Idioms that include the word foot almost invariably pertain to the anatomic feature rather than the unit of measurement, but to say that one would not touch a person or a thing with a ten-foot pole suggests in no uncertain terms that one does not want to be associated with that person or thing. The phrase â€Å"all wool and a yard wide† alludes to the high quality of a person or an object, while to say that someone goes or went â€Å"the whole nine yards† expresses that the person is or was very thorough in accomplishing something. A country mile is a longer-than-expected distance, perhaps from the notion that traveling a mile in a rural area seems longer than passing over that distance in a more congested area. The expression â€Å"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step† expresses that a formidable task is easily begun by focusing on a small initial effort. â€Å"A mile a minute† suggests doing something, such as talking, at extreme speed in a state of excitement. To say that someone can detect or observe something from a mile away hyperbolically suggests that the thing is easily noticed; however, to say that someone is miles away (or a million miles away) is to note that the person is preococcupied and not attending to a nearby activity, while to be miles from anywhere or nowhere is to literally be physically isolated. Saying that someone is a mile off or missed by a mile means that the person is mistaken or wrong to a great degree; the latter can also literally refer to someone missing a target by far or being very inaccurate in aim. â€Å"A miss is as good as a mile† means that a small failure is as just as significant as a large one. To be miles apart from agreement suggests that the parties are very much opposed. The phrase â€Å"by a mile† refers hyperbolically to accomplishing or failing to accomplish something by a significant amount. â€Å"For miles† (and â€Å"for miles and miles†), however, neutrally refers to at least several miles in such statements as â€Å"The property extends for miles in each direction.† To go the extra mile is to make greater effort than is required, while something that stands out or sticks out a mile is extremely obvious. â€Å"More bounce for the ounce† is slang referring to getting more value for one’s money with one product or investment than another. â€Å"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure† means that a minimal amount of forethought has the same value as a significant expenditure of effort to resolve an issue that developed because of lack of foresight. Other comparisons are made between commonsense and theory and between discretion and wit (in the latter case, encouraging people to withhold clever comments that may embarrass another person). To pack or pile on the pounds is to quickly gain weight. The phrase â€Å"pound for pound† means â€Å"considering the weight involved.† (In combat sports such as boxing, participants who compete in different weight classes are sometimes ranked in skills according to various criteria; this type of ranking is called â€Å"pound for pound.†) â€Å"Pound of flesh,† from Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice, alludes to an unreasonable debt, based on the character Shylock’s insistence on receiving a pound of flesh that a borrower agreed, with overconfidence, to surrender as collateral. The phrase â€Å"800-pound gorilla† refers metaphorically to an entity so powerful that it can ignore limitations others are bound to. (It alludes to the riddle â€Å"Where does an 800-pound gorilla sit?† the answer to which is â€Å"Wherever it wants.) The phrase â€Å"come down on (one) like a ton of bricks† figuratively expresses that punishment will be or has been dealt out severely, as if the person being punished was or will be buried beneath a crushing weight. When someone refers to â€Å"tons of† something, he or she is hyperbolically expressing abundance. To say that something â€Å"weighs a ton† is to exaggerate the weight of an object that must be carried or lifted that is unexpectedly or excessively heavy. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to Format a UK Business LetterAbstract Nouns from Adjectives5 Examples of Insufficient Hyphenation

Risk Management in Practice (an air-monitoring programme is planned) Essay

Risk Management in Practice (an air-monitoring programme is planned) - Essay Example Sick building symptom has no particular contributing factors associated except in cases of carbon monoxide headaches or eye irritation with formalydehyde. Other symptoms of sick building syndrome include cough, malaise, fatigue, chest tightness, and eye and mucus lining irritation. Although some of these symptoms are linked to stress and perception of air quality, significant sources like bioaerosols and synergism of two or more chemicals are also contributing factors since symptoms are relieved upon leaving the buiding (NC employees’ workplace program requirements for safety and health, n.d). Multiple chemical syndrome is demonstrated in employees who demonstrate a combination of symptoms which include fatigue, dejection, petulance, headaches, food bigotry and gastrointestinal distress. Although factories are recommended to have air monitoring programs to monitor the condition of air within the factory, there are potential limitations. This paper explores the potential limitations in air monitoring with respect to contact assessment and offers ways on how to trounce these limitations. In addition, the paper compares the results of exposure to other hygiene standards. The two main approaches used to identify and quantify airborne contaminants are direct-reading instruments for onsite use and air samples laboratories analysis (Lippitt, Webb & Martin, 2000). Direct reading instruments serve factory employers and employees with early warnings especially in case of a leak or an accident that could result to elevation of a given chemical concentration. Using direct reading instruments is however limited to the fact that only the qualitative data of specific classes of chemicals is detected and measured. This implies that this approach is not appropriate in providing qualitative data when there are multiple classes of contaminants in the

IT in Finance Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

IT in Finance Industry - Essay Example If I have to do this project again, I will plan a version management system and instruct the team members to strictly follow it and verify the version of the files before uploading them to the live server. First and foremost, always have up to date reliable anti-virus software with an Internet Firewall installed in the system. It is not possible to eliminate all threats as hackers and malware programmers cannot be eliminated. So the best policy is to prevent such attempts. In case a threat is encountered, the user has to report the issue to the anti-virus software provider, so that the provider can issue a fix for that threat as well. The system administrators can have security certificates and encryptions included in their web applications so that it is impossible for anybody to include viral software in the web application and spread it across the web. As far as a backup system is considered, reliability is far more important than the features included. The main reason for using a backup system is to restore the original system if it encounters a sudden threat or gets corrupted. The backup system has to be reliable and error free so that it can actually serve its purpose. Limited features are sufficient for a backup system, as they do not play major role. In order to provide uninterrupted service to the end users, it is always essential that the backup system is reliable and is always ready to be used as a substitute. In this case, resolving the problem depends on the nature of the issue and at times, even on the level of technical knowledge of the user. In any case, the basic things to check in the event of a complaint are: The first thing to do is to stop continuing the changes try and reverse the changes done recently. It is best practice to take a screen shot or record the steps that are being taken. The database has to be checked to verify if the

Song of Myself Essay Example for Free

Song of Myself Essay ‘Song of Myself’ is one of the most representative poems of Walt Whitman. It reveals what Walt Whitman is and what he stands for. In this poem, the poet discovers himself and gives the boldest expression to his true and ever expanding poetic-self defying all the limitations. In fact, it is a voyage of the self into the realms of imagination in an attempt to find its true nature. The poem celebrates his joy of finding his limitless and unbounded self identifying with the universal spirit. It is a journey from the individual self to the universal self. The poet expresses himself joyfully with the ‘original energy of nature which is unchecked and in exhaustive. The opening lines prepare the readers for an unprecedented flight of imagination. â€Å"He says, I CELEBRATE myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. † (Section-1) Whitman directly expresses the universality of the self and indirectly suggests the equality of all. He expresses the true nature of the self. He feels it is common to all and everyone has the same self. Everyone in the world has an equal claim on this world. He identifies his physical self and makes a distinction between the physical self of the poet and universal self of the poet. In the third stanza he says, †¦. form’d from this soil, this air, Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same, I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin, Hoping to cease not till death. (Section-1) The identity of the poet is revealed here. He was born to his parents and he was thirty seven years old enjoying robust health. These lines throw light on the personal life of the author. With this identity he starts his journey into the realms of freedom and equality where he finds himself perfectly in tune with the universe. He enjoys himself in his physical self and feels contented. He has neither worries nor any anxieties. He does not consider this life as preparation for the next. He is absolutely happy about his life and happy about what he is. The mention of soil and air clearly reveal that he is conscious of the world where he has come from. The poet is very happy with this beautiful world. The fresh air breathes new spirit in him. He identifies himself with nature and he wants to be as close to nature. He does not like anything to come in between himself and nature. He wants to be honest with nature. Here, we find the poet equating nakedness with honesty. He says, I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked, I am mad for it to be in contact with me. (Section-2) He rejoices himself being close to nature. The proximity with nature gives him vitality and strength. He totally identifies himself with the soil, water and air. He says, My respiration and inspiration, the beating of my heart, the passing of blood and air through my lungs, The sniff of green leaves and dry leaves, and of the shore. (Section-2) The poet celebrates himself for being a part of such wonderful nature. He is neither worried nor concerned about any thing that may happen in future. He is very much concerned with the present. He is down to the earth practical, and at the same time, he expresses the wisdom of living in the present instead of thinking about future and worrying about the past. He expresses his happiness saying, â€Å"I am satisfied—I see, dance, laugh, and sing. † He has no complaints about the present and his presence in this world. He says he is not blind to the problems and evil in this world. But he does not allow them to spoil his happiness and his celebration. His reference to â€Å"myself† refers to his soul. It is the essence of his personality. He identifies the soul of the speaker is the soul in everyone. It is the universal self. It is quite untouched by the sufferings of the world. In fact, Whitman identifies the speaker of the poem with the birth of his poetic self. The newly born poet finds himself joyful and happy. The poet mentions that the spirit of the poet is a brother of god. He says, â€Å"And I know that the hand of God is the promise of my own, And I know that the spirit of God is the brother of my own, And that all the men ever born are also my brothers, and the women and my sisters and lovers, And that a kelson of the creation is love. † (Section-5) Whitman says the new self of the poet identifies itself with everything in nature. It identifies itself with a blade of grass. He feels the grass represents the same what a man represents. The awakened self of the poet strikes a common cord with the creative forces of the world. He says: A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands, How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is anymore than he. The grass stands as symbol for equality. It also represents the creative spirit in the world. He then goes on listing the things he has seen in American life, the joys, the worries, the celebration of the human race and celebration of everyday life. He describes the people he has met on his travels. He accepts them all without any complaints against them. Here, the poet shows his maturity of understanding and his modesty in accepting everything that life offers him. He does not question anything nor suspect any one. He describes himself as a lover of life. He says in the section 13 of the poem, he is a caresser of life wherever moving, backward as well as forward sluing. Absorbing all to myself and for this song. (Section-13) He strikes a beautiful comparison between his nature and the grass. He says: This is the grass that grows wherever the land is and the water is, this the common air that bathes the globe. As the grass grows every where he also respects everything and everyone in this world. He says, I play not marches for accepted victors only, I play marches for conquerd and slain persons, and I will not have a single person slighted or left away. (Section-18) Thus, the speaker in the poem, the new born poet shows a compassionate spirit and rejoices himself. The intensity in the search for the true meaning increases as the poem progresses. He asks in a philosophical tone, â€Å"Who goes there? Hankering, gross, mystical, nude: How is it I extract strength from the beef I eat? What is a man anyhow? What am I? What are you? † He is not dazzled by these questions nor withdraws himself to silence. He expresses himself and answers the questions he has raised. He says, In all people I see myself, none more and not one a barley-corn less, And the good or bad I say of myself I say of them. (Section-20) He also adds saying, I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul, the pleasures of heaven are with me and pains of hell are with me. (Section-21) He rightly expresses that his poetry is a combination of both body and soul. There is something for the soul and there is something for the body. He mixes these things as naturally as a forest mixes different trees. His poetry is not like a cultivated garden. It is like a jungle. It is full of nature’s bounty. It is full of variety and it is vast. Just like the poem, the poet’s self grows to be the universal self and identifies itself with multitude of people and the creation in the world. The poet’s self grows beyond any limits and reaches the borders of vast expanses. The true self of the poet is no different from the vast and expanding world of his poetry. He grows as a man; his self grows to be a universal self and his soul ripens with wisdom and understanding, having made the entire tumultuous journey. He makes it clear that his poetic voice and his realization of his true self are not two different things. They are like the twins. He says, â€Å"My voice goes after what my eyes cannot reach, With the twirl of my tongue I encompass world and volumes of worlds. Speech is the twin of my vision, it is unequal to measure itself, It provokes me forever, it says sarcastically, Walt you contain enough, why dont you let it out then? † (section-25) The poet’s identity of his voice with his poetic vision is a major leap in the journey. He realizes that the two senses reveal the same reality that he finds. He goes on exploring further and he says, I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars. (Section-31) Here, he realizes the some living force behind all the things in the world which makes them equal. He feels he is perfectly at home with everything in the world. He has no complaints nor any plans for improvement. He enjoys the sight of animals which are placid and self-contained. They are in absolute peace. He wants to live with them in that condition. He spends his time looking at them for a long time. He denounces the worries and frustrations of people as meaningless. The poet realizes the uniqueness of this realization and treats it with all the specialty and respect it commands. In the section 39 he begins speaking about himself in the third person. It is an indirect reference to what he has realized in the course of his journey. In that state of mind, wherever the poet goes he is respected and admired. He becomes the most liked person. He says, Wherever he goes men and women accept and desire him, They desire he should like them, touch them, speak to them, stay with them. He assumes the role of a guide and wants to lead the people with his realization. He says, â€Å"I launch all men and women forward with me into the Unknown. † Thus, the poet finds himself in a new role after the journey. He feels the realization he has, made him unique and this experience will be useful to the people who need guidance amid their turbulent lives.

Coal Legislation :: essays research papers

Coal   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Coal is a fossil fuel- hydrocarbon containing natural resource, much like petroleum or natural gas. It is extracted from the Earth by strip mining or underground mining. It is a readily combustible black sedimentary rock, which is one of the three main rock categories. Coal is composed of carbon and hydrocarbons, in coordination with other elements. It is the leading source of electricity the world over. It is estimated that half of the world’s electricity is powered by coal.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Coal mining in the United States is recorded to have first occurred in Virginia when 50 tons were purged from the earth in 1748 (coaleducation.org). Today, all of the states with coal deposits have produced coal at one point in America’s history as America produces over one billion tons of coal per year. Similar to the cash crops of cotton and tobacco, the business of coal mining has greatly effected the historical development of the Unites States in terms of economic growth, technological advancements, global recognition and even physical expansion. The mining of coal was one of the draws that enticed Americans to travel west and expand the United States. US coal production has reached record levels, but not all coal producing States have shared in this growth. The peak coal production in some States occurred many decades ago, whereas in other States the coal industry has been revitalized in recent times. These changes reflect shifts in the use of coal ove r the years. The legislation pertaining to coal issues has effected many aspects of American life including Manifest Destiny’s expansion westward, the federal ownership of coal lands, mine safety and health, labor issues and eventually pollution and social responsibility (bydesign.com)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Coal lands â€Å"in the public domain were governed by special legislation and were not subject to the same right of location as hard rock and petroleum deposits,† according to Utah government archives. In 1866, Congress decreed that coal bed land be sold to the highest bidder at $20 an acre. In 1873, Congress limited purchase amounts to 160 acres for individuals, 320 for associations, and 640 for associations who had already spent at least $5,000 in improving a coal mine. In doing so, Congress paved a path for railroad companies to own coal land in Utah, which provided a lucrative mixture of business ventures. This also marked the start of federal coal land ownership legislation and the introduction of mining camps, which would later incite health and safety legislation (archives.

Be Our Guest

Be Our Guest, Inc. Case Analysis Page 1 INDEX 1. Key success factors & company performance†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 3 2. Bank perspective regarding the performance†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 7 3. Bank financing perspective at the end of 1998†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 10 4. Management perspective regarding the bank financing†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 13 5. Exhibit 1 – Annual Income Statements (1994-1997)†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦17 6. Exhibit 2 – Annual Balance Sheets (1994-1997)†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 18 7. Exhibit 3 – Quarterly Income Statements 1997†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 19 8. Exhibit 4 – Quarterly Balance Sheets 1997†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦20 9. Exhibit 5 – Forecasting†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦21 10. Exhibit 6 – Annual Ratios†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 22 11. Exhibit 7 – Quarterly Ratios†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 23 Tudor Team Five Page 2 1. What are the key success factors in this equipment rental business? How has the company performed the past few years? Key Success Factors Five of the key success factors are as follows: First, the locat ion of the business is ideal for handling several projects at once. This is due to their central Boston location. The ability to handle everal projects at once gives the company a competitive edge and allows them to attain a performance as close to the full potential of the company as possible. Second, the company’s leaders have been successful in networking to primary and secondary clients. This has aided in growing a business that is based on a foundation of good company/client relationships. These strong relationships have led to significant repeat customers as a strong basis of the company’s revenue. Fostering these relationships throughout the years of the company’s existence has also led to sustained revenue growth year after year. This revenue growth is shown in the financials and, using the Compound Annual Growth Rate, it can be seen that this growth in revenue has been 14. 26% from 1994 to 1997. Third, the executive management is well experienced in the hospitality industry as well as other industries that relate to the successful operation of a business. Stephen Lizio was involved in the food and wine business prior to founding Be Our Guest in 1983. Al Lovata was previously a banker and began his relationship with Be Our Guest as a financial consultant, later joining the organization full-time as the Chief Executive Officer. Lizio and Lovata together form a foundation of strong knowledge of the hospitality Tudor Team Five Page 3 business and the vital knowledge of finance, thus giving the business a core of understanding both its industry and how to manage the money coming into the company. Simone Williamson was brought on to the team and comes from years of experience in the food service business. She also came to the company with strong networking connections in the catering industry in Boston, which further reinforces the second success factor described above. This management team is made up of members that complement ach other’s strengths, as well as provide the necessary skill sets for running a successful business. The fourth key success factor is that the company identified its business plan early on and held its course throughout the years without deviation to business expansions that would have resulted in higher profits but fewer turnovers. This can be seen in the company’s analys is of the potential of The executive team determined that this entering the tent rental market. market, though highly profitable, would result in time delays and longer turnovers and would split their core business. The team recognised that this split could result in lower profitability and splintering of the core business structure. Rather than expand into a low profit margin business â€Å"tents†, in which the management lacks market expertise, they chose to stick to their initial business plan and focus on their key strengths rather than deviate from the company's set fundamentals. This example illustrates that the company followed its original business plan and complied with its mission and vision from the beginning without deviation. In doing so, the company built a strong foundation and upheld the strength of that foundation. The fifth key success factor identified here is the high quality of service as well as the high quality of the rental equipment provided to clients. The executive team recognised early that they could compete in either price or Tudor Team Five Page 4 quality, and the team chose to compete in quality. Part of this high quality service is seen in the company’s dedication to its clients through its willingness to deliver only one table on short notice if a client is in need. Through high quality service, the company has upheld its networking connections to clients by building strong relationships. This high quality service combined with high quality rental equipment products has allowed the company to obtain a competitive edge over its competition, keep that competitive advantage, and foster strong company/client relationships throughout the years. How has the company performed the past few years? Viewpoint – Independent perspective Be Our Guest, Inc. originated in 1983 and is still thriving in a very competitive and volatile industry 14 years later. Over the past few years the company has shown significant growth. We see that Annual sales revenues have consistently risen from 1994 to 1997 with a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 14. 26%. 1997 was an impressive year for the company with a 22. 7% increase in revenues. Gross Margins were very consistent year over year for 1994 through 1997. Gross margins for 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997 were 53. 9%, 49%, 52. 63% and 55. 5%, respectively. Be Our Guest, Inc. is doing a solid job of keeping the Costs of Revenue in line with the Sales Revenue. It is a positive sign to see this growth, because we can be assured that the company is staying competitive, while not completely giving in to the pricing crunch. Annual Sales Revenue has a strong CAGR, but it is important and concerning to note that the CAGR of total Operating Expenses is higher. It is about 5% higher and this is very important, because Be Our Guest needs to stay in control of its expenses. Tudor Team Five Page 5 The high and increasing Operating expenses are cutting into the Operating margins, which also cuts into the bottom line. Be Our Guest’s balance sheet shows good signs of liquidity. Current Ratios for the past four years have remained above 1 proving that the company can handle its current liabilities. The current ratios are not extremely high (19941. 7, 1995- 2. 17, 1996- 1. 15 and 1997- 1. 16), but they can cover the current liabilities. It is important to note that the company is operating on a thin line because the current assets are barely covering the current liabilities. This is particularly unpleasant because we are dealing with a company operating in a seasonal business. It is a concern that the curren t ratio slightly eroded after 1995, and this is primarily due to Be Our Guest converting the bank line into long term debt in 1995. The current ratio in 1995 is an outlier, because 2. 17 do not accurately represent the company. The quick ratio is the same as the current ratio for Be Our Guest because they do not have inventory for all of the rental equipment is under property and equipment. They display a good working capital position as well, which is another measure of liquidity. Cash position is a concern for we can see in 1994 and 1997 that they actually had an Overdraft, and for 1995 and 1996 cash is not very high. However, this company is in an industry that is more of a receivables business, so the cash position is not a high concern, especially given that it is covering the current liabilities. Since this is a receivables business it is important to look at the Receivables Turnover ratio, and we find that this is quite consistent, however when comparing to the Payables Turnover ratio we see that they are paying out more quickly than they are receiving, which is a problem. In 1995 they are paying out twice on average before collecting. Be Our Guest needs to focus on getting its receivables in a more timely manner. Tudor Team Five Page 6 2. As the bank loan officer, Anne Granger, how would you view this company? What concerns might you have about the business and the lending elationship? What factors provide a source of comfort when considering the credit risk? Anne will look at Be Our Guest, Inc. with both an annual and quarterly perspective really focusing in on the company’s liquidity, leverage and how they will match up to the covenant ratios established. The company is liquid, but it is not extremely liquid. Be Our Guest, Inc. is barely covering the current liabil ities, and from a banks perspective we would want to see that there are not any concerns in this area. If the company is to become insolvent, we want to be able to get our outstanding balance back. We know that Q1 is the worst quarter for the company, and you can see that for Q1 1997 the company displays a current ratio of . 88, which is simply not good, and means that during that quarter they did not have the ability to pay all current liabilities, therefore having to access the line of credit during this quarter. Q1 is also the hardest month for this company to retain its receivables, which can sometimes be the cause for liquidity problems. The top line growth is great to see, especially in the competitive space that the company operates in, but we also need to examine the rest of the income statement. It is concerning to see the Operating Profit Margin as well as the Interest Coverage Ratio declining year over year. Operating Profit Margin shrinking is a negative because it indicates that the company is not controlling its operating expenses. Interest Coverage Ratio is especially concerning because this ratio indicates the ease of paying the interest on the outstanding debt, and Be Our Guest, Inc. may struggle paying the interest down the road if the ratio continues to decline. Note that the company is currently fully capable of paying for the interest on an annual and quarterly Tudor Team Five Page 7 basis, but the trend downward will be noticed. Be Our Guest, Inc. relies on debt to build the business as you can see from the long term debt to equity ratios. However, the ratios are fairly consistent and it drops down to . 43 in 1997. The company is more than capable to cover the interest of this debt as noted earlier. Cash Flow is being adversely affected due to the abnormally large increase (56%) in G during 1997. According to the footnote on page 4 of the case, a company the size of Be Our Guest should have G sales in 1997 closer to $565,718 rather than the $840,718 that was reported. The bank will keep a particular eye on Cash Flow/Debt Service Ratio and Debt/Tangible Net Worth Ratio along with the bottom line, since the covenants include requirements regarding these. The covenants require the Cash Flow/Debt Service ratio to not be less than 1/25:1, and the company is in line with this covenant on an annual basis. However, the company does not satisfy this covenant when looking at the quarterly figures. Debt/Tangible Net Worth cannot be greater than 2. 00:1, and Be Our Guest, Inc. satisfies this covenant on an annual and quarterly basis. According to the covenants, the company can’t incur two consecutive quarters of net losses; nor incur a net loss for any fiscal year. The company did incur a loss in Q1 1997, but followed with a strong Q2 net profit, so the company is in compliance with this covenant as well. Be Our Guest, Inc. is in a seasonal industry, which is a concern, but even more of a concern is the company’s inability to produce projections. We understand that projections may not be extremely accurate, but it is possible to project through the use of confidence intervals. The bank becomes a little more comfortable with the seasonality because they feel that Al Lovata (former Banker) is aware of the risks associated and has a handle on them. Tudor Team Five Page 8 The balance sheet is decent, but it is not incredibly strong because it is barely covering the current liabilities. As a banker we would also be concerned about the customer makeup. Be Our Guest, Inc. relies heavily on two particular customers (Customer A and B), which make up over 21% of the company’s sales. These two customers make up 1/5 of the company’s budget, and I would like to know if the company has any backup plans in case they lost either of these customers and has performed the due diligence required to make sure its major customers are not insolvency risks themselves. Other than these top two customers, it appears that the customer base is spread out appropriately. The strong covenants in place are a source of comfort for the bank. Not only do they have strong covenants, but the bank also has virtually all of the company’s assets pledged and the shareholders guarantee the loan. Given that this is an S Corporation, the shareholders’ personal assets would be safe, but since these shareholders guaranteed the loan, the bank can go after the personal assets of the shareholders. Be Our Guest, Inc. is not a start-up company, and it has been in operation since 1983, so there is a level of comfort knowing that this company has been around for over 10 years and has been remotely successful during this time as well. It has great management in place who each contributes strong and complimentary experiences along with a level of expertise. This company is focused and driven to provide the best service they can within the industry, and they have been rewarded for it with the 1997 Small Business Firm of the Year. While Be Our Guest may not be the greatest risk, there are provisions in place and aspects of the company that make Be Our Guest an acceptable risk for the bank. Tudor Team Five Page 9 3. How much total bank financing will the company need at the end of 1998, including both the short-term borrowing under the bank credit line and the outstanding amount of the term loan? For convenience, assume that 1998 sales are $3,000,000. ) In order to estimate how much total bank financing the company will need at the end of 1998, there are two possible ways of forecasting the financial results in terms of balance sheet and income statement. The analysis must take into account the highly unpredictable, seasonal nature of the business. Due to this seasonality, there is high level of uncertainty whichever forecasting method is applied. The first method is to estimate the future income statement based on a trend or horizontal analysis. In this specific case, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for each item on the income statement was calculated for the years 1994-1997. With regards to revenue, $3,000,000 for 1998 was accounted for in the calculation. This analysis shows an increase in G due to the unusual increase in G the previous year (1996-1997) affecting the CAGR in 1998. Consequently, the income statement shows a loss in the Net Earnings when applying this method. The second method is to calculate the costs of revenue based on the percentage impact of each item of cost on the total revenue in 1997 (vertical analysis). This analysis, according to us, seems more logical in itself and also leads to a much more positive outlook for 1998 (Net Earnings of $99,408). The result would be sustainable for the business. Two more steps are necessary to forecast the financing needs for the year 1998: Tudor Team Five Page 10 The first step is repayment of the line of credit for the short-term liabilities ($140,000+$3,498). The second step is better management of the seasonality, especially for quarters 1 and 4 which are the most risky quarters for the business. Given that Net Earnings are around $68,096, the line of credit needs to cover the difference ($75,402). Taking into consideration the seasonality, calculated as operating cash flow (refer to case – covenants), there should be no liquidity problems year-end 1998. The cash flow available at the end of 1998 completely covers the losses in Q1 and Q4. The company should keep the line of credit, because debt is incurred upon the credit line only when used. The management, however, should only use the credit line when absolutely necessary. Finally, the company should convert approximately $75,000 of the $140,000 of the line of credit into long-term debt because it will cost less in terms of interest. In addition, the company should increase the long-term debt accordingly (based on the strategy regarding future investments; see answer to question 4). Assuming that the long-term loan is amortised in a constant manner, with approximately 25% payoff per year as â€Å"current instalment of term note†, shown to be the same figure as 1997 ($75,268) which is calculated based on the term note payable less current instalment of $168,043 for 1998. Tudor Team Five Page 11 Proposed here is a two-step approach for financing the investment: The first step is to obtain another long-term loan of $200,000 to change and improve the phone and IT systems. This will lead to a better position to judge the current market needs to revise and produce a strong strategy for the business in terms of efficiency, profitability and long-term outlook. Once this step is accomplished, by 1999, the company should obtain yet another long-term loan. Regarding the possibility of an acquisition, if Be Our Guest makes an acquisition, it can do so through a leveraged-buyout. Therefore, taking on the debt of the company being acquired and funding the other part of the acquisition by selling part of the equity of Be Our Guest (Following the financial restructuring and the increase in efficiency the value of the stock will increase). Asking for a loan for an acquisition today would not be reasonable, nor is it likely that the bank would agree to issue the loan. Currently, the financial ratios of the company do not justify an acquisition. Therefore, starting off with a smaller loan to improve the company running in terms of efficiency and infrastructure will be of greater value. In total the company should take the following long-term loans: $75,000 (line of credit converted into long-term loan) $200,000 (investment) $168,000 (outstanding long-term loan) Total long-term loans in the Balance Sheet by end of 1998: $443,000 As already mentioned before, the line of credit should remain available at the same level as before ($140,000) since it is only paid for if used (expected 1998: fully available). Tudor Team Five Page 12 4. What should Al Lovata and Simone Williamson ask for when talking with the bank? If the company needs additional bank financing, should the increase be provided by an increase in the credit line, or should the size of the term loan be increased to meet the need? Should they ask for some relaxation or change in the loan covenants, particularly the personal guarantees that they have provided at the bank’s request? Al Lovata and Simone Wiliamson should approach Anne Granger in a confident way. Be Our Guest’s balance sheet is fairly strong and fairly liquid, the income statement shows signs of growth and the company is generally doing well. Hence Be Our Guest can take a confident stand to discuss the covenants openly with the bank in order to reach some relaxation on the strict terms. They need to work with the bank to: *lower the rate *review the requirements of personal guarantees for the loan Be our Guest Inc. can consider the possibility of going to another bank if State Street holds their ground on these strict covenants Considering the current and past status of the balance sheets and income statements it is realistic to assume that Be Our Guest, Inc. would not have much difficulty to find a new lender who would agree on different, more relaxed terms of covenants. The company mainly needs the line of credit to finance the seasonal effects of Q1, which could be reduced by a solid growth or expansion plan or merely revising the company’s HR strategy regarding the full-time staff during Q1. Tudor Team Five Page 13 For example, they could reduce the staff’s hours, which would keep them on a full-time employment base but would reduce the G costs for this particular quarter; or they could put the full-time staff on a strategic rotation plan which incorporates the poor business of quarter 1 but leaves options in case of unexpected business in this time period which would also reduce the general G costs and still leave the company in a good position to handle short-term notice business. Regarding the interest for outstanding borrowings on the credit line as well as the interest for the long-term loan, it has been reliably covered and there is no immediate reason to believe that this will change. Any future increase of the long-term loan to drive the growth of the company in terms of business expansion or increasing assets can only be interpreted in a positive way seeing that the revenues have shown to increase with all previous growth-measures. State Street bank should recognise the company’s solid management foundations and the well-going business over the past years and keep their good standing with Be Our Guest, Inc. Lovata and Williamson want to be prepared for future growth. The way to growth has been identified in two possible options, completing an acquisition or expanding their product line. Both of these strategies need to be supported by a consistent long term plan in order to finance their investment needs. Pertaining to this reason, for funding their growth they should ask the bank to extend their long term lend (clearly cheaper than a revolving credit) and moreover ask to re-negotiate the interest rate (too high especially to be a â€Å"prime rate†). Additionally each growth plan in the first few years needs patience and flexibility in terms of managing losses, therefore it would be crucial to review Tudor Team Five Page 14 at least part of the current covenants, like prohibiting two consecutive quarters of net losses and avoiding a net loss for any fiscal year. Taking into account that they are in a good financial position and that the extra money they would need is for future expansions and growth of the company, refinancing its existing debt to obtain better terms, could be quite reasonable. Moreover the company has a fairly strong balance sheet and profitable growth, so it has plenty of bargaining power to negotiate a better deal with the bank. The only negative item is given by the decrease in the last 4 years of the â€Å"net income†, but again it is an issue suggested by a covenant (distribute more than 50% of the earnings to the principals). It is probably the most useless and most dangerous of the list as it is leading the owners to distribute the profit thereby increasing the G costs. Definitely, another crucial aspect is about liquidity pain, especially for an already seasoned business as that of â€Å"Be Our Guest†. In this case they should consider converting some of their revolving credit to term debt (cheaper) making line of credit available, which is currently fully used (coherently to the 1998 expected cash position, answer 3). In this sense the best deal for â€Å"Be Our Guest† might be to invest in a business that generates revenue during current slow seasons and eases the firm's reliance on credit for working capital. Thus even if the tents business could be apparently external to the â€Å"Be Our Guest† business model this business expansion should be taken into consideration. It is not only a new source of profit but will also enable profits for the current business in the slow seasons (tents are mainly set off in the rainy and cold seasons like fall and winter). However, they should be able to distinguish between long term debt and short term line of credit, using the first one for investments and the second one to manage liquidity pain periods. Tudor Team Five Page 15 Leaving aside its convenience in general, the nature of the long-term debt, makes the development of the financial plan easier by providing the exact future payment scheme. On the contrary the line of credit is extremely useful to manage liquidity pain periods but should be paid back quickly or converted in term loan. Finally while refinanced bank loans for now may be adequate to finance the company, it may not be enough for future plans and therefore curb the expansion (current debt/tangible worth ratio is already higher than 1). They should consider a different way of raising funds e. g. from selling equity. Reviewing the personal guarantees is fundamental in order to attract new investor and to manage the company differently. Be Our Guest was created as a business idea and for many years ran more like a family business but now it is a profitable firm that should be managed in terms of efficiency and profitability. This leads to two necessary actions: one by the State Bank, to get rid of the covenant including the personal guarantee of the loan by the management; and second by Be Our Guest, Inc. to review their company status. In terms of the State Bank, it will be essential to convince Anne Granger to remove the covenant regarding the guarantee for the long-term loan. From the point of view of the management of Be our Guest, Inc. they need to review their company status. Only when they successfully separate the business from the family-business approach on which terms Be Our Guest, Inc. as founded, they can attract future investors. Tudor Team Five Page 16 Exhibit 1 – Annual Income Statements (1994-1997) Tudor Team Five Page 17 Exhibit 2 – Annual Balance Sheets (1994-1997) Tudor Team Five Page 18 Exhibit 3 – Quarterly Income Statements 1997 Tudor Team Five Page 19 Exhibit 4 – Quarterly Balance Sheets 1997 Tudor Team Five Page 20 Exhibit 5 – Forecasting Tudor Team Five Page 21 Exhibit 6 – Annual Ratios Tudor Team Five Page 22 Exhibit 7 – Quarterly Ratios Tudor Team Five Page 23

Project Management and Innovation Past and Future Essay

It is unsurprising that development of innovation is often run as a project. Yet, theoretically both project management and innovation studies have evolved over time as distinctively separate disciplines. In this paper we make an attempt to conceptualize the innovation project management and past as well as future of same. By doing so, we contribute to the nascent academic debate on the interplay between innovation and project management. This paper is concerned with three topics and the interplay between them, namely â€Å"Innovation†, â€Å"Research and Development (R&D)† and â€Å"Project Management†. The interest in these topics has exploded recently as they emerged both on the policy agenda and in the corporate strategies. The contribution of technological innovation to national economic growth has been well established in the economic literature. In the last couple of decades, new technologies, new industries, and new business models have powered impressive gains in productivity and GDP growth. While originally there was a tendency to equate R&D and innovation, contemporary understanding of innovation is much broader than purely R&D. R&D is one component of innovation activities and knowledge creation among others. Innovation emerges as a pervasive and complex force, not only in the high-tech sectors in advanced economies, but also as a phenomenon existing in low-tech industry of developing, or catching-up economies. Still, the link between R&D and innovation is often at the core of the innovation studies. Presently, we are witnessing â€Å"projectification† of the world as a growing number of specialists organise their work in projects rather than on on-going functional basis. The connection between R&D and project management has a long history. Most tools of project management have been developed from the management of R&D, often with military purposes (Lorell, 1995). The most vivid example of managing R&D projects in the public sector is the PRINCE2 method (UK OGC, 2005). Due to the above mentioned difference between R&D and innovation, R&D projects should be distinguished from innovation projects too. Innovation is a non-linear process, not necessarily technology-led and may not necessarily result from formal R&D investments. Innovation is the exploration and exploitation of new ideas and recombination of existing knowledge in the pursuit of sustained competitive advantage. Besides, both innovation and R&D projects by their nature differ from conventional projects. Thus, there is a need to examine the Innovation Project Management (IPM) as a distinctive area of managing innovation in projects, using the tools and methods of the project management. The Evolution of Project Management Theory The genesis of the ideas that led to the development of modern project management can arguably be traced back to the protestant reformation of the 15th century. The Protestants and later the Puritans introduced a number of ideas including ‘reductionism’, ‘individualism’ and the ‘protestant work ethic’ (PWE) that resonate strongly in the spirit of modern project management. Reductionism focuses on removing unnecessary elements of a process or ‘ceremony’ and then breaking the process down into its smallest task or unit to ‘understand’ how it works. Individualism assumes we are active, independent agents who can manage risks and create ideas. These ideas are made into ‘real things’ by social actions contingent upon the availability of a language to describe them. The PWE focuses on the intrinsic value of work. Prior to the protestant reformation most people saw work either as a necessary evil, or as a means to an end. For Protestants, serving God included participating in and working hard at worldly activities as this was part of God’s purpose for each individual. From the perspective of the evolution of modern project management, these ideas were incorporated into two key philosophies, Liberalism and Newtonianism. Liberalism included the ideas of capitalism (Adam Smith), the division of labour, and that an industrious lifestyle would lead to wealthy societies Newton saw the world as a harmonious mechanism controlled by a ‘universal law’. Applying scientific observations to parts of the whole would allow understanding and insights to occur and eventually a complete understanding. LITERATURE REVIEW In this paper we seek to establish bridges between two distinctive disciplines – project management and innovation management (innovation studies). Despite seemingly interrelated nature of both subjects, these two research domains have been developing relatively isolated from each other. Innovation Studies Innovation studies are rooted in the seminal writing of Joseph Schumpeter in the 1920s-1930s (e. g. Schumpeter, 1934), whose ideas started to gain popularity in the 1960s, as the general interest among policymakers and scholars in technological change, R&D and innovation increased. The field formed as a distinctive academic discipline from the 1980s. Scholars like Richard Nelson, Chris Freeman, Bengt-Ake Lundvall, Keith Pavitt, Luc Soete, Giovanni Dosi, Jan Fagerberg, Bart Verspagen, Eric von Hippel and others have shaped and formed this discipline. The seminal publications in the area include, inter alia, Freeman (1982), Freeman and Soete (1997), Lundvall (1992), Nelson and Winter (1977, 1982), von Hippel (1988). Regarding the definition of innovation – a general consensus has been achieved among innovation scholars who broadly understand this phenomenon as a transformation of knowledge into new products, processes and services. An in-depth review of the innovation literature is beyond the scope of this paper (refer to Fagerberg (2004) for such analysis). Our intention is to outline main directions of research. In a recent paper, Fagerberg and Verspagen (2009) provide a comprehensive analysis of the cognitive and organizational characteristics of the emerging field of innovation studies and consider its prospects and challenges. The authors trace evolution and dynamics of the field. Reflecting the complex nature of innovation, the field of innovation studies unites various academic disciplines. For examples, Fagerberg and Verspagen (2009) define four main clusters of innovation scholars. They are â€Å"Management† (cluster 1), â€Å"Schumpeter Crowd† (cluster 2), â€Å"Geography and Policy† (cluster 3. 1), Periphery† (cluster 3. 2) and â€Å"Industrial Economics† (cluster 4). For the purposes of our analysis we shall have a closer look at the â€Å"Management† cluster, since it is here where the connection between innovation and Project Management can be found. In fact â€Å"Management† is the smallest cluster within the entire network of innovation scholars, consisting of only 22 scholars, mainly sociologists and management scholars, with a geographical bias towards the USA. This small number of scholars (22) is in sharp contrast with the biggest clusters ? â€Å"Geography and Policy† (298 scholars) or â€Å"Schumpeter Crowd† (309). In terms of publication preferences, apart from Research Policy, the favorite journal for innovation scholars, members of â€Å"Management† cluster see management journals as the most relevant publishing outlets, particularly Journal of Product Innovation Management, Management Science and Strategic Management Journal. Fagerberg and Verspagen (2009, p. 29) see a strong link between innovation and management and provide a following description: â€Å"Management is to some extent a cross-disciplinary field by default and firm-level innovation falls naturally within its portfolio. †¦. So between innovation studies and management there clearly is some common ground†. Project Management The project management as a human activity has a long history; e. g. construction of Egyptian pyramids in 2000 BC may be regarded as a project activity. However, the start for the modern Project Management era, as a distinctive research area, was in the 1950s. Maylor (2005) determines three major stages of the PM historical development. Before the 1950s, the PM as such was not recognized. In the 1950s, tools and techniques were developed to support the management of complex projects. The dominant thinking was based on â€Å"one best way† approach, based on numerical methods. The third stage, from the 1990s onwards is characterized by the changing environment in which projects take place. It is more and more realized that a project management approach should be contingent upon its context. It is also noted that a shift is observed over time in development of project management – from focus on sole project management to the broader management of projects and strategic project management (Fangel, 1993; Morris, 1994; Bryde, 2003). Reflecting these changes in the managerial practices, the body of academic literature on PM has evolved and burgeoned. International Journal of Project Management and Project Management Journals became the flagship publication outlets for PM scholars and practitioners. A large number of (managerial) handbooks outlining the methods and techniques of PM have been published, e. g. Andersen et al (2004), Bruijn et al (2004) Kerzner (2005), Maylor (2005), Meredith and Mantel (2006), Muller (2009), Roberts (2007), Turner (1999), Turner and Turner (2008). Despite a growing number of publications, there is no unified theoretical basis and there is no unified theory of project management, due to its multidisciplinary nature (Smyth and Morris, 2007). Project management has a more applied nature than other management disciplines. Although the PM has formed as a distinct research field, there is no universal, generally accepted definition of a project and project management. Turner (1999) develops a generic definition of a project: A project is an endeavor in which human, financial and material resources are organized in a novel way to undertake a unique scope of work, of given specification, which constraints of cost and time, so as to achieve beneficial change defined by quantitative and qualitative objectives. There have been several attempts to provide an overview of the state-of-the-art research in PM and outline its trends and future directions (e. g. , PMI, 2004; Betts and Lansley, 1995; Themistocleous and Wearne, 2003; Crawford et al, 2006; Kloppenberg and Opfer, 2002). In a recent article, Kwak and Anbari (2009) review relevant academic journals and identify eight allied disciplines, in which PM is being applied and developed. These disciplines include such areas as Operation Management, Organizational Behavior, Information Technology, Engineering and Construction, Strategy/Integration, Project Finance and Accounting, and Quality and Management. Notably, one of these eight allied disciplines is â€Å"Technology Application / Innovation / New Product Development / Research and Development†. The authors found that only 11% of journal publications on the subject of project management fell under the â€Å"Innovation† heading. Yet, importantly, this area showed sustained upward interest, and hence the number of publications, since the 1960s. Overall, Kwak and Anbari (2009) conclude that the mainstream PM research proceeds largely in the â€Å"Strategy / Integration / Portfolio Management / Value of PM / Marketing† direction (30% of all publications examined by the authors). PM AND INNOVATION: THE PAST Projects in one form or another have been undertaken for millennia, but it was only in the latter part of the 20th century people started talking about ‘project management’. Earlier endeavors were seen as acts of worship, engineering or nation building. And the people controlling the endeavors saw themselves as members of groups focused on specific callings such as generals, priests and architects. There is an important distinction to be drawn here between projects: ‘a temporary Endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service or result’ and the profession of project management; or at least ‘modern project management’. For a discipline to be considered a profession a number of attributes are generally considered necessary; these are: †¢ Practitioners are required to meet formal educational and entry requirements, †¢ autonomy over the terms and conditions of practice, a code of ethics, †¢ a commitment to service ideals, †¢ a monopoly over a discrete body of knowledge and related skills. Within this context, project management is best considered an ‘emerging profession’ that has developed during the last 30 to 40 years. Over this period project management associations around the world have developed a generally consistent view of the processes involved in ‘project management’, encoded these views into ‘Bodies of Knowledge’ (BoKs), described competent behaviors and are now certifying knowledgeable and/or competent ‘Project Managers’. Certainly, if ‘modern project management’ does not qualify as a fully fledged profession at this point in time, it will evolve into one fairly quickly. The Evolution of Project Management Tools The central theme running through the various project management concepts is that project management is an integrative process that has at its core, the balancing of the ‘iron triangle’ of time, cost and output. All three facets must be present for a management process to be considered project management. The evolution of cost and scope control into relatively precise processes occurred during the 14th and 18th Centuries respectively. Time management lacked effective measurement and control until the emergence of ‘critical path’ scheduling in the 1960s. The branch of management that gave rise to the development of the Critical Path Method of scheduling was Operational Research (OR). OR is an interdisciplinary science which uses methods such as mathematical modeling and statistics to assist decision making in complex real-world situations. It is distinguished by its ability to look at and improve an entire system, rather than concentrating on specific processes which was the focus of Taylor’s ‘scientific management’. The growth of OR was facilitated by the increasing availability and power of computers which were needed to carry out the large numbers of calculations typically required to analyze a system. [pic] Figure 1. The Iron Triangle The first ‘project’ to add science to the process of time control was undertaken by Kelley and Walker to develop the Critical Path Method (CPM) for E. I. du Pont de Numours. In 1956/57 Kelly and Walker started developing the algorithms that became CPM. The program they developed was trialled on plant shutdowns in 1957 And the first paper on critical path scheduling was published in 1959. The critical meeting to approve this project was held on the 7th May 1957 in Newark, Delaware, where DuPont and Remington Rand jointly committed US$226,400 to fund the project. The foundations of modern project management were laid in 1957; but it took another 12 years before Dr Martin Barnes first described the ‘iron triangle’ of time, cost and output in a course he developed for his UK clients in 1969 called ‘Time and Money in Contract Control’. PM AND INNOVATION: THE FUTURE Defining PM for Future The biggest challenge facing project management is answering the question ‘what is a project? ’ Until this question can be answered unambiguously the foundation of project management cannot be defined. Current definitions such as the PMBOK’s ‘a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result’ can apply to the baking of a cake as easily as the construction of a multi story building. They are both temporary endeavors to create a unique outcome but in all probability the baking of a cake is not a project. The traditional view of projects embedded in the various BoKs is derived from both the management theories underpinning ‘modern project management’ and the industrial base of early project management practitioners (construction / defense / engineering). The BoKs tend to treat projects as naturally occurring entities that need to be managed. This is an easy enough assumption when focusing on a building or a battle ship. There is a physical presence that occupies a defined space that needs creating in a defined timeframe to a defined scope. This view assumes project exists and project management is about transforming the raw materials of the project into a finished and useful form. Consequently it is the presence of the project itself that defines ‘project management’. The PMBOKs version is ‘The application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements’. However, if we cannot precisely define a ‘project’, there is no basis for project management and consequently no foundation for a useable theory of project management. Researchers and academics are starting to reverse the idea that a project is necessary for project management to exist and suggest it is the application of ‘project management’ to an endeavour that creates a project. Some of the ideas being discussed include: †¢ Projects as ‘Temporary Knowledge Organizations (TKOs)’. This school of thought focuses on the idea that the primary instrument of project management is the project team and the recognition that predictability is not a reality of project management. Some key ideas include: o The concept of the project team as a ‘complex adaptive system (or organism)’, living on the ‘edge of chaos’; responding and adapting to its surroundings (ie the project’s stakeholders) offers one new set of insights. o The idea of ‘Nonlinearity’ suggests that you can do the same thing several times over and get completely different results. Small differences may lead to big changes whilst big variations may have minimal effect. This idea questions the validity of ‘detailed programming’ attempting to predict the path of a project (the ‘butterfly effect’, constrained by ‘strange attractors’). The concept of ‘Complex Responsive Processes of Relating’ (CRPR) puts emphasis on the interaction among people and the essentially responsive and participative nature of the human processes of organizing and relating. According to the modern trend in these field, consequence of accepting these theories is to shift the focus of ‘project management’ from the object of the project to the people involved in the project (ie, its stakeholders), and to recognize that it is people who create the project, work on the project and close the project with all innovation. Consequently the purpose of most if not all project ‘control documents’ such as schedules and cost plans shift from being an attempt to ‘control the future’ – this is impossible; to a process for communicating with and influencing stakeholders to encourage and guide their involvement in the project. Notwithstanding the advantages of project management, it would be unreasonable to expect all innovation to be carried out through projects. In fact, many ideas are generated by employees in a company on a regular basis, not only within project teams. Thus, there is certainly a room for functional, on-going organization of innovation process. Even more so, in certain situations project management can be detrimental to innovation. Aggeri and Segrestin (2007) show that the recent project development methods in automotive industry can induce negative effects on collective learning processes and these effects have managerial implications for innovative developments. Argument for Managing Innovation in Projects The origins of project management in the manufacturing and construction ndustries determine an engineering perspective, viewing a project as a task-focused entity, proceeding in a linear or similar way from the point of initiation to implementation. This view prevailed until comparatively recently. This view is seemingly in stark contrast with the nature of innovation. It is increasingly being acknowledged that the innovation is a complex non-linear process. The earliest view on innovation process as a pipeline model (whereby a given input is transformed to a specific output) has been largely abandoned. Presently, however, project management is increasingly recognised as a key generic skill for business management (Fangel, 1993), rather than a planning-oriented technique or an application of engineering sciences and optimization theory, in which project management has its roots (Soderlund, 2004). The â€Å"management by projects† has emerged as general mode of organizing for all forms of enterprise (Turner 2003). This new conceptualization of project management enables to embrace the non-linear nature of innovation. Even a creative and non-linear nature of innovation is often characterized as an organizational or management process, rather than spontaneous improvisation. Davila et al. (2006) state, â€Å"Innovation, like many business functions, is a management process that requires specific tools, rules, and discipline†. Hence, a project, with its defined objective, scope, budget and limitations, can be an appropriate setting of innovation. The other closely linked element in the new world of project management with innovation is embracing uncertainty. Writing on paper cannot control the future! Schedules do not control time; cost plans do not control costs. Plans outline a possible future and provided a basis for recognizing when things ‘are not going to plan’. For innovation project management to succeed, both project and senior management are going to need to embrace uncertainty and learn skills to manage it rather than expecting predictability and inevitably being disappointed by the variability of ‘reality’ as it unfolds. Challenges of Empirical Studies Scarcity and unreliability, or even lack of data poses a big challenge in research in both innovation and project management. A macro-level research n PM is obstructed by the lack of data on the number of projects, carried out by firms and public institutions, and their characteristics. Problems stem from the definition of a project and the non-disclosure policy of most companies. In such circumstances, PM research has tended to rely on case-studies or on small-scale tailor-made surveys. There i s a widely acknowledged lack of large-scale empirical research in PM (Kloppenborg and Opfer, 2002; Soderlund, 2004). It is claimed that the Independent Project Analysis (IPA) is the market leader in quantitative analysis of project management systems, i. . in project evaluation and project system benchmarking (IPA, 2007). All IPA analyses and research are based on proprietary databases. As of mid-2009, IPA’s databases contain more than 11,000 projects of all sizes ($20,000 to $25 billion) executed across the world. Each year, approximately 1,000 projects are added with representation from the many different industries served by IPA. Each project in our databases is characterized by over 2,000 project attributes, including technology, project scope, project type, project costs, year of authorization, and geographical location (IPA 2009). All information contained in the IPA databases is carefully protected and kept as confidential proprietary data (IPA, 2009). Due to the issues of confidentiality, access for academic researchers is restricted. In the innovation field, academic community has been increasingly using several sources of data, such as granted patents, tailor-made surveys, as well as other data provided by national statistical offices. European research on innovation uses several instruments to obtain data on innovation indicators and to assess national innovation performance. The two main instruments are the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) and the European Innovation Scorecard (EIS). As of 2009, five successful CIS surveys have been carried out: CIS1 (1992), CIS2 (1996), CIS3 (2001), CIS4 (2004) and CIS 2006. Each new round was characterized by an improved questionnaire, in line with the evolution of understanding of the phenomenon of innovation. The more recent surveys embraced understanding of innovation in a broader sense, and for example, paid more attention to service innovations. Further, it is expected that the future surveys will also include management techniques, organizational change, environmental benefits, and design and marketing issues. We argue that, taken into consideration the growing relevance of innovation projects, a clearer and explicit wording should be used in CIS questionnaire for determining whether innovation is organized and carried out in projects or functionally. CONCLUSIONS Innovation studies and project management as distinctive disciplines have been developing in a relative isolation from each other. The analysis in innovation studies domain has rarely explored the mechanisms and patterns of innovation in projects in contrast to traditional (functional or hierarchical) organization. However, since innovation management in companies is increasingly organized in projects, it is of utmost importance to directly address the interplay between innovation management and project management. In this paper, based on the relevant literature and insights from practice, we conceptually examined the relationships between these two research areas aiming at bridging the gap between them. It is widely acknowledged within the discipline of innovation studies that there is a high percentage of failure of innovation initiatives, in other words, failure is inevitable when managing innovation. The key skill set of the competent project manager will be identifying and managing stakeholder expectations using tools such as the Stakeholder circle to help identify the project’s key stakeholders. Innovation is perceived as a luxury, not as a necessity. Therefore, it is of high priority to manage innovation effectively and efficiently with constrained budgets.

The eNotes Blog Win a Signed Copy of The Hour of Land by Terry TempestWilliams

Win a Signed Copy of The Hour of Land by Terry TempestWilliams â€Å"There is a cost in disrupting the status quo, but what is the cost if we do nothing?† This question was asked by Terry Tempest Williams, author of Refuge and When Women Were Birds, during a recent reading and book-signing in Seattle. Staffer Samantha B. and Author Terry Tempest Williams Williams is a fierce- albeit soft-spoken- activist, conservationist, and wordsmith, and several of our staffers were lucky enough to see Williams talk about her latest book, The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks. The Hour of Land is about various journeys taken to 14 parks across the country, from the Alaskan Gates of the Arctic to Florida’s Gulf Islands National Seashore, through Williams’ lens of personal experiences, familial connections, and quippy anecdotes. These stories, each given a stand-alone chapter per park, are at times moving (like her inaugural, intense connection with the natural world while stranded alone, in complete darkness, at the heart of a mountain) and historical (putting the parks in a contextual light through important figures and events like Theodore Roosevelt, the Rockefellers, and the Civil War). However, her experiences are also concerning- she talks about the current and very real threats of these wild spaces due to human inhabitants and unchecked expansion. â€Å"I think our national parks are breathing spaces for a country continually holding its breath.† This book provides a respite for anyone seeking such a breathing space. It’s an absolute must-read for those stricken with wanderlust or those joining, or already apart of, the battalion of ecological conservation. Through her experiences with the parks, readers come to understand, if they didn’t already, the fundamental importance of preserving these magical lands- the lands that give America the much-needed breathing spaces in our changing world. And, while the looming concern of ecological threats abound,The Hour of Land also provides hope for our public lands, which she argues are ours  and thus ours to protect. Win a signed copy of The Hour of Land! To do our little part, we’re giving away The Hour of Land  to one of our lucky readers. To enter, tell us what the national parks mean to you in a couple sentences either: In a comment below on this blog post On this Instagram post On this Facebook post Entries must be submitted by Tuesday,  July 12,  2016, at 11:59 p.m. PST, and we will select a winner on Wednesday, July 13. Good luck (and stay wild).

Thomas Jefferson and the Embargo Act of 1807

Thomas Jefferson and the Embargo Act of 1807 The Embargo Act of 1807 was an attempt by President Thomas Jefferson and the U.S. Congress to prohibit  American ships from trading in foreign ports. It was intended to punish Britain and France for interfering with American trade while the two major European powers were at war with each other. The embargo was precipitated  primarily by Napoleon Bonapartes 1806 Berlin Decree, which announced that neutral ships carrying British-made goods were subject to seizure by France, thus exposing American ships to attacks by privateers. Then, a year later, sailors from the USS Chesapeake were forced into service  by officers from the British ship HMS Leopard. That was the final straw. Congress passed the Embargo Act in December 1807 and Jefferson signed it into law on December 22, 1807. The president hoped that the act would prevent a war between the United States and Britain. At the same time, Jefferson saw it as a way to keep ships as military resources out of harms way, buy time for the preservation, and signify (after the Chesapeake event) that the U.S. recognized that a war was in the future. Jefferson also saw it as a way to cease non-productive war-profiteering which was undermining the coveted but never achieved goal of American autarky- economic independence from Britain and other economies. Perhaps inevitably, the Embargo Act was also a precursor to the War of 1812. Effects  of the Embargo Economically, the embargo devastated American shipping exports and cost the American economy about 8 percent in decreased gross national product in 1807. With the embargo in place, American exports declined by 75%, and imports declined by 50%- the act did not completely eliminate trade and domestic partners. Before the embargo, exports to the United States reached $108 million. One year later, they were just over $22 million. Yet Britain and France, locked in the Napoleonic Wars, were not greatly damaged by the loss of trade with Americans. So the embargo intended to punish Europes greatest powers instead negatively impacted ordinary Americans. Although the western states in the Union were relatively unaffected, as they had at that point little to trade, other parts of the country were hit hard. Cotton growers in the South lost their British market entirely. Merchants in New England were the hardest hit. In fact, discontent was so widespread there that there was serious talk by local political leaders of seceding from the Union, decades before the  Nullification Crisis  or the  Civil War. Jeffersons Presidency Another result of the embargo was that smuggling increased across the border with Canada, and smuggling by ship also became prevalent. So the law was both ineffective and difficult to enforce. Many of those weaknesses were addressed by a number of amendments and new acts written by Jeffersons Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin (1769–1849), passed by Congress, and signed into law by the president: but the president himself essentially ceased active support on his own after signaling his decision to not seek a third term in office in December 1807. Not only would the embargo taint Jeffersons presidency, making him fairly unpopular by its end, but the economic effects also didnt fully reverse themselves until the end of the War of 1812. End of the Embargo The embargo was repealed by Congress early in 1809, just days before the end of Jeffersons presidency. It was replaced by a less restrictive piece of legislation, the Non-Intercourse Act, which prohibited trade with Britain and France. The newer law was no more successful than the Embargo Act had been, and relations with Britain continued to fray until, three years later, President James Madison obtained a declaration of war from Congress and the War of 1812 began. Sources and Further Reading Frankel, Jeffrey A. The 1807–1809 Embargo against Great Britain. The Journal of Economic History 42.2 (1982): 291–308.Irwin, Douglas A. The Welfare Cost of Autarky: Evidence from the Jeffersonian Trade Embargo, 1807–09. Review of International Economics 13.4 (2005): 631–45.Mannix, Richard. Gallatin, Jefferson, and the Embargo of 1808. Diplomatic History 3.2 (1979): 151–72.Spivak, Burton. Jeffersons English Crisis: Commerce, Embargo, and the Republican Revolution. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1979.

Functional and Structural Modeling Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Functional and Structural Modeling - Coursework Example Introduction Functional modeling generally deals with the activity of developing models of devices, objects and processes of a system based on their functionalities. It is basically concerned with representing knowledge about functions which forms a basis for solving problems related to system representation. It shows how general system goals are achieved through the realization of the sub goals via the system sub functions. According to Tauber, functional model represents a part of the designer’s intention, the design rationale. (pg 12). Structural modeling on the other hand entails data structure description, that is, it describes the structure of data that is supports the business processes of an organization. There are different ways of representing the structure of data used in a system including class diagrams, object diagrams and CRD cards. Structural modeling Structural modeling in system analysis and design is useful in various ways but the main purpose of structural models is to represent ideas, things and important concepts in the application domain. In addition, structural models are used to create a vocabulary for analysts and users. According to Wixom, It is also used in order to reduce the schematic gap between the real world and the software world ( chpt 7 pg 6) Classes, attributes, relationships and operations constitutes the four major components of structural modeling. Classes are templates for creating objects or instances and can either be concrete or abstract. Classes’ example may include user interface data structure and application domain. Class diagrams are used in structural modeling to represent classes, show their attributes, operations and their relationships. Attributes on the other hand are used to describe classes and only important and relevant attributes to the task are included in the structural modeling. An attribute can be public, private or protected depending on its visibility type. Objects or instances can t ake actions known as operations while relationships show how classes are associated. Operations can be broadly grouped into update (changes value of attributes), query (makes information about state available) and constructor which create an object. Functional modeling Functional modeling include various design element such modules, processes inputs and outputs, interfaces and design of databases and files. A fully functional system is made up of a collection of small independent subsystems called modules. The modules are coded and designed separately after which they are brought together to form a complete and fully functional system. Shared use and size are some of the factors to be considered while coding a designing a module. Limiting the number of instructions in a module ensures a small size module which recommended compared to a large module. Duplication of functions in modules should be avoided by creating a single module which can be called by other modules in case of need. System functions consist of processes which are specific acts with definable beginning and ending points beside inputs and outputs. Processes may be distinct but share certain common properties such as: processes identify what is done and not how, they posses definable starting and ending points, processes are carried out irrespective of organizational structure. Interface is an important part of any computerized system since it provides the platform for the user to interact

Glo-Bus Company Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Glo-Bus Company Analysis - Research Paper Example The Glo- Bus Company is a fully automated simulation where the team leaders are divided in teams to run a digital camera in a head to head competition with other companies. It competes globally with other companies. The major challenge for this company in trying to craft and execute a competitive strategy which will result into a respected brand image, keeping their company in contention for global market leadership, and producing financial performance. This is measured by its earnings per share, stock price appreciation, credit rating and return on equity investment and this calls for a proper strategy. The Glo-Bus application was an intriguing and challenging venture starting in the simulation where the team leaders were positioned well with good strategy and strengths in the first years. Despite the challenges in the first years, it struggled to adapt to the increasingly changing market conditions. Eventually, it gained an insight which would help in its future strategy formation and execution efforts (John, 1997). Strategy As a co-management team, a plan of attack was formulated quickly to enable the company compete effectively with its competitors. A plan conference was then decided upon with all the managers of distinguished image. The company felt that this would be its most convenient opportunity for its team leaders to talk over its strategies which would help them come up with a plan of attack. This conference led to the birth of the company’s vision statement and I quote, â€Å"Distinguished imaging strives to be the global market leader in reliable technological and advanced digital cameras. We are focused on customer satisfaction on quality technological products and seeking to be the number one in the digital imaging technology† (John, 1997). By having this vision statement put in place, the team leaders worked with the notion of being unified in to a cohesive and coordinated effort. From a strategic perspective, they decided to offer quality products at a cheaper cost unlike th e other companies. Its major goal was to use the best cost provider strategy in providing good to excellent product qualities but at a cheaper cost. This strategy has enabled the company compete with Beacon camera and Capture camera respectively in the sixth year. Its goal was to offer a quality entry level camera at a cheaper cost plus a higher quality multi feature camera at a reasonable price. This was only during that year alone but in the next year, the company would adapt a new strategy which included a combination of focused market niche differentiation and low cost strategy to be applied (John, 1997). Strength One of the quickest ways in trying to achieve the best cost strategy was to invest in a high quality workforce and major on the employee output. This was coupled with paying their employees at the high end of the pay scale and rewarding them in exchange for reaching a higher level of output. This was because with a higher input, it would definitely lead to improved pro duct production and quality. Unlike its competitors, this would definitely be a plus to them hence compete effectively as can be seen in year seven. As a result of this logic, the company did not invest in the first three years in warranty periods as it expected the quality of the products to maintain lower quality claims. Therefore, in hindsight, the company might have missed a great opportunity in offering an extensive warranty programs at a lower claim rate due to the quality products. As a result of this, a corporate citizenship program was implemented by increasing the employee conditions and the community efforts in the following years respectively (Jennifer, 2000). As part of the initial product strategy, focus was on offering a strong number of camera models and concentration was initially on developing features of entry level cameras. This was definitely to offer a strong market share. A decision was made not to enter the multi feature