To what extent can improvements in productive flow and product quality Essay - 4

To what extent can improvements in productive flow and product quality lead to an increase in sales and profit - Essay Example product flow and quality, and determine how their association can be harnessed to promote sales as well as profits. Business organisations exist with a goal of maintaining continuous improvement and productivity; a goal that can only be achieved if high sales and profits are maintained. Enhanced sales and profits provide adequate opportunities and resources to the manufacturers that they apply for innovation and growth. Enhanced innovation enables manufacturers to provide superior and lean quality products that attract customers. Most companies strive to leverage operational improvements into strategies that transform the company (Williams, Haslam and Williams, 1992). Production flow defines the concept of mass production. It is the idea of producing large quantities that are manufactured through application of high standardised methods. Production flow is applied by many companies because it promotes the production process; it is easier and quicker. The introduction bit of the proce ss is cumbersome and difficult although it becomes easier once the production flow attains momentum. Owing to its emphasis on production of large quantities of commodities, production flow relies on the machinery for most of its roles. This implies that surmountable resources require to be allocated in the purchase, training and maintenance for the strategy to be efficient. Machines involved in this process should be selected and handled carefully to ensure that they are not vulnerable to wear and tear. This may lead to loss in terms of maintenance and replacement costs (Womack, Jones and Roos, 1990). According to Oulton (1987), mass production has its merits as well as demerits. Installation of the machinery required for production requires abundant financial resources. However, once the machinery has been installed, organisations save considerable financial resources, especially the money required in hiring and maintenance of human labour (Gilchrist, 1971). The work output is norm ally high. The accuracy levels are also high provided the machines are maintained in a superb working form. Machines are also capable of abiding to the set deadlines with no requirement for extensions. Abiding to the performance deadline is enhanced by the presence of assembly lines that allows continuous and consistent flow of manufactured products. This enhances output as well as the quality of the products produced in the long term, leading to increased sales and profits. Investing in production flow process benefits the manufacturer due to improved sales, leading to the increase in profits. Quality can be defined as the ability of a product or service to fulfil the client needs or expectations. Therefore, it can be measured depending on the level that the quality of a product satisfies the expectations of a consumer. High quality products have superior features that satisfy the consumer needs while the features of low quality products do not correspond to the needs of the consum er. For instance, the features that determine the quality of mechanical products include appearance, safety and reliability. Product quality improvement should consider the customer’s needs and expectations, extent of fulfilment of both national and international regulations and the competitiveness of the product (Williams, Haslam and Williams, 1993). Improving the product quality will not only satisfy the consumer needs; more customers will be attracted leading to increa To what extent can improvements in productive flow and product quality Essay - 1 To what extent can improvements in productive flow and product quality lead to an increase in sales and profit - Essay Example Additionally, there is product price, product quality, customer preference, and economic stability of a market. Product quality and productive flow are also factors that affect sales and profit. They have various ways through which they affect sales and profit (Shaharudin, Mansor, Hassan, Omar & Harun, 2011, p. 8163; Shetty & Buehler, 1991, p. 8). The extent, through which product quality and productive flow can increase sales and profit, can only be shown through explaining the effect of these two factors on sales and profit. How improving these factors can lead to increased sales and profit, will clearly be produced in the explanations given about their effects. The essay is, therefore, divided into two main sections: The effects of product quality on sales and profit, and the effect of productive flow on sales and profit. These will show the relationship between product quality and productive flow to sales and profit hence; help in understanding how improving the two factors can l ead to increased sales and profit. Effect of Product Quality on Sales and Profit The main element that brings value to a customer in the market offering is the product. A product is more than a tangible object. It includes performance quality, service features, brand name, design and packaging. The quality of a product is very important since it affects the product performance and so is connected to customer satisfaction and value (Shaharudin, Mansor, Hassan, Omar & Harun, 2011, p. 8164). Consumers of today seek high quality products. The only problem is different perceptions held by customers about quality. Any company interested in selling its products should conduct thorough market research, depending on the type of product they have, to determine what their consumers perceive as high quality. Consumers in the United States, for example, rank quality based on reliability of a product, durability, easy maintenance, ease of use, brand name and the price. This is specifically on mot or cycle products (Shaharudin, Mansor, Hassan, Omar & Harun, 2011, p. 8164). Improving the quality of a product, therefore, increases the sales of a product. Sales depend on customer satisfaction and value, and product quality is one way of satisfying the customer and offering something of value depending on the customer. The extent to which product quality affects sales is great. This is because, for goods to be sold, customers have to want, need or prefer them. Preference is most common where there are a variety of products with different features, prices, brand names, quality and so on. Product quality is a determining factor in preference for a product, so affects sales. Customer satisfaction and value is vast. There are different customers with different tastes, needs, and economic capability. All these determine the preference hence the intent to purchase a product (Shaharudin, Mansor, Hassan, Omar & Harun, 2011, p. 8164). Product quality is the totality of a product or servic e characteristics that give the product or service the ability to satisfy given needs. If a product fulfils a customer’s expectations, the customer becomes satisfied and begins to build loyalty. Loyalty is developed through trust and positive relationship with the customer. Customer loyalty retains customers and contributes to the number of sales made in a given period of time. This clearly indicates one of the various ways through which product qua

HR Planning and Recruitment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

HR Planning and Recruitment - Essay Example This essay focuses on the Human Resource planning and recruitment, that is one of the crucial requirements of the organizations. The main reasons for ensuring effective management of the company’s personnel is that it ensures that there is adequate number of staff members. KFC is the best example among all the fast food restaurant chains as it has allocated sufficient amount of resources in its personnel. Every aspect of HR is adequately planned out so that the operations of the company are not impacted at all. Even the recruitment of employees is done in accordance to the international standards so that the right people are hired at all positions. In order to sustain the edge within the industry, it is vital for KFC to keep track of the changes taking place in the employment market. It has employed right resources for management of this crucial aspect of the organization and has successfully created a highly, efficient, proactive, sincere and loyal team of employees. Each of the personnel is committed to enhancing the organization’s image in the fast food industry. Hence, KFC has developed an effective HR department for managing its international operations successfully. The success of the company lies in its policy of developing an efficient, loyal and committed workforce by allocating adequate resources in its recruitment and selection process. Even the policies are developed in accordance to the latest market trends so that the gap between the demand and supply of personnel is appropriately planned out.

Strikes and Employment Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Strikes and Employment Relations - Essay Example Changes in the definition and description of workforce conflicts across various time periods will provide an exhaustive understanding of whether the conflict can be considered as an influential feature of contemporary employment relations or not. Strikes can be described as the temporary disruption of work by certain groups of workers or employees. The objective behind strikes is expressing grievance or enforcing particular demand. Strikes can be temporary and in severe cases may lead to permanent closure of the factory or manufacturing site. In general, strikes have always been hampering for the company as it involves loss of time, money and productivity. However, strikes have been used as an influential method by worker unions to put their demands in front of the management. Strikes are conducted with specific and calculative purposes. As a result of its high influence and potential harm, they are often considered as a biggest manifestation of the industrial conflict. Nonetheless, looking at the present decline in the number of strikes, it cannot be concluded that strikes are the only source of conflict between employees or workers and management. Yet, it cannot be concluded that strikes have lost their importance or are sh rinking. From a worldwide perspective, it is clear that strikes are still a major source of communication and interaction in many parts of the globe. The interconnectivity between employment relations and human resource management can be understood by associating them with different managerial ideologies. For instance, unitarist ideology is dominated by autocratic and authoritarian style, where managerial control over decision making in disciplined and under strict control. In another form, unitarism can also be considered as a more paternalist management approach.  

Price of Ignorance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Price of Ignorance - Essay Example From this paper it is clear that a tendency of killing a person or a group of people for the sake of certain ideology and the united cruelty against common enemy in order to protect the current world. The scariest thing in this movie is not the actions of the radical party itself – but the multiple examples of similar behavior through the world as a part of everyday life of our peaceful and stable society.As the essay highlights the face of a conflict itself can be seen perfectly. There is a description of power as something unsuitable to provide neither legal protection of the country, nor freedom and luxury for common citizens. There are people that work outside the system; for they see that system itself is an illusion. Anwar Congo laughs at the Geneva Convention, as he understands it’s temporal and imposed value. He is right, for nearly each conflict can boast with its violation – and latter covering of the consequences. And, when everything is over, it turns out that ones who kill millions of people are not monsters – there were just two groups of ideologically different people and only one has survived in order to prevent the destruction of its world.  It would be adequate to compare  «The Act of Killing » with any Hollywood film that is shot from the antagonist’s point of view. The scariest thing is that such history, being well produced and not documental would probably have been popular.

Management info Systems individual Work WK4 Essay

Management info Systems individual Work WK4 - Essay Example The major challenge in keeping cyber-crime in check is the rate at which technology is advancing with each passing day. New cyber threats are formulated on a regular basis making it difficult to suppress cyber-crime. Crimes vary depending on the purpose of the cyber-criminal. The crimes can be directed to computers and other machines to manipulate, destroy or reconfigure them. The crimes can also be fuelled by financial greed whereby fraud comes in play and the hacking of financial institutions. The crimes can also target individuals with the aim of destroying their reputation or even blackmailing them. Cyber criminals can use various technology tools. Such tools include the internet, social media and wireless networks. Such tools are meant to help the general public in their day to day activities but can be manipulated by cyber criminals for their benefit. The cyber criminals are good at what they do and sometimes leave no traces at all making it difficult to know their real identities. Some even form organizations and advertize their prowess to willing buyers of their services. They even use these technology tools to leak information about someone. The internet as we know it is a basic tool for many computer users. Many transactions, monetary or otherwise, go through the internet each day. Millions of downloads also take place on the internet on a daily basis. This technology tool connects people around the world, turning it into a small virtual village. The internet connects people through emails and communication of information through search engines such as Google among others. This vital tool can be used against its users to commit cybercrime. This usually happens where attackers use the internet to connect to their targets and can thus get or download the necessary information they need from the victims’ computers. The internet connects computers, and

Mobile Systems Paper Essay Example for Free

Mobile Systems Paper Essay With so many web and mobile applications available today, it is difficult to find a particular one that impacts more individuals and businesses than others. Many applications perform one or two tasks well, but I believe Google Drive is one of those applications that anyone can find useful. Whether you’re a student or a business person, Google Drive can be of use in anyone’s life. Google Drive is unique because it has several different purposes and functions. The first function of Google Drive is its cloud storage. Google Drive itself gives its users 5GB of free space to upload documents, music, pictures, and videos to keep as a backup or to share with others. If needed, storage size can be expanded up to 16TB for a fee. Another feature that is key to Google Drive is it incorporates its Docs application as well as Gmail in it. This allows users to create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and more that will automatically save right to Google Drive and also give the ability to share it through email.† Other aspects that can be found on Google Drive is that it is available on every modern browser, but alongside that Drive will offer the ability to view up to 30 different file types† (Geek.com,2012). One final way that Google Drive can now be used is on any Android or iOS device. Users can now create, edit and view almost everything the same as they would if they were on their computer using it. Although some of the features of Google Drive are similar to that of other applications, There is no other application that streamlines as many features into one application to make its users as productive and efficient as possible. With the incorporation of Google Docs and Gmail, users can create and share without having to open multiple applications. Another great change that it has brought to users is that it works with practically everything. Drive works on all browsers and all Android and iOS devices, so people can get work done at anytime, anywhere whether it is for school or work. Being a student, I feel this application has lowered school costs due to it being free and the fact that it has cloud storage. Students no longer have to have flash drives at the computer lab, now they can just log into Google Drive and access everything they need. And, with the addition of the mobile versions of Google Drive, last minute edits of papers and  presentations are no longer a reason for a melt down. â€Å"The final benefit Google Drive gives to its consumers is the ability for Gmail to attach up to a 10GB file because of its integration. The attachment is technically a link for the recipient to download, but it enable users to have the luxury of sharing large videos or other data very easy and seamless† (Geek.com,2012). With the exception of a few items, Google Drive contains an abundance of features needed for everyday tasks. One item that Drive is lacking is media streaming. This definitely needs to become a future enhancement so users can stream their music and videos from their drive application on mobile devices. With media streaming enabled, many users would only need to use Google Drive and could un clutter their home screen full of unecessary applications. â€Å"The other enhancement that is directed towards the mobile version only is that users cannot create spreadsheets, forms, or drawings at this time† (LaptopMag.com,2012). I am sure that Google will enable this in future updates, but it does cause some restriction for users for the time being. Mobile technology has become a necessity for students and business persons to stay productive while not in front of their everyday computer. Google Drive is now expanding how mobile devices can be effective by letting users share, store, create, and edit items from anywhere. This allows users more control on how they spend their time instead of being dependent on being in front of a computer. I know as a Google Drive user that it has helped me stay productive by storing all of my school work in their cloud storage. I can work from my phone or on any computer and it all works the same. I believe Google Drives consistency between operating systems and devices is what makes this application so nice. No matter what I am using Google Drive on I can feel comfortable using it. References LaptopMag.com (2012, April 27). Google Drive Review. Retrieved from Laptopmag.com. Geek.com (2012, April 24). Google Drive has arrived, clearly targets businesses. Retrieved from Geek.com. Geek.com (2012, November 27). With Google Drive integration, Gmail now offers 10GB attachments. Retrieved from Geek.com.

The Truth In Hard Determinism Philosophy Essay

The Truth In Hard Determinism Philosophy Essay Over the years the problem of free will versus determinism has been a phenomena to philosophers for many years. It has been a huge issue, because without the presence of free will there cannot be morality, no wrong or right, no good or evil. Everyones behavior would be determined before hand and people would have no creativity or choice. Everything one does on a daily basis in ones life somehow involves the process of decision making or choice selection, whether it be mental or physical. From the moment one wakes up to the second one sleeps, decisions and choices are being made. There are some decisions that one makes that are extremely obvious to oneself because of the need of reflecting on the choices before choosing. But most of the decisions one makes throughout the day are made with little thought. Furthermore, many people are mostly unaware that they are making decisions because of preference and habituation. Before continuing further, the terms free will, and determinism must be defined. Free will is the idea that an individual is free to make decisions that are unhindered by external forces. Whereas determinism states that the conditions of a specific moment are the result of from the previous conditions of previous moments. The position that this paper encourages is that of hard determinism. The general hard determinist believes that no human action is free. Paul Holbach was a hard determinist philosopher who wrote an article called The illusion of Free Will. In it he explained how everything one does is caused by things that is beyond ones control. Generally speaking , people are motivated to pursue pleasure and avoid pain, but people cannot help what gives them pain or pleasure. No matter what one does, the endless chain of causes and effects leads ones doing is inevitable. An important example that Holbach used was the poisoned water. It demonstrated that whatever one does they do it for a reason, and that these reasons are simple changes that the brain makes which determines what one chooses to do. Since one cannot control the changes in the brain that causes one to choose what one chooses, then that would mean that no one cannot control their own actions. Hard determinism also gives a more rational perspective of humans and their choices. It focuses on the causes instead of the instant causes for ones actions. Also the implications of being determined are taken more seriously, and it does not make one responsible for the decisions one makes because they are beyond the individuals control. Furthermore, hard determinism tries to take into fact of how people feel that they are free when they really are not. Halbach believed that the main cause of why people think that they make their own decisions is because they are ignorant to the cause and effect chain that determines their behaviors. The motives and causes are just too complex for people to understand them. People do not also naturally question where the causes behind their choices come from, which gives humans the idea of having free will. Moreover, hard determinism has many advantages to it. It could be helpful in courts of law and in the legal system, that is when it would be most convincing . A person who maybe standing on trial may use hard determinism as a defense by stating that the individuals actions were caused by events that occurred in the past which were ultimately beyond the persons control. If hard determinism is successfully persuasive in court, then it should be accepted that both free will and determinism are incompatible. However hard determinism does have its flaws. While soft determinism views that humans are unique, because they possess free will; hard determinism refutes humans that important component that makes humans distinctly different form animals. Humans are also no more free than robots. In addition, it would be wrong to punish a criminal, because they just could not help it; and that would ultimately lead to an unstable society filled with mayhem and troubles. Ultimately hard determinism argues that humans may feel free but it is nothing but a mere illusion, and some people would argue against this and believe that it is free of choice. Continuing on the pros of the hard determinist view, libertarianism brought up many new points to the argument. Libertarianism was about the idea that humans are all free and that free will is not compatible with determinism. Libertarians argue that because one can easily create ones choices it gives one libertarian free will, and that ones choices in the future are undetermined. Furthermore libertarianism has far too many problems and disadvantages. The first disadvantage is that there is scientific data and empirical evidence that proves that humans are psychologically and scientifically determined,(this discovery was made by Skinner, who was also a hard determinist). It is through classical conditioning that human behavior is a response to the stimuli an individual is in or exposed to. Thus, ones decisions are caused the external environment around that certain individual which accounts for ones choice. Eventually, once the psychological evidence is shown, such as operant conditioning and scientific determinism, it becomes a challenge to see how humans are not determined, and that leaves little room for the libertarian perspective to prosper. One other argument against the libertarian perspective of free will and determinism is the explanation that everything has a cause. Where in the natural free word everything that exists is ca used by something; and equivalently ones choices has to have causes and determinism. However a hard determinist philosopher by the name of T. Honderich who wrote an article called A defense of Hard Determinism, disagreed with the libertarian view. He believed that the human mind must be determined, and that the mind should not be separate from the rest of the body, as it has been demonstrated that the mind highly dependent on physical brain activity. Finally, the criticism above has shown that libertarianism is unconvincing and has many poke able holes, as libertarians believe that the mind is in charge of making ones decisions. Ultimately, there are many perspectives that are related to the question of free will being either compatible with determinism or it being incompatible with determinism. From the evidence presented within this paper, hard determinism is the most consistent theory to follow when it comes to the question of free will and determinism. This is because a choice t hat is not under ones control must be determined by something else; and that certain something according to Holbach is either an external or internal force that drives every human being to make certain decisions. Even though it is hard to accept, Holbach explains that humans must accept it because it is the truth. Humans are not free to choose their actions.