Managing Financial Resources and Decisions Essay - 6

Managing Financial Resources and Decisions - Essay Example Failure to have a financial plan will always result in the organization being unable to meet its expenses whenever they arise (Berry, Jarvis, and Jarvis, 2005, p. 28). The success of any financial plan will largely depend on the effective disseminate of information to various decision makers within the organization. This is because it will ensure support and compliance among different stakeholders of the organization. It will also facilitate faster decision making which will ensure maximum utilization of business opportunities. Some of the key decision makers include: The CEO: he/she is responsible for the overall performance of the organization. The most important information for the CEO is the budget forecasts and financial statements. This information serves the purpose of providing information related to organizational needs and the overall performance of the business. The CFO: responsible for the allocation of the organization financial resources. The most important information for the CFO is the budget estimates because they present the financial needs of the organization. Other Employees: they are responsible for the running of daily activities within the company. The most important information is the company strategic plan which will guide their actions to ensure that the organization achieves its goals. The first option is the best among the three because the business will manage to get financing at no extra cost. The second and third options are not attractive because they result in payment of interest and issuance of stock respectively. Faulty arithmetic in the budget figures: the errors include the errors of commission or duplication of financial figures. For instance, Â £ 22,500 may have been duplicated on either materials or direct labor. The occurrence of reality: this is possible especially when there is an occurrence of an event that

Improving the quality of life for mutiple sclerosis patients using the Essay

Improving the quality of life for mutiple sclerosis patients using the nursing-based home visting model - Essay Example The paper has identified the population under study as the people who live in Arulcara, have been treated with multiple sclerosis, are between zero and eighteen years, and have been registered with the multiple sclerosis association (Akkus, & Akdemir, 2012). This is an efficient description although it has not identified the total number of people who are in the population. The study has not also identified the sampling design that it used to determine the members of the association who were to be included in the sample (Polit, & Beck, 2013). The research only identifies the number of participants who were included in the sample to be fifty eight. The research used a power analysis to determine the sample size, and this analysis indicated that forty five patients under study were supposed to provide a power of 90% (Akkus, & Akdemir, 2012). Since the study did not identify the total number of participants in the population, it is impossible to conclude whether the sample size was repr esentative of the whole population. However, since the study indicates that all the patients were literate, it means that the illiterate victims of the disease were not represented. According to Akkus and Akdemir (2012), the study used two methods of data collection that include a general questionnaire and a symptom evaluation form. The investigator issued the questionnaire and the symptom form to the patients who then filled them by answering the questions. The research indicates that the questions that patients did not understand were either corrected or excluded from the questionnaire (Akkus, & Akdemir, 2012). The exclusion of misunderstood questions may mean that the information given was insufficient and unreliable. The investigators also observed the patients during all the visits, but the study does not indicate whether they recorded their

The Boston Beer Company Essay Example for Free

The Boston Beer Company Essay Overview The Boston Beer Company has had amazing success in its transition from a small scale microbrewer to a large scale national brewery. Almost all of the company’s success is due to the Samuel Adams Lager product line, which has hardly changed from the founding of the company in 1984, to the IPO in 1995, to the present day. In fact, much of the appeal of Samuel Adams comes from its microbrew image and the founder, Jim Koch’s, commitment to the brewing process and a premium beer. In recent years, however, the company has implemented a new strategy for growth which has included introducing a light beer that will have more mainstream appeal. While this has increased profits for the company, it has also left the company vulnerable to entry by diluting its brand name. For this reason, the company’s strategy for the immediate future has to make a significant shift, from a strategy of growth to a strategy of protection. It must focus on maintaining its current profits by preventing entry both from small breweries looking to copy the BBC’s strategy and from large breweries looking to use their expansive resources to steal some of BBC’s market share. History of Boston Beer The Boston Beer Company began as a microbrewery in Boston, Massachusetts in 1984. Its first cases of beer were only sold to Boston bars, but the company quickly branched out geographically. Fueled by awards and recognition from prestigious beer festivals, Samuel Adams Boston Lager was available on much of the East Coast by the late 1980’s and nationally by 1992. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1995. The Boston Beer Company’s strategy for growth was one of differentiation. The company created a higher quality beer than the majority of American beers by using more expensive ingredients and less water, and it used its packaging and its commercials to advertise this commitment to quality. In fact, because of its use of only barley, hops, yeast, and water as its ingredients, Samuel Adams won the honor of being the first American beer to be sold in Germany, a distinction that helped its image in America even more. One business strategy that the company employed as it started to grow was using extra brewing space in other company’s breweries to brew their beer. Since the company was growing at a double digit rate, it didn’t have a lot of extra capital to build its own breweries, so this was a good strategy for them during their period of growth. And, since these breweries were distributed throughout the country, this strategy allowed the Boston Beer Company to maximize the freshness of the beer it sold. In fact, the now famous practice of printing a freshness label on bottled beer was started by the Boston Beer Company on its Samuel Adams Boston Lager. The company ensured quality production in these disperse breweries by hiring experienced brewmasters to oversee the contract brewing. The company also brewed some beer on its own property, both in Boston and later in a plant they purchased in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 2002, the company took a risk by introducing Sam Adams Light, a light beer version of their Samuel Adams Lager. They had never produced a light beer before, and it was Koch’s stance that the company couldn’t brew a light beer that would be up to their standards of flavor. The expanded customer base that the company would target with the sale of a light beer was too lucrative a market to ignore, however, and the light beer market was almost devoid of any Better Beers, so after three years of development Sam Adams Light was born. The advertising expenditures for 2002 increased by 25. 7% or $20. 6 million over 2001 due to the promotion of Sam Adams Light2, which magnified the financial risk of producing and selling it. The new beer had the short term effect of attracting new consumers to the Samuel Adams brand, although the long term effect has yet to be seen. The growth of the Boston Beer Company was very impressive, and can be attributed to a superior product, good business strategy, and an unsaturated market for high-quality beer. But now there are new challenges facing the company. There are always new fads in the beer industry; current trends are low-carb beers and fruityflavored malt beverages. The Boston Beer Company needs to decide which of these trends to respond to, and how to respond to each. Above all the company needs to continue its strategy of differentiation that allowed it to achieve its current profitability. It is its image for quality above major American beers like Budweiser, Coors, and Miller that allows it to keep its prices, and its profits, high. Current Industry Analysis The Boston Beer Company’s product is a â€Å"better† beer. A better beer is defined as either a craft beer or an import, and is characterized by higher prices and quality. A craft beer is defined as one which is brewed with 100% malted barley as its grain. The major American beer companies typically use a mixture of malted barley along with other grains such as rice or corn, since these are less expensive and have less full-bodied flavors. Rivals in the better beer industry include such foreign companies as Corona, Heineken, and Guinness, as well as domestic companies such as Sierra Nevada, Pete’s, and a number of microbreweries around the country. While the beer industry overall is very rivalrous, the better beer industry is not so, as evidenced by high profit margins (the Boston Beer Company routinely posts profit margins of over 50%). The rivalry that does exist tends to revolve around quality competition rather than price competition. There are numerous substitutes for better beer. All alcoholic beverages are substitutes for the Boston Beer Company’s product, although the two closest substitutes are major American beers and flavored malt beverages; wine and spirits are less relevant substitutes for the purposes of this analysis. Budweiser, Coors, and Miller are all large brand name beers which have low prices and low quality compared to better beers. Price sensitive consumers typically buy these beers. Smirnoff Ice, Skyy Blue, and Bacardi Silver are all similarly priced to the better beers, but they have fruitier flavors and therefore appeal to consumers with a different taste preference. The suppliers for the Boston Beer Company are similar to the suppliers for any brewery. Supplies that must be purchased include the ingredients like water, barley and hops, the equipment for brewing, and the transportation for distributing beer around the country. The ingredients are actually very inexpensive compared to the other two costs, and suppliers of barley and water don’t have a lot of bargaining power since these industries are fragmented. The hops industry, however, is more centralized. In order to ensure adequate hops supplies at prices known in advance the company regularly purchases hops futures. The company also employs an aggressive contract brewing strategy. Under this policy almost 60% of the company’s products are brewed at noncompany owned breweries. By utilizing the excess capacity of geographically distributed breweries, the company can keep equipment and transportation costs low while providing a fresher and thus higher quality product. This brewing approach carries inherent risks by giving potential rivals some control over the company’s production capacity. Indeed the company is currently involved in a lawsuit with Miller after Miller’s attempt to back out of a brewing contract early. To protect itself from these risks the company enters into contracts with a diverse set of brewers for a much larger amount of beer than they actually produce. This redundant capacity is meant to shield the company from any number of contract brewers defaulting on their contracts. Buyer bargaining power doesn’t have significant influence on the Boston Beer Company since their buyers are grocery stores and bars. The grocery industry and the bar industry are both fragmented, so each store or bar that buys from the Boston Beer Company comprises a very small amount of total company sales, and the loss of any one buyer won’t significantly hurt the company. Complements in the better beer industry include the popularity of bars, snack foods like pretzels and nachos, and sporting events like football games. While the Boston Beer Company doesn’t provide any of these complements, they do provide some amount of customer education. Customer education includes advertising awards the company has won, advertising their brewing processes, and calling attention to their premium ingredients. This serves to convince people of the superior quality of Samuel Adams, thereby convincing them to pay a premium price. Customer education is a fairly clever and successful strategy for a number of beer companies, but it benefits better beers more than lower quality beers, so the Boston Beer Company could probably take advantage of this by focusing more on customer education. The BBC also has an advantage over small high-quality breweries because its economy of scale allows more customers to be reached per dollar spent on customer education. Any company in the beverage industry has the potential to enter Samuel Adams’ market, and it is always crucial for a company to be aware of possible entry from all sides. Companies that make wine, spirits, or malt beverages could all enter the market, and we have actually seen in recent years that spirits companies have been expanding into new markets by producing malt beverages under the name of the parent spirits company. However, the most dangerous potential entrants would be other beer companies. Other craft breweries that sell their beer on a small scale might attempt to copy the BBC’s strategy to grow into a national brand and steal some of BBC’s market share. Also, major American breweries could use their expansive resources to brew high quality beers that could compete with Samuel Adams on a national level. A third, and even more threatening possibility, would be the combination of these two forces; a major brewery could buy a high quality microbrewery and use their national advertising and distribution infrastructure to market the microbrew to the public on a large scale. Given the Boston Beer Company’s high profit margins and the relatively low level of rivalry within their market, it is very likely that entry will occur and erode away at BBC’s profits if BBC is unprepared. We believe that responding to this possibility should be at the forefront of the company’s business strategy for the immediate future. The Boston Beer Company’s Strategy: Using Reputation as an Entry Barrier The BBC’s initial strategy was one of growth. This was fitting for it when it was a microbrewery looking to gain national and international sales. During its expansion in the early 1990’s, the company took advantage of the fact that consumer demand for craft beers was increasing, while there were few other companies doing the same. Since the new market was unsaturated, the Boston Beer Company was able to earn an inexpensive reputation for its Samuel Adams brand name by being the first large scale mover into the national craft beer market. By the late 1990’s, the BBC’s growth rate had begun to decline. In an effort to keep up growth, the company switched to a strategy of trying to increase the demand for craft beer. It did this through large scale advertising, and most significantly through the introduction of a light beer that brought light beer drinkers over to the better beer market. The Boston Beer Company’s strategy was an effective one for many years, and enabled it to become the profitable national company that it is today. However, if the BBC wants to maintain its profitability, it will need to find a way to protect its market share from entrants, and this will require a shift in the company’s strategy back to increasing its share of the Better Beer market rather than of the mainstream market. The biggest threats to the BBC are the major American beer companies, which have massive resources that would allow them to compete with the BBC. The BBC’s two advantages over these major companies are experience and reputation, and the major companies could easily gain experience by buying an existing craft beer company and utilizing its brewing procedures. Therefore, the BBC must protect its reputation at all costs, since its reputation is the only formidable entry barrier preventing Budweiser, Coors, and Miller from successfully invading Samuel Adams’ market. The company’s best strategy would be to slow their growth in order to work on strengthening their Samuel Adams Boston Lager brand name. Additionally, if the BBC diminishes its focus on growth, it could very well have the effect of reducing the incentive for these three major companies to enter the craft beer market, since the BBC will not be seen as so significant a threat. While there is a risk that slowing growth will leave the company vulnerable to entry by smaller companies, it is the large companies that have the most resources to compete with the BBC, so reducing the incentive for large companies to enter is worth the possible risk that more small companies will enter. The uniqueness and integrity that allowed the Samuel Adams brand to gain popularity are starting to be overshadowed by the company’s attempts to gather more mainstream consumers, and this is hurting the company’s brand name. The strategy for the future needs to focus on building back customer loyalty for the company’s core product line, i. e. Samuel Adams Boston Lager. First and foremost, the Boston Beer Company needs to continue reducing its expenditures on Sam Adams Light. During the introduction of Sam Adams Light in 2001-02, revenues and gross profit increased, but expenditures on advertising Sam Light were extremely high, and much of the sales of Sam Light were thought to be due to cannibalism of Samuel Adams Boston Lager. In 2003 when advertising of Sam Adams Light was decreased, sales of the light beer dropped significantly. Although Samuel Adams Boston Lager sales increased during the period between the fourth quarters of 2002 and 2003, overall shipments dropped 6% during this period3 because of the lowered demand for Sam Light after the decline of the Sam Light marketing campaign. However, even though sales were lower, net income was higher after the end of the marketing campaign4. The company should therefore continue to keep its advertising levels for Sam Adams Light low. In addition to the high financial cost of advertising Sam Adams Light, it is likely that the large-scale marketing of Sam Adams Light could hurt the company in the long run by diluting the Samuel Adams brand name. The purpose of Sam Light is to appeal to mainstream beer drinkers, but the company’s consumer base is comprised of individuals who pride themselves on drinking a beer that is not mainstream. With potential entrants looming from above and below, the Boston Beer Company can not afford to lose its reputation for uniqueness. Still, Sam Light is a good revenue stream as a supplement to Samuel Adams Boston Lager, but it should cease to be the company’s main focus. The â€Å"Twisted Tea† and â€Å"Hard Core† products are malt beverages that the company produces on a small scale. These brands are unnecessary for the company’s success, and if the company adopts a strategy to focus on Samuel Adams Boston Lager then it would be advantageous to eliminate these products. While the products dilute the company’s brand name in a similar way to Sam Adams Light, they don’t provide nearly the revenue that Sam Light does. By either selling or closing down these brand names, the Boston Beer Company can distance itself further from the malt beverage industry and improve its positioning as a Better Beer company. Dumping these products would help the BBC’s image of integrity in the eyes of their consumers, and this image will be crucial if the company is to protect its market share from entrants. There have been a number of attempted entries into the Sam Adams market which demonstrate the need for quality and reputation. Coors owns Killian’s Irish Red and Anheuser-Busch owns Michelob and has a stake in Red Hook, all brands that have had poor success in the Better Beer Market. Most consumers are well aware of the fact that Michelob is just another domestic beer sold at a high price, and so it’s a brand without much of a quality image. On the other hand, it’s not well known that Coors owns Killian’s since it’s brewed in Canada and has an import label. While this label might signal some quality in many consumers’ eyes, Killian’s has no reputation and no customer base. Finally, Red Hook was a quality microbrew ale with a good reputation and customer base that was bought by AB. Since this purchase in 1994 the stock price of Red Hook has plummeted from ~30 to 2 and sales have been poor. While the reason for this is not exactly clear, it’s possible that this failure is due to a loss of integrity that occurred when the microbrew became owned by a major domestic brewer, or that AB simply wasn’t able to operate that type of brewery. AB’s failure in this attempt doesn’t indicate that they will give up on entering the craft beer industry, however, especially if craft beers grow to be more of the national market. With such high profit margins and a strong market position, the BBC might be tempted to increase sales by decreasing prices, but this strategy should definitely be avoided. The high prices for Samuel Adams Boston Lager and Sam Adams Light signal to consumers and other companies that these beers are of higher quality, and since demand in the Better Beer market is relatively inelastic, there would likely be no increase in net income if prices were reduced. Reducing prices would cause the BBC to appear more of a threat to the three major American beer companies, and could therefore expedite the entry of one of these companies into the market. Due to the nature of the Better Beer industry, the company needs to strive for quality competition over price competition. With the introduction of Sam Light in 2002 the percentage of BBC’s sales comprised of bottles vs. kegs increased since most Sam Light is sold in bottles, and since Boston Lager sales declined slightly. While revenues are lower per barrel of draft beer, profit margins are higher due to lower costs per barrel. Additionally, beer served on tap is usually able to retain a higher quality than beer served from a bottle. For these reasons and others, it would be a good strategy for the Boston Beer Company to increase its emphasis on selling its beer in kegs to bars. While most grocery stores already carry Samuel Adams Boston Lager, there are still a large number of bars that don’t have Boston Lager on draft, and this deprives many consumers of being able to drink the beer in its highest quality form while also depriving the company of the added revenue that bar sales bring in. Since the company’s new focus needs to be on emphasizing the quality of its beers, increasing the availability of its draft beer is in line with its strategy. An added benefit of increasing prevalence in bars is the opportunity for bartender education and consequent consumer education. The company should seriously consider providing literature about their beer along with the kegs that they sell to bars, since educating bar owners and bartenders about the premium ingredients and freshness standards that the company holds will have a trickle-down effect to the beer drinkers. Continuing with this strategy of edging away from the mainstream, the Samuel Adams line should switch back to its original label. The current label is simple with few colors, similar to the major company labels, while microbrew labels typically have a more complex picture that distinguishes the brand. Switching back to the â€Å"BrewerPatriot† label would signal to both new and old customers that the BBC is committed their roots and to quality. Putting Excess Capital to Use If the BBC continues to be successful in fending off potential entrants and if it maintains its high profit margins while staying away from a growth strategy, then it needs a plan for investing its profits. In the past, profits have been invested in growth or in stock of other companies, but in line with the new strategy of slow growth, there might be areas in which their money could be better invested. Some of the money could be used to fund the customer education programs mentioned earlier, but it might also be wise to start owning more breweries. Contract brewing proved to be efficient and successful during their growth phase. Up until the late nineties they were increasing sales by double digits each year. At this time it would have been difficult to impossible for production capacity to keep up with sales, not to mention for the company to secure the necessary capital. However, in the past 5 years growth has slowed, and consistently high profits have led to large amounts of excess capital. BBC has been keeping some capital liquid in short term bonds and mutual funds and using the rest of the capital to buy back company stock4. There are several reasons why contract brewing makes less sense now. First, the BBC has run into situations in which being a contract brewer has hurt the company’s reputation. Anheuser-Busch used a dateline interview and ran a series of attack ads claiming Samuel Adams Boston Lager was no different from other domestic beers since much of it was made in the same breweries as these domestic beers5. The ads were eventually dropped when an advertising watchdog group found the ads to be factually incorrect, but the damage had been done6. Brewing all of their own beer would insulate them from such claims, reinforcing their reputation. Additionally Miller tried to back out of a large brewing contract7. BBC won in arbitration, but millions were lost in legal expenses and backup contracts which were never realized. The dispute also brought more attention to the fact that some Samuel Adams is made by the majors, diluting their brand name more. BBC already produces half of their own product, and sells excess capacity to other brewers. This indicates that the company already has the experience and know-how that it needs to operate their own breweries on some scale. With so much capital available and sales growth slow, BBC should purchase a few local breweries around the country to produce all of its product. Excess capacity in these breweries can be contracted out as is currently done in the company’s Cincinnati plant. By owning and operating their own breweries, the BBC can avoid the damage to its reputation as well as the contract disputes that it has to incur by operating as a contract brewer. Conclusions The Boston Beer Company has shown that it has a successful business strategy for growth. The company’s management now needs to show that it can maintain its profitability at its current level by adopting a strategy that creates barriers for entry into the national craft beer market. Many conventional entry barriers can be overcome by either regional microbreweries, which have the experience necessary to brew quality beers, or by major American breweries, which have the resources to market a new beer nation-wide. The one significant entry barrier that the Boston Beer Company still holds on to is its good reputation, which it gained both by being an early mover into the national craft beer market and by maintaining strict quality controls. As the company has matured it has drifted away from its reputation of uniqueness. In order for the company to maintain its hold on the American craft beer market, it will need to revive its reputation at all costs. Because the company’s growth has slowed, it has an opportunity to use its excess capital to fund programs that help bolster its image as a high quality, high integrity brewer. If it continues to differentiate itself from major American breweries like Budweiser, Coors, and Miller, then despite the Boston Beer Company’s smaller resources, it should still be able to hold its consumer base and protect its profits from entry into its market. References 1. â€Å"Samuel Adams – Company Background. † 2. The Boston Beer Company, Inc. 2002 Annual Report 3. â€Å"Boston Suffers Tough Fourth Quarter. † Modern Brewery Age. http://articles. findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m3469/is_8_55/ai_114921347 4. The Boston Beer Company, Inc. 2003 Annual Report 5. Contract Brewing. Lew Bryson. Copyright 2000. http://www. beveragebusiness. com/art-arch/mmbryson0201. html 6. â€Å"A-B to modify ads attacking Boston Beer. † Copyright 1997, Chautauqua Inc. http://www. allaboutbeer. com/news/industry/ab_ads. html 7. â€Å"Brewery addition may be on tap. † Copyright 2003, Cincinnati Post. http://www. cincypost. com/2003/04/02/brew04-02-2003. html.

Tektronix Inc Global Erp Implementation Information Technology Essay

Tektronix Inc Global Erp Implementation Information Technology Essay The present business environment is changing dramatically and is mainly characterized by increasing competition, rising customer expectations, expanding markets and shorter product life cycles. This has put tremendous pressure on companies to reduce costs across the value chain and inventory, provide better customer service and reliable delivery dates, improved quality and efficiently manage the demand, production and supply across the globe. In order to remain competitive, in the light of these pressures, firms are exploring different ways of doing business and also realizing the importance to improve their internal processes and practices. It is crucial for organisations to share timely and accurate business information with their customers, suppliers and distributors and in order to meet this objective firms are aggressively using enterprise resources planning (ERP) systems. ERP system provides two main benefits. One, it provides a unified enterprise view of the organization. The entire information from human resources, accounting, finance, sales, inventory, logistics and supply chain management are integrated by ERP. This integration allows firms to respond rapidly to changing market and competitive forces, efficiently manage supply chain and inventory thereby realizing cost savings. Second, the ERP acts as a central information database that allows information to be stored, processed, analyzed and monitored. This prevents information and communications gaps thereby allowing better co-operation and co-ordination across the various departments and functional units in an organization (Umble et al, 2003; Bingi et al, 1999). The ERP system, by providing timely and accurate information, aids in the strategic decision making functions of the top management. Although the ERP system can be considered as one of the strategic tools used by organisations to realize their business goals and objectives, its implementation is a cause for concern. ERP systems are highly complex systems and its implementation is usually a difficult and costly exercise fraught with risks. This essay evaluates the global ERP implementation at Tektronix, a manufacturer of electronic test equipments. The essay begins by briefly outlining the state of affairs at Tektronix prior to ERP implementation and can be considered as driving factors behind the adoption. The implementation has been analyzed in different stages business plan and Vision, requirements analysis, software selection, implementation planning and implementation. Such an approach will provide more clarity about the adoption process, the critical success factors and risk mitigation. NEED FOR CHANGE AT TEKTRONIX Tektronix, in spite of being the world leader in most of the businesses that it was catering to, was limited in terms of flexibility of its operations and growth opportunities. In order to overcome these limitations the top management felt that the organization had to be restructured starting with information technology (IT) infrastructure. The IT infrastructure at Tektronix was a complete mess. They had over 450 legacy systems only in the United States, apart from the systems used in the 60 countries in which they were operating. There was no standardization of these systems or business processes globally. Inventory tracking was a problem and sales order processing had to be carried out multiple times in different systems which resulted in increasing processing time, reduced customer service and order errors. The financial systems were not very efficient with multiple charts of accounts across the company and therefore taking weeks to close the books at the end of the month. It was also challenging to retrieve business performance information such as the profitability with regards to each product or division. It can be inferred from these business challenges that the driving forces for ERP adoption at Tektronix were the need for business process integration, common template for IT, unified enterprise view of informatio n, operational cost savings and increased customer responsiveness. BUSINESS PLAN, VISION, TOP MANAGEMENT SUPPORT AND COMMITMENT One of the most critical success factors for any ERP implementation is the creation of a clear and compelling vision identifying goals and objectives along with their alignment with information systems strategy (Umble et al, 2003; Finney Corbett, 2007). Along with this vision, the business plan should provide the justification for the investment based on reliable data and reasonable assumptions (Nah et al, 2001; Kraemmerand et al, 2003). In case of Tektronix, the vision was provided by the CFO and it stressed on three key aspects -seperablity of business, leveraging shared services and a plain vanilla system, where possible. With regards to ERP investment justification, Tektronix did not spent time carrying out detailed return on investment (ROI) analysis. The decision to adopt ERP system was based on the judgment of few senior managers, in particular the CFO. One of the risks of such an action, and which did occur, is costly implementations. A detailed budgeting and ROI analysis wo uld have put a control on the cash outflow for the implementation. Top management support and commitment is another critical success factor and is required throughout the implementation by way of monitoring progress and providing direction (Murray Coffin, 2001). They play a key role in the allocation of resources apart from legitimizing the new goals, objectives and business process changes. Their support also helps to reduce user resistance which is likely to be present in large transformational projects such as an ERP implementation (Nah et al, 2001; Sumner, 2003). In case of Tektronix there was continuous support and approval from the CFO, divisional heads and senior managers during the project life cycle. REQUIREMENT ANALYSIS Most of the times, the reasons cited for the abandonment of ERP projects is because firms realize, midway, that the new system does not support some of their business processes (Koch et al, 1999). One of the reasons for this is the failure to conduct a detailed requirement analysis prior to ERP adoption. As part of this analysis, functional requirements should depict the various data requirements, process linkages and work flows. In Tektronix implementation, it is clear from the case study that the management had not carried out detailed requirement analysis prior to ERP adoption. Although they managed to have a successful ERP adoption, this was a very risk approach. SOFTWARE SELECTION The software selection process at Tektronix can be analyzed from three key aspects buy-versus-build decision, the software selection process and finally, the single vendor approach to enterprise systems integration. Firms adopting an ERP system face the decision to whether build the system in-house or to purchase packaged software and this depends on a number of factors, one of which is the level of technical expertise and ERP development knowledge existing in-house (Sawyer, 2000). Firms involved in the in-house development of the ERP systems face the risk of cost and schedule overruns and in some cases the end system not meeting the user requirements (Lucas Jr et al, 1988). The decision to go for packaged system, in Tektronix, can be considered to be a wise decision because of two main reasons. Firstly, Tektronix had no experience in developing IS systems. It would not have been possible for them to develop a robust system with the same efficiency as a package software developer, who could leverage from its RD and varied implementation experiences. Secondly, Tektronix did not have the necessary technical skills, which was also evident during the implementation stage. With regards to software selection process, Tektronix spent very little time. The decision to implement Oracle ERP solution was based mainly on the experiences of the CFO and CIO. Very little resources were spent in evaluating the alternatives in terms of features and costs. An ERP system, by default, will impose considerable influence on a firms strategy, organization and culture. Some of the ERP failures can be attributed to the incompatibility that exist between the new systems technical capabilities and needs vis-Ã  -vis the organizations existing business processes (Umble et al, 2003). It is therefore critical that the ERP selection process is conducted with great care. The selection between the single vendor and best of breed approaches to systems integration is debatable. Both the approaches have risks and are considered to be complex with regards to their scale, scope and business process reengineering requirements (Shehab et al, 2004). The best of breed strategy can offer the best functionality for each module, but its implementation is complex because of the need for establishing interfaces between the disparate systems (Bingi et al, 1999; Shehab et al, 2004). The cost and the need for extensive training to maintain these interfaces is also likely to be high (Light et al, 2001). In case of single vendor strategy, it might not have all functionalities but it will easier to implement (Mabert et al, 2001). The other benefits include simplified contracting and relationship management as well as a single point of control for all software related problems (Shehab et al, 2004). Taking into consideration Tektronix growth strategy as well as the scale a nd complexity of the ERP implementation, it can be argued that the single vendor strategy seemed suitable. It mitigated, to a great extent, the integration, maintenance and upgrade related risks likely to be present in multiple package implementations. IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION An important activity, during implementation planning, which plays a crucial role in the success of an ERP implementation, is the creation of a steering committee consisting of senior management and end users (Somers Nelson, 2004). The role of the steering committee is mainly to determine the project scope and objectives prior to implementation and to ensure adherence to it (Parr Shanks, 2000). In case of Tektronix, the steering committee refined the companys vision and developed the global business model along with business process change and guiding principles in order to provide clear direction for the implementation. The steering committees portrayal of top management support and commitment was also instrumental in overcoming resistances. Effective project organization and management is another critical success factor in the adoption of an ERP (Umble et al, 2003). It is also necessary to ensure that the project team is well balanced consisting of members from different divisions or functional units possessing both business and technical skills (Finney Corbett, 2007). In case of Tektronix ERP implementation, there was an efficient project management team consisting of representatives from different functional and geographical locations. Apart from this, the members had a combination of business and technical skills which made it easy for to identify and resolve issues quickly. In this context it would be appropriate to stress the importance of a project champion; who oversees the entire implementation process, helps to achieve consensus and plays a major role in handling organizational change. This project champion should be a high level executive with transformational leadership qualities and should have the authorit y to set goals and legitimize change (Nah et al, 2001; Ngai et al, 2008). The CFO as a project champion can be considered one of the success factors behind Tektronix implementation. In case of large scale ERP implementations, most companies fall into the trap of a big bang seduction. Introducing the ERP system at one strike can be extremely risky and can affect the success of the project (Vogt, 2002). The overall strategy used by Tektronix for the ERP implementation can be considered to be incremental approach. It was a single change program consisting of several waves or implementations with each implementation lead by a senior executive and addressing change in a particular division or geographic region. Although the different locations were managed independently, they were monitored by a central project team to ensure a timely and smooth change. The advantage of this was that it gave regular feedback regarding the implementation thereby allowing fast corrective measures in case of any deviations, provided vital learnings which could be used in subsequent installations and allowed flexibility in project scheduling. Apart from this, each successful implementati on acted as a proof of concept (Watson Haley, 1998) for the ERP, which helped to keep the team morale high as well as to ensure continued senior management support and commitment. In case of global rollout, again the incremental approach was followed, with the initial implementation being carried out across Europe. This allowed the project team to learn and address majority of the global implementation challenges, which proved beneficial in the subsequent implementations. Although the overall approach was incremental, it was interlaced with big bang approach where possible. The incremental approach helped to overcome the challenges arising from geographical distances and the lack of business synergies that existed between some countries. It was also instrumental in managing the language difficulties that existed in some countries. One of the risk factors associated with an ERP implementation is the failure of adopting company to redesign the business processes to align with the new ERP system. Rather than redesigning, these companies customize the software to fit the existing inefficient business processes, leading to cost overruns, delays and project failures (Sumner, 2003; Ngai et al, 2008; Somers Nelson, 2004; Nah et al, 2001). These risk factors were addressed to great extent in the Tektronix implementation. As part of business process redesign it carried out a number of activities. It standardized the charts-of-accounts, eliminated existing complex transfer pricing practices and changed the financial transaction processes. Apart from this, as part of organizational restructuring all European country managers were removed, English was declared as the single language for business within Tektronix and local business practices were standardized. With regards to customization, Tektronix undertook it mainly be cause of two reasons the differences in business operations between the divisions necessitated it and the Oracle ERP system did not have all the functionality required; a fallout of not carrying out the software/vendor process diligently. Change management programs are an important part of organizational transformation processes such as ERP adoption. Although it is mentioned here under planning and implementation, it is usually initiated at the start of the project and continues throughout the project lifecycle. An enterprise wide ERP implementation such as at Tektronix is likely to cause changes to the organizations culture and structure (Nah et al, 2001). If users are not prepared for such a change, the likely consequences will be user resistance, chaos and denial. To avoid such a situation the users need to be involved during the design and implementation of the ERP system. This should be augmented with education, training and re-skilling, which will help them in understanding the need for change and the associated implications on their job (Umble et al, 2003; Al-Mashari et al, 2003; Kraemmerand et al, 2003). In case of Tektronix, there are indications from the case study that the change management was not handled effectively. One instance was the resistance to change faced during the implementation of Order Management/Accounts Receivable (OMAR) at CPID division and the project team having to reiterate the need for change. Another instance was during the implementation of OMAR at VND division. It was post implementation that VND realized the level of resources and the skill set required. Although VND managed to have a successful implementation, this could have been risky leading to user resistance and chaos. The insufficient training of the end users is considered as one of the risk factors associated with an ERP implementation (Sumner, 2003). Based on the approach of using power or super users, it can be argued that Tektronix followed cascaded training to mitigate the risks arising from insufficient training of end users. The risk arising from the lack of internal expertise, technical and functional, was mitigated by the deployment of external consultants. In order to avoid the risks and surprises arising from the integration of complex business operations with the ERP system, Tektronix pursued a vigorous testing program simulating live work environment. LESSONS LEARNED FROM THIS IMPLEMENTATION There are some key learnings, based on the above evaluation. Firstly, it is necessary to carry out a detailed requirement of analysis prior to an ERP implementation. This will ensure that a proper understanding of existing business process and benefits that can be realized from the adoption of the new system. Secondly, the ROI analysis and budgeting apart from providing the economic justification for the project will also help to control the implementation costs. Third, in case of software/vendor selection sufficient resources must be spent in comparing features and costs between the various alternatives. This can avoid customizations at a later stage. In their article, Umble and Haft (2003) recommends a selection process which includes identification of potential vendors and evaluation criteria, creating the request for proposal, evaluation of the proposals, choosing the vendor/software, negotiation of contract, pre-implementation pilot test and finally, establishing service level a greements. Fourth, the presence of a steering committee consisting of representatives from the senior management and end users along with the appointment of a project champion can have considerable impact on the success of the implementation. Fifth, the lack of business process reengineering coupled with excessive levels of customizations can lead to cost overruns, delays and project failure. Lastly, incremental approach is suitable in the case of large scale ERP implementations as it provides feedbacks and quick gains which acts as a proof of concept along with the learning which can be utilized in subsequent installations. CONCLUSION It is clear that although the implementation at Tektronix was expensive it was a successful implementation. This was due to the presence of a number of critical success factors along with risk mitigation approaches that were followed. The presence of executive sponsorship during the project life cycle, along with a transformation leader such as the CFO as the project champion was critical to the success of this project. In terms of global rollout, avoiding the big bang seduction and following the incremental approach was a wise decision. However, there are few areas such as the requirement analysis, software/vendor selection process and change management where the project team did not carry out detailed analysis or execution. Focus on some of these areas could have made avoided some of the problems that were faced during the implementation. In a nutshell, the successful adoption of ERP at Tektronix helped it to overcome many of the inefficiencies which were present earlier and in the process enabled it to become much more agile and flexible.

Imaginary and complex numbers

Imaginary and complex numbers When Are We Ever Going to Use This? – Imaginary and Complex Numbers The number √-9 may seem impossible, and it is when talking about real numbers. The reason is that when a number is squared, the product is never negative. However, in mathematics, and in daily life for that matter, numbers like these are used in abundance. Mathematicians need a way to incorporate numbers like √-9 into equations, so that these equations can be solvable. At first the going was tough, but as the topic gained more momentum, mathematicians found a way to solve what their predecessors deemed impossible with the use of a simple letter i, and today it is used in a plethora of ways. History of Imaginary Numbers During the early days of human mathematical history, when someone reached a point in a equation that contained the square root of a negative number, they froze. One of the first recorded instances of this was in 50 AD, when Heron of Alexandria was examining the volume of a truncated pyramid. Unfortunately for him, he came upon the expression which computes to . However, at his time, not even negative numbers were â€Å"discovered† or used, so he just ignored the negative symbol and continued on with his work. Thus, this first encounter with complex numbers was unsuccessful. It is not until the sixteenth century when the dilemma of complex numbers returns, when mathematicians attempt to solve cubic and other equations of higher-order. The Italian algebraist Scipione dal Ferro soon encountered these imaginary numbers when solving higher degree polynomials, and he said that finding the solution to these numbers was â€Å"impossible†. However, Girolamo Cardano, also Italian, gave this subject some hope. During his mathematical career, he opened up the realm of negative numbers, and soon began analyzing their square roots. Although he admitted that imaginary numbers were pretty much useless, he shed some light on the subject. Fortunately, this little bit of light would soon turn into a full beam. In 1560, the Bolognese mathematician Rafael Bombelli discovered a unique property of imaginary numbers. He found that, although the number √-1 is irrational and non-real, when multiplied by itself (squared), it produces both a rational and real number in -1. Using this idea, he also came up with the process of conjugation, which is where two similar complex numbers are multiplied together to get rid of the imaginary numbers and radicals. In the standard a+bi form, a+bi and a-bi are conjugates of each other. At this point, many other mathematicians were attempting to solve the elusive number of √-1, and although there were many more failed attempts, there was a little bit of success. However, although I have been using the term imaginary throughout this paper, this term did not come to be until the 17th century. In 1637, Rene Descartes first used the word â€Å"imaginary† as an adjective for these numbers, meaning that they were insolvable. Then, in the next century, Leonhard Euler finalized this term in his own Eulers identity where he uses the term ifor √-1. He then connects â€Å"imaginary† in a mathematical sense with the square root of a negative number when he wrote: â€Å"All such expressions as √-1, √-2 . . . are consequently impossible or imaginary numbers, for we may assert that they are neither nothing, not greater than nothing, nor less than nothing, which necessarily renders them imaginary or impossible.† Although Euler states that these numbers are impossible, he contributes with both the term â€Å"imaginary† and the symbol for √-1 as i. Although Euler does not solve an imaginary number, he creates a way to apply it to mathematics without much trouble. Throughout the years, there have been many skeptics of imaginary numbers; one is the Victorian mathematician Augustus De Morgan, who states that complex numbers are useless and absurd. There was a tug-of-war battle between those who believed in the existence of numbers such as i and those who did not. Soon after Rene Descartes contributions, the mathematician John Wallis produced a method for graphing complex numbers on a number plane. For real numbers, a horizontal number line is used, with numbers increasing in value as you move to the left. John Wallis added a vertical line to represent the imaginary numbers. This is called the complex number plane where the x-axis is named the real axis and the y-axis is named the imaginary axis. In this way, it became possible to plot complex numbers. However, John Wallis was ignored at this time, it took over a century and a few more mathematicians for this idea to accepted. The first one to agree with Wallis was Jean Robert Argand in 1806. He wrote the procedure that John Wallis invented for graphing complex numbers on a number plane. The person who made this idea widespread was Carl Friedrich Gauss when he introduced it to many people. He also made popular the use of the term complex number to represent the a+bi form. These methods made c omplex numbers more understandable. Throughout the 1800s, many mathematicians have contributed to the validity of complex numbers. Some names, to name a few, are Karl Weierstrass, Richard Dedekind, and Henri Poincare, and they all contributed by studying the overall theory of complex numbers. Today, complex numbers are accepted by most mathematicians, and are easily used in algebraic equations.

Soliloquies Essay - A Powerful Soliloquy in Macbeth -- Macbeth essays

A Powerful Soliloquy in Macbeth The play ‘Macbeth’ uses soliloquies with great effect to express the thoughts of individual characters, particularly in the case of the protagonist, Macbeth. In Act V Scene V, strong words from Macbeth convey to the reader two themes of the play.   This soliloquy demonstrates the play's use of irony and the use of the disparity between the great opposition of light and darkness as symbols for both life and death.   This soliloquy is quite significant to the play as a whole since it demonstrates two very important themes as well as leading to a better understanding of Macbeth. Macbeth is talking to an officer, when hearing of his wife's demise his mood suddenly deepens into that of emptiness.   He begins a soliloquy and states a number of ironic things.   He states that life drags on, that it "creeps in this petty pace" when in reality the speed of his actions and the development of the play's plot are taking place at a great speed.   Furthermore he goes on to describe life as a "brief candle," thus communicating that life’s opposite; death must therefore be an eternal darkness.   Throughout the play, the character Macbeth has longed for death, perhaps so that he can be unleashed from his worldly pain and guilt. He goes... ...arkness, pain, and insignificant. Works Cited and Consulted: Biggins, Dennis. "Light and Darkness in Macbeth." Shakespeare Studies VII (1975) Gilligan, Carol. Irony in Macbeth. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982 Kinney, Arthur F. ed. William Shakpespeare: the Tragedies. Boston: Hall and Company, 1985. Noble, Adrian. "At age 436, His Future is Unlimited." New York Times 23 Apr. 2000, late ed., sec. 2:5. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Elements of Literature. Sixth ed. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1997. "William Shakespeare." BBC Homepage. Online. Available . 26 Mar. 2004.

the militia Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Officially, a militia is part of the organized armed forces of a country that is called upon only in an emergency. There have been paramilitary groups with revolutionary ideas throughout America’s history, but today’s militia movement is a new more organized and violent presence (Meyers). Today the militia are unofficial citizens’ armies organized by private individuals, usually with antigovernment, far right agendas. They rationalize that the American people need armed force to help defend themselves against an increasingly oppressive government that is becoming part of a global conspiracy called the â€Å"New World Order† (Sonder, 2000). These armed groups call themselves militias; to both imply the image of the Minuteman of the Revolution and to try to claim legitimacy by asserting that these paramilitary groups were the â€Å"unorganized militia† of federal and state law. The causes for the militia movement are many, but mos t center around a fear of gun confiscation and the role such confiscation would play in their various one-world conspiracy theories. The major events, which helped to incite the movement, include the Ruby Ridge and Waco standoffs, the Brady Law and the Assault Weapons Manufacture Ban. The first groups began forming at the end of 1993; by mid-1994 (Sonder, 2000) there were a variety of such groups in many states across the country. While the media noted the emergence of this movement, little attention was paid to the phenomenon until late 1994, when civil rights organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League released reports on the militia movement. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center most of these citizens’ armies have few members and are not involved in violent activities (Sonder, 2000). They are interested mostly in the purchase and use of firearms, in discussions of patriotism, and in playing weekend war games. However, there are more than a hundred of these groups, which probably have ties to violent right wing and racist organizations. The militia exploded into prominence, however, in April 1995 when early reports indicated that Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the Oklahoma City bombing suspects, had belonged to a Michigan militia, or that militia groups were in some way directly connected to the bombing. As a result, nearly every newspaper and television stati... ...f nuclear material  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Criminalizing the use of chemical weapons  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Asking the attorney general to issue a report on whether bomb making literature is protected by the First Amendment  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Giving the secretary of state authorization to identify a group as terrorist and forbid them from raising funds, they can also freeze the assets of such organizations  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Offering restitution to victims of some federal crimes  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Authorizing more than $1 billion over five years for federal, state, and local government programs designed to prevent or deal with terrorists. After the Anti-Terrorism Law of 1996 was passed militia violence continued throughout the United States, but none of activities seemed organized on a large scale (Sonder, 2000). This could be due to increased pressures on the movement by the new law, which forced the militia further underground. Dees, Morris, (1996), Gathering Storm: America’s Militia Threat. Meyers, Leisa, Militia Movement, Microsoft Encarta 2001 CD-ROM Sonder, Ben, (2000) The Militia Movement: Fighters Of The Far Right the militia Essay -- essays research papers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Officially, a militia is part of the organized armed forces of a country that is called upon only in an emergency. There have been paramilitary groups with revolutionary ideas throughout America’s history, but today’s militia movement is a new more organized and violent presence (Meyers). Today the militia are unofficial citizens’ armies organized by private individuals, usually with antigovernment, far right agendas. They rationalize that the American people need armed force to help defend themselves against an increasingly oppressive government that is becoming part of a global conspiracy called the â€Å"New World Order† (Sonder, 2000). These armed groups call themselves militias; to both imply the image of the Minuteman of the Revolution and to try to claim legitimacy by asserting that these paramilitary groups were the â€Å"unorganized militia† of federal and state law. The causes for the militia movement are many, but mos t center around a fear of gun confiscation and the role such confiscation would play in their various one-world conspiracy theories. The major events, which helped to incite the movement, include the Ruby Ridge and Waco standoffs, the Brady Law and the Assault Weapons Manufacture Ban. The first groups began forming at the end of 1993; by mid-1994 (Sonder, 2000) there were a variety of such groups in many states across the country. While the media noted the emergence of this movement, little attention was paid to the phenomenon until late 1994, when civil rights organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League released reports on the militia movement. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center most of these citizens’ armies have few members and are not involved in violent activities (Sonder, 2000). They are interested mostly in the purchase and use of firearms, in discussions of patriotism, and in playing weekend war games. However, there are more than a hundred of these groups, which probably have ties to violent right wing and racist organizations. The militia exploded into prominence, however, in April 1995 when early reports indicated that Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the Oklahoma City bombing suspects, had belonged to a Michigan militia, or that militia groups were in some way directly connected to the bombing. As a result, nearly every newspaper and television stati... ...f nuclear material  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Criminalizing the use of chemical weapons  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Asking the attorney general to issue a report on whether bomb making literature is protected by the First Amendment  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Giving the secretary of state authorization to identify a group as terrorist and forbid them from raising funds, they can also freeze the assets of such organizations  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Offering restitution to victims of some federal crimes  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Authorizing more than $1 billion over five years for federal, state, and local government programs designed to prevent or deal with terrorists. After the Anti-Terrorism Law of 1996 was passed militia violence continued throughout the United States, but none of activities seemed organized on a large scale (Sonder, 2000). This could be due to increased pressures on the movement by the new law, which forced the militia further underground. Dees, Morris, (1996), Gathering Storm: America’s Militia Threat. Meyers, Leisa, Militia Movement, Microsoft Encarta 2001 CD-ROM Sonder, Ben, (2000) The Militia Movement: Fighters Of The Far Right