International Business Environment Essay

Venturing into new business and market frontiers like Malaysia requires extensive understanding of the environment in terms of the political establishment, business potential, legal and regulatory framework, and availability of resources, socio-cultural aspects and to an extent geographical position and infrastructural development of the country. The research and analysis of these key and crucial factors are important in analysing the potential and business environment of Malaysia. Malaysia possesses unique features and characteristics which are different from any other nation and it’s therefore essential to scan and research the market. Geographically located in Eastern Asia, Malaysia has been one of Asia fastest developing markets in the last half century. Malaysia is among the â€Å"Asian Tigers† a terminology given to the Asian economies which transformed from third world nation status to middle income nations within a short span thanks to sound and effective economic policies. It has a sizeable population of around 28. 3 million with diverse ethnic composition largely comprising the Ethnic Malays, Indians and Chinese population (CIA fact book, 2010). Similarly Malaysia is a developing nation with growing high per capita income making it a potential market for introduction of any business. The nation has well established and developed financial markets and excellent world class infrastructure in transport air and sea and moreover it’s known worldwide for the technology superiority and advancements. It’s highly developed commercial and manufacture sectors makes it a target for many international business. Malaysia has enjoyed a relative stable political stability which has been instrumental in spurring its economy and attracting foreign firms. It’s also a competitive business environment with flexible legal and regulatory framework making it easy to operate business. Therefore it’s very important to explore and understand these aspects and others in detail to ensure conclusion and market analysis of Malaysia is obtained through in depth understanding of the market. This would enable the company to undertake its strategies and plans effectively and efficiently in Malaysia. The paper tries to look some of the aspects mentioned above in more detail. Conclusively, In order to expand business to other countries, many factors should be put into consideration so as to ensure there is professional development of the business. Critical analysis, exploring and report writing is therefore important considering these issue and thus should be undertaken respectively. Introduction In business, the understanding of a given culture in which business is to be done and be based is very critical and thus important. With connection to these some aspects have to be considered so as to know where and which country qualifies better for allocation of such business. These can be well achieved through exploring and analysing the business environment of a prospective country. For instance, Culture and cultural practices are very important and have to be understood in order to make sure all the selling strategies have been able to offer good fruits in the business (Sandra, 2001, p 58). This paper thus comes up with the choosing of Malaysia as an example of a country on which as the Business Development Manager of Australia have chosen with the aim of expanding business. Therefore this paper discusses the critical analysis and the report obtained from exploring and analysing business environment of Malaysia which in return helps in determining where the country fits in the complexity of international business environment. Many factors should be put into consideration so as to decide whether the business will effectively run smoothly (Dunning, 1998, p 98). Country Profile Situated in Eastern Asia Geographically Malaysia covers approximately area of 392,748 square Kms, this is lightly larger than New Mexico in United States and a population of 26 Million people (C.  I. A fact book, 2010) this is a sizeable population which can be viable for any target market and introduction of business ventures. In Malaysia Islam is the pre-dominant and largest religion practised by the ethnic Malays but the nation is a multi-ethnic society and has other religious beliefs like Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Taoism practised by the minority ethnic population of Indians, Chinese and a small proportion of immigrant labour force. Ethnic Composition of Malaysia has around 53. 3% ethnic Malays, Chinese 26%, Indigenous 11. 8%, Indians 7. 7% others 1. % and Islamic religion has 60. 4% followers, Buddhism 9. 2%, Christianity 9. 1%, Hinduism 6. 3% ( CIA fact book ,2010) Its essential to know the ethnic and religious composition in order to understand the fabric of the society properly. Bahasa Melayu is the official language along with Chinese , English and Tamil are the languages used pre-dominantly in Malaysia and it’s a plus to have English as one of the languages as it makes it easy for transactions and communication when the business and corporations aspiring to penetrate Malaysian market are from English speaking nations. The country is contained of two distinct parts which are separated by the South China Sea whereby, the parts, the east and west share similar landscape in that they have coastal plains which rise due to densely forested hill and mountains. Malaysia neighbours Indonesia and thus the two countries share some cultures (Carsrud & Brannback 2007, p, 54). This is due to the Indians ethnic community which is quite well represented in Malaysia and also it borders countries like Singapore and China. The nation is well endowed with natural resources, good infrastructural development in communications technology and transport and a good coast line with proximity to major sea routes. Economy Malaysia transformed from a third world economy to middle income economy within a duration of around three decades and the nation shifted from being a primarily agricultural economic based to an industrial and commercial economic hub. The country actively participates in international trade which has been enhanced by the shipping routes around its coastline and has well established manufacturing sector. Malaysia produces top exporter of manufactured goods, palm oil, rubber, petroleum and liquefied natural gas. Malaysia is considered as a newly industrialized country although not a developed one but on the way to become one and research shows its GPD per capita ( of around $14000) in the year 2008 was recorded high thus ranking the country 48th in the world and 2nd in Southeast Asia (Drucker, 2007, p , 23). The nation has a GDP of $313 billion and an average GDP annual growth rate of 5. 9 %( Ibp USA, 2008, p. 7 ) The GDP growth rate has been consistent over a long period of time and the economy has shown resiliency during the wake of economic crisis like the Asian economic crisis and recent global recession. It’s known for the developed commercial sector producing and exporting electronic products and other advanced technological goods. Export market is $158 billion and its currency Malaysian currency (ringgit) exchanges at $3 (Ibp US, 2008 p. 18) The exchange rate of ringgit against major currencies has been consistent and stable avoiding currency fluctuations. Malaysia has a floating exchange rate although it has pegged its currency to the dollar. Similarly the nation is a member of almost all major trading blocs around the region and Asia, from WTO to regional economic trade blocs making it an open and very competitive market. Political System  Since Malaysia gained independence its economic performance has been high in comparison with other Asian nations due to its stability and has avoided military coups ( Nayland,2001,p. 164) Another critical factor to consider is the political system of the country. Politics and economy are intertwined and interrelated and political stability determines the environment which economy and business operates. The political stability of the democratic nation like Malaysia makes it an attractive place for investment. Malaysia is a federal constitutional elective monarchy having a head of state is referred as the king of the nation who is elected to a five year term and a parliamentary system of government headed by prime minister and has a healthy democratic space with opposition parties Parliamentary elections are held after every five years and thus only registered voters of age 21 and above are allowed to vote for the members of the House of Representatives (Ahmad & Seymour, 2008, p, 76). Legal and Regulatory Framework MIDA (Malaysian Industrial Development Authority) is a body charged with promoting investments activities both local and foreign, and to helped and guided investments in the business environment (Cheang Lo, 1997, p. 57) This is one of the bodies created by the government to eliminate the bureaucracy in obtaining legal documentation in the country by simplifying the licensing and regulatory process of businesses which wish venture in that country. Although any business needs to go through the required government process in obtaining licences the government has created an environment where restrictions and licensing red tape has been reduced significantly. Socio- Cultural Environment The socio-cultural environment in Malaysia is well defined by its ethnic composition and religious diversity. Malaysia is pluralistic society with Malays being the majority and the other significant minority group like the Chinese, Indians and Tamils each with different religion. With such a rich cultural heritage, acquiring the relevant skills and cultural knowledge in order to conduct business in Malaysia is crucial to your success (Communicaid, n. d) the socio-cultural environment settings in Malaysia although comprising different ethnic groups and religious affiliations is a conservative society and thus it’s important for people to understand how to address the people. Each particular ethnic group has its own mode of communication and interaction and it’s critical to ensure you understand the culture and behaviour of each ethnic group in Malaysia. Generalizations of the all Malaysians while conducting business may be costly to the business as it may be viewed negatively by other ethnic groups. For instance â€Å"the Chinese for example expect punctuality, whereas both ethnic Malays and Indian business people have a more relaxed attitude towards time (Communicaid, n. ) In regard to the consumer attitudes towards products and goods there is a general tendencies among Malays of regarding goods produced locally to be somehow inferior to the goods made by the developed nations which are advanced more than them and hence produce quality products. Quality is sensitive to Malays consumers. â€Å" Malaysian local products are regarded with skepticism compared to south Korea products but are believed to be of high quality in comparison with goods fr om India ,china, Mexico and Thailand. (Ghazali et al,2008, p. 7) Resources  The country is well endowed with natural resources and enough raw materials which it has continued to exploit in its quest to develop its economy. During most of the 1970’s and 1980’s Malaysia was the largest producer and exporter of tin, tropical timber, palm oil and natural rubber (Vincent, 2005, p. 10) Although Currently, Malaysia is not a major producer of some of the raw materials like natural rubber it still has abundant supply of tin, timber palm oil and natural rubber which has been used effectively by the government in exploring and developing its economy. Malaysia has transformed itself from primarily agricultural based economy to an industrial, technological and commercial giant due to the availability of human resources in the country. Malaysia has been known to be open in attracting foreign labour in its economy to make it competitive and potent. However there have been slight problems in obtaining and retaining skilled labour from Malaysia. â€Å"In contrast to this 44% of Australians firms reported difficulty in maintaining skilled labour in Malaysia (Nayland, 2001, p. 0) Ethical and Social Responsibility â€Å"More than 60% of managers in Malaysia were supportive of the view that that to improve market share and public image their firms would have to show there are social responsible (Harrison, 2005, p. 208) Malaysian socio-cultural structure is based on conservative setting like Islamic religious dimension on the Malay population which actually sees the aspect of giving back to them community is a responsibility rather than f avour. Corporations and business doing business in Malaysia are therefore obligated to be active in supporting projects in communities to uplift their image of sharing with the community the profits obtained from them. Conclusion and Recommendations Having noted some of the major findings and factors affecting the level of entrepreneurial activities from research that has been done, it will be necessary to agree on the need of making Malaysia one of the key standards of venturing into any fast developing markets. Also, it is necessary to note that, some of the factors that affect the level of business and entrepreneurship in this country tend to have direct impacts on other economic activities and performances and they have been identified as positive and potent. Once all the factors have been keenly identified and outlined, it becomes quite easy to address them respectively so as to attain overall economic performance and development (Datamonitor, 2009, p, 31). From the analysis and research based on political stability, economic performance and availability or resources the general picture can be concluded that Malaysia is a potential and viable environment to conduct any business of any nature. Although it may have some challenges and obstacles, the business environment and its market potential makes it a conducive environment to establish business ventures and has a potential market for growth. The nation is also strategically placed to penetrate other markets in Asia.

Financing and Structuring Health Care

Health of a person is very vital. All people would do anything to maintain a good health. This explains the reason why people invest in health insurance. Basically the health insurances in the U. S. takes three forms are three. They include; Health Maintenance Organizations, Point-of-Service plans and Preferred Provider Organizations (Health insurance Overview, 2009). The Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) can be described as prepaid health policies.The holders of these policies are required to pay fixed premiums each month which covers the holder together with his or her family by offering physicians visit, emergency care and laboratory checks along with other therapeutic services. It entails a wide infirmary exposure, has a huge association of pharmaceutical stores. HMOs involve contractual agreement between the covered parties through doctors to access treatment services. It is not mandatory that one pays co-insurable. The only payment required is a small co-payment every tim e you visit the healthcare center.An example is $10 physician’s appointment fee and $25 emergency section cure fee. Any of the mentioned services in the contract does not require the procedures of filling forms. All that is required to access any service in the hospital is a HMO card. The insurance policy offers preventive measures like immunizations, mammograms, check ups and so on. The only disadvantage it has is the long bureaucratic procedures before accessing the service (Health insurance Overview, 2009). Point-Of-Service plans (POS) calls for the holder to identify personal doctor from an association of sources.The holder can outsource from the association but in such a case the benefits will be reduced. Selecting a personal doctor of Personal Care Physician from the network saves the company some money. The third type of health insurance is the Preferred Provider organization (PPOs). It is a blend of Health Maintenance Organizations and Fee-for service. They resemble H MO on the limitation of health centers and doctors choice in the approved list. The figure must fall within the agreed range. For your bills to be paid all you need is to hand in your card. It is mandatory to pay co-insurance as well as selecting a personal doctor.A vast majority of them offer preventive care services such as immunizations, doctor appointments besides mammograms. In case you consult a doctor outside the plan, one has to fill a form and the coverage is partial leaving the lager portion on you. The filling of forms involves only the cases that were handled by doctors outside the plan (Health insurance Overview, 2009). 2. Describe the three methods for categorizing health insurance in the U. S. One of the major methods of categorizing health insurance is through the Indemnity plans or reimbursement plans.In this category the plan compensates the health expenses no matter the provider used. Though there are restrictions on the amount to be compensated, they do vary with the type of policy. To settle on the amount to be compensated, three common methods are used in the Indemnity plan. These include Indemnity, repayment of definite charges and repayment of a certain percentage of genuine charges. Another method is through the Managed Care Plan. Unlike the indemnity plan, this involves the three major kinds of managed care plans mentioned earlier.These are Health-Maintenance-Organization, Preferred-Provider-Organization and Point-Of-Service Plans. All of the above mentioned plans involve an agreement amid the insurer and a wellbeing provider’s network. Economic incentives are given to the insured to persuade them utilize the networks of providers who are selected in a formal process. 3. Identify the three types of managed care plans and give the pros and cons of each for the health care provider, insurer, and patient. Managed care plan is a wellbeing liberation scheme that combine the economic and deliverance of health-care.It is applicable to different kinds of health-care insurance policies. The majority widespread managed care plans are; Preferred-Provider-Organizations, Health-Maintenance-Organizations and Point-of-Service plans. PPOs try to settle the therapeutic costs by involving provider networks that contract at low reimbursement charges. They are required to have utilization analysis among other necessities. Clients have the freedom to choose the medical provider they wish to but incur extra cost if their choice falls outside the network. HMOs encompass provider network and PCP as caretakers.PCP handles the hospital admission of the client as well as appointments with medical practitioners. Some though use open policy that allows the client the choice of a personal doctor in the provider network without a recommendation. A vast majority of HMOs use the compensation to persuade providers economize on the cost. The policies may involve contractual agreements between doctors within the society or from the provider networks. The last but not least is the POS that provides members the chance to opt providers beyond the network. Clients who choose providers within the HMO network incur reduced cost that those with external providers.The policy may also give a chance to provide a PCP to handle the intra-network examinations but with no recommendation for the exterior services. 4. Describe the impact of managed care on both the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The 2003 Medicare Modernization Act initiated a most important revolution to hold and transform personal health plans. It is very important that managers should consider the reason behind these routes because the programs have deviated and evaluate forecast for accomplishment in the Medicare Advantage commencement.The wavering that face the Medicare managed care promotion designated a large discrepancy amid the relative harmony of controlled Medicaid programs within a similar period of time. The two managed care were discovered about two dec ades ago to improve the declining public programs. Since their initial implementation, there has been significant improvement in the field of interest. References Health Insurance Overview. (2009) Types of Health Insurance. Retrieved July 24, 2010,from http://www. healthinsuranceoverview. com/types-of-health- insurance. html

Steam Distillation

CONTENTS CONTENTS| PAGES| 1) Abstract| 2-3| 2) Introduction| 4-6| 3) Objectives, Materials and Apparatus, Chemicals| 7| 4) Method| 8| 5) Results| 9-11| 6) Discussion| 12| 7) Conclusion| 13-14| 8) References| 15| ABSTRACT This experiment is about steam distillation by using Dalton’s Law. The objectives of this experiment are to demonstrate a separation of a mixture by using steam distillation and next to prove that Dalton’ Law and ideal gas law are applicable in steam distillation. Dalton’s Law; While Ideal Gas Law; This experiment is conducted by placing 2mL of Turpentine and 15mL of water into the flask. 0mL graduated cylinder is used as the receiver. All the connections are make sure tighten. Next,two boiling chips are added to ensure smooth bubbling and prevent bumping of the liquid up into the distillation head. The heating mantle is adjusted to give vigorous boiling. The first 1. 5mL of distillate is discarded and the next 5mL is collected. The volumes of th e water and turpentine layers in this distillate are recorded. The recorded volume is then compared with the ideal steam distillation law using the tabulated vapour pressure and densities. The volume of water and turpentine recorded are:Turpentine=1. 7mL Water=3. 3mL turpentine -_-_-_-_-_-_-| -_-_–_-_-_-_Water-_-_-_-_-_-_–_-_-_-_-_-_–_-_-_-_-_-_–_-_-_-_-_-_-| In conclusion,it is proven that turpentine and water can be separated using the steam distillation. INTRODUCTION Dalton's Law of Partial Pressures states that for a mixture of gases in a container, the total pressure is equal to the sum of the pressures of each gas. Where P1 is the partial pressure of gas 1, P2 is the partial pressure of gas 2, and so on†¦ OR In the experiment of the steam distillation,we applied the Dalton’s Law of Partiaal Pressure combined with Ideal Gas Law.Steam distillation is a special type of distillation (a separation process) for temperature sensitive materials like natural aromatic compounds. Steam distillation is employed in the manufacture of essential oil, for instance, perfumes. In this method steam is passed through the plant material containing the desired oils. It is also employed in the synthetic procedures of complex organic compounds. Eucalyptus oil and orange oil are obtained by this method in industrial scale. Figure 1 : Laboratory set-up for steam distillationDistillation Temperature and Composition of Distillate As with ordinary distillations, the boiling point is the temperature at which the total vapor pressure equals the atmospheric pressure. If the vapor pressures of the two components are known at several temperatures, the distillation temperature is found readily by plotting the vapor pressure curves of the individual components and making a third curve showing the sum of the vapor pressures at the various temperature. The steam distillation temperatures will be the point where the sum equals the atmospheric pressure.K nowing the distillation temperature of the mixture and the vapor pressures of the pure components at that temperature, one can calculate the composition of the distillate by means of Dalton’s law of partial pressures. According to Dalton’s law, the total pressure(P) in any mixture of gases is equal to sum of the partial pressures of the individual gaseous components (? A , ? B, etc). The proportion by volume of the two components in the distilling vapor will consequently be equal to the ratio of the partial pressures at that temperature; the molar proportion of the two components (?A and ? B) in steam distillation will be given by the relationship ? A/? B = ? A/ ? B, where ? A + ? B equals the atmospheric pressure. The weight proportion of the components is obtained by introducing the molecular weight (MA and MB) Weight of A / weight of B = (? A x MA) / (? B x MB) Example . Consider a specific case, such as the steam distillation of bromobenzene and water. Since the su m of the individual vapor pressures (see Figure below) attains 760 mm at 95. 2? , the mixture will distill at this temperature. At 95. 2? the vapor pressures are bromobenzene, 120mm and water, 640mm. ccording to Dalton’s law, the vapor at 95. 2? will be composed of molecules of bromobenzene and of water in the proportion 120:640. the proportion by weight of the components can be obtained by introducing their molecular weights. Weight of bromobenze / weight of water = (120 x 157)/(640 x 18) = 1. 63/1. 00 Bromobenzene= {1. 63/(1. 00 + 1. 63)} x 100% = 62% Water = {1. 00/(1. 00 + 1. 63)} x 100% = 38% The weight composition of the distillate will therefore be 62% bromobenzene and 38% water. OBJECTIVE To demonstrate a separation of a mixture by using steam distillation MATERIALS/APPARATUS/EQUIPMENT 00 ml round-bottomed flask, 50 ml Erlenmeyer flask, stoppers, naphthalene, salicylic acid. METHOD Steam Distillation of Turpentine 1. The apparatus for steam distillation are arranged a s shown in Figure 1. 50 ml of distilling flask and 10 ml graduated cylinder is used as the receiver. 2. In the flask, 5 ml, (4. 3g) of turpentine ( bp 156-165 at 760 mm) and 15 ml, of water is placed. 3. Two boiling chips are added and the heating mantle is adjusted to give vigorous boiling. It is essential for the success of this experiment that the mixture boiled rapidly with good mixing of the two phases.Because the point of this experiment is to measure an equilibrium composition and the initial distillate may not have time to equilibrate, the first 1. 5 ml of distillate is discarded and the next 5 ml is collected. 4. The volumes of the water and the turpentine layers at this distillate are recorded. 5. The ratio of the volumes actually found is compared with the ratio calculated from the ideal steam distillation law using the tabulated vapor pressure and densities. 6. The distillation temperature observed is compared with the calculated value. RESULTS turpentine -_-_-_-_-_-_-| _-_–_-_-_-_Water-_-_-_-_-_-_–_-_-_-_-_-_–_-_-_-_-_-_–_-_-_-_-_-_-| Turpentine = 5. 0mL Water = 15. 0mL Weight composition: Water = 15. 0 x 100 20. 0 = 75 % Turpentine = 5. 0 x 100 20. 0 = 25 % The weight composition that will be distillate will be 75 % water and 25 % turpentine. After the mixture have been distilled, here is the result: Total volume of distillate = 5. 0mL Turpentine = 1. 7mL Water = 3. 3mL Weight composition: Water = 3. 3 x 100 5. 0 = 66 % Turpentine = 1. 7 x 100 5. 0 = 34 % Ratio of turpentine to water : Turpentine : Water 0. 34 : 0. 66Weight of turpentine/ Weight of water = [0. 34 x [12(10)+1(16)]] / [0. 66 x [1(2)+1(16)]] = (0. 34 x 136) / (0. 66 x 18) = 46. 24 / 11. 88 = 3. 8923 Turpentine = [ 46. 24 / (46. 24+11. 88) ] x 100% = 79. 5595 % Water = [ 11. 88/ (46. 24+11. 88) ] x 100% = 20. 4405 % Temperature, T/C| Volume of distillate, V/mL| 94| 1st 1. 5mL| 94| 1| 94| 2| 94| 3| 94| 4| 94| 5| DISCUSSION 1. What properties must a substanc e have for a steam distillation to be practical? For steam distillation of a substance to be carried out, the substance must be heat sensitive. It must possess a lower boiling point than water.This method is also advisable for highly volatile liquids because highly volatile liquids denatures at high temperatures. 2. What are the advantages and the disadvantages of steam distillation as a method of purification? Among the advantages of steam distillation is organic compounds which is steam distilled will evaporate at lower temperatures, most probably below their temperature of denaturation. Besides that, heat sensitive aromatic compounds which cannot be distilled by direct heating can be processed. On the other hand, the disadvantages of this method are this method is not exactly suitable for all types of aromatic oils.Only certain types of aromatic oils are suitable to be processed using this method. Furthermore the heat is difficult to control causing the rate of distillation to be variable. -Our group apparatus got some problems. The turpentine that has been distillated accumulated at the joint of the apparatus. This is because the apparatus less slope, leads the turpentine to accumulate, resulting long time to collect the distillated turpentine. CONCLUSION Steam distillation is a special type of distillation (a separation process) for temperature sensitive materials like natural aromatic compounds.Many organic compounds tend to decompose at high sustained temperatures. Separation by normal distillation would then not be an option, so water or steam is introduced into the distillation apparatus. By adding water or steam, the boiling points of the compounds are depressed, allowing them to evaporate at lower temperatures, preferably below the temperatures at which the deterioration of the material becomes appreciable. Therefore, as the conclusion, it is proven that turpentine and water can be separated by using steam distillation.It is also known that water ha s a higher density than turpentine. Next, Dalton's law (also called Dalton's law of partial pressures) states that the total pressure exerted by a gaseous mixture is equal to the sum of the partial pressures of each individual component in a gas mixture. This empirical law was observed by John Dalton in 1801 and is related to the ideal gas laws. On the other hand, the ideal gas law is stated as the equation of state of a hypothetical ideal gas. It is a good approximation to the behavior of many gases under many conditions, although it has several limitationsTherefore, as both of these laws are involved, we can conclude that both Dalton’s Law and Ideal Gas Law are applicable in steam distillation. Based on the result of the experiment, water contains 80% and turpentine contain 20% portion. Some errors might have occurred during the experiment that caused the results to be differed from the theory. During the experiment, the apparatus must handle carefully because it is easily broken. To increase the accuracy of the result, thermometer is used in the flask so we can read the temperature in the flask.We must use stopper to close the flask because it can avoid the water vapour escape to the environment REFERENCES John R. Dean, Alan M. Jones, David Holmes, Rob Reed, Jonathan Weyers and Allan Jones (2002). Practical Skills in Chemistry. Edinburgh Gate, Harlow, Great Britain: Prentice-Hall Carl W. Garland, Joseph W. Nibler, David P. Shoemaker, (2003). Experiments In Physical Chemistry. 7th Edition. New York, N. Y. : McGraw-Hill Umland and Bellama (1999). General Chemistry. 3rd ed. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company APPENDICES Steam Distillation Experiment 2: Isolation of Eugenol from Cloves Background; Readings on Vapor pressure, Raoult’s Law from TRO: A mixture of the essential oils, eugenol and acetyleugenol, will be steam distilled from cloves. These compounds are isolated from aqueous distillate by extraction into dichloromethane. The dichloromethane solution is shaken with aqueous sodium hydroxide, which will react with eugenol, to yield the sodium salt of eugenol in the basic aqueous layer, and acetyleugenol in the organic layer. The basic aqueous layer can be acidified to re-extract eugenol from it.And the organic layer can be dried and concentrated to yield acetyleugenol The principle of steam distillation is based on the fact that two immiscible liquids will boil at a lower temperature than the boiling points of either pure component, because the total vapor pressure of the heterogeneous mixture is simply the sum of the vapor pressures of the individual components (i. e. PT = PoA + PoB, where Po is the vapor pressure of the pure liquids). This leads to a higher vapor pressure for the mixture than would be predicted for a solution using Raoult’s Law(applies for iscible mixtures) (that is PT = Po(A)n(A) + Po(B)n(B), where n is the mole fraction of the component in the mixture). The higher total vapor pressure leads to a lower boiling point for the mixture than for either single component. The boiling point of eugenol, an oil found in cloves, is 248  °C, but it can be isolated at a lower temperature by performing a co-distillation with water. Steam distillation allows separating substances at lower temperatures which is useful since many organic compounds tend to decompose at high temperatures which regular distillation would require.For steam distillation to be successful, the material to be isolated must be insoluble in water. Usually   these compounds have a low vapour pressure. After mixing them with water, however, the mixture will distil when the sum of the two vapour pre ssures reaches atmospheric pressure. It follows, then, that this must happen below the boiling point of water. Note that by steam distillation, as long as water is present, the high-boiling component vaporizes at a temperature well below its normal boiling point without using a vacuum.Since eugenol is not soluble in water, the concentration of the eugenol in the vapor over the boiling eugenol– water suspension does not depend on concentration of the eugenol. The relative amounts of eugenol and water in the vapor simply depend on the vapor pressures of the pure materials. The vapor pressure of water at 100  °C is 760 torr, and the vapor pressure of eugenol at 100  °C is approximately 4 torr; (Note, the suspension boils when it’s vapor pressure is equal to the external pressure.Since both the eugenol and the water are contributing to the vapor pressure of the suspension, the suspension will boil before either pure substance would normally boil. ) Since the distillate will contain both water and eugenol, the eugenol must be extracted from the water using an organic solvent. Once the eugenol is extracted into an organic solvent,the organic layer is separated from the aqueous layer and dried. The eugenol is finally isolated by evaporation of the organic solvent. When   the sum of the separate vapor pressures equals the total pressure, he mixture boils and P =P(A) + P(B) Where PA is vapor pressure of pure water A PB is vapor pressure of pure B 1 Then the vapor composition is Y (A)= PA/P Y(B) =PB/P Dalton’s Law: PAV1 = nART1 and PBV2 = nBRT2 V1 = V2 and T1 = T2 n = moles, The ratio moles of B distilled to moles of A distilled is OH OCH3 OAc OCH3 Eugenol AcetyleugenolObjectives: To extract Eugenol and Acetyleugeonol from cloves To separate the mixture of eugenol and acetyleugenol using their acid- ­? base properties. To characterize eugenol and acetyleugenol using TLC(Rf values) andRefractive index. Glassware: Beaker to mass the cloves, Er lenmeyer flasks(2, 50- ­? ml), storage container+ distillation glassware(there should be an assembly in the fume hood) Procedure: Week 1: Steam Distillation Place 10 g of whole cloves (ground using a mortar and pestle by the teacher) in a 100-mL round-bottom flask, add 50 mL of water, and set up an apparatus for simple distillation- steam (will be set up in the fumehood and you can draw the set up while in the lab) will be generated in situ(50 ml of water added to the flask will generate the steam).Heat the flask until boiling begins, then reduce the heat just enough to prevent foam from being carried over into the receiver. Use a 50-mL Erlenmeyer flask as a receiver(the distillate will collect in the flask thro a funnel) and transfer periodically your distillate to a 50-mL graduated cylinder. While you have removed one receiver, do not forget to replace the Erlenmeyer flask with a second one(that is clean and dry). 2 Caution: It is important that the cloves remain covered with wa ter at all times. Or else, the cloves will burn and smoke!Also, the distillation has to be steady. If not the mixture will foam and the foam will drop down the condenser into the receiving flask. And this would contaminate the distillate. Save the distillate in a tightly capped bottle for the following week. Week 2: Separation of Eugenol and Acetyleugenol via acid/base extraction Place the 50 mL of distillate in a 125-mL separatory funnel and extract with three 10-mL portions of dichloromethane. Combine the dichloromethane extracts and reserve 1 mL for thin layer chromatography. teacher will explain this step) To separate eugenol from acetyleugenol: pour back the dichloromethane extracts into the separatory funnel, extract the dichloromethane solution with 5% aqueous sodium hydroxide solution. Carry out this extraction three times, using 5-mL portions of sodium hydroxide each time. KEEP the aqueous extracts (it contains eugenol) and dry the organic layer over sodium sulfate (add eno ugh so the drying agent no longer clumps together but appears to be a dry powder as it settles in the solution).Swirl the flask to complete the drying process and let the drying agent settle for 1 minute before decanting into a DRY and TARED Erlenmeyer flask, rinse the drying agent with two 2-mL portions of dichloromethane. Evaporate the solution on a steam bath, the residue should be aetyleugenol. Acidify the combined aqueous extracts to pH 1 with concentrated hydrochloric acid (use Litmus paper to monitor the pH), and then extract the eugenol with three 5-mL portions of dichloromethane.Dry the combined extracts over sodium sulfate, as done before, decant into a DRY and TARED Erlenmeyer flask, and evaporate the solution on a steam bath, the residue should be eugenol. Cleaning Up: Combine all aqueous layers, neutralize with sodium carbonate, dilute with water, and flush down the drain. Any solutions containing dichloromethane should be placed in the halogenated organic waste contain er. Wash up all glassware with soap and water. Analysis: Calculate the weight percent yields of eugenol and acetyleugenol oils based on the weight of cloves used. Analyze your products sing refraction index. Analyze your products using thin layer chromatography (TLC). Eluent: dicloromethane-hexane (1:2 or 2:1)Vizualization: under UV light and iodine chamber AS Co AE AS – Acetyleugenol Standard Co – Co-spot AE – Acetyleugenol Extract ES Co EE ES – Eugenol Standard Co – Co-spot EE – Eugenol Extract ES Co CM ES – Eugenol Standard Co – Co-spot CM – Crude Mixture First a TLC plate is prepared by spotting the purified unknown and an authentic sample of each possible compound. Then the TLC plate is developed. For the next step (co-spotting), an authentic sample of the 3 ompound closest in Rf value to the unknown is chosen. TLC co-spotting of a second plate allows for preliminary identification of your compound. Three spots are applied to the adsorbent on the baseline of the TLC plate: the purified unknown, an authentic sample, and a co-spot of unknown and authentic sample. If the developed TLC plate shows only one row of spots, it can be concluded that the unknown has been purifed, and that the unknown is possibly the same compound as the authentic sample.However, because Rf values are relative, not absolute, some compounds may have very similar Rf values Pre- ­? ab: FOR WEEK 1 only: All the required formulae for the caculations have been presented here. Hence googling is not required. MSDS is required for the following chemicals: Eugenol and acetyl eugenol. Pre- ­? lab should be complete to the best of your ability before the lab. Answers will be discussed during the lab. For the procedure : You will draw the glassware set up when you come to the lab; Just come prepared with titles, objectives, MSDS. Questions from pre-lab should ensure that you have understood the theory behind WEEK 1 ; Distillation . 1a. What is the vapour pressure of benzene at 80 egrees celcius. Explain the term vapour pressure. 1b. What is an azeotrope? How would the term azeotrope apply in this experiment? 2a. The vapor pressure of water at 99oC is 733 torr. What is the vapor pressure of eugenol that codistills at this temperature? The amount of the substance X that co- ­? distills together with the water is given by Pwater/px = nwater/nx n(water) = moles of water n(X)= moles of Eugenol 2b. Calculate the mass of eugenol that co-distills with each gram of water at 99oC. How many grams of water must be distilled to steam distill 2 grams of eugenol from an aqueous solution?Calculate mass% for both eugenol and water. 3. What is the difference between essential oil and fatty oil? What would be suitable IUPAC name for eugenol and acetyl eugenol? 4. Based on the formulae presented so far, cite one disadvantage of steam distillation of organic compounds. 5. Steam distillation may be used to separate a mixture of 4- ­? nitrophenol and 2- ­? nitrophenol. The 2- ­? nitrophenol distills at 93 degrees but the 4- ­? nitrophenol does not. Explain. 6. List your observations during the lab: Record the temperatures at various times, nature of the distillate, odour†¦.. 4

What factors causes the lack of trust in project management teams Essay

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The Importance of Marketing in the Twenty-First Century Essay

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Ryanair Marketing Mix Analysis Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

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Is enterprise risk management (ERM) an effective form of risk management and value creation in the oil and gas industry and to w - Dissertation Example In effect, the major strengths and weaknesses that have been associated with BP Oil’s risk management policies shall be outlined and compared to risk management practices at Tullow Oil Ghana. This comparison will be done so that in later chapters, particularly the discussion chapter, the researcher will draw inferences on how Tullow Oil Ghana can learn from the strengths and weaknesses of risk management policies from BP Oil perspective. In relation to the general aim of the study, particular attention shall be paid to how BP Oil have both benefited and failed to benefit from the use of Enterprise Risk Management practices at different times of risk situations that the company faced. In order to follow the qualitative philosophies of the research, the researcher is going to dwell on the analysis of secondary data instead of the use of primary data. This will be done because of the impact that secondary data has on qualitative data, making it more subjective, but backed by empi rical evidence from related literature (PSA, 2007). 4.1 Analysis of Secondary Data on Risk Management Practices at BP 4.11 Risk Management Options at BP As far as risk management practices are concerned, there are a number of options that can be found throughout of existing data for oil and gas companies, of which BP Oil is one. Generally, BP Oil has been identified to have used three major risk management practices at different times of its operations. These options have been avoidance, knowledge and research, and controlling. Avoidance has been used in very high risk situations to ensure that there exist alternative approaches that do not bear any risks at all (Vinnem et al, 2007). The effectiveness of avoidance has however been found to be vested in a risk management environment where risk managers can be proactive enough to identify alternative options (Bly, 2011). Knowledge and research has been pointed out in some existing research data as not being an independent risk managem ent option but an effective tool for equipping the functionality of other risk management options. At BP Oil therefore, knowledge and research is not used in dealing with initial risks but is used as mop up risk management option to consolidate the efficacy of other options on practice. Commonly, research and knowledge is used in relation to the final risk management option at BP, which is controlling. Controlling has been found to be the commonest risk management option at BP for day to day risk situations (PSA, 2007). It has been found to involve the creations of a risk reduction plan made up of parallel development programmes (Vinnem et al, 2007). From the graph above, it can be observed that BP Oil chooses different risk management options depending on the level of risk that the company is presented with at any point in time. Where there is high risk, the company employs the use of avoidance; where there is medium risk, the company employs the use of controlling; and where there is low risk, the company employs the use of knowledge and research (K & R). 4.12 Risk management failures in the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill In several sectors of risk management application, BP Oil was sharply criticised in the academic and professional cycles for some levels of inefficiencies that accompanied the handling of the Gulf of Mexic

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Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Law - Essay Example Should the parents happen to marry at some time after the birth, citizenship is automatically granted to the child retroactively. If the child is over 14 at that time, however, his or her consent is needed. Some persons are entitled to Wulfrunian citizenship by a simpler process than naturalization. Renunciation of foreign citizenship is still almost always required. Minor children of a person granted Wulfrunian citizenship are normally granted Wulfrunian citizenship as well. Former citizens of newly independent Wulfrunia who lost citizenship other than by renunciation or deprivation may be granted Wulfrunian citizenship after 1 year's residence in Wulfrunia. Wulfrunian citizenship must have been possessed for 10 years before it was lost. A stateless person born in Wulfrunia may be granted Wulfrunian citizenship within two years of age 18 if he has lived in Wulfrunia for a total of 10 years, including 5 years continuously before application. An Wulfrunian citizen who acquires another citizenship by voluntary action automatically loses Wulfrunian citizenship. The exception is in cases where permission to retain Wulfrunian citizenship has been obtained in advance. In practical terms this is quite difficult to obtain, since it needs to be in the interest of the republic of Wulfrunia to grant this dual citizenship. Wulfrunian citizenship is also automatically lost by serving in a foreign army. In the UK, the Natio... Minor children of a person granted Wulfrunian citizenship are normally granted Wulfrunian citizenship as well. Spouses of Wulfrunian citizens The marriage has to have lasted a minimum of 5 years; and The couple has to have lived together for 5 years; and The spouse applicant has to have lived in Wulfrunia permanently for a minimum of 6 years. Long residence in Wulfrunia A person who has lived in Wulfrunia for 30 years, or 15 years in cases of 'sustained personal and occupational integration' is entitled to grant of Wulfrunian citizenship. Former Wulfrunian citizens Former citizens of newly independent Wulfrunia who lost citizenship other than by renunciation or deprivation may be granted Wulfrunian citizenship after 1 year's residence in Wulfrunia. Wulfrunian citizenship must have been possessed for 10 years before it was lost. A person who lost Wulfrunian nationality as a child (other than by deprivation) may re-acquire it by declaration within 2 years of turning 18. Stateless persons born in Wulfrunia A stateless person born in Wulfrunia may be granted Wulfrunian citizenship within two years of age 18 if he has lived in Wulfrunia for a total of 10 years, including 5 years continuously before application. Loss of Wulfrunian citizenship An Wulfrunian citizen who acquires another citizenship by voluntary action automatically loses Wulfrunian citizenship. The exception is in cases where permission to retain Wulfrunian citizenship has been obtained in advance. In practical terms this is quite difficult to obtain, since it needs to be in the interest of the republic of Wulfrunia to grant this dual citizenship. Wulfrunian citizenship is also automatically lost by serving in a foreign army. Dual citizenship Wulfrunian law substantially

How do we become prepared for emergencies (hurricanes) What are the Thesis

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Statement of Purpose for applying master program Essay

Statement of Purpose for applying master program - Essay Example For example, back then I would make small investments in form of lending money to my roommate for his sandwich, and waiting for him to return the favor in form of a sandwich and an extra cup of coffee. After I attended college, I realized that in theoretical terminology the coffee I got along with the sandwich was the interest payment. Such small associations between simple life instances and the field of Finance allured me all the more and initiated my love for the subject. My mother, who has a Masters in Finance, would often enquire what I learnt at school over video chat from Beijing and my answers would include terms such as â€Å"journal recording, cap rate, Excel usage for IRR calculation etc.† Obviously she understood the terms and would advice me to practice and apply the acquired skills. However a single question had always been embedded in my mind- a question that even my mother could not answer- Why do the concepts I learnt at school look so simple?I would often try to understand the reason behind learning and applying the skills, because if a simple Excel function and basic coding was enough to calculate the things such as the IRR, then according to me ,investment banks such as J.P. Morgan simply wasted money in hiring financial analysts to do the â€Å"simple calculations† that even a computer programming could do. Similar questions related to this has always been on my mind for example even though tons of NBA players have the ability to shoot the basket well, why does Kobe Bryant earn the highest salary? I would always look for an answer that would help me understand such puzzling occurrences.Lastly, I have found the answer to my question in just three words- â€Å"Nearest to perfect† and even to this day I believe in it. The truth is, every single student attending a valuation class learns the skills of forecasting a firm’s next year’s cash flows and using Discounted Cash Flow Model to calculate the NPV.

“Cousin Kate” and “The Seduction” Essay Example for Free

â€Å"Cousin Kate† and â€Å"The Seduction† Essay Both poems are written by female poets, who express their love by exploring physical and emotional aspects. Both poets imply that men are motivated by the physical side of love while women treasure the emotional side. The female characters in each poem to begin with are naà ¯ve, innocent and vulnerable. However each being mistreated left them both experienced before their time. The Seduction is set in the mid 1970’s when a teenage girl is at a party and is lured by a sleazy boy. Cousin Kate is about a young maiden who is taken advantage of by a lord ho then leaves her for her cousin Kate. Both are left with an experience and a child. The poems were written in very different periods and reflect love and marriage in different social manors through time. ‘Cousin Kate’ was written in the Victorian reign around the 1870s. Love and marriage in the 1870s was very different to present time, as the Victorian citizen’s approach and mind-set was to expect women to provide children especially sons to become an heir, ‘Your father would give lands for one, To wear his coronet.’ This shows that the father would be willing to pay a lot of money (land) to have a grandson. Birth out of marriage was considered wrong; ‘The neighbors call you good and pure, Call me an outcast thing’. Society saw Kate as a good person and a good marriage that they accepted into the community. Whilst they considered the cottage maiden as an outcast for having a child out of wedlock. They were also perceived to have a duty to marry and obey their husband; in the bible it says St.Paul in Ephesians 5:22: ‘Wives, be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Similarly in the Seduction although much more recent, societies view of birth outside marriage especially among teenage pregnancy is still frowned upon. ‘And better, now to turn away, move away, fade away, Than to have the neighbors whisper that ‘you always looked the type.’ The Seduction reflects a more modern attitude to love, where people frequently meet at social gatherings.’ She met him at the party and danced with him all night’. This shows that relationships can be started without knowing each other, when you are drinking. The poem also shows that men and women are now perceived as equal, in that both men and women are at the party and both are drinking alcohol. Messages of love have been interlinked with the environment to help you portray their attitudes towards one another. The setting in the Seduction has been created by using imagery and personification which helps the reader to envisage the scene. ‘Far from the blind windows of the tower blocks.’ This could imply that no one is there to see what could happen or that no one cares. An industrial dock yard is not a nice place to be and most probably not many people go there. ‘Towards the frightening scum on the water’, because this setting is so unromantic it implies that the sleazy boy is only after one thing. ‘She chattered on, and stared at the water, The Mersey, green as a septic wound.’ Here the author has used a simile to help explain nervousness of the girl. These words are effective because it emphasizes her innocents, although it seems to be dark and ery. The opening of ‘Cousin Kate’ tells us that she is just a simple country girl working to live. ‘I was a cottage maiden Hardened by sun and air, Contented with my cottage mates,’. Having this opening shows the emphasis of her innocents and it gives us a small idea of who she is. The author Christina Rossetti has pieced together a small picture of what her life was like but tells you enough for you to finish the scene in you mind. This all changes when later on it contrasts with the mention of her cousin Kate and the new lords. Both poets have used the environment help them create an image and an atmosphere which when added to the dramatic monologue is very effective. Also it transfers the feelings and emotions from the character to the reader. The poets have both used a range of techniques to help present the atmosphere and attitude to love. The atmosphere at the beginning of ‘The Seduction’ is quieting down after leaving a party with a random person who has got her drunk. It slowly turns into a dark and depressing mood but the girl is excited, naà ¯ve and unaware. The poet has used words like ‘she giggled’ and ‘he muttered’. This is successful as it shows the contrast between the innocent girl and the sinister boy. At the end of the poem the atmosphere has changed to a despaired attitude this shows how the poets view has changed. The emphasis of the change is described using poetic techniques like Connotation, Imagery, Oxymoron’s and alliteration. ‘And a bag filled with shimmering, sweet paint thinner.’ This implies that the boy was going off to get high when he is meant to be at school, I have chosen this quote also as an example of imagery and alliteration. Similarly the beginning of ‘Cousin Kate’ is peaceful, illustrated though words such as ‘contended’, ‘care’ and ‘flaxen’. However later on in the poem the narrators’ feelings are mixed; ‘Even so I sit and howl in the dust’ shows that she does feel sorrow and the reader can empathise with her. Also the poet has used dust to create a sad atmosphere. Whereas she perceives her cousin as wealthy and happy; ‘You sit in gold and sing’. This gives contrast from poor and rich, sorrow and joy. The narrator is also angry with the lord, ‘I would have spit in his face’. This illustrates her anger towards him, which creates tension and increases the reader’s knowledge of the narrator. Another way the poets express their attitudes to love and marriage is through the relationships between men and women. ‘Cousin Kate’ suggests the role of the men in the Victorian society were much more superior to women as they are the ‘hunters and gatherers’. By this I mean that the men are the leaders and are loved by women and the women should do as they are told. Conversely the male in the poem is not seen as likeable character, ‘He lured me to his palace home’. The word ‘lured’ projects an image of an ungentlemanly character which has falsely persuaded the victim. This is effective as he treats her as she is an object; ‘He changed me like a glove’. Equally ‘The Seduction’ the male character is perceived as someone who is not a pleasant person and a bad influence, ‘He spat into the river’. This is valuable as it illustrates how shocking and uncouth the boy is. Eileen McAuley has used verbs to convey the actions of the characters in ‘The Seduction’; for example the girl’s movements are submissive toward the strong minded boy. Although the same as ‘Cousin Kate’ the women in that period of time are meant to be submissive to their ‘master’. Consequently both poems are exploring the role of women in relationships and despite the fact that there is over a hundred years between the poems they both seem to be implying that society still criticise young mothers. Although the men are described as sleazy and sinister, this could be a miss conception as these may be the views from a women perspective. These descriptions of the male characters are portrayed as a stereotypical chauvinist male and could be offensive from a mans point of view. Finally the two poets have used the structure to help represent the theme of love. Both poems are written in stanzas and each tells another part of the story. ‘Cousin Kate’ is set out in a very traditional manner which help you to grasp the thoughts and emotions of the narrator. It repeats certain words in the first person like ‘I’, ‘he’ and ‘you’ this is done to show the difference between the characters but mostly cousin Kate and the narrator because ‘Kate’ has stolen the narrators ‘man’ (father); also because of the style it has created the piece of writing to be a dramatic monologue. Similarly ‘The Seduction’ also uses a lot of repetition of words in the third person like ‘she’ and ‘he’ this helps to show that it is a narrative. The poem is almost split into two sections; the fir half concentrates on the build up to when she discovers that she is pregnant and the second half only talks about if only it had not happened; also the first half is showing her innocents forming into an experience. This is successful because she is a young girl who still day dreams and wishes to be out with her friends; ‘Day trips to Blackpool, jumping all the rides?’ McAuley has also used a rhetorical question as if to say should she be out with her friends or does she get what she is deserved; but then it carries on to question what does the girl deserve? I believe that there is a subliminal message beyond the words and technical styles of writing, in both poems which can be related to the present time. The most obvious one is not to be naive and fall for boys tricks. However boy tricks are not always bad and good things may come of it. I consider the most successful technique is not a poetic technique, but more the structure the poets have written them in because it creates the mood, the speed and most of all in my eyes the tension and suspense.

Strategic Planning Model Case Study: Apple

Strategic Planning Model Case Study: Apple The computer industry is mainly taken by many companies and among these there are some of the most competitive ones, namely, Microsoft, Apple, Dell amongst others. Apple Corporation was founded in 1976 in a garage in Santa Clara, California. The two founders of Apple, namely, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs who were drop outs of college wanted at that time to provide computer users with something new and user-friendly to the market. The two Steves work together to produce some of the famous computers at times, namely the Apple 1, then after its launch, they came up with the Apple II, then Apple III. During their computer era, Steve Jobs and Wozniak came up with the computer called Lisa in 1983, Apple continued to its revolution in the computer world during the 1980s .In 1983, Steve Wozniak left the company and John Scully was hired by Steve Jobs as the President of the company. Apple continued to innovate and brought into the market new products, such as the Macintosh with the Graphic user interface (GUI) in 1984. In 1985, Steve Jobs left the company and John Scully was appointed as the new CEO. By the late 1980s, Apple faced big competitions from Microsoft, Which made Apples share to decrease drastically and forced John Scully out. In 1997, Gilbert Amelio was appointed as the new CEO and under his management, Apple, bought NextStep, and with its operating system, Apple made huge improvement and got back on the track. Steve Jobs was taken back in Apple in 1996, when the deal was officialised to buy NextStep Company. Jobs was reappointed as the current CEO when shareholders lost confidence in Mr Amelio. Jobs brought back many changes in Apple which has change its future in the company. Some examples are, In 2000, Apple presented the ibook, iMac and came up with the Ipod 2003 and lately, the iPhone was launched followed by the Mac book in 2009 and in 2010, the iPad was created. Apple is an American multinational corporation that designs and manufactures consumer electronics, computers software, personal computers. The companys best known hardware products include the Macintosh computers, the ipod, the iphone and the ipad. Apple software includes the Mac OSX operating system, the itunes media browser amongst others. Apple operates in around 284 retail stores and has an online store where, hardware and software products are sold. In 2010, Apple was recognised as the most technological company in the world. MISSION AND VISION STATEMENT Apple[1] Apples motto, Think Differently, is a concept that the company is doing very well by constantly innovating that continues to define the world of computer design. Other computer manufacturers have attempted for decades to replicate the icon classic appeal of Apple design, but none have succeeded in the manner of Apple. Apple mission is to produce high quality, low cost, easy to use products that incorporate high technology for the individual. We are proving that high technology does not have to be intimidating for the non computer experts METHODOLOGY The authors primary research was done by attending a series of Strategic Planning and implementation, which were given by Mr Bruno Alba, lecturer, London School of Management and Science The secondary research has been undertaken in order to gain extensive knowledge, from range of publications and news papers and by facts available on the internet. CHAPTER 1 STRATEGIC PLANNING MODEL FOR APPLE-IPAD The relative importance of a strategic plan for APPLE Corporation. The general idea of the strategic planning is based on the strategy development processes which are described below: 1. Intended Strategy Development: The intended strategy development comprises of some tool or frameworks that are being used by the managers of an organisation for the formulation of strategic analysis and evaluation and these factors are being used as well by managers for strategic planning purposes. 2. Strategic Planning Systems A strategic plan is set out to develop or coordinate the organisations strategy. According to some studies conducted by Rob Grant, the strategic planning is done in accordance to some process which is as follows: 2.1 Initial guidelines The strategic plan will depend upon some guidelines about the external environment. 2.2 Business level Planning This is where the business units or divisions draw up strategic plans to present to the corporate centre who will in turn discuss with the business managers and then decisions will be agreed at a certain point in time. 2.3 Corporate planning level The corporate plan will be the aggregation of the business plans. This coordination may be undertaken by a corporate planning department and then the corporate board will approve the corporate plan. 2.4 Financial and strategic targets These are aspects about the basis for performance monitoring of businesses key strategic priorities based on the plan. (Gerry Johnson et al.., 2009) Apple has come up with many new products during its existence and is continuing to innovate within the computer and technology industry. The ipad is the latest product that Apple has launched and it has done this to sustain growth and keep pace with the innovation world. Therefore, we can deduce, that the Ipad is part of the technology push, i.e, Apple, launching the product and partly, market pull whereby, launching a product according to market demand. The strategy for Apple was firstly, to be able to bring a new product, which was the new version of the product iphone in order to attain customers needs specifically the businessmen and journalists. However, there is an open demand, for the students and retired workers. Apples main competitor such as Amazon.com has brought into the market, the Kindle, with which now users can buy and access online books for reading instead of buying them physically. On the other hand, the strategy of Apple was to adapt the same concept of Amazon and use it in a different way to create another version which was the ibooks and which led Apple to create as well its online bookstore. THE IPAD hero_20100430[1] The iPad is regarded as a high value product that Apple is offering to their users. Apple vision was to win over the market of Smartphones users and laptops. The ipad, is a tablet computer, designed and made by Apple for internet browsing, media consumption, gaming and light content creation amongst many others. The ipad was launched in April 2010 and has the option of using the WIFI system of 3G date connection to browse the internet, load and stream media amongst many others. Apple developed the ipad with an improved functionality of the iphone. It also come with several applications such as the safari, mail, photos, video, you tube, ipods and itunes amongst many others. (http://apple-listing.com, http://enwikipedia.org/wiki/ipad) Below are some pictures of the latest IPADS: 220px-Steve_Jobs_with_the_Apple_iPad_no_logo[1] 220px-Apple_iPad_Event02[1] CHAPTER 2 CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS OF APPLE APPLE SUCCESSFUL FACTOR The critical success factors are those factors which determine the success or failure of a company. According to Steve Jobs the CEO of Apple Inc, the company needs nine success factors out of which six are already in place as felt by the company that is what they already mastered and the other three as what they are still working on. Mastered Factors Concept. Apples is selling billions of dollars of product and theyre extending into the digital hub. New Product Pipeline. Apple is an innovative company. They have over 2,000 employees in their engineering groups who work towards developing high quality new products such as the ipods, iphone and now the ipad. Financing. Apple has the necessary financing with over $4 billion in the bank to carry out their operations. Marketing/Brand Names. Apple spends hundred million a year on advertising and has one of the most recognizable name brands in the world. Supply Chain Management. Apple is one of the best companies in the world at supply chain management and logistics, and they know how to extend into retail. Their retail stores are viewed as extra warehouses in the current system, so there is one supply chain group for the whole company. Information Systems. Apple has already built an IS system for its stores on top of its global ISP system. (www.apple.com) Less Experience factors However, there were three success factors at which Apple had no or less previous experience: real estate, store design, and store operation. Regarding real estate, Apple knew that the old adage of location, location, location was on target and the company realized that destination locations such as Best Buy and Office Depot wont work for the 95% of non-Mac computer users. Theyve got to ambush that 95% by being where theyre already at, by locating in high-traffic gathering places, such as malls, hip streets, and the new lifestyle centres, such as coffee shops, Jobs said. Were going to put our Apple stores in top tier locations. As for Store Design, Apple wanted a concept that would fit the needs of its customers and would showcase its products, but which would also be flexible enough for change and growth. To come up with the best concept, Apple actually built a prototype in a Warehouse. The result, according to Jobs is a solutions-focused store. When it comes to Store Operations, Apple realized it had to deliver a fantastic experience, the CEO said. That meant the right stores at the right place with great merchandise, incredible employees, and operational excellence, according to Ron Johnson, Apples new senior vice president of retailing. (www.apple.com) CHAPTER 3 ANALYSIS OF THE ORGANISATION AND ITS EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT Strategic planning is an important factor in determining success and many methods can be used, such as the SWOT analysis, the PESTEL analysis, and the STEER analysis amongst many others. Some of the external factors will be discussed this chapter, Our analysis is based on the Porters Five forces and SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis will determine the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of APPLE. Firstly, some of the strengths of Apple are: Apple is one of the oldest hardware manufacturers and this give Apple a competitive edge over its competitors. It has control over the product it is making and their quality is optimum. It has products such as the iphones, ipods, laptops, which are easy to carry. It has a loyalty brand, i.e., users are still loyal to its products. Finally, Apple has a very strong RD department, which spend time and resources in the development of new and existing products. Secondly, some of the weaknesses of Apple are: Apple market share is far behind competitor Microsoft. The products are quite expensive Apple has also complaints from customers. Therefore, causing the companys reputation and image to be spoiled. Thirdly, we can look at the different opportunities of Apple which are: Apple is looking to get into new and less expensive products lines and produce quality products. It has a flexibility to its users Apples ipods products are now being used in new designed car models , therefore increasing the demand of the ipod Finally, the online sales are increasing and Apple are targeting new segments of the market. Lastly, we can look at the different threats of Apple which are: There is the pressure from competitors and the users are going for other products from other manufacturers. Technology is changing at a rapid rate thus Apple has to create products that will keep pace with the technology growth, such as the ipads. Competitors launching products such as Microsoft with vista and windows 7,all this making Apple to bring new products to sustain growth. Porter Five Forces Analysis on Apple i-pad Bargaining power of Buyers Apple is well known as an innovative company and there is a high demand for their products. Though buyers find many substitutes in the market for Apple products, they still attract to it because of the brand name and the uniqueness of its products which makes Apple a very profitable company. However regarding i-pad the buyers are somewhat more powerful. Somehow there will be alternatives for the i-pad in near future. Because of the relatively high price of the i-pad, it is a question whether the buyers will pay a premium for the brand reputation of Apple and its technology when their needs may be equally met by cheaper alternatives. Bargaining power of Suppliers Apple is mainly concentrated on design and marketing and they outsource the manufacturing of most of their products. Therefore it can be affected by the pricing of suppliers and costs because of the availability of raw materials. And also changes in minimum wage for labours can have effects on Apple. But due to the strong demand for apple products it has more power over its suppliers. Regarding i-pad even Apple outsource the parts which use to manufacture the i-pad, the software is the unique factor that brings all those parts together. Therefore the parts themselves are not that important as they as are readily available form many sources. Therefore in that case also Apple has more power over its suppliers. Threat of New Entrants Apple had many barriers to entry in the development of the i-pad but at the same time they must worry about the potential competitors like Google and Microsoft who are conquering as well. Economies of scale- As Apple already had experience in manufacturing mass market consumer electronic devices which also share components of the i-pad; Apple is not badly affected by this barrier. Product Differentiation- As the i-pad is significantly different than its competitors; overall this characteristic has positive effects on Apple. And also Apple has a certain amount of protection through the strength of its brand identity. But this product differentiation can be imitated to a certain amount by its competitors. Capital Requirement- regarding capital requirement, Apple enjoys a slight advantage. To compete with the i-pad effectively, competitors will have to invest immensely in certain areas. Cost disadvantages- Apple is able to reduce the impact of this threat as it has a number of manufacturing resources and channels available. But the new entrants may find these barriers as they have not got these resources. And also apple has invested a lot in knowledge and experience which will take time for its competitors to reach. Government policies- Apple was granted the ownership of patent for the i-phone and i-pad, which will give them, short term monopoly rights on some of its technology. It will stop their competitors imitating the product too closely. Threat of Substitutes Apple has been granted patent to the i-pad and its technology. However it is still likely that competitors in the market will soon deliver similar products. Most of the threats are going to come from the established players in the technology industry like HP and Sony and from potential competitors like Google and Microsoft. Competitive Rivalry Apple is mainly concentrated on design and marketing and is fairly vertically integrated towards customers. They do most of their business in their retail locations and on line stores. Because of this concentration on the customers and also as it is better equipped, Apple is able to compete with horizontal players like HP or Sony who are not as vertically integrated towards the consumers. It gives Apple an opportunity to create customer focused products which many of none vertically integrated players are not so good at. (http://www.csribd.com/doc/16788046/appleporters-five-force) CHAPTER 4 STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES AND OPTIONS OF APPLE STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES: Apple has a particular status; it doesnt have a listed set of objectives. All through our research, our group acknowledges that Apple always struggle to launch a new product in the market. Based on the executive overview of Apples report 2010 we can come out with a strategic objectives for their product named I pad. -To be the king of high-tech of Wall-Street -Increase their market value (get on over Microsoft), have over  £151 billion of market value. I pad is designed as a new generation of technology which to take over e-book and personal computer. That is to dethrone Microsoft at the king of high-tech By innovating in hardware which come obviously with its software, Apple compete with Microsoft who have a urge dominance on personal computer software, the launch of the Ipad announce the decline of the lap top computer. ( www.apple.com) Strategic options For an organization to have good success there is a need of having good strategic options. Strategic options are creative action-oriented responses to the external situation that an organization faces. Strategic options take advantage of facts and actors, trends, opportunities and threat of the outside world. It helps to identify and make a preliminary screening of alternative strategic options or perspectives. Strategic options for Apple iPad is to provide their clients with thorough and reliable information that may help enhance even the knowledge and skills. By doing so customers are able to page through websites, write emails, and flick through photos or watch movie, all on a big beautifully multi-touch screen. Another strategy is to have a continuous leap in technological advancements and a new or upgraded offering on average every six months. In order to have good strategies the apple company thought of what might give a continued competitive advantage and what markets should they enter and how. Which strategic options optimally fit the needs of the target group, the institutional options and aspiration of the stake holders, what supportive interventions are required to succeed in that option and threats? Apple on its product iPad focused on customer experience, they made a product which has no need of mouse, a keyboard configuration screens, and other advanced options such as touch screen. Strategic options help to make the vision into reality. SWOT analysis helps to get a better understanding of the strategic choices that company need. Strategy is the art of determining how one will win in business and life. It helps to make the most of companys strength circumvent their weaknesses, Capitalize on your opportunities and manage their threats. CONCLUSION Though Apples strategic model cannot be said, to be distinct, they are poised on taking Amazon and Microsoft head on. Their new products for example, ipad, suggests to be a real one in all product for the consumers. Apple success factors suggest that they have the ability and capability to become the market leaders. The major success factor being innovation. Behind their ability to innovate its strong research and development department. The latest product of Apple, the Ipad, however targeted on, the retired people and journalists, has received acceptance from the youth, students and the rest of the population giving Apple, a grab of the market. REFERENCES BIBLIOGRAGHY Exploring corporate strategy, 8th edition, Gerry Johnson et al.. http://www.csribd.com/doc/16788046/appleporters-five-force http://www.samples-help-org.uk/mission-statements/apple.computer-mission-statement http://apple-listing.com http://dudye.com/sneaking-intro-ipad http://enwikipedia.org/wiki/ipad http://www.apple.com

Aligning Operations and SCM with Other Functional Strategies

Aligning Operations and SCM with Other Functional Strategies 1. Discuss the importance of aligning operations and SCM with other functional strategies (e.g. Design, Marketing and Finance) in creating a viable business strategy. Skinner gives us a broad picture of how we look at the business as a whole moving away from sub optimization which he has criticised it and making choices that are sensible and how will compete on the market. Skinners work introduced the importance of the concept of trade-offs and the need to align the delivery systems to what market really require therefore the sub-functional trade-off choices are strategically aligned with key manufacturing tasks. Hill come with the concept of OWC and qualifying criteria and highlights the fact that focus should be on what important to the customer and a system require a common objective and everyone on the system is focus on common objective. Rumack Pharmaceuticals is an example of marketing strategy where they produce lots of variants of that ingredient, different pills, different potions, different bottle sizes, different packages because they little way of exploiting market opportunity. The cost of manufacturing is small compare to the value of the product because of the paten and the manufacturing was bottlenecked in this situation. In this case manufacturing means to be subordinate to the opportunity of the business and the nature of the product should be supporting the market opportunity. They end up with capacity problems and long setup times as they did not understood the implications of higher variety on that capacity. Higher variety means to go either for large batches but also inventory or smaller batches and where capacity is more absorbed thru setup. Tyndall B is another example where marketing influenced where company went. Manufacturing invested a lot of effort in chair and their process choice was to go for standard high volume but the demand was more than they would coop with. So marketing made them look at case goods but case goods would not give them so much return. They were not good in manufacturing producing case goods so the profits was declining. But why they did not invested more in tables and chairs rather than spending on galleries where marketing driven to produce a full range of products causing variety to go up and profits down. They was not paying attention of what manufacturing is capable of delivering. They werent aligned. Compare to Rumack there is no paten but there is capability which can be exploited. For both companies idea of alignment strategy was to be for volume and variety. Referring to Babcock Wilcox case study they mix up trade-offs choices because what is good for high volume is not good for low v olume and choices needs to be aligned. Regarding Finance operation strategy from Skinner point of view was all about avoiding local cost and local efficiency. Focus operations on delivery, speed, price and everyone work together to align themselves. Also he argue that quite often in factories every department try to optimise local cost and efficiency which encourage push and pull thinking. Local optimisation is not aligning with the system and we can see evidence of that at Rumack Pharmaceutical where basically in manufacturing you need to be align with the strategy thats being adopted which is all introducing new products resulting in new product capacity which should not happen as will require more capacity in the system. Going for higher variety will put more pressure on capacity because of the setups. Tyndall they had really good arrangements in terms of producing tables and chair colonial style lots of demand for them but they wont exploit it because they said that there is no capacity for that so they went for case goods. Problem was that case goods was providing throughput but no revenue. They were doing everything rather then bringing throughput per bottleneck/minute. There was no alignment to improve throughput per limiting factor or to understand what constraints are and if is a market or resource constraint. Coming to Design from an operation point of view we would like standardisation. From market point of view they want customization. So product have to be standardised as much as we can and have the ability to customise later in other words to postpone it and reduce variability and introduce the buffering options as late as possible. Postponement is used to achieve customisation and efficiency within one operating system. 2 Critically discuss how developing operational excellence can support and lead a business strategy. Porter argue that operational effectiveness is not a strategy and also Lean and TOC are not strategies because they can be copied. Lean, TQM, TOC are all about managing flow in organisation with the idea of cost, push and pull. The main question is how can we improve performance and rid away of trade-offs or how can we break them. Slack et al. (2004) argue that there are five operations performance objectives: cost, quality, speed, dependability and flexibility. The law of trade-offs states that no single plant can provide high performance in all dimensions simultaneously. We would expect to find support for this law if all competitors use similar technologies and are operating near the asset frontier. If all plants are far from the asset frontier, however, one plant can simultaneously provide higher levels of product quality, flexibility, and delivery at a lower manufactured cost if, through betterment, its management approaches create an operating frontier which is superior to its competitors. The theory of performance frontiers clarifies the impacts that assets and operating practices have on competitive advantage. However, the resource-based view took this thinking a step further through positing that competitive advantage can be sustained only if the capabilities creating the advantage are supported by re sources that are not easily duplicated by competitors. Both the asset and the operating frontier can be the source of competitive advantage but they are based on resources of different nature. Armed with an understanding of a firms operating position relative to both competitors and the performance frontiers, strategic planners are better equipped to evaluate and plan manufacturing initiatives. For example, a quality improvement initiative may well be more attractive than a new technology initiative to a firm that considers itself far from its asset frontier. Can operation not just follow business strategy and lead business strategy? Hayes and Wheelwright stage 4 evidence that.In 80s quality and lean was a paradigm shift. Operation capability can actually win the orders. Porter(96) argue that Japanese dont have a strategy as they have operational effectiveness which wins on short term but actually Toyota production system is still difficult to copy on long term. Thus, the process of strategy development should be based on a sound understanding of current operational capabilities and an analysis of how these could be developed in the future. This can then provide the basis for decisions about which markets are likely to be the best in which to deploy current and future capabilities, which competitors are likely to be most vulnerable and how attacks from competitors might best be countered (Hayes et al., 2005). organization fits with the resource-based view (RBV) .toc lean etc 3 Practically evaluate the means of enabling pull (e.g. production, project and distribution) referring to the design of a specific planning and control system. Lead time requirements of the customers tend to drive the OPP towards the customer whereas product variability and demand uncertainty drive it away from customer. The more product variables, less likely it is economically sustainable to keep every variable in stock. Therefore, often large and steady volume products are kept in stock whereas products with a lot of variance are either assembled- or made-to order. Thus, companies have often multiple OPPs depending on the product characteristics. MTS method of production reduces before demand is realise or before orders come in.This are some goods or builds based on capacity or forecast which more often are greater than current demand. This is the reason that stocks are made only to be stored or sold at some future date. MTO builds according to actual demand. This system wont produce stock as all outputs are consumed or sold immediately. MTO is a pull system since every station doesnt start processing unless pull by demand or next process. Therefore we can talk about a pull line or JIT line. This is a type of MTO system in which all working stations are strictly produce according to the takt time. JIT is also known as a lean system or Kanban system. Kanban system control the flow thru a form of electronic or physical signal which tell to start producing or deliver the next part. In the case of MTO the overall approach is termed Drum Buffer Rope (DBR). Pull means small batches and we try get as required by the system. JLR is a pull system because everyone is working at the pace of the system. They relishing car or raw material into the system at the plant rate and everyone is working at the management prescribed rate called takt time. Ohno didnt had physical restriction of space but he had this rule to do something only if you have a Kanban instruction, the signal. Fords moving assembly line physical space was the control, the signal. Kanban was the idea of inventory in the system and TOC BM was another signal: what do I do next? When do I expedite? When do I interfere with the process? Ford had pretty much a lean system that why Ohno quoted from fords book. There is a more complex environment but the principles are the same. planning of stock or raw materials or finished stock in excess is a waste(ford 1926,p99).Ford understood the importance of the flow. He forced everyone to work on the same pace and had the idea of flow line. Ford was applying principles of flow to an environment where it was not so much variety. Ohno had variety and apply principles of flow thru JIT and C.I. linked to law of variability and variability buffering and theory Theory of Swift and Even Flow. He put a lot of effort in minimizing the fluctuations, stabilizing the demand and reduce variability. Ford didnt had Jidoka but he had teams which responded fast. C. I. challenged the traditional trade-offs model. Batch size reduction was the key for lean (Schronburger 1982).Right from the beginning was all about how to reduce batch quantities and setup time which is interpreted like a source of variability in the process. Batches will be reduced till will create a bottleneck again. Reducing setup times will reduce variability. Kanban represents inventory but also time and they are interrelated. In JLR they have a fast response and they doing first order which is coming compare to buffer management. In the case of MTO the overall approach is termed Drum Buffer Rope (DBR) introduced by Goldratt(1990) to reduce variation and improve activity. In the next case study SDBR was used with time being the rope and drum the market demand. The drum previously was the roasting and char grill departments which were considered constraints. In the case of Freshcut Foods when it was to manage the flow they was releasing work in the system to early and cause quality issues and wastages. They had late demands but they were uncertain if they have the capacity to produce. So they needed a system to tell them if they have capacity to take the orders. Finally a system which can tell them how to prioritise what they should produce next and when to release the working to the system was put in practice. If is in the red zone they need to expedite if the red zone is growing means that they have a problem and they need to escalate it.. So Kanban is like an automatic system where everyone knows how to use it. 4 Critically evaluate the circumstances best suited to Kanban and Buffer Management pull systems. Benton (2014, 2) describe that the main objective of manufacturing planning and control function: is to ensure that the desired products are manufactured at the right time, in the right quantities, and meeting quality specifications in the most cost-effective manner. To illustrate the significance of BM in TOC, the functions of BM in TOC is compared with Kanban in TPS. Firstly, both BM and Kanban prioritise work orders albeit with different assumptions and mechanisms. For Kanban, there is a pre-planned quantity or WIP in buffers designed in between every work center. In addition, there is also a specific routing sequences or dedicated production line required for each product, which results in rigidity in responding to market requirements. In BM however, the priority of work is triggered by the percentage buffer penetration of completion time. As it is time-based, it allows each work center to have flexibility to react (or catch-up with time) to disruptions when Murphy strikes. Other than the function of prioritisation, both BM and Kanban have their own mechanism to monitor and control their production throughput. In Kanban, the deployment of distributed buffers in between work centers enables problems to be immediately surfaced and dealt without passing the problem to the subsequent work centers (Ohno, 1989:30). In TOC, aggregated buffer is deployed and thus has a certain delay as problems are only escalated and expedited for attention after entering into the Red zone of BM. However, as highlighted by Stratton and Knight (2010), though Kanban is more sensitive, the problems highlighted are mainly related to quality and process, whereas in BM, it also includes issues such as product volume and mix changes. In spite of these differences, both BM and Kanban advocates continuous improvement. This is seen in the final steps of both TPS: Pursue Perfection (Womack and Jones, 1996:90) and TOC: not to allow inertia to cause a systems constraint (Goldratt and Cox, 2004:307). In Kanban, continuous improvement is encouraged through reducing inventory to expose problems which then can be targeted; whereas in BM, causes of delay (Red zone penetration) are being targeted. 5. Critically evaluate the use of MTA and dynamic buffer management as a means of practically enabling a pull distribution system. VMI say communicate demand and stock levels thru the system and replenish them on the regular basis. Replenish on the stock target MTA is similar with VMI but give a priority code in terms of buffer penetration. DBM is less common as the buffer status signals whether the target level is too large or too small and this can be used to signal automatic adjustments. By monitoring how we are performing in terms of green,yellow and red we can determine whether we need to increase or decrease the stock target For example if we are in the green zone reduce stock target and if is in the red zone increase the stock target. It is the means of getting the system to work at the pace of the consumption where drum is the consumer so is signalling down to distribution system what we need to replenish and how fast which resulting in an idea of pull. In the case of Frozen Meals they replenish based on consumption on the 3rd party distributer so is very straight forward till the stock time. MTA will say if there are multiple orders in the system will give an indication what the priority is. If the consumption was high and replenishing the full quantity in the distribution depot will be less stock. This stock will have to be replenish very quickly so VMI will communicate consumption across the whole supply normally replenishing it within a day or couple of days. So all the demand in the distribution depot will go in the red zone. So VMI says communicate demand and stock level always thru the system and replenishing to the stock target. The problem come when Frozen Meals tried to replenish and couldnt because the warehouse was full. Analysing demands and orders there is obviously that demands are pretty stable and orders are more volatile in demand represented by the consumption of consumer in Weatherspoon. This difference was caused by 3rd party distributer which has his own warehouse and has more stock that he needed and fluctuating and planning orders ad hoc. Because placing order in ad hoc manors caused Frozen Meals to ask for 7 days delay of supply. The ordering system from 3rd party distributer was ad hoc. There was a stock target so why not just replenish this stock automatically communicate down the supply chain whats required. The solution was to go for VMI rather than 3rd party distributer placing orders on Frozen Meals. A pull system was created when the supplier is responsible for maintaining agreed target stock levels. 6 Discuss the strategic importance of postponement through configuration, packaging and distribution, making reference to the concept of an Order Penetration Point (OPP). In the first part I was discussing about focus factory and separating different orders. This can be also separate by postponing which means that will be 2 strategies. one at the first part of the supply chain which is looking to stabilise and standardise and a different strategy at the later stages with a decupling point. How can we design the supply chain to postpone the impact of variation and uncertainty? This can be done in the manufacturing process but distribution side as well. Skinner strategy is about how we take the system perspective and how we meet the needs of the market reducing variability in the process. With TQM the reason why ends up with variability in the process is that no-one consider how to reduce variation. This is what SPC done: to focus on variation which will bring the cost down. Unless will do that then the variability tend to be there which make the trade-off choices about quality and cost. So all of them are about reducing variability. Agility is about dealing with demand uncertainty and demand variability. Stability is associated with lean and uncertainty demand with agility. This table is similar with line vs jobbing looking for two extremes such as delivery speed and low cost. Skinner will argue that this should be two different factories because the owc are different Fisher model talking in the idea of Skinner operation trade-offs in terms of a supply chain. If we have variability in demand we need to buffer like any variation. The ideal efficient model will have flow, minimum variation in demand and process, minimum buffering. In contrast the responsive model demand varies and also product changes in the same time and we got demand uncertainty and we ll buffer with inventory capacity. Talking about lean and agile supply viewed in terms of dependency, fluctuation, buffer capacity and buffer inventory we can refer to law of variability, law of variability buffering, law of variability pooling. Talking about service it represents the customer input which can be put on MTS which can be a date, a forecast. MTA say that the priority of the order all depends on what stock level is, if the stock level goes down rapidly the priority goes up, if the stock level is not priority (demand is low) the priority goes down. In Lego case they was doing bad because they grow over the years resulting in too much variety as increasing number of elements, to many colours and they diversified to do other things(low of focus) As a start-up they cut the number of colours and elements (no elements to be unique to one product stated by the law of variability pooling).In manufacturing they segmented some of the machines as all machines should be able to do everything. They organised and streamlined how they going to manufacture elements. They rationalized the suppliers which is a lean thing. The distribution changed to a pull system and the they supply to one distribution centre in Europe in 3-4 days which is consider closer to the customer. In terms of packaging machines and capacity. By reducing the range of colours and elements setup process variability all this helped to reduce variation and uncertainty. Buffering packaging they postponed rather than holding stock in packets they opted for a centralized distribution centre and more frequent distributions. All this system was about flow. Production is lean if is accomplished with minimal waste due to unneeded operations, inefficient operations, or excessive buffering in operations. Production is agile if it efficiently changes operating states in response to uncertain and changing demands placed upon it ( Narasimban et al..,2006) References Benton, W. C. Jr. 2014. Supply Chain Focused Manufacturing Planning and Control. Stamford, Connecticut: Cengage Learning