Supercomputers Tech Weather Forecasting Tools

If youve seen this recent  Intel commercial, you may be asking, whats a supercomputer and how does science use it?   Supercomputers are extremely powerful, school-bus-sized computers. Their large size comes from the fact that theyre  comprised of hundreds of thousands (and sometimes millions) of processor cores. (In comparison, your laptop or desktop computer runs one.) As a result of this collective computing capacity, supercomputers are immensely powerful. Its not unheard of for a supercomputer to have a  storage space capacity in the neighborhood of 40 petabytes or  500 tebibytes of RAM memory. Think your 11 teraflop (trillions of operations per second)  Macbook is fast? A supercomputer can reach speeds of tens of petraflops—thats quadrillions of operations per second!   Think of everything your personal computer helps you do. Supercomputers do the same tasks, only  their kicked-up power allows for volumes of data and processes to be researched and manipulated.   In fact, your weather forecasts are possible because  of supercomputers. Why Meteorologists Use Supercomputers Every hour of every day, billions of weather observations are recorded by weather satellites, weather balloons, ocean buoys, and surface weather stations around the world. Supercomputers provide a home for this tidal wave of weather data to be collected and stored.   Supercomputers not only house volumes of data, they process and analyze that data to create weather forecast models. A weather model is the closest thing to a crystal ball for meteorologists; its a computer program that models or simulates what the atmospheres conditions could be at some time in the future. The models do this by solving a group of equations  that govern how the atmosphere acts in real life.  In this way, the model  is able to approximate what the atmosphere is likely to do before it actually does it. (As much as meteorologists enjoy doing advanced math, like calculus and differential equations...the equations used in models are so complex, it would takes weeks or months for them to solve by hand! On the other hand, supercomputers can approximate solutions in as little as an hour.) This process of  using model equations to numerically approximate, or forecast, future weather conditions  is known as  numerical weather prediction. Meteorologists use forecast model output as guidance when building their own forecasts. The output data gives them an idea of whats currently happening at all  levels of the atmosphere  and also whats possible in the coming days. Forecasters take this information into consideration along with their knowledge of weather  processes, personal experience, and familiarity with regional weather patterns (something a computer cant do) to issue your forecast. Some of the worlds most popular  weather forecast and climate monitoring models include the:   Global Forecast System (GFS)  North American Model (NAM)European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting Model (European or ECMWF) Meet Luna and Surge Now, the United States environmental intelligence capabilities are better than ever, thanks to an upgrade of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations (NOAA) supercomputers. Named Luna and Surge, NOAAs computers are the 18th fastest in the U.S. and among the top 100 most powerful supercomputers in the world. The supercomputer twins each have nearly 50,000 core processors, a peak performance speed of 2.89 petaflops, and process up to 3 quadrillion calculations per second. (Source: NOAA Completes Weather and Climate Supercomputer Upgrades NOAA,  January 2016.)   The upgrade comes at a pricetag of $45 million—a steep figure, yet a small price to pay for the more timely, more accurate, more reliable, and more detailed weather forecasts the new machines offer the American public. Could our U.S. weather resources finally be catching up to the renowned European model —the UKs bullseye-accurate model whose 240,000 cores  led it to accurately predict the path and strength of Hurricane Sandy nearly a week before it  hit the New Jersey coastline in 2012? Only the next storm  will tell.

Stem Cell Use and Research Essay - 590 Words

a. Stem cells are a very unique and useful medical advancement. The basic idea of a stem cell is: A cell that is able to differentiate into a specialized cell type. These are different from other cells, because each organ and body system has unique cells for their functions (Like how blood has red and white blood cells, while muscles have cardiac, smooth, and skeletal muscle cells). Stem cell aren’t specialized for any function or organ yet, but are able to differentiate into a unique cell type when needed. b. Furthermore, stem cells come from two main sources: Embryo, and Adult tissues. Adult stem cells are found in the body after embryonic development. they lie dormant or unable to divide until activated by an injury or disease. They†¦show more content†¦c. Diseases that benefit from the use of stem cells: Cancer, down syndrome, alzheimers, and possibly sickle cell disease. Diseases that can be treated by the use of stem cells: some forms of cancer, type 1 diabetes, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and even rheumatoid arthritis. d. There are a lot of moral and ethical issues raised when using stem cells. When harvesting embryonic stem cells scientist destroy the blastocyst before it can develop into a person. People also believe harvesting stem cells from an embryo is like murder, or abortion. Another issue people have is the creation of chimeras: an organism with both human and animal cells and tissues. Stem cell research sometimes require injecting human stem cells in animals or vise versa. Some people are against the creation of an organism that is â€Å"part human† or a human that is â€Å"part animal†. Embryo stem cell harvesting has been made illegal in most european countries. In the U.S. it is illegal for the government to fund the research of stem cell lines that were created after August 2001. e. Positive effects of stem cell research are treatments of cell diseases, the ability to generate specific organs when needed. Also the ability to generate more cells to organs where cells can’t necessarily divide. Negative effects are ethically based like the fact that the use of embryonic stem cells require harvesting and destroying human embryos. Another is the idea that stem cellShow MoreRelatedEmbryonic Stem Cell Research And Current Use1769 Words   |  8 Pagesdiscussion in this report is ESCR (embryonic stem cell research) and current use. This issue causes controversial concerns because the first isolation of the embryo was in 1998, which is still very recent and the policies around it are grey areas. Many countries including the United States of America have removed funding because of issues that have risen due to religious, ethical and legal formalities. 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Ethically, stem cell research has caught more attention than the research behindRead MoreThe Debate Over Stem Cells1144 Words   |  5 Pagesadvance each day, the use of stem cells, in regards to research, is becoming extraordinarily prevalent. I believe that the use of stem cells is unethical to a certain extent. Stem cells are cells that are able to renew themselves as well as the ability to generate specialized cells. Scientists refer to these tiny, magnificent cells as stem cells because many different types of cells can stem from them. Stem cells have the ability to develop into other cell types that mature into cells that have specializedRead MoreIs Stem Cell Research Ethical?1252 Words   |  6 Pages Is Stem Cell Research Ethical? The question that has been asked so many times, is stem cell research ethical? To argue ethics over this topic, one must first know what a stem cell is.Stem Cells are â€Å"cells with the ability to divide for indefinite periods in culture and to give rise to specialized cells† (Stem Cell Basics: Introduction). The National Institutes of Health say that stem cells are distinguished for two different reasons. The first is â€Å"they are unspecialized cells capable of renewingRead MoreStem Cell Research Debate1119 Words   |  4 Pagesï » ¿Stem Cell Research Debate There are only a small number of issues that are controversial as far as the public, the government and scientists are concerned. The father of all issues, however, is the debate that revolves around the ethics of stem cell research. Stem cells can be defined as those cells in an embryo that essentially give rise to the entire organism (Capra, 1999). In the contemporary world of today, the issue of embryonic stem cell research is one of this controversial significant

The Skin Moisture Levels Health And Social Care Essay Free Essays

This review looks at the diary referenced1, to understand whether the methodological analysis and consequences published are realistic and are able to lend to the pattern of occupational wellness and wellness and safety in general. It considers whether or non the information and consequences given, is indifferent and that the information provided and recorded from the experiments, utilizing specific sets of voluntaries and the methodological analysiss applied along with the equipments and stuffs that were utilised on that juncture, is consistent with the purposes of the diary. The review itself has been approached and written by the writer utilizing the IMRaD ( Introduction Methods Results and Discussion ) format to show the review in a structured format giving suited remark where it is believed that more information could hold been made available. We will write a custom essay sample on The Skin Moisture Levels Health And Social Care Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now Drumhead The diary is biased towards one peculiar piece of equipment that is used to make skin measurings ; sentiments are formulated from a group of writers from the same company. Data is collected in a signifier of a questionnaire and ocular observations recorded but unavailable to the reader. The diary mentions ‘Studies ‘ have been undertaken, but there is no grounds from any of them to assist find whether the methods used on this juncture were appropriate. Mention to allow usage of baseball mitts is hapless and despite the diary being requested by a pharmaceutical company there is small utile information on the usage of creams. On a positive note ; the diary does recognize that more consciousness and instruction is required by both employee and employer. Review Introduction The undermentioned text is the full abstract from the diary under review which sets out the ground for the survey by the writers: ‘The purpose of this survey was to set up whether those working in certain businesss had skin with lower wet content than would be considered normal. Skin wet degrees were measured every bit good as ocular appraisal. Consequences indicated that all occupational groups studied had tegument that was less good hydrated than would be considered normal, although there were important inter-individual fluctuations within any one group. These fluctuations were at least every bit important as business. Awareness of the demand to utilize baseball mitts as protection against chemicals and to utilize creams to reconstruct status was low, as was compliance’.1 Methods The diary has been read by the review writer to understand what the diary writers are trying to convey to the reader. It is marked where the referee has considered that a full apprehension is required to be certain of the justification for the diary to hold been produced and later published. Where possible, literature has been sourced and referenced to help in the apprehension of the capable affair and besides to offer up any other information which may hold proven utile or may propose that the diary is non conveying every facet of information pertinent to the chosen capable affair. This literature has been sourced through Library ‘s online installations but largely by utilizing the Internet Search Engine ‘GoogleTM ‘to bring up certain articles associating to the capable affair including referenced information about the setup used on the test voluntaries. Consequences It has been established early on into the diary that the conducted probe of the capable affair had been requested by a Pharmaceutical company called Crookes Healthcare 2 who appear to be situated in Nottingham UK. However, no information was readily available sing this company apart from contact inside informations as their cyberspace sphere site appeared was inactive and was advertised as ‘domain available for sale ‘ at the clip of this review being produced. The diary addresses a really of import topic affair which gives concern to non merely Occupational Health Practitioners and Advisers but besides Health A ; Safety Professionals in general along with the medical community. The information and decisions are non merely derived from experiments but referenced from a figure of articles and books largely based on the capable affair of Epidemiology. Mention is besides made to a company ‘Hill A ; Knowlton ‘ 3 who advertise themselves as a public dealingss and public personal businesss web and one facet of their operation is to help with clinical tests enlisting within their Healthcare A ; Wellbeing section. A sum of 132 voluntaries have been selected from office workers, hairstylists, pre-school nursery staff and catering staff. Apart from the office workers, the businesss were selected as they are seemingly known to hold high degrees of occupational contact dermatitis being subjected to chemicals that have a fatting consequence and being exposed to wet work. The office workers were selected to seek to set up whether working in modern air-conditioning offices might demo similar effects. It is non instantly stated why the baby’s room staff were selected but it does become evident subsequently in the diary that they are subjected to crisp altering but in general a good government of have oning suited baseball mitts appeared to be observed. The enlisting administrations appeared non merely to supply full clip workers but besides parttime / impermanent workers ( pupils ) for these tests, which consisted of both work forces and adult females of assorted ages and presumptively with different tegument types. However, the periods of exposure to the voluntaries except the office workers would most likely been well varied during their existent working times. Specifically, this would use to pupils, who would hold besides been in categories analyzing and therefore non ever subjected to the jeopardies related with occupational tegument disease for 8 hr periods every twenty-four hours. Interestingly, there is no reference of what other substances the voluntaries may hold been subjected to during their ain clip ( avocations and other physical involvements participated in ) ; that is outside of the workplace environments which may or may non hold a bearing on the consequences of such a survey. The diary besides mentions that Studies suggest that low skin wet degree predisposes to the development of irritant contact dermatitis.1, but there is no existent grounds provided of which surveies are really being referred to. However, it was on this footing that the writers felt it of import to set up to what extent workers in the selected businesss had lower than normal skin wet degree compared to other occupations.1 Discussion The four writers of the diary are from a household based company with what appears to hold a good background in Occupational Skin Management 4, and they have been peculiarly selective in their usage of a Corneometer A ® system from Courage + Khazaka electronic GmbH ( Model CM825 ) for the measuring of skin hydration. As stated on their web site â€Å" In 1997 EnviroDerm Services stepped into the universe of skin analysis when they became involved with Courage A ; Khazaka electronic and their high quality scope of tegument analysis equipment † .4 There are in fact a figure of different commercial contraptions that appear to be available which have non been considered at any clip during these peculiar tests ( The usage of Internet Search Engines such as ‘GoogleTM ‘ will easy place such setup if the user inputs cardinal words ) . The writers have established that occupational tegument diseases form a big portion of occupational disease with the most common signifier being irritant contact dermatitis.1, 5 with adult females being more affected than work forces. However, farther reading from one of the sourced mentions indicates that experimental surveies of skin annoyance have non confirmed differences between the sexes ; therefore, the higher prevalence of irritant contact dermatitis among females is most likely due to exposure, occupational and non-occupational. Nickel allergic reaction is the most common contact allergic reaction which appears to be most frequent in immature females, and in 30-40 % consequences over clip in manus eczema 5. Nickel is found in most metal and metal plated objects such as kitchen utensils, scissors, costume jewelry, tickers, spectacle frames, buckles, slide fasteners, fasteners, coins, white gold and some industrial film editing fluids. 6 Certain nutrients besides contain hints of Nickel. Hand eczema has an impact on quality of life and females seem to describe a higher grade of uncomfortableness than males. To accomplish the optimum consequence of preventative attempts sing occupational tegument disease, the focal point for bar should take at cut downing wet exposure.5 Hand eczema is in fact ne’er mentioned in the diary which is surprising given that up to 1 in 10 people suffer from this status. There is nevertheless mention to literature which covers intervention for a signifier of skin annoyance, and therefore it can merely be assumed that none of the participants were recorded as enduring from this status, which is easy recognizable by its expression and the countries around the custodies that it usually infests itself. 7 Some informations from ocular appraisals has been obtained which concluded that a figure of participants in the test did so hold visual-apparent tegument jobs and these were recorded on a questionnaire signifier. There is besides reference that peculiarly in winter during dry and blowy conditions this can in fact consequence in wet loss and once more nameless surveies are stated as demoing that really low humidness can besides hold such an consequence. 1 Unfortunately there is no reference of what clip of twelvemonth the test took topographic point and or any information about the environment in which the measurings were taken. Besides, the diary writers indicates that their feeling was that the voluntaries were of the mentality that they have dry tegument but it did non match with measurings taken apart from the providing workers who tended to hold cracked tegument and what appeared to be contact dermatitis and were in fact aware of their ain tegument conditions. There is much information provided about skin harm, low and hapless tegument wet and that ocular appraisal is an unsure index of overall conditions of skin disease and harm and that the accent should be placed on measurings of tegument conditions.1 The usage of baseball mitts and creams was besides discussed in the diary but nil is stated ( but may hold been recorded on the questionnaire signifier ) , sing what direction, counsel and preparation if any was given by the participant ‘s employers. With regard to baseball mitts, foremost the questionnaire asked about the usage of baseball mitts non merely at work but besides at place specifically about utilizing chemicals, and this was recorded as baseball mitt use being highly hapless as half the participants ne’er used them at all and merely a little proportion used baseball mitts when managing chemicals. It is recorded that more than three quarters of the hairstylists did non utilize any baseball mitts which is surprising given the sum of chemicals and detergents that would be handled daily in this business. The two groups that used baseball mitts on more occasions were the office and pre-school baby’s room workers. Lack of cognition of creams along with the usage of creams appeared besides to be really low with less than half the participants utilizing none and a really little sum merely utilizing it on occasion. However, the diary states that there is clinical grounds to back up the position that the usage of creams can be used in both intervention and bar of dry tegument and irritant contact dermatitis. The diary does indicate out that employers should promote the usage of creams within its wellness and safety scheme for the workplace but the job with creams as stated in the diary is that it has to be applied on a regular basis for any utile consequence. What is really surprising is that there is no mention to the preventive benefits of utilizing appropriate baseball mitts, surely for short term exposure ; except where it was conveyed by those participants who had been advised that it was compulsory to utilize them, in peculiar the pre-school baby’s room staff where good hygiene steps non merely for the worker but besides the kids in their attention had been decently recognised. Contribution to Practice A batch of the ‘Discussion ‘ subdivision in the diary has been supplied by the writers through the tests that were undertaken and from their ain professional cognition shop. The usage of a Corneometer A ® system 8 to roll up the information is a important factor in the part to the overall findings as it has turned up some interesting consequences for the skin wet degrees within the group of participants. Along with this, the diary has besides highlighted person ‘s behavior towards the usage of baseball mitts and creams as described and supported by the tabular arraies of informations produced within the article. The usage of referenced acknowledged plants has besides provided some consistence with agring statements but some underpinning information has been either missed or omitted. This diary does nevertheless positively province that there is still really much more ‘awareness and instruction ‘ required to be conveyed to both employee and employer in these peculiar businesss sing best patterns in occupational tegument direction. How to cite The Skin Moisture Levels Health And Social Care Essay, Essay examples

Health Information Management of A Strategic Resource

Question: Describe about the Health Information for Management of A Strategic Resource? Answer: In National Health Services, the healthcare services are responsible for the retrieval, evaluation, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data and information. This ability of NHS allows the healthcare organisations to plan and deliver care services to diverse group of patients and specialized care services. It is estimated by Department of Health, (2007) working in the NHS, it is less common for individuals to enter the information management roles directly from outside sources. Moreover, professionals and managers from areas like health informatics are required to have experience in the audit facilitation, information analysis, coding and data managing, information governance, planning and performance management, and public health intelligence management. This assignment is aimed to explore the strategies, interventions, roles and responsibilities, of NHS professionals in increasing confidence in their clients, improving quality of living of patients, and helping them in ma naging their clinical conditions more effectively, by following a set of framework equally efficient in maintaining balance between stakeholders, information strategies and care planning networks. Understand how to assess information and knowledge needs Discuss the range of decisions to be taken National Health Services are learning new means of delivering medical services due to technological advancement. In this regard, decision making is considered as a crucial part, as decision making happens at all levels of successful organisation. Moreover, the assigned managers look for areas that need improvement to maximize productivity and results. The chain of decision makers at all levels is governed by separate managerial positions or consultants are responsible for the smooth flow of operations within the National Health Services. These managers are expert of their field and their decisions always help clients to make the best out of the business (Abdelhak et al., 2015, nd). With the help of Decision Support Tool, various decisions are made by NHS in case of inconsistent decision making. This includes reviewing of decisions that are made on eligible grounds by an individual. NHS has the right to deny for a service or treatment that is highly expensive in nature with very less amount of benefit (The Independent, 2015). NHS also follows shared decision making that leads to the healthcare after conversation between patient and professional.The success of a healthcare company depends on its managers and decision makers, who will make sure that all their patients and clients needs and queries are addressed on time. They also analyse the external environment and will make changes in their approaches to stay ahead in the competition. Examine the information and knowledge needed to ensure effective decision taking For effective decision making information is very important. It is a vital component that allows the manager to make accurate and timely decisions regarding the healthcare business and its functions. The success or failure of a healthcare organisation depends on how managers use the information and make decisions in diagnosis and treatment of diseases. For effective decisions, managers make sure that they are certain about the available information. For example: A Pharmaceutical Company, employees work closely with the clients as a team worker, to achieve maximum potential. Also, when making decisions manager has to keep in mind the risk, certainty and uncertainty. Managers at National Health Services will try to gather and analyse as much information as possible to reduce the risk and uncertainty (Lucas et al., 2013, p. 291). The decision making is affected on the basis of various factors such as evidence for other patients dealing with the same situation. The experience of illness and knowledge about patients preferences also acts as a level of function. Before jumping to a conclusion, shared decision making may be done for clinical decisions. Research information helps nurses in making clinical decision making. The research findings play an important role. The professionals must know through use of computers to draw IT sources (Thompson et al., 2015). The kind of information used in company depends on the time and requirement, the individuals are engaged with. It is believed in the company that it is the information that everyone has the right to manifest through freedom of expression and dissemination of thought oral or written, by any media, without permission, without censorship or impairment, according to the regulations of the law. Assess internal and external sources of information and understanding In decision making or in other processes, National Health Services are required to use the information from internal sources as well as external sources. Internal information is gathered within an organisation that helps the managers to use this information for future decision making. External information is collected from outside of the organisation i.e. from the patients, stakeholders, vendors, government etc. These days, National Health Services are using information technology and systems to store information from internal and external sources regarding patients medical records and clinical information. This helps the managers and decision makers to access the information for effective decision making in healthcare (Koh, Tan, 2011, p. 65). The use of IT saves the time of managers and provides information whenever they need. Information system combines the working of hardware, software, people, communication network and other systems that stores and transform information in an or ganisation. Internal stakeholders participate in the co-ordination and funding for health and well being partnership. The external stakeholders are engaged in contributing the issues important for patients, service users and members of local community. The internal members prepare for transition. They also support the establishment of structures and public accountability. The suppliers maintain confidentiality in NHS. There is development of mutual understanding and opportunities to reach local people (Pickstock, 2007). Justify recommendations for improvement At National Health Services, the managers use latest systems and technology to provide solution and services. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can help in increasing their productivity and business performance. By the induction of ICT Innovations in their healthcare organisation, and by introducing latest software, hardware and mobile devices that will reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of care delivery can improve the service quality (Lucas et al., 2012, p. 134). Moreover, the improvement of living conditions and people's well-being can be improved by providing the continuum of care and support social network of vendors and stakeholders. Further, maintenance of people with loss of functionality or at risk of disability, where the therapeutic care and social support can be guaranteed necessary for the provision and maintenance of comfort and quality of life can be made possible by establishing interactive networks within healthcare organisations working under NHS. Discovery Interview Process may also be undertaken as it elaborates the level of satisfaction in patients with the services received. These narratives can be improved as collaboration. The narratives can also be used for gathering information for quality improvements. It is a sensitive method in inter professional teams for managing local quality improvements (Wilcock et al., 2003). Moreover, support, monitoring and technically suited to the respective hospital situation, the continuous improvement of quality in the provision of continuum of care and social support, support for family or informal carers in the respective qualification and provision of care, and the articulation and coordination network of care in different services sectors and above all, the prevention of gaps in services and equipment, the progressive national coverage, the needs of people in situations of dependency on integrated continuous care are essential components of successful healthcare organisation ( Mithas et al., 2011, p. 237). Be able to create strategies to increase personal networking to widen involvement in the decision- making process Identify stakeholders for a decision-making process Corporate stakeholder is an individual or a group who can affect as well as been affected by the companys decisions. Similarly, without the support of stakeholders, the National Health Services is not being able to achieve its goals and it would cease to exist. Stakeholders are their clients, managers, employees, vendors, physicians and nurses who are looking to adapt technological changes in their workplaces in order to increase the efficiency and productivity (Lin et al., 2012, p. 1977). The stakeholders at NHS are identified as patient organization, individual participants, supplier organization, social care service provider, media, professional bodies and political organizations. These stakeholders respond to queries, seek feedbacks, develop information materials and transmit information to their networks. The stakeholders also support patients and carer members. The external stakeholders play a part in the supply chain. Direct support is provided by members of patient or carer o rganization (Palmer, 2013).Stakeholders play an important role towards the growth and improvement of the National Health Services. Stakeholders help the business and the managers to make good decisions and increase the productivity. Furthermore, the healthcare managers make sure that they stay connected to their clients through their experts to ensure quick and effective delivery of systems and processes. Make contact with those identified and develop business relationships The success of National Health Services is based on the abilities of its employees and the relationships between them and their clients. The managers believe that success will only come when the employees are provided with skills, the reputation amongst the business partners and organisations and the relationship approach to work with clients (Lucas et al., 2012, p. 134). The identified stakeholders can be engaged by prioritizing and establishing relationship with them. The strategic goals can be defined by prioritizing the long list against goals. The need for stakeholders must be measured for success. The media can be contacted for meetings. Agenda must be presented at key meetings. Internal communication plan may be developed for improving relationships. Media coverage must be improved by monitoring complaints and observing common themes (Burke, 2013).For the success of healthcare business in todays world, the role of business partners like suppliers, vendors, distributors is very important as they support the day to day functions and ensure timely delivery of products and services to complete the task. The key proposition of healthcare company is organisational design, cultural change, learning-development and communications, and business change management (Gyllen et al., 2015, p. 23). The company must excel in these services to make them one of the best in the market. Involve those identified in the decision making as appropriate The National Health Services need to make sure that they remain completely independent and do not tie to specific vendors or other third party suppliers to ensure maximum effectiveness and exemplary results for their clients. For them clients satisfaction is most important as compared to their revenues. They need to aim to provide superior services that enhance their client experience and make goodwill about the company in the market (Schwalbe, 2013, nd). After prioritizing and establishment of goals and relationships, these can be used in decision making process. The services have to be designed accordingly as required by stakeholders. The priorities must be decided for identifying which areas of work would be done. The identified gaps in existing service provision must be put into improvements. Moreover, National Health Services most important stakeholders are their employees and building their skills as well as making them best at the top priority of the company. Knowledge and inf ormation of the clients are stored and recorded in the systems of Classic that will be used during the time of decision making. These information and knowledge will help them in deciding alternatives and assess best opportunities on time (Bryde et al., 2013, p. 971, Lucas et al., 2012, p. 134). Clients satisfaction is their top priority and by making use of relevant information they can present best solutions to the clients. Design strategies for improvement The approach and philosophy of bringing improvement among their staff, employees, suppliers, and vendors is based on the fact to develop the decision making and productivity strategies. Stakeholders play an important role in todays competitive environment. Their analysis can bring positive results for the company. Also companies should build strong relationships with them in order to save cost and timely delivery of its products and services. In addition, the success of a project depends on the ability of the companys employees to work effectively with the clients and understand the problem properly to provide accurate solutions (Basu et al., 2012, p. 42). In this regard, communication between the company and its clients play a major role to bring effective results. Moreover, National Health Services adopt an open partnership approach to deliver best results for the clients and the company. The improvement programs undertaken by NHS is divided into various domains. A health check may be provided to eligible adults for primary care. Public awareness may be improved and early diagnosis may be provided. Engagement must be made to killer diseases. The transformational capability must be built for experiencing care delivery. New system for safety must be developed across NHS. These strategies would create a forward view that would rapidly share knowledge and expertise. Delivery may be designed at scale. The key stages of improvement cycle must be brought together and put into action (Hartley, 2015). Be able to develop communication processes Report on existing processes of communication in an organisation In National Health Services, series of developments are required to establish the main communication process and with this, they are connected to their local offices by different ways such as verbal, written and also through technological tools that include telephone, fax, email and other devices (Lucas et al., 2012, p. 134). The National Health Services need to build an environment that supports its employees to work better. The organisation need setup all new means of communication within the company to enhance the working conditions. The companies need to be more focused towards its clients and industries, they conduct meeting and conferences to identify the issue and find the best solution (Cresswell Sheikh, 2013, p. 86). The approaches used by National Health Services include both structured and coordinated form to deliver the result. Apart from this, the company aim to attract, develop and retain the best people who work with the best clients of the industry on the programme o f change. The healthcare companies need to understand the importance of communication and work closely with their clients to deliver best results for them as well as for the company. There is a communication gap in the health system due to different conversations happening at the same time. There are three members in one clinical team where separates conversations happen between two individuals. The main communication processes are face to face, telephonic conversations, email and letters. Security protocol is a vital factor in health care system. For patients, privacy is a major concern. One must not have access to patients medical history. NHS has established a fair system to ensure security protocols. The interaction system built by them are designed in a way that other cannot interrupt. The clashing cultures also act as hindrance in the communication process. There is an acute mindset among people that leads to failed integration efforts. There is an informal link between practi tioners and strong patients. This is for recruitment and retention of mechanisms (Coiera, 2006). Design ways to improve appropriateness In todays diverse environment where changes take place abruptly, a quick and clear mechanism needs to be developed by establishing a clear two-way communication channels. Accuracy can be improved by dividing all the internal and external players of the organisation into segments and then using the most appropriate means of communication for each segment depending on the communication need of that segment. The organisation needs to make most important messages repetitive (Basu et al., 2012, p. 42). Apart from that a clear framework needs to be established as to who should one contact in different circumstances. Most importantly, employees should be provided with a comfortable way to share their queries and concerns. For fulfilling everything said above, communication trainings should be provided to the organisations employees in the form of a class, meeting or webinar. It will help in setting up the guidelines that will be provided to all the employees in order to communicate effectiv ely with managers, supervisors as well as co-workers (Lucas et al., 2012, p. 134). By implementing these key changes, an organisation can significantly improve both its productivity and self-confidence of employees. Appropriateness may be improved by changing the design and development of proposals. The planning and development process may be changed in a constructive manner. Commissioners must actively change service design and change by identifying high quality services. There is a need for strong public engagement. The perspective needs to be consistent according to choice of the patient. Clinical evidence must be provided clearly along with support. The process to improve appropriateness is followed by designing a proposal to passing through various stages of discussion, assurance, consultation, decision making and implementation. The development and integration is a time consuming process. The design of electronic information systems fails at times due to lack of common standar ds. There is a fear of diminished privacy. Inadequate training exists among employees at NHS. Implement improvements to ensure greater integration of systems of communication in that organisation In order to ensure integration between the systems of communication, a separate multi-disciplinary communication expert with core competencies in persuasion, message design, training, information technology, and business process reengineering and performance assessment will be hired. The communication expert is going to evaluate the communication needs of the organisation as well as the current problems they are having in communication. This person would work with representative staff from the target audience to examine the existing situation, to prototype and to assess interventions (Lucas et al., 2012, p. 134). For a large organisation, a team is required comprising of similar kind of experts. It may exist in one or many different departments according to the research needs. Effective communication may be established by evidence formed decision making process. The methods involved in evidence based clinical practice include delivery of healthcare and integration. Comprehensive serv ices may be provided by identifying the degree of integration. The patient focus may be service planning and improvement based for different health care providers. The geographic coverage must be expanded to reach through different communication channels. The interprofessional teams must develop ways to enhance communication so as to provide quality of care. There is a need to develop information systems for scheduling coordination and management of data. Processes and strategies may be established with an alignment of principles and structures for integration. These structures include co-location of services and information systems. Create a personal plan to improve own communication skills I think that the ability to communicate effectively at home, healthcare setting and life is the most vital set of skills a person needs. We all have those moments where we have failed to communicate our ideas or our communication ran into a barrier. While external barriers are beyond our influence, we can work to get rid of our internal barriers such as poor listening skills, fatigue, lack of confidence, poor language skills and so on. Therefore, if we can evaluate our present standard of communication skill and try to improve it, we can get much better in it. I aim to become a good communicator to bring more productive results for myself and for the company I work. I will try to connect with others on a personal level if possible and will develop a positive attitude which is important for a productive communication. I will try to focus on the result, this will help me in staying focused and directed towards the goal. Last but not the least, I will request for feedback and will prefe r follow up. Communication skill means the ability to convince others by the words, logic or thinking procedure. For improving the communication skill, the first thing that needs to do is the improvement of the listening skill. Most of the people often forget that if they don't listen first then how they can able to tell their view. The next thing is to maintain humility in the communication procedure. All persons make mistakes in their life so if one knows that he is wrong at any point then he should try to rectify his fault and learn the correct one without any hesitation. The most important thing for improving the communication skill is the proficiency of the language in which the person is communicating. The communicator should always have a good gesture and smiling face at the time of making the communication (McSherry, Simmons and Abbott, 2002). Be able to improve systems relating to information and knowledge Report on existing approaches to the collection, formatting, storage and dissemination of information and knowledge Since, National Health Services, information comes from two sources that are internal and external. While it can be in formal or informal form collected through primary or secondary means. Formal form includes annual reports or spending pattern of clients whereas, informal form includes newspaper, media or other rumours from the market. Formal information is more accurate but informal information is more critical for the company as it can speculate future trends based on that information. Similarly, both forms of information can either be collected by the company itself or through secondary sources such as government data, newspapers or competitors data (Basu et al., 2012, p. 42). The information is then formatted, and then timely dissemination of that information takes place using IT system. The National Health Services need to have their own customized business ERP system that integrates information inside as well as outside the organisation in a timely manner. The information is m ainly collected from two sources the primary source and the secondary source. The information that is derived from the activities is known as the primary information, and the information that already exists is known as the secondary information. All these types of information are useful for the users as they can take the decision as per the information provided to them (McSherry, Pearce and Tingle, 2011). Earlier the information collection procedure is based on the oral and written communication medium such as information published in journals, but now with the advancement of the technology the ERP system has been developed. Now for each and every organization it is very easy to transfer the information from one source to another, and the information is also having 24 hours accessibility. It makes the decision making procedure faster. Carry out appropriate changes to improve the collection, formatting, storage and dissemination of information and knowledge A system can only be deemed effective if it allows the National Health Services to make better decisions. So its not just about quantity of information but quality is also very important for the organisation. The information should be available in a concise manner that can easily be comprehended. Similarly different stakeholders are likely to have different information needs, so information should be managed in a way that appropriate information must be passed on to the relevant person. So information needs to be presented to different people in different way and often using different medium as well. Similarly, we cant ignore the time factor when we talk about information management. Therefore, the information must to be collected and shared in a given frame of time in order to transform that piece of information into a full advantage for the organisation. Last but not the least, standard process needed to be established for communication where all the employees must be excellently t rained for using the communication tools. As already stated information is needed for the purpose of effective decision making. The ability to provide the information is not based on the quantity of the information. Rather the quality is very important in this regard. There are more than one users of the information, and they have a different need. For example, the government may be more interested in tax related information of the company whereas the shareholders find more interest in the dividend payment. So the information must be structured in such a way that can fulfill the requirement of all the parties (Khosrow-Pour, 2005). Implement a strategy to improve access to systems of information and knowledge There were times when the National Health Services used to manually handle the information. We are living in an era of information technology where managing information is very easy. Each organisation has unique communication needs and I think traditional IT software wont do the job. Therefore, in order to improve access to systems of information and knowledge, I would recommend a well-integrated and customized IT-based business solution made with the help of a thriving IT company to meet the ground level needs of the National Health Services. Every employee will get the hand-on training on this new business software to get familiar with it (Basu et al., 2012, p. 42). The only downside would be the cost related to install this business solution, but I would like to call it an investment rather than the cost, because sooner or later it would pay off. Furthermore, the software must be properly supported by fast internet and intranet services to ensure quick access and dissemination of information (Lucas et al., 2012, p. 134). Digital Programme may be implemented as a strategy in improving access to informations and knowledge. Training must be provided to people at NHS for accessing and discovering the usage of information technology. They must also be provided with training for appropriate usage of internet so that nurses can conduct a research when required. This research process would help in taking clinical decisions when required. This would expand knowledge and evidence. Information systems would also support communities and practice knowledge sharing. Bureaucracy may be improved through the use of intranet. Approvals may be gained for usage of forms. Feedback must be taken into consideration for improvement of services (Freed et al., 2015). References Abdelhak, M., Grostick, S., Hanken, M. A. (2015).Health Information: Management Of A Strategic Resource. Elsevier Health Sciences. Basu, S., Karp, A. H., Li, J., Pruyne, J., Rolia, J., Singhal, S., ... Swaminathan, R. (2012). Fusion: managing healthcare records at cloud scale.Computer, (11), 42-49. Bryde, D., Broquetas, M., Volm, J. M. (2013). The project benefits of building information modelling (BIM).International Journal of Project Management,31(7), 971-980. Burke, D. (2013).A Stakeholder Engagement Strategy. Influencing the Influencers. [online] Available at: https://www.southcentralambulance.nhs.uk/_assets/documents/communications/stakeholder%20engagement%20strategy%20120313.pdf [Accessed 20 Aug. 2015]. Coiera, E. (2006). Communication Systems in Healthcare.Clinical Biochemist Reviews, [online] 27(2), p.89. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1579411/ [Accessed 20 Aug. 2015]. Cresswell, K., Sheikh, A. (2013). Organisational issues in the implementation and adoption of health information technology innovations: an interpretative review.International journal of medical informatics,82(5), e73-e86. Department of Health, (2007). Information Security Management: NHS Code of Practice. Retrieved from https://systems.hscic.gov.uk/infogov/codes/securitycode.pdf on 4th April, 2015 Freed, J., Rashbass, J., Flowers, J., Carrigan, C. and Hughes, A. (2015).Knowledge strategy Harnessing the power of information to improve the publics health. Public Health England. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/248820/PHE_Knowledge_strategy_October_2013.pdf [Accessed 20 Aug. 2015]. Gyllen, J., Rosenberg, A., Nystrm, A., Forsberg, A., Magnusson, G. (2015). Important sources of information on self-management for families of children with paediatric cataracts.International Journal of Ophthalmic Practice,6(1), 23-29. Hartley, J. (2015).Improving Quality. Out Strategic Intent. [online] Available at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/nhsiq-intent.pdf [Accessed 20 Aug. 2015]. Khosrow-Pour, M. (2005).Encyclopedia of information science and technology. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Reference. Koh, H. C., Tan, G. (2011). Data mining applications in healthcare.Journal of healthcare information management,19(2), 65. Lin, C., Lin, I. C., Roan, J. (2012). Barriers to physicians adoption of healthcare information technology: an empirical Study on multiple hospitals.Journal of medical systems,36(3), 1965-1977. Lucas, J., Bulbul, T., Thabet, W. (2013). An object-oriented model to support healthcare facility information management.Automation in Construction,31, 281-291. Lucas, J., Bulbul, T., Thabet, W., Anumba, C. (2012). Case Analysis to Identify Information Links between Facility Management and Healthcare Delivery Information in a Hospital Setting.Journal of Architectural Engineering,19(2), 134-145. McSherry, R., Pearce, P. and Tingle, J. (2011).Clinical governance. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. McSherry, R., Simmons, M. and Abbott, P. (2002).Evidence-informed nursing. London: Routledge. Mithas, S., Ramasubbu, N., Sambamurthy, V. (2011). How Information Management Capability Influences Firm Performance.MIS quarterly,35(1), 237-256. Palmer, J. (2013).Clinical Reference Groups: A Guide for Stakeholders. NHS Commission Board. [online] Available at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/crg-stakeholder-guide.pdf [Accessed 20 Aug. 2015]. Pickstock, A. (2007).Towards World-class Commissioning Engaging Stakeholders. [online] Liverpool Primary Care Trust. Available at: https://www.liverpoolpct.nhs.uk/Library/Voice/Stakeholder%20Engagements.pdf [Accessed 20 Aug. 2015]. Schwalbe, K. (2013).Information technology project management. Cengage Learning. The Independent, (2015).The cost of NHS health care: Deciding who lives and who dies. [online] Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/the-cost-of-nhs-health-care-deciding-who-lives-and-who-dies-10096784.html [Accessed 20 Aug. 2015]. Thompson, C., McCaughan, D., Cullum, N., Sheldon, T., Thompson, D. and Mulhall, A. (2015).Nurses Use Of Research Information In Clinical Decision Making: A Descriptive and Analytical Study. [online] Available at: https://www.york.ac.uk/res/dec/resources/papers/decision_report.pdf [Accessed 20 Aug. 2015]. Wilcock, P., Stewart Brown, G., Bateson, J., Carver, J. and Machin, S. (2003). Using patient stories to inspire quality improvement within the NHS Modernization Agency collaborative programmes.J Clin Nurs, 12(3), pp.422-430.

The prices of basic and manufactured products Essay Example

The prices of basic and manufactured products Essay Basic commodities are usually necessary for everyone; although the price varies people have to buy them. It is common to see especial offers and promotions within basic branded products like rice and milk, but they follow a general price. The prices also depend on the conditions like weather and transport. This is the reason why they are always fluctuating. Manufactured products have more stable prices because they are not consumed frequently and because the demand depends on the price. But there are also other reasons to understand the stability of these goods. First of all, basic commodities are the raw products, which can be processed; they differ from manufacturing industry due to biological character of its form of production. Price fluctuations take the form of fairly regular cycles overtime. Manufactured products use basic commodities as part of their inputs. A difference between them is that for the output of a basic commodity there is a time lag before an intended expansion in production actually is available or sale in the market. Manufactured product enterprisers have the time and possibility of changing the product because of a change in the demand. When there is overproduction of goods that can be rotted, prices decrease, sometimes the enterprisers prefer to hide or burn the goods to maintain the equilibrium. It is easier to control the production of manufactured goods making their price more stable. We will write a custom essay sample on The prices of basic and manufactured products specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The prices of basic and manufactured products specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The prices of basic and manufactured products specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Bad weather sometimes stops some products to be shared, producing scarcity, so prices increase. For example huaycos in Perà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ stop the trucks that bring lemon or vegetables, so supermarkets increase the price because these are necessary products so people would by anyways. For a basic good, the demand of branded product like Costeà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½o rice varies a lot depending on the price given. For example, if someone is used to buy 1 kg of rice for a week of a determinate brand at a given price, if a competence brand decreases price, this person may be willing to buy this other brand because the rice is the same. But he would continue buying rice. If this person doesnt care about rice and he found that price of rise is very high, he would probably prefer buying potatoes instead of rice. Basic commodities are often bought, so people cares lot about the prices but this doesnt mean a great change in demand. The variation of the quantity demanded is less than the variation of prices of a product, so basic commodities are inelastic. This means that the prices can be changed and people would not stop buying them. The prices are not stable. For example, gas for cars is inelastic, because if price increases according to the international market, people would continue buying it, perhaps less quantity but the change is minimum. Salt for example, has no substitutes, so it is inelastic, the brands are more elastic, but salt as product is less elastic. So people buy them although the price changes. For manufactured products is different. People choose to buy according to their possibility, price and likeness. Manufactured products like pasta, detergent and cars have different brands. The variation of the quantity demanded is more than the variation of the prices of a product; so manufactured products tend to be elastic. This means that if prices changes people buy other things, this make the price of this kind of products more stable. There are exceptions also: if someone is able to buy a Mercedes Benz Car, he wont buy a Toyota because it is cheaper, he would buy the Mercedes Benz because he like it. But if another better brand appears perhaps the demand for Mercedes Benz would prefer the new, more expensive and better car. There is always a change in the demand, more than the variation of prices. As manufactured products are rarely bought, the demand and prices depend on the substitutes and competence. Promotions also increase the demand for products, if some brands advertise a basic commodity product people buy more of them and perhaps leave aside other products and brands. So people can choose making manufactured products prices stable. In a short run it is impossible to increase or decrease production of a basic commodity because it takes time to get them from nature, so products are less elastic. A better explanation for this is that there is a time lag before and intended expansion in production actually is available or sale in the market. The decision by producers to change their output depends on the basis of the current market price. Thus, supplies in year 2 are dependent on prices actually received in year 1, rather than what is expected to be received in year 2. Producers are many and they each take decisions to adjust their scale of production according to their personal convenience. So these conditions make that if supplies happen to be scarce in one time period, the high level of the market-clearing price will encourage producers to begin a major expansion in production. This rise in production will in due course depress market prices, which stimulates a major contraction in the scale of production. Showing the reasons of fluctuation of basic commodities supply and prices. An example of a shift in supply was the excess of potatoes in 1992 in Britain led to growers receiving very low prices. An example of a leftward shift in the supply curve would be the impact of frost damage on coffee in Brazil in June 1994. In September 1994 a tropical storm passing through the Caribbean divested the banana crop in the Windward Islands, resulting in a loss of export earnings of millions of dollars for Dominica, Grenada, Sta Lucia and St Vicent For basic products the difference in quantity supplied is less than the difference in prices, making it relatively inelastic. For these products, when price increases although producers want to increase production, they cant because of lack time. For manufactured products, the capacity of increasing output can be managed according to the technology. So supply is more elastic. The income elasticity for basic commodities is very low, because rich people, as their income increases they do not buy more basic products, but they increase their manufactured products. So luxury products have higher income elasticity, for them. This also makes the basic products less stable as rich people dont care about the price, and make luxurious and manufactured product stable, as people care about the price. Poor people only manage to buy basic necessity products, so as there is more poor people the demand for these products is greater making the curves more sensitive. Some basic commodities prices also depend on international agreements, for example copper, gold, coffee, cocoa and oil. Coffee prices are amongst the most volatile in international commodity markets. Fluctuations in demand and supply conditions can cause big swings in market prices for producers. One key factor is the control over market supply engineered by the Association of coffee Producing countries like Brazil and Colombia, by seeking a balance between world supply and demand the ACPC aims to stabilize coffee prices at levels that are fair and remunerative to producers and yet consistent with increasing consumption. However it was agreed to have a price fluctuating between 95 cents per pound as the floor and 105 cents as the ceiling. The growing global demand for chocolate has helped push the price of cocoa up to 50% within 2 months and led to fears of shortage to come. The global output has dropped because of weather problems in the main world producer country: Ivory Coast So this factor shows the instability of basic commodities as cocoa. The international community no longer maintains large stocks of commodities as it is used to, in an effort to stabilise the incomes received by commodity producers. Farmers and suppliers of other commodities are now much more vulnerable to the swings in international market prices. Commodity prices are particularly sensitive to general fluctuations in the economies of countries that consume them. The international oil market is placed under daily scrutiny because oil is perhaps the most important internationally traded commodity. World prices fluctuate because of changes in demand and supply. Oil is an essential input in the production processes of many industries. The demand for oil also comes from household consumers to meet their energy requirements. And, crude oil is refined into petroleum products for transport. This makes the oil demand constantly grow. The OPEC had achieved substantial cuts in total production in 1999, in the wake of the collapse of oil prices in 1997 because of the Asian economic crisis. There was pressure on the OPEC cartel to cut output and raise price in order to boost revenue from oil exports to rebuild their own domestic economies. An inward shift in oil supply matched with an increase in demand causes an increase in demand causes an increase in equilibrium price. Oil supply from non-OPEC countries was affected by cutbacks in capital investment spending when oil prices dropped in the late 1990s. So again, a basic commodity suffers of fluctuating demand and prices, making them not stable. For manufactured products, the enterprises are in charge of measuring they profits and calculate suitable price for their products, organizations cant discuss the prices. So if other countries want our manufactured products, they have to pay what the enterpriser asks. Internationally, when basic product prices increase are elastic, but when they decrease are inelastic. This is controlled by the superpowers that buy our basic products so it is better to export manufactured products that are more stable. Accordingly to my analysis, the price for basic commodities are less stable that the price of manufactured product because their prices are inelastic, the variation of demand is less than the variation of the price. Supply also depends on the difference of prices. When there is overproduction of basic goods, prices fall and enterpriser try to reduce output to receive more revenues. This shows the constantly instability of basic goods. These kinds of goods usually have a regular demand and it is greater than manufactured products. Manufactured goods have lots of substitutes to choose. Supply depends on demand and the prices depend on the decision of the enterprisers. Also production can be controlled by machinery. So the prices are more stable.

101 Chips and Salsa and Academic Writing Professor Ramos Blog

101 Chips and Salsa and Academic Writing Chips and Salsa Chips and Salsa Don’t you hate it when you have too much of one and not enough of the other? There has to be the appropriate amount of chips to salsa for it to work, to taste good. What are we talking about? What is Academic Writing? The article â€Å"What is Academic Writing?† is a brief introduction to the writing you will be expected to do in college. The article begins by addressing common myths about what academic writing is.  Which ones have you heard before?  Think of one or two more myths, or ideas of writing, that you have heard before. Myth #1: The â€Å"Paint by Numbers† myth Myth #2: Writers only start writing when they have everything figured out Myth #3: Perfect first drafts Myth #4: Some got it; I don’t- the genius fallacy Myth #5: Good grammar is good writing Myth #6: The Five Paragraph Essay Myth #7: Never use â€Å"I† Irvin quotes a study by Lee Ann Carroll about the writing students do in college: What are usually called ‘writing assignments’ in college might more accurately be called ‘literacy tasks’ (7). What do you think she means here? In a short paragraph, write what you think the author is saying. What is academic writing according to our article? What does Carroll mean by literacy tasks? Chapter 8  Ã¢â‚¬Å"As a Result†: Connecting the Parts Chapter 8 covers what to do when connecting the parts of your essay together. They explain that creating connections between sentences and ideas increases sentence variety and helps construct a more convincing argument. Consider transitions both  within  a paragraph and  between  paragraphs. Look at  pages 108-109  for transition words. They give four principles: Using transition terms (like â€Å"therefore† and â€Å"as a result†) Adding pointing words (like â€Å"this† and â€Å"such†) Developing a set of key terms and phrases for each text you write Repeating yourself, but with a difference

Managing Activities to achieve results Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Managing Activities to achieve results - Essay Example NIKE’s mission statement is â€Å"to bring inspiration and inspiration to all athletes in the world, if you have a body, you are an athlete† (Epstein et al, 2012: p341). NIKE has a preference for using Environmentally Preferred materials, or EPM, which have a lower environmental impact on waste or water, energy, and chemistry. They contend that sustainable products can only be achieved via addressing the product materials, which they do by forging closer relationships with suppliers to ensure they deliver against their needs, for instance, sustainability. One way that NIKE optimizes material use is through the continuous assessment and reduction of overall numbers utilized in production. The focus also aids in management of complexities and cost in the supply chain and design phase. The shift from traditional materials to EPMs requires comprehension of the material characteristics and their availability. The structure of NIKE An organizational structure activities like supervision, coordination, and task allocation that are directed to achieving the aims and objectives of a company. Organizations are, basically, clustered entities with variations. Depending on objectives, the company can be structured in various ways, which determines its operative and performance mode (Daft et al, 2010: p34). It allows for the allocation of responsibilities with regards to various processes and functions to entities such as the individual, workgroup, department, and branch. It also affects the action of the organization by the provision of the foundation for standard procedures of operation and routine, as well as determination of the individuals who participate in decision making and shape the actions of the company (Daft et al, 2010: p35). NIKE has a matrix organizational structure, also known as the flat organizational structure (Epstein et al, 2012: p342). In the flat organization at NIKE, the employees report to the product or project teams that are led by p roduct managers and to the department manager. Every brand possesses a department with this department making independent decisions. The departments also have sub-departments that are responsible for mini-tasks in the department. The product team and managers are involved in decision making with regards to production and specifications with the managers at the department level involved, primarily, in issues to do with policy, for instance, sustainability (Epstein et al, 2012: p342). The production team is able to react and take decisions faster than traditional department heads as these are removed from the line of production. NIKE’s Vision A vision statement is definitive of what an organization will perform in the future, as well as why it will be in existence tomorrow with defined goals with set dates of accomplishment (Daft et al, 2010: p45). Vision statements involve the organization’s current status and acts as a direction on the path the organization wishes to t ake. It can also be useful as a marketing tool since it acts to announce the organization’s purpose and goals to the media, vendors, clients, suppliers, and employees. NIKE has a clear vision that entails decoupling growth of profits from resource constraints (Epstein et al, 2012: p345). The vision is one that views the world in transition to a sustainable economy from an industrial one with renewable

The economics system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

The economics system - Essay Example With the advancement in the technological and environmental aspect, the nations are involving in better means of production and distribution to earn competitive advantage in the global scenario. The concept of the economic system is elaborated as the system of production and trade of goods and/or services in a community. The overall economic system includes individual, organisation, sectors and end users of a society or in general, it is often referred as the mode of production. Moreover, economics is identified on a wider concept, which is sub-divided into the two aspects i.e. micro and macroeconomics. Microeconomics focuses on demand and supply of products and/or services in the markets in relation to the change in the price level. On the other hand, macroeconomic dimension includes the relationship of the aggregate variables including the purchasing power, price income and money (McConnell et al., 2009). The study of the overall economic system comprises both the micro and macro economy of a nation or a particular community at large about how firms and various agencies are linked among each other, how the communication information flow between the them and the social relationship in the economic system. Thus, in larger and boarder term, it comprises various processes that are followed within a geographical region in the production, distribution and circulation of labor for producing products and/or services, machineries, consumer goods and infrastructure among others. Moreover, the economic system of one nation varies with other nations due to differences in the political structure, culture and environmental conditions. In this regard, the point will be justified with the fact that Chinese economic system is comparatively very complex as compare the western nations’. The economic system consist of both capitalistic and socialistic aspects and the global economic system falls in four main

Five Essay Questions-Operations Management Assignment

Five Essay Questions-Operations Management - Assignment Example That is the only way an organization can get its resulting products and services to the right market and in the right manner while considering the time and cost aspects of the processes. It is through the knowledge of OM that an organization develops its innovation towards competitive advantages, which exist inextricably alongside processes. The processes range from the use of emerging and appropriate technology to the use of existing resources to create new ones and new values. It is only when operations are managed in ways that create the notion of differentiation that such processes lead to organizational success (Chase, Jacobs & Aquilano, 2007). CPM/PERT analyzes the tasks involved in a certain project in terms of the required time to complete each. The use of CPM/PERT techniques for managing projects is founded on the concept that a certain set of critical activities that constitute the longest path through the network of activities will control the entire project. The identification of the critical activities is important because they can then be assigned to responsible teams, allowing the management resources to be used optimally by concentrating on the key activities that determine the entire project’s fate. As a statistical tool, its design is intended to map, schedule and manage complex projects and analytically represent the necessary tasks to complete a project, employing time as the variable reflecting planned performance specifications. Advantages of CPM/PERT techniques include defining dependencies and making them visible and also potentially reducing project duration. This is possible because precedence r elationships between the structures of work breakdown are better understood, facilitating the potential to reduce a project’s lifecycle. However, the disadvantage is that individual dependency relationships can

Pantaloon Retail Indias Leading Retailers Marketing Essay

Pantaloon Retail Indias Leading Retailers Marketing Essay Pantaloons origin can be traced to 1987 when the company was incorporated as Manz Wear Private Limited. Originally incorporated as Manz Wear Private Limited on October 12, 1987.The Companys name was changed to Manz Wear Limited on September 20,1991, further to Pantaloon Fashions (India) Limited on September 25, 1992 and to Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited on July 7 1999. The company launched Pantaloons trouser, Indias first formal trouser brand. In 1992, Pantaloon launched its IPO. In 1994, The Pantaloon Shoppe exclusive menswear store in franchisee format was launched across the country. Pantaloon started distribution of branded garments through multi-brand retail outlets across the nation. In 2001, Big Bazaar, Indias first hypermarket chain was launched. In 2002, Food Bazaar, the supermarket chain was launched. In 2006, Future Capital Holdings, the companys financial arm launched real estate funds, Kshitij and Horizon and private equity fund Indivision. The company is also planning forays into insurance and consumer credit. The Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited, entered the retail market in 1997 with its first flagship store hosted by Kolkata. Pantaloons began as a fashion retail chain. The Future Group launched it as its introductory venture. Such was its popularity that by the year 2001, many more sub-retail lines were launched that dealt in specific merchandise like footwear, fashion accessories, food, grocery and electronics. Registered Office of the Company: Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited Pantaloon Knowledge House, Shyam Nagar, Off. Jogeshwari Vikhroli Link Road, Jogeshwari (East), Mumbai 400 060 Registration No. 44954/1987 Registrar of Companies at Mumbai, Maharashtra located at Hakoba Mill Compound, Kalachowki, Mumbai 400 033. Headquarters: Mumbai Industry: Retailing Founder: Kishore Biyani Area served: India (7 million square feet of retail space) Parent company: Future Group Website: www.pantaloon.com Retail Industry Retailing is the worlds largest private industry. Retail is the worlds largest private industry with global retail sales of roughly USD 8 trillion. Retailing is also one of the biggest contributors to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of most countries and also one of the biggest employers. (Source CII McKinsey Report titled Retailing in India, the Emerging Revolution) In India, however, the retail sector has seen a high level of fragmentation with a large share held by unorganized players. India has a large number of retail enterprises. With close to 12 million retail outlets India has one of the highest retail densities in the world. In terms of the structure, the industry is fragmented and predominantly consists of independent, owner-managed shops. The retail businesses include a variety of traditional retail formats, such as kirana stores which stock basic household necessities (including food products), street markets-regular markets held at fixed centres retailing food and general merchandise items, street vendors mobile retailers essentially selling perishable food items-fruits, vegetables etc and small non specialized retailers. Growth of Organized Retail in India India is expected to show similar trends as Indian consumers in the past have shown an ability to leapfrog evolution cycles as has happened in the case of various consumer products such as mobile phones. KSA Technopak estimates organized retail in India to reach 12% to 13% of the total retail market by 2010 with sales of Rs. 1700-1800 billion, aided by improved real estate infrastructure and easier access to capital. Rs(billion) 2002 2010 Estimated size of retail in India 10,700 14,000 Share of organised retail in India(%) 2 12-13 Size of organised retail in India 225 1700-1800 Source: KSA Technopak The Indian retail industry is evolving in line with the changing customer aspirations across product groups, with modern formats of retailing emerging. Composition of Organized Retail A break-up of sales in organized retail shows Lifestyle (clothing and textile, footwear, home, watches and jewellery and health and beauty) as the largest segment accounting for 73% in value terms. This is followed by food and grocery accounting for 14% of the organized retail value. Break-up of consumers expenditure in organized retail Rapid growth of organized retailing is expected in the food segment. We believe this can be attributed to the highly unorganized nature of the market currently, which thus presents an attractive potential, and the growing preference of consumers to shop at modern retail formats. Clothing is the other segment expected to show high growth potential. Factors affecting changes in the retail sector An analysis of private final consumption expenditure in India suggests that the food, beverages and tobacco segments constitute about 50% of total household expenditure, with clothing and footwear contributing just around 5%. However contribution of food and groceries to organized retailing is just 14%. There are a large variety of retailers operating in the food retailing sector such as independent grocers, fair price shops, food specialists etc. A greater number of higher income Indians, prefer to shop at supermarkets because of convenience, range of merchandise, higher standards of hygiene and the attractive ambience. Among the segments of organized retail, food retail is expected to develop the fastest. Going forward, it is expected that supermarkets will be the fastest growing food retailers. Their sales are expected to grow by about 40% per year during 2003-2008 (Source: Retailing in India Euro monitor 2004 report). We believe the traditional Indian consumer who is now becoming more fashion and brand conscious welcome more sophisticated outlets retailing footwear which is evident from the fact that the consumer spend on footwear has increased from 1% in 1999 to 2.3% in 2003. With growth in incomes, Indians have been spending more on health and beauty products. As in the case of other retailing sectors, small single-outlet retailers also dominate sales of health and beauty products. Another interesting trend that is emerging is the increasing spend on leisure and entertainment. Indian consumers who were traditionally averse to spending money on entertainment have started spending on eating out, movies and theatre. The entry of a large number of foreign consumer durable companies into the Indian market during the 1990s after the government liberalized its foreign investment and import policies transformed the consumer durable sector dramatically. A much larger variety of consumer electronic items and household appliances became available to the Indian customer. Competition among companies to sell their brands provided a strong impetus to the growth for retailers operating in this sector. Modern Retail Formats Some of the modern retail formats and their value positions are given below. Department stores These large stores retail primarily non-food items such as apparel, footwear, accessories, cosmetics and household products. They stock multiple brands across product categories, though some of them focus on their own store label (on the lines of Marks Spencers and St. Michael). Several local department store chains have opened shop in India in the past five years. We believe the convenience factor coupled with the aspirational perception of shopping in a department store has contributed to their growth. The larger chains of department stores (Namely Pantaloons, Shoppers Stop,Westside and Lifestyle) have presence in the metros and mini metros. Supermarkets A supermarket is a store which is more of a large self-service grocery store selling groceries and dairy products and household goods that are consumed regularly. These are neighborhood stores offering home and personal care products and food products that a typical household consumes on a day to day basis. These stores offer convenience of shopping by making available a large variety of products at one place. Some of the well known supermarket chain includes Food Bazaar, Nilgiris, Food World, Apna Bazaar, Trinethra etc. Hypermarkets/Discount stores A hypermarket is a store which combines a supermarket and a department store. The result is a retail facility which carries an enormous range of products under one roof, including full lines of fresh groceries and apparel. It is a large format store that aims at retail consolidation by being a single point contact between the brand owners and customers. They are planned, constructed, and executed in a manner that a consumer can ideally satisfy all of their routine weekly shopping needs in one trip to the hypermarket. Large variety of products is available at reasonable prices with discounts built in for volume purchased. Big Bazaar, Spencers, Star India Bazaar are examples of hypermarket formats. Seamless Mall Seamless mall is a format which is relatively new in India. In this format, various brands operate their retail areas without any wall between them, providing a seamless shopping experience. This makes it possible for shoppers to compare brands with ease while they shop. We believe this also means that the store can reallocate space more easily based on merchandise/brand performance and customer feedback. Besides offering apparels, accessories and lifestyle products these malls are also equipped with entertainment and leisure facilities. Central is an example of a seamless mall. Speciality stores Specialty stores as the name suggests are stores that specializes in a particular offering. A specialty store carries a deep assortment within a narrow line of goods. Furniture stores, florists, sporting-goods stores, and bookstores are all specialty stores. Examples of specialty stores in India would include Planet Sports, aLL, Planet M, Musicworld, Crossword etc. FUTURE GROUP Introduction Retail forms the core business activity at Future Group and most of its businesses in the consumption space are built around retail. Future Groups retail network touches the lives of more than 200 million Indians in  73 cities and 65 rural locations  across the country. The group currently operates around  1,000 stores  spread over  16 million square feet  of retail space. Present in the value and lifestyle segments, the groups retail formats cater to almost the entire consumption expenditure of a wide cross-section of Indian consumers. GROUP VISION Future Group shall deliver Everything, Everywhere, Every time for Every Indian Consumer in the most profitable manner. GROUP MISSION We share the vision and belief that our customers and stakeholders shall be served only by creating and executing future scenarios in the consumption space leading to economic development. We will be the trendsetters in evolving delivery formats, creating retail realty, making consumption affordable for all customer segments for classes and for masses. We shall infuse Indian brands with confidence and renewed ambition. We shall be efficient, cost- conscious and committed to quality in whatever we do. We shall ensure that our positive attitude, sincerity, humility and united determination shall be the driving force to make us successful. The Future Group in its turn has many verticals other than just Pantaloons and its associated fashion retail chain. In fact, there are 6 verticals in all under the domain of the Future Group that almost covered the entire scope of Indian consumption. These 6 are: Future Retail (retail related) Future Capital (Finance related) Future Brands (Brand Management related) Future Space (Real Estate related) Future Logistics (Management and Distribution related) Future Media (Retail Media Management related) Led by Pantaloon Retail, the Future groups flagship company, the group manages some of Indias most popular retail chains like; Fashion: The group offers a variety of options in fashion. Its brands include aLL, Blue Sky, Central, Etam, Fashion Station, Gini Jony, Navaras, Pantaloons, and Top 10. Food: In food business, the group offers a host of options. Food Bazaar a chain of large supermarkets; Brew Bar a beer bar; cafà © Bollywood a national chain of eateries; Chamosa a pan-Indian chain of snack counters, and Sports Bar a bistro focused on the world of sports. Home Electronics: Options include: Collection i a lifestyle furniture store; Electronics Bazaar offers branded electronic goods and appliances; e-zone trendiest electronics items; Furniture Bazaar entire range of Home Furniture; Home Town one stop destination for all the home needs. Leisure Entertainment: Options are: Bowling Co. state-of-the-art premium family entertainment centre, offering multiple, novel and unique leisure and entertainment options; F 123 offers a wide range of gaming options ranging from bowling and pool to redemption and interactive video games to bumper cars. Wellness Beauty: Options are: Health Village a state-of-the art spa and yoga centre; Star Sitara: Beauty salon for men and women; Tulsi provides access to the best allopathic, ayurvedic and homeopathic medicinal products; Turmeric offers beauty products like colour cosmetics, fragrances, herbal and specialty skin items, hair products and bath accessories. Books Music: Future Groups brand Depot offers Books, CDs, and stationery items. The group also operates Indias leading rural retailing chain,  Aadhaar  that is present in over 65 locations in rural India. Aadhaar, an agri-service cum  rural retail initiative, provides a complete solution provider for the Indian farmer.   PANTALOONS FRESH FASHIONS From our beginning in 1987, we have today evolved as one of the leading manufacturer-retailer and are among the pioneers in setting up a nation-wide chain of large format stores in India. We believe that the various initiatives taken by us have played a key role in enhancing the standards of retail in the country. We started our operations by selling branded garments under Pantaloon, Bare and John Miller brands. We set up our first menswear Pantaloon Shoppe Outlet in 1993. Our business has grown from one store in Kolkata in 1997 occupying an area of 8,000 Sq ft to 72 stores, apart from our 22 factory outlets located in the multiple cities occupying an aggregate area of 21,07,608 Sq. ft. We focus on the Lifestyle segment through 14 Pantaloon stores, 3 Central Malls, 2 aLL, 2 Fashion Station and 1 MeLa store. In the Value offering, we cater to the mass through our 21 Big Bazaar and 30 Food Bazaar outlets. Pantaloons believe that managing customer expectation by offering them all the requirements for their entire family under one roof is the key to being a successful retailer, and hence have built our business model around Family focus rather than individual focus. They believe addressing the family attracts more customers into the store. They retail a range of branded and Private Label apparel, footwear, perfumes, cosmetics, jewellery, leather products and accessories, home products, books, music and toys in our stores. To complete the idea of a family store, besides garments, we also retail household items, consumer durables, and home furnishings, apart from food and personal care products. This is complemented by cafes, food stalls, entertainment, personal care and various beauty related services. Promotions and events are an integral part of our service offering to our customer, which helps us create a unique shopping experience. They have also entered into partnerships/joint ventures to expand our offerings from home to apparel to household products to durables etc. They believe their focus on customers supported by systems and processes and a committed work force are the key factors that have contributed to our success and will help us scale up as we embark on our strategic growth plan. Core values followed by Pantaloons, India à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Indianness: To boast confidence à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Flow: To understand and respect the global nature laws. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Adaptability: To become adaptable and flexible to accomplish the challenges. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Positivity and simplicity, in the business thought and action. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ To nurture and maintain long-term relationships. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ To be receptive and open to the innovative ideas, information and knowledge. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ To value every customer and being modest in the conduct. Major Achievements of Pantaloon Retail Chosen as International Retailer for the Year 2007 Chosen as Emerging Market Retailer of the Year 2007 Best Employers in India (Rank 14th) in the Hewitt Best Employers 2007 survey. Best Managed Company in India (Mid-cap) for the year 2006. Won Images Retail Awards 2006 for Best Value Retail Store, Best Retail Destination, and Best Food Grocery Store. Retail Face of the Year Kishore Biyani Most Admired Food Grocery Retail Visionary of the Year: Kishore Biyani Positioning In the Life-style segment (Pantaloons) the positioning of the store is very different. The store is very open and has a soothing music when the customer enters. The store is very open and spacious; the door of the store is always open which is inviting customers. Since the store is very spacious Pantaloons has segmented its products in a Demographic way and this is the same in all the outlets .The entrance would have the cosmetics jewellery etc then is the ladies section which first has the Indian wear then the western after that its the mens wear and then the sportswear. Pantaloons brands like UMM, DJC are always positioned at the eyelevel. There is a lot of detailing on the presentation of the products which are then displayed on the mannequin. The company would place its beat products on the mannequin. Pantaloon always positions its product at a place where the consumer would see the product once and is easy to locate. Location plays a major role in positioning the product in their store to enhance sale. The company would also position itself according to the needs of the youth because it is the target market and likes things fresh. BUSINESS STRATEGY Promotional Strategy:- Under the market strategy promotional idea is very important. Organization provides some schemes or rebates to retailers or consumers. They make advertisement according to convenient of the people and the feature of the product. So, on the basis of marketing strategy an organization runs in the market. It is several types of which makes helpful to increase sales and turnover of the organization. Pantaloons is the first company to promote their products through movies like Na Tum Jano Na Hum and many others, since the companys focus is youth they tend to promote their products through youth icons like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Bipasha Basu, they also tend to sponsor events which are watched by the youth like the Pantaloons Femina Miss India which they relate to or is liked by the youth. The company also promotes its products through discounts. For Example-In Pantaloons (life style segment) on a purchase of one t-shirt(UMM) you would have to pay Rs349 and on a purchase of two one would buy it for Rs549.The company keeps yearly or quarterly discounts. Pantaloon majorly promotes its brands through promotions in events which involve youth like Malhaar, Umang and popular college festivals etc. Sectoral Strategies: India has been a country which followed the concept of an organized retail till very recently when the real retail boom happened. The major change was brought in by Pantaloon and Shoppers Stop. Both these companies belonged to a family and the concept of malls started in India and within 5 to 9 years has become a huge sector. Retail contributes 10% to Indias GDP. The retail sector in the country is around $350billionand is expected to grow at a very smooth pace. The organized retail sector is segmented into different types like the hyper market, departmental store, specialty stores ,discount stores and there are other types. PRODUCT CATEGORY Pantaloon sold apparels and accessories categorized under:- Mens formal Mens casual Ladies ethnic Ladies western Childrens wear Pantaloon develops three types of merchandise:- Classic type Fashion type Collection type LOYALTY PROGRAM Green Card Your Green Card is your passport to a whole new world of exclusive benefits and privileges. Instant discount* for every time you shop at Pantaloons Exclusive shopping days to get hold of latest merchandise Regular updates on collections and promos via catalogues, sms and email Special invites to the most happening events Extended exchange periods and complimentary drops for alterations Exclusive billing counters and much more * Categories valid for Green Card Discounts: Apparel, Perfumes Cosmetics, Toys, Bluesky, aLL, Depot, Planet Sports Accessories. MEMBERSHIP When you shop with Green Card, you get rewarded instantly, Online purchases are currently not eligible for Green Card discounts or counted in your purchases. This feature would be available in the near future. 1 Star Members Gift Voucher worth Rs. 200 on enrolment 3 Star Members 5% discount on every purchase 5 Star Members An exclusive 7.5% discount on every purchase 7 Star Members Present your card for the swipe every time you make a purchase at Pantaloons. HOW TO UPGRADE YOUR GREEN CARD Membership 12 month Purchase-based Upgrading System Three Star Card   Upgrade to a 3 star status by shopping for Rs. 8000/- immediately preceding 12 months of current shopping date. Five Star card   Upgrade to a 5 star status by shopping for Rs. 20000/- immediately preceding 12 months of current shopping date. Seven Star   Upgrade to a 7 star status by shopping for Rs. 40000/- immediately preceding 12 months of current shopping date. 12 month Purchase-based Upgrading System   When you shop at Pantaloons and your total purchase (including that day) in the previous 12 months totals to the criteria value of the next tier, you upgrade to the next status. Membership Validity 1 Star card is valid for a period of 2 years from the date of enrolment. 3, 5 and 7 star cards are valid for a period of one year from the date of upgrade. Membership Renewal Purchase worth Rs. 8000 within 2 years of card issue date and retain a 1 star status Purchase worth Rs. 8000 within 1 year of card issue date and retain a 3 star status Purchase worth Rs. 20000 within 1 year of card issue date and retain a 5 star status Purchase worth Rs. 40000 within 1 year of card issue date and retain a 7 star status. SWOT ANALYSIS OF PANTALOONS Strength Pioneer in the industry, largest market share and capitalization.   Reputation for value for money(Competitive pricing), convenience and a wide range of products all in one store   Presence in major cities   Highly Strategic human resource management and development. It invests time and money in training people, and retaining them.   Most trusted and respected brand by the consumers   Being financially strong helps pantaloons retail India deal with any problems, ride any dip in profits and out perform their rivals   Development and Innovation are high at Pantaloons India with regards to it products and consumer preferences and lifestyle changes which keep its ahead of its competitors. Weakness Pantaloons does not function internationally, which has an effect on success, as they do not reach consumers in overseas markets.   PRIL is the Worlds largest grocery retailer and control of its empire, despite its IT advantages, could leave it weak in some areas due to the huge span of control   Since Pantaloons Retail India Ltd sell products across many sectors, it may not have the flexibility of some of its more focused competitors.   Each business line faces competition from specialty companies. Fashion segment, Shoppers Stop, Trent, Lifestyle. In hypermarket-RPG (Spencers),Trent (Star India Bazaar) In Food business, Reliance Fresh, Spinach, Food World Opportunities   Huge untapped market   (The Indian middle class is already 30 Crore is projected to grow to over 60 Crore by 2010 making India one of the largest consumer markets of the world)   Organized retail is only 3% of the total retailing market in India. It is estimated to grow at the rate of 25-30% p.a. and reach INR 1, 00, 000 Crore by 2010.   To take over, merge with, or form strategic alliances with other global retailers, focusing on specific markets   New locations and store types offer PRIL opportunities to exploit market development.(Diversification into insurance , property, and variety of products and stores)   Opportunities exist for PRIL to continue with its current  strategy  of large, super centres.   Rural Retailing Threats   Being number one means that you are the target of competition. (Extra competition and new competitors entering the market could unsteady pantaloons retail India)   A slow economy or financial slowdown could have a major impact on pantaloons retail India business and profits.   Consumer lifestyle changes could lead to less of a demand for pantaloons retail India products/services   Price wars between competitors, price cuts and so on could damage profits for pantaloons retail India.   The actions of a competitor could be a major threat against pantaloons retail India, for instance, if they bring in new technology or increase their workforce to meet demand   Shopping Culture: Shopping culture has not developed in India as yet. Even now malls are just a place to hang around with family and friends and largely confined to window-shopping.   If  unorganized retailers are put together, they are parallel to a large supermarket with  little overheads, high degree of flexibility in merchandise, display, prices and turnover. COMPETITORS In the fashion segment, they face competition from Shoppers Stop, Trent, Westside and Lifestyle. Though the hypermarket is new, only three to four years old, in the country competition is faced from likes RPG (Spencers), Trent (Star India Bazaar) and with Shoppers Stop . In the Food business competition is faced from Subhiksha and Food World. Its major competitors are Westside, Globus, and central. With a sales turnover in 2008-09 FYof Rs. 5048.91 cr, pantaloon has been a clear market leader with the next competitor being Shoppers Stop with a turnover of Rs.1244.79 cr. The numbers suggest that Pantaloon has had no competition at all. Another interesting statistic is about the Pantaloons net profit for FY 2008 in comparison to Shoppers Stop. Pantaloon had a net profit of Rs.125.94 cr, while Shoppers Stop had an loss of Rs.63.72 cr. Clearly Pantaloon remains the market leader as far as retail is  concerned. INTERNATIONAL RETAIL ENTERING INDIA International retailers Indias vast middle class with its expanding purchasing power and its almost untapped retail industry are key attractions for global retail giants wanting to enter newer markets. The Australian governments National Food Industry Strategy and Astride  initiated a test marketing food retail in India wherein 12 major Australian food  producers have tied up with India-based distributor AB Mauri to sell their  products directly at retail outlets. US-based home delivery and logistics company, Specialized Transportation Inc, will enter the Indian market through a strategic alliance with Patel Retail, a subsidiary of Patel Integrated Logistics. Wal-Mart has announced its plans for India in partnership with Bharti, US coffee chain Starbucks is well on its way to set up its first store in India this year. US based Tommy Hilfiger has tied up with Creative Portico, a Mumbai based home textiles company, to sell its home textiles and furnishings in India. Alfred Dunhill, a UK-based luxury mens brand, has tied up with Brand house Retail Ltd. for its India venture and will be opening four stores in the country. THE ROAD AHEAD Pantaloon planed to expand its retail stores to small cities like lucknow, Nagpur etc. By the end of 2005, pantaloon is expected to have 30 food bazaars,22 big bazaars,21 pantaloons 4 centrals. Pantaloon also had planned to venture into footwear, consumer durables, music car accessories retailing. The company also had a forged alliance with a sports retail footwear company called Royal sports house. As a repositioning, Mr. Biyani has planned to give a new makeover to pantaloons. To re-establish and rejuvenate its existing brands, pantaloons intended to spend INR 2 crores additional INR 1 crore on its upcoming brand. The company was planning to reduce the number of vendors for both Pantaloons and Big bazaar. To meet its growing technology meet, they planned to deploy a retail ERP solution, which would support functions such as HR Marketing. Pantaloons planned to launch a B2B portal, to bring transparency in the value chain. CONCLUSION Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd is a company where it strives for Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd is a company where it strives for lifestyle and value through its products and services. Through the study, it is observed that pantaloon can be said an organization where the Ps of marketing is taken seriously for the maximum profitability through large range of products, promotional activities for the company and a solid sales organization monitoring that the Ps are worked effectively. The stores has been well maintained in accordance with the latest demands of the maintained in accordance with the latest demands of the consumers and through all these strategies Pantaloon ensures repeated customer patronage.