Thursday, November 21, 2019
Innovation in Sustainable Engineering Design Essay
Innovation in Sustainable Engineering Design - Essay Example The political powers have played key roles in the share of the oil products. In addition, international environmental policies have demanded that there be a reduction in the emission of greenhouse gasses. Hydrogen and hydrogen-powered fuel cells are the better options as a means of achieving alternative sources of power. A fuel cell is concerned with converting chemical energy that is present in a fuel to be emitted as electricity. The process demands the use of oxygen. Hydrogen can be produced separately from varying components available naturally. The chemical processes that take place in a fuel cell demand a continuous supply of fuel and oxygen in order to sustain the production of electricity. The most direct driver for clean energy sources, those are safe, secure and reliable amidst this economic competition is worth investing. The needs that the projected source should meet include the mitigation of changes in the climatic conditions, greatly reduce the amount of toxic levels of pollutants and set forth a clear plan for the ever-dwindling oil reserves. The above results must for some reasons be met without which the effects will be felt in the economy, the health aspects in societies and the environmental consideration. The efficiency in the use of energy, in line with a focus on the supply, and an inclination on the growing proportion of carbon-free sources is highly encouraged. To achieve objectives to power elaborated above, it is essential that hydrogen and electricity be ventured into to determine one of the best approaches to meet customer, economic and environmental needs. Hydrogen is regarded as an energy carrier. Hydrogen has regenerative characteristics becaus e they can be produced from nuclear available sources, and the fossil-based energy system made use in the conversion. Fuel cells achieve use in portable devices like mobile phones, motor vehicles and for heating purposes in power generators considered in
Work Place Safety Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words
Work Place Safety - Essay Example Therefore, human resource personnel together with the management ought to formulate and implement action plans to help address these issues. This paper explicates workplace safety issues in healthcare, and specific HR role in assuring safety. This paper further focuses on safety issues unique to healthcare, how HR enters into safety issues with their clinicians, and case studies of hospitals that have successful safety projects. Improving workplace safety in health care organizations has been a global challenge affecting both industrialized and third world countries. Each and every aspect of health could potentially put the safety of health providers and their clients at risk. For instance, the fact that health care providers deal with patients who sometimes present themselves with communicable disease means that they have a higher risk of acquiring the infections. According to the United States Department of Labor (2010), 653,000 incidents relating to harm or occupational diseases were account in 2010. These incidents in healthcare were higher when compared to other areas of the economy. In an effort to reduce these incidents, HR ought to work hand in hand with clinicians. Before explicating HR issues relating to workplace safety, it is important to define safety and workplace safety in the context of healthcare. A definition of safety cited by Hughes and Ferrett (2010, p. 2) denote safety as "The protection of people from physical injury". The meaning of workplace safety is explicated by Hughes and Ferrett (2010) through a definition of work-related ill health. In elucidating the definition in laymans terms, work-related ill health can be referred to as diseases resulting from or prompted by processes characteristic of healthcare organizations Jong et al (2014) posits that a healthcare provider can acquire special infections such as
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
British Invasion and the Folk Revival Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words
British Invasion and the Folk Revival - Essay Example As it may be, the most significant reason of this onslaught proves to be the decline of the power of American music during the era of the 1960s. The American rock ââ¬Ënââ¬â¢ roll was already facing a steady downfall in caliber and quality since the major record companies, supported and abetted by few of the top outlets of the time disregarded the music type. à Major radio channels also betrayed it and considered releasing other products over it, which further deteriorated the condition of American rock ââ¬â¢nââ¬â¢ roll. The area of authority in pop music enjoyed by teen idols like Fabian and Frankie Avalon had directed numerous youth to commercial folk and jazz. While an ostensibly everlasting stream of modernity songs and dance crazes added up to be a failed attempt at developing a durable core following for rock ââ¬Ënââ¬â¢ roll. (Gillett 32) à The Beatles played an important and significant role in the American music history and itââ¬â¢s difficult to think of the British invasion taking place without them. An abundant number of bands sailed along to the top standards of American charts, did not prove to possess more talent than the uninspiring teen idols they had taken place of. However, the Beatles demonstrated to be an exceptional case. They were talented and were admired by the critics as well as the crowd. Beatles, after a short period of time producing American r & b-pop, and country music carried on to compose rock classics. Their new taste and production turned out to be extremely admirable, which was destined to be carried through many generations to come. Performing in small clubs in England and Germany trained all the Beatles band members to be excellent musicians. There artistic quality and equally convincing vocals helped them promote their talent and achieve success. Ã
5 Star Men Grooming Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words
5 Star Men Grooming - Essay Example The Art of Shaving was established by Myriam Zaoui and Eric Malka during the year of 1996 and in 2009, the company was acquired by Procter & Gamble (The Art of Shaving, 2013). The Art of Shaving has expanded its distribution operation to 66 locations nationwide and the company has the mission ââ¬Å"to be a household name for generations to comeâ⬠(The Art of Shaving, 2013a). In 2009, Art of Shaving was acquired by Procter & Gamble (promoter of Gillette brand). Five of the existing stores of the company were redesigned by Procter & Gamble and new style quotient like pictures, furniture was added in order to reflect The Art of Shavingââ¬â¢s upscale, menââ¬â¢s club brand image (The Art of Shaving, 2013a). Product portfolio of The Art of Shaving has seven verticals such as 1- Shaving Products- Pre-Shave item, Shaving Soap, Shaving Cream, Shaving Bowls and After-Shave; 2- Shaving Brushes- Silvertip, Fine and Shaving Stands; 3- Razors- Fusion Razors, Straight Razors, Electric S havers, Mach 3 Razors, Blades, Safety Razors; 4- Shaving Sets- Fusion Chrome Collection, Power Shave Collection, Contemporary Shaving Sets, Compact Shaving Sets, Chelsea Collection; 5- Kits & Gifts- skin care kit, 3-piece manicure set, 7-piece manicure set; 6- Grooming & Skincare- Skin Care, Grooming Accessories, Hair Care, Fragrance and 7- Travel- Shaving Products, Lather Goods, Travel Kits (The Art of Shaving, 2013b). ... n those locations where customers can easily find the shops and the company invested significant amount in developing the infrastructure within the store that can grab the attention of customers (Wohl, 2009). After the company has acquired by P&G, it has got the financial backup to finance its strategic and marketing activities such as expanding distribution channel, promoting product offerings etc. After the acquisition, P&G advised The Art of Shaving to offer more customer friendly products and increase privacy of customers visiting the retail store (The Art of Shaving, 2013a). For example, on the basis of advice of P&G, The Art of Shaving improved display containing razors, oils, lotions and started using richer & darker colours in order to attract customers (Wohl, 2009). At present, The Art of Shaving has more than 80% of retail outlets located in big cities or suburban shopping mall locations and the company has also opened outlet inside the upscale stores such as Nordstrom and Bloomingdale (Wohl, 2009). According to report published by Wohl (2009), The Art of Shaving opens on an average 20 to 40 stores in a year and has the plan to expand the brand out of USA within next 5 years. Even before the acquisition, The Art of Shaving worked with P&G for significant number of years and the luxury man grooming company simultaneously used Gillette blades as part of their portfolio (Wohl, 2009). The Art of Shaving uses premium pricing policy in order to reflect the elegance and luxury feelings associated with the brand in some cases, products offered by the company might be dearer by 40 to 50 times. For example, The Art of Shaving sells razor handles at a price range of $100-$500 while customers can buy the complete razor sets at less than $10 from Wal-Mart Stores Inc
Monday, November 18, 2019
Module 4 Written Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Module 4 Written - Essay Example Latin American countries characteristically have high inflation rate, with some countries having as much as three digit percentage. In fact in a 70 year history of Argentina, the country averaged in excess of 200 percent inflation rate, Brazil on the other hand averaged 390 percent from 1980, and attaining a high of 6821 in the first quarter of this year. Venezuela rates are very high, a rate of 63.4 percent. The concept of Purchasing power parity (PPP) would imply that the currencies of these countries shall depreciate compared to the United States dollar so as to consolidate the purchasing power across the countries. According to Keown, Martin & Petty (2008), PPP reflects the relative value of purchasing a product in one county versus another. A high inflation rate has the effect of making their exports cheap while making imports expensive, thereby discouraging demand for Latin American imports and forces a downward pressure in their Latin American currencies. Depreciation of the c urrencies compensates the rising prices on Latin American exports when viewed by imports from the US and other countries. Interest rate parity exacts pressure on the forward rates to contain a large discount as a result of the high interest rate prevailing in Latin America, which shows a snag of hedging Latin American currencies. Hence, the option to hedge bears more sensibility if the expected rate of depreciation exceeds more than the forward rate. It is also important to factor in that certain remittance cannot be hedged anyway as a result the value of uncertainty in future remittances The forward rate of a Latin American currency would have a big discount; as a result the Latin American interest rate would be higher than that of the US. The discount operates as the prediction of the rate of change in the value of the Latin American currency given a lengthy period of time, which I represented by the forward
Case study,I will have to attach a copy of the case.the name of the Study
,I will have to attach a copy of the .the name of the file will be - Case Study Example A tort occurs as a result of a personââ¬â¢s duty to others which is created by one or more laws. A person who perpetrates a tort is referred to as a wrongdoer or a tortfeaser. A wrongdoing act of tort is referred to as a tortuous act (Stuhmcke 56). The principle goal of the law of tort is compensation of victims or their dependants. The generic pattern of tort comprises of an act or omission by the defendant which causes damage to the plaintiff. The damage has to be caused by the fault of the defendant, and the fault must be a form of harm acknowledged as attracting legal liability. The model of determining whether a tort occurred follows the act or omission leads to causation and faults a personââ¬â¢s protected interests, which results in personal damage and injury (Stuhmcke 60). By suing Dangerfield, continental and Sandman Corporation on basis of negligence, Hartman has to prove several things in a court of law. One, Hartman must prove that the three defendants owed her a du ty of care. This concept is grounded in the ruling of the Donologhue v Stevenson case (1932) where the House of Lords turned down a previous law in which liability for careless behavior existed only in a number of separate, specified circumstances. The House of Lords asserted that general duty entails taking reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which one can reasonably foresee would likely injure your neighbor. A Neighbor in this context refers to persons who are so closely and directly affected by a anotherââ¬â¢s act that they ought to have them in contemplation as being so affected when another is directing his/her mind to the acts or omissions which are called into question (McLaughlin 63). In addition to establishing a duty of care, Hartman must further prove that the damage she suffered was foreseeable. This concept was advanced in Caparo v. Dickman (1990) case where it must be established that there was proximity between herself and the three companies. Contributory n egligence defense In this case, Dangerfield, continental and Sandman Corporations have a defense in that they did owe a duty of care to Hartman. However, Hartman was not responsible for her own safety as she was negligent by walking in front of her car knowingly. As such, the three corporations can establish that Hartman was negligent and it is for that reason that she suffered the accident. Moreover, the defendants have a defense that Hartman did not read the contents of the receipt that indicated that the management was not responsible for damages incurred by valet parking customers. This concept is generally referred to as the plaintiffââ¬â¢s default or contributory negligence. For this defense to be relied, the defendants have to show that Hartman is to blame for her suffering. Dangerfield, continental and Sandman Corporations must prove that; Hartman exposed herself to the danger of being hit by walking in front of her car Hartman was negligent Hartmanââ¬â¢s negligence/fa ult contributed to her suffering. These conditions have been met as explained above. Although contributory negligence is a popular defense in tort, the defense does not free the defendants from liability. It acts to reduce the amount of damages payable y the defendant to the extent of the plaintiffââ¬â¢s contribution. Once Hartman establishes that the three companies owed her a duty of care, she has to prove that the defendants were at fault. That means that Dangerfield, cont
Friday, November 15, 2019
Low Cost Leadership Strategy
Low Cost Leadership Strategy In the world of businesses today, every organization definitely needs information systems in their way of doing business. Laudon and Laudon define information system as a set of interrelated components that retrieve, process, store and distribute the information to support the decision making in an organization. In fact, those who acquire a decent information system would eliminate those who dont have to fight against it. The ever changing world of information technology brings new challenges for every organization to set up an information system that would provide numerous advantages. According to Laudon and Laudon (2009), there are six main reasons why business are investing millions of dollar in information system and technologies, among them are operational excellence; new products, services, and business models; customer and supplier intimacy; improved decision making; competitive advantage and last but not least, survival. Therefore, Aalsmeer Flower Auction (will be known as Aalsmeer throughout the research paper) who is encountering several problems would need the help of information system to overcome the problems. 2.0 Information strategy 2.1 Analysis of current situation Aalsmeer is facing threats from various sources and should utilize the information technology today in defending their business. Laudon and Laudon (2009) believe that the more successfully a firm can align the information technology with business goals, the more profitable it will be. Apart from that, business people who claim themselves do not understand information technology will pay a hefty price in poor performance (Laudon and Laudon, 2009). In the market today, electronic driven flower market is becoming more and more dominant than the traditional way of doing business. Besides, the competitive environments among the retailers encourage them to merge and forming a larger company with an increased in demanding power. Indeed, they are demanding fresher products, more varieties, smaller quantities and multiple deliveries and this inevitably exert pressures on Aalsmeer who needs to change their way of doing business in order to survive. It is advisable for Aalsmeer to adopt a new strategy for the organization to achieve their business objectives and ensure competitive advantage in the industry. The objectives of Aalsmeer at the moment are: Enable innovation for the business processing methods Redefine the value chain to reduce transaction costs Integrate smoothly with wholesalers and retailers Increase the market share to increase profit 2.2 Low-cost leadership strategy After examine the current situation of Aalsmeer, low-cost leadership strategy is undoubtedly the most suitable for the company now. Low-cost leadership strategy is centered on the capability of Aalsmeer to produce and deliver the products of high quality at low costs. A company having low-cost leadership when extends its value to customers expectation, can further strengthen its strategic position in the market place, (Alagse, n.d). In fact, information systems could be use to lower the operational costs and hence, lower prices for the customers. The typical example is Wal-Mart, which is a company continuously relies heavily on information system to reduce costs and this leads them to one of the largest profitable company. They replenish the products as soon as the customers make payments at the cashier. The computers collect information from the stores and send it to suppliers and therefore, Wal-Mart does not need to spend large amount of money on maintaining large inventories. Aalsmeer offer relatively standardized products with features that are acceptable to customers; in other words, with minimum differentiation at the lowest competitive price. In addition, Aalsmeer who are suggested to follow a low-cost leadership strategy need to maintain constant efforts aimed at lowering their costs, but yet creating values for the customers. Such efforts include investing in technologies, establishing tight control of production and overhead costs, minimizing the cost of sales and services. Specifically, investing technologies means to develop a new information system for Aalsmeer to achieve the objectives stated earlier which would be discuss later on this proposal. Implementing the strategy means Aalsmeer must consider its value chain of primary and secondary activities and effectively link them to be successful. The critical focus now is to increase the efficiency of how the business process. In detail, processes and procedures of selling flowers to customers must be simplified, achieving efficiency and effectiveness and last but not least, monitoring the cost of activities provided by others that interface with the companys inbound and outbound logistics. For instance, the delivery travel costs. Moreover, when Aalsmeer successfully implements the low-cost leadership strategy, it can still obtain a high return even when the Porters five competitive forces are strong. Porters five forces Explanation Traditional competitors When Aalsmeer is offering the lowest cost in the market, the competitors will undoubtedly consider competing in a price war, and even if it does, Aalsmeer will still continue to earn profit after the competitors compete away their profits. Customers If there is any customers tends to drive prices below the cost of the next most efficient company, that company might choose to exit the market and leaves the low-cost company with a monopoly position. Therefore, customers would lose bargaining powers when that happens since low-cost company would be in a position that has power to raise the prices. New market entrants Aalsmeer who successfully utilize the low-cost strategy generally will sell in large volume to earn high profit. This indirectly creates a barrier for the new entrants who need to enter the industry at large scale (large enough to achieve the same economies of scale with low-cost company). Suppliers Once Aalsmeer achieve the lowest cost in the market, it enables them to absorb a greater amount of cost increases from suppliers before it must raise prices charged to customers. Moreover, Aalsmeer who will be dominating the market may force the suppliers to hold down the level of price increases, reducing the power of suppliers. Substitute products and services Aalsmeer, as a low-cost leader will be in a more attractive position relative to the substitutes. They could reduce prices to maintain the price-value relationship to retain customers from going to the electronic driven market. 2.3 Enterprise Resource Planning The information system that is suggested for Aalsmeer would be the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), which can be define as a set of integrated programs capable of managing a companys vital business operations for an entire multi-site, global organization. ERP attempts to integrate the key business processes of an entire firm into a single software system that allows information to flow seamlessly throughout the organization. For instance, the transactions with customers and flower growers. Indeed, the key to ERP is real time monitoring of business functions, which allows timely analysis of key issues such as quality, availability, customer satisfaction, performance and availability. It is a set of integrated software modules and a central database that enable data to be shared by many different business processes and functional units throughout the enterprise (Curtis Cobham, 2005). Sources: extolcorp ERP functional units Financial and accounting The Aalsmeer is facing challenges from the electronically driven flower markets and due to this reason, it is vital for them to have a complete accounting system. All the transaction ought to be recorded quickly with no error or minimal error in order to let the other departments to take the next actions immediately. It also includes cash management and forecasting, credit management and financial reporting. It would gives Aalsmeer an edge if they could forecast the cash flow and make important decisions when necessary such as, stop buying stock of flowers when they flower markets are down in particular period. Human Resource Since consumers are demanding fresher products, more varieties and smaller quantities, the human resource definitely needs an information system that can divide the jobs to each employees from each department of the organization. Therefore, the company could satisfy the demands from the consumers. Besides, human resource process also involves performance management and travel expense reporting. The new system could do a performance analysis of the current situation and make necessary changes to it. Apart from that, the travel expenses such as petrol fees can be monitored closely to avoid any extra expenses being used. Manufacturing and production Whereas the manufacturing and production processes includes mainly the procurement process, which is the action of obtaining flowers at the operational level. As the problems stated, the growers are becoming more professional and starting to utilize the electronic way of selling their flowers. The system could manage the inventory effectively by not wasting any extra capital to rent the inventory, or having insufficient place to keep the flowers. This is to ensure the flowers are in good quality control and further strengthen the links between wholesalers and retailers when they actually get what is ideal for themselves. Supply Chain Management It is composed of three sub processes: demand planning, supply planning and demand fulfillment. Demand planning is to understand the customers buying patterns and then develop aggregate long-term or short term forecast of demand on the flowers. Whereas the supply planning includes the strategic inventory with distribution planning and demand fulfillment is to provide a fast, accurate and reliable delivery for customer orders. It also helps to determine what type of supplies is required, what quantities are needed to meet the demand, and how the shipments of supplies and products to customers are to be scheduled, monitored and controlled. Customer Relationship Management A system that helps in all aspects of customer encounters, including marketing and advertising, customer service after the sale and programs that retain loyal customers. Aalsmeer ought to understand the needs of current and potential customers to increase customer retention and loyalty, which leads to a bigger market share. With the processing system capturing data of every customer with the company, Aalsmeer would then know the best way to sell the flowers based on the analysis such as customer preference, time of purchasing, ways of purchasing and many more. This could ensure an increase in efficiency of the selling force and then, increase the productivity by focusing on the most profitable customers. 2.4 Advantages of ERP Agile manufacturing underpins the success of Smart car, DailerChryslers city car brand. Smart has successfully responded quickly to customer demands ever since they have adopted the ERP system from Baan, the Dutch software vendor (Geoff Nairn, 2003, as cited in Curtis Cobham, 2005). The optimized production is due to shorter processes but yet still came out with reliable products. Advantages Explanation Improvement of Work Process It ensures good work processes based on best practices which lead to increased efficiency. In this case, the ERP could helps in reducing costs for the organization, such as human resourcing or transaction cost. Besides, it eliminates the problem of synchronizing changes between multiple systems and provides a top-down view of the enterprise at anytime. Increase in Access to Data for Operational Decision Making The data is integrated from all the departments in the organization to provide excellent support for operational decision making. In addition, it allows the company to provide greater customer service and support, strengthen customer and supplier relationship, and also generates new business opportunities. The system connects the necessary software for accurate forecasting and this allows inventory levels to be kept at maximum efficiency. 3.0 Methodology 3.1 System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Kay. R (2004) believes that System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a model created for an organization when adopting a new information system. In fact, SDLC is a sequential series of steps to build an information system and it is one of the most common development strategies. It is best to follow the SDLC which consists of five phases: system planning, system analysis, system design, system implementation, system operation and maintenance. The phases are interconnected by the inputs and outputs, and if the previous phase has poor outputs, the rest would be affected. 3.1.1 System Planning The first phase of SDLC is system planning, which happen when there is a request of a new system. Aalsmeer realizes that they need a new information strategy in order to remain strong player in the market. A preliminary investigation ought to be conducted to review the existing system and identify the problems. Indeed, a feasibility study could be carried out to identify whether the proposed new system is feasible to be implemented. If the new system is possible, practicable, reasonable and applicable in four main aspects, then the management should invest on it in order to get benefits in a long term. Aspects Why? Technical feasibility To determine whether a new IS can be developed with available technical resources. Does Aalsmeer Flower Auction have the hardware, software and equipments? Can it be developed with current technology? Economic feasibility To determine whether the new IS has a reasonable cost despite the changes it will brings Can Aalsmeer Flower Auction bear with the cost? Operational feasibility To determine if the new IS will be used effectively and efficiently after it is developed Are the changes to business operation minimal? Schedule feasibility To determine whether the new IS can be developed within an acceptable time frame? After conducting the feasibility test, Aalsmeer could then decide the actions to be taken based on the preliminary investigation report. 3.1.2 System Analysis Next, it is the system analysis phase, where the purpose is for Aalsmeer to learn how to improve the existing system, and then determine what the new system should do in order to achieve the goals. Therefore, the organization could find some facts about the current system, such as the strength and weakness of it and produce a report with what is required in the new system. Requirement Anticipation Requirement Specification Requirement Investigation In fact, Aalsmeer could gather the facts by study existing documentation, interview with employees, observation and questionnaire. Then, operational details and performance criteria need to be specified and examined, i.e. the speed of the ERP system after developed. After that, this phase carefully analyzes the information and then prepares a system requirement document which should include managements and users requirements, and recommended plan to develop the new ERP. 3.1.3 System Design This is the phase where after the management level has decided to develop a new system for the organization. A blueprint, which is a detailed plan that satisfied all requirements specified, needed to be develop at this phase. Aalsmeers management should discuss this with all the employees in order to develop a system that satisfies everyone. Programs related are written, tested and documented by the analyst. In addition, internal and external controls are to be designed to ensure the system would be reliable, accurate, maintainable at any time and secure. Lastly, this phase would end up with system design specification where the blueprint is presented to managements and the actual users for review and approval. 3.1.4 System Implementation At this phase, the developed ERP system will be installed in the organization. In addition, operational documentation and procedures of the new ERP system are prepared for the Aalsmeer employees. The employees would need to attend classes to be trained in order to utilize the system effectively. This is a phase of conversion from old system to new system. Indeed, the new system is a huge and complex one, so Aalsmeer could install the software step by step and therefore, it would not crash the whole system when some particular department has problem using it. Aalsmeer could create a legal contract that indicates the system is approved and will be signed by users and stakeholders (Stair Reynolds, 2008). A post-implementation system evaluation could be done to access the quality of the system. Apart from that, it is to examine whether the system operates ideally and are the costs and benefits within the earlier expectations. 3.1.5 System Maintenance This phase is an on-going process as the purpose is to support the operation of the system through proper maintenance, enhancement and protection. Under the maintenance process, any broken hardware is repaired or replaced to avoid any surprising break down. Besides that, the Aalsmeer needs to optimize the system to make the system run smoothly. For example, by compressing the data base, or delete the old and unused files. When there are any errors detected, modification should be done as soon as possible (Stair Reynolds, 2008). On the other hand, enhancement is needed at particular time interval to increase the system capability such as adding more hard disk space to store a large database of customer information. In addition, new functionalities and features could be added when there is a change in the ways of doing business. Lastly, the protection on the system to ensure it is not attacked by any virus or hackers. The firewall of the system is configured and monitored to minimize the chances of being attacked. Besides, backing up the database is definitely a good way to protect all the customer information which is private and confidential. King Stairs Software (n.d.) mentioned that a proper backup strategy is vital for business as well as personal users. 4.0 Impacts and effectiveness of ERP Systems changeover can be effected in some ways which not only has certain benefits, there will be drawbacks as well (Curtis Cobham, 2005). 4.1 Organization The purpose of this research is to identify a way for Aalsameer to strengthen itself in the market. It is believed that the company is able to reduce the operational cost, due to the effectiveness of the system to finish up the work in lesser time given. The new system would emphasize on the information technologies, where the large amount number of workers is no longer needed. Apart from that, the organization can offer lower cost compared to rivals. The ERP system enable the organization to fight with the electronically driven market and thus, accelerating the business growth. Besides, the budget saved can be use on the marketing campaign to promote the new system of organization to public, and thus, they would be well aware of the new operating business model. However, Aalsameer should consider whether the system supports the business objectives (OBrien Marakas, 2008). If the system does fully support the business objectives, it is worth to be invested even though they may face problems on capital, when hiring the system vendors to develop it. If the system does not support the objectives, Aalsmeer may need to re-consider the actions taken before. 4.2 Management Whereas for the management level, the reports statement such as invoice, can be generated through online now. It saves the time for everyone the processing time is cut down in a systematic way. To top it off, it reduces the workload easily and the burden of management level can be taken off. Therefore, it increases the efficiency of management level since they can rely on the ERP system more than before. By using a complete and efficient ERP system, it also reduces the error or mistake which could possibly occur when the work is done by human alone. The process of paper work simply becomes easier, simpler and faster for management and they could put more attention on other problems. For example, searching for more potential customers via new marketing communications. On the other hand, they can put more emphasis on matters that could possibly cut down the operational cost such as downsizing the number of workers in the organization. Since the organization is utilizing the ERP system now, it is possible to rely on the technology instead of human hand to do the work. However in reality, it may be difficult for the management to layoff the employees who may be had work for the company long time, but it is essential to make the decision as it benefits the organization, after all. 4.3 Employees Certainly, there would be several impacts on the employee of the organization, who is the direct users of the new ERP system. Firstly, it may create a chaos in them, where the new system would take over their position by terminating them. Besides, elderly employees who are not familiar with new technology, or not used to changes in working environment will definitely suffer in using ERP when the system is installed. Indeed, employees who are not good at adapting to the surrounding will face hardships this may create a negative environment in the organization. However, it is believed that after few months, they will eventually find themselves comfortable with the ERP. Moreover, the new system will ease the burden of the employees, and increase the time for them to focus on their work. For instance, they can provide a good and reliable quality of customer service which in long term, will bring up the reputation of Aalsmeer Flower Auction. Moreover, since the ordering and payment are all done online now, it simplifies the working process. Indeed, employee would be more ambitious in completing their tasks. 5.0 Conclusion All in all, Aalsmeer definitely needs a new information strategy as well as a new information system in order to achieve the business objectives. Ideas suggested to Aalsmeer are considered carefully and it is believed as the best way for the organization now. If Aalsmeer would to follow the proposal carefully, they would achieve the business objectives and make a success in the market today. References Books Curtis, G. Cobham, D., 2005. Business Information Systems. 5th ed. Edinburgh Gate: Pearson Education Limited Laudon, K.C. Laudon, J.P., 2007. Essentials of business Information Systems. 7th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. Laudon, K.C. Laudon, J.P., 2009. Essentials of management Information System. 8th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. OBrien J.A. Marakas, G.M., 2008. Introduction to Information Systems. 14th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Stair, R.M. Reynolds, G.W., 2008. Principles of Information Systems: a managerial approach. 8th ed. Boston: Thomson Course Technology. Websites Alagse, n.d. Promoting through leadership . [Online] Available at: http://www.alagse.com/strategy/s10.php [Accessed 2 April 2010] Kay, R., 2002. QuickStudy: System Development Life Cycle. [Online] Available at: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/71151/System_Development_Life_Cycle [Accessed 5 April 2010] King Stairs Software, n.d. The importance of backup. [Online] Available at: http://www.kingstairs.com/articles/doc0003.html [Accessed 24 April 2010] Extol, 2006. Secured Enterprise Application. [Online] Available at: http://www.extolcorp.com/solution/sea_ecerp.html [Accessed 25 April 2010]
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