Harvard business review Essay

For each team, by submitting the document online, you claim that the document is original from your own idea. Each team must work on the assignments independently. All the materials submitted will be checked for plagiarism electronically. For more information, please refer to http://www.plagiarism.org/ Should you have questions and concerns in regards to plagiarism, you should contact the course coordinator immediately. Content Tutorial III consists of two parts. The first part includes case discussion while the second part focuses on the feedback to the common mistakes in the intermediate exam. Requirements First, all the students are required to be present and participate in the discussion. Second, all the students are required to read the following two cases: Case Part A: Toyota—Under†the†Radar Recall Response on Page 346 of the textbook; Case – Quality Parts Company on Page 426 of the textbook. Each team is required to write a case note for these two cases. In the case note, you need to give answers to the questions proposed in the corresponding cases. The length of the case note is at most three A4 pages with font size 12 and 1.5 line space, excluding the figure of value stream mapping. For Case – Quality Parts Company, you are NOT required to answer Question 2 and 3. Instead, you need to draw a value stream map for the production process of Model Z based on the symbols which can be found in exhibit 12.3 on Page 409 in the text book. Suppose that customers order every month. After orders are realized, Quality Parts Company orders from suppliers every month. The company does weekly delivery. Inspection is immediately executed after assembly. Every week a production plan is generated which serves as a template for the daily planning activities performed by the production manager. How much value-added time and how much non-value-added time can be found in the production process? Note that you have to ï ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼1 use Microsoft Visio 2010 to draw the VSM. Otherwise, no mark is given. You can directly copy the diagram from Visio to Word. Presentation Team 7 of all the groups and Team 12 of IEM groups should present Toyota. Team 8 of all the groups and Team 13 of IEM groups should present Quality Parts. Team 9 of Group 2, 5, 7 should present Quality Parts. The teams present separately. Each presentation takes five minutes. Please use Microsoft Powerpoint to prepare your presentation and the number of slides is at most 5. Please copy your powerpoint file into a USB stick and bring it to the tutorial. To prepare the presentation for cases, you need to present the solutions to the questions proposed in the case description and give a convincing argument for your solutions. The performance of your presentation will be counted for class participation. Submission Your assignment will be graded only if it is submitted online in the fold of Assignment on Nestor by the deadline and a hard copy is passed to your tutorial teacher in class. The deadline is by 24:00 on October 15. Note that write down your names and student numbers at the first page of your document. For the case note, please name your file as groupnumber_teamnumber_case, such as g1_t1_case. Please print your file with a double†sided format. For your presentation file, you only need to give the hard copy of your slides to your tutorial teacher. Topic

Compare and contrast of feudal systems in Japan and Europe Essay

Japanese feudal system during the Kamakaru Shogunate from 1100 to 1868 and Europe’s feudal system during the middle ages from the 800’s to the 1600’s were similar regarding warriors and weapons, considering that they were based on similar codes of conduct and weaponry, were similar in their socio-political division that had a similar hereditary hierarchy, but the treatment of women differed in that women were allowed to serve in Japanese warrior class but not in the European’s. European knights were very similar to the Japanese samurais; not only were they similar in their codes of conduct, but they had similar weaponry. The Knights were based on Chivalry which consisted bravery, respect and honor. The Samurais followed a similar code of conduct called bushido meaning â€Å"the way of the warrior† which consisted of loyalty, bravery in the martial arts, and honor until death. The similarity in their weapons was the use of swords, horses, small knife s, and armor. Although Europeans had a much heavier armor made of metal which immobilized knights, Japanese armor can still be compared to the armor of the knights. Reasons for this similarity is that both systems were faced with constant warfare, and their conducts were somewhat based on religion although Japan basing bushido from Confucianism and Europe basing chivalry from Catholicism. The socio political divisions of Japan and Europe are similar in that they are both stratified hierarchy. They both had hereditary classes of nobles, warriors, and peasants and serfs. Constant warfare in both Japan and Europe made the warrior class the most prominent. In Japan, since the Mongols wanted to attack the Japanese were always prepared and lived in terror. Japanese and Europeans also built protective castles. Like in Europe the kings gave land fiefs to vassals, Shoguns distributed land to his followers. In both feudal systems warriors served local lords. While lords offered payment and protection vassals provided loyalty. Fiefs of land were given in return for military service and therefore knights gained lands from lords as payments for their militar y service. Although similar to Europe, Japanese feudal system did not pay samurais with land, but instead paid them a ratio of the earnings from taxing the peasants; usually the Daimyo taxed peasants and owned land. As stratified hierarchies, both had a lowest class who were serfs in Europe and peasants in Japan. In both regions, serfs and peasants were heavily taxed and toiled. One reason for the similarity in stratification was that both Japan and Europe were  decentralized. Although Japan and Europe had similarities in their warriors, weaponry, and socio political stratification, the treatment of women varied in each region. Women in Japan were treated more equally; they were able to join the samurai army and were expected to act like a samurai and be strong like men, even if it meant dying after losing a battle. Unlike the costume of Japan, Europeans saw women as fragile, and delicate who were to be protected by chivalrous men.

Meridian

To be independent is to be without limitation and free of civilization, all the while, the thought of being free of civilization, without limitation is overwhelmingly wild. In the novel Meridian, by Alice Walker, the short presence of a character addressed as The Wild Child symbolizes the theme of self awareness and pursuing one’s life independently. Alice walker uses the short presence of The Wild Child as an influential factor when developing her main character Meridian. The use of characters from Meridian’s ancestry, such as Feather Mae (Meridian’s great grandmother) and inanimate objects, such as The Sojourner (tree), further support the theme that The Wild Child represents. Notably, Alice Walker writes her Meridian through a series of flashbacks through third person omnicient narration. The novel opens with Truman Held arriving in Chicokema, Georgia, to meet up with Meridian, his former lover. Meridian is seen escorting a group of children, who were mostly black and impoverished, to an attraction displaying a mummified woman in which they were not permitted to attend. A shift then occurs to a flashback in New York City where Meridian, ten years prior, had not been willing to proclaim that she would kill on behalf of an African American revolutionary organization. Another flashback then occurs to when Meridian had been a child who chose not to accept Jesus into her life despite her mother’s religious devotion, this urges Meridian’s mother to withdraw her love towards her daughter. The novel continues to shift unravelling a countless number of memories that contributed to the reasoning behind why Meridian resulted to her introverted ways. Meridian seeks guidance and a sense of belonging that she never received from her mother, but finds that traditional paths in life do not provide her any comfort. Instead she cultivates a keen sense of dedication towards the civil rights movement, which gives her drive throughout her young adult years. Meridian endures sexual misfortunes throughout life first as a child, when she becomes pregnant and marries due to her lack of knowledge about sex, and later with older men who take advantage of her low self esteem. Giving up her son, Eddie Jr. , Meridian seeks happiness within the campus of Saxon College where she intially struggles and finds refuge under The Sojourner, a rarely large magnolia tree. This is where she later encounters The Wild Child. The novel concludes with Truman asking Meridian to love him as she once did before he had married Lynn, a white activist for civil rights. Meridian admits her love for Truman has changed and prepares to pick back up her life elsewhere; Truman realizes that he must now take up the internal struggle in which Meridian has finally escaped. Although Meridian began as a shattered individual who struggled throughout much of her life, this is what helps to mold and define the calm, determined person that she ultimately becomes; through the representation and comparison of The Wild Child to Meridian, Meridian’s growth is all the more apparent. Alice Walker creates The Wild Child as almost an eidolon figure, for she is not even given a name. Occupants within the impoverished areas surrounding Saxon College, the school in which Meridian attends, know hardly anything of the mysterious young girl who searches for food in garbage cans and can barely speak any language besides the few swear words she has aquired over the years. Meridian attempts to help the poor child but fails to tame her, which in return plays a large role in The Wild Child’s death. Meridian is much like The Wild Child in regards that she has always stripped her life of outside guidance, close relationships, and comforts (material, mental and physical comforts) as she moves from place to place. As an activist against racism and a person of whom secludes herself from others, Meridian lives as an outcast within society trying to avoid the judgement passed by people, just as The Wild Child does. This shows both Meridian and The Wild Child’s sense of self identity and independence in the way that they realize that they would rather be separated from society and go about things in their own way, the only way that they know. Although The Wild Child makes only a brief appearance within the novel, Alice Walker makes her intentions of this character evident by supporting the theme of self awareness and independence that The Wild Child represents with other characters and objects. Feather Mae, Meridian’s great- grandmother is made out to also be a person of free will, who is far reachinging and of an eccentric nature. Feather Mae is a woman whoabandons all religion not founded on physical ecstasy and later results to worshiping the sun while walking around naked. This is just as Meridian renounced religion at an early age in her life because she had not experienced any type of â€Å"ecstasy† in trying to become devoted to Jesus. Just as The Wild Child lived content in her own ways of surviving, both of these exceptional women, Meridian and Feather Mae, endure life in their own idealistic way. Walker also emphasises the importance of the rather large mangolia tree, The Sojourner, in which Meridian takes refuge through hard times when she intially began college. The tree was rare in itself, being the largest in the country. The Sojourner not only signified the growth of African American people through times of oppression, but it also stood as a souvenir of the past. Like the tree, Meridian is a character who has been around through difficult times and still continues to grow, but Meridian also carries with her guilt and saddness from her past. Although the destruction of The Sojourner later in the novel Walker symbolized the abrupt destruction of ties to racism and ways of the past, it also represented the destruction of Meridian, leaving room for a new part of her to grow and develop more as an individual who can be contempt with who she is in the present, rather that sulk in who she was in the past. As has been noted, Meridian being a novel made up of flashbacks and recollections of the past allowed for Alice Walker to create a character that develops through the influences of her surroundings and other characters. Although The Wild Child plays only a small role in the writing of the novel, her presence is significant, for it shapes the entire meaning of who the main character, Meridian, becomes. The Wild Child also serves to enhance the sense of independence and self awareness that the author tries so strongly to get across. Meridian To be independent is to be without limitation and free of civilization, all the while, the thought of being free of civilization, without limitation is overwhelmingly wild. In the novel Meridian, by Alice Walker, the short presence of a character addressed as The Wild Child symbolizes the theme of self awareness and pursuing one’s life independently. Alice walker uses the short presence of The Wild Child as an influential factor when developing her main character Meridian. The use of characters from Meridian’s ancestry, such as Feather Mae (Meridian’s great grandmother) and inanimate objects, such as The Sojourner (tree), further support the theme that The Wild Child represents. Notably, Alice Walker writes her Meridian through a series of flashbacks through third person omnicient narration. The novel opens with Truman Held arriving in Chicokema, Georgia, to meet up with Meridian, his former lover. Meridian is seen escorting a group of children, who were mostly black and impoverished, to an attraction displaying a mummified woman in which they were not permitted to attend. A shift then occurs to a flashback in New York City where Meridian, ten years prior, had not been willing to proclaim that she would kill on behalf of an African American revolutionary organization. Another flashback then occurs to when Meridian had been a child who chose not to accept Jesus into her life despite her mother’s religious devotion, this urges Meridian’s mother to withdraw her love towards her daughter. The novel continues to shift unravelling a countless number of memories that contributed to the reasoning behind why Meridian resulted to her introverted ways. Meridian seeks guidance and a sense of belonging that she never received from her mother, but finds that traditional paths in life do not provide her any comfort. Instead she cultivates a keen sense of dedication towards the civil rights movement, which gives her drive throughout her young adult years. Meridian endures sexual misfortunes throughout life first as a child, when she becomes pregnant and marries due to her lack of knowledge about sex, and later with older men who take advantage of her low self esteem. Giving up her son, Eddie Jr. , Meridian seeks happiness within the campus of Saxon College where she intially struggles and finds refuge under The Sojourner, a rarely large magnolia tree. This is where she later encounters The Wild Child. The novel concludes with Truman asking Meridian to love him as she once did before he had married Lynn, a white activist for civil rights. Meridian admits her love for Truman has changed and prepares to pick back up her life elsewhere; Truman realizes that he must now take up the internal struggle in which Meridian has finally escaped. Although Meridian began as a shattered individual who struggled throughout much of her life, this is what helps to mold and define the calm, determined person that she ultimately becomes; through the representation and comparison of The Wild Child to Meridian, Meridian’s growth is all the more apparent. Alice Walker creates The Wild Child as almost an eidolon figure, for she is not even given a name. Occupants within the impoverished areas surrounding Saxon College, the school in which Meridian attends, know hardly anything of the mysterious young girl who searches for food in garbage cans and can barely speak any language besides the few swear words she has aquired over the years. Meridian attempts to help the poor child but fails to tame her, which in return plays a large role in The Wild Child’s death. Meridian is much like The Wild Child in regards that she has always stripped her life of outside guidance, close relationships, and comforts (material, mental and physical comforts) as she moves from place to place. As an activist against racism and a person of whom secludes herself from others, Meridian lives as an outcast within society trying to avoid the judgement passed by people, just as The Wild Child does. This shows both Meridian and The Wild Child’s sense of self identity and independence in the way that they realize that they would rather be separated from society and go about things in their own way, the only way that they know. Although The Wild Child makes only a brief appearance within the novel, Alice Walker makes her intentions of this character evident by supporting the theme of self awareness and independence that The Wild Child represents with other characters and objects. Feather Mae, Meridian’s great- grandmother is made out to also be a person of free will, who is far reachinging and of an eccentric nature. Feather Mae is a woman whoabandons all religion not founded on physical ecstasy and later results to worshiping the sun while walking around naked. This is just as Meridian renounced religion at an early age in her life because she had not experienced any type of â€Å"ecstasy† in trying to become devoted to Jesus. Just as The Wild Child lived content in her own ways of surviving, both of these exceptional women, Meridian and Feather Mae, endure life in their own idealistic way. Walker also emphasises the importance of the rather large mangolia tree, The Sojourner, in which Meridian takes refuge through hard times when she intially began college. The tree was rare in itself, being the largest in the country. The Sojourner not only signified the growth of African American people through times of oppression, but it also stood as a souvenir of the past. Like the tree, Meridian is a character who has been around through difficult times and still continues to grow, but Meridian also carries with her guilt and saddness from her past. Although the destruction of The Sojourner later in the novel Walker symbolized the abrupt destruction of ties to racism and ways of the past, it also represented the destruction of Meridian, leaving room for a new part of her to grow and develop more as an individual who can be contempt with who she is in the present, rather that sulk in who she was in the past. As has been noted, Meridian being a novel made up of flashbacks and recollections of the past allowed for Alice Walker to create a character that develops through the influences of her surroundings and other characters. Although The Wild Child plays only a small role in the writing of the novel, her presence is significant, for it shapes the entire meaning of who the main character, Meridian, becomes. The Wild Child also serves to enhance the sense of independence and self awareness that the author tries so strongly to get across.

Environmental Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Environmental Economics - Essay Example While for chemical contaminants this is done by assessing toxicological and epidemiological results, engineering or other disciplines are involved for other types. The second step is Dose-Response Estimation which in essence is the process of determining the magnitude of impact of a unit dose of the contaminant substance. The relation between dosage and possibility or incidence of the potentially adverse consequence is estimated. This is possibly one of the most complex steps of the entire risk assessment process particularly due to the fact that often the potential impacts on humans have to be extrapolated from the observed results on mice, rats etc thereby engendering the possibility of estimation errors. Also, the genetic or other differences between individuals imply that the hazard may be a stronger threat to a certain part of the human population thereby reducing the possibility of effective generalization of the results. Exposure Assessment attempts to identify the extent of human exposure to the substance given particular locations, lifestyles etc to quantify the likely doses of the substance that humans will be exposed to. Phthalates are identified as a particular class of multiple-function chemicals that are used in varieties of consumer as well as personal care goodsi. Due to the limited scope of this paper we shall discuss a very recently concluded assessment of phthalates in regard to possibility of contamination and risk particularly to children exposed to toys that used the substance as softeners. The research in late 1980s that showed that phthalates DEHP caused cancer in rodents exposed to very high doses and later another variant of phthalates known as DINP that was adopted as substitute for DEHP as softeners in toys though initially showed that it had not similar carcinogenic effects, did however cause liver damage to rodents, constitutes the first step of hazard identification in this case. It raised widespread

Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Strategies - Essay Example FDI is often defined as an accord through which an entity of one economy tends to invest capitals in another economy with the purpose of gaining and simultaneously providing long-term benefits to the parties involved, i.e. the direct investor, direct investment enterprise, and the economies on the whole (OECD, 2009). As is evident from the benchmark definition provided by OECD, FDI ordinarily means the liberty to foreign investor allowing them to set up a production unit through investment in the host country with the purpose to stimulate the means of production in the economy and thus enhance capital allocation (Neuhaus, 2006). It is in this context that the involvement of FDIs in the economic development of the host countries, especially in the case of developing countries has been in debate for decades. In this regard, the foremost concern was drawn on the sovereignty of the state governments and the effects that FDIs had due to growing influences. As stated by Schnitzer (2000), F DIs reward few significant rights to the direct investors in order to operate in the host country with minimal legislative barriers. This influences the monetary policies of the country which in turn affects the sovereignty of the state government as can be observed from the illustration of East European economies, e.g. Hungary, Poland, Czech and others (Schnitzer, 2000). In many instances, FDIs have been witnessed to affect the sustainable development of the host country as well. It is worth mentioning that from a general point of view FDIs are expected to provide the host country with enhanced employment opportunities; thereby reducing poverty and enhancing the overall economic growth. However, it is quite important that the resource allocation is equally distributed in the country to gain total development. But evidences have revealed that FDIs have failed in providing total benefit to the host developing economies (Velde, 2001). To be illustrated in the case of Africa, the FDIs had been recorded to increase significantly as was recorded in 2002. Despite the significant rise in inflows of FDIs in the economies, namely, Nigeria, Tunisia, Egypt, and Algeria, also recorded as the chief direct investment enterprises of the continent, the economic growth has been quite low in comparison to other economies facilitating FDIs, such as Poland, Hungary and other Western economies. The increase of corruptions, extortions and other social issues has also affected the economic growth in these countries. Weak sustainable development can also be witnessed in the case of Latin American as well as Caribbean economies (Gardiner, 2002). FDIs have also proved to be beneficial in many instances, e.g. in the case of China. The inclusion of FDIs in the economy have rewarded with better productivity in the technology sector as well as in the case of human resource development with almost equal distribution of resources. China, as a developing economy had also faced the risk of sov ereignty and other political, economical along with social risks which were dealt with

Assignment #7 PKG 381 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

#7 PKG 381 - Assignment Example st part of sustainability is based on reducing the wastes that a company produces to the environment and at the same time changing the company to become completely sustainable in the future. Industries that would have the most positive environmental impact when they are engaged into sustainable practices include oil and gas industries, fertilizer, paper, motor vehicle and other industries that uses chemicals and release chemical wastes to the environment. These industries would have the most positive impact to the environment in case they engage on sustainable practices since through such practices, they will reduce lot of pollution they cause to the environment. At the same time, such industries are known for releasing some of the most harmful gases as well as minerals to the atmosphere. Such gases like carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and others are very harmful when inhaled by humans. At the same time, they form part of the ozone gases that cause the greenhouse effect to our environment, leading to global warming. Heavy metal such as Lead are also released by industries such as fertilizer industries, to the nearby drainages that empty their waters to the water stream s used by humans. Such metals are harmful to human lie as they cause cancerous conditions in

Working with Children Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Working with Children Case Study - Essay Example Each member of the family focuses on personal difficulties and has little interaction with others. Kerry, age 2 Under Theory of Mind, a securely attached child sees an image of self in a caregiver and this offers security. It is obvious Kerry is lacking the connection to her mother that she needs to form emotional attachments. Although the fact that she seldom speaks is not a real concern--children younger than 3 often hold back on conversation until they feel secure about communicating--it still might be an indication of a more serious problem. Since she would at her age be expected to use two or three word sentences, her development would appear to be slower than normal. Shouting or crying for what she wants is a definite bid for attention. There is a universal human need to form close emotional bonds, and Kerry seems to be lacking any positive connection to her family. This is a problem that needs to be addressed. Attendance at a Sure Start Children’s Centre might offer Kerry the opportunity to make friends and learn how to communicate with others. Sure Start local programmes, in use since 1999, bring together childcare, early education, health and family support services for families with children from before birth to 4 years old. It has been targeted at the most disadvantaged areas of the country such as the industrial areas of the Midlands. Kerry might be a candidate for the Talking and Learning Together Project which addresses speech and language issues. The holistic approach with multi-disciplinary teams of professionals goes beyond childcare and supports families in parenting and employment aspirations (Sure Start: local programmes, 2006). Alcohol, drugs and physical abuse are possible concerns in this family. Declan appears to be at loose ends as far as being employed, and, although he claims to be looking for work, it is not clear if he is actually utilising the Job Centre as a source. He doesn’t have any specific work