Mis Assignment free essay sample

The purpose of this assignment is to examine a case study on a private or public company and suggest suitable improvements to the current Business Information Systems used for their business processes supporting the findings with data analysis. The organisation that has been chosen to be analysed is HMV, it is part of HMV Retail Ltd formerly known as HMV Group PLC. Company Background HMV specialises in the sale of home entertainment goods mainly music, DVD and computer videogames, currently they have also ventured into portable technology with the sales of headphones and tablets (HMV, 1921). HMV stands for His Master’s Voice and has a recognisable logo of a dog and a trumpet. Sir Edward Elgar opened the first HMV in 1921; the flagship store is on Oxford Street it mainly sold goods from HMV at the beginning of its inception (HMV, 1921). However by the late 1950’s – early 60’s with the advent of rock and roll and new recording formats HMV began expanding its operations to other major cities of the UK (HMV, 1921). To keep in tune with the times, HMV invested heavily in purchasing thousands of titles by different artists for each of their stores. HMV came out as the top dog in music retail as they were meeting the high consumer demands and the change in home entertainment. HMV’s strategy to change its products based on changes in home entertainment continues to this day. It is one of UK’s specialist retailers in music, DVD and computer games. It has over 140 stores in the UK and has many stores in North America, Europe and Asia pacific (HMV, 1921). Presently HMV is facing tough competition from online retailers like Amazon who are able to offer lower prices owing to Amazon having lower staff cost, property cost, inventory cost and operating costs (Phelan, 2013). Operations, inputs and outputs of HMV The operations of HMV are supply management, stock management, customer relations, staff/personnel management, sales, advertising, international operations and joint ventures (HMV, 2013, pp. 8). Supply management operation is the procedure of buying and managing resources for the business needs and processes of an organisation (Business Dictionary, n. d. d). In the case of HMV it is the purchasing of inventory goods to be sold as products in their retail process and the management of said goods, staff, budget and information (HMV, 1921). Stock management operation is the supervision of the inventory of a business ensuring it meets consumer demands (Business Dictionary, n. d. c); in HMV’s case it is maintaining the stock levels of products to be sold. Customer relations operation is the way a company can build a rapport with their customer, manage the relations made and ensure the loyalty of the customer (Business Dictionary, n. d. a). HMV uses their purehmv incentive program to ensure the loyalty and return of customers (HMV, 1921). Personnel management operations is the recruiting and investing in employees in order o retain said employees and make them important to the business (Business Dictionary, n. d. c). For HMV this would be the hiring and development of staff within. International operations for HMV is the management and development of their international stores and profile, they have stores in North America and Asia pacific. Joint venture operations for HMV is the 50% investment in 7digital an online retailer of digital music (HMV, 2013, pp. 8). The sales operation for HMV is the way in which they sell and manage the sales of products. Advertising operations is how HMV manages and develops marketing of products. The inputs that HMV receives are: * Products: Music, Videogames, Films and TV, Tech * Staff * Customers * Profit/Money * Information The outputs of HMV that they receive after operations are: * sales they make from products * service they provide to customers * the purehmv incentive program * advertising * better qualified staff * Business Processes of HMV HMV has many business processes for each of their operations. For supply management the processes include shipping, re-ordering and notifying supplier. For stock management the processes are storage, measuring stock levels and ensuring quality of stock. The processes for customer relations are customer service, returns, refunds and technical support. Business processes for the personnel management operation are recruitment, selection, manpower planning, training and development. For sales operation the processes are order management, payment handling, delivery and counter service. The processes for advertising are advertising strategy, market research and medium strategy. For international operations all of the above fall under it including the processes. The business processes of the joint venture operations are purchasing music rights, managing investment and managing infrastructure. There are many more business processes for each operation only a few have been mentioned. Counter service within the sales operation is important for HMV as currently that is the only service they offer (HMV, 1921). This process involves the customer coming to the store, picking an item and taking it to the counter to be ringed up on the (Transaction Processing System) TPS. The TPS will ask for payment type, customer will pay in either cash or card. The TPS will record the purchase and print out a receipt for the customer. Also the business process called delivery which is part of the sales operation is a joint process with the counter service. Customers can come in to the store and make an order for a product at the counter. A member of staff will take the order and put it through the order processing system and TPS. The customer will be given a receipt from the TPS and an order number will be given to the customer and dispatched to the warehouse. A date and time will also be given to the customer to inform them when the delivery will be available to pick up form the store. Structured Decision making Structured Decision making is essential at operation levels in order for HMV Retail Ltd to find out which products are selling well and also to find out where to set targets for day to day retail activities, the table below can be used for this purpose. Semi-structured decision making Semi-structured decisions are on a short to medium term basis and are tactical decisions. The table below can be used by managers to make decisions regarding finance management, inventory control, sales targeting and supplier management. Unstructured decision making Unstructured decisions are used to focus on the long term and to forecast future trends within the organisation. These decisions are made by senior management such as the area manager or the head retail manager. They can use this information as a way of forecasting future profits as well as determining which of their products produced the most revenue. This chart can be used to identify the margins between costs of products purchased, the revenue generated from the sale of products and the total profit after cost has been deducted from revenue. This chart can be used to identify and compare the amount of stock sold, stock bought and the amount of stock left for each item category. Strategic radar plotting technique The strategic radar plotting technique can be used to identify an area in which HMV is doing well in and the area in which they are weak in. From the radar below HMV is doing well in 2 sales categories videogames and technology. These 2 are producing the most sales therefore they are the area in which HMV has much strength. The other 2 sales categories Music and Films amp; TV are producing the least amount of sales therefore the conclusion is these are the weak areas of HMV. Identifying the following areas will now allow HMV to develop new sales strategies in order to boost the weak areas and strengthen the areas in which they already have a strong presence. Goal setting analysis and what if analysis What if we want to make ? 1000 on this product rather than ? 780? How much stock needs to be sold in order to reach the amount? The what if analysis does the calculation and informs us that to gain ? 1000 for this product 50 must be sold.

Theory of constraints Essays - Technology, Phablets, Samsung Galaxy

Theory of constraints The Theory of Constraints is a methodology for identifying the most important limiting factor (i.e. constraint) that stands in the way of achieving a goal and then systematically improving that constraint until it is no longer the limiting factor. In manufacturing, the constraint is often referred to as a bottleneck. The core concept of the Theory of Constraints is that every process has a single constraint and that total process throughput can only be improved when the constraint is improved. A very important corollary to this is that spending time optimizing non-constraints will not provide significant benefits; only improvements to the constraint will further the goal (achieving more profit). Five step process Problem situation: Samsung Note 7 Battery Explosions, Turns Crisis into Opportunity The core of the situation is that Samsung faced a serious issue with Galaxy Note 7 phones that have a high propensity of batteries failing and in many cases catching on fire, leading to personal and property damage. In a report, the company detailed flaws in battery design and manufacturing that it believescaused the crisis. It affects the utilization of the phones. All the inventory and operating expenses turn into loss for the company. To regain trust, Samsung had to identify the root cause of the issues with the Galaxy Note 7 and apply these learning to future product designs. Galaxy Note 7 phones have a problem of batteries failing or catching on fire, leading to personal and property damage. Samsung builds a test lab to findthe root cause of the Note 7's issues. They tested around 200,000 devices and 30,000 batteries in an attempt to replicate the cause of fires in the phones. Batteries from two different manufacturers had flaws. The principal root cause of the first manufacturer's battery problem (Battery A) was negative electrode deflections. The second manufacturer's product (Battery B), suffered from abnormal ultrasonic welding burrs.While the principal cause was different in each type of the battery, the result was the same. A small subset of batteries could overheat and potentially catch fire. It's clear that the smart phone industry's desire for ever thinner phones with longer battery life have strained battery manufacturing processes. After that old Note 7s being replaced by hundreds of thousands of new "safe" models. The safe models or updated models of Note 7's were updated to ONLY charge to 60% of its capacity. This in turn, keeps the devices from "supposedly" overheating. The test lab tested the whole device, including areas such as the role of wired and wireless charging as well as fast and normal charging. It also tested the water resistance, with and without the back cover. Samsung tested other device features such as the USB-C charger and Iris scanner.It evaluated the software and algorithms tied to wireless charging. It even evaluated how third party applications were impacting the phone. Additionally, it worked with three independent third party test labs - UL, Exponent, and TUVRheinland - to assess issues across software, hardware, manufacturing, logistics and handling. The finding from Samsung tests and the independent labs revealed the same results. As the updated models of Note 7's were updated to ONLY charge to 60% of its capacity and this prevents the battery from overheating. But the problem is still not fully eradicated. Hence Samsung creates battery advisory group and designs an 8-point battery safety system to avoid further damages. It has implemented a multi-layer safety measures protocol at the product planning and a new 8-point battery safety system. This system includes: Durability Test -Conducting additional durability tests, including battery nailing, stress testing with extreme temperatures and overcharging tests. Visual Inspection- Visually checking the battery to compare it with samples confirmed to be in accordance with standardized criteria. X-Ray Test- Running X-ray tests to inspect any possible battery issue such as a deflection of the electrode, which we found to be one of causes of the Note7 issue. Disassembling Test- Disassembling the battery cell to perform a detailed check of the overall quality, including the battery tab welding and insulation tape conditions, which we found to be an issue with Note7. TVOC Test- Performing a sensing test to detect leakage at the battery component and complete device levels. OCV Test- Inspecting the battery condition by

Writing Your Essay on Current Issues

Writing Your Essay on Current IssuesReading through the latest essay samples can be difficult especially if you do not know what the questions or topics are on the essay. Fortunately, when you have an answer key, this will make it much easier to decide which questions and answers to include in your own essay.First of all, let's define 'current issues' before we discuss the question and answer. The questions and answers are typically about current events that have occurred within the last two weeks. In addition, they usually focus on current events as well as the current trends. Therefore, the questions and answers in your essay will focus on the current issues that affect the world today.There are a lot of current issues that have resulted in some controversy. One of the most controversial issues is the war in Iraq. There are many students who feel that the US is at war with Iraq because of the oil fields that the country has in the Gulf of Mexico. These students feel that the oil sh ould belong to the United States as the US has a right to control the environment in the area.Another example of current issues is the battle between human rights and environmental protection. Both sides of the debate may have different views on the subjects. Some feel that the war on drugs is an issue that the United States should be looking into, while others feel that the drug issue is not a major concern. Some students feel that the United States needs to respect the decision of people in other countries about what they feel is best for them.These and many other examples will lead you to create an original essay that is based on current issues and events. You must be very clear with your topic and writing style before you begin writing your essay. You should know what the questions and answers will be before you start writing your essay. Once you have a topic statement, you can write your essay on the topics that you feel are appropriate.There are many different ways to create a n original essay on these topics. Some students choose to use dictionaries or encyclopedias to research information for their essays. Others choose to use maps, graphs, or charts to illustrate the current issues.Other students choose to take short sections of a longer essay and use those sections to answer the questions and to add new information to the original essay. It is up to you and your own personal style to decide how to answer the questions and to provide the information that you feel will be needed by the audience.Writing your essay on current issues is fun and exciting. But, it can also be frustrating and discouraging if you do not know what the questions and answers are going to be. Whether you want to take your class by storm or just to be a good writer, make sure that you are prepared before you start writing.

10 Mystery Writing Tips to Keep Your Readers in Suspense

10 Mystery Writing Tips to Keep Your Readers in Suspense From Agatha Christie to Parker Bilal, the best mystery writers know how to keep readers in suspense until the very end of the novel. If you are looking to write a bestselling mystery novel, here are 10 mystery writing tips to help you do the same:1. Start off with a bangWhether it is a corpse or a missing person, starting your mystery novel with a major crime is the best way to keep your readers in suspense. The first few chapters of your mystery should briefly introduce the protagonist while focusing on the crime that has taken place.The two most important scenes of a mystery novel are the scene of the crime and the one in which the perpetrator is revealed. Beginning your novel with the scene of the crime is a great way to engage your reader immediately and reveal the level of depravity or horror that the protagonist must confront throughout the rest of the book.2. Be creative with dyingIf your mystery begins with a corpse, make it a creative death. Dont just have your killer stab a victim- let the stabbing pattern be a word or a symbol. If your victim is poisoned, consider a poison that is hard to find or impossible to detect. If the victim was buried alive, have an odd array of objects buried with them that offers trails of suspicion that the protagonist must then follow.When the corpse is killed creatively, several things happen. First, not only do readers want to know who did it and why- they also want to know why it was done in that way. Creative deaths also provide clues to the killer and establishes greater character depth for your antagonist, particularly his or her intellectual level and motivation behind the killing.3. Do your research on crime proceduralsHowever you choose to begin your mystery- whether with a corpse or a kidnapping- be sure that you do your research on crime procedurals. The details you include when you describe these important opening moments of your mystery will set the tone for how believable your story is and how engrossing it is for your audience.Law enforcement handles crimes differently, depending on location and details of the crime. If you are writing an opening scene in which a small-town cop discovers a body, be sure that youve researched who will get involved at the crime scene besides the cop. Will there be other detectives who show up? Who takes the body in for an autopsy and where is this autopsy done? Do other government law enforcement agencies (like the FBI) get involved? The more realism you use to stage the finding of the corpse (or the moments after a kidnapping has taken place), the more likely you are to keep your audience turning pages.Photo by David von Diemar on Unsplash4. Give your main character a life outside of the crime/mysteryYou want your reader to feel empathy toward the main character as he or she is put in harms way to find out who the killer or kidnapper is. The more empathy your reader feels toward your protagonist, the more invested theyll be in what happens to that char acter as the plot progresses.This is the reason you need to show the life your main character has outside of the mystery. Whether its their family life with their kids, or a romantic interaction with a love interest- showing the protagonists life makes him or her seem real. It gives the character depth and allows you to use those relationships that happen outside of the mystery to add to the tension. For example, if the killer hunts down women and your protagonist is a man, his concern for his female significant other could play into the story and give him increased motivation to find the antagonist. Or if the protagonist has a family and children, the antagonist could threaten them, which serves to ramp up the tension and motivate the protagonist to solve the mystery quickly.5. Your setting should be more than just a settingIf youve ever read a novel about a haunted house, then you understand the importance of setting in a mystery. In fact, choosing a setting for your story is one of the most important choices you will make in planning your novel, as it can either add to the tension or distract from it.For example, a dark, tightly enclosed space can increase the fear your protagonist feels when hunting for the killer. Alleyways where someone can hide behind doors or trash bins, dark forests where no one can hear your characters scream, or naturally spooky locations like funeral homes or mortuaries are settings that help to ramp up the tension and feeling of foreboding that makes mysteries such exciting reads. Particularly if your mystery is a haunted house story, hidden rooms, cobweb-filled attic spaces, and basements where family secrets have been buried are great settings for maintaining tension in your story.6. Build tension with cliffhanger chapter endingsThink back to a book youve read that was nearly impossible to put down. This ability to thoroughly captivate readers is the mark of a great mystery writer and a goal you should aspire to as you write you r novel. While there are multiple methods to create this kind of story, ending each chapter with a cliffhanger is a great way to keep your plot moving forward and the tension heightened.There are multiple ways to create cliffhanger chapter endings. It could be someone opening a door and the reader needs to start the next chapter to find out who it is. It could be one of the main characters seeing something that makes them immediately afraid but the reader needs to start the next chapter to find out what it is that they saw. Or maybe its a scream in the distance that the main character hears but the reader needs to start the next chapter to find out who it is thats screaming.7. Know the end before you start writingAs with other genres, and especially for mystery, you should have your plot worked out before beginning the first chapter. This means that you should know who committed the crime, how they did it, why they did it, and how they eventually get caught. If you know these detail s before you begin writing, youll be able to scatter clues throughout the story to lead up to the big reveal.8. Make all suspects liarsAs with any great mystery novel, yours should have multiple suspects who could be guilty of the crime. Determining which of the suspects is guilty is part of the reason readers will want to keep turning pages, and there should be moments within your story that make each suspect seem like he or she is the guilty one.The easiest way to do this is to ensure that all of your suspects are liars (to some extent). Have them lie about their whereabouts- where they were last night, who they were with, and why they were there- to make them seem unreliable. Obviously, the guilty suspect will be a liar to cover up his or her crime, so having all your suspects lie helps keep the tension taut as your detective tries to sift through the untruths to find the truth.Photo by Aaron Mello on Unsplash9. Throw your detective (and reader) off track with incorrect suspicion Part of the thrill of reading a mystery is the guesswork involved with determining who did it, and why. Playing with this thrill is a great way to keep your readers invested in the story. Allow your protagonist to believe he or she has solved the crime, only to later find out it isnt solved at all. In most cases, this is best done with the most likely of suspects- the one readers believe is the culprit before the real killer is discovered. Playing with the emotions of your readers in this way maintains an element of unpredictability and tension mystery readers love to experience.10. Scatter clues (as well as red herrings) throughout the bookLeaving clues throughout the story keeps your reader guessing, and following them is part of the fun of reading a mystery, but its important to not reveal too much, too soon. In fact, the best mysteries are the ones that surprise the reader and end with a killer who seemed least likely to commit the crime.Your protagonist should follow clues to f ind the killer and some of these clues should be red herrings. In order to maintain the shock value of an unlikely suspect, some of your clues should point to other potential suspects and lead the protagonist away from the trail of the one who is guilty. This distraction increases the tension in the plot and allows you to end with an ah-ha moment that completely catches the protagonist (and reader) by surprise.

Abstract Is a Deceptive Form of Explanation for Pictures Painted

How His Emotional World Influences His Paintings? Abstract is a deceptive form of explanation for the pictures painted by Zao Wou-ki, it would be perfect to say that the images painted by Zao Wou-ki hovers between abstract and nature. Zao,s maximum painting is based on the representation of the Chinese landscape. The career of Zao Wou-ki is definite by way through which Zao reinterpreted Eastern rudiments from 16 th hundred century of Yuan Dynasty and Sung landscape paintings[1]. Zao intermingled the natural essences these works in combination with the Western oil paints. The prints and paintings of an artist have apparently avoided schema of forms from a landscape, expressing in a way of abstract emotion of the reflections, colors, land harmony, energy, sky, sea and earth. In an International auction Zao received the highest price for his work in the month of April 2013, due its beautiful and splendid use of blue oil painting of the imaginary landscape. He was one of the most traditional Chinese painter in the 20 th century and 21 st century. The painting sold for nearly around USD 4 million at Hong Kong in the month of April, 2013. Though the blue colour was one of the favourite colours used by Zao Wou-Ki, his blue paintings are very famous, and the paintings are also very rare. The famous painter used this blue colour to signify llakes and river in his paintings. Zao Wou-Ki passed away after three days of his best sale. In current period of time, the demand of Zao's lithographs and art in the secondary and primary market is to increasing among collectors irrespective or East or West. Zao Wou-Ki paintings is about the worldly and emotional experiences in which Zao himself is concerned. The world Zao summons up is not entirely detached or different from him. For this cause, Zao's paintings most of the time be read in dual directions, either as an environment of evocation macrocosmic of experience or as expressions of a sincerely personal topography. The last measurement is an abstract aspect about which modern painters in West incline to be different, perhaps dreading the charge of a romanticism of carrier grade[2]. The obligation to the abstract paintings monitored his stay in U.S, where Zou encountered expressionism of abstracts first-hand at the peak of his career. Grasped by it to promise himself physically more to the landscape. Zou worked on a painting in an apparent gestural performance and was careful in constructing fact comparison with the first wife's pictures. Until around 1972 he explored the several possibilities of his tactic, in painting which were latter done a larger scale. On the one side, Zou pushed his previous mood to the final effect of drama, nearly as if looking to encourage himself which it could grip his attention forever. But alongside he has taken the ink painting once more[3]. He had educated to grasp the Chinese brush in his childhood with tremendous achievement and with a certain recurrent influence on his training of oil painting. [1] Russell, Heather. 2013. "Nature And The Art Of Zao Wou-Ki". Art World. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/nature-and-the-art-of-zao-wou-ki-49681. [2] Hay, Jonathan. 2003. "Zao Wao-Ki". https://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart/people/faculty/hay_PDFs/contemporary/Zao-Wou-ki.pdf. [3] Hay, Jonathan. 2003. "Zao Wao-Ki". https://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart/people/faculty/hay_PDFs/contemporary/Zao-Wou-ki.pdf.

Allocating Fixed Costs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Allocating Fixed Costs - Essay Example Activity Based Management is basically the use of such ABC system towards improving strategic decisions and efficiency. It further uses the ABC information to choose between products and analyze the activities that need to be employed in order to get those products manufactured. The focus is mainly towards identifying using those activities which add value. DHL is one of the earliest implementer of the ABC and the ABM system. DHL is a German logistics company known for its expertise in providing international express mail services. It is considered to be a World market leader in providing such mail services both via sea and air. The company is also popular for its mailing services with respect to heavy weight goods delivery. DHL, in 1990s, applied the ABC and the ABM model to identify non-value activities because as it was experiencing falling margins. DHL discovered that the main cause of the de-escalating margins were mainly because of the product, destination and the customer mixes. Following the implementation of the ABC and the ABM technique, which helped the company understand the margins, DHL designed a new pricing strategy which was globally accredited and adopted by various companies (Hilton, 2007). Just-in-time (JIT) is a technique initially employed by the Japanese in order to gain efficiency within the production by minimizing the storage costs of the inventory needed for the production of the goods. The main benefit of implementing the JIT system is that it helps in reducing the costs of production for a company and hence a company gains huge margins by saving from the inventory costs that are not incurred. The basic feature of TQM is to prevent errors before they actually appear and avoid any wastage. Besides this, the focus is towards the continual improvement of the organization rather than just implementing the

Middle East History Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Middle East History Questions - Essay Example American had a ‘second war for independence’ with British government. The government rigorously sustained its efforts in integrating the federal states and has sustained its economic expansionism in many of its politically controlled nations in eastern part, in Asia and in Hawaii (Norton & Katzman, 2011). The Great awakening assuaged the removal of slavery and paved toward the recognition of women as partners for economic development. Reconstruction era further bolstered the removal of discrimination and paved the way to naturalization of citizens. The 19th century featured United States as an imperial nation which subjugated Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam in a Treaty of Paris. Industrialization and progressive movements as the west accumulated wealth through import and export policies. The nation upholds the primacy of education to develop skilled and intellectual labor forces. Capitalism became its dominant economic philosophy while government focused on mining, agr iculture, telecommunication development and global marketing. It further gained power as its financial institution gained more control over nations who availed financial supports and loans at the height of economic depression (Norton & Katzman, 2011; Kinzer, 2011). The west gained the image as the first nation, global power and economic authority thru globalization. It wielded military power in World War I and considered communism as a Red Scare, a threat to American idealism, during the World War II. In this war, with allied nations, America supported partners with resources, food, petroleum and technology (Norton & Katzman, 2011; Kinzer, 2011). In 1920s, America suffered Great Depression which resulted to deflation and increase of unemployment rate. They were however able to restore the system by regulating and reforming the banking system, stock market and its economy. The nation vigorously sustained its geographic presence in many nations either by the deployment of its military forces in strategic regions, or by economic relations thru trade and offshore marketing, by gaining over nautical highways, and import-export relations using treaties and agreements (Tuveson, 1980). The mid part of the 19th century was considered as the cold war period where US and Russia gained the reputation of storing weapons of mass destructions. The era also showed partnership of US and Britain in their interest in West Germany, thus the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949. Many decades, thereafter, US waged its anti-terrorism campaign against al-Qaeda network through allied nations. War in Iraq and Afghanistan ensued until the arrest and death of Osama Bin Laden, head of terrorist organization, in Pakistan recently. While America is admittedly dependent on oil from Middle East countries, but eastern nations, most of which are member states of OPEC, have difficulty in adapting the intellectual, technological, economic, and