THE EVOLUTION OF CARIBBEAN SOCIAL POLICY Essay -- essays research pape

THE EVOLUTION OF CARIBBEAN SOCIAL POLICY: Reasons for the Changes and Shifts in the Social Policy Agenda From the 1940’s to the Present Period. Social Policy may be broadly defined as a system of social welfare that includes economic as well as non-economic objectives and involves some measure of progressive redistribution in command over resources1. Using Mishra’s typology of social welfare models (see Fig. 1 below), this paper describes the evolution of social policy in the English-speaking Caribbean. Drawing primarily from the experiences of Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, four chronological periods are used to highlight the factors contributing to the major developments in social policy: 1) the Immediate Post-War Period and the Moyne Commission (1940 to 1950); 2) Transition to Self-Government (1950 to 1961); 3) Ideology and the Immediate Post-Independence Period (1962 to 1973); 4) the Oil Crisis, World Recession and Structural Adjustment (1970 to 1980’s); 5) (Conclusion) The Present Period (1990 to present)2. A review of the literature revealed that a combination of social, economic, political/ideological and international factors contributed to policy development at each stage of this evolutionary process. This paper argues that as a result of these factors, Caribbean social policy gradually moved from a strong residual approach prior to the Moyne report, and tended to a more institutional approach during the transition period to full internal self-government, then to a more structural approach in the immediate post-independence period, and back to a residual approach when structural adjustment policies were instituted in the 1980’s. Of course, in reality the policies formulated in the various periods do not conform perfectly to Mishra’s types. However, this does not detract from the applicability of the model to the present analysis, as it is an inherent feature of all ideal types (as is implied by the descriptor â€Å"ideal†). Also, while the general factors contributing to the evolution of Caribbean social policy has been highlighted, the specific ways in whi ch these factors manifested in each country are extensively discussed. Fig. 1 Mishra’s Welfare Models1 Main Features Type of Welfare Residual Institutional Structural State responsibility in meeting needs (ideology of state intervention) Minimal Optimal... ... Henry, Ralph and Moesire, Alicia. â€Å"Poverty Alleviation and Reduction Programmes: the Commonwealth Caribbean Experience† in Poverty, Empowerment and Social Development in the Caibbean. Ed, Norman Girvan. Mona: Canoe Press UWI, 1997, 101 – 136. Mac Pherson, Stewart. Social Policy in the Third World: The Social Dilemmas of Underdevelopment. UK: Wheatsheaf Books Ltd. 1982. Neil, Joan. Targeting and Poverty: New Trends in Social Policy – Social Projects for Alleviation in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. UNECLAC, 1992. Robothom, Don. Social and Economic Policy: Starting Gates and End-States, UWI, 1995. Sinha, D.P. â€Å"Health Care of The Population† in Children of the Caribbean. CFNI/PAHO, 198 8. 123-144. Stone, Carl. â€Å"Power Policy and Politics in Independent Jamaica† in Jamaican in Independence: Essays on the Early Years. Ed, Rex Nettleford. Kingston: Heinemann Caribbean, 1989, 19-53. Thomas, Clive, Y. â€Å"The interrelationship between economic and social development† in Poverty, Empowerment and Social Development in the Caribbean. Ed, Norman Girvan. Mona: Canoe Press UWI, 1997, 20-49. Titmuss, R. Social Policy: An Introduction.

Enders Game Essay

Human beings are free except when humanity needs them. Maybe humanity needs you. To do something. Maybe humanity needs me—to find out what you’re good for. We might both do despicable things, Ender, but if humankind survives, then we were good tools.† Graff is explaining to Ender the philosophy behind everything they are doing. Although Ender does not know it at the time, this is the same reasoning that the adults will use to manipulate the children time and time again. Ender objects to this idea, because he believes that people are more than just tools, but nevertheless it is the pervading ideology of the I.F. throughout the book. This philosophy justifies doing terrible things in the name of humanity, and it also means that individuals will have to make awful sacrifices for their species. â€Å"In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it’s impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves.† Ender is telling Valentine why he hates himself. He is able to understand his enemies better than anyone else, but once he understands them he destroys them. With such tremendous empathy, even in coming to understand his worst enemies Ender loves them. This means that when he crushes them he is hurting himself in the process. Ender does not want to have enemies, so that he will not be forced to hurt anybody. He will love even those who seem to be his most bitter enemies when he properly understands them. But in the situations Ender has been in he has no choice other than destroying those enemies. At the end of the book, when Ender comes to truly understand the buggers, he is able to try to help them. He has already done them great harm, but now he can be happy because he has a chance to undo what he did to them. â€Å"So the whole war is because we can’t talk to each other.† â€Å"If the other fellow can’t tell you his story, you can never be sure he isn’t trying to kill you.† â€Å"What if we just left them alone?† â€Å"Ender, we didn’t go to them first, they came to us. If they were going to leave us alone, they could have done it a hundred years ago, before the First Invasion.† â€Å"Maybe they didn’t know we were intelligent life. Maybe—† This conversation occurs when Graff tells Ender his theory of why they are at war with the buggers. Graff tells Ender that since the buggers communicate through thought, they probably cannot understand that humans are thinking beings. Ender therefore wants to know why this cannot be remedied.

Test Bank Ch1

Test Bank—Chapter One (Data Representation) Multiple Choice Questions 1. Which of the following Boolean operations produces the output 1 for the fewest number of input patterns? A. ANDB. ORC. XOR ANSWER: A 2. Which of the following best describes the NOR operation? A. An XOR followed by a NOTB. An OR followed by a NOT C. A NOT followed by a NOTC. An AND followed by a NOT ANSWER: B 3. Which of the following bit patterns cannot be expressed in hexadecimal notation? A. 11111111B. 1001C. 110011D. 100000000001 ANSWER: C 4. Which of the following is the binary representation of 4 5/8? A. 100. 11B. 10. 11C. 110. 101D. 100. 101 ANSWER: D 5. Which of the following bit patterns represents the value 5 in two’s complement notation? A. 00011010B. 11111011C. 00000101D. 11111011 ANSWER: C 6. Which of the following bit patterns represents the value -5 in two’s complement notation? A. 00011010 B. 11111011C. 00000101 D. 11111011 ANSWER: D 7. In which of the following addition prob lems (using two’s complement notation) does an overflow error occur? A. 0011 B. 0100 C. 1100 + 1010 + 0100 + 1100 ANSWER: B 8. Which of the following representations in two’s complement notation represents the largest value?A. 00000010B. 11111111C. 00000001D. 11111110 ANSWER: A 9. Which of the following bit patterns (represented in hexadecimal notation) represents a negative number in two’s complement notation? A. 7FB. 55C. A6D. 08 ANSWER: C 10. What value is represented by the bit pattern 01011100 when interpreted using floating-point format in which the most significant bit is the sign bit, the next three bits represent the exponent field in excess notation, and the last four bits represent the mantissa? A. -1 1/2 B. 1 1/2C. -3/8 D. 3/8 ANSWER: B 11.Which of the following values cannot be stored accurately using a floating-point format in which the most significant bit is the sign bit, the next three bits represent the exponent field in excess notation, and th e last four bits represent the mantissa? A. 2 1/2B. 3/16C. 7D. 6 1/4 ANSWER: D 121. Which of the following bit-patterns represents the smallest value using the floating-point format in which the most significant bit is the sign bit, the next three bits represent the exponent field in excess notation, and the last four bits represent the mantissa? A. 01001000B. 1011000C. 00101000D. 01111000 ANSWER: C 13. Which of the following data storage systems provides the most efficient random access to individual data items? A. Main memoryB. Magnetic diskC. Optical CDs and DVDs ANSWER: A 14. Which of the following storage systems is best suited for storing and retrieving long strings of data that are processed in their sequential order? A. Main memoryB. Magnetic diskC. Optical CDs and DVDs ANSWER: C 15. Which of the following mass storage system does not require physical motion? A. Magnetic tapeB. Magnetic diskC. DVDsD. Flash drives ANSWER: D 16.Assuming that each of the following bit patterns originally had even parity, which one contains an error? A. 10110100B. 11000011C. 00011000 D. 10001001 ANSWER: D 17. How many errors per pattern could be corrected when using an error-correcting code in which any two code patterns differ by a Hamming distance of 8? A. 3B. 4C. 5D. 6 ANSWER: A 18. Which of the following is a possible LZW compression of the message â€Å"xyz xyz xyz†? A. 1234B. 1234545C. 232D. 12 ANSWER: B 19. How many different symbols can be encoded using Unicode? A. 256B. 4,096C. 65,536D. 1,046,476 ANSWER: C 20.Which of the following systems is least efficient when encoding numeric values? A. Two’s complement notationB. Excess notation C. ASCIID. Floating-point notation ANSWER: C 21. Which of the following is a means of encoding music? A. ASCIIB. MIDIC. JPEGD. GIF ANSWER: B Fill-in-the-blank/Short-answer Questions 1. A computer’s main memory consists of numerous memory cells, each of which contains ________ bits. Each memory cell is identified b y a numeric value called the cell’s _________. ANSWER: eight, address 2. Represent the bit pattern 1011010010011111 in hexadecimal notation. ________ ANSWER: B49F 3. A7DF is the hexadecimal representation for what bit pattern? ____________ ANSWER: 1010 0111 1101 1111 4. How many different bit patterns can be formed if each must consist of exactly 6 bits? ____________ ANSWER: 64 5. Translate each of the following binary representations into its equivalent base ten representation. A. 1100__________ B. 10. 011__________ C. 0. 01 __________ D. 10001__________ ANSWER: A. 12 B. 2 3/8 C. 1/4 D. 17 6. Rewrite each of the following values (represented in base ten notation) in binary notation. A. 7__________B. 23__________ C. 2 1/4 __________ D. 5/8__________ ANSWER: A. 111 B. 10111 C. 10. 01 D. 0. 101 7. If the patterns 101. 11 and 1. 011 represent values in binary notation, what is the binary representation of their sum? ____________ ANSWER: 111. 001 8. Using a two’s complemen t notation system in which each value is represented by a pattern of six bits, represent the value 3. ____________ ANSWER: 000011 9. Using a two’s complement notation system in which each value is represented by a pattern of six bits, represent the value -3. ____________ ANSWER: 111101 10.What is the largest positive integer that can be represented in a two’s complement system in which each value is represented by eight bits? ____________ ANSWER: 127 (represented by 01111111) 11. In a two’s complement system, what value is represented by the pattern 11111111111111001? ____________ ANSWER: -7 12. When using two’s complement notation, what bit pattern represents the negation of 01101010? ____________ ANSWER: 10010110 13. What value is represented by each of the following patterns in excess notation? A. 10000 ____ B. 0110 ____ C. 1011 ____ ANSWER: A. 0, B. -2, C. 14. Using an 8-bit floating-point format in which the most significant bit is the sign bit, the next three bits represent the exponent field in excess notation, and the last four bits represent the mantissa, write the bit pattern that represents the value 1 3/4. (Use normalized form. ) ____________ ANSWER: 01011110 15. What is the largest value that can be represented in a floating-point system in which each value is encoded by a byte whose most significant bit is the sign bit, the next three bits represent the exponent field in excess notation, and the last four bits represent the mantissa? ___________ ANSWER: 7 1/2 (represented as 01111111) 16. Which of the following addition problems cannot be solved accurately when using a floating-point system in which each value is encoded by a byte whose most significant bit is the sign bit, the next three bits represent the exponent field in excess notation, and the last four bits represent the mantissa? A. 2 1/2 + 1 3/8B. 3 1/2 + 4 1/2C. 7 + 3/4 ____________ ANSWER: A, B, and C 17. The following is an error-correcting code in which an y two patterns differ by a Hamming distance of at least three. Symbol Representation A 000000B 001111 C 010011 D 011100 E 100110 F 101001 G 110101 H 111010 Decode each of the following patterns 010011 ________101010 ________011000 ________101101 _______ ANSWER: C, H, D, F 18. How many errors in a single code pattern could be corrected when using an error-correcting code in which each code pattern is a Hamming distance of at least seven from any other code pattern? ____________ ANSWER: 3 19. The following is a message that was originally encoded so that each pattern had odd parity. Circle the patterns in which an error has definitely occurred. 0110101 11110000 10010010 00000000 11111111 00001000 00111101 ______________________________________ ANSWER: Second, fourth, fifth, and sixth 20. Data compression techniques apply various principles to reduce the size of data. One, called _______________________, avoids repeating long strings of the same data item. Another, called _____________ __________, encodes the difference between consecutive blocks of data rather than encoding each block in its entirety. Still another, called _________________________, uses short bit patterns to encode frequently occurring items and longer patterns to encode less frequent items.ANSWER: Run-length encoding, relative encoding, and frequency-dependent encoding. Vocabulary (Matching) Questions The following is a list of terms from the chapter along with descriptive phrases that can be used to produce questions (depending on the topics covered in your course) in which the students are ask to match phrases and terms. An example would be a question of the form, â€Å"In the blank next to each phrase, write the term from the following list that is best described by the phrase. † TermDescriptive Phrase bitBinary digit Boolean operationAND, OR, XOR, NOT addressA numeric value used to identify a memory cell exadecimal notationAn efficient way of representing bit patterns sectorA segment of a track in a mass storage system zoned-bit recordingA means of increasing the storage capacity of a magnetic disk system bufferA storage area used to hold data on a temporary basis, often as a step in transferring the data from one device to another ISOAn international organization for establishing standards ANSIA major standardization organization within the United States ASCIIA system developed by the American Standards Institute for encoding text. lip-flopA digital circuit capable of holding a single digit two’s complement notationA means of encoding whole numbers floating-point notationA means of encoding numeric values that may involve fractions truncationAn error that may occur when using floating-point notation pixelA small part of an image GIFA means of compressing an image file by restricting the number of colors availableJPEGA means of compressing images by blurring the boundaries between different colors while maintaining all brightness information UnicodeA mea ns of encoding text in which each symbol is represented by 16 bits LZWAn example of adaptive dictionary encoding MIDIA means of encoding music in terms of notes and instruments rather than actual audio Key fieldA part of a logical record in a file used to identify the record. VLSIA means of constructing complex circuitry in a very small space.General Format Questions 1. Describe how a computer can produce an incorrect answer when performing numerical computations even though it has not malfunctioned. ANSWER: Most students will probably refer to overflow and truncation errors. 2. Describe ho the concept of Hamming distance is used to produce an error-correcting code. ANSWER: By designing a code in which each pattern has a Hamming distance of n from any other pattern, patterns with fewer than n/2 errors can be corrected by replacing them with the code pattern that is closest. . a. What is the output of the circuit below? [pic] b. In general, how does the three-bit input pattern across the top of the diagram relate to the circuit’s output? ANSWER: a. 0 b. The output is 0 if the input parity is odd; the output is 1 if the input parity is even. 4. If the input and output bit patterns in the circuit below are interpreted as binary representations of numeric values, what operation does the circuit perform? [pic] ANSWER: The circuit subtracts one (except for the case of the input being 000). . Explain why such terms as kilobyte, megabyte, and gigabyte have acquired double meanings. ANSWER: The prefixes kilo, mega, and giga are used traditionally to refer to units measured in powers of ten. However, due to the early misuse of the prefix kilo in reference to units of the size 1024, these prefixes are now often used to refer to units that are powers of two—especially when referring to the capacity of main memories. 6. Convert the following addition problem into two’s complement notation using four bits per value), perform the addition, convert the an swer back into base ten notation, and explain the results. 6 + 3 ANSWER: In two’s complement notation the problem is to add 0110 and 0011. The sum is 1001 which translates to -7. This answer is incorrect due to overflow. 7. Under what condition is each of the following data compression techniques most effective? a. Run-length encoding b. Relative encoding ANSWER: a. Compresses most when data consists of long strings of the same entry. b.Compresses most when each block of data differs little from the previous block. 8. What is frequency-dependent encoding? ANSWER: Frequency-dependent encoding is an encoding system that uses short bit patterns to represent data items that occur most often and longer patterns to represent less frequently occurring items. The result is that entire blocks of data can be represented in less space than would be required if each data item were represented by the same size bit pattern. 9. Construct the entire two’s complement scale in which eac h value is represented by three bits.ANSWER: 3 011 2 010 1 001 0 000 -1 111 -2 110 -3 101 -4 100 10. To what does the term â€Å"normalized form† refer in the context of floating-point notation? ANSWER: Normalized form refers to a standard for positioning the bit pattern within the mantissa field. Many values can be represented in floating-point notation by different bit patterns, only one of which is in normalized form. Hence, restricting representations to normalized form assures that each value is represented by a unique pattern. 11.Explain why the final version of the dictionary need not be transmitted with a message encoded using LZW compression. ANSWER: The dictionary can be constructed during decompression in the same way it was constructed during compression. 12. Among the Boolean operations AND, OR, EXCLUSIVE OR, and NOT, which is least like the others? Explain your answer. ANSWER: There is not really a right or wrong answer. The student’s explanation is the m ost important part. Most students will probably answer NOT because it has only one input whereas the others have two. 3. If a term paper consisted 42 pages, each containing 40 lines of 100 symbols each (counting each space as a symbol), was to be encoded using Unicode, how many bytes of storage space would be required? ANSWER: 336,000 bytes (168,000 symbols times 2 bytes per symbol) 14. Explain why adding only a few characters to a text file may increase the file’s size by several hundred bytes and at other times may not increase the file’s size at all. ANSWER: File space is allocated in terms of physical records, each of which is several hundred bytes in size.Thus, the size of a file grows by physical record units rather than by byte size units. 15. In a two’s complement system, what value can be added to any other value without causing an overflow? How many values in the system have this property? Explain your answer. ANSWER: Adding the value 0 to any other va lue will not produce an overflow. However, if m is the largest positive integer that can be represented in the system, then any value in the range 1 to m will produce an overflow when added to m, and any value in the range -1 to -( m + 1) will produce an overflow when added to -( m + 1).

99 Supermarket

1. 0Introduction Convenience store (or known as mini-markets) according to Cambridge Business English Dictionary is a store that sell foods and sometime other goods but the size is typically below supermarket. 99 Speedmart is convenience store that based in Malaysia and they have over 300 outlets around Klang Valley. Three distribution centers have been set up to smooth their logistics and the latest distribution is located at Balakong Jaya. However, 99 Speedmart is not a solo-player in retailing market.Connivance stores chains like 7-11 Malaysia, KK Mart and Hypermarket chains like Tesco, Aeon, Giant and Aeon BIG (formerly known as Carrefour). Carrefour has reported in March 2011 that its profit has been dropped by 14. 3 percent to 371 million euros ($463 million). Carrefour recently had quitted in some Asia country such as Thailand in the year of 2010, Singapore and Malaysia in the year of 2012. Action taken by Carrefour recently can be a sign that they does not do well in their op eration in the market mention above. Out of the three, Carrefour Malaysia seems to be the worst.This is a good example that 99 Speedmart has to take extreme careful steps before expanding their business nationwide. 1. 1Objectives * Expanding the Service around Peninsular Malaysia before the year of 2020 * Redesign the Organizational Structure to smooth the administration work * Ensure the Supply Chain is able to cope with the expansion while maintaining â€Å"Near ‘n Save† slogan 2. 099 Speedmart Current Operations Different with 7-11 Malaysia, 99 Speedmart has started to taken back all franchise license issue by phase as the franchisee do not getting the profit as they expected in the year of 2004.Recently, they have started to issue limited franchise licences for selected entrepreneurs. 2. 0. 1Relationship with Suppliers In order to comply with the slogan â€Å"Near n Save†, a lot of effort has been made by Mr Lee Thiam Wah. The first step he has taken is to on ly carry limited product and only high turnover product will be sold in the store and they do not focus much on sales margin. Furthermore, Mr Lee has made the process of ordering and payment easy for suppliers and it will be done within 30 minutes.The payment will be cleared every time if the next order has been place to supplier to get better discount. 2. 0. 2Distribution Centre 99 Speedmart has been setting up 3 distribution centre (figure 1) for smoothing their logistics process in short time frame from the year of 2002 to 2011. There are located at Jalan Meru, Jalan Kebun and Balakong Jaya. The first two is at Klang area while another one is at Seri Kembangan Area which is much more nearer to Kuala Lumpur City Center thus North South Highway. Figure 1 2. 0. 3Stock ReplenishThe distribution centres will be taking batch order from manufacturers or distributors. The ordered stocks will be shipped to distribution centre for further allocation to all outlet based on the report genera ted. Based on the info getting from my local 99 Speedmart store located Kepong Area, they will replenish the stock 3 times a week for both Kepong Store and 4 times for Sri Sinar Store as their sales is higher. Normally Both Kepong store will be sharing one lorry to have their stock delivered on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning directly from distribution center.As for damage product and expired, the rules and regulation is being set to a store can only return a limited box to headquarters. Besides weekly replenish, some of their stock is replenish by third party or directly from supplier. These items are mostly refrigerated goods such as Ramly’s frozen product, Atlas ice cubes, Gardenia Bread and many more. They will take responsible to taking care of their product such as collecting expired and damage goods. The 99 Speedmart currently deploying computer assisted ordering system.A computer assisted ordering system will normally using together with the point of sales syst em, whenever an item is sold, it will be updating the central server in headquarters for compiling into a sheet if the stock down to certain level for re-order. The same process applies to their distribution centres too. 3. 0Expansion of Service 99 Speedmart is a retail service that provides product from groceries to personal care products such as hand soap. It is very important to ensure the end consumer gets what they need when they enters the shop.Currently, 99 Speedmart have around 3000 items (or Stock Keeping Unit) sold and it is not easy to manage it properly. 3. 1Logistics & Geographical Location 99 Speedmart recently have started back their franchise program to limited entrepreneurs and stated expanding beyond Klang Valley. The decision is not made in a hurry but slowly with plans. This can be seen from the newest distribution centre being set at Balakong Jaya which is near the North South highway. It takes about approximately 1 hour to reach Seremban, which is non Klang Val ley shop located.Currently there are 11 stores at that particular area as of 29 November 2012. It is recommended to take the expansion plan in phases instead of covering the service in whole Peninsular Malaysia at a time. The recommended expansion schedule can be as stated on table 1. The priority has been consider the geographical location and the also density of population as well. With proper planning of distribution centres, this will gradually reduce the lead time to supply enough stocks to the end outlet. Phase| Location| 1| Negeri Sembilan & Melaka| 2| Perak & Johor| 3 | Pulau Pinang| | Kedah & Perlis| 5| Pahang| 6| Kelantan| 7| Terengganu| Table [ 1 ] Negeri Sembilan and Melaka is suggested as their destination of expansion for reason that both the state have a close distance to Klang Valley’s distribution centres where even for Melaka , it will not take more than 2 hour to reach from Balakong Jaya distribution centre due to the infrastructure, the expressway is good for both the states (Figure 2). Figure [ 2 ] (Google, no date) Beside the distance of distribution centres, the density of the state’s population also is an added advantage.According to data obtain from Department of Statistical Malaysia (figure 3), both the state have a high density of population compare to Pahang state thus the area fairly smaller compare to Perak. This will let them to set up only a few distribution centre but high in efficiency in terms of centralize item delivery. When the market is mature enough and enough distribution centres is being set near the near target market, they can start proceed to the next phase. Figure [ 3 ] 3. 2Customer Service A business organization main objective is to get profit and a good customer service will ensure customer stay loyal.Based on both Laura and Johson’s (2003) research, the supply chain trend has been moving from supply focus to demand focus but currently 99 Speedmart still does not apply this yet. They will ju st distribute the stock without really over looking into what is the real demand of the particular’s shops demand. As a result, the store room is pack of stocks that does not really sells but some of the items are quickly sold off within few days without any more new stock coming in because of the lead time between the orders being placed.The main reason lies to their computer assisted ordering system’s nature where minimum stock level system being use. Orders will only be place when it reaches certain limit without actually overlook how long it takes to make their stock reach that level. A same item might be taking just few days to reach minimum stock level in one outlet but a few weeks for another outlet as each of the area will have a different buying behaviour that affected by factors such as religion and cultures. 3. 2. 1Computer System SupportInstead of just using only the lowest stock level method, they should also take initiatives to do research on the data sti pulated from time to time. They will have meeting every week on reviewing their sales done. Thus they should also implement a system where cashiers will key in the customer’s estimated age and gender before proceeding to payment flow and headquarters will study the data being sent. A SKU will be eliminate after a continuous weeks of low turnover (Lee, 2001). This is how and why 7-11 Japan is expanding fast and understands the customer demand well.The benefits they can obtain thru this are minimize their space to store stock and also provide the right product to the community. Furthermore the data being collected also useful to do future prediction especially festive seasons on providing enough stocks to full fill demand. This will also gradually minimize the effect of lead time and bullwhip that impacts their operation. 3. 3Warehousing Warehousing is always an important part of supply chain management and a poor warehousing efficiency will cause delay on delivery, damage good s and many unexpected issues. 9 Speedmart is using a paper based checklist when trying to assign all the stocks to destination outlet. This actually is a big issues as 99 Speedmart is currently is expanding fast in Klang Valley and also some experimental outlet outside of Klang Valley. In order to speeding up the process, voice directed picking system is suggested to be apply. A voice directed picking system where computer will give instruction thru headset and workers can make voice command to retrieve the next information.The main benefit is that the workers will have both hands to do their work and maximize the efficiency of distributing the stocks. According to the speaker from Lein Hing Group, currently 7-11 Malaysia has been adopted this technology thus increase the efficiency up to 30% for their speed of assigning goods to designated outlet thus lower down the lead time. 3. 4Supply Chain Figure [ 4 ] : Current Supply Chain Model As stated as section 2. 0, 99 Speedmart outlets are getting stock supplies from distribution centres and some is directly from manufacturer (figure 4).When the operation is expanding, the need to reconsider on how to optimize the supply chain structure as each state it might be having different supplier for same product brand. Figure [ 5 ] : Suggested Supply Chain Model Since some of the item is low in turnover, they have buy in a large batch order to get better discounts from manufacturer or suppliers. So I suggest that they should set a central distribution centres or such items where the item will be delivered in a milk run method from area distribution centre to another area distribution centre.They can either outsource the delivery to third party logistics companies such as Tiong Nam or set up a special team for this if the scale is big as the concern is how to use minimum cost to send the end goods to the outlet. When the service is expanding nationwide, they have to coordinate with suppliers in order to get the nearest so urce on getting their good supplies. Big consumer brand normally will have an area distributor for each area so 99 Speedmart can make full use on nearer source to obtain least cost of transporting goods. Furthermore, they can take 7-11 Japan operation model for reference on building a new logistics systems.This is a very success model where 7-11’s competitors such as Lawson, Family Mart are also emulated their way of operation. Both suppliers and 99 Speedmart can set up a joint service whether items that can be delivering together will be cross docked in same warehouse. The driver is expected to do a milk run to area assigned to them to do daily replenish stocks. 3. 5Organizational Structures When an organization is growing bigger, a good management team must be there to coordinate the business well. Without a good management, they will be facing issues such as delay in order, late payment and others.As referring to figure 6, we can notice that 99 Speedmart is having a flat s tructure to speeding up the decision process. Generally is the current structure is already good enough but some position must be added to meet their objectives of expanding their business as showed on figure 7. Malaysia is a multi cultures society and each part of the area will have different demand for the product they need. In order to understand what they need for each part of the area, the branch operation can further divide their department based as stated on figure 7.Section| State| North Malaysia| Perlis, Kedah, Pulau Pinang & Perak| Central Malaysia| Selangor, Kuala Lumpur & Negeri Sembilan| South Malaysia| Melaka & Johor| East Coast| Kelantan, Terengganu & Pahang| Table [ 2 ] Figure [ 6 ] : Current Organization Chart Figure [ 7 ] : Changes for Cope with Service Expansion 4. 0Conclusion The area of caution has been stated in section 3 start from geographical location to organizational chart and some suggestion has been given to how to overcome the possible issues they might face throughout the expanding rocess. I am quite sure 99 Speedmart will be very successful and to cover up the Peninsular Malaysia before the year of 2020 if they are able to implement the all the suggestion above. Thus the bad economy that happens recently also will impact how they use their money. People to tends to compare the item price between retailers to save their money and in this case 99 Speedmart is very competitive as they are offering their product low in price thus near to residential area. I am expecting they will set up 25~50 new stores in the year of 2013.

None Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

None - Essay Example The capital structure of a company will give a companys debt-to-equity ratio. The ratio gives the insights of how the company levels of risk are. A company that is more profoundly financed by debts has greater risks because the company is comparatively highly levered. When taking debts companies should be cautious to make sure that their financial management is sound (Bierman, 2003). The capital structure of a corporation is the backbone of the operations of a particular company. Competent staffs need to be hired to ensure that viable financial decisions are made at all times. Companies should make substantial equity investments to sustain its financial operations at all times. Capital structure is mostly divided into equity capital and debt capital (Bierman, 2003). Equity capital refers to the money that is owned by the shareholders. Equity capital will comprise of contributed capital that is the money invested by the shareholders in exchange for stock of shares ownership. Shareholders will put this cash in a particular company to get a stake and be earning dividends at certain future dates. Equity capital also comprises of retained earnings that is made up of profits that was realized in the past years and have been kept by the firm to strengthen the fund growth or balance sheet, expand the business or use for acquisitions. Most people believe that equity capital is the most expensive type of financing a company because it depends whole on the returns that a company must make to attract investors. Investors will always invest their wealth with the companies that thrive well in the industry. A company that doesnt perform well in the market is not able to finance its operations from the equity capital (Bierman, 2003). The debt capital of a company refers to borrowed money that is at work in the business operations. The most preferred debt capital is the long-term bonds because it

Death Penalty Outline Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Death Penalty Outline - Coursework Example by Sangiorgio will help in understanding how death penalty violates human rights standards, and how numerous states have started shifting away from this sentence. Death penalty is cruel and unfair based on race and ethnicity. Schweizer (2013) argues that capital punishment is unfair especially to the black people who live in the United States. Courts also pronounce this sentence based on the resources and benefits that they get from the plaintiff or the defendant. The article by schweizer (2013) will help in analyzing the cruelty and unfairness of capital punishment. Capital punishment wastes time, energy, and finances. Courts have to spend a lot of time and money while implementing death penalty. These resources would have been used in preventing crimes that are punished through death penalty. McLaughlin (2014) will help the research in understanding how death penalty wastes resources. Capital punishment prevents defendants from enjoying the due process of the law. Since new laws are created every day, defendants should be allowed to benefit from the upcoming laws instead of taking away their lives. An article by Sarver (2013) will help in understanding how death penalty prevents victims from enjoying the due process of

In the Mood for Love Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

In the Mood for Love - Essay Example Chow suggests Su to try to imagine and act in roles what occurs between their spouses and their lovers, and soon the border between a game and reality starts blurring. Su suggests Chow to help him with the book about martial arts. At the same time, as Chow and Su become closer trying to convince each other that they do not have to end like their spouses. Their relationships remain platonic. Nevertheless, the end of the movie is sad, Chow passes his days in trips across the Southeast Asia, but shortly before the end of the movie he comes back to Hong Kong, to the place where he met Su only to realize that everything had passed already and would never repeat. After that he goes to Cambodia to stay there and to leave his secret love to Su there. This movie made a serious impression on me because it raises a number of important and complicated topics. The plot is built around the adultery of the main heroes` spouses but the director deliberately avoids judging others and tagging adultery as a sin. He tries to explore how love and affection appear between man and a woman and what sexual relationships bring to both of them. Having understood that their spouses cheat on him, Su and Chaw try avoiding their destiny and decide to stay â€Å"clean†. They want their love to be honest, however it seems that they are just afraid of taking actions. In this purity Chaw and Su see their difference: their spouses are cheaters and lovers, while they have love. Though the topic of adultery is rather unpleasant the director makes all possible to show it as a background paying attention to the main scene full of delicate talks and symbols. The title of the film is very accurate: the movie shows how love evolves in people without turning into real love. The main hero at some point falls in love with the heroine, and she falls in love with him, but they do not stay together. Perhaps, it will seem absurd but Kar-wai shows that this absurd is mundane in our