...what benchmarking is; when it should be used; and the benefits from using it; how to approach a benchmarking initiative; and how to optimise a benchmarking project. What is benchmarking? The term benchmark comes from surveying where it was used to denote a notch or mark representing a given altitude and against which other heights could be calibrated or ‘benchmarked’, since when it has come to mean any standard against which something is compared; and some of the leading exponents in business include Xerox and GE. In business terms there are numerous definitions of benchmarking, but essentially it involves learning, sharing information and adopting best practices to bring about step changes in performance. So, at its simplest, benchmarking means: ‘Improving by learning from others – i.e. ‐ benchmarking is simply about making comparisons with other organisations and then learning the lessons that those comparisons throw up’ Another definition is: ‘Benchmarking is the continuous process of measuring products, services and practices...
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...Staffing Plan Paper The following report is an overview of Dell Company as it expands its computer business into the Indian market. This paper identifies the challenges facing Dell as it expands into India, including the cultural and regulatory factors involved. In addition this paper will identify the staffing strategies employed by Dell including the recruitment and selection process of its business managers. This paper will discuss the changes to Dell's organizational structure as it expands into the Indian market. A competitive analysis is also made, which shows the strategic alternatives and choices for the future Industry Identifications In both manufacturing and consumption, Asia/Pacific represents the most dynamic region of the worldwide PC industry. The people at Dell believe that their continued successful will require teamwork and continuous learning on the part of each team member in order to develop and grow. Dell focuses on building a pipeline of talented, diversified individuals in order to meet current and future staffing needs in order to develop Dell's leaders of tomorrow. They focus on attracting top candidates with the skill sets they require by working on the basis of early recruitment and full utilization of their pipeline program. This strategy has supported their mission statement fully until now. But if Dell plans to take a large amount of the market share in India, it will have to change its mission and strategy according to the needs of...
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...Automated Process of Accounting Information Systems Submitted on behalf of Team C ACC/542 March 17, 2015 Professor Tomas Hernandez The acquisition of accounting information systems is by far one of the most significant choices that a business must consider. Before a company chooses to purchase industry-specific software or develop custom software it must first evaluate the rationale, needs of the system, and the value that the software will add to the accounting operations. After careful consideration, our firm concluded that the best course of action is for Kudler Fine Foods to purchase industry-specific software. The core focus of the company is not software development nor should it be, management needs to use resources for growing the company. As a food company, management will lack knowledge to hire the correct type of development resources. The company will need contract developers as well as some hours of an architect to design the system; this can become costly. Developing cost is expensive and if the company is halfway through development of the software and the funds run out, the company will have to put resources in to finish the program since half a program is useless, development cost typically run three times more than planned. Technical recourses have a hard time understanding business requirements outside their domain, so it can be hard for developers to understand exactly what accounting wants and needs since they are more technical and does not understand...
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...Belt Exam / ASQ Six Sigma enterprise wide deployment Business process management Project management Six Sigma - Define Six Sigma – Measure Six Sigma – Analyze Six Sigma – Improve Six Sigma - Control Lean enterprise Design for Six Sigma Total 6% 6% 10% 6% 20% 15.3% 14.7% 10% 6% 6% 100% 9 9 15 9 30 23 22 15 9 9 150 (a 4 hour test) 2 Six Sigma Enterprise-wide deployment What is Six Sigma? Six sigma is a highly disciplined process that focuses on developing and delivering near perfect products and services consistently Six sigma is also a management strategy to use statistical tools and project work to achieve breakthrough Profitability and quantum gains in quality 3 What is Six Sigma? 4 Fundamental Beliefs • Everything is a process 5 Quality is ….. Do the right thing, Design the right product, the right process and do things right Consistent product, consistent process First time ….. Every time 6 What is Sigma? s Sigma - the lower case Greek letter that denotes a statistical unit of measurement used to define the standard deviation of a population. It measures the variability or spread of the data. 7 Lower Specification Limit (LSL) Upper Specification Limit (USL) x 8 Specification, variation and process capability Lower Specification Limit LSL Large variation, incapable Upper Specification Limit USL Low variation, capable process process Outside spec. limits All points in spec. 9 ...
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...delivers them, and scans them with the DIAD to confirm their delivery and if they were signed for. 3. What role does wireless communication play in the UPS systems? =Wireless communication plays a major role in this companies communication. The DIAD tablet has WIFI communcation and it reports back shipping and delivery data instantly to the data centers. It also allows for quick communication between driver and the package distribution centers. 4. How has information technology transformed the package delivery business? =It has allowed for the customer to be able to track and follow their package every step of its journey to their house. It has also aided in the effectiveness of the deliveries, make sure they are on time and sent to the proper destination. It also allows the companies to data base packages with ease. It has also made work on the drivers much simpiler with innovations such as the DIAD 5. 5. How does UPS’s investment in IT help it achieve the strategic business objectives described in the video? =Their investment in IT has allowed them to save money beacuse it has improved customer satisfaction, as well as increased...
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...Operations Site Manager CC: James Castro Regional Operations Manager Date: [ 7/9/2012 ] Re: Operational gap with in organization and Business development Purpose This memo is being forwarded to you in regards to addressing a potential operational gap and limitation of growth with in our organization that needs to be addressed. There is a need to add an outside sales representative to develop and improve existing account possibilities. Summary In an attempt to analyze current market trends and possible business growth with in the solid waste industry, I have found that our current business model has been out grown by our current business needs. Currently, the Assistant Operations Manager develops and establishes new accounts, services existing customer’s accounts, provides the safety training and regulation implementation, and manages the work force outside of the office. The in-house sales representative position has not been able to meet all of our customers needs completely with all of the office duties associated with the position, in addition to developing new cliental. This indicates that there are a number of possible business opportunities with in our region that are not being addressed and possibly lost by our organization. When the business was acquired 15 years ago, by our conglomerate the current business model satisfied the business’ needs. Since then or organization has grown to three times the size. By developing and providing new products and services to a wider...
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...Pick Sigma Green Belts, Brown Belts or Black Belts who are categorized on the basis of the training they have received in Six Sigma techniques. Trained experts would form teams, which are constituted to tackle a particular problem or process and thereafter disband to form another team for tackling another process at a different time, may be with different people, all trained in Six Sigma. Selection for training should ensure picking up highly motivated employees that will result in creating a high performance team. Another important point is to give them a project right after training without allowing any time gaps. Generally, IT people do not go ahead with untried methodologies until they have tried out tools with which they are familiar. Experts sound a note of caution against this and say that throwing technology at a business problem results in a bad process with new technology. If the process is free from defects, then technology can be used to take it to greater heights. Focus On Defect Removal And Improvement While Six Sigma tenets are supposed to be religiously followed, they should not be treated as the be-all, end-all. The aim should be to reduce defects and to continuously streamline and improve the process conducting regular evaluations. Six Sigma is a structured approach to problem-solving within a disciplined, fact-based methodology. The Six Sigma approach focuses on understanding the problem, collecting and analyzing data about the problem, identifying...
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...The Information Society, 16:5–21, 2000 Copyright ° c 2000 Taylor & Francis 0197-2243/00 $12.00 + .00 Re ning and Extending the Business Model With Information Technology: Dell Computer Corporation Kenneth L. Kraemer, Jason Dedrick, and Sandra Yamashiro Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations (CRITO), Graduate School of Management, and Department of Information and Computer Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, USA Keywords The exceptional performance of Dell Computer in recent years illustratesan innovative response to a fundamental competitive factor in the personal computer industry—the value of time. This article shows how Dell’s strategies of direct sales and build-to-order production have proven successful in minimizing inventory and bringing new products to market quickly, enabling it to increase market share and achieve high returns on investment. The Dell case illustrates how one business model may have inherent advantages under particular market conditions, but it also shows the importance of execution in exploiting those advantages. In particular, Dell’s use of information technology (IT) has been vital to executing both elements of its business model—direct sales and build-to-order—and provides valuable insights into how IT can be applied to achieve speed and exibility in an industry in which time is critical. Many of the insights gained from this case can be applied more generally to other time-dependent industries...
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...without interruption whenever someone requests them, and perform them more and more effectively. In short, lean thinking is lean because it provides a way to do more and more with less and less – less human effort, less human equipment, less time, and less space – while coming closer and closer to providing customers with exactly what they want.”- Womack and Jones (1996). “Becoming ‘lean’ is a process of eliminating waste with the goal of creating value.” – Womack & Jones There are FIVE overriding principles to Lean. Identify Customers and Specify Value - The starting point is to recognise that only a small fraction of the total time and effort in any organisation actually adds value for the end customer. By clearly defining Value for a specific product or service from the end customer’s perspective, all the non value activities - or waste - can be targeted for removal. Identify and Map the Value Stream – The Value Stream is the entire set of activities across all parts of the organisation involved in jointly delivering the product or service. This represents the end-to-end process that delivers the value to the customer. Once you understand what your customer wants the next step is to identify how you are delivering (or not) that to them. Create Flow by Eliminating Waste – Typically when you first map the Value Stream you will find that only 5% of activities add value, this can rise to 45% in a service environment. Eliminating this waste ensures that your product or service...
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...Cognizant Consulting India Pvt Ltd (March 2013-till date) Manager: Business Development, Strategic Market Group (Enterprise Application Services) Responsibilities: • Positioning and branding : Defining and building the value proposition for the business and its offerings helping create winning propositions and messaging for EAS (Enterprises Application Services) • Acquire and develop knowledge of vertical/horizontal industry practices, trends, benchmarking data, and create competitive analyses. • Formulate strategy and plan for implementing and leveraging online communities, discussion forums, and other collaborative technologies. • Engenders enthusiasm for the work to be done, honors commitments and contributes proactively to ensure optimal positioning of SAP, while encouraging idea generation and creativity for each pursuit • Identifies and actions hot issues/topics/trends within the service line that require specific focus to rapidly capture the related knowledge assets • Analyst Relations: Proactive management of key influencer relations across major analyst firms, ensuring positive movement on analyst surveys and relationships • Customer relationship management: Managing key customer connects, ensuring support to Account based marketing activities, Building a sustain CRM campaign, with customer testimonials and case studies • Marketing strategy: Involvement in the business planning and market segmentation which involves...
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...to improve the performance of the business. Other than that, the implementation of this new information technology system nearly makes Craven Books face bankruptcy and lost many customers. In this paper, 3 issues that lead Craven Books faced failure in the implementation of the new information technology system will be chosen to discuss in detailed. Each issue will be discuss in detailed together with any related case studies that can take as reference and recommendations to eliminate and cope each issue. Company’s Background Craven Books is a distributor of comics and magazines and books. The company was founded and evolves in the market place in the late 1960 as it founder, Peter Craven started to distribute sci-fi and horror books through direct mail. In 1970’s, the business began to be known in the market place by buying comics in bulk from both the American publishers and the second hand comic market and sell this on their customers in the United Kingdom by using a mail order catalogue. This had helped the company to grow in the market place and be known by many other customers. Because of this the company had been able to encounter growth both in profit and in the number of their regular customers. In this regard, the company decided to use a new information system as part of their business strategy. In 1990’s, this plan has been initiated as Craven Books invest in new integrated information systems that will include all business operations of the company, from...
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...OPERATIONS Role of operations management Strategic role of operations Operations management is an essential key business function that overlaps with the other business functions such as marketing, finance and human resources management. Strategic means ‘affecting all key business areas’; that is, the strategic role of operations management involves operations managers contributing to the strategic plan of the business. Some of the different costs in the operations function include; input costs, labour costs, processing costs, inventory costs and quality management costs. Cost leadership involves aiming to have the lowest costs or to be the most price-competitive in the market. A key aspect to cost leadership is that although trading with the lowest cost, the overall business should still be profitable. One aspect of cost leadership arises from a business creating economies of scale. Economies of scale refers to cost advantages that can be created as a result of an increase in scale of business operations. Typically the cost savings come from being able to purchase lower cost per unit and from efficiencies created through improved use of technology and machinery. Goods/services differentiation is a key strategy applied by operations managers. Product differentiation means distinguishing products in some way from its competitors. Ways a product could be differentiated include: varying the actual product features, varying product quality, varying any improved features, varying...
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...engage in multiple sourcing from two other interested parties, Merakuri and Pnutype Press. This poses as an issue since there is a close personal relationship between the founders of Jabaking and Platinum Box. After conducting a weighted evaluation and total cost analysis of all three suppliers, Pnutype press appears to have the best product in terms of total price, quality, maintenance, and product capability. Choosing to use multiple sourcing would give Platinum an advantage in finding the best product in the market to meet the needs of their expanding business. Issues Identification • The decision of whether or not to single source to Jabaking with the expansion of printing equipment. • If equipment is not replaced in the near future, then Platinum cannot expect to expand production or effectively push into new markets. • A long term relationship with Jabaking could be jeopardized if Platinum does not continue to do business with...
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...Riordan’s current training process consists of trainer(s) having to travel from one office to another office’s location. Upon arriving the trainer now needs to have a rental car and a hotel for the duration of the training. Depending on the amount of time that the trainer stays on site will also determine the amount of total expenses the trainer racks up relating to fuel for the car and food for the trainer. All of these expenses are completely paid for by Riordan and are devastating to the company’s budget. Training flows from trainer to employee directly. Only the group or offices with the trainer(s) visiting at that time receive the required information and that prevents all of Riordan’s employees from being on the same page at the same time. This can lead to inconsistencies with the day to day business processes the employees follow and could lead to costly mistakes made by a misinformed employee following old practices. The amount of time and money required for this process is simply too costly and with the IT systems available training like this just is not effective. All of this is illustrated by figure 1. Figure [ 1 ] The new process would require the removal of the trainer traveling to all the different locations all together. Instead any all training would be done through Skill soft as their primary training method and if needed Intercall would be used as an alternative method. Skill soft would provide the majority of the training and if any extra or more in...
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...RevLocal – Web Development and the New Client Onboarding Process MIS535 Course Project Archie Smith III Table of Contents Abstract Brief Company background Discussion of business problem(s) High level solution Benefits of solving the problem Business/technical approach Business process changes Technology/business practices used to augment the solution Conclusions and overall recommendations High-level implementation plan Summary of project Abstract The web development agreement submission process should be efficient and take into account all parties involved in the process of completing an order. If the order cannot be received in a swift manner and across the proper channels then it can, and most likely will, delay the entire scope of the project. Increasing scope will ultimately result in decreased profits, lack of confidence from internal and external members and an increase in disorganization within the respective department. This paper addresses the current technologies and the deficiencies that can be improved upon by implementing a stricter and more efficient IT solution for order submission and processing. Brief Company Background RevLocal is a full service digital marketing agency that serves thousands of clients in the United States and Canada. The company helps small-to-medium sized business establish a strong internet presence within their respective markets through a multitude of strategies and...
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