...4. Herman Miller Inc., (HMI) was founded in 1905 as star furniture company and is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of office furniture. It has a net income in excess of $74 million on sales of $1.495 million and domestically the company has held sales growth consistently higher than the industry norms. The downturn for the company occurred from late 1980s to1992 during downsizing era in which the management of the company changed three times but now it has a stable management once again. , employing approximately 7500 employee owners worldwide out of which3500 are in West Michigan. The company is ranked as one of the best places to work in America. MI is a values driven company with a history of family ownership and a reputation for innovation in its relationship with employees as well as in its products. Its culture focuses on: the obligation of management to be a recipient of ideas from all employees, the importance of design and its principles in the development of products, employee participation and employee ownership. . To promote this culture, HMI has adopted measures such as ‘open book management’ approach and Silver parachute Plan. In recent years, the HR became somewhat disconnected from the needs and strategic direction of the business but soon transformed itself to work in harmony with the corporate strategy, thus adding value to the organization and its business goals.HR function of the firm was previously not aligned with business strategy but is now doing...
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...Research paper 1 SCADA Attack worldwide In era of modern technology evolves and it change continuously over the time as well as it creates risk or threat. The emergence of Internet and worldwide technologies as these systems were tightly integrated with business systems and became more exposed to cyber threats. Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) protocols are communications protocols designed for the exchange of control messages on industrial networks. A control system is a device or set of devices to manage, command, direct, or regulate the behavior of other devices or systems. By complexity, the reliable operation of modern infrastructures depends on computerized systems and SCADA systems. These control systems and devices communicated with each other almost exclusively, and rarely shared information with systems outside their environment. As more components of control systems become interconnected with the outside world using IP-based standards, the probability and impact of a cyber attack is at highest risk. Complexity of SCADA architectures, there is a variety of both wired and wireless media and protocols involved in getting data back to the central monitoring site. This enables implementation of powerful IP-base SCADA networks over mixed cellular, satellite, and landline systems. SCADA communications can employ a diverse range of both wired (lease...
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...Herman Miller, Inc. Traditional Case Study June 18th 2012 David Maillie Andrew Hatfield-O’Hern Andrew Withers Isil Ecevit Nawaf Nizamudeen Current Status History Herman Miller began in Zeeland Michigan as a manufacturer of high quality furniture and bedroom suites entitled the Star Furniture Co. In 1909 the company’s name was switched to the Michigan Star Furniture Company. At the same time, Dirk Jan De Pree was hired as a clerk. Just 10 years later, Mr. De Pree became president of the company. Mr. De Pree saw great potential with the company and soon after talked his father-in-law, Herman Miller, to purchase the company by buying up the majority (51%) of the company stock in 1923. The company name was then changed and named after Herman Miller and remains that way today. Early on, Herman Miller became a company that treated workers very differently. Most manufacturing companies, De Pree stressed that all workers are important individuals with special talents and potential (Adams, S. B., Manz, C. C., Manz, K., Shipper, F. (2010). He saw that workers were more than just hourly labor and knew that if he could encourage them to expand their horizons and broaden their knowledge and interests that the company would also benefit from this. In the early 1930s, the Herman Miller company was known for producing high-quality, traditional furniture. However, this was the time of the Great Depression. A very trying time with unemployment rates as high as 25%...
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...Question 1: Herman Miller’s Strategies: evidence on its competitive advantage and good financial performance 1. Corporate Strategy: Diversified Strategy From the headquarters of Herman Miller Inc., Curt Pullen talks amid the unmistakable pounding sounds and commotion associated with a construction work site about his company's plan to rebound from the recession. Pullen, the firm's executive vice president and president of North America, says the workers are installing new lower-height Herman Miller workstations designed to accommodate a growing trend in offices toward more open, collaborative environments. The new product, called Canvas, is part of the company's market-shift strategy after the demand for office furniture fell hard during the economic downturn. The plan also involves diversifying into the health care and academic furniture markets and more emphasis on emerging economies. The plan appears to be paying off. For the first time in nearly four years the company reported two consecutive quarters of double-digit percentage sales growth after releasing its second-quarter earnings statement on Dec 15th. Orders in the second quarter rose 34% to $462 million. CEO Brian Walker noted the company's expanded market reach as a contributing factor to growth. Significant increases occurred in international markets where sales rose 33%. In 2010 the company acquired UK-based ergonomic workstation manufacturer Colebrook Bosson Saunders and purchased assets...
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...6. Herman miller’s Internal Environment- SWOT (B-6) Strengths * Employee loyalty and empowerment * Strong brand recognition * Strong Human Resources Management * Geographic Coverage * R&D, innovation * High quality Product * Lean Manufacturing and JIT * Environment friendly | Weaknesses * Badly impacted by the weak economic * Cutting benefit and lay off employees * Raising Debt to Equity Ratio * The company has a financial problem due to the global recession * High price products | Opportunities * The need for ergonomically correct office furniture had increased * The increasing demand for environmental friendly products * Innovation for new products to attract new customer group | Threats * Telecommuting had decrease the need of office equipment * Cost of raw materials and competition from over seas * Low price competitors may take over the market shares | Value Chain and Competitive Advantage Primary ActivitiesSupply Chain Management – Agreement with suppliers to deliver parts to Herman Miller production facilities in a just-in-time process. Also, the company outsources component parts to suppliers in order to reduce the fix production cost. (C-326) Operations – Maintain efficiencies and minimizing the inventory cost by purchased direct materials and parts as need to meet demand. Distribution – Herman Miller has manufacturing operations located in different countries, and it produces the products and delivers to the local...
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...Herman Miller, Inc. is a company that specializes in the production and manufacture of modern office furniture. The company began its reputation through product innovation and production processes which started in the 1920’s. In the path of their success, Herman Miller, Inc. has been able to pursue a path distinctively marked by reinvention and by renewal. I would say that in the beginning the company pursued a focused low-cost strategy. The initial items the company specialized in, is what the company perfected and grew to produce efficiently. However that was soon to change. This path was able to serve the company well for many a decade. With the passing of time the company instituted a Scanlon Plan which is a productivity incentive program that helps companies to find ways at being more productive in their product offering. This model helped the company a lot. With the usage of this the company then moved to having a differentiation strategy. They started to produce more products that were based on scientific observation and ergonomic principles…some of the same observations and principles that the company still utilizes today. In the reading of the case it was difficult for me to pinpoint exact issues in Herman Miller, Inc’s. functional departments (i.e., HRM, Accounting, Finance, Operations, etc). However in the area of human resource management this was actually a strength of the company. Being routinely listed on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work for, applicants desires...
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...Herman Miller Inc. 1. Herman Miller Inc. has constantly focused on a reinvention and renewal growth strategy. They have done multiple things over the past century that have kept them in business, surviving The great Depression, multiple recessions in the 20th century, and the dot-com bust in the 21st century. They have made many changes during the life of the company to try and continually improve and stay ahead of its competitors, hiring design experts from numerous places that were able to design award winning furniture. They have also made many business decisions that have enabled them to remain one of the best companies in the world year after year. They hired Toyota Supplier Support Center to improve its production and operations effectiveness along with a system of lean manufacturing techniques called the Herman Miller Performance System (HMPS). This system maintained savings by minimizing inventory on hand through a just-in-time process. Herman Miller believes its success in achieving operational excellence depends on motivation and thinking of its people to solve problems and drive improvement. There is evidence that HMI’s strategy has produced a competitive advantage and financial performance. HMI has expanded overseas and had a very large market for many years. 2. HMI’s values are reflected in the company’s policies through the organizational values, which consist of: curiosity and exploration, engagement, performance, inclusiveness, design, foundations...
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...TO: BUS 470 Consultants FROM: Brian Walker RE: Comparison of financial performance with rivals DATE: April 4, 2012 Herman Miller is reviewing the adequacy of our current strategy and we are requesting your services for a specific part of the analysis. Please conduct an analysis of our financial performance to determine how well our strategy is working. Include in your analysis comparisons with our principal rival(s), an analysis of the strategic factors leading to the financial performance, and, if relevant, an analysis of the strategic implementation. Please provide make specific, actionable recommendations based on your analysis of the facts. Provide a physical copy of your memo on or before April 18, 2012. As part of your analysis, please complete the following tables and append them to your two page memo in response to this request. Please use percentages for each of the criteria. Fiscal year ending | | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | Net sales | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | Cost of sales | | | | | | Gross margin | | | | | | Operating expenses | | | | | | Selling, General and Administrative | | | | | | Restructuring | | | | | | Design and research | | | | | | Total operating expenses | | | | | | Other expenses (income) | | | | | | Interest expense | | | | | | Interest and other investments | | | | | | Other, net | | | | | | Earnings before interest and taxes | |...
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...Herman Miller Case Study 1. Describe Herman Miller’s strategy. Is there evidence it has produced a competitive advantage and good financial performance? Explain, supporting your answer with case based evidence including financial evidence. Herman Miller’s main focus is on growth strategy, through innovative products and production processes. Herman Miller offers inventive designs, technologies, and related services that improve the experience of working people, and people with medical problems offering products designed to heal, learn, and live. The design excellence brought the company award-winning products and services, resulting in more than 500 million in net sales in the fiscal year 2013. Analyzing the case study it looks like Herman Miller’s competitive advantage includes the company’s focus on growth, by introducing innovative products and their ability to offer problem-solving design for different workplaces, and different needs (Birchard B., 2010). The company is recognized for building in 1994 one of the most successful and best-recognized office chairs in the industry called Aeron. The company offers good financials and sells its products for a fairly cheap price in the comparison quality vs. price. (Raheja. N., 2013). The company efforts to reduce fixed manufacturing cost by outsourcing through strategic suppliers helps controlling the company’s overall cost structure and accomplish a competitive advantage. Herman Miller Inc. used for its international expansion...
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...CASE 22 HERMAN MILLER INC.: THE REINVENTION AND RENEWAL OF AN ICONIC MANUFACTURER OF OFFICE FURNITURE For MGMT 599 August 15, 2013 Herman Miller, Inc. is primarily concentrated in the business and institutional market. Herman Miller is one of the leading players in the US office furniture industry with a 12% market share. Over the last several years, the entire industry has experienced significant declines in sales due to poor macroeconomic conditions. However, Herman Miller has managed to outperform most of its competitors in terms of profitability, illustrated through strong operating margins and return on sales. Herman Miller has a strong reputation for high quality, innovative products, strong customer service, high customization, and reliability. This strong brand equity enables the company to leverage its brand strength across different market segments, leading to extended customer reach I have analyzed the company and the industry, and have chosen the best strategy to expand customer reach, and increase sales revenue. My analysis chosen will consist of a three-year implementation plan that will bolster sales revenue and expand the company’s customer base. Herman Miller Inc. internal environment brings to light the following strengths and weaknesses, threats, and opportunities. Strengths The $1.3 billion manufacturer of office furniture is known for its distinctive innovation skills and management methods. The following list of strengths elaborates on...
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...Cradle-to-Cradle Design at Herman Miller: Moving Toward Environmental Sustainability MGT 551 Operations Analysis October 21, 2013 Cradle-to-Cradle Design at Herman Miller: Moving Toward Environmental Sustainability Many organizations today claim they are environmentally friendly, their businesses are sustainable, or they work at minimizing their carbon footprint. While stating the claims may be easy, they take commitment of time and resources, a culture or homogeneity of vision, and a great deal of planning to implement. The complicated part is that the change cannot occur in just one facet of the organization, the change must carry across the organization and the entire supply chain. Drew Schramm finds himself in a difficult position at the Herman Miller organization. His supply chain background is in conflict with the organization’s environmental sustainability position. While he may see easy money to be picked from the savings tree, it has now become forbidden fruit. The Herman Miller organization is committed to their stance of environmental sustainability and Schramm must now take that into serious consideration when making supply chain decisions. Their new chair design, the Mirra Chair, has yet to have a decision made on the construction and materials of its arm pads. They can either use the common polyvinyl chloride (PVC) that violates their cradle to cradle (C2C) protocol standards, thermoplastic urethane (TPU) which meets the C2C standards but is more expensive...
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...Input Devices Input devices – is devices that we put INTO the computer from the real world to receive data or information. ID can be as human interaction as keyboard and mouse or simply environmental data as sensors. This is the list of possible examples of input devices such as : Camera , Compact Disk, Keyboard , Mouse , Digital Camera, Microphone , Drawing Tablet , Scanner, Disk Drive , Joystick , Touch Screen, Barcode reader , Business Card reader , Magnetic-stripe reader, etc. First of all, an input device is any hardware device that sends data to the computer, without any input devices. In other words the input unit is formed by the input devices attached to the computer. An input unit takes the input and converts it into binary form so that it can be understood by the computer. Camera is used during live conversations. The camera transmits a picture from one computer to another, or can be used to record a short video. Compact Disk (CD) - The CD can be put into another computer, and the information can be opened and added or used on the second computer. There is one possible thing like a CD-R or CD-RW can be used as an output device. Keyboard is a way to input letters or numbers into different programs or web-bourses. A keyboard also has special keys that help operate the computer. For ex. key “Microsoft” that helps us to open “start” section whenever we need. Mouse is used to open and close files, navigate web sites, and click on a lot of commands (to tell the...
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...Mr. Clark, Comp. 1 Formal Essay #1 (Final Draft) 02.09.11 Paycheck-to-Paycheck A popular phrase when out with friends is “I’m so broke.” However, it’s just a figure of speech, right? Most of us are fortunate enough to be well off with finances and have the luxury to have a little shopping spree here and there occasionally. But for the Millers that’s not the case at all. They have to live paycheck-to-paycheck and barely make ends meet. The town of Wanaque, New Jersey is very small, three miles long to be exact. But in this small town there are all types of social and economic classes from very poor to very wealthy. A family with a set of twins and another child just hitting elementary school would certainly be affected by this economy, yet the Millers still fight to keep their family functional. People take many things for granted like food, water, and shelter. Most of us can simply pay our utilities bills, sleep under a safe roof, and go grocery shopping when your refrigerator is empty. For the Millers it’s a different story. Anna Miller, mother of three, works part-time as a nanny for two homes and in retail. Eric Miller has been working at the same job for the past six years, and although he gets a holiday bonus every Christmas, he has never gotten a raise. Their three kids, twins Jason and Justin, and third child Jared are all attending the middle school in town. The family lives on the outskirts of our town in a neighborhood that’s not so great. They live in...
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...Explore the ways in which Arthur Miller presents the character of between his entrance and Parris’ line ‘What happened?’ in Act 1 Miller presents the character Proctor as a character that is isolated form the Salem Community by choice as he does no believe that there is witch craft nor does he like the way Revlon Parris leads the service. Act one is when Miller first shows the audience Proctor and Abigail alone together in the play at Parris house. The way in which Miller decides the actions towards each org and their speech shows they once had feeling for each other. Miller uses colloquial language within their convosation which indicates to the audience that the feelings may still be their between them. The use of the speech," Give me a word, john, a soft word..." Conveys to the audience Abigail lust and desire for Proctor , the response from Proctor is the falling of his smile, which indicates the past haunts him and therefore he must try to rid of it. The audience can see that Proctor knows what is right but is finding it hard to move of from the past affair he had with her. Proctor trying to rid such feelings for her shows to the audience that he knows the has made a huge mistakes and is trying to fix this; therefore making him appeal to the audience as many could relate. Also Miller makes the audience sense the determination from Proctor and the want to change his ways. This can be seen in " I would cut of my hand before I ever reach for you again." The noun "ever"...
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...ΠΙΝΑΚΑΣ ΠΕΡΙΕΧΟΜΕΝΩΝ 2 ΕΙΣΑΓΩΓΗ 3 3 ΠΡΩΤΑΓΩΝΙΣΤΕΣ – ΚΥΡΙΟΙ ΧΑΡΑΚΤΗΡΕΣ ΤΗΣ ΤΑΙΝΙΑΣ 5 4 ΠΕΡΙΓΡΑΦΗ ΚΑΙ ΑΝΑΛΥΣΗ ΔΥΝΑΜΙΚΩΝ ΤΩΝ ΑΤΟΜΩΝ 7 4.1 Herman Boone 7 4.2 Bill Yost 9 4.3 Gerry Bertier 10 4.4 Julius Campel 12 4.5 Petey Jones 13 4.6 Jery “Rev” Haris 13 4.7 Lovie Lastic 14 4.8 Ronnie «Sunshine» Bass 14 4.9 Sheryl Yoast 15 5 ΠεριγραΦή και ανάλυση των δυναμικών των ομάδων 16 5.1 Κοινωνία των λευκών - ομάδα ποδοσφαίρου των λευκών 16 5.2 Κοινωνία των έγχρωμων - ομάδα ποδοσφαίρου των έγχρωμων 19 5.3 Ομάδα των Τιτάνων 20 6 ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΙΣ ΓΙΑ ΒΕΛΤΙΩΣΗ ΤΗΣ ΑΠΟΤΕΛΕΣΜΑΤΙΚΟΤΗΤΑΣ ΤΩΝ ΑΤΟΜΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΟΜΑΔΩΝ 24 7 ΛΕΙΤΟΥΡΓΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΑΠΟΤΕΛΕΣΜΑΤΙΚΟΤΗΤΑ ΤΗΣ ΔΙΚΗΣ ΜΑΣ ΟΜΑΔΑΣ 26 ΕΙΣΑΓΩΓΗ Η “Σύγκρουση Τιτάνων” - “Remember the Titans” είναι μια αμερικάνικη αθλητική ταινία παραγωγής του Jerry Bruckheimer και σκηνοθεσίας του Boaz Yakim, η οποία κυκλοφόρησε το 2000. Η ταινία βασίζεται σε αληθινά γεγονότα, είχε μεγάλη επιτυχία, αποκόμισε άριστες κριτικές και παρουσιάζει τα δραματικά γεγονότα που εξελίσσονται στην Αλεξάνδρεια, Βιρτζίνια. Η ταινία πραγματεύεται τα προβλήματα της προκατάληψης, του ρατσισμού, των διακρίσεων και της δημιουργίας στερεοτύπων στον κοινωνικό ιστό, από τη λευκή προς την έγχρωμη κοινότητα. Κατά τη διάρκεια της ταινίας είναι εύκολα αντιληπτή η αγωνία των λευκών σε καιρούς δραματικών αλλαγών, όταν αναγκάζονται να αλλάξουν τη συμπεριφορά και τα πιστεύω τους για την έγχρωμη κοινότητα και να απαλλαγούν από προκαταλήψεις και στερεότυπα. Τον Απρίλη...
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