Operation Strategy

OPERATIONS STRATEGY Strategy: The Concept of Strategy The word strategy is derived from the Greek term â€Å"strategos† (plural strategoi; Greek: [ , ], literally meaning â€Å"army leader†) is used in Greek to mean â€Å"general†. However, the term is also used to describe a military governor which command, plan and conduct of a war.When strategy applied to business wars, the strategy refers to the establishment of objectives, the setting of direction, and the development and implementation of plans, with the goal (in place of military â€Å"victory†) of achieving ascendancy over one’s adversaries according to Andrews (1971), Ghemawat (2002) and Porter (1980). In order to have the desired competitive impact, a strategy has to operate over an extended time horizon and embrace a broad spectrum of activities, ranging from resource allocation processes to day-to-day operations.It must integrate decisions affecting these different sets of activities in to a coherent pattern, both over time and across groups that often compete for the same resources. An effective strategy also usually involves concentrating a company’s efforts and resources on a limited range of directions. Focusing resources on certain directions reduces available for others, nonetheless, so a coherent strategy usually required that a company make trade-offs among various â€Å"expected outcomes†.TYPE OF STRATEGY The word strategy is used in many contexts that is useful to identify and contrast three different types of management-related strategies. At the highest level, corporate strategy identifies the industries and markets in which a company will operate. Corporate strategists make decisions that implement these choices, including investment in and divestment of businesses together with allocation of resources among existing businesses.Business strategy, the second level of company strategy, is focused at the level of the individual business or b usiness unit within the company, and is concerned with where the business positions itself within a particular industry or market as well as with how and with what capabilities the business will win customers, cooperatively and in competition with other parties in its industries.In other word, the business strategy is also concerned with strategic business units (SBUs) as each SBU might have its own business strategy, which specifies (1) the scope of that business and its relation to the corporation as a whole, and (2) how it proposes to position itself within its particular industry to achieve competitive advantage in various ways according to Hayes et al (1988). To be effective, elaborated further from Porter (1980), this advantage must meet important customer needs, take into account competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, and be sustainable given the SBU’s capabilities.Empirical evidence from a study over 100 companies by Sterman (2000) found that those companies th at engaged in system level thinking about their business strategies significantly outperformed those that focused at the product level. To be more specific, Hax and Wilde 2001 differentiated three views a company might consider in developing a strategy. For IBM4710 Inter OM Chayakrit Asvathitanont, Ph. D. 1. Best Product- this view emerges from the classic competitive strategy.It focuses on competing by positioning the company’s products or services as low cost, having a unique set of features, or targeting a focused or niche segment in the market. 2. Total Customer Solution- the customer is at the center and the earliest to satisfy. It argues that very good understanding of customer and developing close relationships with those customers to support them in creating their own economic value.Company competing with this view will focus on supply chains to response to provide family of products or services that closely match customer requirement. 3. System Lock-In- this view com prehends the enterprise, the customers, the suppliers, and the most important those company whose product and services enhance the strategy-making company’s own product and service portfolio. The key to success in this view is to identify, attract and nurture those companies whose products and services are complementary, engaging them in a collective effort to please the customer.In this study, companies engaged in â€Å"system lock-in† far outperformed those employing â€Å"total customer solutions† or â€Å"best product† strategies on both Market Value Added (MVA) and Market-to-Book Value (MBV) as in Exhibit 1: Exhibit 1 Relative Performance of Three Positioning Strategies Strategy Best Product Total customer solutions System lock-in Number of companies in the study Relative Market Value Added Performance Relative Market-to-Book Value Performance 74 67 16 1. 0 1. 6 4. 0 1. 0 1. 2 2. 0 Source: Hax and Wilde, The Delta Project: Discovering New Sources of Profitability in a Network Economy, Pelgrave, 2001.Thus, to develop business strategy, the company must think about its positioning not only to its competitors but also its customers, suppliers and potential complementary product or service producers. Understanding the system-level view, the company will be able to provide better solutions from integration of value chain with attention to company produce the products or services that complement its products and services or any other solutions. However, the understanding customer is more critical to strategy development and execution.Hayes and Wheelwright (1984) and Fine and Hax (1985) had proposed five dimensions to use as the framework which are Cost, Quality, Availability, Features/ innovativeness and Environmental/ performance. Cost The cost has been defined as the cost of the product or service to the customer. Cost this includes not only purchase price of the product or service, but the cost of ownership as well. The aspects of cost to customer will be vary on the industry or category of the product such as the cost customer consumer product will be only on its selling price.While industrial product, like machine and equipment, will be more likely For IBM4710 Inter OM Chayakrit Asvathitanont, Ph. D. to extend its concern on installation, maintain and others cost related not only to the equipment alone. Quality The quality defined by Garvin (1988) and King (1987) is broken down into two aspects, the tangible and intangible. The tangible aspects of quality include the aesthetics of the product, or output of the service, how reliable it is over period of time, whether or not it is safe, and how convenience to fix and etc.While the intangible aspects include the competence, courtesy, and credibility of the people involved in the process, as well as the degree to which those people understand the customer’s needs and communicate well with the customers. They also include assessments of the environment s urrounding the purchase process or service, including considerations such as accessibility and security. In addition, to examine the quality, it may be important to differentiate assessments of the actual quality delivered from the quality perceived by the customer.Availability The availability dimension is increasingly important and demanding by customers. Availability requirements clearly vary by business. Grocery store customers expect products to be available on the shelf when they go shopping. An out-of-stock item is a lost of sale for a particular brand or product and also may be lost of sale for the store itself. Airlines buying airplanes, on the other end of the spectrum, do not expect to buy their products off the shelf, but they do expect delivery when promised.Plans are made months ahead, or in some cases years ahead, of projected delivery to put the new aircraft into service immediately upon delivery, possibly retiring and replacing another aircraft. Late deliveries can cause great disruption to an airline’s entire schedule. Availability applies to new product introductions as well. Some industries such as consumer electronics focus on fast time-to-market for new products. Others have longer product development and introduction cycles but must delivery new products when promised. Moreover, availability refers to the variety of the products a company offers.There is a wide range of ways in which companies offer customized products or services to their customers. Hence, availability describes the firm’s ability to deliver the variety of products or services its customers want when they want them. Features and Innovativeness The inherent characteristics of the product or service is Features such as the featured services from the first or business class fares on full service airlines like Japan Airline, Thai Airways or less featured services, such as passage on Southwest Airlines’, and Airasia’s â€Å"no frills† fligh t.Innovativeness is closely related to features due to the fact that advanced technologies are developed to be new featured of the product. For instance, global positioning systems (GPS), as innovative technology, is equipped with hi-end car and represent as additional feature. Environmental Performance It may apply to the product (or tangible output of a service) itself, or to the process by which that product was made or service delivered. Environmental management systems, for example, focus on processes and aim to reduce For IBM4710 Inter OM Chayakrit Asvathitanont, Ph. D. the environmental impact (e. . hazardous waste generation) of the processes used to make the products or deliver the services. ISO 14000 and the European Eco-Management & Audit Scheme (EMAS, www. quality. co. uk/emas. htm) are but two of several frameworks for companies to follow to improve environmental performance. The third level is composed of the functional strategies that support the type of competitive a dvantage to be pursued. A typical functional strategy is the sets of decisions made in each of the functional areas of an organization that determine how it will use in the overall business strategy of the company.Research and development managers make decisions about technology use, engineering resource allocation, product development process, research and development skills and organization, product prototyping and testing approaches, and involvement of customers in product development. Marketing managers make decisions about product and service positioning, advertising and promotion, and customer relationship management. Finance and Accounting managers make decisions about sources of funds, resource allocation, and currency hedging.The decisions make in these various functions make up the overall business strategy of the organization. Synergistic decision making among the functional support of an overall business strategy and leverage cross-functional capabilities to create and s upport business strategy direction is allowing the company to be successful. Beckman and Rosenfield (2008) have integrated these strategy into framework illustrated in Exhibit X. X. Each individual functional area may develop its own capabilities that in turn serve business strategy, or the functional areas may work in concert with another to create overarching capabilities.Business strategy is best supported, when the activities undertaken by the functional areas and/or the capabilities they develop complement one another and work together to achieve the goal of business (Fine and Hax 1985). They refer to this requirement as crossfunctional integration or fit. OPERATIONS STRATEGY An operations strategy is a set of goals, policies, and self-imposed restrictions that together describe how the organization proposes to direct and develop all the resources invested in operations so as to best fulfill (and possibly redefine) its mission (Hayes et al 1998).In the case of business organiza tion, the mission usually is expressed terms of survival, profitability, and growth, and is pursued by trying to differentiate itself from its competitors in some desirable way. A company’s operation strategy, then, has to begin by specifying how it proposes to support that chosen form of competitive differentiation. By integrating resources invested in the operations function into a cohesive, purposeful whole, such a strategy can enable operations to become a powerful source of competitive advantage. For IBM4710 Inter OM Chayakrit Asvathitanont, Ph.D. Operations Strategy Goal As described earlier, five dimensions of customer requirements which are cost, quality, availability, feature/innovativeness, and environmental performance has been mapped with operations performance measures by Fine and Hax (1985). In each case, operations can affect some, but not all, of the company’s performance along that dimension. Cost Operations directly affects the cost of the product or service and thus its purchase price (assuming that products are priced to achieve some profit) through its direct or indirect control of the supply chain.It can also affect the product’s cost of ownership through joint efforts with engineering (research and development) and/or marketing in the design of the product or service. Quality Operations also directly controls the quality of the product or service, again through its direct or indirect control of the supply chain. This is often thought of as a â€Å"conformance to specifications† task as operations strives to have all products and services delivered meet the specification set forth by the developers on behalf of the customers.Operations can also influence the design of a product or service so that it can be produced or delivered with higher quality. It does so, again, in joint efforts with research and development and marketing. Availability Operations is primarily responsible for the availability of products or services already in the market and often determines make-to-order versus make-to-stock strategies. Operations’ flexibility and process knowledge are critical in determining both the variety of features and the availability an organization can offer.The ability of operations to control the supply chain and the timeliness with which products or services can be delivered directly affects availability. The determination of how much flexibility operations can offer is a joint decision with marketing and research and development. Features/Innovativeness Generally, features are the purview of the marketing and research and development organizations, although the operations function is influential in determining the range of products, services, or features the firm will be able to provide based on its won ability to deliver them.Process knowledge and innovation are key to the organization’s ability to customize output to specific customer needs, to embed new innovations, and to allow research and development to create novel products and services. For IBM4710 Inter OM Chayakrit Asvathitanont, Ph. D. Exhibit 2: Business and Operations Strategy Performance Dimensions Dimension Cost Customer Concerns Purchase price Cost of ownership Operations Influence Costs of: Materials Production Delivery Distribution Capital Productivity Inventory turnover Design for cost Cost Objectives are measured using labor, materials, and capacity productivity; inventory turnover; unit cost.Quality of: Materials Production Delivery Distribution Design for quality Quality measures include percent defective or rejected, frequency of failure in the field, cost of quality, and mean time between failures. Availability Timeliness of delivery of product or service Ability to respond to volume fluctuations Timeliness of new product introductions Delivery performance is measured by percentage of on-time shipments, average delay, expediting response time. Flexibility is measured by product mix range, volume, and lead time for new products.Process capability Capabilities for more featured and innovative products and services Process knowledge and ability to extend it Design and development capabilities Measures of process capability assess the types of products or services that can be delivered. Environmental performance Managing environmental performance of suppliers or other partners in the supply chain Managing the environmental performance of internal production or service delivery operations Environmental performance measures include both emissions measures (water, air, and solid waste) as well as measures of product reuse and recyclability.Quality Tangible characteristics Aesthetics Reliability, durability, and safety Serviceability Intangible characteristics Competence, courtesy, understanding, and communication Access and security For purchase: Off-the-shell or make-toorder Of new products: Rapid cycle or planned evolution Variety of range of products availabl e: Degree of customization Availability Features/ innovativeness Inherent characteristics of a product or service Degree of innovation Environmental performanceDegree to which process that produces and delivers the product or service is environmentally sound Degree to which the product or service itself is environmentally sound and reusable or recyclable For IBM4710 Inter OM Chayakrit Asvathitanont, Ph. D. Source: Fine and Hax. (1985), â€Å"Manufacturing Strategy: A Methodology and an Illustration,† Interfaces 15, no. 6 (November-December) cited in Beckman, Sara L. , Rosenfield, Donald B. (2008). Operations Strategy: Competing in the 21st Century, U. S. : McGraw-Hill International Edition. Environmental Performance Finally, operations own the environmental erformance of both internal and external operations throughout the supply chain. It either works with suppliers to achieve adequate environmental performance in their facilities or works to achieve it in internal Operation s or both. Operations may also influence research and development to design products that are more environmentally sound (e. g. , easier to disassemble and recycle). Operations Goals in Practice Researchers have identified many alternative categorizations of these operations performance dimensions over the years (Dangayach and Deshmukh 2001).Some identify many categories such as the following 11: low cost, design flexibility, volume flexibility, quality conformance, product performance, speed of delivery, dependability of deliveries, after sales service, advertising, broad distributions, and broad product line (Miller and Roth 1994). Others summarize the characteristics in fewer categories defined as follows (Spring and Biadeb 1997): Cost: produce and distribute product (or service) at low cost. Quality: manufacture or deliver product or service with high quality or performance standards.Delivery dependability: meet delivery schedules. Flexibility: react to changes in product, chang es in product mix, modifications to design, fluctuations in materials, and changes in sequence. Yet others link clusters of operations performance characteristics into stylized business strategies such as those of caretaker, marketer, and innovator (miller and Roth 1994). Some researchers have examined similarities and differences in emphasis on these performance categories by industry, by geography, and over time.One study, for example, found that computer and electronics companies rate high product quality as their most important competitive factor, but computer companies rate innovative features and designs more highly than do electronics companies, while electronics companies place more emphasis on short lead times than do computer companies (Lau 2002). Others have found important differences among various countries or geographies in the emphasis they place on these characteristics. After achieving a high level of quality, for example, Japanese manufacturers turned their focus t o time-based competition and innovative products, while the U.S. and Europe continued to rank quality as a critical objective (Kenney and Florida 1993). The Manufacturing Futures Survey, which collected longitudinal data over many years, found that lasting improvements in manufacturing can only be achieved by first building quality, followed by delivery reliability, then flexibility and responsiveness, and then technological leadership. At each For IBM4710 Inter OM Chayakrit Asvathitanont, Ph. D. step of the progression, cost efficiency is pursued for the given capability set, culminating with an overall focus on cost leadership (Roth et al. 989, Miller et al. 1989). Operations Decision Categories Creating an operations strategy essentially entails making a set of decisions about the structure and infrastructure of operations (Skinner 1969, Hayes and Wheelwright 1984). Structural decisions deal with the vertical integration of the operations, its facilities, capacity, and process te chnology, whereas infrastructure decisions focus on organizational and human resource policies, sourcing and supply chain management practices, quality management systems, planning and control systems, and information technology.Infrastructure is developed over time through persistent day-to-day practice, top management commitment, and cross-functional efforts to create capabilities that support and leverage the firm’s structure. Infrastructure decisions usually deal with less tangible outcomes than do structural decisions, but it is the effective integration and synthesis of structural and infrastructural decisions that create long-term operations excellence (Dangayach and Deshmukh 2001).In making decisions in each of these categories, operations managers strive to ensure that the decisions are mutually supportive and consistent with one another. Further, they aim to have the collection of decisions support or facilitate the overall business strategy. The decision categories are briefly discussed hereunder. Structural Decisions Vertical Integration. Vertical integration decisions answer questions about how much of the Value chain a firm should own. Should they own more or less of the value chain reaching back to their suppliers?Should they own more or less of the value chain reaching forward to their customers? Issues considered include cost of the business to be acquired or entered; degree of supplier reliability; the proprietary or nonproprietary nature of the product or process to be brought in house; transaction costs of contracting through market versus non-market mechanisms; and impact on risk, product quality, cost structure, and degree of focus. Process Technology. Process technology decisions relate to the firm’s investment in the technology it uses to transform materials and/or nformation into products and/or services. Evaluation of this investment requires a firm to address several questions: Should its process be more labor intensive or more automated? Should it purchase technology or develop it in house, or use some combination there of? Should it be a follower or a leader in process technology investment? How does its process technology investment fit with its product technology development strategy? Capacity Capacity decisions establish how much capacity the firm will carry in order to manage both short-term fluctuations in demand and longer-term growth opportunities.Capacity For IBM4710 Inter OM Chayakrit Asvathitanont, Ph. D. may be added gradually or in large chunks. How should the firm deal with cyclical demand? Different types of capacity may be added at different times. How should the firm use capacity to influence its competitors’ decisions or actions? Facilities Facilities decisions are often closely related to capacity decisions, as firms may add or close facilities in response to a need for more or less capacity, but are often longer-term.In thinking through its facilities decisions, a firm will answer questions about how many facilities it should have, where they should be located, and what they should do. Facilities issues become even more crucial in a global environment as firms decide whether to locate facilities near the local market to increase share in that market, to access local technologies, to reduce costs, or to leverage local talent. Infrastructural Decisions Sourcing. Sourcing decisions follow closely from vertical integration decisions.Once a firm has decided not to own certain parts of its value chain, it must determine what types of relationships it should have with the entities outside the boundaries of the firm. Should the suppliers be managed with the five forces competitive-strategy framework suggested by Porter in this chapter, or with the more cooperative approach modeled by the Japanese keiretsu? Business processes, such as product and service Business Processes and Policies. generation, order fulfillment, and service and support, cut across fun ctional boundaries in an organization and are critical in serving the customer.Business process decisions include determining and defining critical processes, setting performance goals for each, and then choosing an appropriate organizational design to met those goals. Some of the organizational design questions include: How should the operations organization be structured? What are the roles of the line and staff organizations? What skills are required in operations? How should those skills be developed and retained? How should Those skills be developed and retained? How should operations personnel be rewarded? Supply Chain Coordination.While business process management focuses inside the organization, operations management today often requires management of multiple sources, markets, and flows outside the firm as well. Thus, operations managers face strategic decisions about the structure of the supply chains. Should they co-locate their own operations with those of their supplier s? How many layers should they have in their distribution networks? What modes of transportation are appropriate for which links in the supply chain? How should flows of goods among the various entities in the supply chain be monitored?Information Technology. Information technology and process technology decision are closely related, but process technology decisions relate to the physical equipment with which products and services are made and delivered, while information technology refers to the system that moves information around the operations function, between operations and the other functional areas in the firm, and among the players in the broader supply For IBM4710 Inter OM Chayakrit Asvathitanont, Ph. D. chain. There are a number of decisions operations managers make about their information technology.How automated should information processing be? Should information systems be purchased or developed internally? Should the firm be a follower or a leader in the development and/or use of state-of-the-art-technology? How does the information technology investment fit with other investments the firm is making? Operations Capabilities Development. There is some evidence that traditional operations improvement programs such as lean manufacturing, just-in-time, total quality management, focused factories, and the like are misused by managers.Often hastily adopted as an industry best practice or in emulation of a competitor, these programs can yield poor results, wasted effort, and missed opportunities for an organization. When thoughtfully and fully implemented, however, they can be enormously successful. In developing operations strategy, managers must examine such programs and consider the capabilities required to develop and implement them. REFERENCES Andrews, K. (1971). The Concept of Corporate Strategy, Dow Jones-Irwin: Homewood, IL. Beckman, S. L. , D. B. Rosenfield. (2008). Operations Strategy: Competing in the 21st Century, U.S. : McGraw-Hill Intern ational Edition. Dangayach, G. S. and S. G. Deshmukh. (2001) â€Å"Manufacturing Strategy: Literature Review and Some Issues. † International Journal of Operations & Production Management 21, no. 7 (July), pp. 949-964. Fine and Hax. (1985), â€Å"Manufacturing Strategy: A Methodology and an Illustration,† Interfaces 15, no. 6 (November-December) pp. 28-46. Garvin, D. A. (1988). Managing Quality: The Strategic and Competitive Edge. New York: The Free Press. Ghemawat, P. (2002). â€Å"Competition and Business Strategy in Historical Perspective. Business History Review 76 (spring): 37-74. Ghemawat, P. (1991). Commitment: The Dynamic of Strategy. New York: Free Press. Grant, R. M. (1998). Contemporary Strategy Analysis: Concepts, Techniques, Applications. 3rd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Inc. Hax, A. C. and D. L. Wilde II. (2001). The Delta Project: Discovering New Sources of Profitability in a Network Economy, Pelgrave. Hayes, R. H. and G. P. Pisano. (1996). â€Å"M anufacturing Strategy: At the Intersection of Two Paradigm Shifts. † Production and Operations Management 5, no. 1 (Spring), pp. 25-41.Hayes, R. H. and S. C. Wheelright (1984). Restoring Our Competitive Edge: Competing through Manufacturing. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Hayes, R. H. and S. C. Wheelright and K. Clark. (1988). Dynamic Manufacturing: Creating the learning organization, New York: Free Press. Hayes, R. H. , and D. M. Upton. (1998). â€Å"Operations-Based Strategy. † California Management Review 40, no. 4 (Summer), pp. 8-25. Kenney, M. and R. Florida (1993). Beyond Mass Production: The Japanese System and its Transfer to the United States. New York: Oxford University Press. Kim, W. C. nd R. Mauborgne (2005). â€Å"Blue Ocean Strategy: From Theory to Practice. † California Management Review 47, no. 3 (Spring), pp. 105-121. King, C. A. (1987). â€Å"A Framework for a Service Quality Assurance System. † Quality Progress 20, no. 9 (September), pp. 27-32. Lau, R. S. M. (2002). â€Å"Competitive Factors and Their Relative Importance in the U. S. Electronics and Computer Industries. † International Journal of Operations & Production Management 22, no. 1, (January), pp. 125-135. For IBM4710 Inter OM Chayakrit Asvathitanont, Ph. D. Miller, J. G. , and A. V. Roth. 1994) â€Å"A Taxonomy of Manufacturing Strategy. † Management Science 40, no. 3, pp. 285-304. Mintzberg, H. (1987). â€Å"Five P’s for Strategy. † California Management Review 30, no. 1, pp. 11-24. Mintzberg, H. (1994). â€Å"The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning. † Harvard Business Review (JanuaryFebruary), pp. 107-114. Mintzberg, H. , and A. McHugh. (1985). â€Å"Strategy Formation in an Adhocracy. † Administrative Science Quarterly 30, pp. 160-197. Mintzberg, H. , B. Ahlstrand, and J. Lampel. (1998). Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour through the Wilds of Strategic Management.New York: The Free Press. Ohmae, K. (1982). The Mind of Strategist: The Art of Japanese Business. New York:McGraw-Hill Book Company. Porter, M. E. (1996). â€Å"What is Strategy? † Harvard Business Review 74, no. 6 (November-December), pp. 61-78. Prahalad, C. K. , and G. Hamel. (1990). â€Å"The Core Competence of the Corporation,† Harvard Business Review 68, no. 3 (May-June), pp. 79-93. Prahalad, C. K. , and G. Hamel. (1994). Competing for the Future. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Roth, A. , A. De Meyer, and A. Amano (1989). Global Manufacturing Strategies: An International Comparison,† In Managing International Manufacturing, ed. K. Ferdows. Amsterdam North Holland: Elsevier Science Publishers B. V. , 1989. Skinner, W. (1974). â€Å"The Focused Factory. † Harvard Business Review 52, no. 3 (May-June), pp. 113-121. Sterman, J. D. (2000). Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World. New York: Irwin McGraw-Hill. Tzu, S. (2003). The Art of War. Philadelphia, PA: Running Pr ess Book. Von Clausewitz, C. (1993). On War. London: Everyman’s Library. 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Software development and engineering

à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ There are two features which are common to most engineering definitions à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ The solution of practical problems for the benefit of humankind à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ The use of scientific and other formalised knowledge to design and build artefacts within economic constraints Difference between scientists and engineers: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Scientific reasoning and research is essentially inductive, scientists try to infer general rules or laws from the results of a limited number of observations or experimental results à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ The activities of engineers are quite distinct, their objective is for human benefit rather than explaining the natural world. They make use of scientific results in a deductive way (to verify designs and ideas that are feasible and safe. Development of engineering disciplines QUESTION: How does engineering come to make use of scientific and formalised knowledge? ANSWER: The discipline starts in a state of craft practice: At this stage engineering is carried out by practitioners with little or no formal training and knowledge is acquired during apprenticeship. The second stage is the development of commercial exploitation when pressures arise to make economic use of resources or to increase output. Practice becomes more organised and standard procedures are established. The third stage in development sees the emergence of professional engineering. At this stage engineering is carried out by educated professionals who use formal analysis and scientific theory to understand and verify their designs. Characteristics of engineering Engineering projects tackle clearly defined and quantified problems. Another aspect of modern engineering is the use of systematised knowledge, this knowledge gives the engineer a good understanding both of the problems that he or she is addressing and the materials available for their solution. A science-based knowledge engineer will have considerable knowledge of proven procedures and designs which they can reuse where appropriate. An important aspect of this codified knowledge is the ability to learn from failures. SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT AS ENGINEERING? Development of compiler technology à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ In the 1950s when high-level programming languages were first being designed and implemented, compiler writing was regarded as difficult. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ The development of the first compiler for FORTRAN, completed in early 1957, required about 18 person-years of effort. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Compiler technology has progressed dramatically since, that a compiler can now be implemented in anything from 6 person-weeks to a person-year. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Modern compilers generally produce executable code that is very efficient and it is rare for programmers to need to resort to lower-level languages. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Compilers are usually extremely reliable being at least as free from errors as most other software on a typical computer. Large-scale development projects Large-scale projects have always been much more prone to problems or failure than smaller developments, such as compiler implementations, due to difficulties of organising and co-ordinating teams, and dealing with clients. But this is not always the case, as seen in these two examples of large and highly successful projects. Example 1: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ SABRE, an Airline Reservation System developed for American Airlines. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ The project delivered about one million lines of code and involved around 400 person-years of effort. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ This success is all the more striking because of the lack of supporting software – there were no database systems available at that time, for example. Example 2: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ NASA Space Shuttle. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ The project involved introducing rigorous control of software development, tracking all changes and errors, and constantly refining the development process to ensure that errors are eliminated at the earliest possible stage. Other branches of engineering which have resulted in major disasters: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ In 1968, Roman point (a high-rise block of flats in London) collapsed after a gas explosion in a top flat. The block was constructed using prefabricated components. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ In 1980, the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, a suspended walkway which connected hotel floors collapsed causing deaths of 114 people. The failure was due to a combination of design and construction flaws. QUALITY AND SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT In modern industry and business there is enormous concern to try to produce goods and services of high quality. Definition of Quality – ‘The set of characteristics of a product or service which satisfy a customer's requirements and expectations' American Joseph Juran, one of the early advocates of quality management, defined quality as the fitness for uses. Detailed tracking of error statistics during development has been found by developers such as Microsoft, to be extremely useful even though they may adopt a more informal approach to managing software development (Cusumano and Selby 1997). Development of ideas about quality Total Quality Management (TQM): à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Clearly defining quality in terms of customers' or consumers' requirements à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Concentrating on achieving quality by improving production processes rather than by inspection of end products à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ The clear specification of processes and the use of statistical analyses and other techniques to track down the sources of faults so that the process can be improved à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ The involvement of everyone in quality improvement à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Constantly trying to improve quality by learning from faults and improving processes and designs. The application of quality management to software development Applicable to software development? Each development of a system is a one-off project so it is not obvious that insights derived from improving manufacturing processes are applicable. The argument of Deming and others that quality cannot be achieved by testing alone is borne out by the experience of many software developers. Quality standards – ISO 9000 In order to achieve ISO 9000 certification: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ It has standards against which to measure all aspects of its development practices à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ It has procedures in place to access performance against these standards à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Both the standards and the assessment methods used are recognised in the industry ISO 9000 has been criticised on its particular criteria for introducing too much paperwork and ignoring the importance of continuous improvement. Capability Maturity Model This model is primarily concerned with the way in which projects are managed and organised, so it proposes five levels of maturity in development practices. 1. Initial Level-Not stable environment for developing software. Success heavily dependent on key project staff. 2. Repeatable Level-Managing software projects based on previous experience. Project progress is tracked and under control. 3. Defined Level-A standard process of software development is used across the organisation. Adapted and tailored appropriately for individual projects. 4. Managed Level-Measurable quality targets are set for projects and the results achieved by all projects are monitored. 5. Optimising Level-Measurements obtained from the monitoring of software development are used as a basis for refining and improving the process used. This level is one of continuous improvement. Chapter 11 – Societies for computing professionals WHAT ARE PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES? à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Professionals, such as medicine or the law, are distinguished from other occupations by the long period of training and experience which are required in order to qualify as a practitioner. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Regulated by professional societies à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Societies are run by the members of the profession and represent its interests à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Not under the immediate control of the government or employers Professional institutions can be made in two ways: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ By stature (by passing a law) à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Royal Charter The Engineering profession (the institution of Civil Engineers, the institution of Mechanical Engineers, the British Computer Society) have similar rights and responsibilities: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ To advance knowledge in their area à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ To uphold and seek to improve standards of practice (e.g. code of conduct for members) à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ To set educational and training standards in their field (e.g. running professional exams and accrediting certain degree courses) à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ To advise the government on issues within their area of expertise (e.g. BCS on the Computer Misuse Act) THE HISTORY OF ENGINEERING PROFESSIONS à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ When engineering was at the stage of a craft practice, there were few formal mechanisms for the training of new engineers à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Throughout most of the nineteenth century British engineers were firmly convinced of the value of practical experience as the basis of training PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTIONS FOR SOFTWARE ENGINEERS Two professional institutions which have most relevance for computer professionals are the British Computer Society (BCS) and Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE). Engineering Council à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Created by Royal Charter in 1981 à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Contains 290000 qualified engineers, including about 200000 Chartered Engineers FEANI FEANI represents the engineering profession at a European level and is made of engineering institutions from 27 countries. It was formed in 1951. PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP Members of professional societies gain the benefit of meeting other professionals in their field as well as access to other resources, such as libraries, seminars and special interest groups. Course accreditation Computer Science degree courses which cover similar materiel to that of the BCS exams are often accredited by the British Computer Society. For a degree course to give full exemption it must: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Cover the underlying theory and mathematics appropriate to computing à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Have an emphasis on design à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Promote understanding of ideas of quality à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Cover systems development approaches à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Cover ethical, legal, social and professional issues à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Include a substantial student project which involves the implementation of an application or tool using an engineering-based approach. Registration with the Engineering Council The Engineering Council maintains a register of qualified engineers. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ EA1 – introduction to the fabrication and use of materials à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ EA2 – application of engineering principlines à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ EA3 – a thorough and structured introduction to industry, involving practical assignments à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ EA4 – preparation for the post with responsibility EA1 and EA2 = accredited in engineering degree EA3 and EA4 = period of appropriate work Professional development BCS has developed the Industry Structure Model to classify different roles and responsibilities which computing professionals must have. It identifies some 200 professional functions ranging from programming to management. The purpose of the model is to help individuals and organisations to plan training and career development by identifying current gaps in knowledge. BCS runs two development schemes: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Professional Development scheme – computing professionals have properly planned and verified training Continuing Professional Development – those who have achieved qualification but who need to broaden their knowledge.

Political Theories of sexuality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Political Theories of sexuality - Essay Example al roles, In particular, women should manifest themselves primarily as wives, mothers and householders, while men are considered to be responsible for the financial well-being of the family. These social norms are so common that any violation of these representations threatens men and women condemnation from society but also isolation from it. Appeal to a variety of philosophical and scientific research sheds light on this issue and one can understand why the modern American society suffers from this problem. The fact that its origins have deep roots. They are so widely grown in the human world that even modern American culture in spite of the achievements in the field of science and technological progress continues to demonstrate a strict policy of gender roles. In particular, one of the reasons can be seen in the influence of the Christian heritage in the culture of the Western world. The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche pointed to the fact that the Christian culture and morality based on it and presented in the Western world have a deep contempt for the individual human freedom in the choice of gender roles and ways to implement one’s sexuality. The merit of Nietzsche is that he tried to make a person able to influence the formation of public morality that takes into account the fact that the man is not a machine but a living creature having his/her needs and preferences, including sexual. Even the great psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud also draws attention to the negative impact of social norms of Western culture on the individual persons life. He points to the fact that Western culture is permeated with the desire to put a person in a very rigid framework, including in relation to his/her status of gender and sexuality. With regard to the widespread stereotype that femininity is primarily connected with weakness, passivity, etc., one can refer to the c onclusions of Simone de Beauvoir. As a result of thorough research Beauvoir came to the idea that such an

Paper 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Paper 2 - Essay Example The government also guaranteed losses to the tune of $300 billion due to troubled assets of the Citibank. Subsequently, the restructuring exercise done by the management under the leadership of the newly joined CEO Vikram Pandit did turn the table. The bank showed profit in the last four figures is a testimony to the successful strategic actions taken by the management. Pandit in an address to the company employees listed the following objectives to spearhead the bank to old glories. 1. The focus is now on emerging markets. Citibank is well placed to tap the opportunities due to wide network of its offices throughout the world. Bank aims at remaining number one in emerging markets. 4. Bank would take great strides in the coming years by meeting financial needs of their clients from infrastructure to alternative energy to many development projects in the fastest growing economies in the world. The recent performance of Bank of America does not show much of a promise as BOA made losses to the tune of $8.8 billion in the second quarter this year. The biggest issue with BOA is $408 billion of mortgages that bank is holding in home equity. Banks future is linked with the recovery of housing market and that is not likely to show any sign of recovery because of the high unemployment rate prevailing in the US market. Depressed economy in US and high unemployment rate will keep housing market in a subdued state for quite a long time. For this reason, BOA remains a highly risky stock with not much of a hope of any dramatic improvement in coming years. Moreover, BOA is not active enough in the emerging markets and developing economies with a possibility of getting benefited like Citibank. From the above analysis it seems that though both the banks had worst period during the subprime crisis, Citibank is displaying required dynamism to come out of the crisis through

GATTACA film Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

GATTACA film - Essay Example Specifically, Socrates writes the following: [H]e who has experience of the manner in which we order justice and administer the State, and still remains, has entered into an implied contract that he will do as we command him. He claims that those who do not obey commands are unjust because they have accepted parental training and education from the state. If they fail to convince the state otherwise, disobedience itself is a kind of crime against the state. Taking this definition on its surface, the character of Vincent Anton Freeman in GATTACA can be shown to violate his contract with the state by trying to rise above his genetically prescribed circumstances. There are many different examples available to show that Vincent refuses to accept his lot in the society of GATTACA. Three such examples will be shown here. First, from his early childhood, Vincent competes against his brother Anton in swimming contests. They swim out to sea and see which one gives up first and swims back. In these early contests, Vincent loses to his brother due to his brother’s superior genetic make-up. However, he continues trying to beat his brother rather than accepting this outcome. In the end, he learns to beat his brother by using all his strength to swim out, not saving anything for the swim back. In this example, he learns that his will can overcome his genetic destiny. Exercising this, he violates his supposed understanding with the state. Second, Vincent decides he wants to become an elite astronaut. In this choice, he also violates his implied contract, which should require him to accept a menial job not afforded those without superior genetics. In the mere decision to attempt to become more than is available to him, Vincent goes against the deterministic direction the state tells him he should accept. While one could make the argument that by attempting to leave earth and go to the stars, Vincent is in fact â€Å"leaving† the state, the fact that he uses state space programs in order to achieve his dreams of becoming more indicates that he has accepted the state’s material conditions without accepting its moral dictates. Third, and finally, the fact that Vincent uses deception to achieve his dream of becoming an astronaut shows that he violates his contract. He steals DNA from a person with a â€Å"superior† profile and uses this to impersonate a different identity. He even undergoes surgery to make himself taller, so that he won’t be detected. In doing this, he shows that, on one hand, he is willing to live within the state’s expectations, but on the other he does not accept its ultimate ordering of justice. He deceives the state while accepting the benefits that it affords him as he lives under that deception. GATTACA, in the end, poses questions about the justice of a state that is formed on genetic determinism. However, it is also an example of a citizen acting within such a state in a way that is, contrac tually speaking, unjust. By using the state for his own private ends, Vincent can be said to be unjust, in view of Socrates’ definition. The fact that we pull for him forces us to ask questions about this social contract and about the nature of justice generally. Second Prompt In her poem, â€Å"Ethics† Linda Pastan defines a situation in which a person must choose between saving a classic painting and another, older human being. She considers this question in light

Open System Approach to Organizations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Open System Approach to Organizations - Essay Example The company will be used as a case study to answer the questions in the subsequent paragraphs. An open approach system to organization implies that an organization interacts with its outside environment, which in turn influences the structure and operations of the organization. The fact that an open system interacts with the outside environment implies that an organization is an open system should always adapt to changes in the environment. For a long time, Icy Foods Ltd. has been operating on informal basis judging, by the way, operations are loosely divided into five departments with no clear-cut framework. Moreover, the company used to accept orders with less or no regard to quality or quantity specifications of the product. This lack of organization explains why the company lacked customers from major supermarket chains. The other apparent misgiving that characterized Icy Foods Ltd. is the lack of clear division of labor and specialization. This fact is inherent in the way the company conducts job rotations (Weiner, 2002). Job rotation is not a good concept because it does not give the employees the chance to gain experience in a given line of duty. The fact that the company did not embrace quality and efficiency in its operations negatively affected its business performance. Before the takeover by Megastores Plc., the company had adopted an organic organization structure in managing the various operations. The management, prior to the takeover, operated an open-door policy. The management was keen on hearing employee’s ideas on new products and operational improvements. There was also a flexible approach to handling employees’ issues such as working hours and leave. After the successful takeover, the management came up with a raft of new changes that were more bureaucratic as opposed to the organic system that the management had used to all along.

Modern Tourism Industry and its Impact on the Places Visited Term Paper

Modern Tourism Industry and its Impact on the Places Visited - Term Paper Example Environmentally tourism has been seen to have a negatively influence the environment in the sense that there is an increase of pollution. However, the benefits to the environment cannot be ignored in the sense that the idea of landscaping beautifies the environment and attracts more tourists’ to the lovely environment created. The issue of draining swamps near touristic developments has proven beneficial to the local inhabitants. Lastly, we consider how tourism affects the culture of an area. Many are the times that tourism development has been shown to lead to the erosion of the cultural identity of an area. However, the main aim of a touristic travel is not to erode the culture of an area but rather many tourist travels to experience the culture of the community that they visit. With these in mind, it is, therefore, right to disagree with the argument that modern tourism is destroying the places visited, and these we shall closely examine and prove in the subsequent paragrap hs as we examine the individual aspects that tourism has influenced. Tourism does affect the culture of a society both positively and negatively. Ding and Pigram observed that tourism might encourage the maintenance of culture and tradition (1995: 8). They further state that the maintenance of traditional ways and goods needed to be restored because that is what attracted tourists. The constant visits from tourists helped in boosting and maintenance of the local cultures. Tourism represents an interface of cultural exchange it does allow for the interaction between communities and visitors who travel to experience the local cultures of a given community. Tourism allows these visitors to learn about the different cultures of the world. It also allows the appreciation of the various cultural diversity of the society that they visit. Tourists also learn and appreciate the new perspectives on life and society. The tourist industry defines the local culture of any region as a unique expe rience: the local personality, hospitality and food form part of the unique experience. The fulfilment is achieved when one gets to learn everything concerning a touristic destination. The tourists get to learn the local issues and the needs of the society and, therefore, raise awareness of the local issues and the needs of the given society (GVIC, 2004:2). The aspects of cultural celebrations that are common to various societies attract tourists. These cultural festivals assert cultural identity; it helps in preserving local traditions and teaches the younger generations of their local tradition. Tourism is used in the preservation and transmission of the cultural and historical traditions. It allows for the protection of the local heritage revival of indigenous cultures, cultural arts and crafts (Gawler Visitor information centre, 2004:3). Rickerby claims that tourism does bring people from different places and cultures together promoting an understanding between different social groups. However, he points out that these interactions may at times result to conflicts and friction. An excellent example he gives is the case of U.K whereby conflicts between tourists and local communities is a common thing in the bars clubs and seaside resorts. These conflicts are resolved by hiring tour operators who offer the tourists with the assistance; they need (2005:23). Rickerby looks into how tourisms affect the environmental

Cause & Effect ( poverty ) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cause & Effect ( poverty ) - Essay Example The main reason for this writing is to discuss some of the causes and effects of poverty which is a major pandemic in the globally particularly in Africa and Asia. Population has really gone high in the world thus resulting into overpopulation which eventually exerts a lot of pressure on the available limited resources such as land that could have been used in food production and even few employment resources that cannot satisfy the excess population. Overpopulation has contributed to poor planning in many nations particularly in the Africa and Asia since the governments of these countries do not have enough resources such as proper education and adequate food to cater for the excess population. Overpopulation and human activities has also led to environmental degradation which has really deteriorated the natural resources such as soil and water hence hindering food production and cash crop farming which may be essential in acquiring wealth. According to White & Luttik (1994), â€Å"Poverty is a major cause and effect of global environmental problems† (p. 110). Lack of adequate education and employment is one of the major causes of poverty since most countries cannot sufficiently afford to provide good schools and colleges as well as enough employment to their population. Inadequate education may prevent an individual from acquiring nice job that may eventually lead to a better life. According to Combat Poverty Agency (2013), â€Å"Being unemployed or in a low-paid job makes people more likely to be poor† (Web).Some other causes of poverty are availability of many younger and old people, long term illness or disability, single parenting and living in a disadvantaged community. Some of the effects of poverty are social tensions that divide a nation because of poor distribution of wealth such that a few people have all the money. Poor people cannot afford good housing thus making them to

Ethical Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethical Case Study - Essay Example Although the act of Paige seems neutral since the negative consequences seem to be balanced out by the positive ones, yet analysis of the two positive and the two negative outcomes suggests that the two don’t weigh equal. The positive outcomes benefited only two people i.e. Liz and Paige whereas the negative outcomes affected a lot of people i.e. the hotel as a whole and also, the woman and her child. In addition to that, although the grant of $50 note to Paige seems to be a positive outcome for her, yet that is bribery and has negative impact not only upon the whole society but also for Paige who would be held accountable for her act in this world or/and in the world hereafter. Agreed that Liz had remained a hardworking and loyal member of the staff and deserved special treatment, but not if that had to come on the cost of others’ peace. Therefore, the negative consequences of Paige’s act outweigh the positive ones, so Paige’s action was wrong. According to the third course of action, Paige could have granted Liz access to the room, but with the condition that she would clear the room within a maximum of ten minutes as soon as the expected customer arrives. Doing this, Paige would have respected the hotel’s rules, satisfied Liz as well as the customer. So according to the utilitarian theory, Paige should have granted Liz with conditional access to the room. The theory of ethical hierarcicalism suggests that â€Å"[a]n actual person is more valuable than a potential person† (jan.ucc.nau.edu, n.d.). In light of this principle, at the time when Paige was conversing with Liz, Liz was the actual person because she was there and the woman and her child were... This essay discusses that although the act of Paige seems neutral since the negative consequences seem to be balanced out by the positive ones, yet analysis of the two positives and the two negative outcomes suggests that the two don’t weigh equal. The positive outcomes benefited only two people i.e. Liz and Paige whereas the negative outcomes affected a lot of people i.e. the hotel as a whole and also, the woman and her child.  This essay discusses that although the act of Paige seems neutral since the negative consequences seem to be balanced out by the positive ones, yet analysis of the two positives and the two negative outcomes suggests that the two don’t weigh equal. The positive outcomes benefited only two people i.e. Liz and Paige whereas the negative outcomes affected a lot of people i.e. the hotel as a whole and also, the woman and her child.  According to the third course of action, Paige could have granted Liz access to the room, but with the condition t hat she would clear the room within a maximum of ten minutes as soon as the expected customer arrives. Doing this, Paige would have respected the hotel’s rules, satisfied Liz as well as the customer. Paige should have granted Liz with conditional access to the room.   The theory of ethical hierarchicalism suggests that â€Å"an actual person is more valuable than a potential person† (jan.ucc.nau.edu, n.d.). In light of this principle, at the time when Paige was conversing with Liz, Liz was the actual person because she was there and the woman and her child were potential people as they were expected but not there. Therefore, Paige’s act of granting Liz access to the room was ethically justified. But another principle of the ethical hierarchicalism suggests that â€Å"A complete person is more valuable than an incomplete person† (jan.ucc.nau.edu, n.d.).   Concluding, the course of action that is deemed justifiable by both theories of ethics is for Paig e to grant Liz with conditional access to the room.  

American Spending Patterns Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

American Spending Patterns - Research Paper Example These changes are often triggered by major life events, some of these life events include getting a job, getting married, having children or retirement. Our analysis of spending matters should focus on the following groups of American people College Kids Young Married Couples Families with young children Families with teenagers Older couples whose children have moved out Retirees We will also examine the impact hard financial times have had on the spending patterns of Americans. The rising uncertainty and increasing unemployment has likely has a significant impact and we shall analyze its ramifications in the concluding pages of this report to ensure that a broad and all inclusive picture is provided. Reference Person Factor: It is intriguing to note that 26% of the nation’s consumer units have a reference person under the age of 35, and they constitute around 23% of the annual consumer spending. In contrast, households headed by people aged 65 or above constitute only 15 perc ent of the annual spending despite making up 20% of the total households. Households that are led by individuals aged between 35 and 64 constitute 53 percent of the population and account for 63 percent of the annual consumer spending. College Kids Spending Habits: College spending is influenced significantly by branding (McCullough). Brands are a major part of the conscious and subconscious decision making process of young college kids. This behavior is largely a result of an inclination towards impressing peers and creating a lasting impact. The state of the young American mindset can be summarized by their penchant towards branded jeans, so much so that they are willing to pay $150 for a pair, college women carrying $500 Louis Vutton bags, and men wearing $300 Gucci Belts (McCullough). A large part of this behavior is influenced by the ubiquitous parties that students tend to attend these days. Often, students who spend hundreds of dollars on buying stuff for one party repeat the same for another party the very fnext weekend. The fear that people will recognize previously worn profits, leading to tirades or belittlement leads students to go out of their way to make unnecessary purchases. Shopping is also considered to be a unique form of therapy; students feeling depressed, sad, or indifferent go to shopping to make themselves feel better. This is a unique opportunity for marketers to capitalize on; it’s not that students have the need, they go shopping when they feel like. Other than increasing spending on clothes, students are also more inclined towards spending highly on fast food and latest electronics, including gadgets such as smartphones and tablets. Students, who can afford a car, are also spending their money on them. An important feature of student spending is that they are generally spending more than they earn, according to a survey conducted by Alloy Media and Marketing (McCullough). A significant portion of student spending is done on f ood, however the remainder is spent on cell phone service, entertainment and clothing. It is safe to say that media and celebrities are influencing student behavior substantially. The desire of becoming as acceptable and cool as celebrities leads students, who can afford to, to buy expensive designer clothes and apparel. TV programs show a lot of luxury lifestyle. There are several reality shows that depict such lifestyles and for anyone who can afford such luxuries, it becomes a necessity. Student spending on fashion and food has led to rising level of debt

Pricing Strategy and Channel Distribution Essay Example for Free

Pricing Strategy and Channel Distribution Essay Pricing Strategy and Channel Distribution Senior Concierge Services Kelly Spino Strayer University Dr. Robert Badowski Abstract Determine and discuss a pricing strategy (penetration or skimming). Determine and discuss pricing tactics (product line pricing, value pricing, differential pricing, or competing against private brands) to be used for your product. Identify any legal and ethical issues related to the pricing tactics. Prepare a marketing distribution channel analysis identifying the wholesaler, distributor, and retailer relationships. Discuss how the distribution strategy fits the product/service, target market, and overall marketing objectives for the company. As a service business, Senior Concierge Service will offer non medical care and maintenance for senior citizens and their families. This type of service business does not have many competitors, and pricing is consistent among the senior care industry. The pricing strategy for Senior Concierge Service will be to stay within the normal range for its services. Consumers will choose Senior Concierge Service over the competition not by cost, but by the quality of services offered. Price skimming is a pricing strategy in which a marketer sets a relatively high price for a product or service at first, and then the price is lowered over time. This is a version of price discrimination. Price skimming allows a business to recover its resources quickly before a competitor moves in and lowers their prices, lowering the market price. The objective of a price skimming strategy is to capture the consumer surplus. There are several potential problems with this strategy. It is effective only when a business is facing an inelastic demand curve (demand that is not very sensitive to a change in price). Skimming encourages the entry of competitors. Penetration pricing is a more suitable strategy in this case. This strategy is a pricing technique of setting a relatively low initial entry price, often lower than the market price, to attract new customers. This strategy works on the probability that customers will switch to the new business because of the lower price. Penetration pricing is most commonly associated with a marketing objective of increasing market hare or sales volume, rather than to make profit in the short term. This can take the competition by surprise, not giving them time to react. It can also create goodwill among the early customer segment. This can create more trade through word of mouth. Ethical thinking is responding to situations that deal with principles concerning human behavior in respect to the appropriateness and inappropriate ness of certain communication and to the decency and indecency of the intention and results of such actions (distinctions between right and wrong). Marketers are ethically responsible for what is marketed and the image that a product portrays. Marketers need to understand what good ethics are and how to incorporate good ethics in various marketing campaigns to better reach a targeted audience and to gain trust from customers. (Wikipedia. com) Unethical or controversial marketing strategies include: bait and switch, pyramid scheme, planned obsolescence, lock-in/ loyalty schemes, viral marketing, and, monopolies/oligopolies. In retail sales, a bait and switch is a form of fraud in which the party putting forth the fraud lures in customers by advertising a product or service at an unprofitably low price, and then reveals to potential customers that the advertised good is not available but that a substitute is. A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, without any product or service being delivered. Pyramid schemes are a form of fraud. The scheme collapses when no more people are willing to join the pyramid Planned obsolescence is the process of a product becoming obsolete or non-functional after a certain period or amount of use in a way that is planned or designed by the manufacturer. The purpose of planned obsolescence is to hide the real cost per use from the consumer, and charge a higher price than they would otherwise be willing to pay, or would be unwilling to spend all at once. For industries, planned obsolescence stimulates demand by encouraging purchasers to buy sooner if they still want a functioning product. In business, vendor lock-in or customer lock-in, makes a customer dependent on a vendor for products and services, unable to use another vendor without substantial switching costs. Lock-in costs which create barriers to market entry may result in antitrust action against a monopoly. Loyalty programs include frequent flier miles or points systems associated with credit card offers that can be used only with the original company, creating a perceived loss or cost when switching to a competitor. Most programs are able to get consumers to spend more money just to get to free or bonus item. Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Monopolies and oligopolies often use anti-competitive practices, which can have a negative impact on the economy. This is why company mergers are often examined closely by government regulators to avoid reducing competition in an industry. Since this business caters to seniors and their families, it is especially important for Senior Concierge Services to represent quality, value and confidence in its services and staff. The success of this company depends on compassionate, trustworthy, conscientious, and ethical care givers providing non-medical in-home care. A different take on the loyalty program would allow customers to receive a discount after x amount of service visits or when prepaying for multiple services. A marketing distribution channel analysis is a means used to transfer merchandise from the manufacturer to the end user. An intermediary in the channel is called a middleman. Channels normally range from two-level channels without intermediaries to five-level channels with three intermediaries. Intermediaries in the channel of distribution are used to facilitate the delivery of the merchandise as well as to transfer title, payments, and information about the merchandise. Distribution describes all the logistics involved in delivering a companys products or services to the right place, at the right time, for the lowest cost. For many products and services, their manufacturers or providers use multiple channels of distribution. Well-chosen channels constitute a significant competitive advantage, while poorly conceived or chosen channels can doom even a superior product or service to failure in the market. Distribution channels may not be restricted to physical products alone. They may be just as important for moving a service from producer to consumer in certain sectors, since both direct and indirect channels may be used. There have also been some innovations in the distribution of services, such as an increase in franchising and in rental services. There has also been some indication hat service integration can benefit many providers. Senior Concierge Services will look to link with other service providers to create a mutually beneficial arrangement. Medical providers, beauticians, landscapers and general contractors would all be a good fit with the services offered. A distribution strategy defines how a business is going to create and satisfy demand for its products; how a business is going to move produ cts from point of creation to points of consumption, in a cost-effective manner; as well as defining how a business is going to manage its brand. Todays customers shop and buy very differently than ever before. Access to high-quality information, via the internet, combined with their heightened price sensitivity, has created customers that are more sophisticated, better informed and often times, more demanding than customers of the past. A distribution strategy must be in sync with how the customers of Senior Concierge Service want to shop for services. Franchising is an option worth considering. For a fee, a small business owner can take advantage of the marketing research completed at the corporate level.

The three phase model of Crisis

The three phase model of Crisis Prevention is better than cure is a saying around the globe. This saying applies very well in a crisis which occurs to the organisation from nowhere. The organisational environment is often described as more hostile, uncertain, changeable and complex then it has been in the past (Borman, Ilgen, Klimoski, 2003). The complexity and the capriciousness of the current business environments are liable to stimulate numerous crisis events for organisations and their subunits (Choi Kim, 1999) (Lampel, Shamsie, Shapira, 2009) (Moynihan, 2009). Recently, crises have become a regular or even normal event for many organisations. (Ashby Diacon, 2000). Therefore it is very important and appropriate that managers should focus not only on whether a crisis will happen but also when and how it will occur. Crisis by their nature are unexpected and brief with few managers possessing either firsthand knowledge or practical experience (Guth, 1995). A basic definition as said by Clark (1995) is A crisis , is defined as any unplanned event that can cause death or significant injuries to employees, customers, or the public; shut down the business; disrupt operations; cause physical or environmental damage; or threaten the facilitys financial standing or public image. It is also important to know the types and causes of crisis and the damage which can be caused to cope with the crisis and effective crisis management in the organisation (Drach-Zahavy Freund, 2007) (Mitroff, Shrivastava, Udwadia, 1987). In todays world organisations operate in an environment which is characterised by high uncertainty, risk, and turbulence due to different events such as natural disasters, terrorist attacks, corporate scandals, and major product defects. These unforeseen crisis events, be they small or large scale, naturally occurred or humanly induced, have far-reaching and deep impact on organizations and individuals within (Mitroff, 1988)(Pearson Clair, 1998). To avoid or reduce such unanticipated impact requires effective crisis management practice. By that time, as the environment grows in complexity and uncertainty, it not only requires significant learning efforts on the part of organizations (Lagadec, 1997), but also makes the pace at which organisations learn a determining factor in its ability to survive or adapt (Schwandt Marquardt, 2000). With such difficult environment, constant and continuous learning has become a necessity for the survival of any organisation, adaptability, competitiveness and long term viability (Barnett Pratt, 2000). To cope with such environment and handle such events, crisis management is necessary for any organisation. Like crisis, crisis management is also defined differently by different people by their own perspective. One of the definition of crisis management as said by Darling et. al. (1996) Crisis management is defined as a series of functions or processes to identify, study and forecast crisis issues, and set forth specific ways tha t would enable an organization to prevent or cope with a crisis. The definition given above fills the purpose of this paper of describing crisis management. Many authors have developed different models or process to describe methods to deal with the crisis such as five phases model of crisis management (Mitroff I. I., 1993), some authors has taken different elements of the organisation to deal with to show crisis management such as Mitroff in (1989) used Hofstedes Onion diagram to show culture as a part of crisis management to show the different cultural profiles of organisations. Similarly Smith (1992) explained 7 Cs of crisis management which demonstrates the cultural web and other important elements of the organisation to be handle to prevent the crisis which is one of the crisis management model. Smith in (1990) also came up with another crisis model which is known as Three Phases of Crisis. This model describes about the different phases of the crisis event occurring in organis ation. This paper focuses on this model of Denis Smith describing the model in particular and focusing on which part of the model or which phase of the crisis is most challenging for an organisation to handle with the relevant examples from the organisation and other major events. The next section discusses about the three phase crisis model in brief particularly what does the model means. Followed by the discussion on most challenging phase of the model for an organisation to handle with relevant examples. Then summing up the whole model and describing the reason behind the challenging phase of the model to the organisation in conclusions. Three Phases of Crisis. Crisis management is relatively new field that has only received research attention in recent years (Pearson Mitroff, 1993). Denis smith in (1990) came after a proper research and study about the topic came up with a conclusion that in any crisis situation there are three distinct phases. He developed a model which is now known as three phases of crisis. Smith says that the crisis in any organisation is basically in three stages, the first stage is known as Crisis of Management, the second stage is Operational Crisis and the final stage of the model is Crisis of Legitimation. The Crisis of Management. This phase is the phase in which the situation appears to imperil the firms survival and places the firm under severe time pressure. (Ansoff, 1984). The first phase of this framework, the crisis of management represents that period in which the potential for a crisis becomes incubated. This phase addresses the strategic and system-level issues that can generate problems for organisations at the more functional and operational levels of activity. The first period is when the organisation fails to take account of imminent situation is about to occur which can be catastrophic for firms survival. The important elements here can be seen to be around communication, culture and decision-making processes and the ways in which these factors generate vulnerability. It is in this phase that the potential is developed that would allow an incident or an accident to escalate into a more serious event. This process has been termed tight coupling and interactive complexity by Perrow and reflects the speed of interaction between elements and the complex emergence of failure (Perrow, 1994). Perrow argues that such failures are designed into the system and often represents the normal way of working. Most of this potential for failure arises as a function of attempts at making the organisation more efficient or by the extended nature of its supply chains. In the same way, the failure of management to respond to incidents in an effective manner could allow an initial level to develop quickly into a crisis. This is the phase where decisions taken or not taken by the management or the shareholders or stakeholders in the organisation can proclaim the growth of the organisational culture. The processes through which this escalation can occur can occur are deal with at several points in this collection. The main issues for consideration within this initial phase of the process includes, role of management in the generation of errors lower down the organisation, weaknesses in the managem ent structure, constrained decision-making and communication, and the problems that arise as a result of the interaction between the organisation and its environment. In this culture and climate within which a relatively minor initiative event can intensify the whole system and can result in catastrophic failure. These issues will ultimately be reflected in the failure of contingency planning to address the scope and scale of the problems that face the organisation in the operational phase of crisis. The Operational Crisis. The Second Phase of the model is Operational Crisis it occurs when the event escalates to such a point that damage is caused or the reputation of the organisation becomes threatened. This phase comes when the organisation is in violent pangs of suffering from the operational crisis. David (1990) in Smiths research said This is the phase in which the human face of management is an important element in reducing the organizational impact of the event. In some larger organisations, this phase is often formally triggered when a senior manager determines that the event has the potential to damage the reputation of the group or the main parent company of the various business units (Smith D., 2004). This phase of a crisis is also unavoidably the most visible, due to the damage that it can cause. By the large, this damage requires that an additional level of resource is brought to bear in order to contain the demands of the events, and, eventually, to return them to normal. This phase is also defined by the role of external agencies usually acting in the role of rescuers who will often take short term control of the damaging event until such time as the demands return to a level that can be handled by more routine management processes. Nevertheless, where there is loss of life associated with the crisis then there will also be a requirement for the collection of evidence. This requirement may remain with external agencies for a considerable period of time after the operational phase. There is considerable potential for this process to escalate the crisis still further as media coverage of any investigation will have an impact upon reputation, share price and sometimes even to an extent of, legal status. Thus a crisis does not end at the point at which the minor problem is brought under control, but may escalate still further as the crisis moves to more of a reputational problem in the next phase which is legitimation phase. The Crisis of Legitimation. The final phase of this framework raises the issues of turnaround management, reputation recovery, and a range of processes aimed at securing the organisations legitimacy with its internal and external stakeholders. These are all issues that need to be considered by managers in the Crisis of Management phase rather than in the Operational and Legitimation phase. This final phase also includes the processes of organisational learning which is as generating many of the conditions necessary to deal with future problems of crisis incubation within the crisis of management (Elliott, Smith, McGuinness, 2000). In the ensuing post-crisis period there is often an attempt to search for scapegoat to blame on in an attempt to legitimise organisational operating procedures and different managerial styles. In this phase the organisation tries to restore external confidence in both its managerial structure and operating systems. Government normally tries to intervene in this phase of crisis as the y search for both to secure legitimacy and to take preventive measures. Many a times we see that the management responsible for the crisis is being transferred from one organisation to another or to dedicated crisis management unit or team. This usually occurs in the second phase of the model, as seen by the role of exigency services which comes into picture during the crisis situation in an attempt to resolve the crisis or reduce the damage which is being caused. We can also see such blame games or transfer in the third phase which is crisis of legitimation phase as in this phase attempts are made to apportion blame outside the organisation that played host to the crisis event. Normally, we see such transfers during transport accidents. Resulting in other organisations operating in same sector being affected may be due to close association with the crisis hit organisation or through more tight legislation coming into force during legitimation phase. We see here the impact of crisis being passed from one organisation to another which has to forcefully ch ange modify their pattern to meet the changes in regulation (Smith D. , Beyond contingency planning: towards a model of crisis management, 1990). From the model we can also see that there is a phase of Organisational Learning or what Smith said as Feedback Loop. Environmental factors such as a crisis can stimulate learning within an organisation (Dodgson, 1993) (Fiol Lyles, 1985). Learning has become an increasingly primary concern to many crisis management researchers (Elliott, Smith, McGuinness, 2000) (Stern, 1997). Smith in his model suggested that organisational learning is an integral part of the crisis. Organisations should learn the mistakes which they made during the crisis which let it occur, or the way they handled the crisis. Sundelis and Stern (2002) noted that members of organisation often use lesson from past crisis experiences as a guide for current action. In the same way, they may respond to positive or negative feedback on performances during a crisis experiences as a guide for current action (Sundelis Stern, 2002). The most challenging phase Looking at the whole model all the three phase of crisis are linked to each other. It is not easy to say which phase out of the model is most challenging phase for the organisation. But, if we compare all the three separately phase three which is Legitimation Phase can be the most challenging phase for the organisation. Many a times the post crisis phase runs along to the breeding of another crisis. A thought should be given to the structure and culture of the organisation in order to assure that learning occurs within the organisation. When putting this model in Smiths 7 C model we see that two major part of the organisation which is culture and configuration falls under this phase. Describing this by Smith and Sipika (1993) they showed five major points in this phase by saying to restructure for a responsive structure, the management style of the organisation to be reviewed to avoid such crisis again, sometimes even the personnel of the organisations is being changed or removed, pr oper marketing if the crisis is caused due to the product fault, sometimes it even results in the acquisition of the crisis struck organisation by other organisation. The impact of crisis after it has stricken is very lethal some organisations sometimes are not able to handle the blow of crisis depends upon the size and nature of organisation. The biggest example recently which can be given is the fall of Lehman Brothers Bank during financial crisis. In September 2008 one of the worlds biggest bank, Lehman Brothers filed bankruptcy after hitting badly by the worst post world war financial crisis in 2008. Lehman Brothers which was once said as too big to fall was shut after the strong blow of sub-prime mortgage crisis (Baba Packer, 2009). Out here the working of the organisation in sub-prime mortgages pushed organisation to fall when the markets started to fall. This working was being incubated by the culture of the organisation. The fall of Lehman Brothers started one of the worst global financial crises. The effect here was passed to other organisations not only in the same sector but all over the world due to the size of the organisation. The involvement of government in this phase plays a very vital role as well, this can even save an organisation once the crisis is hit, structure or the working of an organisation can even change completely for example American International Group (AIG) was being rescued by the government of USA after hitting badly by recent financial crisis in2008. AIG was very much in the insurance of Credit Default Swaps(CDS) which turned to toxic assets later on during market crash. The nature of the organisation was very much in risk taking which caused a crisis for them as well. The government bailout given to the organisation helped them to stand back after the harsh blow of the financial crisis (Bernake, 2009). The first point discussed by Smith and Sipika proves the point out in the above given example which was restructuring for a responsive structure. Post Crisis phase or Legititmation Phase has always been proved challenging for the organisation in every way one more example of this phase was step down or change of CEO, Tony Hayward of the British Petroleum of USA branch due to worst oil spill in the history of USA (Bergin, 2010). The Chairman of BP Mr. Carl-Henric Svanberg said in one of the press release on 27th July 2010. The BP board is deeply saddened to lose a CEO whose success over some three years in driving the performance of the company was so widely and deservedly admired. The oil spill in Gulf of Mexico by BP was caused by deepwater horizon rig explosion, as of 9th August 2010 the cost to BP for the oil spill was $6.1bn (Â £3.8bn) which caused crisis to the organisation. Out here the fault was technical but the effect of the crisis (oil spill) not only changed the working of BP as in organisation, it affected in every way to the environment and also to the share prices of the company (Zangari, 2010) (BBC, 2010). The oil spill is almost shut now but the effect of the oil spill is still there to the environment and to the organisation, BP is being sued by the environmentalist and other people, along with BP even other companies involved in the oil spill are also being affected (Pael, 2010). Now-a-days due to globalisation there is always a chain effect of crisis from one organisation to another, as described by the Legitimation phase. Another recent due to faulty product was Cadbury Plc recall of its product made in China, Australia, Taiwan and India. The organisation has to recall its product after revealing tests which said may contain melamine-laced milk which killed four children in China and made many ill. Cadbury was under scrutiny after the revelation. It lost its major markets due to this event, the aftermath of this event caused Cadbury in major loses in the above mentioned region. The contamination was caused by leak of waste water. Around 1million bars of chocolate were recall which damaged the image of the organisation to the core and were almost unable to get back to their feet in one of the major markets around the globe (Hickley, 2008). It was after 2 years due their marketing practices they get back into the market of China and made profits. Similar was the case with Coca-Cola and Pepsi in Indian market which fell under a controversy of having pesticides in their product in 2006. It was then the CEO of PepsiCo. INC Indra Nooyi made a press release about the procedures followed in making of the product and safe to drink. This press release was also used as a marketing technique in Indian market to reduce the aftermath of the crisis. Many such crisis have spoiled the image of many organisations, the practices by organisation have also been changed. These examples show why Legitimation phase is one of the most challenging phase of the crisis model. The government intervention, impact of crisis, competition from the competitors, handling the image of the organisation, health safety and many such things makes the organisation difficult to comeback after the crisis has hit. Conclusion The paper has reviewed some of the issues relating to crisis management and detailed model which focuses on Smith (1990) the three main phases of Crisis and determining the effectiveness of management intervention in containing and preventing crisis escalation to see the various stages through which crises go. Most of the focus is shown on the post-crisis phase as organisations have attempted to manage the negative impact of the event. The phase also points out issues such as culture of the organisation that can increase or reduce the impact of the crisis. Paper also describes briefly about Legitimation phase, as the most challenging phase of the organisation in the crisis model with relevant live examples. Which focuses more on aftermath of crisis and Culture of the organisation, As culture is considered to be a soul of the organisation during the time of crises (Witoszek Tragardh, 2002).

Media And Writing Essay Semiotic Analysis

Media And Writing Essay Semiotic Analysis Any journal article essentially tries to convince the reader to accept the fact that something exists, and it should draw more attention. With the use of semiotic analysis and the codes, conventions, connotations and ideologies to construct it, this essay will analyze the chosen photo and to highlight The Question of Youth Violence article. The first step in analyzing the multiple meanings of a photo is to understand what is this image and textual message telling to us at a denotation level, which according to Barthes, is the first order of signification (OShaughnessy and Stadler, 2005:115). The photo in this article is a picture that shown the image of a pencil-bag with a light blue flower on its red background, around edge of an opened zipper there is a ball-pen with pink colour, and another ball-pen with flowers hanging over the edge. Moreover, at middle of those ball-pens a sharpen knife stick out of pencil-bag and lights shine onto the pencil-bag gives a shaded area is beneath it. A quote children are more aggressive and grow up more likely to become involved in violence C either as a victimize or as a victim C if they witness violent acts. The home is the most fertile breeding place for this situation, (American Psychological Association, 1996) at top of the photo. In article, American FBI figures shown in 1996 girls accounted for 15 percent of all violent juvenile arrests in United States and followed with few cases related to juvenile arrests. Thus, this article are constructed by a complex system, which includes implied narrative, interpellation, ideology, index , symbol, signifier and signified which aim to gain more attention from the reader. Secondly, in order to highlight a relevant mental representation to the photo, one can evaluate the connotation of the photo and then the context itself. According to Barthes, connotation is the emotions, values and associations that a sign gives rise to in the reader, viewer, or listener (OShaughnessy and Stadler, 2005:116). This pointing out in order to explain the ideologies of the photo, its need a full understanding of all elements that build up the photo. In the photo a knife dramatically sticks out in the middle of stationeries could been considered in school, students starting behave more rational and it is dangers to other student. Furthermore, the quote children are more aggressive and grow up more likely to become involved in violence C either as a victimize or as a victim C if they witness violent acts. (American Psychological Association, 1996) also supporting the photo in a more generalized perspective and at same time suggests prevent children from experiencing any for m of violent acts. Today, due to the liberation of express oneself and lack of restriction of selling and buying knife and firearm the social and moral boundaries are weakling day by day. For example, in journal article July 29, 2009 C 17-year-old Alexis Harris dies after being stabled by another girl during an argument on a basketball court in Cleveland, Ohio. (Gina, 2009:22), in this paragraph exposed security issues in high school. In addition, from this quote we noticed teenager boys and girls could not control themselves when their conscious driven by anger, humiliation. Before any further discussion, it is important to know the target audience of the article. The context of a photo article is linking with our understanding of the inscribed reader and the meaning of the text (OShaughnessy and Stadler, 2005:127). This photo article was found in the Vision journal. The journal is mainly focusing on the challenges that face society today. The journal article is aim at any person who is passionate to examining and researching in complex social, moral and philosophical perspective, and brings solutions to the problems humanity faces today. This may explain the metaphorical approach of the photo and a quotation from American Psychological Associations research paper, highlighting the youth violence is critical. Thus, the link between context and inscribed reader is obvious. In semiotic analysis, interpellation was used to describe, A process in which we internalize ideologies as response to being addressed (OShaughnessy and Stadler, 2005:162). That red pe ncil-bag in the advertisement and filled with the feminine colored stationery. Thus, such image leads me to think, in general are all children who use a red pencil-bag indicate they are potentially being violent or only the girls are intend to be more violent. Furthermore, I am interpellated as being concerned with school violence because each student in school having their pencil-bag, thus readers are getting more concerning about their children in reality. In terms of the text of the article, three areas should been discussed in detail in order to understand connotative ideas of the photo. One is the quote on top of the photograph; the large and bold font size; and the organization name in a catching red font color below the quote. The word children of the quote children are more aggressive fertile breeding place for this situation. is implied in general all children are more aggressive without gender difference. Moreover, the publisher of this quote and examples in the context C American Psychological Association, shows the truth and evidence of this studies have developed and concluded by authority. Last, FBI figures indicated 15 percent of total juvenile arrests are girls, who committed in violence. This figures increasing since 1996 (University of Alaska Anchorage, 2006). In terms of the journal article name the question of youth violence, the words youth and violence contains a symbol C which It is well established that co-relation between signifier an signified based on understanding of the article and background (OShaughnessy and Stadler, 2005). In this case, the signifier is the pencil-bag and knife in the photo and the signified is a fact C youth violence has a increasing trend in female gender. This symbol is widely understood in the world as a symbol of schoolchildren and violence, and it relates to the title the question of youth violence at first look on the photo. Thus, the quote, the figures and live examples in article has constructed a central ideology on Youth Violence. Visually, this photo has many layers, as William says, Reading media imagery is an active process in which context, social location, and prior experience other readers who may see different meanings. (William, et al., 1992). The first thing one saw when looking at the red pencil-bag, we know this is belong to a student. Furthermore, stationary in the pencil-bag are include a various ballpoint pen, pencil sharpener and mathematical instruments because every student has math and a language course at least. Thus, a knife was inside a pencil-bag means a student was intended to hurt someone, because knife was a symbol of violence and blood. Using this image, the author tried to link student and violence and he successfully combined those two ideas. Another successful creation of the photo is its colour scheme. The pencil-bag is coloured with a flashing red colour C a colour possibly implied feminine characteristic of the pencil-bag, and light blue symbolize cold and consciousness. In addition, all stationary inside the pencil-bag are followed with same color scheme to define the owner is a female. Thus, from this analysis one can draw narrative image in their mind. It has called the story a picture presents (OShaughnessy and Stadler, 2005:125). The implied story is a teenage girl who are intended or an urges to hurt somebody with a knife. The implied narrative is furthered by the quotation on the top of the page, and that leads reader to continue to read more about article in details and further. Finally, semiotic terminology is developed with various effects from a particular ideology, which relate to the photo and context of an article. When analyzing the the question of youth violence photo article, one main ideology is established. Which is the ideology that youth violence is increasing over decade and its become more serious than ever; In addition to this ideology is juvenile arrests starting include females as well. According to American FBI figures from 1996 to 2002, female juvenile arrest has increased by 9 percent (Gina, 2009:22). In reality, many readers are not aware of the facts of teenager is very easy be affected by various source to become violent. Through the narrative implication author warn the parents and teenager themselves to be aware of the world have to pay more attention to youth as a whole and in order to prevent any sad incidence in future we need to guide children to a strong and heath shape in term of physical and psychological balance.