The Absence of Women in Beowulf, The Wifes Lament, and...

The Absence of Women in Beowulf, The Wifes Lament, and the Battle of Maldon It could be argued that women are indeed present in the minority in surviving Anglo-Saxon poetry, and that therefore, they are made conspicuous through their absence. The fact they may appear less frequently in Old English Literature does not necessarily mean that women were any less significant in society at this time, although this is the conclusion reached by some. It is assumed that women did, in general, have less important and prominent social roles than men at the time, and the power that they did possess tended to be dictated to them by males. This essay will discuss and examine the social roles and position of the women who did appear in Old English†¦show more content†¦This is true of Beowulf, as although the story of Hildeburh is told, it is not from her point of view. At the centre is the moving depiction of Hildeburh lamenting her loss as the funeral pyre consumes her brother and her son. Another funeral pyre, that for Beowulf himself, affords the poet an opportunity to touch upon in more universal terms but nevertheless powerfully, the theme of the war-related sufferings of women; an anonymous woman who: sang a sorrowful song about Beowulf, said again and again that she sorely feared for herself invasions of armies, many slaughters, terror of troops, humiliation, and captivity. The theme of the ritual mourner was a predominant one in Anglo-Saxon times. This could be seen as a show of power, the woman taking the lead in a situation that would allow her to do so, an environment in which emotion takes priority over strength and courage. The men present at the funeral do try to govern the funeral setting and take control of the situation through their creation of an immense funeral fire. However, it is much easier for the woman to take over when the situation becomes unfavourable to masculine characteristics. Where women are present in Old English poetry, they are often looked upon as passive, or shadows in an

Marx Theory Of Reserve Army Of Labour - 1500 Words

, rather than reducing migration, economic development increases migration. Marx theory of reserve army of labour is central to what he has to say about capitalism and workers wages; the proletariat. Most migrants in society today migrate to the US and end up working in factories where they manage machinery. Marx theory illustrates how capitalist industries consists of two parts - the machinery and the workers. Capitalist industries expand by sukingin their workers to operate the machinery, upping their wages and attracting more of them. By doing so the worker is necessary to satisfy the needs of the machinery, rather than industry existing to satisfy the worker’s need. This process illustrates how capitalism exploits workers for their labour. Yet migration provides the capitalist industry with a wide array of wage-labour. Scholar Jeff Manza explains how higher pay depends on whether or not the product is profitable for the capitalist who owns the machinery to employ workers t o operate. Marx draws the conclusion that capitalism is the first economic system in which there can be too many workers, with a large sum coming from migration as migrants are in search of economic development. The influx of migrants to the US continues to create a class of uneducated proletarians who remain unconscious of their role in unpaid labour. Immigrants become the primary source of cheap labour. migrant labour has become manipulated in the world markets by successful capitalist countries,Show MoreRelatedIs Marx Or Weber More Useful?1524 Words   |  7 PagesEssay Question: Is Marx or Weber more useful to analysing capitalism today? Capitalism is â€Å"a system of economic enterprise based on market exchange† (Giddens, 2009). 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The philosophical and ideological aims put forward were to b ringRead MoreThe Principle Of Population By Thomas Malthus1471 Words   |  6 PagesEssay on the Principle of Population and conclude on its argument as well as provide a justification of the invalidity of the argument. In addition, it will identify its multiple influences on historical contexts throughout time. The most persistent theory written by Thomas Malthus in 1798 regarding population growth and the effects on humanity, which is rather ironic as it has a almost lack of connection to the actual history of humanity and its population growth. In 100CE the population of the EarthRead MoreFeminism Is A Conflict Theory1518 Words   |  7 Pagesto our understanding of society. Firstly, Feminism is a conflict theory that believes that all religions are instruments set up by men to oppress women with the set of beliefs and practices. 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Born in Germany in 1818, he was greatly influenced by philosophers such as Hegel, Feuerbach St. Simon. He made an immense contribution to the different areas of sociology- definition of the field of study, analysis of the economic structure and its relations with other parts of the social structure, theory of social classes, study of religion, theory of ideology, analysis of the capitalist system etc. In this essay,Read MoreTheoretical By Friedrich Engels : Historical Devel opment Of Capitalism1132 Words   |  5 Pagescontradictions that arise from the fundamental contradiction will be discussed. Lastly, this essay will conclude by explaining what Engels envisions as the ultimate outcome of the historical development of capitalism. To Engels, historical materialism is a theory that states social change and political revolutions are caused by the economics of a time period. In other words, it explains how â€Å"social changes and political revolutions† (Engels, 1939, p. 292) are accounted for by changes in the mode of productionRead MoreCompare and contrast the internal policies of Mussolini and Stalin.1271 Words   |  6 PagesBut Mussolini s skill in propaganda was such that he had surprisingly little opposition. At various times after 1922, Mussolini personally took over the ministries of the interior, of foreign affairs, of the colonies, of the corporations, of the army and the other armed services, and of public works. Sometimes he held as many as seven departments simultaneously, as well as the premiership. He was also head of the all-powerful Fascist party (formed in 1921) and the armed Fascist militia. In thisRead MoreHistorical Literature Of Studying The Cyclical Behavior Of Wages1780 Words   |  8 Pageswages and employments over the business cycle shows the movements of a fixed and short run labour demand schedule, which means he agreed with the opinions of classical economics. It implied prediction of countercyclical wage movements through a cycle of empirical testing and new theorizing until today. While Dunlop (1938) and Tarshis (1939) are found and interpret some evidences to supporting non-Keynesian theory and they propose that procyclical correlation of real wages over busine ss. They states that

Exploring Marketing Research Strategy and Management

Question: Discuss about the Exploring Marketing Research Strategy and Management. Answer: Introduction: Each organization who expects to achieve a competitive place in the market shall carry out a research in about the market. The research includes stating about the opportunities and problem with the marketing of the product, evaluating and collecting data regarding the current market for the intended product and finally reporting about the findings and recommends the solution regarding the issues (Armstrong et al. 2014). Market research is not an easy task as various variables are there to be taken into account while researching. For example, if the organization want to introduce any new product and conduct a survey regarding that, it is very tough to figure out that whether the participants are giving honest reply or just replying positive as they feel that the surveyor prefer to get positive reply. It is not that the market research will give exact and accurate data for achieving the success, however, it gives an idea about how to proceed for getting success. Market research can be carried out for any kind of product with the target customers for the intended product (marketing, 2012). The process of marketing research is a four-step procedure that includes defining or stating the problem, developing the plan for research, collection of data and preparing the final report (Babin and Zikmund 2015). Defining the problem Defining the problem states taking the intended product or service in the market and evaluating about how the intended product will fit in the market. Part of the procedure can be van be test market for the new product to evaluate if the target customers for the intended product respond unfavourably or favourably to the product. Defining the issue regarding the intended product includes two steps that is setting the objectives and measuring the goals to be achieved (Hong and Li 2017). The main objective of the business is to increase the sales. The next objective is to set up the specific measures for success and criteria that must be used to find a solution for the issue. Through defining the problem the organization will be able to decide regarding whether they should move forward with their plan or make ant alterations in the plan (Baker 2014). Due to global financial crisis during 2008, the businesses are searching at the bottom line when it goes for financial and banking services. The small businesses who are engaged in importing, generally requires long-term loans for making payments for their import. Further, they want to protect themselves against depreciation of home currency against the country from which the import is made. However, the bank is not always in a position to provide loan for long term period. Further, the issues with most of the borrower are that they are not in a position to pledge any asset with the bank, however, the bank is not a position to provide loan without sufficient pledge as security (Malhotra, Birks and Wills 2013). Developing the research plan The next step in the marketing research is developing the plan for the research. The research plan allows solving the issues regarding the required information that will be needed for marketing decisions. The data is required to be identified for making the marketing decisions. While carrying out the research, lot of irrelevant data are collected, however the researcher must sort out the data for using making the final report. Therefore, the researcher must develop right methods and concepts for collection of data. Under the marketing concept various ideas are formed for intended service or product. Further, this gives the target customers an opportunity for getting an idea regarding the product (Boons and Ldeke-Freund 2013). For planning the research for increasing the market share of the bank, firstly, it is required to obtain the data from the target customers for their preference and requirement. For the small importers the crucial requirement is long-term fund as they have to make payments for their imports over long term period. Further, they need short-term finance for making advance payments to the importers. Another crucial issue is that as the importers are carrying out their business at small level, they do not have sufficient assets to give for pledging the loan. On the other side, the banks are not able to provide loans without security. Moreover, the term of the loan that is asked by the borrower is quite high for the provider. The banks are considering some alternatives to increase the number of borrowers and thereby increase their market shares (Bryman and Bell 2015). Collection of information Once the concepts of research method are clearly identified, the next step is to collect the data through primary data or secondary data. Under the primary research, the data is collected through personal interviews, surveys and providing questionnaires to the target audience. On the other hand, the data is collect under secondary research from various websites, journals thesis papers that are already published in the past (Strauss 2016). Here in the given situations, data is required for the market research of bank to increase their shares for providing services to the importers having sales turnover of 5 to 50 millions. The data is collected from various small importers through personal interviews and surveys. It is identified from the data that greater than 70% of the banking executives are in the view that the customers are most important factor to them. The fact is that the banking and financial sectors are struggling for earning profit from the rapid increased date. However, the banks normally use a small amount of data to improve the customers experience. For example, it is identified from the research that more than 50% of the banks analyse the external data of customers such as online behaviour and only 29% of the banks evaluate the actual requirement of the customer. It is also identified that, the importers want to borrow loans at their own terms such as the term of the loan, interest rate and allowable amo unt. For instance, the bank asks for the business proposal for granting the loan and based on the proposal only the amount of loan is decided. However, most of the times the borrower negotiates on the approved amount and in few cases, they even fail to provide the business proposal with all the details. Some of the borrower again thinks that preparing the business plan for presenting it to the bank is simply wastage of money. Therefore, they are not very keen to prepare the business plan and without the plan it is quite tough for the banks to allocate funds (Neuman 2016). Preparing final report Once the required data are collected data must be analysed and based on that the final report must be prepared. The data must be relevant for the intended purpose and ensure that the data will be related to the intended products and services. The final report simply gives the detail about the research findings and for providing recommendations on the basis of those findings. It will suggest if any alterations are required to be made in the plan or for taking further necessary actions. It is found from the report that the importers are facing the problems regarding the terms of payment and the interest rates. With high rate of interest, the small importers are not able to borrow large amount of loan as it give them more burden of repayment the loan and they will end up with repayment to the banks rather than payment to the exporters. Further, the importers feel that the interest rate offered by the bank for investing money is not satisfactory and they prefer to invest money with other forms like in share market and bonds to derive more income over short-term period and protect themselves from the risk of depreciation of domestic currency and appreciation of foreign currency. Further, some of the importers are not happy with the strict regulations of the banks for investing and withdrawing their money (Berger and Bouwman 2013). Another major issue that is faced by the importers is when they apply to bank for letter of credit and the main problem associated with that is the drafting of the documents that includes airway bills, bill of lading, the cargo type, details of cargo from where it is originating and where it is reaching. The bank requires the exact name of the counter party and the details of the sellers. Moreover, the importers need the name of the bank and account number of the counter party. If any mistake is found in the details, the letter of credit is not approved. Sometimes the importers find it very complex method whereas the bank feels it very important part. It is further found that the customers are more comfortable with the the on-line banking and mobile banking through using the app (Porter and Williams 2016). Conclusion: It is found from the above discussion that, the main issues with the importers are the interest rates, term of repayment, offered interest rate by the banks and strict regulation of the bank. With regard to all the issues, the following can be recommended to the banks for increasing their market share: Banks should make the access system easy and simple, so that more people can use the banking service with less problem and time. They can launch an app whuch will provide all services that are normally required by the customers. The charging and offering interest rate of the banks shall be differentiated based on the requirements and period of investment or borrowings They should introduce lending plan specifically for the importers keeping in mind their unique requirements. The banks should reduce their strict regulations so that more people can be able to use the banking services. One key point of success is that they must listen to the customers. They must arrange a meeting at least semi-annually with the customers where the customers will be free to discuss about their issues and requirements. If the bank can implement all the above things, they will definitely be able to achieve more customers as well as increase their market share. References: Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S., and Kotler, P. 2014.Principles of marketing. Pearson Australia. Babin, B. J., and Zikmund, W. G. 2015.Exploring marketing research. Cengage Learning. Baker, M. J. 2014.Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan. Berger, A. N., and Bouwman, C. H. 2013. How does capital affect bank performance during financial crises?.Journal of Financial Economics,109(1, 146-176. Boons, F. and Ldeke-Freund, F., 2013. Business models for sustainable innovation: state-of-the-art and steps towards a research agenda.Journal of Cleaner Production,45, pp.9-19. Bryman, A., and Bell, E. 2015.Business research methods. Oxford University Press, USA. Hong, G. H., and Li, N. 2017. Market structure and cost pass-through in retail.Review of Economics and Statistics,991, 151-166. Malhotra, N.K., Birks, D.F. and Wills, P., 2013.Essentials of marketing research. Pearson. marketing. (2012). 9th ed. Australia: pearson australia. Neuman, W.L., 2016.Understanding research. Pearson. Porter, T., and Williams, R. 2016.States, markets and regimes in global finance. Springer. Strauss, J. 2016.E-marketing. Routledge.

The Appeal of Enterprise Resource Planning

Executive Summary This paper presents a comparative case study of two companies that had adopted an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on The Appeal of Enterprise Resource Planning specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Companies were evaluated based on their ERP integration process. Both companies had to overcome integration issues of three kinds: those linked to the design of the enterprise resource package, those linked to the integration of new work applications, and those linked to the user interfaces. The paper identified the systems via which companies tried to overcome each kind of integration issue. The integration issues linked to each of these strategies were found to be different. Introduction Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have become admired options for both small and big firms to prevail over the drawbacks of disjointed and disparate legacy systems. Enter prise resource planning structures are designed as an incorporated set of system components, all connected to a common databank, managing a host of company tasks like human resources, inventory control, sales and finance (Monk Wagner 2007). Most ERP systems in addition offer many language and currency competencies, enabling activities in various nations to become more incorporated. In a period of globalisation, these aspects are very appealing for firms focusing on expanding their operations international without losing control over them. The attractiveness of enterprise resource planning is verified in a new research that indicated that approximately 20% of firms across all sector industries have installed enterprise resource planning software, with the processing industry leading the trend (Magal Word 2012).Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The research in addition indic ated that the popularity of enterprise resource planning continues to increase, with 35% of the reviewed firms exploring, testing, or applying enterprise resource planning packages. Anderson and Larocca (2005) termed enterprise resource planning as the most critical establishment in the business utilisation of information technology in the world. The expanding significance in enterprise resource planning systems may be defined their expected benefits. Enterprise resource planning packages allow organisations to implement completely incorporated packages to substitute their disparate legacy packages, which are extremely hard to maintain due to their nature, size, work-based condition, and recurrent absence of records. Enterprise resource planning packages are valuable as they are incorporated rather than disjointed, implant supposedly best corporate routines within system applications, and provide managerial staff with direct access to synchronised data (Magal Word 2012). Enterprise resource planning undertakings are frequently linked to basic managerial enhancement attempts, such as enterprise process restructuring (EPR). Since an ERP system supports business assimilation, it potentially represents more than an alteration in technological infrastructure. In fact, the key benefits resulting from enterprise resource planning installations may essentially originate from modifications in the administrative structure, production processes, the responsibilities and abilities of managerial staff, and knowledge management projects (Whitten Bentley 1998).Advertising We will write a custom report sample on The Appeal of Enterprise Resource Planning specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The effects of enterprise resource planning project letdowns are significant, given the money and time that such projects usually need. Overall, high threats come with the high payoffs potentially achievable via utilising an enterprise re source planning system. The acquisition of an enterprise resource planning system comprises not only an enormous and sophisticated technological undertaking for a company but also bears the outlook of key alterations in administrative structure and business applications. Given the expanding importance of enterprise resource planning in the modern age and beyond, it is necessary that studies concentrate on means of improving the past performance of enterprise resource planning undertakings. Project risks have to be lowered, and companies must find means of making the huge investments in enterprise resource planning system pay off. The paper utilises a comparative case study approach to investigate the activities by which two organisations implemented ERP packages supplied by a number of vendors and supported by a number of consulting firms. Drawing upon Magal Word’s (2012) theoretical assessment of administrative change, the paper considered ERP implementation as an integrati on activity that aims at the interaction between forces supporting and forces fighting change. The research aimed particularly at the integration process and demonstrated various ways in which the two organisations addressed the integration issues in ERP implementation.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Integration Issues An enormous body of literature on ERP integration has been generated in the last 3 decades (Whitten Bentley 1998; Sprott 2000). However, the knowledge of the aspects and procedures that result in enterprise resource planning integration successes or failures is still inadequate as ERP integration is comparatively novel and is different from conventional information platforms establishment projects (Sprott 2000). Here, the paper focuses on a number of the unique features of enterprise resource planning systems and identify the integration issues associated with such features. People One key issue lies with the fact that enterprise resource planning platforms are packaged systems. Sharma and Gupta (2011) compared the initiation procedures of packaged systems with legacy information platforms at the sector, development, socio-cultural environment, and team stages. Their assessment proposes that vendors of packaged systems must convince various clients with differing desires and needs with a view of capturing the required market share and profitability to justify the project. At the same time, there are great time-to-market pressures on the merchants to develop their novel systems to remain competitive. Also, packaged systems manufacturers are disjointed from the customers organizationally, in addition to naturally and they generally do not contribute to the integration of the ERP package. Agents like sales and client personnel and specialists frequently provide the link between end-users and system developers (Scott Kaindl 2000; Sharma Gupta 2011). As a result, unlike conventional system development projects where a system is customised to fit the current enterprise needs and infrastructures, packaged system integration involves the clients (people) modifying processes and enterprise procedures with a view of utilising the integrated system, changing a number of the modules in the system to suit their specific needs, and depending on system merchants for updates and support to the ERP system. The misfit between a company’s process and data needs and the benefits offered by enterprise resource planning is particularly evident because of the compound nature of the enterprise resource planning applications (Sawyer 2000). In their research of enterprise resource planning integration in Singapore, Sambamurthy and Kirsch (2000) illustrate that the alleged sector best applications entrenched in enterprise resource planning applications is barely complete. They indicate that disconnect between ERP capabilities and enterprise needs can be business-based, sector-based, or country-based and may be grouped into 3 classes: information, process and outcome. Rouse (2006) emphasised the socio-cultural effects of disconnects in ERP integration. Process Another issue between conventional data system creation project and enterprise resource planning is that an ERP project, which tends to be enterprise-based, is characteristically bigger in scope than a conventional system development project, which frequently focuses on one or more sections or enterprise procedures. The threats linked to enterprise resource planning undertakings are comparatively greater than those conventional projects (Robey Ross 2002). A business-wide project affects many more users and such consumers may have various and perhaps inconsistent requirements and desires. Also, an ERP project requires the integration of information, applications, and processes throughout the organisation, frequently on an international level, which makes enterprise resource planning projects far more composite than conventional software development undertakings (Monk Wagner 2007). To attain assimilation, different parts and separate enterprise processes require to be fixed together by matching to an identical principle. For instance, assimilation may be achieved by modifying each enterprise process to fit with the software utilising the enterprise resource planning system as a paradigm. The adjustment of the enterprise resource planning software involves the modification of the ERP software to fit current or restructured enterprise processes. Gefen (2002) identified enterprise resource planning system integration as program collection, system organisation, and system adaptation into organisation, expansion, and adaptation. Davison (2002) presented a more thorough classification of enterprise resource planning system adaptation, which comprises eight kinds of configuration: customisation, fixing, screen masks, expanded coverage, workflow encoding, customer exits, enterprise resource planning encoding, and interface improvement. Each kind may need modifications to be carried out at various levels of the enterprise resource planning system. As a result, these changes may influence the preliminary enterprise resource planning implementation, in addition to future repair, upgrading, and renovations. It is worth understanding that such mode ls are only focused on the configuration of systems to suit enterprise processes. Application When integrating ERP systems, organisations have many options regarding how to configure and adapt the system package (Magal Word 2012). Most enterprise resource planning systems are created in a modular form, where each program includes unique functionality and customisable alternatives (Kumar Hillegersberg 2000). Also, a proprietary or non-closed encoding milieu is frequently presented by enterprise resource planning vendors to their clients for configuring the software. Hence, organisations have three kinds of technological adaptation alternatives: program choice, table customisation, and system change (King Malhotra 2000). In program choice, organisations select to apply one or more projects utilising the default system determined by ERP merchants. In this case, technological configuration is accomplished through the organisation’s decision as to which projects to adopt. This kind of technological configuration makes minimum changes to the software and, by itself, is barely adequate in an enterprise resource planning project. A number of small enterprises, however, may prefer this low threat and less expensive strategy. For instance, Rolls-Royce decided to adopt SAP’s finance software utilising the default graphs of descriptions without any alterations (Hong Kim 2002). Because most enterprise resource planning platforms are table-based, another kind of technological configuration is to choose customisation alternatives in the tables in order that the software satisfies organisational requirements. A major need for table customisation is that of understanding the implications and effects of each customisable alternative in each system. Because there are many applications in a standard enterprise resource planning system, this can be an extremely composite and time-consuming work, particularly when interconnections among alternatives across differe nt systems and projects need to be taken into account. For instance, General Electric spent over 12 months on system customisation alone (Gefen 2002). The advantages of this kind of technological configuration comprise the capability of modifying the system without programming, the entire support from the merchant, and the ease of potential improvements. ERP Solution In an international enterprise viewpoint, firms are aggressively growing outside of their original region with a view of seeking chances worldwide. Whereas the active and rapid shifting external milieu has put enormous demands on organisations’ decisions and activities, how to react rapidly to such shifts and how to participate efficiently in the international milieu turn out to be an important concern. Inside a scattered business, it needs developing integrated ERP system, which allows information exchange across the various departments. Additionally, the business requires more efficient communication between de partments and main office. Even within a region, firms need to develop business systems via which various sections can link more effectively to each other. Generally, firms need to develop an integrated enterprise process, which can considerably promote the link and communication among active divisions. With a view of achieving this goal, active integration is needed, which is the function of incorporating all enterprise tasks to work together, for example a company’s distribution or logistics tasks have to work together with supply chain section, production, and information system before the active incorporation can be expanded to other firms in the supply chain (Davison 2002). From the perspective of technology, ERP design has been shifting from a 2-tier to a 3-tier customer care. Aged legacy designs require to be changed to modern, more flexible and strong systems, and aged information require to be transferred into latest forms. Faced with such requirements, organisations are seeking harmonised technology and enterprise solutions. The resolution would fall into enterprise resource planning, which fundamentally integrates enterprise operations with modern technology with a view of providing solutions for the entire company. ERP focuses on improving internal competence through integration of the various components in the enterprise. In fact, the explosion of ERP systems forces enterprises to offer communication and data exchange among supply-chain representatives, conquering physical limits. Therefore, integrating ERP is an ordinary and required function in organisational and strategic consideration. Technically, enterprise resource planning is said to be the backbone of supply chain management. Since the two depend on almost related infrastructure like extranet and electronic information exchange, it is especially expected and realistic for their assimilation. Most enterprise resource planning system vendors have been improving their software to comp rise sales-force computerization, information storage, after-sales service, and record management. In this sense, enterprise resource planning software modules initially connecting back-office operations into a distinct system would expand beyond their main tasks to comprise not only information storage, record management, after-sales service, and sales-force computerization but also supply chain management to improve effectiveness and production for the core clients (Brown Vessey 2003). Benefits of Addressing Integration Issues The integrated enterprise resource planning can network mechanically with suppliers and clients by data exchange thereby improve the effectiveness of whole procurement and client relationship management, at the same time associate with third party websites, implement E-enterprise, and then cut the costs of intermediate connections and improve business competiveness in the industry. Whichever technique is utilised, so long as the back-office and front-office of businesses is integrated flawlessly, system implementation of order entry and quotation will be easier. So long as the current clients or future clients of firms can access the following data from the system interface, such as product records, department costs, discount levels and stock data, the customers can choose whether or not to place a new order. The order request by clients on the system is the same as the order request by agents, and the data regarding orders can be directly transferred to Enterprise Resource Planning at the background. Then the enterprise resource planning system will perform computing after receiving the orders. Finally, the outcomes information on the order cost, order specification and the level of discount will be communicated back to the system centre. If clients document the data, they can follow these orders at any time via the customer care, or through communicating to agents. The company utilising ERP can be completely responsive of the interf ace information and transaction information regarding clients, and then it will assess client inputs to the enterprise and choose whether or not to improve the quality of products (Akkermans Helden 2002). General Electric – Case Study 1 General Electric (GE) has a competitive edge in technology of its main products. But its key competitor, 3M, does better at cost control, effectiveness, and supply chain management. With a view of competing with 3M and other companies, GE chose to adopt an enterprise resource planning system. The other factor was because of the growing sales and strategies to enter the Chinese market, GE chose to implement an enterprise resource planning to supervise its branches in China, particularly its capability of communicating across the company with its various currencies and languages. The ERP project analysis team manager was the head of the information department selected by the CEO. With a view of ensuring evaluation appropriate for the entire com pany procedure, the implementation team comprised first class managers from sections which utilise an enterprise resource planning software the most like procurement, finance, and sales. Senior management fully authorised and supported the ERP implementation team and demonstrated interest and articulated anticipations for the work at all company meetings. General electric has been in operation for more than 10 years, and established 5 branch firms in China. Before the branch firms were established, GE had already prepared to implement ERP system with a view of improving its competitive edge. There are two key issues that happened after the adoption of the ERP system. One is technological, and the other is about user interfaces. General electric found a number of issues in the production organising and work in progress sections. For instance, one of the true instances of the enterprise resource planning system was that a number of production orders were not utilised; completed and ha lf-completed goods which were left in production room. But during stock check in the end of each month, the enterprise resource planning system could not differentiate between the completed and half-finished goods which were not developed in the stock of the system records. The ERP system makes financial and procurement departments hard to confirm the stock if such completed and half-finished items are not on the system records. The reason why the system could not locate these goods on the check list was due to the fact that the system failed to take into account the unfinished products separately. The other issue is the undue involvement of the CEO in the implementation process. Because of consolidating the power in him, the CEO controls most of the decisions of the organisation. Indeed, the CEO has inadequate skills regarding ERP. But, in the implementation, when dealing with situation like the consultant proposes that enterprise process has to change to suit the enterprise resour ce planning system, the CEO refuses to alter initial process but he uses add-on projects with a view of solving such issue. This is the critical aspect that causes the failure of the system and increases the cost of production. Rolls-Royce – Case Study 2 Rolls-Royce is a chemical distributing firm started in 1980, it makes $160 million yearly turnover and has 39 workers. The top management comprises the CEO, finance person, and technology specialist. Middle management involves production manager and departmental heads. All of the top managers have worked in key positions in the firm for over 10 years with enormous reliability and are especially acquainted with organisation culture. The common feature of the managers is that they understand fairly little regarding enterprise resource planning. The timing of the enterprise resource planning system execution is when the enterprise is expanding with vast profitability. Because of lack of qualified workers of ERP execution, Rolls- Royce hired a consultant. The consultant was well trusted and entirely authorised by the top management. The critical effect for the ERP system choice originates from the senior management relatives. Facing the various alternatives is the most frustrating moments for the consultant. The outcome to give way to such unprofessional decisions is the biased limitation of the ERP development. Thus, in the conventional research of enterprise resource planning system adoption the assistance of senior managers play an extremely critical task. The same state occurs in the family based enterprise, the assistance for the consultant from the senior management was influenced by the resistance of relatives, particularly when the senior management is unfamiliar with enterprise resource planning system. The other issue originates from the departmental heads lack of adequate skills for ERP implementation. This is so called the emotional conflict of ERP adoption. Conventional studies in the last 10 ye ars mainly focus the discussion on the senior managers and the ERP users but not middle management. But in this case, ERP consultant found that it plays a critical task which would strengthen the resistance of ERP system users. Conclusion The paper presented a comparative research about two organisations that had implemented an ERP system. The firms were analysed based on ERP integration process. The two firms had to conquer integration issues of three kinds: user interfaces, process incompatibility, and incompatible technology. The paper identified the systems via which firms tried to overcome each kind of integration concern. It also identified various ERP implementation strategies. The integration concerns associated with each of these strategies were found to be different. References Akkermans, H Helden, K 2002, ‘Vicious and virtuous cycles in ERP implementation: a case study of interrelations between critical success factors’, European Journal of Information Syste ms, vol. 11 no. 1, pp. 38-46. Anderson, G Larocca, D 2005, Teach yourself SAP in 24 hours, SAMS, Buckingham, UK. Brown, C Vessey, I 2003, ‘Managing the next wave of enterprise systems: leveraging lessons from ERP’, MIS Quarterly Executive, vol. 2 no. 1, pp. 65–77. Davison, R 2002, ‘Cultural complications of ERP’, Communication ACM, vol. 45 no. 7, pp. 109–111. Gefen, D 2002, ‘Nurturing clients’ trust to encourage engagement success during the customization of ERP systems’, Omega, vol. 30 no. 4, pp. 37-56. Hong, K Kim, Y 2002, ‘The critical success factors for ERP implementation: an organizational fit perspective’, Information Management, vol. 40 no.1, pp. 56-66. King, W Malhotra, Y 2000, ‘Developing a framework for analyzing IS sourcing’, Information Management, vol. 37 no. 8, pp. 324-333. Kumar, K Hillegersberg, J 2000, ‘ERP experiences and evolution’, Communication ACM, vol. 43 no. 4, pp. 23–26. Magal, S Word, J 2012, Integrated Business Processes with ERP systems, Wiley, Sydney. Monk, E Wagner, D 2007, Concepts in Enterprise Resource Planning, 3rd edn, Thomson Learning, South Melbourne. Robey, J Ross, M 2002, ‘Learning to implement enterprise systems: an exploratory study of the dialectics of change’, Journal Management Information Systems, vol. 19 no.1, pp. 122-129. Rouse, W 2006, ‘Enterprise transformation: implications for enterprise information systems’, Information Systems, vol. 126 no. 5, pp. 1069-1072. Sambamurthy, V Kirsch, J 2000, ‘An integrative framework of the information systems development process’, Decision Science, vol. 31 no. 2, pp. 391–411. Sawyer, S 2000, ‘Packaged software: implications of the differences from custom approaches to software development’, European Journal Information System, vol. 9 no. 4, pp. 47–58. Scott, J Kaindl, L 2000, ‘Enhancing fun ctionality in an enterprise software package’, Information Management, vol. 37 no. 3, pp. 111-116. Sharma, H Gupta, N 2011, ‘ERP and business: an emerging relationship, International Journal of Managing Value and Supply Chains, vol. 2 no. 2, pp. 33-42. Sprott, D 2000, ‘Componentizing the enterprise application packages’, Communication ACM, vol. 43 no. 4, pp. 23-29. Whitten, J Bentley, D 1998, Systems analysis and design methods, 4th edn, McGraw-Hill, New York. This report on The Appeal of Enterprise Resource Planning was written and submitted by user Braxton House to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

6 Common Career Regrets to Avoid

6 Common Career Regrets to Avoid We all have regrets in life. Regret after eating those tacos at 11:30 last night. Regret over not asking that perfect person on a date back in college. Your career isn’t immune to that same level of â€Å"what if?†, but by identifying some common areas of potential regret, you might be able to change your professional destiny a bit. 1. Playing it too safeDid you avoid asking for a promotion because your manager might say no? Have you waited for colleagues to speak up with their ideas because you weren’t sure how yours would be received? Being bold and taking a risk (or a stand) once in a while can lead you to workplace opportunities you might never have noticed otherwise.2. Staying for the moneyA large salary can be hard thing to walk away from- but if you think about your current career path and the biggest (or only) positive is your paycheck, you might want to reconsider. Without the fulfillment of a job that challenges you and makes you greet projects with ent husiasm, your 20-years-from-now self will likely  be stressed and unhappy.3. Staying for the friendsAs with the money, if your awesome colleagues are the only reason you’re excited to head into the office in the morning, you might want to rethink your job. Sure, the friendly chats, goofy emails, and bonding over office absurdities can get you through the day, but don’t let that cover up your relationship with your job.If you’re not satisfied with your day-to-day workload or the way you’re managed, friends may not make up for that in the long term. And what happens when your buddies move on to other jobs and opportunities, leaving you behind at a job you don’t especially like?4. Not making an effort with your coworkersOn the flip side, we’ve all seen coworkers who have zero interest in being one of the gang. If you’re that coworker (you know, the one who wears headphones 24/7 or awkwardly avoids small talk at the espresso machine), y ou might want to reach out a little more and get to know your colleagues.You don’t have to go to every happy hour, or â€Å"like† everything they post on Facebook. But you spend many hours a week with these people. You all share a common goal (workplace success), and knowing people’s personalities and strengths can help make your own work more effective. Besides, a little bonding can help you get through those tough projects and long days together.5. Not maintaining your networkRemember whatsherface, whose cubicle was across from yours six years ago? Well, now she works for your dream company, and she could totally get you a foot in the door- if only you had maintained a relationship.Once you start at a new job, â€Å"out of sight, out of mind† can be tempting as you meet new colleagues and learn a new workplace culture. However, keeping in touch with your former colleagues and mentors can help you build a large and fruitful network as you move through yo ur career. You never know when you’ll be perfect for an opening at your old boss’s new company†¦ but you’ll definitely never know if you haven’t bothered to email him since your last day together in the office.6. Neglecting work-life balanceIf you go to a colleague’s retirement party and ask them to reflect on their long career, you know what you’re not going to hear? â€Å"I wish I’d worked more 14-hour days.† Whether that means leaving the office on time, not answering emails after 9 p.m., or just making sure you take a lunch break, it’s important to maintain boundaries.Working (or thinking about working) all the time can lead to stress and burnout. Making sure you’re able to devote time to your family (or to your longtime hobby of knitting sweaters for cats) can help you get the balance you need to be productive and satisfied throughout your career.

Decision Support System (DSS) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Decision Support System (DSS) - Research Paper Example Data on an organization's external operating environment, as well as internal operational information, is included and an interactive interface allows managers to retrieve and manipulate data. Modeling techniques are used to examine the results of alternative courses of action† (Decision support system.2007). Later on, DSS contributed to several domains, one of them is the healthcare sector. The Armed Forces Longitudinal Technology Application (AHLTA) is an internationally recognized medical and dental information management system that provides a safe and secure online accessibility to the military health systems (MHS) reports of beneficiary. Medical clinicians, who are deployed in various medical treatment facilities worldwide, access the system (DHIMS, 2011). They are provisioned with complete and appropriate health data in order to take informed decisions regardless of location and time. Moreover, AHLTA also facilitates central storage of electronic health records (EHR) dat a used to retrieve patients overall history of injuries and diseases (DHIMS, 2011). AHLTA Functionality The information flow and sharing of information on various levels of the AHLTA system are illustrated below (How data travels through AHLTA, n.d): The flow of information does not cover all aspects of the system and only prioritize on nontechnical aspects. As there are four primary components of the system including: Client Workstations: The workstations that will be used by the clinical staff Local Cache Database: The local cache database stores all the retrieved information, in order to provide information much faster as compared to a normal request of patient information from the system. Clinical Data Repository: The clinical data repository hosts the primary database and includes all the patient and clinical data connected to all the military treatment facilities worldwide. CHCS: Composite Health Care System is a legacy system that is performing the task of maintaining informa tion and information retrieval related to results, appointments and vice versa. Moreover, the AHLTA system operates on two modes i.e. the normal mode and the Failover mode. The normal mode provides provision of all the available information related to patient’s history. The CHCS retrieves and demonstrates demographics, appointment information and results from the clinical data repository that displays all the information to the computer of the client (How data travels through AHLTA, n.d). The fail over mode also operates on the same four components excluding the clinical database repository. In this scenario, the clinical team can have access to document encounters related to patients. Nevertheless, they cannot access the complete record of the patients and historical records i.e. they cannot access CDR. If CDR is not accessible, CHCS sends all the information related to patient appointments, demographics along with all the relevant information to local database cache (LDC) ( How data travels through AHLTA, n.d). Furthermore, the fail over mode supports: Scheduling of appointment information Last four encounters of scheduling patients Information related to patient and family history for patients that are scheduled Inventory information related to stores User Configuration The client server architecture of an AHLTA system were illustrated by â€Å"