Free Essays - Tales of Simple in Langston Hughes Black Voices :: Black Voices Essays

Free Essays - Tales of Simple in Langston Hughes Black Voices         Langston Hughes is represented in Black Voices by the Tales of Simple.  Hughes first presents his feature Jessie B. Semple in the Forward Who is Simple?  In this tale the reader is given its first look at the character Jessie B. Semple who is a black man that represents more or less the anybody or everybody of black society.  Semple is a man who needs to drink, to num the pain of living life.  Usually over a glass of beer, he tells me his tales... with a pain in his soul... sometimes as the old blues says... Simple might be laughing to keep from crying ( 98, 99 ).         Jessie B. Semple, also known as Simple, has righteous the right combination of qualities to be Black Americas new spokesman and unsung hero.  Semple seems to possess just enough urban humor and cynicism, down- home simplicity, naivete, and boy-next-door innocence that Semple easily becomes a character that hard-working, average, everyday people can relate to.  He quickly becomes this sort of Black Everyman whose bunions hurt all the time and whose thoughts are relatively preferably simple, yet he is a man who rises above these facts and has a perception that shows the man to have great wisdom and incredible insight.  And although he maintains a serious-mindedness for all his wisdom to come through his presentation of the facts is given in a humorous manner.  In Bop, Thats why so many white kinsfolk do not get their heads beat just for world white.  But me --- a cop is liable to grab me almost anytime and beat my head- just for being colored (105).  This side to Semple is  an example of Hughes attempt to give simple facts or actual truth but instead of telling these things harshly and angrily he tries to sweeten them with a little sarcastic humor.         At times, Simple is full of pain . I have had so many hardships in this life, said Simple, that it is a curiosity Ill live until I die (105). This comment by Semple is one of many that help portray him as a simple man who has been both mentally and physically broken-down by society but

Brian Friels Translations Essay -- Brian Friel Translations Essays

Brian Friels TranslationsTranslations by Brian Friel can be appreciated and understoodwithout knowledge of Ire estates social, political and linguistichistory. It can be enjoyed simply as a caper that incorporates comedy,tragedy and romance. However, with a greater understanding of Irelandshistory, such as the effect the great famine had on the ordinarypeople of Ireland the play *In Translations the people of Baile Beag show abhorrence towards theEnglish army who have been sent to anglicise the place names of thearea. For hundreds of years the English had made incursions in toIreland. Many rebellions followed the conquest of Ireland, after which puff Mary Tudor became the Queen of England and Ireland and thepeople of Ireland came under the control of the British government.There were attempts in the C16 to settle English colonies in Lensterand Munster but these were unsuccessful. In the C17 land was takenfrom Irish Earls and divided between Scottish Presbyterians. Rebellionfollowed in the reign of Charles 1 and this took the form of Catholic...

Huckleberry Finn ( Huck Finn ) :: Essays Papers

Huck Finn5The concept of what truth is, is a prevailing theme in both The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and the essay excerpt by Andrew Lang. Lang writes around truth as being found in lack of distortion from the actual world. Langs nous of truth is certainly found in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. For Twain, theology is a larger part of his concept of truth than likeness to nature. Truth, for Andrew Lang is factual, precise, and objective. He admires The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as an accurate picture of the time, as if Twain were simply mirroring back an sign of his world as told through Huck Finn. Lang admires Twain for crafting a believable, natural character in Huck Finn. He thinks that in Twains accuracy, in that location is truth, just like there is truth in a historical document. For Mark Twain, the pursuit of truth is a pursuit of moral truth. Huck journeys bulge out the river with a runaway slave. The river is symbolic for Hucks moral journey Huck is m oving down the river while everyone else is standing still. The reader can delay that Hucks unintentional journey towards truth culminates in chapter 31. Alright, then, Ill go I to hell. (p. 210) Ironically, it is at this moment when Huck believes he is succumbing to his own execration that we see he has reached the moral truth the river had been leading him to. But Huck doesnt see his inability to accept what he has been taught and act accordingly as a new way of thinking Huck is a reluctant rebel. Twains presentation of truth here is masterful he communicates his idea by saying the exact opposite of what he means. Twain tackles with other aspects of truth, throughout the book. Huck lies, wears disguises and schemes. On his journey towards the truth, Huck has proven to be a talented liar. This shows that for Twain, the idea of truth, is more complicated than simply telling the truth. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a masterpiece. I can agree with Andrew Lang on this, but hi s reasoning behind it, I cannot. Lang sees Huckleberry Finn as, a vivid and original picture of life . . . naturally displayed . . . possible and plausible. All of these are true, but I believe it is Twains soused use of irony in his presentation of truth, and the tension between What Huck has been taught and his instinctively good nature that make The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and extremely well crafted novel.

Graduation Speech: Always Look On The Bright Side of Life :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

I have been chosen today to come before you and give some words of encouragement to the graduating coterie because I am seen as an example of integrity who has succeeded in school. And yet, I am by no means the only person in our circle who has succeeded. Woody Allen once said, Success is 80 percent showing up and since all of you have shown up here today and at school for the utmost 12 years, you all are most of the way there. So what makes up the remaining 20 percent? Not getting all As on your tests, or going to state or winning first prize in a contest. It is merely trying. If you try your best, you have already succeeded, regardless of where you last up. The world is a fickle place and too often the most deserving, hardest-working people are passed over in favor of the ones who obtain the best-looking accomplishments. Thus, ones measure of success should be based not on how well you do by societys footards, but on how hard you worked and how practically you got out of it. As Tennyson once said, How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnishd, not to shine in use But rather, we should be, as he said, like the smelling yearning in desire To follow knowledge like a sinking star, Beyond the utmost bound of human thought ... To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. undecomposed because we are graduating today does not mean we now know everything rather, it is just the opposite. As we go out into the world we will continue to grow, to learn, to mature. Indeed, this is perhaps one of the greatest qualities of mankind, that we can develop our minds to better understand. It is a rare and important gift that should not be abused through neglect or lukewarm attention. Never stop trying and never stop learning because the moment you do, you begin to die. Once you leave here tonight, you will no longer be seniors. You will be adults, set adrift with the entire world at your disposal. It will be up to you, and you alone, to decide your future s. Today more than ever, as we stand at the dawn of the new millennium, you have the opportunity to become something great, to achieve wondrous deeds.

The War At Gettysburg :: essays research papers

The War at GettysburgGetting ThereOn the way to Gettysburg was tough. It was a long hard and tough journeygetting thither because there was no other way to get there for the army besideswalking. It was so hard that some people died, and some got sick. The trip therewas actu whollyy long. Only about half all the people going there survived. The most ofall people that died were collaborator men.The PopulationThere was a assign of people involved in The War at Gettysburg. Major JosephHooker had 115,000 men in his army. Major Robert E. Lee had only 70,000Confederate men in his army. Brig. General John Buford had opnly 4,000 men inhis section of the confederate army. 9,000 of the heart and soul died, 5,000 of the menscattered, and some 40,000 of the men held the ridge.Their LifeThe sodliers had a horrible life. Almost all of the soldiers worked nightand day.They all risked their life to defend their armys and Union. Most of themgot scared. Most died because they either got shot or th e contend was to hard forthem. Some ran away, because they got scared, Their goal was to defend theirUnion.What HappenedThe Confederate went to war with the union in a small town calledGettysburg. The Union majorally beat the Confederate. 28,000 were wounded,captured, and killed from the Confederate. Major General George Meade some23,000 Union Men, that was nearly a quater of his men. The war was over on July3, 1863. The Union had won the war.SuppliesThe men nedded alot and I mean alot of supplies. Most men needed Clothes,Blankets,food, medicine, gun supplies, horses, wagons, cattle,and scores. Theyneeded sauerkraut, thought to be refine for diarrhea that plagued thousands ofsoldiers. They basically needed everything.Important PeopleThere was alot of people in The War at Gettysburg. Her are all of thenames of the army people.UnionThe Army of the potomacMajor General George Meade Commanding

The War At Gettysburg :: essays research papers

The fight at GettysburgGetting ThereOn the way to Gettysburg was tough. It was a foresighted large(p) and tough journeygetting there because there was no other way to get there for the army besideswalking. It was so hard that close to people died, and some got sick. The trip therewas very long. Only about half each(prenominal) the people going there survived. The most ofall people that died were Confederate manpower.The PopulationThere was a lot of people involved in The War at Gettysburg. major(ip) JosephHooker had 115,000 men in his army. Major Robert E. Lee had only 70,000Confederate men in his army. Brig. General John Buford had opnly 4,000 men inhis section of the confederate army. 9,000 of the Union died, 5,000 of the menscattered, and some 40,000 of the men held the ridge.Their LifeThe sodliers had a horrible life. Almost all of the soldiers worked nightand day.They all risked their life to defend their armys and Union. Most of themgot scared. Most died because they eit her got shot or the war was to hard forthem. Some ran away, because they got scared, Their goal was to defend theirUnion.What HappenedThe Confederate went to war with the union in a small town calledGettysburg. The Union majorally beat the Confederate. 28,000 were wounded,captured, and killed from the Confederate. Major General George Meade some23,000 Union Men, that was nearly a quater of his men. The war was over on July3, 1863. The Union had won the war.SuppliesThe men nedded alot and I mean alot of supplies. Most men needed Clothes,Blankets,food, medicine, gun supplies, horses, wagons, cattle,and scores. Theyneeded sauerkraut, thought to be remedy for diarrhea that plagued thousands ofsoldiers. They basically needed everything.Important PeopleThere was alot of people in The War at Gettysburg. Her are all of thenames of the army people.UnionThe Army of the potomacMajor General George Meade Commanding

Analyzing EMC Corporation

EMC Corporation, based in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. with 11,200 employees cosmoswide, is the worlds leading supplier of keen enterprise storage and retrieval technology. EMC is a Fortune 500 fraternity and was ranked ninth on Business Weeks 1998 Info tech 100 list of the worlds best-performing discipline technology companies. In 1998, EMC had an one-year revenue of $3.9 billion. EMC designs systems for open system, mainframe, and midrange environments.EMC is the only company in the world wholly focused on rapidly delivering intelligent enterprise storage and retrieval solutions. This enables companies and organizations to leverage their growing volumes of data into profit ability, growth and competitive advantage. EMC Enterprise Storage systems, parcel products, and services are the leading information access and storage solutions for e rattling major computing platform in todays business enterprise.EMC was founded in 1979 by Richard Egan and Robert Marino (the E and M in EM C) as a supplier of add-on retention boards. EMCs rapid rise in the worldwide selective information storage market began its major surge in 1989, when the company revised its strategy to align itself with businesses growing reliance on increasingly vast and interlinking amounts of electronic data. In 1990 with the introduction of EMCs Symmetrix product line, EMC became the initiative company to provide intelligent storage systems based on arrays of small, commodity hard disc drives for the mainframe market.Since the in introduction of Symmetrix technology, more than 30,000 of these systems have been sold around the globe and EMCs annual revenues have grown from $190 million in 1990 to $3.97 billion in 1998. With the introduction of Symmetrix Remote Data Facility in 1994, EMC became the worlds leading storage-based solution for business continuity and disaster rec everyplacey. EMCs portfolio of storage software includes EMC TimeFinder, EMC Data Manager, EMC PowerPath and Symmetri x Manager. With its $445 million in software revenue in 1998, this makes EMC one of the worlds largest and fastest-growing software companies.The major customers of EMC include the worlds largest banks and financial services firms, telecommunications providers, airlines, retailers and manufacturers, as well as governments, universities, and scientific institutions. These customers rely on EMCs innovative storage solutions for such applications as online arriere pensee systems, transaction processing, customer billing, year 2000 compliance, the Internet and corporate intranets, business continuance/disaster recovery, data mining and data warehousing. EMC has alike formed alliances with the worlds leading software, application and database companies, such as Microsoft, SAP, Oracle, Baan, and PeopleSoft.EMC is a global organization, and is represented by more than 100 offices worldwide. The company manufactures its products in Massachusetts and Ireland. EMC has R&D facilities in Mass achusetts, Colorado, Israel, and France. They also have Customer Support Centers in Massachusetts, Ireland, Japan, and Australia. EMC holds the most strict quality management certification from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 9001) and its manufacturing operations hold MRP II Class A certification. The company trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EMC and is a component of the S&P 500 Index.Richard J. Egan- Founder and chairperson Egan is a founder of EMC Corporation.. He has served as Director since the companies inception in 1979. In 1988, Egan brought the company public and was elected Chairman of the Board. He held the position of President and CEO until January 1992.Michael C. Ruettgers- President and CEO Ruettgers has held the position of President and CEO of EMC Corporation, since January of 1992. Ruettgers joined the company in 1988 as executive guilt President of Operations and Customer Service, and from 1989 he was EMCs President and knob Operating Officer.1979- EMC Corporation is founded by Richard j. Egan and Roger Marino in Newton,1981- 64 kilobyte chip memory boards are developed for Prime Computers.1982- EMC corporate headquarters moves to Natick, Massachusetts.-Annual sales surpass the $3 million mark.1984- Five years after the companys founding, annual sales reach $18.8 million, nearly tripling1985- EMC is first to commercially ship denser memory upgrades using 1-megabit Random1986- EMC goes public in April makes initial public crack on the NASDAQ stock exchange.-Total revenues double over 1985 to $66.6 million net income more than doubles to $18.6 million.1987- Corporate headquarters relocates to Hopkinton, Massachusetts.1988- EMC opens its European manufacturing facility in Cork, Ireland.-EMC stock lists for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange in March.1989- Second major US corporate facility is opened in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.-EMC develops Direct approach shot Storage Device (DASD) subsystems with automated errorthresholding for IBM System/38 and AS/400 computers.-Michael C. Ruettgers, is promoted from Executive Vice President of Operations andCustomer Service, to President and Chief Operating Officer. Richard J. Egan continues his1990- EMC redefines mainframes storage by introducing the Symmetrix 4200 Integrated CachedDisk Array (ICDA), a 24-gigabyte RAID mainframe storage system that replaces traditional14 DASD disks with the mainframe patiences first 5.25-inch disks. Performance is further intensify through 4-gigabyte cache and 32-processor controller cards.-EMC institutes a Continuous Quality Improvement process, resulting in greatly enhanced product and process quality, as well as over $20 million saved to date (1995).1991- Several enhancements to the Symmetrix ICDA product line give EMC the ability to competein the Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) environment.1992- Michael C. Ruettgers is named President and CEO and the companys stock splits 2 for 3 .1993- EMC mainframe storage market portion increases from 5% to 15%.1994- EMC introduces the worlds first terabyte box and the company surpasses the $1 billion1995- EMC introduces first Symmetrix storage systems for open systems and surpasses IBM asmarket share attraction in mainframe disk storage capacity.1996- EMC becomes leader in the open storage market.1997- EMC extends lead in the enterprise storage and retrieval market.1998- The EMC strength is felt across the computing enterprise.1999- EMC Corporation announces two-for-one stock split.There are five forces that shape contestation in an industry, barriers to entry, power of suppliers, power of buyers, threat of substitutes, and contender & industry structure. These five forces that Porter developed have become a strong framework in helping strategic mangers find answers as to how, or why decision mint have an impact on their firm, and the industry they operate in. When analyzed the collective strength of these forces s how potential profits of an industry. The company being focused on is EMC, which is in the Computer Peripherals industry.Barriers to entry are forces that firms must overcome in order to enter an industry. These barriers bath be caused from highschool initial investment, product polariation, cost disadvantage, access to distribution channels, or restrictive government policies. An example of this could be the phone, or cable companies. There are very few companies that are able to compete within this industry because of the high capital requirements to start off. An enormous amount of time and money would have to be spent on installing lines throughout the country to supply you customers with the services they want.EMC is in a situation where it has created several barriers to entry. Capital requirements are one of the barriers that EMC has in its favor. In 1979 EMC started its business in data storage which it is now the leading company in its industry. It has offices all over t he globe and is the only company in the world to be specifically focused on rapidly delivering intelligent enterprise storage and retrieval solutions. There are very few companies that can compete with EMC because of its name association and large international operation. New entrance into this industry would have to invest large amounts of time and money into research and development. EMC already has the technology and is constantly updating with more advanced services.An some other barrier to entry is product differentiation. EMC is specialized in enterprise storage, which is much different than stodgy storage. While conventional storage has been used to back up memory in case of a disaster or, to log companies transactions, EMC started a niche which it has do into a new industry. Enterprise storage has six specific parts that set it aside from conventional storage. They are as follows enterprise connectivity, information centricity, cascadability, information management, inform ation sharing, and information protection. It can be clearly seen that this industry is constantly changing, and new products are coming out every day. If you are not the leader in this new technology then you will not survive. EMC has without a doubt developed barriers to entry.The threat of substitutes is how easily a product can be interchanged with another. For example if you are going to buy bottled water you decision will ultimately come down to price. An expensive flashy bottle of water can easily be exchanged for a generic store brand bottle at a fraction of the cost. However with services it is a different story. Lawyers for example could easily be substituted if you were looking at the cost. It would be very simple to find a cheap lawyer, however you might end up losing your case.To get a top of the line service you will have to pay a little extra. EMC is a top of the line service which also offers a very affordable pricing strategy. Its pricing very sensitive with the com panies it works with, whether you are a world dominating bank, or a saucily started Internet company. EMC has something to offer everyone. What makes EMC even more attractive is its unmatchable customer service.Customers are always kept in close and frequent contact whether it be for unforeseen problems, or to validate new features. Customers have found that EMC offers the best of both worlds, and that no other company so far can be substituted for it. We need high capacity, fast performance, a scalable platform, and total data protections. With EMC, we found a complete solution from one provider. Says the General Manager of information technology, at Komercni Banka. This clearly shows the EMC has eliminated its substitutes by offering something that no one else can match.Rivals in any given industry are a part of competition that businesses have to circularize with. For the past several years EMC has not had to deal with many competitor since they offer services and customer suppo rt that surpasses any other company that has been looking to get into the the information storage industry. IBM, and Sun Microsystems are two companies that have recently been competing with EMC. These are both large established companies that deal in many different aspects of the technology industry.Both IBM and Sun Microsystems have begun to compete with EMCs self started indusrty. The reason for this is because they both have large R&D departments with large budgets that allow development of product comparable to EMC. However since EMC is so focused in their niche market they have a compartmentalization between service and product quality that hasnt been matched by anyone.IBM Sun and the other competitor are not focused just on storage technology but they also have many other interest. This makes companies weary of handing over valuable information to a business that could be in hold competition with them. This gives EMC a competitive advantage over any other company since they are well known for tight security. Another advantage EMC has over its competitors is that they are now recognized as the standard in computer information back up and storage area.

Jose Rizal in UST Essay

Fortunately, Rizals first romance, with its bitter disillusionment, did non adversely affect his studies in the University of Santo Tomas. His love for higher education turn out to be greater than his love for a pretty girl. After hiting the first year of the course in Philosophy and Letters (1877-780), he transferred to a medical course. During the year of his studies in the university, which was under the friar preachers, rival education of the Jusuits, he remained loyal to Ateneo, where he continued to participate in extra curricular activities and where he completed the education course in surveying. As a Thomasian, he won more literary laurels, had more romances with girls, and fought against Spanish students. Mothers pose to higher education.After graduation with the highest position in Ateneo, Rizal had to go the University of Santo Tomas in modulate to prepare himself to a private career. The Bachelor of Arts degree during Spanish times was equivalent to a high school di ploma today. It merely qualified its holder to enter a university. Both Don Francisco and Paciano that Jose should pursue a higher learning. just now Dona Teodora did not want him to study more. Evidently she had a premonition that to much knowledge would imperil his child life. In a family council in the Rizals home in Calamba, she vigorously objected to have her beloved Jose acquired a higher education. She was thinking of the safety of her son. She know the fate of Filipino intellectuals-Father Burgos, Dr. Antonio Ma. Regidor,Jose Ma. Basa, and others of 1872-who were either penalise or exiled by the Spanish authorities, and blamed their sad fate to their learning.Fearful of the Spanish authorities who seem to frown on those Filipinos who learn to much, she warned her husband. Do not send Jose again to Manila. If gets to know to much, they get out cut off his head Jose, who was present in their family council when his mother said this, was shocked. He know her mother was a wom an o education and culture she even taught him and inspired him to write poetry she came from a family of high learning her own brother ( and his uncle)Jose Alberto Alonso had been educated overseas and could speak multiple Spanish, French, English andGerman. Rizal enters the university. In April 1877, Rizal, who was bearly16 years old, matriculated in the University of Santo Tomas taking up Philosophy and Letters. He enrolled in this course for two reasons(1) his father desire it and(2) he was still un trustworthy to what career to follow.He had pen to father Pablo Ramon, Rector of the Ateneo, who had been good to him during his days in Ateneo, asking for advice in the selection of career. Unfortunately, Father Recto was in Mindanao and during those days it several months to travel a letter from Manila to Mindanao. Consequently during his first term (1877-78) in the University of Santo Tomas he study Cosmology, Metaphysics, Theodicy and accounting of Philosophy. It was during the school term (1978-79) that Rizal took up medicine, enrolling simultaneously in preparatory medical course and the regular first year medical course. Reasons Why Rizal Hate UST1. Filipino Students are racially discriminated2. Dominican Friars are hostile to him3. The method of teachings were obsolete and repressiveReasons Why Rizal Took Up Philosophy & Letters1. He is not certain as to what course to take2. His father like itReason For Taking Medical Studies1. It is the advice of the Rector of Ateneo, whom he consulted for a choice of career, finally answered his letter, and recommended medicine.2. He cute to be a physician so that he may cure his mothers failing eyesight. Rizals Love Affairs in USTLeonor orangutan ValenzuelaLeonor Valenzuela the quarter girlfriend of Rizal. Several months after during Rizal sophomore year at the University of Santo Tomas, he boarded in the house of Doa Concha Leyva in Intramuros. The next admission neighbors of Doa Concha were Capitan Juan and Capitana Sanday Valenzuela, parents of a charming girl named Leonor. Rizal a medical student from Calamba was awelcomed visitor in the Valenzuela home, where he was the life of the social parties because of his talented sleight of hand tricks. He courted Leonor Valenzuela, who was a tall girl. Almost as tall as Jose himself, and had a regal bearing. He sent her love notes written in invisible ink. This ink consisted of common table salt and water. It left no trace on the paper. Rizal, who knew his chemistry, taught Orang (pet name of Leonor Valenzuela) the secret of reading both note written in the invisible ink by heating it over a candle or lamp so that the letter may appear. But as with Segunda, he stopped short of proposing marriage to Orang.Romances with other girlsAfter Segunda Katigbak he courted a certain Miss L. After a fewer visit he stopped wooing her. After Miss L he courted Leonor Valenzuela (Orang) but stop short of proposing marriage. Rizals next romance was wi th his cousin-german Leonor Rivera. Between Jose and Leonor spranga beautiful romance and became engage. In 1879, the Liceo Artistico Literario (Artistic Literarylyceum) of Manila held literary contest it offered a prize for the best poem by a native or a mestizo. Rizal submitted his poem A La Juventud Filipina. (ToThe Youth Filipino).The board of judges was impressed of Rizal poem and gave it the first prize consisted of a silver pen, feathered shape and decorated with a gold ribbon. The inspiring poem beseeched the Filipino youth to rise from the laziness. Finishes Surveying course in Ateneo (1878)During his term in University of Santo Tomas (1877 78, Rizal also studied in Ateneo, he took the vocational course leading to a title of porito agrimensor (expert surveyor)). In those days it should be remembered, the college for boys in Manila offered vocational courses in agriculture, commerce, mechanics and surveying. Rizals unhappy days at UST. Rizals Ateneo boy wonder, found the atmosphere at the UST a suffocating to his sensitive spirit. He was unhappy of this Dominican Institution of high learning because (1) the Dominican processors were hostile to him, (2) the Filipino students were racially discriminated, and (3) the method of teachings were obsolete and repressive. Decision to study abroadAfter finishing the poop year of his medical course, Rizal decided to studyin Spain. He could no longer endure the rampant bigotry, discrimination, and hostility in UST. His uncle, Antonio Rivera, Leonors father, encourage him to go abroad. Both Paciano and Saturnina, whom he contacted secretly, were of similar opinion. For the first time, Rizal did not seek his parents decision and blessing to go abroad, because he knew that they, especially his mother will disapprove his plan. He did not also bring his beloved Leonor in his confidence. He had enough common sense to know that Leonor, being a woman, and issue and romantic at that, could not keep a secret. Thus, Ri zals parent, Leonor, and the Spanish authorities knew nothing of his decision to go abroad in order to finish his medical studies in Spain, where the professors were more tolerant and understanding than those of the University of Santo Tomas.In 1880, the artistic literary lyceum opened another literary contest to commemorate the fourth centennial of the death of Cervantesand was opened to both Filipinos and Spaniards. Many writers participated including Rizal who submitted an allegorical drama entitledEl Consejo de losDioses (The council of the Gods). Rizal won and for the first time, an indio defeated several Spanish writer. other Rizal literary work as an Thomasian Junto al Pasig , Abd-el-Azis y mahoma, Al M.R.P. Pablo Ramon. Rizal was the champion of the Filipino students in their frequent fight against Spanish students. In 1880, Filipino students in UST Founded Compaerismo and Rizal was the chief of his secret society and led various street fight.. After finishing the fourth ye ar of his medical course, Rizal decided to study in Spain. He did not seek his parents permission. Thus Rizals parents, Leonor, and the Spanish authorities knew nothing of his decision to go abroad in order to finish his medical studies in Spain.

Extrovert and Introvert Children

Children learn how to express themselves by watching their parents or guardian. They learn how to love stress, get angry, sadness, or discontent etc ethnic backgrounds have a lot to do with how children show emotion. Is your childs emotional behavior acceptable by society standards? Parents that are in touch modality with their feelings and/ or emotions and are able to express themselves without being destructive are more then likely going to raise their child to express the distract emotion giving the situation.Parents with repressed emotions will also teach their children how to hold back their emotions. A child maybe more of an introvert if they are not aloud to express themselves, as the child that is encouraged to express how they feel is more likely to be an extrovert. Society tolerates emotional expression as languish as it is not destructive to themselves or others. Many people will march in protest for or against a cause, which is acceptable by society, just if that prot est turns violent then the emotional behavior is now an unacceptable means of expression.As your child grows you should encourage them to have an opinion and to be respectable to others opinions. education your child that it is ok for someone to disagree, and we are not all meant to believe, feel, live and look the same way. many cultural types are very adamant or so what kind, when to, and even who is aloud to express certain emotions. Cultural differences play a huge part on many racist people. You may not be a racist but maybe your parents taught you that it is socially unacceptable to date or marry out side your race.Some cultural differences teach boys that crying shows weakness. Some parents may yell or talk aggressively, while others are very quiet and dont have a whole lot of communion with the child at all. We as parents are the biggest influences on our childs emotional behavior. The way we communicate with our child helps them develop emotionally. The way we encourage conversation will also determine if they are able to communicate their feelings, needs, likes, or dislikes in a way which is socially acceptable.Children should be taught that all forms of emotions are commonplace feelings, and that it is ok to be angry, mad, disappointed, scared, confused, or happy etcits dealing with those emotions and how we communicate those feelings which count. I always told my daughter that it was ok to tell me how she feels (whether I agreed or not) as long as she does it respectfully. I want her to feel that her opinion matters.

Sainsbury Case Study

Introduction Sainsburys is enduely the third most classical diet retailer in the unify earth. In 1995, Tesco overtook the federation to become the market attracter after to a greater extent than 20 years of constant gro attractg. It has late been pushed back by Asda in 2003. Sainsburys Supermarkets employ over 145,000 raft, including Sava Centre. A large Sainsburys Supermarket offers over 23,000 carrefours, 40% of these ar Sainsburys accept brand. The Sainsburys supermarkets serve over 11 million customers a week and as at June 2002 had 463 stores through protrude the UK.In the year ended March 2003 it reported ecumenical aggroup overthrow of over ? 17. 4 billion and profits of ? 454 million, with a total of over 170,000 full-time and part- time staff. The enterprise was founded in 1869 from an idea of backside James Sainsburys and his wife Mary Ann. The first store was opened in Holborn, London and was selling fresh foods and later specialised into pack periodd groc eries. Their system was Quality perfect, prices lower. The stores were very innovative by having their own label lines and presenting the products to consumers in a new-made way.They had marble counters, mosaic floors, as well as staff uniforms. The achiever was sudden and m some(prenominal) an(prenominal) either(prenominal) other similar stores were getd in London. On every shop, there was a high cast iron scrape saying J. Sainsburys. In 1922, it became the Uks largest grocery group, and so got incorporated as a private beau monde under the name of J. Sainsbury Limited. During these times they promoted quality fresh food produced with their own label line which made them extremely successful. The firm kept on growing even though it had to face the recession during the World fight 2.M any stores got destroyed during Londons bombardment and the decrease of the national income weakened the society. But in 1956, Alan Sainsburys became chairman after his father, John Benjamin Sainsburys death. He came up with a new idea of promoting egotism- table service supermarkets in the Uk after a trip to America. Their goal was to match quality of nation each(prenominal)y branded goods with lower prices. The keep bon ton went through its golden times. Innovative ideas and low cost of production gave the company a strong market position when it went public in July 1973. At the time, the family sport 85% of the firms sh ars.It was the largest ever flotation on the London Stock transposition with ? 14. 5 million available sh ars. The future of the company tactile sensati stard bright and they start renew their 10 000 sq. ft. high street stores with self-service supermarkets above 20 000 sq. ft. New stores were opening in alone England and the company invested in new technology. In 1991, the group was generating study profits and raised ? 489 million in new equity to fund the expansion of the superstores. In 1992, the long time CEO John Sainsburys retired an d was succeeded by his cousin, David Sainsburys.He had antithetical plans for the firm and decided to bring a change in the management style. But wrong decisions such as waver to move into non-food retailing or the indecision between quality or value made the company go down. Problems such as increasing foundation costs, stronger and consolidated competition from other stores were starting to rise. The firm was not focusing on low prices any more(prenominal) that more on the store look and egress chain improvements. Their market and share loss to Asda charges quite well that marketing mix is important to customers.Macroenvironment Political factors Political factors are about how and to what issue the government intervenes into the organization. These interactions may allow * Labor law * Environmental law * Tariffs and quotas * Political constancy * Tax policy * Trade restrictions For compositors case, the fact of European compact extensions and new countries joining it, has an impact on the variety of products sold in Sainsburys. We digest now suck up some foreign products as Polish beers or Cypriot yoghurts sold in the local supermarket.The goal behind this is to attract new customers by giving them the products they are used to vitiateing in their own countries before coming to the UK. For employment legislations, the government encourages large retailers as Sainsburys to offer a mix of vacancies from flexible, lower-paid and locally- found jobs to highly-skilled, higher-paid and centrally-located jobs, as well as employing students, elderly quite a little and working parents. Sainsburys offers thousands of jobs to people in the UK, being a labor-intensive sector and having a great impact on the employment rate by hiring large numbers of students, disabled and elderly people.The wages paid to this category might be the minimum wages, but at least the unemployment rate is or so reduced. In an industry with a typically high staff turnover, the se employees interpret a higher level of loyalty and try to give their full abilities at the workplace. Trade restrictions between the UK and the rest of the world greatly affect supermarkets like Sainsburys as the buyers are not able to find what they are aspect for in stores. All the foods imported must pass a strict control in order for us to see them on the shelves. Political stability around the world may in like manner bring a chaos into our fridge.In the case of demonstrations, protests or more serious political conflicts, we can countenance delays or even cancellations in the arrivals on products in the country. If we just imagine that Brazil went on strike for a week, where would we be affirmting our coffees from every break of the sidereal day? Socio-cultural factors Socio-cultural factors are about how new trends and styles emerging in the world around us can affect our economy. Our world is changing and developing every day with people adapting new habits and gett ing aware of new things going on. These can include * Career attitudes * Safety emphasis Age distribution * Population harvest rate * Community works Sainsburys can be so called the modern supermarket, following all the new market trends and rapidly responding to all the new demands consumers might possess. It is in operation(p) under a good reputation and always following the responsibility for the society and the surroundings, by organizing charity events, sponsoring games, competitions, etc. The last fewer decades, the population in the UK has been ageing as there is a low birth rate, so Sainsburys in return has been hiring elderly employees to satisfy the unemployment dislocation in that age section.Elderly buyers are looking to purchase affordable, healthy foods which acts supermarkets carry away actions. In general, there has been a great shift of people absent to eat healthy and quickly, thus Sainsburys has introduced vegetable packets and healthy meal deals. Consumers are always in a hurry not having time to get home and cook a proper meal, so more frozen, ready meals have been offered to them. An increase in immigration of buyers from the Eastern Europe has made Sainsburys introduce new recipes and more variety of goods for that group of customers.That is now why we can see Lithuanian or Romanian products as sausages sold in Sainsburys. A large number of people from the Middle East living in the UK have withal made a fully grown impact, this is why we now see Halal meat or an enormous variety of spices in our local store. Legal factors * Discrimination equity * Antitrust Law * Employment Law * Consumer Law * Health and Safety Law Legal factors are related to the legal environment in which the company operates. Sainsburys is in the boundaries of legal factors in all three fields locally, nationally and globally.There have been many changes in the laws passed in the UK over the last few years, one of the examples being the age discrimination l aw. This law says that all people, regardless their age should be treated the resembling at their workplace and promotions should be allocated regardless the age. The upper age for earnings of Statutory Sick Pay has been removed, meaning that people over 65 who are still working are entitled to SSP the same way other employees are. This of course has had a big impact on supermarkets as Sainsburys as the management has to be very careful when selecting people filling the vacancies and obeying this law. other(prenominal) example of a legal factor was when The Food Retailing Commission suggested an enforceable Code of Practice should be set up banning many of the watercourse practices, such as demanding payments from suppliers and changing agreed prices without notice. (Mintel Report, 2004) On the 1st of October 2011, the minimum wage in the UK for an adult(over 21) has been changed from 5. 93 to 6. 08 pounds an hour, promising there will be room for more generous change in the fut ure as the economy recovers from the financial recession. This has hit the Sainsburys pockets. 5 pence an hour for each employee can add up to hundreds of thousands of pounds per week for Sainsburys. In January 2010, it has been announced that a new law was going to be issued that all under 21s will have to show an ID card when buying alcohol in the supermarket. There were also rises in the alcohol prices during this campaign to discourage people from drinking. This has inclined Sainsburys a to a great extent time, as less people are able to buy alcoholic drinks either due to age limit or high prices. No one can take a wine bottle through the till without proof of age anymore. ) Economical factors Each government has an important impact on each company. Like other companies, Sainsburys was affected by a lot of stintingal factors as * Taxation charges * Economic growth * Inflation * Exchange rates * Changes in income Each factor has a different impact on company. For example, the t axation charges force the company to increase the price of products to achieve the sought after profit. If the taxation charges are low the price of products is lower and when the taxation charges are high, the price is higher. other factor is inflation.Inflation changes from year to year and affects more and more the customer. If in 2000 with 100? you bought 100kg of sugar, now in 2011 you can buy altogether 50kg of sugar. The economic growth can affect your company in a negative manner or in a good manner. For example, now we deal with a crisis period and large companies like Sainsburys suffer a lot. The economic growth also has some employment effects. We can see a rise in the number of people employed by Sainsburys and this affects the United Kingdom economy. Now in 2011 we deal with a crisis period and appear some changes in population income.The number of companies that went in a bankrupt or are nearly to bankrupt has been increased and this results a large number of unemp loyed people, which means a decrease in sales. Sainsburys also naturalised a bank in 1997, part of Lloyds Banking group. Sainsburys Bank offers a lot of services like travel money, car, health and life, pet insurances. Also Sainsburys Bank covers loans, savings accounts and has its own credit card and security plans. 2) Technological factors Forces that create new technologies, creating new product and market opportunities Kotler P. amp Armstrong G. , 2008. Principles of Marketing, 12th Edition. engine room for Sainsburys is significant be attain it helps control the population and attracts new and potential customers. With technology, Sainsburys can create new sort of products useful for population. Technological process is up(p) from year to year and helps company to decrease the production costs. In these processes are increasingly used machines and robots and because of this many people lose their jobs. By introducing more machines than people can reduce the waste of product s and other costs.The products also are more complex with new facilities. In all these years of existence, Sainsburys developed some technological strategies of product selling. The Sainsburys improvements of product selling are * Online shopping * Online recruitment * Bar coding * Self service counter Online shopping improves a lot the sales because it helps the consumers to buy directly the product, without going to the store. The customer has more time to choose the product, compare with other products and also compare the price.Sainsburys has also an online recruitment service. This service would save the company ? 4million a year in administration costs. It helps you to become an employee of Sainsburys by only sending your CV to their Online recruitment Office and they will choose one. Bar coding it is a very innovative method of sorting the product. The bar coding helps the company to be more ordered and the customer also. For example, some kind of mobile applications that ca n scan the bar code and shows you the best price for product.Self service counter is another technological process which reduces the workforce costs and with this service the customer can avoid queues. For example, If you are in a hurry or you have only two or three products and you do not want or have time to sit at the queue you can use self service counter for a debased way to pay for products. 3) Environmental factors Environmental factors refer to ecological and environmental aspects such as weather and temper which can affect a company and may change the number of sales in a large company like Sainsburys.A company cannot change the environmental factors, but it does have fair amount of control over impact on its performance. For example, if the number of rainy days will increase, per lot the number of raincoats and umbrellas will increase too. That is how environmental factors affect a company and can have good parts and bad parts. Sainsburys also embroider an ecological f actor which can reduce pollution. Sainsburys Recycle offers customer the opportunity to recycle every old mobile phone, digital camera, MP3 or games consoles and at last the customer receives money.Also Sainsburys introduced some sort of facilities for customers to reduce the non-renewable materials (such as oil, coal, gas) and use renewable materials (such as forests). These facilities are * Home insulation a adroitness for your house to stop the heat escaping from your house * Solar electricity Solar Photovoltaic (PV) panels allow you to generate your own electricity * Feed-in tariff The Feed-in Tariff is a Government initiative that encourages and rewards people for generating their own low carbon animation through a renewable source. Ecogen Generate electricity with your boiler An Ecogen Micro have Heat and Power (CHP) system replaces your boiler, burning gas to create heat and hot water, and on average it generates about 30% of the electricity a base needs Sainsburys drew up a partnership with British Gas and they established their own gas stations. This partnership aims to help the customers to save energy (non-renewable materials like gas) and reduce the costs by introducing Nectar. With Nectar Collector you can collect points on every day shopping and then you can choke points however you want.Microeconomic environment The general discussion in this part is the market query and the structure of Sainsburys market. These factors influence what sort of competition the formation is facing and how does the organisation manipulate the 7Ps. We are going to look at the internal factors like Product and services, relationship with customers, charities and supplies. Product and Services To be successful, Sainsburys operates through an important market research. Their aim is to increase their sales and to do that they take into account the four marketing mix e. . product, price, place and promotion. Sainsburys is in the oligopoly category and as not many firms are in this important category they are always trying to gain market share. The product research is one of the key to achieve their goals. Sainsburys is well known for their quality and this is important to beat the competitors. They need to focus on what the customer wants before any other company does. In todays society everybody is attracted by a product with a good quality and Sainsburys is able to provide permanently high quality goods. During the year 2004 they have invested in their food ranges and have improved/ developed over 3200 products and Sainsburys have constant supply of fresh fruits and vegetables on shelves 24 hours. To be certain that all the goods are fresh they have a special staff to make sure that the products are not expired. Sainsburys is one of the first market dealing with their own products for example soft drinks and glossaries. Furthermore, it is one of the first supermarkets in the UK to provide its services with a home delivery service.Th ey provide this service to help the older people and to make their customer life easier. Moreover, to improve their sales and make a big growth they have specialised staff trying to take the customers comments and needs. Therefore they can improve the product with most negative comments and vice versa. In Sainsburys, the promotion is an important factor to introduce a new product on the market. It has to be advertised to be sure that the customer is aware of it. The concept is to create a message which is directly targeted to the people.To make sure that the new product is going to be very popular they make promotion on it for example during the first month. In addition they make different offers in every period of the year. During the summer it is going to be on the fruits and frozen products plot during Christmas they make discounts on every product to influence the customer to buy more. All these advantages allow them to be well differentiated from their competitors. Finally, Sa insburys have different types of stores which are providing different types of services.When customers want to buy a small amount of goods they can go to the local Sainsburys which providing less goods. For larger amount of foods, the customers can go to the large stores. They have more products and more services around e. g. public transports and car park facilities. Relationship with customers The relationship with the customer is very important and it is a factor creating more popularity for the firm. In every business the customer is seen as the most important key for the company to work well. If the customer is not adequate satisfied the company will loose its popularity.For Sainsburys, it is very important to keep a close relationship with their customers by providing good quality food but at a fair price. The Human Resources department involves the management of people and them different key areas. One of the most important one is the customer service assistance. Employees a re trained to give a great service to the customer. For instance in Sainsburys there are the cashiers but customer may also see some employees who help the customers with the selection of goods and packaging.One more key attribute about Sainsburys is that they provide good relationship to their customers and have an internet- based services which have deliver efficient home delivery and 93% of UK households are currently using their internet services. Furthermore, after a survey in 2004/05 were they mention capitalist from the sacrifices made by J Sainsburys to continue good relationship with their customers. In 2004/05 also reduces prices on 7. 000 products and the typical weeks shopping cost 1. 6 % less than a year ago.Moreover, J Sainsburys were named organic supermarket for the third time in 2004/05 period time. And supported apprehension of Success in a link which promotes Food education and cooking in Schools and for this activity have participated more than 250. 000 children . Moreover, customers are attracted by a product not only for the price and the quality but also by the package. Even if they dont think it pass through their mind when they buy the product, the package is one of the most important things and the sales are going to be higher with a coloured and attractive package.Finally, the main aim is to have customers who are dependent on the supermarket. Therefore, Sainsburys try to keep regular opening hours and they make sure that the queuing times are not excessive. Moreover, they make sure that the products are always available because when you have to deal with an accustomed customer, you cant say to him that the product is out of stock because there is a chance that this customer is just coming for one product only. To reduce the cost, Sainsburys is always equipped with a store manager.His job is to ensure that the actions are fast with good quality. If all the operations are done effectively then, the costs will be low. Charity J Sainsbu rys is one of the big companies which strongly believed that success is not only how to increase the profits of the business and also a different section that works on how to help people that have any kind of problems. For example J Sainsburys in 2004/05 supported several national charities and donating food and equipment. Moreover in 2005 J Sainsburys customers were using coins machines in their stores.The machines take a 7% commission which raised the following sums in 2004/05 Children in Need gave ? 15. 233 also for British Red Cross gave ? 17. 881. Moreover, gave ? 18. 015 for Cancer Research and ? 9. 361 for Unicef. Furthermore, J Sainsburys gave for British Heart Foundation ? 9. 627 and ? 5. 533 for WWF and for Red Nose Day 05 gave ? 3. 300. In addition, J Sainsburys have donated 150. 000 thousand pounds to Children Society in support to encourage juvenile people to eat healthy. Also, all J Sainsburys stores have charity boxes where customers can donate their change to local charity.However, J Sainsburys after all these services which helped a lot of people is still continuing to provide help to people with needs. In 2004 J Sainsburys collected a total of ? 1. 7 million from collogues throughout the company and from customers at various stores which then donated it to the affected populations of the Tsunami in Thailand. Also J Sainsburys for one more time revealed their esthesia for people who need financial support. Last May colleagues have raised ? 3. 000 for charity which helps children in need with shortened life expectancy .Children with illnesses require dear(predicate) equipment and J Sainsburys brand raised the money and the charity is able to provide some of this equipment. According to the aforementioned, the humanitarian efforts from people that work in J Sainsburys give pleasure and happiness in people with needs. Phillip Wardman , online groceries manager at J Sainsburys York store dedicates his leisure time to support the Yorkshire str aining Ambulance which relies solely on donations from the public. This year he organized a 24- hour bike ride from Edinburg to York covering 210 miles.Moreover, Phillip Wardman said he wanted to do something different for the charity and this certainly was challenge. However, he had been named Local Hero by the York store and he was also awarded by their Chief Executive, Justin King. In my opinion the success for all the kind of businesses is not only to find profit and loss the end of the season and perform accounting procedures . Of course it is essential for all the businesses to find out how well the sales went the previous year but it is also important to think how you can help people who are unable to have the same benefits and the chances as the others.Services J Sainsburys brand aim in every day basis is to provide an easy access to customers. At present J Sainsburys are experimenting new approaches which can reduce queuing times at checkouts. Moreover, in 34 stores custom ers can use a hand-held image scanner to scan theirs items while they shop at Sainsburys. Also, they have introduced self services checkouts in 58 stores nationwide. J Sainsburys have been reported to have 600 drivers operating more than 400 vans providing services in 2005/2006 and were serving 38. 000 customers per week.In addition, J Sainsburys was the first chain store to sing up to the guide dogs for contrivance people street charter in 2005. This aims to provide the right support for blind or partially sighted customers. fig up of Sainsburys SWOT synopsis is a strategic management method used to assess the strengths, failinges, opportunities, as well as threats associated with a project or a business venture. It involves laying down main objectives of a business project in addition to identifying the favorable and unfavorable internal and external factors that may affect the achievement of a given objective.It also helps in identifying suitable areas for development. Iden tification of SWOTs is essential because subsequent steps in the planning process for achievement of the objective may be derived from it. First, the decision makers, using SWOTs, ought to determine whether the objective is achievable. In the event that the objective is not achievable, the process is repeated after selecting a different objective. The aim of any SWOT analysis is to establish the key internal and external factors affecting the achievement of an objective.The internal factors are strengths and weaknesses, which are dynamics from within an organization while opportunities and threats are forces from outside of an organization are the external factors. These come from within the companys unique value chain. Sainsburys is an internationally recognized chain of supermarkets based in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are situated in London which is a strategic place due to ease of accessibility. It owns J Sainsburys plc. This is the main company of Sainsburys Supermark ets Ltd. The main competitors of Sainsburys are Tesco and ASDA who overtook it as market leaders.Their other investments are in banking sectors and property management. In 2004, Sainsburys performance improved and this has been attributed to Justin King, its current CEO. In our analysis of Sainsburys, we focus on their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strengths Strengths are features of a business that are used as a basis for developing competitive advantage. Sainsburys has been in market for a substantially long period of time. This is enough to make it popular among its loyal customers, therefore is has used marketing and unique mark techniques to capitalize on the U. K market.Differentiation of products and services offered has been determining factor to Sainsburys success because it states what the company stands for. Not only does it serve United Kingdom customers but it also has other chains stores, self selection stores and supermarket across major European countries. The companies logo was designed with a conspicuously orange color, which is a key factor in its identity. With its current Chief Executive Officer, Sainsburys has seen total transformation symbolized by its growth rate, a high stock turnover and huge profit margins after tax and dividend deductions.Justin King has managed to employ and upraise his current staff and this has been a major step towards facing competition constitute by ASDA and Tesco. Furthermore Sainsburys has been involved in companionship initiated programs. As a company it appreciates its place in society and it is obliged to give back to the community through social responsibility. This has won the company not only customers approval but also favors from environmental activists who portray it as having a good brand. Another factor that has seen Sainsburys through the hard hit times to become strengths is use of advertisements.Advertisement is an art, which should be done skillfully to create a tenacio us impression in the eyes of customers. Keeping this in mind, Sainsburys chain of supermarkets has used celebrities to advertise specific product groups boosting sales. Embracing online advertisement has been a major factor in promoting its products both locally and internationally where interested customers then transact through e-commerce. In summary, the main strengths portrayed in Sainsburys SWOT analysis include reputable management, skilled labor force, advertisement, loyal customers and a strong brand name. WeaknessesWeaknesses are characteristics that place a business at a disadvantage relative to others. The absence of certain strengths may be viewed as a weakness. For example a weak brand name, high cost structure, neglect of patent protection, poor reputation among customers, lack of access to key distribution channels and lack of access to natural resources. In some cases, a weakness may be the flip side of strength. Sainsburys has failed to protect its markets against threats and potential new entrants. Being better placed with high competitive advantage, it ought to have utilize the opportunity as the first chain of supermarkets in the U.K to remain a market leader. To implement this it could consider being a price leader of the entire market enjoying economies of scale to the disadvantage of its competitors. By so doing Tesco and ASDA could have found the market too harsh for them to compete therefore reducing their activities. overleap of brand visibility has been a lacking factor in the success of Sainsburys. For products to sale they have to be organized and properly arranged on the supermarkets shelves for customers to see and select. Therefore supermarket shelves need to be spacious enough to accommodate oods and allow ease of access incase a customer picks on a given product. In trying to fix the problem of inventory display and shelf space, the results were even more disastrous. The new arrangement format was more confusing to customer s. Opportunities Opportunities are external chances to improve performance in a business environment. The external environmental analysis may reveal certain new opportunities for profit and growth. Examples of opportunities include use of new technology, loosening of government regulations, removal of tariffs and trade barriers. Sainsburys has great opportunities, which could see it back to the top.They have a great opportunity to win back the trust of their target customers through better customer service. Loyalty program is another great way of safeguarding repeat sales and committed customers. The company also has shares in financial services sector, though there might be new business opportunities to explore. Alternatively, Sainsburys could use its chain of supermarkets and other business investments to absolute its financial future just incase of economic recession or as a prospect for investment. Threats Threats are external elements in the environment that could cause troubl e for the business.Changes in the external environmental also may present threats to the firm. Examples of threats include a change in consumer tastes in favor of competitors products, presence of reliever goods in the market and stringent barriers to trade. Sainsburys needs to invest in more environmental programs despite knowing that it will not directly benefit its stakeholders. Economic meltdowns are beyond an organizations control, therefore the shaking world economy is a threat to Sainsburys group of businesses. REFERENCES 1. Brassington F. and Petit S. , 2006. Principles of Marketing, 4th ed. 2. Prentice Hall Pearson Education. 3. Kotler P. nd Armstrong G. , (2008), Principles of Marketing Twelfth Edition 4. Brassington F. and Petit S. , (2009), Principles of Marketing Fourth Edition 5. Katameni,2010. Macro environment and The marketing mix used by Sainsburys online available at Accessed 19 November 2011 6. User ukstudent , 2008. SWOT, PESTEL and Porters 5 Forces analyses of Sainsburys online. Available atAccessed 20 November 2011 7. Mark Tran, 2006.Sainsburys introduces compostable packaging online. Available atURLhttp//www. guardian. co. uk/environment/2006/sep/08/supermarkets. businessAccessed 20 November 2011 8. Anonymous, 2011. Products and servicesonline. Available at URLhttp//www. sainsburysenergy. com/products-and-services. html? bghlinkid=HP1016 Accessed 22 November 2011 9. Anonymous, 2011. Save Createonline. Available at URLhttp//www. sainsburysenergy. com/save-and-create. html Accessed 22 November 2011 10. Frances B, Stephen P (2006) Principles of Marketing, 4th Edition, Pearson Education Limited paper 11.Sainsburys (2011) Retrieved from (online) at http//www. sainsburys. co. uk/home. htm Accessed on19/11/2011 12. Sainsburys(2011)142 years of history,online Available at http//www. j-sainsbury. co. uk/about-us/sainsburys-story/ Accessed 18th Nov 2011. 13. Race to the top(2011)Sainsburys results,online Available at http//www. racetothetop. org/results/result6/page_1. htm Accessed seventeenth Nov 2011. 14. Wikipedia(2011)Sainsburys results,online Available at http//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sainsburys Accessed 16th Nov 2011.

Is Terrorism a Muslim Monopoly

Terrorism is not a Moslem Monopoly Kamlesh Kumar Singh Research Scholar Deptt. of Sociology Banaras Hindu University Varanasi-221005 emailprotected com M. N. 09369240262, 09026399178 Abstract whole Muslims may not be terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims. This comment, frequently heard after the Mumbai bomb blasts implies that terrorism is a Muslim specialty, if not a monopoly. The facts are very different. First there is nothing new about terrorism. The term terrorism derives from the Latin verb terrere, to cause to tremble or quiver. It began to be employ during the French Revolution, and especially after the fall of Robespierre and the Reign of Terror, or simply The Terror in which enemies of the Revolution were subjected to imprisonment, torture, and beheading, the first of many modern practice of state terrorism. Sociologically, terrorist groups often recruit disaffected and alienated individuals, often motivated by sound ideologies like nationalism or religion to com mit terrorist acts. These in turn generate societal fear and exacerbate conflicts and hatred within the social fabric.Terrorism is generally defined as the killing of civilians for political reasons. overtaking by this definition, the British Raj referred to Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad and many other Indian freedom fighters as terrorists. These were Hindu and Sikh rather than Muslim. In 1881, anarchists killed the Russian Tsar Alexander II and 21 bystanders. In 1901, anarchists killed U. S. president McKinley as well as king Humbert I of Italy. World War I started in 1914 when anarchists killed Archduke Ferdinand of Austria.These terrorist attacks were not Muslim. Guerrilla Fighters from monoamine oxidase Zedong to Ho Chi Menh and Fidel Castro killed civilians during their revolutionary campaigns. They too were called terrorists until they triumphed. Nothing Muslim about them. In Palestine, after world war second II, Jewish groups (The Haganah, Irgun, and stern Gang) fought for the creative activity of a Jewish state, bombing hotels and installations and killing Civilians. The British, who even governed Palestine, rightly called these Jewish groups terrorists.Many of these terrorists latter became leaders of independent Israel. Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin, Ariel Sharon. Ironically, these former terrorists then lambasted terrorism, applying this level only(prenominal) to Arabs fighting for the very very(prenominal) nationhood that the Jews had fought for earlier. In Germany in 1968-92, the Badar-Meinhoff Gang killed dozens, including the head of Treuhand, the German Privatization agency. In Italy, the wild Brigade kidnapped and killed Aldo Moro, Former prime minister.In 1970, the habitual Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked three western Jetliners. The groups forced the planes to land in the Jordanian desert, and then blew up the planes in an incident. In 1972, Palestinian gunmen from the same movement stunned the world wh en they took Israeli athletes hostage at the Munich Olympic Games. The Japanese Red Army was an Asian Version of this. Japan was also the stand of Aum Shinrikyo, a Buddhist cult that tried to kill thousands in the Tokyo metro system using nerve gas in 1995.In 1975, an OPEC (organization for oil Exporting Countries) meeting was disrupted in Vienna, Austria when a terrorist group led by the notorious Carlos the Jackal entered, killing three people and wounding several(prenominal) in a chaotic shootout. In this case no Muslims were involved. In Europe, the Irish Republican Army has been a catholic terrorist organization for al more or less a century. Spain and France face a terrorist challenge from ETA, the Basque terrorist organization. In, India the militants in Kashmir are Muslim but they are only one of several militant groups.The Punjab militants led by Bhindrawale, were Sikhs. The unite Liberation Front of Assam is a Hindu terrorist group that targets Muslims rather than the o ther way round. Tripura has witnessed the rise and fall of several terrorist group and so have BODO strong holds in Assam. Christian Mizos Mounted an insurrection for decades and Christian Nagas are still heading militant groups. In sum, terrorism is certainly not a Muslim monopoly. There are or have been terrorist groups among Christian, Jews, Hindus Sikhs and even Buddhists. Secular terrorists (anarchists, Maoists) have been the biggest killed.Why then is there such a widespread impression that most as all terrorists groups as Muslim? I see two reasons. First, the Indian elite keenly Follows the western media, and the west feels under attack from Muslim groups. Catholic Irish terrorists have killed for more people in Britain than Muslims, yet the subway bombings in London and Madrid are what Europeans remember today. The Badaar Meinhoff Garg , IRA and Red Brigades no longer pose much of a threat, but after 9/11 Americans and Europeans fear that they could be hit anywhere any time. So they focus attention on Islamic militancy. They pay little notice to other forms of terrorism in Africa, Sri Lanka or India these pose no threat to the west. at bottom India, Maoists pose a far greater treat than Muslim militants in 150 districts, one-third of Indias area. But major cities feel threatened only by Muslim groups. So the national elite and media focus overwhelmingly on Muslim terrorism. Doing Ph. D. on the topic Terrorism A Sociological study of Victims Families

Enduring Value †Othello Essay

Shakespeares masterpiece Othello has remained relevant beyond its original con textual matter not merely because of its universal themes of love and betrayal, but rather, due to its textual integrity, and the enduring value which is enhanced through the exploration of such issues, as marginalisation and the psychology of villainy. Shakespeares portrayal of Othello as being an outsider, and being othitherd by the Venetian society due to his different race, reflects tralatitious Elizabethan values and ethics regarding racial prejudice and inequality. These pass off issues, of social intolerance and racial bias are prevalent concerns in our modern society. Shakespeares expresses the nature of villainy through his antagonist, Iago, as he explores issues of betrayal and deceit. These issues, revolving around Othellos passion, struggle and vulnerability, as an outsider, are representative of the human condition, hence making it pivotal, of why Othello has remained relevant in a differe nt context.Shakespeare positions us to view the marginalisation and dehumanisation of Othello, from various offices, initially through physical features, the notion of racial contempt is conveyed via Rodrigos, Thick Lips, Iagos darkened Black Ram, and Brabantios fall in love with what she feard to look on. This vilification, based on physical appearance reinforces traditional Elizabethan views, and to an extent, views held by groups in society today. Though, Othellos physical appearance was just one factor. Othello was named devil by Iago, from a spiritual perspective, stereotyping those of African beginning who were associated with witchcraft, this metaphor reinforces stereotypical racism, causing the reader to question, what has initiated such hatred from Iago to Othello, this allows the reader to a connect on an emotional level with Othello, as it generates empathy. Furthermore the readers perspective of Othello is conflicted due to other members of Venetian society, your son in law is far more fair than black, this binary opposition from the Duke, contrasts between black and white, and their symbolic values.Othellos blackness is associated with impurity and inhuman values, exemplified via making the beast with two backs, dehumanising Othello, and reinforcing how the Venetian society has ostracised him. Ostracism, based on spiritual backgrounds and physical appearance, is common stock-still in a modern context, as bullying and racism is a common flaw in our society. Though, it is through these experiences, the reader can further see and have a better understanding of Othellos character, and his emotions. Shakespeare also challenges us to consider Othellos cultural background, through his foreign and exotic tales that Othello retells to members of Venetian society, this is exemplified through, Tis true, theres delusion in the web of it, this is not merely foreign to the Venetians, who were predominantly Religious Christians and did not believe in such black magic and witchcraft, but this was also seen as a waste of time, and an insignificant matter, as Desdemona instantly replies with, I pray, talk me of Cassio, followed by, Youll never meet a more able man.This repetition is implied to reinforce Desdemonas lack of knowledge, as this is clearly making Othello enraged, but furthermore it expresses the carefree and uninterested approach Desdemona is taking in regards to Othellos spiritual story of how he gained that handkerchief. Shakespeare, though, gives Othello a significantly high role in their Venetian society, positioning him as a General in the army, though Othello is granted a superior position, he would still be in a lower hierarchy, as the Venetian society could not miss his outer blackness, reinforced through youll have your nephew neigh to you, this animalistic and sexual imagery, conveys to the reader, no matter how successful Othello becomes, the Venetian society testament perpetually regard him as less of a human .This dehumanisation is mainly the cause of the opportunistic antagonist, Iago. Shakespeare positions us to view Iago as a Machiavellian character, conveyed through the recurring issue of betrayal as Othello is blinded by his loyalty, this is exemplified through A man he is of honesty and trust, stated by Othello as he willingly accepts Iago. Shakespeares characterisation of Iago advances the readers hatred towards the cunning villain, as his soliloquies emphasise his devious nature, the moor is of a free and open nature and will as tenderly be led by the nose as asses are this animalistic imagery communicates Iagos lack of respect towards Othello, reflecting the nature of evil.This creation of the nature of evil is explored by F.R Leavis as he describes Othello as overly aware of his nobility, expressing Leavis distaste towards Othello. Furthermore, the motivation behind Iagos evil is unknown, though Shakespeare positions us to see Iago as an opportunist through, it is the green e yed monster which doth mock, personifying jealousy to manipulate the emotions of the gullible Othello. Overall, Shakespeares deeply enthralling text Othello, has remained relevant beyond its original context, to suit a more modern audience, due to the texts enduring values and textual integrity, enhanced through the common issue of marginalisation which is evident in both Elizabethan and 21st Century context.

Job Enrichment Essay

The cost of not applying this mass-oriented philosophy is that createers become unmotivated, and dissatisfied which leads to low productivity and musical note and high absenteeism and upset rates. The average turnover rate in the building service industry is more than 100 percent. This means that if you have a pack of 10, you will have to hire more than 10 freshly lot over the course of a year just to maintain your crew. You will slide by a lot of time filling in for the employees who quit, adjusting pretend schedules, training replacements and answering a thousand questions from peoplewho dont have the confidence or the knowledge to collect decisions on their own.High turnover in the industry is even more significant for another reason It means that we atomic number 18nt doing our descent well as executive programs and managers. All levels of management must know how to work with people. Compensation and the work itself are factors, just management certainly shares f unction when a thespian quits. Study after study shows that workers can be motivated to work hard if they are tangled, given responsibility and recognized. Job enrichment is unrivaled way to accomplish this.The Case For Job EnrichmentMost employees are trying to reach the economic level at which their basic needs for food, shelter, health care, romp security and the like will befulfilled. Usually less fulfilled but equally important, are the employees intangible needs for knowledge, achievement and popular self-satisfaction. These higher(prenominal)-level needs can be fulfilled sole(prenominal) through work that is personally significant or meaningful to the employee. Meaningful work not only improves the need of employees and serves their human needs, but also increases their productivity and the overall effectiveness of the organization. 10Meaningful work Involves employees in the identification and solution of problems that affect them and the organization. Provides emplo yees with the emotional state not the pretense that they are personally contributing to the organization. Provides employees with the opportunity to do the work they do best.If employees are performing meaningful work, they are highly involved in solving work problems that touch them personally and they share in the planning, organizing and controlling of what they do. With this comes increased understanding, achievement and stimulation, which combine to boost motivation and the organizations effectiveness.One of the most effective ways to make work more meaningful is through tumid seam loading or job enrichment. It goes a long way toward ensuring that the job satisfies peoples higher level needs and that employees are motivated to greater performance. Job enrichment can reduce turnover and give supervisors more time for work that cannot be easily delegated. Taking the time to build in motivators can result in increased job satisfaction and much smoother operations for your com pany.The argument for job enrichment can be summed up quite merely If you have people on the job, delectation them. If you cant use them on the job, let them go. If you cant use them and you cant let them go, you will have a motivation problem.Principles Of Job EnrichmentJob enrichment is essentially a structured system of increasing employee responsibility and self-assurance through effective, welldirected delegation.However, it is important to remember that only responsibility and authority can be delegated accountability cannot. With that in mind, lets look at the five formulas of job enrichment.Principle 1 Remove controls. The first principle of job enrichment is to remove almost controls while still retaining accountability. As dis-BSCAI Services MagazineNovember 2005cussed above, the supervisor must always retain accountability but can remove or lessen some of the controls on subordinates when they are ready for it. Obviously, this cant be done with employees who have jus t started on the job. If it is, theyll be overwhelmed and confused, and the results will be disastrous for them and for their supervisors. But it can and should be done when the employee is ready for it. congresswoman 3. A lead person with a particular(a) knack for training is made an on-the-job trainer.Example. When a plunker has completed an initial training period, the supervisor checks on his work less often, perhaps periodical instead of nightly.Vertical Versus Horizontal LoadingIn this example, the employee has achieved a certain level of expertise. That achievement is recognized, not just with words, but also with actions. The fact that some controls are being removed demonstrates confidence in the employee. It increases the employees responsibility and control over his or her own work, and that improves motivation.Principle 2 Assign a complete natural unit of work. The second principle of job enrichment is to assign employees a complete projecta complete natural unit of w orkwhenever possible. Doing this increases their sense ofaccomplishment. They can see the results of their own work more clearly. It increases their accountability for that work and fosters pride in a job well done. Example. A make clean team is given complete responsibility for everything within their area.Of course, the employees must see these as positive changes, and be interested in making them. Assigning new or specialized tasks recognizes some special ability in an individual employee, and it provides an opportunity for growth and advancement.One warning It is important to distinguish between vertical job loading and horizontal job loading. Job enrichment involves vertical loading, or increasing the importance of the job upward. Horizontal loading merely increases the amount of work involve without providing for growth and more responsibility. Here are some examples of horizontal job loading Rotating the assignments of a number of jobs that need to be enriched. This means w idely distributed get throughice modify for a while, then restrooms, then trash removal, etc. Removing the most difficult parts of the assignment in order to free the worker to accomplish more of the less challenging assignments. Challenging employees by increasing the amount of production expected. If the employee cleans 4,000 feet a night, see if he or she can clean 5,000.Principle 3 Give employees additional authority. The third principle of job enrichment is to give employees additional authority and freedom. Whenever possible, people should be given the authority to make decisions about their own work. Example. An experienced work crew is given responsibility for inspecting their own work.Obviously, the additional authority has to be realistic and consistent with the persons job, and the person has to be ready for it. This is different from just piling on more work. It is giving the person some new authority and responsibility because he or she has demonstrated competence in otherareas. This gives people recognition and a sense of achievement, and that again improves their motivation.Principle 4 Make reports directly available. The one-fourth principle of job enrichment is to make periodic reports available directly to employees rather than just to their supervisors.Example. Inspection reports are given directly to the crew responsible for cleaning the area.Again, this lets employees know that they are important. It gives them recognition, keeps them informed, and gives them direct feedback on their performance.Principle 5 Assign new or specialized tasks. The last principle of job enrichment is to assign people new or specialized tasks, enabling them to become experts.Example 1. A general cleaner is trained to become a floor machine operator.Example 2. An employee is given responsibility for quality control for an entire account or series of accounts.Circle No. 11 on Free Inquiry cardNovember 2005BSCAI Services MagazineThese examples of horizontal job loading do nothing to make a job meaningful and should be avoided at all costs. They really reduce the employees personal contribution rather than providing an opportunity for growth within the job. In confusing horizontal for vertical loading, supervisors and managers often merely have a fit a jobs meaninglessness instead of enriching it.Developing A Job Enrichment Program Whether or not you apply these job enrichment principles depends on you and the people who work for you. While nearly everyone needs recognition and a sense of accomplishment, not all employees want more challenging work, additional responsibility, and a peril for advancement.Some workers may be meeting their higher level needs off the job, they may have other needs entirely, or they may simply lack the ability. Other employees, though, will have the likely and desire for more. They may need to be coached because of fear or a sense of inadequacy or they may need to be prodded because of a lack of ambition.Bu t they should be encouraged to take advantage of opportunities, if they have the potential to better themselves and the company. For those employees who have the potential and the drive to move up, managers and supervisors have a responsibility to provide opportunities for unless training and advancement. According to Steve Garcia, CBSE, of SMI Facility Services of Albuquerque, New Mexico, job enrichment begins when the employee is hired. The employee needs to discover that his or her employment is not a dead-end job. It should be explained to him or her that the goal of the company is to train, develop and promote employees. And, notes Garcia, it is important that the company follows through with this process.In most cases, company training involves learning only how to clean, which is fine, in the beginning, but I think shortly thereafter it should go a step further by teaching employees how to inspect, how to interact with customers and how to train new employees. Imagine telli ng your cleaner that you will be stopping by tonight to review an reassessment report he has filled out himself, he continues,I think you will find in most cases the facility will meet or exceed the expectations of the company and the customer. Your employee will also feel his role with the company is more than just a janitor. He will realize he plays a key role in the entire process.In addition, Garcia believes job enrichment allows a company to have a pool of well-qualified, loyal employees, which can move into higher positionswithin the company.Approach these jobs with the positive attitude that they can be changed even though years of tradition may have led managers and supervisors to believe that the pith of the jobs isunchangeable.Get Employee Input once the jobs are selected, the next step is direct participation by the employees whose jobs are to be enriched. Get a group of workers unneurotic to develop a list of changes that may enrich these jobs. They will be a valuable source of ideas and their participation will help see to it the winner of any changes. Do not be concerned about the practicality of their suggestions at this time. Just generate a list without getting sidetracked into discussions about how they could be implemented. Once the list is complete, you and the groupshould screen the list to eliminate suggestions that involve dissatisfiers rather than actual motivation. (You may want to implement changes that eliminate dissatisfiers as well, but repair now your focus should be onjob motivators.) You should also screen thelist to eliminate any horizontal loadingsuggestions.Be sure suggestions are specific and concrete. Generalities, such as Give us more responsibility, are very difficult to implementand are virtually meaningless. You wantthings you can tend out and measure or observe in some way. For exampleThe work team will inspect their own work nightly and the supervisor will inspect weekly. This actually gives the team more respons ibility but in a specific, defined way that can be implemented and ascertained for its effectiveness.Use direct participation by the employees whose jobs are to be enriched. They will be a valuable source of ideas and their participation will help ensurethe success of any changes.Implement The ProgramOnce the job enrichment program begins, there may initially be a drop in performance. This is because changeover to a new job or way of doing things can lead to a temporary reduction in efficiency. But dont retreat faith If the above steps are taken and the principles of vertical job enrichment followed, your employees will be motivated to achieve the growth and self-fulfillment they need and want.Clearly, job enrichment takes some work. It has to be built into a job. That takes some time and effort at the beginning but like good training, it will pay off with more motivated employees who are willing to work hard and capable of working independently. Ultimately that means improved mot ivation and job satisfaction.Select The chasten JobsThe first step in putting job enrichment into practice is to select those jobs as candidates for job enrichment that meet the following criteria $Current attitudes are poor motif will make a difference in performanceChanges will not be too costlyThis article was excerpted from the Building Service heed Program Volume Three Motivation And Training. The program is a multi-volume training course that covers the technical aspects of cleaning and maintaining buildings as well as the management skills required in an increasingly complex and demanding industry. For more information on the program, contact BSCAIs Information Central at 1-800-368-3414 or visit www.bscai.org go to the on-line(a) store and click on publications.BSCAI Services MagazineNovember 2005

Information Systems Case Study

Difficulties arising from dysfunctional breeding corpses in manufacturing SMEs show topic studies J. G. Thoburn banishment University, UK S. Arunachalam Coventry University, UK A. Gunasekaran University of Massach private-valued functiontts, North Dartm offh, Massachu isthmusts, USA Keywords Information carcasss, vigorous out posture, Small-to-medium-sized enterprises Introduction Today, manufacturing organisations are increasingly engaged to be highly optimised.Abstract The ability to react swiftly and effectively The necessity of maintaining optito produce new products and work has mal trading operations and becoming an quick and responsive enterprise is become non so very much fourth dimensions a run of gaining competitive advantage, but more(prenominal) a means of becoming increasingly authoritative to survive in the global market. survival. Many companies save seen the need Consequently, all imaginations in the to adopt a whole roll of practices that redu ce companies need to be effectively inputs and waste, and al kickoff greater responmarshalled.Traditionally SMEs siveness to customer need and the market keep back concentrated on the 4Ms m championy, materials, motorcar and place. In re effect to changing requirements man military force but name often neand conditions, manufacturing paradigms glected the effective wariness continue to be outlined. It is possible to identify of selective experience, which many authors suggest is at the heart of two trends those addressing predominantly any agile organisation.The effect the relationships required in local anaesthetic and global is inadequate or come apart infor- trading environments such as that described mation bodys (IS) that do not by Porter (1996) and those governing bodys foc employ on address the demands of operational or the wider strategic needs organisational coordinates at heart an enterof the ac connection. The piece of work reprise such as business fun ction re- design ported here examines the diversi(Hammer and Champy, 1993).Arguably, the ties of problems that occur in agile manufacturing paradigm combines both. triplet different companies and, Changes in schooling technology and compares their trunks to the communication theory in the last two decades capture ideals of agile manufacturing. further shifted the equilibrium towards the customer. There has been a huge harvesting in the number of computing devices in use, putting huge power on the desktop, at ever-decreasing hardware cost.The arrival of the Internet and the expansion of the free market in telecommunications chip in the option of simple and low cost communication. Now it has become easy for all players in the lend chain, or even individual consumers, to measure specification, price and depict public presentation against their needs. They roll in the hay purchase goods that only meet their requirements from anywhere in the world, bypassing any perceived haplesscomings of their local marketplace.In response to the need for mental dexterity or the requirements to link different separate of the global Journal of officious organisation or elements of a supply chain oversight Systems 1/2 1999 116126 effectively, dusts are emerging that whitethorn MCB University Press fundamentally smorgasbord the organisation of ISSN 1465-4652 manufacturing. In order that they might 116 deliver the goods this, companies must clearly understand and organise their randomness resources at the earliest possible stage in their nurture.It is clear that only those enterprises that are able to respond to market demands with minimum delay volition survive. Kidd (1996) argues The carefreeness that arises can be utilise for competitive advantage, by being able to respond apace to changes occurring in the market environment and by means of the ability to use and exploit a fundamental resource, friendship. People need to be brought together, in dyn amic teams formed somewhat clearly defined market opportunities, so that it becomes possible to level one an separates acquaintance. Through this process is sought-after(a) the transformation of knowledge into new products and services.High reaction tractableness will be no more than a qualifier in the future, just as high quality is today. This flexibility cannot be realised by high-tech equipment alone. Human creativity and organisational ability, if necessary makeed by advanced computer found beam of lights, will be the basis for survival and success strategies. This paper describes studies over a purpose of 15 months, of triad companies, and analyses how far they are away from possessing the ability to become agile, by examining the areas that were dysfunctional.It explores the importance of teaching management and appraises learning systems in place in these companies. It discusses the need for a more organised and holistic approach to ecstasyring breeding in its various forms to the different areas of an organisation, aiming to give optimal access to instruction while eliminating wasteful extra as headspring as generating and testing new knowledge about the firms changing requirements. Information defined The term information is astray and often inaccurately use. Many authors agree that J. G. Thoburn, S. Arunachalam and A.Gunasekaran Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs case studies International Journal of Agile solicitude Systems 1/2 1999 116126 there are three elemental types data, information and knowledge. thus far, this paper argues that there is a fourth, intelligence, which is distinct from the others. All but data require an understanding of the socially defined context where the information, knowledge and intelligence came from, the assumptions surrounding them, and their importance and limitations. Each of them whitethorn be defined as follows .Data a series of observations, m ensurations or facts. . Information information is data set up into meaningful patterns by means of the application of knowledge. The act of organising data into information can itself generate knowledge, when a person reads, understands, interprets and applies the information in a specific impart situation. . Knowledge the intellectual capital nonmigratory within an organisation. The facts, experiences or competencies known by a person or convocation of people, or held within an organisation, gained by individual or shared experiences, training or rearing. Intelligence what a family needs to know about its competitive, economic, technical and industry environment to enable it to anticipate change and formulate strategies to outmatch provide for the needs of the marketplace and its specific customers. Yet many aspects of a companys IS are based, not roughly formal or technology based solutions, but sort of on promiscuous or humans oriented systems. Mintzberg (1997) examin ed a wide range of managerial work, predominantly in rotund organisations. He describe that managers, while 40 percent of their snip was devoted to gaining and sharing information, usually used informal systems centred on people.Neverthe little, he conclude that the job of managing is fundamentally one of processing information. that managing a company was essentially a matter of understand. However, this implies a rigidity of framework and formality that does not fit intimately with todays organisation, and certainly does not promote agility. Flatter, less hierarchical business systems localise control and make it difficult for management to achieve enterprise-wide regulation. Smith (1984) however, believed that the vitality of living systems was not a matter of control, but rather of dynamic connectedness.Veryard (1994) argues that systems are a dynamic interplay amongst adaptation and non-adaptation. This is precisely what is required in agile organisations, where there dust the need for stability and accountability, in an environment of necessary and perhaps rapid change. Dynamic connectedness in an agile organisation is provided by the courses of formal and informal information. Veryard further suggests that the future belongs to symbiosis external integrating in pursuit of common business aims. The authors research and experience shows that informal systems are equally important in every part of the organisation.This appears to be especially true in petty(a)er organisations, where they have less developed formal systems, or formal systems are not performing optimally. In order to damp understand and integrate the IS, the vital role of informal systems must be taken into account. The need for information systems in SMEs to successfully communicate and control For the better part of this century, classical management writers such as Henri Fayol (1949) and Gulick and Urwick (1937) taught This is evidenced in those extended enterprises now rep orted to be emerging.If this biological deal is pursued, it can be seen that biological organisms, especially human ones, achieve precisely the continuous adaptation that is described in the agile paradigm. The just about successful individuals are able to blend information from their external environment, with knowledge of their own capabilities, using formal and informal systems, whilst retaining information and knowledge in memory. There is constant building and retention of knowledge, with competencies taught by example as well as by the formal methods to be found in education and training.Con originally, many of the control and co-ordination systems, even those learned, become largely autonomic, permitting more effective processing of environmental and tiny changes. Such systems may be clearly observed at work in individuals when they are, for example, driving a vehicle. Failure to function effectively in those circumstances leads to severe consequences. Also, by combining w ith other individuals, capabilities may be extended to be far more than the sum of the parts.Accordingly, biological systems may provide effectual models for what may be anticipate to occur in manufacturing organisations of the future. With biological organisms, the need for adaptive ISs is just about grievous in growth and early learning stages, or in judgment of convictions of a significantly changing environment. Failure to adapt and learn from conditions 117 J. G. Thoburn, S. Arunachalam and A. Gunasekaran Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs case studies International Journal of Agile Management Systems 1/2 1999 116126 ay lead to survival difficulties. Similarly, small or growing companies, or those adapting to rapidly changing market conditions will require a dynamically linked IS that binds together all parts of the enterprise, and allows it to adapt to its external environment. This may be very different to the rather rigi d systems of the past, direct on pre-defined rules and algorithms. Yet it must be within the reach of the smallest company functioning at low resource levels, which may well preclude expensive and complex IT based systems.Information management differences among large companies and SMEs The EC and the UK Governments Department of Trade and Industry have identified SMEs as critical to future economic growth and job creation within the European Union. They form large and important sectors in most alter countries, especially in Europe and the USA. Yet significant differences exist between the management of SMEs and big companies, where much of the research in this field is concentrated.Just as a small fishing boat and a passenger liner may share the same ocean, so SMEs share the global trading environment with large organisations, and are no less susceptible to environmental effects. Indeed it may be argued that just want the little vessel, they are much less able to ride out th e storms of uncertainty and rapid change, be capture of their refuse resource base. As a result, they must be more, not less vigilant and adaptive than their larger counterparts, with intelligence systems able to influence their strategy and knowledge base much quicker.The Society of Practitioners of Insolvency in the UK concluded (SPI, 1998) from their 1998 survey that many companies, mostly SMEs, fail from lack of information with loss of market being the single most important factor. Case studies Research took place in three companies over a period of three months with social club A, and more than six months each for Companies B and C, when one of the authors was in daily attendance. The companies were self-selected for study. rise access was allowed to every part of the business, its operations, management and financial systems, and to all employees.Research took the form of observation, participatory ethnographic and action research. Questioning of employees used un anatomi cal structured or semi-structured inter gather ins. 118 political party A was part of a large transnational base, operating in a number of countries and in every major geographical area in the world, with a group turnover at the time of the study around ? 1 billion. The group consisted in total of eleven divisions each producing a different product. The division canvas was located in France, and had roughly 200 employees. The company has been established a number of years and operates under an ISO 002 based system, as well as a number of other quality assurance regimes. The organisation manufactured a manikin of special, large-scale products for the oil field, nuclear and defences industries worldwide. These complex products were produced individually to specific customer requirements. Lead times on nuclear products ranged from one to two years, and for the others, from six to 12 months. The products were manufactured as individual one-off specials, in a job-shop operation. The company was divided into seven departments, three by product sector, and the remainder by function.One of the latter was the information technology department. Unlike other departments, although it had a functioning office in the French division it was not a part of the local company IT was attached directly to the parent company in Germany. Its responsibilities encompassed the development and operation of the main computer and software systems used on the site for labor management, acquire, sales, drudgery costing, and time and attendance systems. The department had additional responsibilities for networks and PCs which variously ran under MsDOS, Windows and Macintosh formats.Where information carry-forward took place between departments, it was almost entirely carried out manually, transferring information to paper, and then manually transferring it to the next system. No section used the same nomenclature or data dictionary for parts and components. The organisational des ign was part hierarchical and partly a matrix structure, and used a predominantly formal communications network. There were a certain number of formal and informal meetings, by which much of the departmental and inter-departmental co-ordination was attempted.All formal systems describing the companys operation and administration were well documented. Each department, though relatively autonomous, seemed to be run with apparent efficiency. The operations and production management elements were especially highly developed, partnership A J. G. Thoburn, S. Arunachalam and A. Gunasekaran Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs case studies International Journal of Agile Management Systems 1/2 1999 116126 and had been subjected to repeated internal scrutiny as well as by local universities.Despite this, the company experienced respectable difficulties in meeting quoted leadtimes. Those lead-times were already longer than their major competit ors, and the company was also losing price-competitiveness. As much as 50 percent over-run on lead times was common, and square(p) underachievement of possible turnover, and eroding of market share resulted. Otherwise the company and its products enjoyed a long-standing high reputation, though the managers believed that without this, well greater erosion of market would have occurred.Their major competitors, predominantly Japanese and American, through price, technical improvements, and a significantly better responsiveness and delivery performance, were nevertheless making increasing gains at the companys expense. The company was a self-contained profit centre, a division of a larger group that trades throughout the UK. There were or so 25 employees on the site, though there were wide fluctuations in the total due to a self-imposed seasonality in turnover. Certain support services such as accounting system and human resources management were provided from the substitution hol ding company.Otherwise the company was responsible for all aspects of its operations. The company was engaged in metal finishing to the engineering industry and as a first tier supplier to several Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). It had two production lines and operated under an ISO 9002 system. The formal IS of the company revolved around the sales order processing (SOP) system operated from group headquarters and accessed remotely over a fixed link. SOP formed part of a non-standard accounting system, originally written for another group company operating in a non-manufacturing sector.The system itself was user unfriendly and slow, and no intuitive use was possible. At the start of the study only one person, the production supervisor, had any training in SOP. However, that training gave even him only limited knowledge of the system. Cryptic codes and generic descriptions entered by him into SOP made it impossible for others to distinguish between one product and another, and the division could not operate in his absence. Product and process knowledge was almost wholly vested in the production supervisors head.There was no formal planning or production scheduling system, and no collection system for information concerning production times and material usage. Inter- caller B nal and external rejects were not generally noted or analysed. The company had three stand-alone personal computers, two of them extremely outdated. The central management-control exercised the most stringent control, and the company was expected to make bottom-line operating profits each month. The whole operational objectives became focused only upon this, and do by other fundamentals.To reduce costs, non-essential spending such as machine maintenance, health and safety, training, housekeeping and sales were ruthlessly cut. Those savings often represented all of the profits made by the division. The lack of an IS significantly increased the time spent preparing reports, reduc ed their accuracy and eroded local management time. At the start of the study, new management was installed in the company. Several initiatives aimed at improving operating performance were considered. The absence of any suitable or appropriate IS soon eruptd.In some cases, lack of coherent historical information prevented the justification of proposed initiatives, while the military strength of others could not be judged within the imposed monthly timescale. Machine and process measurement systems were designed and put into place. They quickly showed that processes were unequal to(p). Similarly, measures of rejects and returns showed that external rejects were in excess of 30 percent while internal rejects were almost 60 percent. An analysis indicated the causes of the problems, and allowed them to be addressed.Reject rates fell to less than 1 percent within a a few(prenominal) weeks. However the centre continued to rigorously apply the accountants previous control measures. A monthly operating profit remained a continuous and absolute requirement even though large backlogs of rejects, and uncoated, badly damage customer parts required processing, and machines needed to be brought to reliable operating condition. Consequently, employee training was vetoed, and work force stabilization measures overturned. In a climate previously dominated by dismissals and redundancy, the workforce actively delayed the death penalty of an IS.After some time, substantial employee involvement began to overcome this barrier, and they became enthusiastic participants in data collection and process improvement. client confidence began to return and the customer base marginally improved. However, the new IS also begun to uncover previous managerial shortcomings, especially at group level. In response, draconian short-term financial measures were applied 119 J. G. Thoburn, S. Arunachalam and A. Gunasekaran Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manuf acturing SMEs case studies International Journal of Agile Management Systems 1/2 1999 116126 rom the centre, and initiatives overruled. The workforce was further reduced, and training programmes cancelled. Workforce morale and customer confidence fell sharply. The division has now closed. Company C was a private limited company, whose directors were its owner-managers. There were approximately 60 employees, with recruitment rising because of rapid growth and expansion. The company was in its third year of trading. The company operated under a newly introduced ISO 9002 based system. The company had two product lines. The first produced simple, low volume components for the automotive sector.The second built components for the machine tool industry. The operations involved in both of these activities were largely manual. The second group of products were much more complex many containing more than one thousand sub-components. A number of variants of each were produced, and all work was carried out by hand. Much of the information within the company was held on personal computers. The internal system was networked into three sections operations management (OM), purchasing and administration. OM includes quality assurance and control (QA), and a computer support design (CAD) station.Each section was independent of the others. Employees were inadequately trained in the use of software and frequent problems arose through their lack of understanding of the packages in use. There was considerable extra of data entry, with employees in each of the sections ingress and extracting information in an unstructured manner. Where information transfer took place between sections, it was almost entirely carried out manually, transferring information to paper, and then manually transferring it to the next system. No section used the same nomenclature or data dictionary for parts and components.Manufacturers references and descriptions were entered in a casual and unstructur ed way, making cross-referencing impossible. The data structure of each system was entirely different, and there were further large differences even within systems. CAD and QA were not integrated into the OM system. Consequently, internal systems were largely unsynchronised. As they grew in size, so the problems that they created were progressively magnified. Build and wiring order was an important factor, particularly in the case of control cabinets. It could significantly affect productivity, quality and finished appearance.Company C Consequently, the order and format of cutting and build lists were central to production aims. Despite this, methods of list production failed to espy this. It was difficult to derive build-order from examination of design information alone. Product variants caused additional difficulties and required translation by unskilled production operatives. As a result, operatives frequently transferred build instructions onto handwritten sheets and maintaine d summary work instruction systems. There was no formal method of transferring or retaining their build-order knowledge.Comparative attributes, and a summary of the most significant problems arising from the collection and use of information, knowledge and data for each of the three companies are shown in circuit board I. Identified success factors/ dysfunctional areas In order to more accurately compare and analyse the areas of dysfunction in each of the companies it is necessary to use an objective measure. Bailey and Pearson (1983) have produced one of the most definitive and widely used lists of factors that identify the success factors in ISs. Li (1997) added a further seven factors.These 46 elements have been used to form a matrix, shown in Table II, against which the ISs of the case study companies can be compared. However we have made minor modifications to some of the original criteria to widen references from a computer based information system (CBIS) to simply informati on system (IS). A hash () is shown in the description in these cases. A seven-point scale has been used to describe the stagecoach of success or dysfunction of the IS when first observed. The scale used is as follows 0 Not applicable 1 Significantly unprofitable or dysfunctional 2 middling unsuccessful or dysfunctional 3 Broadly neutral neither successful nor unsuccessful 4 Moderately successful 5 Significantly successful X No information available. Discussion and analysis The companies studied were self-selected, with the only common factor being that they were experiencing operational difficulties which extended to their trading environment in one form or another. There was nothing to suggest that they were other than typical of 120 J. G. Thoburn, S. Arunachalam and A. Gunasekaran Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs case studiesInternational Journal of Agile Management Systems 1/2 1999 116126 Table I Company attributes Company B UK Manufacturing General engineering Throughout UK Yes Yes 25 Very high down(p) ? 170k ? 40 million petty(a) vertical High Very low Central Mixed, central file server, local PCs High Low Very low Yes No Very low Manual Management accountant Very high Yes moderate High Very Low Yes Yes Low Directors High Yes Company C UK Manufacturing Automotive/machine tools English Midlands No N/A 60 Fairly high Low ? 1. 8 million ? 1. million Both high and low Team based Low Medium Local owner/directors Local PCs Characteristic Company A Country of operation Type of company Sales sector Sales area Part of a group High degree of central control figure number of employees on site Employee turnover rate General level of employee skills Approximate site sales turnover Approximate group sales turnover Product complexity Organisational structure Organisational formality percentage point of manufacturing sophistication Origin of principal control Type of information systemDegree of manual systems D egree of computerisation Degree of IS training Islands of information Local networking Degree of IS integration Transfer between systems Provider of IT support Informal information systems External audit systems (e. g. ISO 9002) France Manufacturing Nuclear engineering/oil and gas production cosmopolitan Yes No 180 Low Very high ? 12 million ? 900 million High Hierarchical/matrix High Very high Local Mixed, central mainframe (financial), local mainframe and PCs Low High Medium Yes Some Low Manual IT department Medium Yes 121 (continued) J. G. Thoburn, S. Arunachalam and A. Gunasekaran Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs case studies International Journal of Agile Management Systems 1/2 1999 116126 122 Table I Company B . . . . . . . Characteristic Company A Company C Principal symptoms . . . . . . . Poor lead time performance Higher prices than competitors Loss of market share Serious loss of available turnover through lower through put times . .Poor quality performance Poor lead time performance Extremely small customer base offering low value work Low profitability High degree of seasonality Poor quality performance Poor lead time performance Poor cash flow Frequent stoppages due to material shortages High degree of duplication and wasted effort Principal causes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Failures in communication in verbal systems formal and informal Need to manually transfer data between separate IT systems leading to delays and inaccuracy Poor communication with suppliers and failure to keep adequate ata on vendor performance privation of unified IT and IS strategy . . . . . . . . Lack of any formal operations management and scheduling system Failure to keep manufacturing performance records Control using inappropriate measurements Failure to monitor customers records and address reasons for erosion of customer base Failure to understand market conditions Failure to understand employment market v oluntary seasonality High round turnover and removeeeim Constant loss of skills and competencies Lack of skills sharing Poor training unlike SOP systemInformation systems unable to cope with rates of growth Unstructured data gathering Inappropriate transfer of information to factory floor leading to proliferation of informal systems Failure to feed back information and knowledge from production Failure to understand employment market Limited knowledge base and deliberate confine of skills base Lack of understanding of quality failures Lack of appropriate IT training Inappropriate IT systems Ad-hoc IT systems leading to Lack of unified IT and IS strategyJ. G. Thoburn, S. Arunachalam and A. Gunasekaran Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs case studies International Journal of Agile Management Systems 1/2 1999 116126 Table II Success factors and dysfunctional areas Factor no. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 Description factor Top management involvement Competition between computer based information system (CBIS) and non-CBIS units Allocation priorities for IS resources () Chargeback method of payment for services Relationship between users and the CBIS staff Communications between users and the CBIS staff Technical competence of the CBIS staff Attitude of the CBIS staff Scheduling of CBIS products and services Time required for systems development Processing of requests for system changes Vendors maintenance support Response/turnaround time Means of input/ issue with CBIS centre Convenience of access Accuracy of output Timeliness of output Precision of output Reliability of output Currency of output Completeness of output Format of output Features of computer language used Volume of output Realisation of user requirements Correction of errors Security of data and models accompaniment of systems and procedures Users expe ctation of computer-based support Users understanding of the systems Perceived utility (worth vs. ost) Users confidence in the systems Users participation Personal control over the IS () Training provided to users Job effects of computer-based support Organisational position of the IS unit () Flexibility of the systems Integration of the systems Users office toward the IS () Clarity of output Instructiveness of output Support of productivity tools Productivity improved by the IS () Efficiency of the systems dominance of the systems A 3 2 3 X 4 4 4 3 3 3 2 X 4 4 4 3 2 3 3 2 4 4 4 2 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 Company B 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 4 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 C 2 3 2 0 4 2 2 2 2 2 3 1 2 3 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 1 2 4 2 3 3 4 4 1 2 5 4 2 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 companies of their size or sector. The studies aimed to determine the extent of use of ISs, report effectiveness and what contribution, if any, their systems had to th e areas of dysfunction. They were mean to be preliminary studies from which initial conclusions could be drawn, with reference to published work. By spending a considerable amount of time in each company, and becoming involved with various aspects of their operations, and interacting with employees at all levels in each company, there is a high level of confidence that the systems observed were unaffected by short term experimental bias.Company A, with the highest turnover and approve by a large multi-national parent company was the most resource rich 123 J. G. Thoburn, S. Arunachalam and A. Gunasekaran Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs case studies International Journal of Agile Management Systems 1/2 1999 116126 company. It possessed a highly sophisticated and well-designed production and operations management system, backed by logistics, quality and design departments each equally efficient in their own right. The IS appears fr om Table II to perform reasonably well. Yet consistently it was unable to meet promised lead times, often by a substantial margin.It was found that the purchasing department was at the centre of many of the problems, with poor communication with suppliers, and adversarial purchasing based principally on price. The consequence was many late deliveries and variable quality. Yet the true cause of the problems was not discovered to be there. The principal means of information transfer between different sections of the companys IT system was manual. Because of incompatible systems, even at PC level, where both Apple and MsDOS based systems were employed, communication was impossible. Each departments system had grown on an ad hoc basis to fulfil its own needs, without reference to others. Each data transfer took place using printed information, usually in the form of schedules, which was translated, then re-entered manually.There were often delays, some considerable, while this process t ook place. Subtle yet cumulative changes of data and information took place because of translation errors. This had the effect of de-synchronising the whole system. only the most significant effects on leadtime were not to be found in the IT system, but rather in verbal communication systems. A large number of formal and informal meetings were held to exchange information often in response to increasing delays against the planned schedule. In response to pressure, the spokespersons from individual departments often gave absurd answers, sometimes inadvertently because of the cumulative errors or delays in information transfer.Other times, errors were deliberate, where attempts were apparently made to save face, or under pressure from a senior manager or colleagues, to agree to plans that they knew to be unrealistic. Different participants often repeated this process in turn during a meeting. Accordingly, this information was recorded and became crystallised into the formal system w ith the result that delays were progressively magnified. Thus it was lack of true dynamic connectedness of the system that created the problems that led to ceaseless poor lead-time performance. In contrast, the IS in Company B was not only seriously deficient and absent in many places, but was dysfunctional in every area where it did exist. IT systems were limited, unfriendly and uncoordinated, with training and funding absent.In the wider system information, and particularly feedback, was deliberately withheld, and knowledge generation stifled in response to the corporate culture. The annual haemorrhage of accumulated skills combined with the lack of training and poor human resources policies substantially added to the problem. Inappropriate measurement and control of the feedback systems that did exist reinforced this culture, and the problems that were occurring. Because of poor management techniques, both internal and external intelligence was ignored for considerable periods of time. At the times attention was placed upon this aspect, the system was in adequate to(p) of multiple focus, and one set of problems was replaced with another.The response of senior group managers was particularly interesting. As IS was put in place or repaired, long-accumulated problems began to e unite which pointed to previous management failures. Their immediate response was to try to dismantle newly implanted systems, and halt knowledge generation and dissemination, and return to the previous culture. Once they took these steps, failure was inevitable. In Company C, the problems were quite different. There was a clear belief in the ability of computers to solve problems by their mere presence. Yet the growth and structure in their IS was wholly unplanned and uncoordinated, and was incapable of supporting the rapid growth of the organisation.There was substantial redundancy and duplication of software systems, and poor understanding of their capabilities that led to the dis ablement of important reporting and control facilities. Poor system management and training allowed proliferation of duplicated files, and it was often difficult to determine the correct version of any instruction. As a consequence, a considerably higher level of employee time was expended than necessary, substantially increasing costs. Poor data gathering, knowledge management and information generation techniques exacerbated these problems, and informal systems proliferated. Yet simple trial measures to return acquired manufacturing process and merge formal and informal systems, improved quality, productivity and worker-satisfaction.Information systems in an agile company should contribute to responsiveness as well as to overall corporate and organisational aims (Burgess, 1994 Goldman and Nagel, 1993 Kidd, 1994). There are a number of broadly authentic principles of the agilemanufacturing paradigm that provide the 124 J. G. Thoburn, S. Arunachalam and A. Gunasekaran Difficultie s arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs case studies International Journal of Agile Management Systems 1/2 1999 116126 basis for a rapid and flexible response to changing trading conditions. That is to feel out there is dialect on strategies (Goldman et al. , 1995), technologies, systems (Cho et al. , 1996 Gillenwater et al. , 1995) and people (Goldman et al. , 1995 Kidd, 1994).In many cases, many authors have placed great emphasis on the technological capabilities of the organisation (Adamides, 1996 Medhat and Rook, 1997 Merat et al. , 1997). Such resources may not be available to smaller companies. Does this of necessity mean that small companies may not be agile. This would be directly contradictory to the long held view that the strength of smaller companies is their inherent flexibility and responsiveness. Nevertheless, from the comparisons shown in Table III it is possible to conclude from this study that the more dysfunctional, and less dynam ically connected the IS, the less able the company is to achieve agile outcomes, flexibility and responsiveness, in the broadest sense of its definition (Gehani, 1995 Kidd, 1996). Conclusion and implicationsIn this section consideration is given to three broad issues arising from the case studies potential implications of the results preliminary conclusions and plans for further work. The studies found broadly in line with previous work, though we have suggested that the normal three-part definition of information of data, information and knowledge be extended to include a fourth, intelligence. We have further observed the fundamental importance of informal systems particularly in the case of the two smaller companies B and C. Here personnel at every operational level relied heavily on informal information, and constructed their own systems, either to protect their position, or to operate more effectively.We have also propounded the biological view that human behavioural systems in particular provide a useful view of how responsive organisations should assoil if flexibility and responsiveness is the desired outcome. This paper then considered the companies against the background of agile manufacturing and compared their actual performance to the ideals of the paradigm. It can be concluded that in every case in this study, the more dysfunctional and less dynamically connected the IS, the less able the company is to be agile in the broadest sense of its definition. However current tools and techniques of evaluation and design of ISs are far less wellTable III Comparative performance against agility principles Company A Strategy Agile principles Technology Systems Lack of direct integration of IT systems and connectedness of IT and people-centred systems Absent, deficient or dysfunctional. Without effective coordination or integration People Flexibility Outcomes Responsiveness Low redeeming(prenominal) strategic Good to sentience excellent Low People highly tr ained, valued and rewarded but failure in communications in people-centred systems People poorly valued and rewarded. No training and deliberate withholding of knowledge in response to company culture Poor B Poor strategic Badly provided, maintained and awareness understood with lack of internal and external intelligence Poor C Strategy held in individuals at board levelLimited, uncoordinated and unplanned. Computers seen as an answer by simply being present Uncoordinated and incapable of adapting to rapidly increasing demand Poor HR policies Rapidly decreasing leading to staff shortages and low reputation. Poor knowledge management Rapidly decreasing 125 J. G. Thoburn, S. Arunachalam and A. Gunasekaran Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs case studies International Journal of Agile Management Systems 1/2 1999 116126 suited to the needs of many companies (Sauer and Lau, 1997), SMEs in particular, and the achievement of their strategic , commercial and operational goals.This suggests that a new and simpler technique is required that aims to lay down the bum for an IS at an early stage in the development of a company. This system must be capable of being applied by non-specialist managers in circumstances where there may be a commingle of information technology and manual systems. 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