Racial Stereotypes and Food Product Marketing

Racial Stereotypes and Food Product Marketing The images of racial minorities have been used to hawk food for more than a century. Bananas, rice, and pancakes are just some of the food items that have historically been marketed with visages of people of color. Because such items have long been criticized for promoting racial stereotypes, however, the link between race and food marketing remains a touchy subject. When President Obama rose to prominence and Obama Waffles and Obama Fried Chicken made their debut soon after, controversy followed. Once again, an African American was being used to push food, critics said. Take a look around your kitchen. Do any of the items in your cupboards promote racial stereotypes? The list of items below may change your mind about what constitutes a racist food product. Frito Bandito In the age of Dora the Explorer, its difficult to imagine a time when a Latino cartoon character wasnt portrayed as caring, adventurous, and inquisitive, but as sinister. When Frito-Lay rolled out Frito Bandito in 1967, though, thats exactly what happened. The Bandito, the cartoonish mascot for Frito-Lay corn chips, had a gold tooth, a pistol and a penchant for stealing chips. To boot, the Bandito, clad in a huge sombrero and boots with spurs, spoke broken English with a thick Mexican accent. A group called The Mexican-American Anti-Defamation Committee objected to this stereotypical image, causing Frito-Lay to change the Banditos appearance so he did not appear as devious. He became kind of friendly and rascally, but still wanted to heist your corn chips, explained David Segal, who wrote about the character for Slate.com in 2007. The committee found these changes didnt go far enough and continued campaigning against Frito-Lay until the company removed him from promotional materials in 1971. Uncle Bens Rice The image of an elderly black man has appeared in ads for Uncle Bens Rice since 1946. So, just who exactly is Ben? According to the book Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben and Rastus: Blacks in Advertising Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Ben was a Houston rice farmer known for his superior crops. When Texas food broker Gordon L. Harwell launched a brand of commercial rice cooked to preserve nutrients, he decided to name it Uncle Bens Converted Rice, after the respected farmer, and use the image of an African-American maitre d he knew to be the face of the brand. On the packaging, Uncle Ben appeared to be a menial type, as suggested by his Pullman Porter-like attire. Moreover, the title Uncle likely derives from the practice of whites addressing elderly African Americans as uncle and aunt during segregation because the titles Mr. and Mrs. were deemed unsuitable for blacks, who were regarded as inferior. In 2007, however, Uncle Ben received a makeover of sorts. Mars, the owner of the rice brand, debuted a website in which Uncle Ben is portrayed as the chairman of the board in a posh office. This virtual facelift was a way for Mars to bring Ben, an outdated racial stereotype of the black man as sharecropper-servant, into the 21st century. Chiquita Bananas Generations of Americans have grown up eating Chiquita bananas. But its not just the bananas they remember fondly, its Miss Chiquita, the comely figure the banana company has used to brand the fruit since 1944. With a sensual swagger and flamboyant Latin American attire, the bilingual Miss Chiquita makes the men swoon, as vintage advertisements of the bombshell demonstrate. Miss Chiquita is widely thought to have been inspired by Brazilian beauty Carmen Miranda who appeared in ads for Chiquita bananas. The actress has been accused of promoting the exotic Latina stereotype because she achieved fame wearing pieces of fruit on her head and revealing tropical clothing. Some critics argue that it’s all the more insulting for a banana company to play into this stereotype because the women, men, and children who worked in banana farms toiled in grueling conditions, often falling gravely ill as a result of pesticide exposure. Land O Lakes Butter Make a trip to the dairy section of your grocery store, and youll find the Native American woman known as the Indian maiden on Land O Lakes butter. How did this woman come to be featured on Land OLakes products? In 1928, officials from the company received a photo of a Native woman with a butter carton in hand as cows grazed and lakes flowed in the background. Because Land O Lakes is based in Minnesota, the home of Hiawatha and Minnehaha, the company reps welcomed the idea of using the maidens image to sell its butter. In recent years, writers such as H. Mathew Barkhausen III, who is of Cherokee and Tuscarora descent, have called the image of the Land O Lakes maiden stereotypical. She wears two braids in her hair, a headdress, and an animal skin frock with beaded embroidery. Also, for some, the maidens serene countenance erases the suffering indigenous peoples have experienced in the United States. Eskimo Pie Eskimo Pie ice cream bars have been around since 1921 when a candy shop owner named Christian Kent Nelson noticed that a little boy couldn’t decide whether to buy a chocolate bar or ice cream. Why not have both available in one confection, Nelson figured. This line of thinking led him to create the frozen treat known then as the â€Å"I-Scream Bar.† When Nelson partnered up with chocolate maker Russell C. Stover, though, the name was changed to Eskimo Pie and the image of an Inuit boy in a parka was featured on the packaging. Today, some indigenous peoples from the arctic regions of North America and Europe object to the name â€Å"Eskimo† in the use of the frozen pies and other sweets, not to mention in society generally. In 2009, for example, Seeka Lee Veevee Parsons, a Canadian Inuit, made newspaper headlines after publicly objecting to references to the Eskimo in the names of popular desserts. She called them â€Å"an insult to her people.† â€Å"When I was a little girl white kids in the community used to tease me about it in a bad way. It’s just not the correct term,† she said of Eskimo. Instead, Inuit should be used, she explained. Cream of Wheat When Emery Mapes of the North Dakota Diamond Milling Company set out in 1893 to find an image to market his breakfast porridge, now called Cream of Wheat, he decided to use the face of a black chef. Still on promotional packaging for Cream of Wheat today, the chef- who was given the name Rastus, has become a cultural icon, according to sociologist David Pilgrim of Ferris State University. â€Å"Rastus is marketed as a symbol of wholeness and stability,† Pilgrim asserts. â€Å"The toothy, well-dressed black chef happily serves breakfast to a nation.† Not only was Rastus portrayed as subservient but also as uneducated, Pilgrim points out. In a 1921 advertisement, a grinning Rastus holds up a chalkboard with these words: â€Å"Maybe Cream of Wheat aint got no vitamins. I dont know what them things is. If they’s bugs they aint none in Cream of Wheat.† Rastus represented the black man as a child-like, unthreatening slave. Such images of blacks perpetuated the notion that African Americans were content with a separate but (un)equal existence while making Southerners of the time feel nostalgic about the Antebellum Era. Aunt Jemima Aunt Jemima is arguably the most well-known minority â€Å"mascot† of a food product, not to mention the longest lasting. Jemima came to be in 1889 when Charles Rutt and Charles G. Underwood created a self-rising flour that the former called Aunt Jemima’s recipe. Why Aunt Jemima? Rutt reportedly got the inspiration for the name after seeing a minstrel show that featured a skit with a Southern mammy named Jemima. In Southern lore, mammies were matronly black female domestics who doted on the white families they served and cherished their role as subordinates. Because the mammy caricature was popular with whites in the late 1800s, Rutt used the name and likeness of the mammy he’d seen in the minstrel show to market his pancake mix. She was smiling, obese, and wore a headscarf fit for a servant. When Rutt and Underwood sold the pancake recipe to the R.T. Davis Mill Co., the organization continued to use Aunt Jemima to help brand the product. Not only did the image of Jemima appear on product packaging, but the R.T. Davis Mill Co. also enlisted real African-American women to appear as Aunt Jemima at events such as the 1893 World’s Exposition in Chicago. At these events, black actresses told stories about the Old South which painted life there as idyllic for both blacks and whites, according to Pilgrim. America ate up the mythical existence of Aunt Jemima and the Old South. Jemima became so popular that the R.T. Davis Mill Co. changed its name to the Aunt Jemima Mill Co. Moreover, by 1910, more than 120 million Aunt Jemima breakfasts were being served annually, Pilgrim notes. Following the civil rights movement, however, black Americans began voicing their objection to the image of a black woman as a domestic who spoke grammatically incorrect English and never challenged her role as servant. Accordingly, in 1989, Quaker Oats, who’d purchased the Aunt Jemima Mill Co. 63 years earlier, updated Jemima’s image. Her head wrap had vanished, and she wore pearl earrings and a lace collar instead of a servant’s clothing. She also appeared younger and significantly thinner. The matronly domestic Aunt Jemima originally appeared as had been replaced by the image of a modern African-American woman. Wrapping Up Despite the progress that’s occurred in race relations, Aunt Jemima, Miss Chiquita, and similar spokes-characters remain fixtures in American food culture. All came to fruition during a time when it was unthinkable that a black man would become president or a Latina would sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. Accordingly, they serve to remind us about the great strides people of color have made over the years. In fact, many consumers likely buy a pancake mix from Aunt Jemima with little idea that the woman on the box was originally a slave prototype. These same consumers likely find it difficult to understand why minority groups object to President Obama’s image on a box of waffles or a recent Duncan Hines cupcake ad that seemed to use blackface imagery. There’s a long tradition in the U.S. of using racial stereotypes in food marketing, but in the 21st century America patience for that kind of advertising has run out.

Understanding Concepts of Strategy in Business and War Essay

Understanding Concepts of Strategy in Business and War - Essay Example In war, the strategy calls for a careful study of the weakest areas within the enemy camp, and in business one of the first steps in the struggle to succeed is to target the weak spots in the structure of a rival company. It is equally important to establish a final goal. Is winning enough? The strategy is not successful if a country or a company cannot maintain its position, especially in a global society. There must be a plan for follow-up when the initial goal is met. One example of the failure to establish a final goal is the â€Å"war† in the Middle East. The concept in both war and business is to be a winner and not a loser, but U.S. presence in Iraq shows no signs of reaching its unrealistic goal. Setting a target and meeting goals could be regarded as two of the external environmental factors necessary for success in both war and business. However, in addition to understanding the opposition, it is important in both areas to train a contingent of individuals, whether troops or employees, to learn the rules and work together to resolve any weaknesses within the organization or blog. Thornton (2006) notes that by establishing organized troops and having a vision of what he wished to achieve, Alexander the Great from the small country of Mesopotamia was able to defeat armies ten times his size due to his strong leadership skills. These are the skills needed by CEOs in successful companies and can be considered another of the inner environmental factors needed in both war and business planning.

Anything that is commonly discussable or interesting Research Paper

Anything that is commonly discussable or interesting - Research Paper Example In Medieval Latin, it was considered to be a â€Å"crime against nature†. In today’s world, some believe that it is a natural desire, not an acquired behavior or lifestyle choice, therefore, it is moral. On the other hand, some believes that this behavior is an adaptation, not inherent nature of human being. It distorts the divine mandate (procreation), marriage, physical and psychological health of human being, therefore, it is immoral. This research paper posits that homosexuality is unnatural and it defies the sanctity of marriage, divine purpose of procreation, and therefore, it is immoral practice. One of the major reasons behind the opposition of homosexual relationship is that it is unnatural, therefore, immoral and must not be practiced. Corvino argues that most of the opposition for homosexuality stems from five basic interpretations of â€Å"naturalness†. He exclaims what unnatural really means for opponents. There are many things that people value and consider ethical are unnatural, for instance, clothing, housing, medicine, government or organizational systems. On the other hand, people detest many natural things, such as, death, misery, disease. Later events are entirely natural but people find it hard to accept them (309). In order to understand opponents’ idea of unnatural, Corvino borrows its five definitions from Burton Leiser. Firstly, Leiser believes that what is unusual or abnormal is unnatural. It implies that homosexual relationship deviates from the norm and what most people practice. It is obvious that most people get into heterosexual relationship; however, Corvino argues that it does not make homosexual relationship wrong. He asserts that most people don’t learn Sanskrit, play mandolin, pilot ships, breed goats, or write with both hands, yet none of these are considered immoral on the basis of their unusualness (310). He further quotes Ramsey

Yum! Brands Food

Yum! Brands Food Yum! Brands America is not what it once was. Gone are the times of spending hours sitting on the front porch while grandma snapped a pound of green beans for dinner. Instead, those times have been replaced with speeding through a drive-thru window to grab a quick bite to eat. Foods that were once referred to as slow-cooked, wholesome, and hearty, are now being described by words such as, fast, convenient, and fatty. We now live in an evolving world, where a single moment of free time is branded as wasted time for progress. The fast-food industry has emerged almost immediately. â€Å"Yum! Brands, Inc., was reported as the largest fast-food company in 2004† (Krug (2004) pg. 627). This company is made up of many household brands such as KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Long John Silvers, and AW restaurants. In the fast-food industry, they are the market leader in the chicken, pizza, mexican, and seafood segments (Krug, 2004). Yum! Brands goal is to be the market leader in the United States, and also increase market share in high growth areas around the world. One strategy that Yum! Brands implemented to increase market share in the United States was to combine two of the companys franchises into one location to attract a broader customer base. This has brought tremendous success to the company. Yum! Brands has since shifted its focus to an international strategy to expand on their current market share. The rise of the fast-food industry is not confined to the United States alone. The world as we know it has evolved into a fast-paced no wait zone. Although based on a countrys culture, the dining practices of the worlds countries are quite different. Some countries remain steadfast to their culture and have been reluctant to embrace the fast-food concept. This presents the strategic issue. How can Yum! Brands continue to expand on their international strategy while sustaining their leadership and competitive advantage in the United States and other countries? We will now address this issue by applying an analysis that will help Yum! Brands decide which countries need to be evaluated and when to expand their company into new markets. In order for Yum! Brands to venture outside of the United States, they must first evaluate the markets in which they are planning to enter. This type of analysis requires a model that evaluates the economic conditions, political stability, cultural differences, resources, society conditions, and supporting industries associated within a given market. Michael Porter of Harvard University concluded that â€Å"there are four broad attributes of nations that individually, and as a system, constitute what is termed ‘the diamond of national advantage† (Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner 2007 pg. 240). We will find this analysis to be the most beneficial to Yum! Brands. In this analysis, we will be analyzing what issues Yum! Brands should address before entering a market. These issues are factor conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting industries, and firm strategy, structure, and rivalry. We begin the analysis with factor conditions. These conditions reflect each nations factors of production and should be industry and firm specific. Yum! Brands should be looking at what each country possesses, as far as firm-specific knowledge and skills created within the country that are rare, valuable, difficult to imitate, and rapidly and efficiently deployed. If these factors do not exist in a country, then Yum! Brands will need to consider whether the firm can create these factors using their own intellectual assets. One factor advantage for expanding into the Latin American markets, for instance, is that the costs associated with labor and salaries will be significantly less than in the United States. This is due to inflation rates, economies of scale, and unemployment rates. Yum! Brands has been successful in other markets because almost all of their franchises outside of the United States are locally owned and operated. This reduces the language barriers and allows a cultura l perspective that might otherwise be a major concern. By allowing local business people to own the franchise, Yum! Brands gains intellectual knowledge on the countrys culture and consumer demands in a given market. Analyzing demand conditions is important because without knowing what the customers wants and needs are, we cannot efficiently serve the market. In the United States, we know that the demand for fast-food is high, based on our lifestyle and growing population trends. Although in Latin America, this may not be the case, due to consumer awareness and cultural differences. Yum! Brands will need to rely on economic and trend analysts to predict the cultural and societal trends of that market. Among the things analyzed should be the ethnic and immigration trends of that country. In the United States, we have seen a growth in ethnic food, due to the recent growth in immigration. Another thing to consider when analyzing demand conditions is the level of income individuals are receiving. A rise in income stimulates growth in the dine-in restaurant segment as consumers receive higher disposable incomes (Krug, 2004). Yum! Brands may need to expand and improve on existing products in order to s ustain competitive advantage. Related and Supporting Industries deal with countries managing inputs more efficiently. Close working relationships with suppliers is a key factor in gaining competitive advantage. In the United States, we have seen that distribution of products is highly correlated with production. Distribution between states within the country is non problematic, based on the free trade barriers that exist between them. This is also true of distribution to Canada and Mexico, due to the North American Free Trade Agreement that enabled free trade and tariffs between North American countries. Also, the geographic proximity of Latin America to the United States gives the firm an advantage towards supplier power. Yum! Brands will need to assess the supplier power, as well as other related relationships relevant to success, in each market before entering. Also, it is important for Yum! Brands to research trade laws and regulations between their home market and potential foreign markets. Firm strategy, structure, and rivalry is perhaps the most important segment in analyzing a foreign market. â€Å"Rivalry is particularly intense in nations with conditions of strong consumer demand, strong supplier bases, and high new entrant potential from related industries† (Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner 2007 pg. 243). In the fast-food segment, we have seen that domestic rivalry is very high within the United States. Although, based on cultural differences in Latin America, the demand is low, because most Latin Americans have not yet acquired a taste for American food. Instead, Latin Americans continue to embrace dining at home. Economics are another factor reflecting domestic rivalry. As we have already discussed, the pay rate in Latin American countries is significantly lower than in the United States. This results in lower consumer demand which reduces the competitive environment in Latin America. How a country is run can also influence domestic rivalry and strategy. With popul ations on the rise around the world, as well as in Latin America, a trend may soon be emerging that will shift all dining practices to a more American style of eating. As long as Yum! Brands continues to innovate and make changes in its internal framework, they should be able to achieve their international strategic goals. It is imperative that Yum! Brands does not venture into foreign markets without first analyzing the market in which they are entering. Also, if they try to expand too rapidly, they may experience limited resources and cash flow. Yum! Brands will want to expand into areas with high economic growth potential, as well as, regions with rising population and political stability. â€Å"Firms that succeed in global markets had first succeeded in intense competition in their home markets. We can conclude that competitive advantage for global firms typically grows out of relentless, continuing improvement, innovation, and change† (Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner 2007 pg. 243). Based on the history of Yum! Brands success in the United States, we can assume that the company is a prime candidate to venture into international markets. Works Cited Krug, Jeffrey A. (2004). Yum! Brands, Pizza Hut, and KFC. Appalachian State  University, 627-638. Dess, G. Gregory, Lumpkin, G.T, Eisner, B. Eisner (2007). Strategic Management 3e.  Mcgraw-Hill. Diamond of National Advantage Domestic Rivalry high in the U.S. based on cultural trends economics low in Latin America fast-food versus dining at home Factor Conditions Demand Conditions requires high population low in Latin America modern technology high in U.S. communication systems dining practices language barriers immigration trends tariffs and trade regulations consumer awareness legal system growth in suburban areas banking system unemployment rates labor costs Related and Supporting Industries close proximity to the supplier supplier bases must be prevalent in an industry can a supplier base be created trade barriers can similar suppliers be substituted

Ikea Management Analysis Essay

Abstract: This article is an analysis of the IKEA’s supply chain. IKEA’s supply chain is globally with sales in more than 250 own stores in 24 countries and 32 external franchisees in 16 countries. It has special supplier management, store design, and warehouse management. IKEA Supply Chain system includes IOS, TSO, material and suppliers, DC and IKEA store. IKEA global planning has seven processes. Sale planning and demand planning are in this article. IKEA’s supply chain was operated really successful, however, it still exist some problems, like lack of central coordination, inaccurate sale forecasts, and high inventory costs. In the end, this article will provide some recommendations to solve those problems. Introduction IKEA, founded in 1943, is one of the best home furniture company in the world whose, and its vision is â€Å"To provide better life for everyone†. IKEA provides modern and fashionable low cost furniture for over 38 countries with 301 stores. It is the largest furniture retail chain in the world and boasts a range of 12000 products, including home furniture, accessories and some other stuff. What’s more, it’s concern for people and environment lead to excellent use of raw material and energy, which result in their green targets and the overall environment. A supply chain is a network of retailers, distributors, transporters, storage facilities, and suppliers that participate in the production, delivery, and sale of a product to the consumer. The supply chain is typically made up of multiple companies who coordinate activities to set themselves apart from the competition. A supply chain has three key parts: Supply focuses on the raw materials supplied to manufacturing, including how, when, and from what location. Manufacturing focuses on converting these raw materials into finished products. Distribution focuses on ensuring these products reach the consumers through an organized network of distributors, warehouses, and retailers. Ikea is a worldwide company and its supply chain also deserves us to study. In this paper we are going to analyze the IKEA’s supply chain in the market and we will also analysis the strategy and plan of the company. In addition, we would give our proposed recommendation in the end. IKEA Supply Chain Strategy IKEA’s supply chain is global with sales in more than 250 own stores in 24 countries and 32 external franchisees in 16 countries. The stores are supplied through 31 distribution countries, or directly from the 1,350 suppliers in more than 50 countries. IKEA’s supply chain consequently has a global spread with both sales and purchasing in all major regions of the world. IKEA’s growth has been tremendous and sales are still growing. Currently IKEA plans to open 10-20 new stores every year with a goal to double sales within the coming five year. Considering the pace of growth in sales, the many stores and warehouses, and the fact that some business areas change up to 30% of its assortment every year, supply chain planning is a real challenge. The supply chain needs tight control and high levels of visibility to keep costs down and avoid obsolete inventory and/or stock outs. The IKEA supply chain is mainly make-to-stock (MTS) and only a few products are made to custo mer orders. Consequently, the entire supply chain is heavily dependent on forecasts. The regions and the stores have traditionally had a strong power and a high degree of local freedom in terms of planning and placing replenishment requests. This has led to a fragmented supply chain planning with local optimization and a lot of manual intervention with plans throughout the supply chain. Furthermore, due to frequent shortage situations some regions have purposely overestimated demand to ensure delivery, which in turn has led to imbalance in terms of demand coverage. Hence, some markets have suffered from stock outs during long periods, whereas other markets have ended up with obsolete inventories. Forecasting has been done on a regional level with approximately 120 users striving for different goals and using different methods. Part of the explanation to this is that IKEA has lacked a common and structured tactical planning of demand and replenishment. In terms of capacity planning, all different parts of the supply chain (stores, warehouses, regions, etc.) tried to optimize its own part of the supply chain, leading to a set of imbalanced supply plans with a low and unstable total throughput with long replenishment times for the supply chain as a whole. IKEA initiated a program (cluster of projects) aiming to taking better control of its supply chain, and enhance performance in terms of delivery service and costs. A new global planning concept was developed and is currently being implemented. Its cornerstones are mutually integrated planning processes, a centralized planning organization, focus on data quality and use of advanced software support. The purpose of this article is to outline IKEA’s global supply chain planning concept and describe the roles of the planning organization, data quality, software support and project and change management in the concept and its implementation. Supply Chain Management of IKEA Supplier Management IKEA has about 1400 suppliers from 33 countries, 64% of them are from European countries, with largest supplier markets in China and Poland. IKEA maintains lasting relationship with suppliers, and it has its own way to select suppliers from worldwide. After decide what product and material to be used, trading offices would find the suppliers in their respective regions and invite bids from them. IKEA has a principle, which is to choose suppliers of lowest cost at the same time, guarantee the quality. By placing orders directly on line, IKEA can always receive the deliveries within one to two weeks. On the other side, they ask suppliers to take inventory, so that suppliers can clearly know about the time, category, and amount of goods they have to fill up. IKEA also asks suppliers to deliver some of the goods straight to their stores, and this kind of managing would possibly save time, energy, and money considerably. They have formed a certain role to evaluate the performance of suppliers and point out standards and grades. Under such pressure, IKEA’s suppliers would be serious about their job and try their best to make sure the goods are of best quality and fastest delivery. By this kind of supplier management, IKEA would absolutely has high efficiency and quality. Store Design IKEA chose its store location on the city outskirts as the company’s stores were large and required huge parking spaces because IKEA realized that its customers were visiting stores in their cars. There is a typical feature of IKEA stores. [pic] The picture above is a map of some IKEA stores, in this, one can obviously see that customers entered into the stores, they would follow the arrow printed on the floor, and see through all products they exhibit. This kind of layout is called Racetrack layout, which has a main section that directs towards various section of the store, loops through the store and returns customers to the front of the store. It draws customers around the store and is commonly used in department stores. IKEA uses this to encourage customer to explore and move around IKEA at ease. The Racetrack Layout leads customers throughout the whole IKEA passing through different department. It makes sure that no section is missed out as the Racetrack Layout is design in a way that customer will have to follow the path in order to get to the end. The Loop allows customer to have different viewing angles and to catch a glance of every item in the store within a look. This encourages exploration and impulse buying. Thus this is strategic for IKEA as to capture customers. Warehouse Management IKEA has large warehouses like â€Å"DC008†, it has 19 input doors and 22 output doors. This separation makes the warehouse operation more effective. In the warehouses, there are many forklifts and they run fast and flexible. This also improves efficiency. Besides, IKEA seriously considered the safety of warehouses. It built a perfect security system. If some materials are not in right position, the red light will turn on and there will be an alarm ringing. Another significant warehouse management is space management. A system numbers every area, and all of them will be in the computers, so workers can clearly see wherever there is a vacancy. That ensures turn-around speed. The WMS (Warehouse Management System) in IKEA is so mature that it is used in every warehouse of IKEA’s. However, now IKEA need to figure out how to reduce inventory in order to save money. As for IKEA, there is a special kind of warehouse, which is self-serve warehouse. It is just in stores and keeps some inventory to give customers more choices. It can as well make customers enjoy pleasant about self-purchase. IKEA Supply Chain IKEA Supply Chain System (From the tree to the living room) IKEA is one of the leading home furnishing companies in the world and is expanding globally and fast gaining market share. Also IKEA’s supply chain has a global spread with both sales and purchasing in all major regions of the world. In IKEA Supply Chain system, firstï ¼Å'IOS is IKEA of Sweden, where decisions are made, such as the number of items, purchasing, suppliers, distribution, store coordination, and so on. Second, TSO (Trading), trading is responsible for the relationship with suppliers. Within trading there are 43 trading service offices in Europe, Asia and North America. Third is material and suppliers. They provide raw materials and manufacture the products. Co-workers in this area form a bridge between the factory floor and the products on the shelves at IKEA stores. They are responsible for ensuring reliable production methods that lead to high quality results, but which at the same time involve the min imum waste and maximum efficiency. Although not the most visible role within IKEA, this area is incredibly important for the company. The suppliers of IKEA and the good relations IKEA enjoy with them are among the company’s greatest assets. Fourth, in DC (Distribution centers), trucks, boats and trains are all needed to move products around. Coordinating these different means of transport to make the movement of goods as quick and efficient as possible is a real art. And DC are not enough just to make sure the goods arrive at the right stores and customers at the right time; they must also arrive in good shape, ready to be sold at the lowest possible price. Fifth is store. IKEA has more than 250 own stores in 24 countries and 32 external franchisees in 16 countries. To simplify, chart 1 shows the whole IKEA Supply Chain system described above. [pic] Chart1 IKEA Supply Chain system Moreover, in fifth part, In-store Logistics are also an important part in IKEA supply chain. In-store Logistics have seven steps (chart 2): Step1, create commitment with clear and qualified goods. Step2, develop an in-store logistics organization based on knowledge and competence. Step3, create balance between the space to range relation. Step4, place rational and correct orders. Step5, sales space management. Step6, establish routines for the most efficient goods flow. Step7, follow-up on performance. [pic] Chart 2 IKEA Supply Chain-In-store Logistics IKEA Supply Chain Planning Planning Concept Overview. According to IKEA’s characters, such as offer a wide range of home furnishings with good design and function and provide low prices, Ikea’s supply chain is in constant flux, with improvements being made whenever they are required or new technology appears. But generally, Ikea’s supply chain is mainly make-to-stock (MTS) and only a few products are made to customer orders. Consequently, the entire supply chain is heavily dependent on forecasts. IKEA focus on all forecasting activities and need calculations to control the entire supply chain inventory levels and replenishment. The global planning process (Chart1) is made by the central function of IKEA of Sweden. From the IKEA’s global supply chain planning (Chart1), we can figure out there are seven major processes (1) Sale planning; (2) Demand planning; (3) Need planning; (4) Supplier capacity planning; (5) The distribution supply chain planning (transport, warehouse, and store planning; 5a-c) and (7) Replenishment orders. In the following, we will talk about the processes separately into more details. But we will only focus on two parts Sales planning and Demand planning. [pic] Chart1 IKEA’s global supply chain planning concept and planning processes. Sales planning. The first step of sales planning is the corporate management of IKEA makes the overall sales forecast. The forecast is made on an aggregate level in terms of total sales volumes in monetary units for IKEA in total. It shows the expected sales increase in percentages. Ikea’s sales plan will be updated three times a year. The forecast is mainly determined by the strategic marketing plan and the remaining part of the current fiscal year plus five years into the future. So the current strategic business plan of Ikea is important for sales planning. At the end of the sales planning process, in order to achieve the business areas’ growth plans and expectation for the future, Demand Planners at IKEA of Sweden provide the data and information of forecasts for each of the business areas. Demand planning. In Ikea, there are 32 Demand Planners work in the tactical demand planning process, each one responsible for forecasting a certain part. The tactical forecast attach to IKEA of Sweden and is done on a rolling 84 weeks, with new historical sales data loaded once a week. In the end the forecasts on store levels are aggregated, reconciled, and compared with the sales frames on the retail forecast group level and on the distribution services region level. IKEA also has Retail Forecast Group, including one to several stores located geographically close to each other. In Europe, a retail Forecast Group normally corresponds to a country. IKEA in different countries own the right to have local event and activities. But, to let Demand Planners review the forecast on the regional level each week, the specific activity plans must be told at least six months in advance. In case that the forecast deviates considerably from actual sales, the Demand Planner looks for the reason and adjusts the sales figures or forecast model accordingly. Problems Lack of Central Coordination All we know IKEA is a hug international company. It provides modern and fashionable low cost furniture for over 38 countries with 301 stores. It emphasizes on local autonomy rather than a centralized coordinator. This method is easier for regions and store to plan and replenishes their own inventories. However, it also causes hundreds of subsystems inside the IKEA. Those subsystems include product design system from the headquarters; orders to suppliers system, orders to transport to the mall system, store management system and some accessory systems in each region or store. There are at least four hundreds complex subsystems inside the IKEA. These system’s databases is not well integrated, and do not have unified communications platform, that resulting in information separation, the low quality of information transmission, it is not conducive to the efficient operation of the supply chain. Lack of Accurate Sale Forecasts Due to changes in demand, sales forecasts data of the Swedish headquarters get deviation, if the forecasting data is bigger than the real, and this led to the warehouse overstock directly. If the mangers do not adjust the place orders plan that will cause serious problems by global warehouse overstock, retail shopping centers will immediately face to increase sales efforts to absorb the backlogged inventory. The other hand, in order to avoid some seasonal items out of stock, IKEA place large quantities of orders to suppliers, the mall immediately changed the stage from the under stock to overstock, However, the shopping center cannot sell them all, therefore, pass the season, there are still a lot of inventory backlog. Inventory Costs are too high IKEA purchases and sales too much, and often use the strategy of expand the inventory to cope with the uncertainty situation. IKEA worried about the inventory cannot be well satisfied the needs of the shopping centers, and if IKEA keep a low inventory level, it will increase the risk of lost sales opportunities, Therefore, IKEA maintain a high level of inventory to avoid the risk of under stock, That cause the shopping malls, the distribution center, and the central warehouse to maintain a considerable amount of inventory. Recommendations The urgent need for IKEA is to spend a large investment in the supply chain systems integration, make a great effort to integrate internal business systems, to achieve the company internal information sharing, built unified communications platform to make sure each subsystem can easy get the information from others, particular in transportation information and warehousing information. Ultimately achieve the comprehensive integration of manufacture, procurement, inventory, sales, financial and human resources management, logistics. That can make the ideal supply chain operations to become a reality. The supply chain systems integration can make each subsystems get the other subsystems information easily that really helpful for IKEA to forecast the sales in the future. In addition, IKEA also can get information from the date of the past sales, the public economic information, from customer and from suppliers. The supply chain systems integration also can help IKEA use those two strategies to reduce the cost of inventory. Firstly, IKEA requires the supplier to transport the production directly to the shopping malls, omitting the middle stage of the warehouse storage and handling. Use this strategy, IKEA do not have to establish the inventory and also do not have to maintain a safety stock to satisfy the demand of the shopping center. The delivery period becomes short, and easy to control. It also reduces the broken rate of the goods that ultimately improve the service level of the mall shopping centers. Secondly, IKEA also can use the strategy of vendor-managed inventory. It means suppliers according to IKEA’s the actual sales demand and safety inventory requirements to place the order to them. This strategy requires mutual trust between IKEA and supplier. IKEA can establish appropriate oversight mechanisms to make this strategy works well. This strategy can make both the IKEA and the suppliers’ benefit. References Laura Spinney (2011) The secret of IKEA’s success: we do the hard work, New scientist. Retrieved from: http://0-ehis.ebscohost.com.leopac.ulv.edu/eds/detail?vid=2&hid=23&sid=0dbc6e03-427b-4dec-9711-136b9cfedca8%40sessionmgr14&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=edselp&AN=S0262407911631783 Jonsson, P. and Gustavsson, M. (2008) â€Å"The impact of supply chain relationships and automatic data communication and registration on forecast information quality†, International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, 38 (4), 280-295. Steve Banker (2009 Nov) In-Store Logistics at IKEA. Retrieved from: http://logisticsviewpoints.com/2009/11/05/in-store-logistics-at-ikea/ IKEA’s Cost Efficient Supply Chain. Retrieved from http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Operations/OPER084.htm NYP IKEA: Merchandising Presentation and Store Design (Part 3), May 18 2012. Retrieved from http://ikea-escrapbook.blogspot.com/2011/07/merchandising-presentation-and-store_4586.html Patrik Jonsson, Martin Rudbergochï ¼Å'Stefan HolmbergGlobal, Supply chain planning at IKEA, Retrieved from http://www.plan.se/files/Jonsson_Rudberg _Holmberg_08.pdf Ikea supply chain-from the tree to the living room, Retrieved from http://www.slideserve.com/presentation/39927/IKEA-Supply-Chain–from-the-tree-to-the-living-room â€Å"IKEA | Purchasing.† IKEA | Purchasing. Web. 17 May 2012. Retrieved from http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/jobs/business_types/purchase/index.html Ikea, Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IKEA â€Å"Ikea.mov.† YouTube. YouTube, 15 Feb. 2010. Web. 18 May 2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYr6JlJ1wlE. SWOT Analysis and Sustainable Business Planning An IKEA Case Study.† Weaknesses and Threats. Web. 18 May 2012. http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/ikea/swot-analysis-and-sustainable-business-planning/weaknesses-and-threats.html. â€Å"IKEA Distribution Improves Supply Chain Management.† IKEA Distribution Improves Supply Chain Management. Web. 18 May 2012. http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240083923/IKEA-Distribution-improves-supply-chain-management.

Dbq 10 Reconstruction: Us History Essay

There were many plus sides to the Civil War. Those plus sides were the abolishment of slavery, secession was refuted, and there was supremacy of national government. Yet, there was one difficulty which was that the Union had the challenge of figuring out what to do with free slaves. In 1867, Congress took control of Reconstruction to establish and protect citizenship rights. Congress had succeeded in many ways like having the Southern states ratify the Fourteenth Amendment to rid the military forces. But, by 1877 the Reconstruction had ended, all the work done failed, and everything reversed. Congress’ Reconstruction efforts to have equal rights for freedmen failed because the Ku Klux Klan intervened in wrong ways, freedmen were convinced to stop their actions, and editorial advocating was used as propaganda against freedmen. The Ku Klux Klan (or KKK) was, and still is in some areas, a secret organization that used terrorist tactics in an attempt to restore white supremacy in Southern states. In document two, General Thomas discusses the KKK. The purpose of the KKK was to get rid of any African Americans so the whites could hold power. They even killed those who supported the African Americans, meaning the killed whites also. They would do anything in their power to hold the power they had. They had undermined Congress’ efforts for equal rights to all by doing exactly what they did. They would go around threatening people, burned houses down, burned crosses in lawns, and of course killed any Africans. That’s not what Congress wanted. They wanted everyone to have equal treatment. The African Americans did have much to be able to stop being invaded. If they did, they would have been killed anyway. In document four, Atlanta News uses editorial advocating as propaganda. First off, editorial advocating is when the editorial representative of a newspaper or social media comes to an event in favor of a cause, or idea, and uses their position on it to further that cause. In the document the speaker states his view on the African Americans in the South. He wants the Northerners to go to the South and organize a way to rid the African’s of their rights. Many Northerners tried to convince freedmen to stop voting. Also, they tried to stop them from taking part in politics. Dr. W. E. B. DuBois was an African American Historian and wrote a book about this. Document six is a excerpt of that book. The Northerners told the Southerners if they wanted a job they needed to keep their noses out of politics and if they wanted to be apart of politics well they better not have expected a job. Basically, shut up and stay quiet. Either way, they couldn’t win. The African American didn’t have an easy life once Reconstruction ended. Everything Congress worked for reversed and the Northerners thought they had more power. Reconstruction failed for many reasons meanwhile it was supposed to be a rebuilding after the Civil War. Like many things that go on, everything doesn’t always go as planned.

The Social Criteria Of A Serial Killer - 2478 Words

There is a copious amount of differences between men and women, but what about a difference in violent behavior? Is it possible for women to be just as brutally violent as a man? Many researchers have wondered the same exact thing and have started to explore what exactly constitutes a violent woman. Since violence is a very broad term that holds more than one meaning, it is difficult to define the term â€Å"violent women† in the first place. However, there are extreme cases of violence that makes it easier to compare and contrast men and women. One way of addressing this question of whether or not women can be just as violent as men is to see if women are capable of fitting the social criteria of a serial killer. While there are some differences among the genders when it comes to killing, there are many more similarities, which means that extreme violent tendencies between men and women might not be that different after all. Violent women are definitely not a new breed of wom en. In fact, they’ve been around longer than most people would think. While researchers admit that not a lot is known about modern day female killers, they know enough to agree that it is a topic worth studying further. In â€Å"Lethal Ladies: Revisiting What We Know About Female Serial Murderers† by Amanda L. Farrell, Robert D. Keppel, and Victoria B. Titterington, it was addressed that this notion of men and violence going hand in hand is not an accurate representation. Despite what many people may think, aShow MoreRelatedSerial Killers And The Serial Killer1566 Words   |  7 Pagesthe serial killer is ultimately unknown, many researchers agree about â€Å"one-half of 1%† of homicides are determined to be the product of serial killers (Homant Kennedy, 2014). 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