Was the Atomic Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima Justified

Were the Americans justified in dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945? The dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945 by the Americans is a very controversial issue with no definite answer. Both sides of the issue have very justifiable arguments. Reasons for dropping the bomb include the fact that Truman’s options were limited at this point in the war, that the bomb did have the desired outcome of Japans surrender and that the majority of reasons America had for dropping the bomb are justifiable. On the other hand, the atomic bomb was complete new technology and there is no way that Japan could have possibly been ready for it and for that reason the dropping of the atomic bomb is very much morally and ethically wrong. It is also important to consider that two bombs were dropped, both with different motivations and it is quite possible that while one is justifiable, the other is not. There were many reasons why America would have chosen to drop the bomb and the majority can be justified. Before the atomic bomb was dropped, America was nearing the end of the war. They had made the Potsdam declaration requesting Japans surrender and at this point had the Japanese at a very weak position. At a similar time, the Americans had completed the development of the Atomic bomb or Project Manhattan that, after Germany surrendered, had no other competition. A lot money had been put into the development of the bomb and at this point, Truman’s options were limited. Invasion was out of the question due to the Japanese’s strong military and patriotic values: The continuation of conventional bombings and a naval blockade were also considered but deemed unsuitable. The negation of surrender had been tried with the ‘Potsdam Declaration’ and had failed. It is important to point out that by ignoring the declaration; the Japanese in effect gave their acceptance of the Americans threats of ‘prompt and utter destruction. ’[1] America and Britain were both aware that the development of the bomb meant they no longer relied on the allied troops from Russia, and with the fear of communism, this was a motivation for the dropping of the bomb: ‘It is quite clear that the US do not at the present time desire Russian participation in the war against Japan’ [2]. There was also the question of time. The atomic bomb was by far the quickest way that America could see for the ending of the war, and they were eager to end the war as before long, Russia would become involved making a heavier casualty rate inevitable. America were also a very powerful country now they had the development of the Atomic Bomb, it would have been a waste to not be able to show their true power and the true destruction they could use through the bomb. There is also the point that the Americans were looking for revenge against the Japanese, as they had injured and killed many American soldiers, and even more to come, had the Americans not taken quick action. Looking back at the dropping of the bomb, it is possible to say that it was a method of prevention in many different circumstances. Firstly, the dropping of the bomb meant that the war would be over: ‘The atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended World War II. There can be no doubt of that. ’ [3] It is possible that leaving the war longer could have resulted in a much worse fatality rate for both Japan and America. Also, the dropping of the atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima effectively decided the use of atomic technology for weapons for the future. Before the dropping of the bomb, people had no idea of the severity and power of atomic weaponry and therefore, the argument can be made that the dropping of the atomic bomb prevented a lot more serious cases that could have happened say the power of atomic bombs was not explored at this time. The dropping of the atomic bomb caused great loss of life, and there are many arguments suggesting the dropping of the bomb was both morally and ethically wrong. There is no way that the Japanese could have been prepared for the dropping of the atomic bomb as the world had never witnessed something like the bomb before. The Americans had the opportunity of demonstrating the power of the bomb on a deserted area and showing the Japanese what they were facing. This was proposed by a number of American scientists, but rejected by the Military Leaders: ‘we did not think exploding one of these things as a firecracker over a desert was likely to be impressive. ’[4] There was the option of dropping the bomb on purely a military target, yet the Americans chose a target that not only affected Japans military, but took the lives of many civilians. The Americans were always slightly racist towards the Japanese or ‘colored people’ and this could easily have been secret motivation for the dropping of such a severe form of bomb. There is also the consideration of the two different bombs. The American military leaders would have been completely aware of the severity of damage of atomic bombs after Little Boy was dropped yet they still went on to drop Fat Man. It is possible that while the first bomb could be excusable, the dropping of a second, in full knowledge of the damage that it would cause, is not only unnecessary but definitely morally incorrect. It is also important to consider the Truman’s alternatives once again. From the American’s point of view, Truman’s options were very limited, but peace could have been found through the Japanese and the Soviet Union, a pathway which the President was aware of but didn’t really explore. It can also be pointed out that the Potsdam declaration was a very harsh document, especially on a country with such strong patriotic values. Had the declaration not requested ‘unconditional surrender’[5] and had in fact let Japan keep some of their imperial rule, they could have been more likely to accept the declaration. Japan was already very vulnerable when America chose to drop the bomb. In reality, it was only a matter of time before Japan would have needed to surrender anyway. America knew that Japan would need to surrender soon as they were unable to import or export goods: ‘it was quite logical to hope and expect that with the proper kind of warning the Japanese would have made peace’. [6] It really was only a matter of time before Japan would have had to surrender and America knew that. It is possible that the Americans were not just interested in the ending of the war, but had other reasons such as racial discrimination, revenge and greed for power to drop the two atomic bombs. In my opinion, the Americans have enough reasons to justify the dropping of the bomb. They gave the Japanese sufficient warning of their plan through the Potsdam declaration and it was the Japanese’s mistake to ignore this. They also completed the desired outcome with Japan’s surrender. For these reasons America can justify their reasons for dropping the bomb. However, being able to justify something does not mean it is necessarily the best thing to do, and I think that it was morally incorrect to make the Japanese uffer to the extent that they did considering that the war was almost over. The fact that America chose to drop two bombs changes my opinion significantly as well. The first bomb can be looked with the idea that America was not aware of the damage they could cause, however a second bomb was cruel and inexcusable. The Americans were after more than just the end of the war, they wanted the Japanese to feel their power and to have revenge: ‘In being first to use it we had developed ethical standards common to barbarians in the dark ages. [7] The bomb however has benefitted the world in the way that it has prevented anything like the atomic bomb disaster from occurring again, and the use of this technology earlier on could easily have prevented a later, more severe disaster. The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima can be justified and looked at as a mistake that possibly had many benefits. The dropping of the bomb on Nagasaki was an example of the American’s greed for power and race driven revenge. In conclusion, I think that America had very strong reasons for dropping the bomb, some of which are valid and some of which are not. This said they should not have dropped it as they knew the effect that this bomb was going to have on Japan, especially when Japan was so unprepared, and there would have been much more appropriate ways of ending the war. ———————– [1] Lewis, Robert AGORA, Vol. 25, No 1, 1990, HTAV, Source 9, page 29 [2] Lewis, Robert AGORA Vol. 25, No 2, 1990, HTAV, Source 22, page 19 [3] Lewis, Robert AGORA, Vol. 25, No 1, 1990, HTAV, page 19 [4] Lewis, Robert AGORA Vol. 25, No 2, 1990, HTAV, Source 16, page 14 [5] Lewis, Robert AGORA, Vol. 25, No 1, 1990, HTAV, Source 9, page 29 [6] Ibid page 34, source 14 [7] Ibid page 19

Portfolio Analysis of Square

Case Study: Portfolio Analysis of Square Toiletries LimitedPrepared by: Fatin Khandoker Ashraful Hassan Ashik Towhida Tasnim Rukhsar Sanjaree Nawaz Jafrin Ahmed Adiba Square is a well-renowned brand in Bangladesh. It provides a wide range of markets with various products and services. It operates various sectors and one of them being Square Toiletries Limited. The Boston Consulting Group Approach (BCG Matrix) is the method by which a company identifies what makes up their portfolio. BCG Matrix helps to process the portfolio and analyze its product’s attractiveness. The company can then decide whether to refrain from or invest into the product or brand. In this case, Square Toiletries Limited is represented by four brands in four different markets. They are Meril Splash in the beauty soap market, Chaka in the washing powder market, Freshgel in the toothpaste market and finally Senora in the sanitary napkin market. As assigned by the Square Toiletries Limited, our analysis of the given products in relation to the BCG Matrix is given below: On the vertical axis, the market growth rate provides a measure of attractiveness. On the horizontal axis, the relative market share serves as a measure of company strength in the market. STAR: Square Toiletries Limited has a sanitary napkin under which comes the brand ‘Senora’. Senora holds 60% of the market share in terms of volume, which is much higher than any other competitive sanitary napkin brands in the market. It also has a high market growth. Senora can be considered as a star product of Square Toiletries Limited as it has both a high market growth as well as a high share in the market. Thus Senora requires a high amount of investment to ustain their attractiveness in the market as its competitors are international brands. CASH-COWS: In the matrix shown on the previous page, Chaka washing-powder can be considered the cash-cows of Square Toiletries Limited. Cash-cows are low-growth, high-share businesses or products. Chaka comprises 9% of the total market share in Bangladesh. It cannot compete with the likes of Wheel which controls a whopping 40% of the market share. Chaka however can compete with its local rivals such as Keya (6% market share), Tibet (9% market share) among others. It is an established and successful SBU which doesn’t require much investment. Chaka earns a lot of cash which can be used to pay for the expenses of the business and support other SBUs needing investment. QUESTION MARKS: Meril Splash, a product of Square Toiletries Limited has a market share of 6% in the highly growing beauty-soap market. Compared to other brands like Lux, which has the most customers and an extremely high market share of 60%, Meril Splash has a very low market share. As a matter of fact, Meril Splash can be considered under the ‘Question Marks’ category since they are low-share business units in high-growth market. This brand will require a lot of investment to hold its share in the market. So the management needs to make a very wise decision about investing further in this product and take the risk to turn it into a ‘star’ or should it be phased out. DOGS: Unlike its business compatriots, Freshgel, a toothpaste brand from Square Toiletries Limited has a very low market share of just 2%. This category of product has low market growth. Hence in the BCG matrix, it can be considered a ‘dog’. It is categorized as such because it has both a low market share and a low market growth rate. Therefore Square Toiletries Limited should stop investing in Freshgel as it does not promise to produce a large source of cash. Eventually Freshgel should be closed down. By focusing and working properly on such aspects of the business, Square Toiletries can become a money-making machine.

A Brief History Of Petroleum Commerce Essay

Most of the oil consumed today has moved from one state to another. It is the largest individual trade good in the International market and the Petroleum industry is one of the largest industries in the universe. Petroleum is a fossil fuel because it was formed from the remains of bantam sea workss and animate beings that died 1000000s of old ages ago. When the workss and animate beings died, they sank to the underside of the oceans. They were buried 1000s of pess below the sand and silt. As clip elapsed and as the beds increased, this organic mixture was subjected to tremendous force per unit area and heat. The mixture changed, interrupting down into compounds made of H and C atoms called hydrocarbons. Finally, an oil-saturated rock-much like a wet family sponge was formed. All organic stuff does non turn into oil. Certain geological conditions must be met within the oil-rich stones. There must be a trap of non-porous stone that prevents the oil from oozing out, and a seal that keeps the oil from lifting to the surface. Under these conditions, merely two per centum of the organic stuff is transformed into oil. ( Parra, 2004 ) Shell Nigeria History Shell Petroleum is one of universe ‘s prima manufacturers of oil, gas and petrochemicals ; Shell Oil Company has distinguished itself through its committedness to industry invention. Its selling expertness has enabled the company to counterbalance for its comparatively low volume of rough oil production, as compared to its strongest rivals, by selling an tantamount sum of gasolene nationwide. Oil and gas operations began in Nigeria efficaciously in 1956, with the first commercial discovery in that twelvemonth by the so Shell D'Arcy. By the 1960s turning environmental concerns led Shell to put to a great extent in systems intended to cut down pollution and to conserve energy in its workss. In the undermentioned decennary, the company began printing a series of consumer-oriented brochures on such subjects as auto care and energy preservation. Shell continued to rule the Nigerian oil industry for long until Nigeria joined the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ( OPEC ) in 1971, after which the state began to take a firmer control of its oil and gas resources, in line with the pattern and regulations of the other members of OPEC. Within this period, many Multinational Oil Companies like Gulf Oil and Texaco ( now ChevronTexaco ) , Elf Petroleum ( now Total ) , Mobil ( now ExxonMobil ) , and Agip, in add-on to Shell, which was already playing a dominant function in the industry emerged. To day of the month, the above companies constitute the participants in Nigeria ‘s oil industry, with Shell the major participant accounting for a merely small less than 50 % of Nigeria ‘s entire day-to-day production, which presently stands at about 2.4 million barrels of oil per twenty-four hours, ( Socyberty, 2010 ) . The company has delved into assorted concerns and these can be classified into three organisations viz. upstream organisation, the downstream organisation and the undertakings and engineering Organization,Upstream OrganizationThe Upstream organisation explores for and infusions crude oil and natural gas, frequently in joint ventures with international and national oil companies. The organisation besi des liquefies natural gas by chilling and selling it to clients. It besides converts natural gas to liquids to supply cleaner firing fuels. It is besides responsible for selling and trading natural gas and power. It besides develops air current power as a agency to bring forth electricity.DownstreamThe organisation bend rough oil into a scope of refined merchandises, which are moved and marketed around the assorted provinces in Nigeria for domestic, industrial and conveyance usage. These include fuels, lubricators and bitumen. The fabrication concern includes Refining, Supply and Distribution. Marketing includes the Retail, Business to Business, Lubricants and Alternative Energies and Carbon dioxide. The Chemicals concern has dedicated Manufacturing and Marketing units of its ain. It trades rough oil, oil merchandises and petrochemicals chiefly to optimise feedstock for the Manufacturing concern and to provide the Selling concern. The Carbon dioxide organisation is responsible for o rganizing and driving Carbon dioxide direction activities across the company.Undertakings & A ; TechnologyThe organisation provides proficient services and engineering capableness in upstream and downstream activities. It manages the bringing of major undertakings and helps to better public presentation across the company. It delivers differentiated proficient information engineering for Shell and drive research and invention to make tomorrow ‘s engineering solutions. Undertakings and Technology besides houses Safety & A ; Environment and Contracting & A ; Procurement as these are built-in to all Shell Petroleum ‘s activities. External and Internal Environment of Shell Nigeria All organisations should hold the input from their external environment that in bend exchanges the merchandise and services they produce in order to supply the energy for continued being. â€Å" An organisation needs to be able to pull off its environment to last in the current concern environment by being invariably cognizant of development from its environment † ( Tiernan et al 2006 ) . All factors that are within other maps of their ain house are referred to as the internal environment. ( Shell 2010 )External EnvironmentChallenges confronting many companies today originate outside them. A survey of the external environment can descry major chances and menaces. Successful companies follow wide environmental tendencies and intermittently assess alterations taking topographic points in their industry. A company can non in general control its wide environment. ( Dess and Miller, 1993:45 )Plague AnalysisAn organisation environmental analysis should be uninterrupted and feed all facets of be aftering before get downing the selling procedure. PEST analysis is a manner of analysing an organisation ‘s external environment. PEST means Political, Economical, Social, and Technology. These factors are beyond the control and influence of a concern but it is of import to be cognizant of it when making merchandise development, scheme or concern planning, ( Rapidbi 2008 ) . Beginning: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.learnmarketing.net/marketing.jpgPEST ANALYSIS ON SHELL NIGERIAPolitical factorsWars and ConflictsGovernment PoliciesMilitancy/TerrorismGovernment LeadershipGovernment Structures.Political TendenciesEconomic factorHome Economy TrendsGeneral Taxation Issues.Market and Trade CyclesInternational Trade and Monetary Issues.Job Growth/UnemploymentInterest and Exchange RateInternal Finance and Cash FlowSocial factorConsumer Buying Patterns.Ethnic/Religious Factors.Ad and PromotionHealth/Living StandardsBrand company and Technology ImageConsumer ‘s attitude and sentimentsMedia positionsTechnological factorResearch SupportAdulthood of TechnologyInformation and CommunicationsIntellectual Property IssuesInternetTransportation systemSoftware ChangesPolitical FactorsThe political sphere can increase or diminish a company ‘s independency and do the environment unfriendly or supportive of its activities ( Dess and Miller, 1993:48 ) . It has a immense influence upon the ordinance of concerns, and the disbursement power of consumers. This relates to how authorities policies affect Shell Nigeria Petroleum ‘s operation. Political factors such as Government policies, Political tendencies, and Government constructions, combativeness or terrorist act have high impact on Shell Petroleum. Rapid alterations in Government policies have affected Shell Nigeria Petroleum. When a authorities comes to power, he condemns the planning work done by the cherished authorities and brings in new policies that may or may non prefer Shell Petroleum. Due to political instability, decelerate development occurs. Combativeness or terrorist act has affected Shell Petroleum in Nigeria earnestly. The activists in the Niger Delta where the chief oil is situated besides affect the production of oil by Shell crude oil extremely. They are non supportive of the activities perpetrated by Shell. They are of the sentiment that Shell Nigeria do non merit to be at that place as there are no important development in their countries despite big sums of oil been gotten from the Niger Delta communities. As a consequence of these, the activists prehend oil Wellss, nobble exiles for big sums of money known ransom in return. They besides blow up oil Wellss and even kill these exiles. The activists want a per centum of what is gotten from the sale of oil from their community and as this has non been given to them or has been mismanaged by the top functionaries in the authorities, the activists travel a long manner to impact the day-to-day production of Shell Petroleum in Nigeria.Economic FactorsThe Economic facto rs of a province besides have a high impact in the behavior of a company. The stableness of the economic system of a state determines how the consumers would be able to devour energy merchandises. The overall province of the economic system influences the public presentations and schemes of a company. Nigeria ‘s economic system has undertaken several reforms over the past decennary after old ages of political instability due to over-dependence on the oil sector. Since 2008 the authorities has begun demoing the political will to implement the market-oriented reforms urged by the IMF, such as to overhaul the banking system, to control rising prices by barricading inordinate pay demands, and to decide regional differences over the distribution of net incomes from the oil industry. In 2007-2009, GDP rose strongly thereby doing it one of the turning economic systems in Africa. As at 2009, Nigeria ‘s GDP stood at $ 339 billion and the GDP official exchange rate stood at $ 173.4 billion ( 2009 estimation ) and the GDP existent growing rate is 6.1 % ( 2009 estimation ) . ( Beginning: CIA World Fact, 2010 ) As a consequence of this analysis, the economic system state of affairs of Nigeria has a high impact of Shell Petroleum Nigeria as it affects it positively. Unemployment rate In Nigeria bases at 4.9 % as at 2007 while the rising prices rate bases at 12.4 % as at 2009, ( Beginning: CIA World fact ) . This analysis has a somewhat negative consequence as the buying power of the clients would be reduced. Components of Nigerian GDP in 2008 Beginning: StockmarketNigeria.comSocial FactorsPeoples ‘s picks which include the beliefs, values and attitudes of society are affected by Social factors. Changes in the societal factor of a state can impact buying behaviour. Shell is cognizant of this societal facet and this can be shown due to the big figure of client purchasing Shell Petroleum related merchandises. Oil spillage in the Niger Delta part of Nigeria is one of the wellness jeopardies caused by Shell Petroleum in Nigeria as they spill oil in the rivers doing it impossible for people in this part to angle, which is one of their major businesss. Gas flaring is besides one of the environmental jeopardies caused by Shell Petroleum but it already has programs to halt it by the terminal of 2011.The universe population is increasing and societal values are besides altering so the demand of fuel ingestion is besides increasing.Technology FactorProgresss in engineering have had a major impact on Shell Petroleum ‘s su ccess. Technological alteration impacts socio cultural attitudes. Due to the promotion in engineering, Shell Nigeria Petroleum have a subdivision of their organisation that carries out engineering related undertakings dedicatedly merely to run into up with the current promotion in engineering in the energy sector and break the life of its clients. The Shell Petroleum Project and Technology subdivision deliver differentiated proficient information engineering for Shell Petroleum and drive research and invention to make tomorrow ‘s engineering solutions. ( Shell 2010 )Porter ‘s Five ForcesPorter 1980 stated that the competition province of an industry depends on five basic competitory forces. The combined strength of these forces establishes the concluding net income possible in the industry, where net income potency is precised in term of long tally return on invested capital. Assorted industries differ in their ultimate net income potency as the corporate strength of the forces differs. The forces include:Dickering power of purchasersShell crude oil has assorted trade names of merchandises from which a client can take from. It ranges from the lubricators to the natural gas. The power of the purchaser is high because of these assorted scope so g merchandises that abound in Shell crude oil.Dickering power of providersAssorted providers of crude oil merchandises besides increase the strength of Shell crude oil because they largely rely on Shell crude oil for the supply of crude oil merchandises. The dickering power of providers is high.Competitive competitionThe crude oil sector is a competitory sector. Competition is high and ferocious as there are many companies like Exxon Mobil, Total, and Agip. Shell crude oil has remained in front of these companies because it has a strong trade name name and it wields adequate power and has strong influence in the oil sector due to its assorted quality trade name merchandises.Menaces of New EntrantsIt would be h ighly hard for new entrants to come in the crude oil market because Shell has created and established a strong image and trade name name. The menaces of new entrants are low because new entrants would confront assorted barriers like: They would necessitate more clip in doing its trade name known and etching it in the heads of bing clients of Shell crude oil who already like Shell Petroleum ‘s merchandise. They would necessitate more clip and to interrupt the monopoly of ShellMenaces of SubstitutesShell crude oil offer quality merchandises to the Nigerian market. Quality merchandises like the Shell Rimula and Mysella are merchandises that would be hard to replace because the merchandises have undergone much research before it was introduced to the market. Before a merchandise is released into the market, it is good developed by the assorted sections in its assorted sectors in the company hence the menaces of replacements is low.Internal EnvironmentTo work chances and minimise menaces in the external environment, directors must analyse a house ‘s internal strengths and failings. The most effectual schemes are based on a thorough apprehension of an organisation ‘s internal environment, ( Dess and Miller, 2003:74 ) .SWOT AnalysisThis is a tool that is used to analyse a company and its environment. SWOT analysis aid companies who aim for success channel its eyes on cardinal iss ues as it ‘s the first phase of planning. SWOT analysis is divided into two viz. the Internal and the External factor. The Internal factor consists of Strengths and Weaknesses while the External factor consists of Opportunities and Menaces from its rivals. Beginning: World Wide Web. taoofstieb.blogspot.coSWOT ANALYSIS OF SHELL NIGERIAStrengthsLongevity in the marketMore researchStrong public presentation in the marketStrong trade name imageProduct/Service DifferentiationAffecting the populace positivelyFailingsGas flaring still in topographic pointOil spillageforce still affects itmuch focal point on oilOpportunitiesDiscovery of new oil WellssPenetration into Danger zoneEmbarking on new merchandisesRapid response to environmental unfavorable judgmentsMenacesLoss in net income as a consequence of fuel monetary valuestruggle and forcecompetition from challengersHigh involvement rateGlobal recessionStrengthShell has been one of the major leaders in the oil and gas industry and has adequate strength to execute in the oil and gas sector. It has its presence in over 72 states ( Shell 2010 ) . As a consequence it has a strong trade name image in Nigeria. It controls most of the oil Wellss in Nigeria. Shell besides embarks on new undertakings as they have a dedicated subdivision of their services entirely committed to transporting out new undertakings to see how to break the lives of Nigerians and the universe as a whole. In Nigeria, Shell besides organizes competitions like mathematics competitions and essays for pupils in secondary schools. Shell Nigeria besides awards scholarships to undergraduates in Nigerian universities from the Niger Delta part as a manner of helping their surveies. They besides aid station alumnus pupils from the Niger Delta to analyze either in Nigerian universities or abroad. As one of the major leaders in the oil and gas sector, Shell Nigeria besides has a scope of first-class merchandises that are supplied to different industries. They include Lubricants and Natural gas. Shell has assorted scopes of lubricators and motor oil which include: Shell Rimula Shell Mysella Shell Tellus Shell Turbo Shell besides supply natural gas through grapevines to large houses that are situated in Lagos province, Ogun province, Abia province and they have a strong trade name image.FailingShell Nigeria still embarks on flaring of gas during extraction. They flare gas to take unwanted bi-products. This procedure degrades the environment as it causes airborne diseases to the communities and besides affects the ozone bed. Many of the people populating in the Niger delta where Shell operates are fishermen and husbandmans by business but most of their lands and beginning of support has been affected by Shell as a consequence of oil spillage. This affects the fishermen and the husbandmans as the fishes in the river dies and their farming area are destroyed. Major focal point on the oil and gas sector entirely in Nigeria has made Shell non to seek for and put to a great extent into other sectors of the Nigerian economic system like agribusiness. Heavy dependance on the oil returns allows it to be exposed to rigorous market conditions and as new companies are besides emerging in the oil and gas sector, it puts it at a competitory disadvantage to its challengers who explore the other sectors of the Nigerian economic system and non the oil and gas sector entirely.OpportunitiesOpportunities abound for Shell Petroleum in Nigeria. Oil Wellss are still being found in assorted topographic points in Nigeria and as Shell is a major participant in the oil and gas sector, it has taken over these Wellss. Shell has besides been able to boom in the Niger delta country in Nigeria, a topographic point where many oil companies are endorsing out from. Inspite of the menaces and force coming from the activists, they have been able to win the bosom of some o f the activists. The power industry has improved in Nigeria and as a consequence of this, Shell besides has been able to ship on new merchandises and present them to the Nigerian market. This includes merchandises like the Shell Turbo.MenacesAs a consequence of the issues confronting Shell in the Niger delta part of Nigeria, Shell has been affected as some oil sites were collected from them harmonizing to a tribunal opinion in Nigeria and handed to local proprietors. Shell operates in the big oil and gas sector, and as the oil and gas sector is quickly increasing, there is intense competition from other oil and gas companies in Nigeria. These companies include Agip oil, ExxonMobil, Total. Assorted struggles in the Niger Delta besides affect Shell Petroleum in Nigeria. Assorted hawkish groups kidnap exiles and oil Wellss and inquire for immense ransom. As a consequence of this, the company is affected greatly as they cough out immense money to procure their oil Wellss and protect their employees.MOST AnalysisLike SWOT analysis, MOST analysis is besides a tool used to internally analyse the environment of a company. It defines the company through its Mission statement, its Aims, its Strategy and the Tactics it plans to utilize in run intoing these aims.MissionShell Nigeria ‘s mission statement is toA enhance profitableness through advanced direction schemes while guaranting cost effectivity and tackling originative thoughts. This mission statement is the ground for the being of Shell. It strives to tackle originative thoughts by making more advanced and effectual ways of transforming energy to energy tantrum for human usage.AimsShell Nigeria has stated aims that a re intended for its operation. These aims are indispensable points that it intends to run into so as to maintain up with its mission. The aims are to prosecute in oil and its merchandise expeditiously and to beginning for energy to run into client ‘s demands and the universe ‘s turning demand for energy. By run intoing these aims, the company intends to hold an border over its rivals.SchemeShell Nigeria has in topographic point assorted schemes to do the company accomplish its mission and set aims. These schemes include calling development, authorization, and unfastened door policy. The undertaking and engineering sector in the organisation applies the needful factors in accomplishing these schemes. These schemes are long term schemes that have been set to profit non merely the terminal clients but besides the economic province of the organisation in return. It besides has schemes in topographic point for bettering its bing merchandises and besides bring forthing new 1s. TacticssShell Nigeria has used assorted tactics to implement its mission, aims and strategic mission. These tactics have helped the company have an border over its rivals thereby doing clients to go on to sponsor them. These tactics include: Free auto service in every Shell crude oil filling station Good shed for loosen uping Assorted promos intended to do the client continue to sponsor them The variables in MOST analyses are indispensible and can be analyzed besides from top to bottom. One can non make without the other. They work manus in manus by driving each other until the organisation is successful.Organizational StructureFor an organisation to accomplish its proposed purpose, mission and vision, it needs to hold a sort of construction in topographic point that would enable it transport out these procedures. There have been assorted definitions of what an organisational construction is by different faculty members but John Martin and Martin Fellenz ( 2010 ) defined an organisational construction as â€Å" the formal agreement of undertaking, communicating and authorization relationships that influence and command how people coordinate and conduct their work † ( John Martin and Martin Fellenz 2010: p336 ) . In the early 1990s, Shell operated utilizing the matrix sort of construction. They comprised of four companies which include The Parent Companies, The Group Holding Companies, The Service Company and The Operating Companies. The Committee of Managing Directors ( CMD ) managed the company. The commission of pull offing managers consists of five pull offing managers which includes the president, the frailty president and three other pull offing managers. The president of the Royal Dutch Petroleum and the Managing Director of Shell rotated the chairmanship of the commission of pull offing managers. The commission ‘s occupation was to supply a connexion and linkage between the formal constructions of the group and besides the direction construction of the group. However in 1995, Shell Petroleum restructured the manner it operated. It dismantled the matrix runing construction of the companies and produced four concern organisations to achieve a closer integrating within each sector in every state where Shell Petroleum operates. The construction made each concern efficaciously control and program its operations good. The bureaucratism type of leading that had been in operation was removed paving manner for the construction to hold adequate strength to map out a defined function to the operating companies and concern organisation.Organizational StrategyStrategy is an articulated coveted way of an organisation that can be used by others to understand the organisation ( Linstead et al, 2009:711 ) . For Shell Nigeria, its strong thrust to implement its scheme can be seen by the resulted developments in Nigeria and as a consequence of this thrust and development, they retain their strong Image and name that they have both in Nigeria and the univers e as a whole. Shell Nigeria ‘s chief strategic characteristics were: They embarked on a strategic hereafter program. Most of Shell Nigeria ‘s rivals like Agip, Total embarked on a four or five twelvemonth program but Shell Nigeria embarked on a 20 twelvemonth program non because they wanted to hold a prognosis of what is traveling to go on within the 20 twelvemonth period but because they imagined scenarios that would go on and wanted to hold adequate solutions to the scenarios. The solutions they provided would let directors to see assorted ways to strategically react to any scenario that might blossom in the hereafter, ( blast 2010 ) . They besides played a strategic function by holding a strategic hereafter program where they would hold adequate installations to develop organisational acquisition, They besides focused on the approaching generational endowments. They were non excessively focused on fiscal public presentation. Assorted thoughts from different survey section like mathematics, economic sciences, and ecology were non thrown off by the Project section in Shell Nigeria alternatively they delved into it wholeheartedly so that their strong name would still be figure one and their repute would be retained. They operate an unfastened door policy which means that they welcome thoughts and constructive unfavorable judgments from their employees and the general populace. They have a hearing ear by taking into significance the employees needs through assorted treatments with them either through councils or accepted trade brotherhoods. They have assorted work forces from all walks of life which comprises of different accomplishments, civilizations, gender. These assorted work forces bring together and portion thoughts that help Shell Nigeria in its quest to acquire more clients and understand them better. They employ extremely skilled, qualified and experient workers and as a consequence of this, it offers great wage to its employers. Shell crude oil besides reward outstanding employees with assorted fillips like health care allowance, closet allowance, house allowance. Shell crude oil besides gives one-year foliages and its entitlements. They besides engage in maternity/paternity foliages and its entitlement. They besides have a retirement program for the aged and experient 1s who have served the company for many old ages. Assorted employees of Shell Nigeria who wish to foster their callings more than their current province are entirely supported by Shell Nigeria through assorted strategies like scholarship strategies. Shell Nigeria on its ain train its staff through assorted professional preparation and leading programmes. They do this to transfuse and implant leading and managerial values in their employees. Shell Nigeria as a company embarks on assorted beneficent undertakings merely to better the lives of the people in Nigeria. Such empowerment programmes include assorted Scholarship strategies, assorted inter-school competitions, and assorted football tourneies. They besides invest greatly in research and development. Shell is one of the largest investor in research and development and spends much on the geographic expedition and enlargement of engineerings that would take to the coevals of more and pure energy with adept merchandises for its clients. ( Shell.com, 2010 ) Since the construct of scheme is based upon a company accomplishing its ends and aims ( Tony Morden, 2007:184 ) , Shell Nigeria has a dedicated focal point to accomplish it by using the needed factors needed to accomplish these schemes through their dedicated Projects and Technology Section of their organisation that provides efficient services. By making this Shell Nigeria now has a strong presence in the Nigeria oil and gas industry thereby overmastering its major rivals like Agip, Conoil.Organizational ChangeChange direction means using steps and engineerings to cover with alterations in concern milieus and to gain from altering chances. The characteristics of alteration include accommodating to alter, commanding alteration, and set uping alteration. Change has become an indispensable issue and features of contemporary companies and as a consequence of this, it poses a scope of cardinal challenges for all kind of organisations, whether private, public or voluntary, ( Stephen Linst ead et Al, 2009:619 ) . Assorted factors like direction, policies and tendencies of the authoritiess, complex organisational construction of a company, competition and menaces from other companies, causes a company to alter and the people mostly responsible for alteration in an organisation are the directors of that organisation.The Gagliardi Model of alterationThe Gagliardi theoretical account of alteration was developed by Pasquale Gagliardi in 1986. The theoretical account describes that â€Å" the primary scheme of an organisation is the care of its cultural individuality in footings of predominating values. A virtuous circle from the corporate experience of success through stabilized values to coherence and efficiency sustains the continuity of civilization. But if the options allowed for by the civilization are unsuited to new jobs, so the virtuous circle becomes a barbarous circle hindering alteration. The consequence may be evident cultural alteration, cultural revolution or cultural incrementalism † , ( Gagliardi 1986 ) . For Shell, alteration started as the consequence of the figure of alterations embarked by the universe crude oil industry in the 20th century but as at that clip Shell did n't undergo any alteration because they had a stable direction construction, a construction without an bossy main executive officer. Gagliardi ( 1986 ) stated that if the options allowed for by the civilization are unsuited to new jobs, so the virtuous circle becomes a barbarous circle hindering alteration, the consequence could be an evident alteration in civilization, cultural revolution or civilization incrementalism but for Shell crude oil, it maintained its individuality in footings of predominating value that were in topographic point majorly from its rivals because its construction was stable. Shell began dawdling behind in footings of its fiscal statistics and because the fiscal statistics had characteristics of decreased fiscal public presentation and fake organisational construction, and because other com panies in the oil industry had carried out organisational alteration and began to boom, Shell set up an internal squad in July 1994 that would analyze its internal construction and the squad would in bend come up with programs on how to ship on a alteration that would be effectual and better and recover its strong trade name image. The motivation behind the demand for alteration in the company was the quest to hold a construction that would be easy for the corporate centre to exercise influence over the operating companies that would be effectual and besides the quest to better coordination between the operating companies. The squad embarked on its assignment and after much interview and sourcing of thoughts, the squad came up with assorted options for alteration by October 1994. They handed in a study to the Committee of Directors and spent yearss with the managers descrying out the objects of alteration. It was deliberated upon by the direction and an proclamation was passed to all employees in the company ‘s employ. The direction led by Cor Herkstroter, the president of the commission of managers in 1995 gave a address to Shell employees worldwide. He signified the kernel for alteration, outlined the chief facet of alteration and at the same clip told the employees to be ready for whatever alteration t hat would come. Gagliardi ‘s ( 1986 ) theoretical account makes leaders of organisations know how their companies would be affected culturally when they set up alteration thoughts in their organisations small wonder the commission for alteration was initiated. At the terminal, the organisational alteration affected most employees as many of them lost their occupations. As a consequence of this alteration, Shell now operate a straight-forward direction construction where effectual power and control is exerted by the corporate centre over the assorted operating companies and the coverage relationships would be easier to follow. When the alteration was done, many of its staff was trained to get by and understand the alteration that has been carried out since they were involved in it, this is portion of the company ‘s scheme which is â€Å" Shell operates an open-door policy with its employees † . Gagliardi ‘s ( 1986 ) alteration theoretical account explains the result of apparent, incremental, and radical alteration on cultural positions that exist in organisations. This alteration theoretical account that was implemented was to beef up and broaden the theory and values associated by the alteration enterprise, ( Latta 2009 ) .Organizational CultureOrganizational civilization is now an indispensable portion in the apprehension of assorted organisations. A connexion or bond exists between the civilization of an organisation and other constructs such as leading, power, and organisational construction, ( Stephen Linstead et Al, 2009:151 ) . In any alteration happening in any organisation, the effects on the person and group behaviour are the most important. There have been assorted definitions of organisational civilization by different bookmans but harmonizing to ( Schwartz and Davis 1981: 33 ) , â€Å" Culture is a form of beliefs and outlooks shared by the organisation ‘s members. The beliefs and outlooks produce norms that strongly shape the behaviour of single and groups in the organisation † . Change dwells at the bosom of leading. Organizational civilization is one of many situational variables that are really of import in doing the attempts of leaders successful when alteration enterprises are implemented, ( Latta 2009 ) . Shell ‘s civilization covers assorted facets which includes its Vision and Mission statements Valuess and aims Technology, merchandises and servicesVision and Mission StatementsVision and Mission statements are stated by most companies so that they would cognize what they want to accomplish and where they want to be in the nearest hereafter. It is a manner of doing a company look really effectual. Shell Nigeria mission statement is â€Å" toA enhance profitableness through advanced direction schemes while guaranting cost effectivity and tackling originative thoughts † while its vision statement is â€Å" to be the market leader and present the best value to our stakeholders. † Shell Nigeria has adequate trueness and dedication to its stakeholders besides holding its clients in head. They search out for more thoughts on how to be open uping in its pursuit for making energy.VALUES AND OBJECTIVESShell Nigeria ‘s values is â€Å" to put high criterions of public presentation and ethical behaviours while its aims is â€Å" to prosecute expeditiously, responsibly and productively in oil and its merchandises, and other selected concerns and to take part in the hunt for and development of other beginnings of energy to run into germinating client demands and the universe ‘s turning demand for energy † . As oil and gas can non be done without, as it is a major beginning of energy, Shell Nigeria ‘s exclusive value and aim is to beginning for oil and gas in the Niger delta part in ways that it would non impact the environment.Technology, PRODUCT AND SERVICEIt has been the civilization of Shell Nigeria and Shell in other locations of the universe to tackle engineering and supply better merchandises and services for its clients. More ways have been found on how to better harness and procedure energy. Shell Nigeria has assorted merchandises and services which include lubricators and natural gas which is used for mundane life.Power and PoliticssPower is needed in organisations because it is the major manner organisational ends can be achieved through assorted parts of thoughts. Therefore organisational political relations are activities used to derive and use power in organisations ( Martin and Fellenz, 2010: p518 ) Shell Petroleum had a powerful position after it was formed. The influence they had could non be matched because they had no ferocious rivals as at when it was created. They were even said to be one of the three most good known institutes. Shell Petroleum is alone in its construction and its twenty-four hours to twenty-four hours direction of its assorted groups is complex. The Committee of Managing Directors ( CMD ) had control over the group ; they were the 1s in charge of the personal businesss of the company. The Committee besides had its ain president which rotated between the President of the Royal Dutch Petroleum and the Chairman and Vice Chairman of Shell Transport and Trading. Shell operates a individual grade leading. The overall leading construction is chaired by a non executive president, Jorma Ollila while the executive direction is led by Chief Executive Officer, Peter Voser. These managers, presidents link with other presidents and managers of Shell all over the universe to do certain that Shell lives up to its name. They make certain the image is retained and besides do certain that more ways to beginning for energy are devised and harnessed. Shell began to construct a strong image and name for itself and became one of the largest crude oil companies in 1995. Shell crude oil drama a high degree of political relations and wield adequate power in the oil sector of Nigeria. The political civilization of Shell crude oil in Nigeria is one that has been ever criticized. The company was criticized for the portion it played in the sentencing of an militant, Ken Saro-Wiwa of the Ogoni land and of all time since the incident happened, they have gained more critics than friend both locally in Nigeria and Internationally. The policies of the Nigerian do non look to impact Shell Petroleum because in malice of the clarion call made by dissenters in the Niger delta part of Nigeria of the continued oil spillage caused by their Shell, it has fallen on deaf ears because the company has been seen as a major participant in the oil sector of Nigeria. Shell crude oil still flares gas in Nigeria, a policy the Nigerian authorities has abolished but because of the untouchable nature of Shell, the Nigerian authorities was forced to switch the deadline of gas flaring assorted times. Shell crude oil has been the major cause of civil agitation in the Niger delta due to the political influence they have on the Nigerian authorities. They have seized the lands of the people populating in the Niger delta and alternatively of the company developing the Niger delta part, they spill oil on it. The authorities does nil touchable to halt them because of the influence they have. The federal Government of Nigeria has failed to put tougher countenances for companies prosecuting in oil spillage. The regulations are being dead set whenever Shell crude oil wants to be affected. Hazard ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT Organizations do cognize that they may confront hazards at some certain times in their concern life and as a consequence of this they analyze their houses to understand what hazards would endanger their assets. They propose steps to forestall these hazards afterwards. Shell crude oil understands that they may in the future face hazards from altering conditions in economic, competitory, legal, political, finance and concern field which would hold consequence on their public presentation and as a consequence, they have analyzed this hazards and proposed safeguarded solutions to the hazards due to their accomplishment in detecting where their concern is most susceptible. The analyses include: Fluctuation in the monetary value of rough oil and oil merchandises The demand and supply of oil could be affected by assorted factors like natural catastrophes and political instability which would ensue in the fluctuating monetary values of rough oil and its merchandises. These fluctuations could impact the finance conditions of Shell Petroleum and could do long term undertakings in its upstream sector less profitable. This poses a possible hazard to the finance state of affairs of the company and as a consequence Shell Petroleum has moved to increase their oil militias so that in the nearer hereafter, if the hazard happens, they would non be affected. Competition Competition from other major participants in the Nigerian oil sector like Total, Agip are going a major menace to the being of Shell Petroleum. These competition forces are strong because the merchandises of Shell Petroleum are viing in trade good type markets which make other crude oil merchandises known. The ability of Shell Petroleum to achieve its set schemes depends on the company ‘s reaction to these competition forces. Shell Petroleum as a consequence of this has moved to pull off their disbursals through cost-effective budgets. Brand image and Company Reputation Shell Nigeria has mostly dominated the Nigerian oil sector since its creative activity through the acquisition of oil Wellss, larger oil militias, oil lands from the authorities. All these are the major assets of Shell Petroleum which constitutes their trade name image and the repute of their company. An eroding of this repute would hold an inauspicious reaction on the company ‘s operation and the entree to new assets. By placing this hazard, Shell has moved to guarantee rigorous conformity to the codification of behavior and rules of her concern by doing all CEOs of assorted Shell companies all over the universe guarantee that their employees are invariably being reminded of these regulations by subscribing the moralss signifier. Insecurity Assorted sensitive parts in Nigeria, most particularly the Niger Delta could expose the employees to hazards, accidents and even loss of life. Social unrest, natural catastrophes, offense, wellness of the employees, detonation all contribute to hazards that poses menaces to Shell Petroleum which could impact its operations negatively and convey a bad repute to its image. Shell crude oil identified this hazard and made sure that all employees who operate in these parts are made cognizant of the fact of working in these parts, they besides made certain that the employees are Health Safety Security and Environment ( HSSE ) certified. They besides made certain that they are good trained on what to make in the event of any natural and unnatural catastrophe. Reliable Information Technology The universe is turning into a planetary small town and it is the duty of companies to follow the tendency in the alteration in Information Technology. Shell Petroleum is cognizant that in the nearest hereafter, information engineering may neglect to present her services in an efficient mode due to reliance and resettlement of information engineering services. The company has moved to work out this job by puting more in Project and Technology section. More technological undertakings are being carried out in all parts where the company operates. This is to do certain that the company continues to present quality and improved services all the clip as invention and engineering are its major elements. Climate alteration Climate alteration like the emanation of nursery gases, the depletion of the ozone bed are hazards and concerns that could take to the hold of assorted undertakings. Shell Petroleum ‘s aim to be the major manufacturer of energy tantrum for human usage would take a downswing if clime alterations continue to impact it. As a consequence of this hazard, Shell Petroleum has found alternate ways of bring forthing energy from alternate beginnings by increasing the rates of its C dioxide strength and emanation rate. This is to do certain that the company does non worsen in the production of energy.

Uses of statistical information Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Uses of statistical information - Research Paper Example Statistics is a science of obtaining, organizing, summarizing, analyzing and making inferences about the data. In short, statistics is about all aspects of dealing with data (Williamson, 2002). There are very many fields that use statistics in their everyday activities and its use is as important as the fields themselves.Each workplace has unique demand and thus the kind of statistics required may vary to suit the needs of a particular work place. The use of statistics in a hospital setting is of paramount importance and is at the forefront in running, managing and decision making in the hospital. However, there exists basic standard statistics which are common in all hospital setting. In order to understand the statistical techniques to apply in a work place, one needs to know the statistical needs of that place (Barker & Harraway, 2005). Statistics are used in a variety of ways within a hospital- ranging from doing simple descriptive statistics for day to day management, for exampl e using routine hospital data in calculating operating costs and evaluating performance of hospital staff to carrying out big studies to address health issues using a series of data collected over a long period of time. One very important type of statistics typically obtained and used in a hospital is vital statistics. Vital statistics basically refers to the important events in human life. For a hospital setting, figures of life and death are widely used together with data collected on causes of death, disease as well as infections for addressing public health issues (Siri & Cork, 2009). Statistics help us understand how and why things happen the way they do and also capture unusual trends in the hospitalized population. The primary statistical knowledge obtained therefore helps in getting an insight into the future using prediction. With all the data the hospital collects on a daily basis, some descriptive statistics are derived. Descriptive statistics are used to show how the dat a looks like as well give a summary of the major components of the data. Coming up with descriptive statistics also helps us know if we captured the data we intended (Scott & Mazhindu, 2005). An example of descriptive statistics used in a hospital where I work, is the average number of patients received per day or per month. This gives an idea of how to monitor and evaluate hospital services to suit our needs. Another element of statistics is making inferences which are basically stating questions in form of hypothesis and answering them based on the available data. An example of such a setting in our hospital is studying whether age has an effect on the healing process of a wound. This question is formulated into a hypothesis and answered by categorizing patients with wounds based on their age and monitoring their healing process. A small sample t-test or an Analysis of Variance test is used to test whether the mean healing rate in one age group is significantly higher than the mea n healing rate in another age group. The decision to reject or accept our hypothesis is based on the probability that the results were obtained by chance alone (p-value) and the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis when it’s in fact true- ? level Both probabilities should be as small as possible to draw valid conclusions (Plichta & Garzon, 2006). There are four levels of statistical measurements used in the hospital where I work. These include nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio measurements. Nominal measurements are the weakest since the numeric values assigned to the variables only act as identifiers to uniquely name the variables of interest. They do not imply an ordering; neither does the interval represent the spacing between the variables (Trochim, 2006). During hospital assets audit, furniture is numbered just as an indicator for the already verified assets. Some probable statistics associated with nominal scales variables include mode and chi square. On the o ther hand, ordinal measurements

FORCES IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

FORCES IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS - Case Study Example Religion and language are also important cultural factors that influence international business. Natural resources forces explain the significance of natural geography, topography, natural endowments, climate and sustainability of energy resources use on international business. The political system in the country reflects the will of the country in determining its course of economic growth. Political stability in the country is essential for long term prospects of business. Many countries now are more open to privatization of business. A country's economic health will determine demand for goods and services and availability of infrastructure and other resources for doing business. Maturity of legal system in a country will determine the risk of doing business in the country and is essential for fair transactions. The country's financial position in terms of balance of payments, exchange rate, inflation etc will help multinational companies to draw up strategies on investment, managem ent of finances etc. Availability of labour and labor market trends will be important in determining setting up operations in a country. The Case of Coca Cola operations in India indicates how these seven forces influenced the company in its operations and how it reacted. The company had to face ethical dilemma of operating its plant in remote locations and face accusations of making profits at the cost of depriving locals of natural resource. Socio-Cultural forces Culture affects all business functions. Hofstede's cultural dimension model will be a useful starting parting to understand how culture influences business ((Hofstede, 2001).The power distance factor could indicate how bureaucracy operates in the country. If it is high it will mean a highly centralized decision making structure and very little delegation of powers to local authorities. This knowledge will help a company in doing negotiations. Very often this also defines the relationship between consumer and seller. This will also have an important bearing on organizational design. For example an organisation which tries to bring in its organizational value of empowered decentralized decision making to its employees from a cultural background of high power distance, will face difficulties in implementation (Meade 2005, p 95). Uncertainty avoidance may influence attitudes to entrepreneurship in society and inclination to take risks in financial institutions. Individualism vs. collecti vism dimension will indicate the level of influence of unions and labors attitude to collective bargaining. This will also determine the predominance of task or relationship in interpersonal management. Religion has a strong influence on commerce. Religion is responsible for many beliefs and attitude affecting behaviour, which is brought into business and organizations by people (Ball et al 2008). Attitude to work, accumulation of material wealth

Obama Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Obama - Essay Example In the US state of Ohio, there was great resonance between President Barack Obama’s arguments and those of the voters regarding the economic woes that America has experienced in the recent years as a result of the Bush government (â€Å"Fox News Exit†). On the national level, President Barack Obama’s campaign played a very important role opposing the supposed war on women by Romney. This gained President Barack Obama heavy support of the female voters whereas Mitt Romney gained no more than a point from the 2008 performance of John McCain. In addition to that, President Barack Obama also approved of the gay marriages in America understanding the fact that gays are growing in population in America. This gained him the support of the gay community as well and has contributed to his presidency for the second time. I personally think that President Barack Obama won the re-election fundamentally because he is black by ethnicity. The blacks in America have grown in population over the years and they see President Barack Obama as their own representative in such a prestigious institution as the government. Equality of races in America has been a growing concern since the end of slavery, but since then, the blacks’ rights have been subjugated at different levels, though not as overtly and openly as they were in the time of slavery. A vast majority of the black Americans voted for President Barack Obama because they did not want to lose their representation in the most powerful seat in America. The white Americans, on the other hand, were not quite as conscious about being represented in the government as the black Americans were because the former have always been more than sufficiently represented everywhere in America. So the white Americans primarily based their decision of voting betwee n President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney on the basis of their evaluation of their individualistic strengths and weaknesses. Understandably, some white Americans did find

Research In Human Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Research In Human Relations - Essay Example Let us now define research through its characteristics. Research begins with a problem or a question followed by the setting of goals and devising of a method or specific plan. The main problem is expounded by a hypothesis and assumptions regarding the cause or possible solutions are accepted as part of the research process. Research is not only about data gathering, but it is likewise concerned with the interpretation of data as a means to arrive at a solution to the problem or an answer to the main question (Andersen). There are four basic research design elements. These elements include treatments, measures, time and groups or individual. We shall focus on the time element for the purposes of this paper. Time is very important as it determines the degree and quality of observed changes. There are two classifications of research design under the time element: cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. A cross-sectional study is carried out at one instance, while a longitudinal study occurs over a period of time with a series of measurements (Trochim, 2006). A cross-sectional study includes observation of diverse groups of people of various age levels or a cross-section of a population. A longitudinal study involves observing and gathering information from the same group of people over a period of time. The focus of cross-sectional studies is on the differences between groups at a certain point in time, while the focus of longitudinal studies is on individual change over an extended period of time (A Research Typology, 2004). Since a cross-sectional study is done at only one instance, the expenses and time needed to gather data are very minimal. This is an advantage of the cross-sectional strategy. It is more convenient for both the participants and the researcher because there is only one period for data gathering (King, 2001). The participants need not go back for other sessions and researchers do not need to maintain contact with participants and sustain a budget for data collection over a long period of time. Another advantage is the large amount of diverse data that can be collected at one time. This data is very useful to the researcher in the immediate analysis and solution of a problem, and may also be very helpful to other researchers searching for similar data. A major di sadvantage though of this strategy is its failure to measure the actual individual changes that will occur or may inevitably be experienced by the subjects. It is a static representation of the variables and causes and effects cannot be measure accurately. In attitudinal or perception studies more often used in Psychology, a cross-sectional study is not dependable because many factors may affect the disposition or attitude of a person at a given time. Personal problems or emotionally disturbance experienced by subjects very close to the data gathering session may affect their responses. The elimination of outside factors can be done through a longitudinal study where subjects are contacted at different periods where their experiences and personal dispositions are varied. The main advantage of a longitudinal study is its ability to determine actual changes and trends that happen over a vast interval of time because it documents information from each subject at specific age levels and records comparisons between subjects across different timelines. Patterns of changes and causes of

Human resources. Recruitment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Human resources. Recruitment - Essay Example 12). She pointed out that there are three recruitment stages. These stages include the efforts by the organization to extend to the applicant populace to influence a little segment of them to become applicants. Another phase includes the efforts of the company to convince applicants to continue to be engrossed in the organization and to carry on following the job opportunity in anticipation of the organization determining whether to propose to them a position. Another phase is the attempts to influence people to accept job offers. Barber (1998) characterizes these phases as producing applicants, sustaining applicant standing, and controlling job preference. This study will examine what kind of competence does Norrona as a company searching for their new employees. The study will also explore the challenges in meeting the standards and qualifications of each position in the company. The second part of the study will evaluate the challenges of the demands of the candidate's competence in Norrona. Norrona is a small-medium business that was started by the managers grandfather in 1947. The company distributes catering equipment (range includes, cutlery, china, glassware, tableware, bar products, utensils, fryers, ranges, burners, grills, fridges, ware washing, furniture. At present, they are one of the largest company in Norways, their head office is in Stavenger also have other branches in Oslo, Kristiansand, Harstad and Bodo. The HR concept defined earlier will be related to various HR alternate approaches. One of these approaches is the recruitment and selection of the employees. These approaches are two important human resource activities and typically the first steps done in hiring employees. Usually, the initial operations of an organization are made of informal recruitment and selection processes. However, as the organization becomes more mature, the need for a well-established human resource practice becomes realized. This is where the concept of HRP becomes integrated. Through the HRP, formal recruitment and selection processes have been established and practiced; with this integration, organization are able to attract more suitable applicants for specific jobs. According to Cummings (2001), the introduction of more formal human resource recruitment and selection practices resulted to a more extensive use of private and government employment agencies, referrals as well as newspaper advertisements for offering job opportunities. This turnout was confirmed by more recent researches (Burnes, 1996); this finding was even correlated to the continuous growth of several organizations. For selection procedures, interview was the most common technique used by organizations. However, so as to screen the applicants more effectively with fewer errors, multiple selection techniques had also been employed. Barbeschi (2002) concluded that in both large and small firms, employees are selected through one on one interviews. In addition to this technique, some organizations even use panel interviews and written examinations in selecting employees. I. Since Norrona is one of the biggest companies in Norway, it intends to employ more workers every year. Being one of the companies with the most number of branches, this number is considerably accurate for the operations of

The most importnt issues or problems in Humn Resources in the United Essay

The most importnt issues or problems in Humn Resources in the United rb Emirtes t the present time - Essay Example ccording to n estimte by the l-Iktissd Wl-ml (1997) mgzine, no less thn 95 per cent of the new jobs in the 1995-2000 period were in the privte sector. There re four interrelted resons for the privte sector's resistnce to Emirtistion. The first fctor is lbour cost. The influx of chep foreign lbour during the pst three decdes led to the development of lbour-intensive privte sector, whose continued profitbility hinges on being given free hnd in the utilistion of foreign workers. lthough, since the mid-1990s, United rb Emirtes hs incresed the cost of the ltter by introducing compulsory helth cre for foreign workers, locl workers still re very much more expensive to hire (Fshoyin, 2000). It hs further been lleged tht locls will demnd bout six times the slry skilled foreign worker would be prepred to ccept nd 'will not work s hrd' (Fshoyin, 2000). Foreign workers from developing countries ccept reltively low slries becuse they cn still ern more thn they could ern in their home countries. Furthermore, the mjority of foreign workers re young mle bchelors nd therefore do not hve fmily to support. For locl workers, however, the high cost of living in United rb Emirtes mkes the level of wges offered by the privte sector in cpble of providing n cceptble living stndrd for locl workers (tiyyh, 2003). Second, socil nd culturl perceptions towrds... In United rb Emirtes, the type of work, sector of employment nd socil interctions t work determine the socil sttus of the worker nd his fmily (Mellhi, 2000). Hence, workers plce gret del of importnce on the effect of their work on their socil recognition. For instnce, most of the jobs in the privte sector re mnul jobs which rb Emirtes society holds in low esteem. Even before the influx of foreign workers, these jobs were llocted to people with low socil sttus nd socil interctions with them were severely restricted. tiyyh (2003) reported tht in rb Emirtes: For youngsters leving school the brriers ginst desirble creer pths re lmost mythicl. They will not ccept jobs s slesmen becuse this does not befit their socil sttus; they will not tke workshop jobs where there is thret of physicl dnger. Low slries re n insultthe rb Emirtesyouth hs too much pride to swllow.The third fctor is discipline nd control. Reserch on the mngement of foreign workers in United rb Emirtes supports the view tht foreign workers re esier to control nd more disciplined thn locl workers (tiyyh, 2003). This could be result of the fct tht work permits in United rb Emirtes re often vlid for one yer nd foreign workers do not qulify for permnent residency or nturlistion, regrdless of the length of their sty, therefore employers hve few obligtions towrds foreign workers who cn be lid off nd sent home t short notice. In ddition, foreign workers hold work permits for specific occuption with specific employer nd therefore they cnnot move freely between employers or sponsor wit hout the consent of their employer or sponsor-Kfeel. Hence, lbour turnover nd job-hopping mong foreign workers do not exist. Tble 1: Comprison between HRM prctices for United rb Emirtes HR nd

Industrial Revolution Essay Example for Free

Industrial Revolution Essay The business environment has transformed drastically since the advent of new technology and Industrial Revolution became a period of radical change from manual work to automated technology and advancement, which kept making life simpler with time. Some of the greatest organizational and socioeconomic revolutions in history occurred as a consequence of innovations in communications technology and media. The contraption of the printing press, for instance, in the mid-fifteenth century by the German typographer Johann Gutenberg initiated the knowledge revolutions in science and technology, commerce, engineering, law, and politics. Ultimately, the print medium gave rise to the market economy based on paper and given to the industrial revolution. The development of electricity in the nineteenth century instigated a series of other revolutions that transformed industrial society in reflective ways. It led to an extensive range of electrical and electromechanical inventions, including the light bulb, the dynamo, the electric motor and hundreds of electric machines based on it, as well as the telegraph, the telephone, radio, and television. These diffused all through the economy, influencing the nature and location of production, the structure and operation of business organizations of Europe in 1900, including offices and factories and the marketplace itself. Eventually, they came to comprise the technological underpinnings of the hydroelectric and communications and transportation infrastructures we know today. These, in turn, inclined the evolution of the mass production, mass consumption, and mass communications society of the twentieth century. Business organizations have undertaken extreme restructuring by modifying their means of communication and synchronization of work activities. New technology has made it promise for companies to work on a real-time basis, whereby products and services are conveyed to the right place at the right time. Since then, information technology has propagated and has undergone significant improvements. Costs have sustained to decline as these new technologies have emerged. A business not supported by a network of computer systems (primary information technology) is more or less destined to fail, since it will be incapable to compete efficiently in todays complex and dynamic environment. The invention of the telegraph instigated the first truly electronic communications revolution and gave rise to the age of instantaneous global electronic communications. Besides representing a thriving commercial business itself, the telegraph became the foundation of a number of significant new business ventures. One of these was a printing telegraph invented in 1855 by David Hughes in which messages were typed out at the transmitted and receiving ends. It provided the incentive for P. J. von Reuter in Aachen, Germany, to form his own company in 1849 to transmit commercial intelligence including stock market information across Europe. The telegraph had an unusual impact on business in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By making information obtainable instantly across the markets of the world, it integrated local, national, and international markets, thus obliterating the monopoly power and control that numerous business organizations had over local and regional markets. The telegraph transformed the spatial and temporal organization of economic activity all through the world and came to synchronize the social, economic, and political activities of one and all across space and time. The telegraph provided the crucial and cumulative break of the identity of communications and transportation, wrote James Carey, author of three books and over 100 articles and essays on mass communications and the media. The telegraph became a model of and a mechanism for the control of the physical association of things, specifically for the railroad†¦ [It]†¦ brought a decline in arbitrage, [that is,] the buying cheap and selling dear by moving goods around in space . . . [and it affected] the practical awareness of time through the erection of standard time zones. (Carey 133-137). The development of the telephone precipitated the second electronic communication revolution in the late nineteenth century. Because it was a two-way medium and as it carried voice, the telephone initiated a more publicly and economically considerable communication revolution than the telegraph. The telephone is a wonder of technical and engineering design and operation, and it became the first true worldwide, instant, global, and personal, information, and communications medium. These days, the telephone system interconnects hundreds of millions of people around the world and provides them with the means to communicate instantaneously by voice, written message, computer, and facsimile whether they are at home, in the office, or in a car, a truck, or an airplane. The telephone became one of the most significant social and economic technologies in history by providing a medium for exchanging personal and business information, coordinating social, economic, and political activities, facilitating decision making, and merely keeping in touch. In addition, it does this with little or no human involvement. Developments in radio communications ushered in the age of commercial public broadcasting after the First World War. For nine months commencing on February 23, 1920, Guglielmo Marconi, commonly referred to as the â€Å"Father of Radio†, broadcasted a regular news service from his transmitter at Chelmsford in England. These developments are significant in retrospect because they are not unlike the wave of mergers and acquisition and strategic alliances that leading manufacturers, network operators, suppliers of software, content, and services are implementing today in an all-out effort to create and dominate the electronic superhighways of the future. The postwar period witnessed the spread of telephone networks into the rural and remote regions of industrialized countries and the linking of all of them into a nationalized telecommunications infrastructure. At the same time, this infrastructure was ongoing to undergo transformations as a consequence of major innovations in switching and transmission systems, many of which were developed by the Bell System also known as â€Å"THE telephone company†. One of the biggest technological breakthroughs was the prologue of automatic, electromechanical switching. As it was automatic, it was faster and more efficient than manual switching, and it transformed the telephone business from an extremely labor-intensive to a highly capital-intensive one; one of the consequences was the drastic cut of telephone operators. Electromechanical switching progressively gave way to fully electronic switching in the sixties and seventies, and these ultimately to the computerized switching systems of today with their highly automated, software features that give them the capability to process voice, data, and image communications, route traffic optimally throughout the network, and to monitor, detect, diagnose, and repair problems as they arise. Both local and long-distance communications were further transformed as a result of innovations in multiplexing and microwave radio and coaxial cable transmission systems. Both of these developments increased transmission competence and also improved economics by orders of magnitude that resulted in major reductions in the price of long-distance telephone service as well as stimulating a consequent increase in the demand for service. Multiplexing, invented by Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1927, was a way of modulating higher frequency transmission signals with lower frequency voice signals so that copper, for example, could carry several voice conversations concurrently. This meant a reduction in the use of copper and in the cost of local and long-distance services. The former transatlantic radiotelephone link was installed by ATT between the United States and England in 1929, and radiotelephone links were also recognized between North and South America. In 1933, European engineers began using microwave communications to transmit telephone signals across the English Channel, a distance of a dozen miles. But radiotelephone communications were not very reliable, and the quality of the signal was often poor for very long-distance transatlantic or transoceanic communications. A mass production, mass consumption culture, however, could not have advanced without the development of mass communications. Radio, television, newspapers and magazines, and advertising brought information, news, entertainment, and cultural content to an information-starved society, but all played fundamental roles in creating a mass consumption and mass production society. One of their most significant effects was through advertising. In the book, Communications in History, William Leiss, Stephen Kline, and Sut Jhally wrote, â€Å"The developed phase of the market industrial society is the consumer society†¦ What marketers had realized was that, with the population as a whole having far greater discretionary income, leisure time, and employment security than ever before, work was no longer the focus of everyday life. The sphere of consumption could take its place. By linking consumption through electronic media to popular entertainment and sports, marketers and advertisers eventually fashioned a richly decorated setting for an elaborate play of messages, increasingly in imagistic or iconic form, about the way to happiness and social success† (Leiss, Kline, Jhally 176). To keep their factories operating at maximum capacity and efficiency, in effect, to move the goods cascading off their assembly lines, business had to increase its selling efforts, and this meant tremendous investment and expenditures on advertising. Advertising played a big role in creating a consumer society in the early twentieth century. According to Daniel Pope, an expert on the history of American advertising, marketing, and consumer culture, as early as 1920, the lead in advertising had passed to manufacturers of nationally distributed brand-named goods†¦ it was in the formation of the national consumer market that the advertising industry as we know it these days was born and nurtured (Pope, 1983). Companies are not the only ones who have gained from advances in modern information technology. Consumers and interest groups have created strategic alliances and now capable to coordinate their activities as well as exchange ideas and thoughts through a number of database and network systems. For instance, owners of personal computers can subscribe to a computer network and, without difficulty, retrieve information concerning the products and corporations online. Such information can also be transmitted to other users without problems. This huge use of technology by both consumers and companies affects the way business is run today. These consumer strategic alliances know no geographical limitations; oftentimes, they are global in nature, particularly among the industrialized nations. As companies can get in enormous profits from the better coordination, greater product elasticity, improved quality, leaner production, and more time-based competitiveness that information technology offers, they also facades the threat that can come from these consumers strategic alliances. For instance, corporations can no longer ignore consumer demands for constant product quality, reliability and respect for the environment, or timely delivery of services. As we move towards an increase in advanced technologies, the labor force must be retrained. This training must not only expose workers to the technical matters adjoining the new process, but also to the new focus of the organization. They have to be made responsive of the importance of advanced technology in improving work methods and in remaining competitive and therefore employee compulsion to the new process is imperative. Advanced technology by itself adds little or no value to an organization. There should be organizational, as well as employee dedication, to exploit the technology to the maximum level. For instance, with an ever-increasing use of computer-integrated manufacturing systems, and the stream of technical documentation that accompanies it, employees have to be skilled in recognizing the critical information at the right time. Once that information is recognized and properly interpreted, there must be an organizational dedication to use the information to make better decisions. Without this potential, the organization cannot take advantage from new technologies. Human resources’ management, therefore, will persist to be a critical factor in the survival of any organization. We sum up the influence of information technology on human resources as follows: †¢ Information technology transforms the mode of communication and work processes. †¢ Custom or standardized operations are replaced with skilled and multi-skilled workers. An extremely trained labor force is desired to manage information technology. †¢ Worker motivation and satisfaction might improve since workers are no longer restricted to routine operations, enjoy management powers, and can contribute to developments in their work processes. New technology also has an impact on the organization itself, as follows: †¢ Organizational reformation is required. This reformation makes the organization flat. Decision-making powers are decentralized. †¢ Communications are better and the organization is capable to make timely responses to its environment. †¢ Introduction of new products and services is improved and varieties of products can be efficiently introduced and marketed by the organization. †¢ The organization is competent to improve its efficiency, quality, and competitiveness. Todays advanced technology can, conversely, easily become a basic technology. A rapid increase of new technologies also brings rapid obsolescence of earlier technologies. Policies concerning technology must not be static; they must keep evolving. George Stalk Jr, a writer of the Ivey Business Journal (1988) points out that competitive advantage is a persistently moving target†¦The best competitors, the most thriving ones, know how to keep moving and always stay on the cutting edge. A company should be able to evaluate potential new technologies quickly. The goal must be to remain competitive, and effective management of technology is a vital step in achieving this. With an increased focus on customer satisfaction, technology is a decisive means for achieving customer satisfaction. Browning, a writer for the Economist Magazine (1990) notes that a learning organization uses technology incessantly to refresh its knowledge of its customers’ wants and to work out new ways of satisfying them. This commitment to be a learning organization needs vast resources, however. For example, Browning also points out that building a learning organization necessitates new skills, clever people and capable machines. Noticeably, technology and human resources should be used together for the organization to stay competitive. Vincent Barabba and Gerald Zaltman, authors of Hearing the Voice of the Market (1991), note that hearing the accent of the market and making constructive use of it with respect to the voice of the firm is a learning progression. Essentially, the voice of the market has to be interpreted into facts and tasks that will lead to suitable products or services to satisfy customer needs. This is related to the application of quality function deployment, whereby the organization expands its strategic plans to assure customer needs. Thus, a learning organization should also be a caring organization. As a caring organization, its major objective is to please its stock or stakeholders, its customers, and employees, and also to be collectively responsible. The traditional organization, with the focus on satisfying stockholders alone, is varying to this new form, with a sophisticated stakeholder group. Thus, technology and human resources’ management are recognized as key variables that facilitate an organization to improve its productivity, quality, and competitiveness. A critical constituent is the information technology, which offers both opportunities and challenges. The organization should show understanding to its environment via its policies, and be learning and caring organization, as time and reliability influence competitiveness. Finally, organizations should innovate and constantly move to achieve new targets, particularly in view of todays rapidly developing new technologies. This is not to deny that the extent of interaction has increased gradually over time, though the time involved has been centuries somewhat than the last few decades. The diverse industrial revolutions paced this up. Basically, once two societies trade, they become mutually dependent. The stock markets subside in New York in 1929 triggered the Great Depression in all parts of the world because of their momentous economic relationships with the United States. Interactions were closer than they had been previously and they were to become even faster. The complex capitalist economies were tied intimately together in the long run, even if short-term fluctuations were less rapidly passed on (Aiki 83-87). Though, is speed of such enormous important? We have a global stock market today, where the information from a stock market in one part of the world is broadcasted instantly to those in others. Ever since the start of the electronic communication era this has been the case. For example, information in London about the New York Market passed far more gradually before 1939 and even more slowly before 1914. It was slower in spreading around and was far less comprehensive than it is now. Nevertheless, big movements in the stock markets were known and reflected in the stock markets of the world. Short-term and small fluctuations are imitated all through world markets today, much more rapidly than they were in the thirties, but big and long-term fluctuations have always been reflected around the world once markets had become consistent (Collins, Porras. 1991). We can go even a further back and argue that globalization, in the logic of a growth in interconnectedness between members of different states, is itself only a special case of something more universal. In medieval Europe, most people typically did not stray from the area they were born in. They inspired mainly local goods and primarily produced either for themselves or for a very local market (Schlossberg H. 1992). Economies were mainly local. Trade over considerable distances took place on water either by sea or river, which accounts for the inconsistent number of towns and villages that were either by the sea or on rivers. Human beings have had a steady urge to detach themselves from the area as much as the technology of the day permitted. Certainly there have always been big movements, due to populations looking for better circumstances or due to conquerors building new empires. Under the Roman Empire, for example, large parts of Europe were ‘globalizing’ in this sense and the degree of globalization declined with the Empire’s retreat. The medieval Church could be seen as a globalizing force but the degrees of interaction and interdependence were much reduced in the so-called Dark Ages.

Rapid Tooling For Technology For Injection Moulding

Rapid Tooling For Technology For Injection Moulding Rapid Tooling describes the process where a Rapid Prototyping (RP) model is used as a master pattern to create a mould rapidly. The Rapid Prototyping model may also be used directly as a tool. The two halves of a tool are referred to as the core and cavity. Rapid Tooling (RT) first evolved in the early 90s with the introduction of RTV silicone tooling from SLA master patterns, the mid 90s saw the introduction of investment casting tooling, direct AIM tooling, sand casting and metal SLS tooling. By the late 90s die casting and laminate tooling were introduced.4 The difference between Rapid Tooling and conventional tooling is: A time reduction of up to 1/5th is made when using Rapid Tooling. Rapid Tooling can cost less than 5% of the conventional tooling cost. Conventional tools generally have a longer life cycle. Larger tolerances for Rapid Tooling than for conventional tooling.  [1]   The two types of RT method available are Direct and Indirect tooling. Direct tooling is a soft tooling method which uses an RP model directly as a tool for moulding whereas indirect tooling is where the RP model is used as a master pattern to create a mould or die. Reasons for Rapid Tooling Within the last 25 years market trends have changed greatly, the product life span of many products such as mobile phones has been reduced drastically with updated models being released as often as every 3 to 4 months. The variation and complexity of products available has dramatically increased with manufacturers under increased pressure to reduce the time to market for these products. Taking all of this into account it is clear to see that parts need to be produced cheaper and quicker, therefore enhancing the need for manufacturers to adopt RT methods.4 Two of the most important things that toolmakers need to consider are if and when to adopt RT methods. RT has many advantages over conventional tooling methods: Speed: The majority of RT techniques offer an increase in speed compared to conventional tooling methods. A tool with ribs and bosses may take multiple operations i.e. CNC programming, CNC milling and EDM; however with RT the same tool may be done in one swift operation.  [2]   Cost effective for complex tooling: With RT methods it is possible to create complex geometries which would not difficult to produce by conventional methods. Automation: Automation of many of the RT processes means tooling can be build 24 hours a day without any human interaction. This improves productivity, and more tools are produced without the increased amount of manpower it would take to produce the same number conventionally. Human error: Human error can be significantly reduced by adopting RT methods and building a tool directly from the master pattern. Conventional methods may incur incorrect CNC programming or misinterpretation of CAD/technical drawings.2 Design possibilities: It is possible to integrate conformal cooling channels into complex tooling inserts when using RT methods. Tool design is not limited to designing tools which can be conventionally machined.2 Figure Rapid Tooling Vs Conventional shows the typical time savings which can be made by employing RT techniques oppose to conventional machining techniques. Rapid injection molding vs. conventional injection molding Figure Rapid Tooling Vs Conventional Tooling  [3]   Direct Tooling Direct AIM Tools Direct AIM (ACES Injection Moulding) is the process whereby tools are created directly on an SLA machine. The tools are initially designed using CAD software and the process involves creating a part by SLA which is basically a shell on the underside. The purpose of the shell is to leave a cavity so that each half of the mould can be filled with a backing material such as an epoxy resin, metal or ceramic. By backfilling the mould a thermal conduit is provided for the heat exchange process and it is also possible to add any cooling channels to the mould at this stage.  [4]   The surface of the moulds is finished to improve the quality of the surface. Using this method it is possible to create up to 100 parts with an accuracy of  ±0.15 0.3mm. Typical application for this type of tool would be for smaller parts, mainly prototype injection moulding tools, low volume wax injection tooling and low volume foundry patterns.  [5]   Advantages A relatively fast process a mould can be designed and built within a 2 week period. Cheap process for small tools, such as mobile phone and mp3 player casing. Building large parts on an SLA machine is not cheap. Disadvantages A CAD model of the tool is required as this has to be saved as an stl file in order for the SLA machine to build the 3D tool. Low durability the complexity of the tool and thermoplastic material used to build the tool all affect its life cycle. Moulds produced this way can create as little as 10 parts. Moulds typically degrade gradually with each part that is moulded on it. Laser Sintered Tooling Tooling inserts made by sintering are initially designed using CAD software and then produced by using DMLS (Direct Metal Laser Sintering) or SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) methods. SLS Rapid Steel Rapid steel powder is used to directly build a tool cavity using laser sintering; the powder consists of a stainless steel particles coated in a polymer binder. The parts which are produced are called green parts which are then put into a furnace. The furnace removes the polymer binder and infiltrates bronze into the mould to create a dense 60 (steel)/40 (bronze) part. The tooling inserts are then finished and fitted to a bolster. Advantages A relatively fast process which will produce a strong metal tool. Conformal Cooling channels can be built into the tool. Possible to create complex geometries. Disadvantages Finishing and polishing is required. Poor accuracy. Equipment cost is high. Size limitations, max 200 x 200 x 100mm Copper Polyamide Tooling A Copper and polyamide powder is sintered to form the tool. Only the polyamide particles in the powder are actually sintered. The advantage to this process is the tool strength and heat transfer compared with other methods. Copper provides the tool with these characteristics, allowing the tool to be used at high pressure and temperature.  [6]   This method is suitable for several hundred mouldings.5 DMLS (Direct Metal Laser Sintering) Using a laser sintering machine, metal in the form of powder is sintered to produce a tooling insert. The two available materials are Bronze and Steel based, the bronze based material offers a higher definition of features than the steel based one.6 Laminated Tooling Laminated tooling is very similar to the LOM (Layer Object Manufacturing) process as slices of a CAD model are replicated by layers of cut sheet metal. The steel laminations are laser cut or cut with a water jet. Tooling inserts are initially designed using CAD software; the CAD model must represent the cavity of the tool in order to produce the mould. The slices of the cavity are cut in sheet metal which has a thickness of 1mm and then bonded, clamped or brazed together. The use of a thick laminate results in a poor surface finish so the tool must be finish machined.3 Typical application for this type of tool would be large complex tools and aerospace tooling.2 Advantages Efficient use of material due to layers being cut to the exact size required. Conformal Cooling channels can be built into the tool easily if required. Standard steel sheet is used, making the process relatively quick and cheap. Good for large tools up to 2000 x 1000 x 500mm Design of parts can be easily changed by replacing a laminate layer as long as it has not been bonded. Disadvantages Tools have to be finish machined to remove the step like features to obtain accuracy. The joints between each lamination provide the tool with a weak link. Part complexity is dependent upon layer thickness. Indirect Tooling Rigid Cast Resin Tooling This process manufactures a tooling insert using aluminium filled epoxy resin as the tool material. A master RP model is initially manufactured and the part is set up on a split line. The resin is then cast onto the model which is within a bolster. The resin is then left to cure, a release coat is applied to the mould, the shut-off material removed and the process is repeated for the other half of the mould. When both halves of the mould have cured, the shut off material is removed and a bolster and ejector pins are added.2,4 Typical application for this type of tool would be a small sized tool, low volume RIM (Resin Injection Moulding) tools or low volume press tools. Accuracy of the tool is dependent upon each step within the process so shrinkage and deformation must be taken into account when reviewing the overall accuracy. Advantages Quick to produce, 2-3 days. Cost is typically 40% less than with conventional tooling.  [7]   Quick repair on tools is possible. Disadvantages Flash can occur resulting in more effort required to trim mouldings. Difficult and slow to mould Fragile and easy to break. Repairs are not long lasting. Distortion is possible with larger tools due to exothermic processes. Cast Metal Tooling Sand Casting A master pattern is placed in Green sand to create a mould, the pattern is removed and the cavity of the mould is filled with molten metal. The metal is left to cool and the sand mould is broken away to leave a finished casting. Investment Casting A master pattern is created from wax or a material which can be melted. The wax pattern is then dipped in slurry consisting of plaster of Paris, binder and silica repeatedly to create a surface on it. The mould is then heated up in an oven leaving the wax to melt away. The completed mould can then be filled with a molten metal to create the part. Rubber Plaster Casting A master RP pattern is created and shut off, silicone is cast in the shape of the tool. Liquid plaster slurry is poured around the silicone, once cured the silicone is removed. Molten metal is then poured into the plaster mould.  [8]   Advantages Solid metal tools are produced. Conformal cooling is possible. One master can allow multiple tools. Steel tools can be made but with increased difficulty. Disadvantages Tools may need to be finish machined and polished. Difficult to hold tolerances. http://www.crptechnology.com/sito/images/stories/ElementiFissiHome/rapid-casting.jpg Figure Investment Casting, RP model on left.  [9]   Metal Spray Tooling This method is used to produce soft tooling inserts. A master pattern is produced and shut-off; a thin shell of 1-2mm of zinc is sprayed over the pattern, this shell is then removed and backed up with an epoxy resin or ceramic to make the mould more rigid. This is then repeated for the other half of the tool. The surface of the metal shell is usually polished and even sealed. Electric Arc Spraying In this process two conductive metal wires are melted by means of an electric arc. The metal melts, and the molten material is atomised by a gas and propelled on to the surface of the pattern. The molten particles on the pattern rapidly solidify to form the metal coating of the shell.  [10]   High Velocity Oxygen Fuel Metal powder particles are injected into a high velocity jet. The jet is formed by oxygen and fuel combusting and heating and accelerating the molten metal towards the surface of the pattern. Metal coatings produced this way are strong and very dense allowing a thicker coating to be applied to the pattern compared to electric arc spraying.  [11]   Advantages High quality surface finish. Relatively quick. Fine detail such as graining can be achieved. Conformal cooling is possible. Large scale tools can be produced. Disadvantages Line of sight limitations impossible to spray undercuts or narrow slots. Surface is porous so may need to be sealed to reduce infiltration. Any repairs and modifications are very difficult to undertake. Special equipment and operating environment is required. Figure H.V.O.F process  [12]   Electroformed Nickel Tooling Nickel Shell Tooling This method involves a nickel surface being created on an RP model. A master RP pattern is produced and shut-off, the part is then put in an electroplating bath to form a nickel shell on the surface. Once plated, the part is removed from the bath; the nickel shell is removed and backed up with a thermally conductive ceramic material. Cooling channels, typically made from copper can be built into the mould at this time.  [13]   Typical application for this type of tool would be large production vacuum forming tools and composite forming tooling for the aerospace industry. Advantages Detail from the master model is picked up almost perfectly. Nickel provides a smooth surface which is dense and hard. Low thermal stress compared to metal spray techniques. Disadvantages Slow process which can take up to 6 weeks to produce a 6mm shell. Line of sight limitations Nickel Vapour Deposition (NVD) This method converts Nickel Carbonyl gas (NiCO4) into a solid Nickel shell. A master pattern is created from aluminium or steel, and placed into a special chamber which heats the pattern up to 110-180oC. Nickel Carbonyl gas is passed over the pattern, and nickel is deposited onto the pattern to create a metal shell. The pattern is then removed from the chamber; the shell is backed up and removed from the pattern. This process is then repeated for the other half of the mould. Advantages Extremely fast, 0.25mm/hr (20 times faster than electroforming).  [14]   A more uniform wall thickness than electroforming.8 No line of sight limitations. Conformal heating and cooling is possible. Disadvantages A dangerous process which can be explosive. The master pattern must be heated evenly. Indirect Sintered Tooling 3D Keltool Process Keltool is the name given to the powder metal sintering process which involves the infiltration of a fused metal part with copper alloy.  [15]   An RTV mould is created from an SLA master pattern. When the pattern is de-moulded, slurry consisting of A6 tool steel and tungsten carbide is poured into the RTV mould. Once cured this mould is infiltrated with copper and sintered to cure the mould and increase its strength. The completed tool can be machined and has a hardness similar to A6 tool steel.9 Using this process it is possible to create a tooling insert, from master pattern to the finished product in under two weeks. Tool life expectancy can be anything between 100,000 to 10,000,000 shots dependent upon material being moulded.9 Typical application for this type of tool would be small tooling inserts. Advantages Good for complex mould geometry. Extremely fast process. Disadvantages Size limitations 6 in all directions. Difficult to machine detailed designs. Figure 3D Keltool parts  [16]   Tool Considerations When designing a tool, a number of considerations must be taken into account: Wall Thickness. Sliding Cores. Size and location of runners and ejector pins. Gate design. Size and number of cooling channels if required. Split line position. Shrinkage Wall Thickness It is possible to create walls with various thicknesses. A wall with an uneven thickness can cause problems for the tool designer, as thicker walls cool much slower than thin walls therefore resulting in greater shrinkage at the thicker sections. A uniform wall thickness will minimise any defects caused by uneven cooling. Shrinkage will also occur at wall intersections (tees).  [17]   Sliding Cores Sliding cores allow undercuts to be made; sometimes it may be possible to relocate the split line to reduce the number required. Sometimes it may be a case of re-designing a feature in order to reduce tooling costs. Any additional cores will just increase the overall cost and complexity of the tooling insert. Figure Redesigning a feature18 shows a hinge feature which has been redesigned to eliminate the requirement for the sliding core shown on the left. Figure Redesigning a feature  [18]   Ejection Methods Ejector pins are placed in the cavity or core of the mould and push the solidified moulding out of the mould. This is the most common method of ejection, the ejector pins are carried in an ejector plate which is in the mould. These pins should be positioned at points with good strength to avoid any lasting damage to the part.5 Other methods of ejection may use plates or some method of gas or air ejection to ease the part out of the moulding. Gate Design A Gate is the opening in the mould where the resin will enter from. The design and placement of gates is an extremely important factor to consider. Resin is injected into the mould at pressures of up to 20,000 psi. The immense pressure can cause gas to be forced into the liquid resin, which when cooled results in bubbles being formed in the solidified moulding. To eliminate this problem it may be necessary to add vents within the mould to allow air to be displaced as the resin is injected.  [19]   Gates should be positioned at the thicker areas of the part; the thinner areas will lose heat quicker causing the resin to cure before it reaches the thicker areas. Knit lines occur when the flow of resin is split by a core in the mould. Where the resin rejoins there may be a slight defect due to cooling and the two edges not fully merging together to create a smooth blend. This will result in a visible line which may affect aesthetics or structure of the part. A more structured gate placement may improve the resin flow and eliminate any knit lines.17 Conformal Cooling Cooling channels for Moulds are traditionally drilled in a secondary machining operation. These cooling channels are only able to follow straight lines, if a complex cooling channel is required, the mould is split into segments and channels milled into each segment. The segments are then welded back together so the channels align producing a cooling channel which is not straight.  [20]   Conformal cooling channels follow the shape of the mould and allow temperature to be distributed uniformly in the moulded material. This method is only available when using RT methods to create a mould. Conformal cooling can save money when thermal management is extremely difficult via traditional tooling methods. Recent studies have shown a 30-60% reduction in cycle times compared to conventional methods.  [21]   Figure Conventional Vs Conformal Cooling18 shows the same mould with traditional drilled channels on the left and conformal cooling channels on the right. The conformal cooling channels follow the curves of the mould closely. Figure Conventional Vs Conformal Cooling18 Split Line The split line is the line at which the two halves of the mould meet. In some cases the tooling may not be precise allowing the mould halves to open and close without any precision. The high pressure injection process will cause resin to creep into any gaps between the mould halves; this material is referred to as flash. Strategic positioning of the split line is necessary to improve part quality and to facilitate with ejection. 22 shows the same part but with the split line (red line) at different locations. On the image on the left, the walls of the part are in the bottom half and are slanting to allow the part to be ejected. This leaves the wall at the base being much thicker. If conventional methods of tooling are used, the deep narrow cut may have to be made wider to allow the machine tool full operation resulting in an even thicker wall.19 On the image on the right the top half of the tool is the core which forms the walls. This results in walls with a uniform thickness. If conventional methods are used, tooling is made easier as larger sized cutting tools can be used.19 http://www.protomold.com/designtips/2006/2006-05_designtips/images/fig1.jpg Figure Split line at different locations.  [22]   Shrinkage The majority of tooling methods involve a change of phase. A material is transformed from a liquid to a solid or solid to a liquid and back to a solid. In each case, the phase change results in a decrease in volume therefore results in shrinkage.  [23]   All of the tooling processes involve some level of volumetric shrinkage therefore some sort of shrinkage compensation is usually given for each process. It is usually a case of measuring the linear shrinkage for a given material in a particular process and then applying a shrinkage compensation factor to any other part dimensions produced this way. A part is intentionally built oversized so that when shrinkage occurs, the part will be the correct size.20 In principle this sounds great but in practice it is not so easy to achieve precise dimensions through shrinkage compensation. Case Studies Thermoplastic composite (GMT) forming tooling using thermal spraying Zinc.5 The aim of this project was to find a way to reduce the time taken to produce tooling by evaluating a different method using thermally sprayed zinc, backed with ceramic. The GMT floor pan assembly required 5 parts: Main floor, 2 cross beams, battery box and lid. The master pattern was machined and thermal sprayed with a 2mm layer of zinc. The shell was then put in a steel bolster and copper cooling channels were added. The zinc shell was then backed with a chemically bonded ceramic. The die was then ready for moulding. Moulding trials took place with a 1000 tonne press. It took 8 weeks to produce using a metal spray tooling technique oppose to the 16 weeks it would of taken using traditional machined tools. The total cost was  £80,000 a saving of  £170,000.5 Feasibility study of arc spray welding onto a master RP model.  [24]   The model used for this project was a handheld phone. Overall dimensions of the model were 100 x 50 x 20mm. An ABS RP master was fabricated and put into a bolster, and then arc sprayed to create a shell of 1.5mm thickness. Aluminium epoxy was used to back the shell; this took 24 hours to cure. The process was then repeated for the other half of the mould. The surface of the shell was polished to improve surface finishing then it was ready for injection moulding. Tool development cost ITEM COST ($) RP Master 200 Bolster 500 Sand Blasting 100 MMA resin system 500 Arc metal spraying 800 Sprue bushing 200 Reinforcement block 50 PVA 50 Labour ($20/h) 20 x 89hrs = 1780 TOTAL = $4180 Estimated cost of the tool was $4180, a traditional tooling shop quote was between $10,000 -$15,000 for the same tool. An approximate time and cost saving of 50% was achieved, the tool was also completed in less than 2 weeks. Kodak reduces tooling costs.20 A project being run at Kodak needed 25 different plastic injection moulded geometries. By using rapid tooling as a method of bridge tooling they reduced lead times by up to 85% compared with CNC/EDM generated tools. By using a composite aluminium filled epoxy they were able to create tooling inserts capable of moulding in excess of 1000 parts. in some case product development cycles were cut by a year. 20 By employing RT methods, Kodak are typically saving about 25% in tooling cost compared with traditional methods. They are able to: Test, iterate, retest and proof multiple designs far more rapidly. Form, fit and function can be tested with true prototypes which have been injection moulded with the desired end use material.20 Conclusions Rapid Tooling is a growing area which still has room for improvement and development. In the future, reducing the cost of tooling will play an important role in enabling smaller runs of parts to be made as well as allowing more product customisation for niche markets. Developments in Rapid Tooling will mean product development can be initiated closer to market entry time meaning manufacturers can gather more up to date market trends before the product is manufactured. From the research conducted and case studies viewed it is clear to see that time and cost savings can be made and productivity increased when employing Rapid Tooling techniques. The production time of tooling inserts can be shortened by a near fully automatic procedure from start to finish. Rapid Tooling is not however cheap, cost of the RP machine and other machinery such as Arc welding equipment and resins has to be taken into account. The future development of SLA resins and further improvements in Rapid Prototyping machines will only aid in the development of Rapid Tooling. Rapid Tooling still has a lot to offer, this is just the beginning; future improvements in CAD software will allow the whole process to become far more efficient.