Trends in Japanese Baby Names

Baby names are like a mirror that reflects the times. Lets have a look at the transitions in popular baby names and recent trends. Royal Influence Since the royal family is popular and well respected in Japan, it has certain influences. The Western calendar is widely known and used in Japan, but the name of the era (gengou) is still used to date official documents. The year in which an Emperor ascended to the throne would be the first year of a new era, and it continues until his death. The current gengou is Heisei (the year 2006 is Heisei 18), and it was changed from Showa when Emperor Akihito succeeds to the throne in 1989. That year, the kanji character Ã¥ ¹ ³hei) or æˆ Ã‚  (sei) was very popular to use in a name. After Empress Michiko married to Emperor Akihito in 1959, many newborn baby girls were named Michiko. The year princess Kiko married prince Fumihito (1990), and Crown princess Masako married Crown prince Naruhito (1993), many parents named their baby after the princess or used one of the kanji characters. In 2001, Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako had a baby girl and she was named Princess Aiko. Aiko is written with the kanji characters for loveæ„› and childÃ¥ ­ , and refers to a person who loves others. Although the popularity of the name Aiko has always been steady, its popularity grew after the princesss birth.   Popular Kanji Characters The recent popular kanji character for a boys names is ç ¿â€ (to soar). The names including this character are  Ã§ ¿â€,  Ã¥ ¤ §Ã§ ¿â€,  Ã§ ¿â€Ã¥ ¤ ª,  Ã¦ µ ·Ã§ ¿â€,  Ã§ ¿â€Ã§Å"Ÿ,  Ã§ ¿â€Ã¥ ¤ §Ã‚  and so on.  Other popular kanji for boys are Ã¥ ¤ ªÃ‚  (great) and Ã¥ ¤ §Ã‚  (big). The kanji character for ç ¾Å½Ã‚  (beauty)  is always popular for girls names. In 2005 it is especially popular, even more so than other popular kanji such as 愛  (love), å„ ªÃ‚  (gentle) or èŠ ±Ã‚  (flower).  Ã§ ¾Å½Ã¥â€™ ²,  Ã§ ¾Å½Ã§ ¾ ½,  Ã§ ¾Å½Ã¥â€ž ªÃ‚  andç ¾Å½Ã¦Å"ˆÂ  are listed in  the top 10 names for girls. Hiragana Names Most names are written in  kanji. However, some names dont have kanji characters and are simply written in  hiragana  or  katakana. Katakana names are rarely used in Japan today. Hiragana is mainly used for female names because of its soft impression. A hiragana name is one of the most recent trends.  Ã£ â€¢Ã£  Ã£â€šâ€°Ã‚  (Sakura),  Ã£ â€œÃ£ â€œÃ£â€š Ã‚  (Kokoro),  Ã£  ²Ã£  ªÃ£ Å¸(Hinata),  Ã£  ²Ã£ â€¹Ã£â€šÅ Ã‚  (Hikari) and  Ã£  »Ã£  ®Ã£ â€¹Ã‚  (Honoka) are popular girls names written in hiragana. Modern Trends Popular boys names have endings such as ~to, ~ki, and ~ta. Haruto, Yuuto, Yuuki, Souta, Kouki, Haruki, Yuuta,  and Kaito are included in the top 10 boys names (by reading). In 2005, names that have the image of summer and ocean are popular for boys. Among of them are  Ã¦â€¹â€œÃ¦ µ ·,  Ã¦ µ ·Ã¦â€"â€", or  Ã¥ ¤ ªÃ©â„¢ ½.  Western or exotic sounding names are trendy for girls. Girls names with two syllables are also a recent trend.  The top 3 girls names by reading  are Hina, Yui, and Miyu. In the past, it was very common and traditional to use the kanji character ko  (a child) at the end of female names. Empress Michiko, Crown Princess Masako, Princess Kiko, and Yoko Ono, all end with ko (Ã¥ ­ ). If you have a few female Japanese friends, you will probably notice this pattern. In fact, more than 80% of my female relatives and girlfriends have ko at the end of their names. However, this might not be true for the next generation. There are only three names including ko in the recent 100 popular names for girls. They are Nanako (è Å"々å ­ )and Riko (莉å ­ ,  Ã§ â€ Ã¥ ­ ). Instead of ko at the end, using ka or na is the recent trend. Haruka, Hina, Honoka, Momoka, Ayaka, Yuuna, and Haruna for example. Increasing Diversity There used to be certain patterns for names. From the 10s to the mid-70s, there was little change in naming patterns. Today there is no set pattern and baby names have greater diversity. Boys Names Rank 1915 1925 1935 1945 1955 1 Kiyoshi Kiyoshi Hiroshi Masaru Takashi 2 Saburou Shigeru Kiyoshi Isamu Makoto 3 Shigeru Isamu Isamu Susumu Shigeru 4 Masao Saburou Minoru Kiyoshi Osamu 5 Tadashi Hiroshi Susumu Katsutoshi Yutaka Rank 1965 1975 1985 1995 2000 1 Makoto Makoto Daisuke Takuya Shou 2 Hiroshi Daisuke Takuya Kenta Shouta 3 Osamu Manabu Naoki Shouta Daiki 4 Naoki Tsuyoshi Kenta Tsubasa Yuuto 5 Tetsuya Naoki Kazuya Daiki Takumi Girls Names Rank 1915 1925 1935 1945 1955 1 Chiyo Sachiko Kazuko Kazuko Youko 2 Chiyoko Fumiko Sachiko Sachiko Keiko 3 Fumiko Miyoko Setsuko Youko Kyouko 4 Shizuko Hisako Hiroko Setsuko Sachiko 5 Kiyo Yoshiko Hisako Hiroko Kazuko Rank 1965 1975 1985 1995 2000 1 Akemi Kumiko Ai Misaki Sakura 2 Mayumi Yuuko Mai Ai Yuuka 3 Yumiko Mayumi Mami Haruka Misaki 4 Keiko Tomoko Megumi Kana Natsuki 5 Kumiko Youko Kaori Mai Nanami Individuality in Spelling There are thousands of kanji to choose from for a name, even the same name can usually be written in many different kanji combinations (some have more than 50 combinations). Japanese baby names might have more variety than baby names in any other languages.

Technology, Blessing Or Curse Beyond The Age Of Consumerism

Week 4 Title: 1: Group’s project assignment: Introduction to International Aid: 2: Project Plan topic proposal, Technology, Blessing or Curse Beyond the age of Consumerism. 1: Introduction to International Aid: International aid is an act of good favour which one country gives support and reinforcements to foreign countries. The purpose and goal is to include economic development, increasing government accountability, improved healthcare, proper sanitation water, education and creditability. Such international aid also includes extra support to natural disasters and crises. These free flows of aid from those countries are critical for many struggling nations. As for today’s context, global poverty poses a challenge to the security, wealth, and morals of Australia. Currently, nearly 40% of the world s population, approximately 2.7 billion people live in poverty, struggling to survive on less than $2 per day. The Australian Government’s aid program has been put in place to promote it’s national interests through committing towards the economic development and to prevent a nation from poverty. The aid program will contribute to Australia’s broader economic diplomacy efforts to deliver greater prosperity for Australia, our region, and globally. The Government is devoted to an effective and organised aid program with a strong culture of performance and accountability. Therefore, through a stronger prominence on encouraging economic growth; such as the private sectorShow MoreRelated8 stages of social development6628 Words   |  27 Pagesa motive that drives the social change and essential preconditions for that change to occur. The motive must be powerful enough to overcome obstructions that impede that change from occurring. Development also requires resources such as capital, technology, and supporting infrastructure. Development is the result of societys capacity to organize human energies and productive resources to meet challenges and opportunities. Society passes through well-defined stages in the course of its development

MFS system free essay sample

Basically, culture of MFS is focused on teamwork and community so that MFS manages their employees very fair and its compensation system also reflects this characteristic. For sustaining this team –based culture of MFS, which don’t prefer star(anti star culture), MFS assesses their employees to the ways that not only fund-performance(performance factor) but also contribution to the investment, and contribution to MFS overall(community factor). The portion of performance factor is 60% but community factors are 40%. It is not easy to ignore such a huge portion. In this system, as a result, it cannot be possible to make a good assessments and high rewords without the effort for increasing community factor. So employees have to consider both performance factor and community factors. They should interact with their coworkers frequently, share information they have, and participate in several groups enthusiastically. When MFS recruit new employees, it considers applicants’ feature related with community factors because they don’t want to lose its employee just â€Å"high pay level† of competitor companies offering to the employee. MFS want to leave its employee not for pay level but other things such as team work cultures, individual development circumstance in MFS, and fitness between firm’s value and its employees. They assume that the employee who want to get high pay level could have possibility to turnover MFS when other company offer high pay level compared with MFS. Considering this kind of system, factor that can motivate employees is behavior which can contribute to the community. As an example, organization citizen’s action is that kind of behavior. The action can improve coworkers’ efficiency and job atmosphere so it increase whole performance of organization indirectly. In addition, share their skills( ), related with organization citizen’s action but little bit different, are another way to contribute to company. It is more related with performance factor but in the process of sharing skills, employees took part in that process can communicate with each other and can make good relationship between skill giver and taker. 2. What are the potential problems and major challenges created by the MFS performance evaluation system? What are your suggestions for managing these problems and challenges? It is very nature that assessment system based on community factors is subjective. Subjective assessment is difficult to deal with ‘contribution to performance’ it is also problem when the situation of 360 diverse assessment because to get higher grade, employees too much focus on relationship factor so their efforts are diluted. Of course community factor is important but 40% of assessment portions are too much. In terms of employees’ point of view MFS assessment system can decrease motivation of performance factor. The evidence is there are no employees to do their work just 5 minutes after office time. That is because MFS don’t give extra payment to employees performance related effort so they don’t want to work hard enough to reach their maximum ability. In addition, low penalty of low performance is another problem MFS compensation system contained. Of course, in long term point of view and considering MFS culture, MFS want to find out low estimated stocks or asset to invest. In that point, short term performance is not that important but it could cause reducing ability because employees don’t afraid of being fired as reason of fool performance in the short term period. At last, basically all human want to receive appropriate reword when they achieve something valuable. But MFS don’t offer its employee even if the employees make remarkable performance so the employees are hard to have attachment to their work. In terms of supervisors’ point of view No objective indicates for assessment mean that supervisors consider more various possibilities when they assess their subordinate. And time and effort are also more required. As a result, supervisors are in trouble because of the reduced time for their own tasks so they couldn’t put their best efforts on the task. (Supervisors feel tired after assessment process) it is kind of waste to the MFS. Suggestion To exchange the balance of assessment system is one of the way to enhance efficiency of MFS. Setting the portion of performance factor 60% to 70% and reduce the portion of community factor 40% to 30%. 30% is not ignorable score to the employees so they would still do community friendly behavior for 30% but they more focus on performance factor to achieve high assessment score. In addition, they diversify their subjective assessment tool ‘Free-writing’ to ‘check-list ‘. When making check-list, we can extract some important and valuable issues on the previous Free-writings from their employees, then including the issues on the check-list. It can make supervisor less tired because supervisor don’t need to consider very specific information about employees. 3. Do you think that MFS will be successful in using their system for their hedge fund managers? If not, why not? If so, upon what will their success depend? The system based on performance is needed. High risk-high return is feature of hedge fund so MFS should control the risk. For that, loyalty of employee is most important factor and thy way to increase employee’s loyalty is giving them certain satisfactory compensation because if employee makes huge profit from their task but firm doesn’t give him compensation, that make employee miserable. As time goes by, the employee feels uncomfortable through the gap between their performance and compensation level. At this situation, the way for motivating employee should be exist. If not, MFS system accelerates turnover rate of hedge department employee. MFS just have team based culture. But it is not fit in the hedge fund business. So it must change their motivation tool for the new business. However, to give additional bonus is not allowed to its culture. Regarding it, I want to recommend â€Å"Hall of fame†( ) for their employees. When certain employee achieves remarkable performance in hedge fund, MFS register his name on the company bulletin board. That makes him proud himself. But the period of on the bulletin board should be short for the rest of other employees. The reason is that too long period of it makes other employees’ feeling inferior. The purpose is just not to make stars but to motivate someone who is very good. But this strategy is mainly focus on the person who has very strong need in the growth desire. (According to the theory of ERG) However, employees’ desire is belong to the existence desire, it is very hard to deal with the employees.

Uganda Juice Industry Essay Example

Uganda Juice Industry Paper Overview Agriculture and agricultural output are very Important to the Uganda economy. The agricultural Industry Is the largest employer of Ganglands with 75% of the population earning a living from the industry. Food and agricultural raw materials account for 40% of the total exports from Uganda. Additionally, the sector contributes 22. 7% to the Uganda GAP. The large contribution of agricultural products to the Uganda economy has led the government to promote value addition as a means of increasing the value of exports. According to the Uganda Investment Authority (IA), the emend for Agendas organic products Is higher than the supply. This Imbalance presents a high opportunity for export of organic fruit Juice from Uganda. Fruits and farm produce are wasted or sold at very low prices during peak seasons due to inadequate storage facilities and lack of effective processing or preservation techniques, leading to high wastage levels. Juice production not only serves to add value to agricultural export but also serve as a way to prevent wastage of excess fruits. The Juice industry has an opportunity to contribute to the Uganda economy y Increasing the value of the country exports and simultaneously preventing wastage of fruits so high in demand, and creating jobs for Uganda. Industry The Juice making industry in Uganda consists primarily of companies that produce natural fruit juices and companies that produce varying degrees of a mixture of fruit concentrate, fruit flavoring, sugar, and water. Natural Juices in the Uganda market are fruit drinks that consist primarily of Juice extracted fruit flesh or pulp. We will write a custom essay sample on Uganda Juice Industry specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Uganda Juice Industry specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Uganda Juice Industry specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The table below shows the two sectors and the Ingredients for their Julies_ Industry Sector Description/Contents Flavored Juices Mixture of fruit juice concentrate, water and sugar Mixture of fruit puree, water, and sugar Mixture of flavoring, water, coloring, and preservatives Fruit Juices Juice extracted from flesh or pulp of fruit. The natural fruit Juices are targeted towards the upper and middle Income segment of the population while the fruit flavored Juices are marketed towards children and the low income segment of the population. The flavored Juice companies are distributed across the country while the natural fruit juice companies tend to be concentrated in the greater Kampala region. A key distinguishing factor of the fruit juice Industry In Uganda Is that companies that make the flavored Juice drinks generally tend to be concentrated In the Informal sector. These companies are usually small, employing between one to six people. The mixing of the flavored juices usually occurs in one of the entrepreneurs homes. The juices are then packed in polythene bags and distributed and sold through roadside kiosks and street vendors. The flavored juice companies are often not able to break into the formal sector because they lack capital to meet the operational and production requirements set y Uganda National Bureau of Standards (NUBS) for Juice producers. The natural luck producers tenant to De larger organizations employing Trot Detente twenty to two hundred people. The Juices are made in factories and then distributed to grocery stores, schools and other vendors. There are a lot of natural Juices that are imported into Uganda. The table below shows the major players in the Uganda Juice market. It is important to note that a lot of the flavored Juice manufacturers are captured in this table because of the informal nature of those companies. Juice Industry Value Chain and Main Processes Fruit Production Fruit production is the responsibility of farmers. In the Uganda market farmers can be classified in two groups: Small scale farmers The majority Uganda farmers fall into this category. These farmers are distributed across the country and grow fruits on relatively small plots (a few acres). Small scale farming is also characterized by a low use of fertilizers, pesticides, and other improved farming techniques. As a result, they suffer from low and unreliable production. In addition the harvesting methods employed by these farmers often lead to damaged and bruised fruits. Commercial Large scale farms The commercial fruit farms own very large areas of land. They use mechanized and technologically advanced processes to cultivate the land for fruit production and as a result are able to obtain very high quality fruits and high yields. Fruit Transportation Once the fruits reach maturity and are harvested they may go to the fresh fruit market, in order to be consumed fresh, or squeezed freshly at home to be consumed as Juice, or it may enter the processing industry, in order to obtain Juice or other by products. Transporters are responsible for getting fruit from the farms to any of actions discussed above. In Uganda there is an abundance of fruit transportation companies, fruit traders, whose sole business is collecting fruits from firms and delivering them to stores, exporters, and food processors. In other cases one will find that many companies have vertically integrated fruit transportation into their businesses. It is not uncommon to find food processors, exporters and wholesalers who buy directly from farmers and manage the transportation of the fruit themselves. Fruit Processing The fruit processors are responsible for converting the fruits into Juice and other by rodents. Fruit Juice processing consists of extraction, filtration, iteration, bastardization and packaging. The fruits are sorted, washed and prepared for extraction. There are several methods of extracting Juice, depending on the type of fruit. The filtration phase involves the isolation of the pulp from the Juice. The third process of iteration is performed to remove the dissolved oxygen. It is done by spraying the Juice into the vacuum chamber or allowing it to flow over a series of baffles (a device for checking or impeding the flow of gases) while subject to a high scum. Oxygen reacts with the Vitamin C causing deterioration of Juice flavor as a result of other chemical reactions. Bastardization is a sterilization process which slows microbial growth in the Juice. Bastardization involves heating the Juice too specific temperature for a definite length of time, and then cooling it immediately. In the packaging stage clean containers are filled with hot Juice from the pastries. They are then immediately sealed and rapidly cooled. Once packaging is complete ten products are ready to De leverage to ten market. Julie Outlanders Distributors are responsible for delivering the packages Juices from the producer to the retail outlets and in some cases directly to consumers. Like fruit transportation, distribution is another area that is often integrated into the Juice producers business. Fruit Juice is often distributed through wholesalers and exporters. Sales The sales outlets are locations where consumers go to purchase the fruit. In the Uganda context they are primarily retail outlets. The retail outlets that I encountered are: Grocery Stores Gas-Station Convenience Stores Kiosks Street Vendors Customer The fruit Juice industry in Uganda serves both the institutional and household consumers. Suppliers Suppliers to the industry differ for each of the sectors that were defined earlier in this paper. The primary suppliers for the natural Juices are fruit farmers and fruit traders. Suppliers for the flavored Juice sector are the importers of fruit flavors and retailers who sell fruit Juice concentrates. The main supply related challenges for flavored drink producers occur because the main ingredients for their Juices are not produced locally and are imported. The ineffective customs handling of exports often lead to shortages (and associated price hikes) in the supply of concentrates and fruit flavoring. Other than the increase in input prices, the producer may also experience quality/taste degradation. For example a producer may use a particular brand of concentrate in its production process, when the concentrate becomes unavailable the producer now has a choice of shutting down production till the concentrate becomes available or using a different brand of concentrate. A different brand of concentrate results in the product tasting different. For the flavored Juice sector, suppliers are able to exert significant power over the Juice producers because of the producers need to maintain consistent taste for their products. A retailer or importer may choose to raise prices for a unique concentrate or flavor. Fruit Juice companies may chose to buy directly from farmers and incur the cost of transportation from the farmer to their factories or they chose to deal with fruit traders deliver directly to the factory. When dealing directly with farmers the Juice companies are able to extract profits from the farmers but lose some of this advantage to the cost of transportation. With a lot of the farmers being distributed across the country, transportation costs to the Kampala region (where most Juice companies are located) can be quite significant. The following table shows the locations of different fruit farmers. The traders are not able to exert any supplier power on Juice producers because of the large number of traders and relative homogeneity of the service provided. Fruit Location (districts) Pineapple Mask, Kananga, Lower, Waking, Munson, Mumping, Gangs, Kamala Mango Local variety: Lower, Mask, Mumping, Waking, Buddha, Gangs, Kamala, Gull, Lira; improved variety: Massing Passion fruit Yellow variety: Sorority, Mumping; hybrid variety: Mask, Waking, Mumping, Amanita, Sorority; purple variety: Eases, Mask, Mumping, Amanita, Waking Orange Jinni, Kalmia, Gangs, Kamala, Pallid, Kim, Cabinetmaker, sort, serer Barriers to Entry The flavored Juice sector is characterized by very low capital requirements. The low capital requirements combined with the lack of regulatory enforcement ensure that barriers to entry and exit in the flavored Juice sector are very low. Additionally consumers of Juices in this sector are very price sensitive and not concerned about rand loyalty. Entry barriers for the fruit Juice sector are much higher than that of the flavored Juice sector. The reason is because the entry requirements into this sector require high capital investments. In addition to the high capital investments, brand equity may be difficult to build because of customer loyalty to existing brands. Rivalry among existing firms It is difficult to document the number of firms in the Uganda Juice industry because of the ease of entry and exit into flavored Juice sector and because a lot of the firms in the sector operate informally and are unregistered. The table below shows the list of Juice companies selling within the Uganda Market. Company Name Production Sector LEMMA Food (U) Ltd. Domestic Joanna Foods LLC Domestic Fruit Brittany Food Products Domestic Seven Falls Limited PIP Domestic House of Eden (U) Ltd. Domestic Flavored Fruit Both K Enterprises Domestic Flavored Del Monte Foreign Fruit Engage Foreign Fruit Highlands Foreign Flavored Sheehan Foreign Fruit Apparel Agro Foreign Both Shark Group Foreign Fruit Dimes Foreign Fruit Rain Foreign Fruit Martini Kenya Ltd. Foreign Fruit Kettle Foods Kenya Foreign Flavored AY Main National Juice Refreshments Co. (LLC) Foreign Fruit Ribbon Foreign Fruit CERES Foreign Fruit I estimate that there are over a 100 Juice makers who operate informally. The flavored Juice sector is very competitive. Market leaders tend to securing supply contracts for primary and secondary school cafeterias. Compared to the flavored juice sector, there are fewer numbers of companies (all are registered) who compete within the fruit Juice sector. Britannic (makers of Splash Juices) appears to be the market leader based on volumes carried in retail outlets . Despite the few number of coal natural Juice producers, competition is fierce within this sector as there are a lot of imported Juices on the market. There is very little competition between the flavored and a fruit Juice sector as the consumer base for each sector is highly segmented. Mall Players Ana contacts A complete directory of business contacts is attached in the appendix. Industry Fit The table below shows the level of fit for the Juice industry subsection for the common characteristics that PIP is seeking across countries: Priority Characteristic Rationale Natural Juice Companies Fit Flavored Juice Companies Fit Required Many different small firms with 5- 50 employees each Small and medium but not micro enterprises, which will not be big enough to have the same management/labor issues Required Employs relatively low-income or unskilled/semi-skilled workers Want to make sure that Job creation would not be limited to the highly educated or wealthy Preferable A significant role in the Uganda economy, either in terms of employment or GAP Preferable High geographic density of firms To insure that future mentoring interventions will be logistically feasible and affordable

Benedict Arnold Essay Example

Benedict Arnold Essay The purpose and intent of Arnolds raid was to capture Portsmouth.Controlling Portsmouth would bring him closer to the ruling position in Virginia.The Revolutionary War Raids affected many cities.Norfolk was thefirst place he raided.It was raided on January 1, 1776.The cities of Portsmouth, Suffolk, and Norfolk were targeted on May 11, 1779.Hampton, Richmond, Westover, Charles City, and Petersburg were hit on later dates. Four ships were used in Arnolds possession.Three of the ships were transport vessels. The other ship was used as an armed vessel.The armed vessel was a weapon carrier for his militia.The wind damaged some of his vessels and caused some of his horses to get lost.He sent different groups off to different places.Lieut.-Colonel Simcoe, the flank companies of the 80th regiment, the jagers and York Volunteers, were the people ordered to proceed to Westham, which was seven miles north of Richmond.They burned and destroyed one of the finest foundries for cannon in America, twenty-six pieces of cannon, 310 barrels of gunpowder, a large magazine of oats and stores of various kinds, and returned to Richmond on the same evening. The darkness of the night, badness of the roads, and a heavy shower of rain prevented the pursue of the enemy any further.The entire army returned with great joy of the many inhabitants and marched into Portsmouth with good health and high spirits.The troops behaved with firmness, perserverance, and a spirit that gave great honor to the veterans.They were very deficient in pilots for the rivers and owe their success in getting up with so much expedition in great measure to the industry, attention and knowledge of Captain William Goodriche.Cap. Goodriche was the only pilot they could depend upon and took unwearied pains by day and night.

Business Types and Key Influences

Business Types and Key Influences Free Online Research Papers In basic terms a business can be defined as an entity that provides merchandise and services to others who wish for or require them. When starting a new business, the first thing that must be considered is the ownership structure. Will the business be a corporation, a partnership, a sole proprietorship or a limited liability company? Which one of these types of ownership will suit the business depends on the type of trade and the needs of the venture. The success or failure of a business largely depends on the governance and operational methodology of the owners, stakeholders, managers and employees. These methodologies are fundamentally influenced by key factors such as economic impact, governmental manipulation and legal aspect. The purpose of this memo is to look at the types of businesses and key influences that affect the way business is conducted at Riordan Manufacturing, Haffman Trucking, Kudler Fine Foods, McBride Financial Services, The Elias Group, and Smith Systems Consulting. Riordan Manufacturing Riordan Manufacturing, Inc. is in the business of plastic injection molding. Some of their products are plastic bottles, fans, heart valves, medical stents and custom plastic parts. The company is entirely owned by Riordan Industries, Inc. and has facilities in San Jose, California, Albany, Georgia, Pontiac, Michigan and Hangzhou, China. Riordan Manufacturing employs 550 people and has projected annual earnings of $46 million. (University of Phoenix, 2006) Business Type The name Riordan Manufacturing, Inc. indicates that the company is a corporation, and the balance sheets and income statements provide the clarification that the company is a C corporation since it has paid and is liable to pay corporate taxes. (University of Phoenix, 2006) According to Pratt (2001), â€Å"To the IRS, a C corporation is a separate taxpayer.† (p. 50) Key Influences Riordan Manufacturing is impacted by all three key influences as mentioned in the table. Below are the explanations of the influences. Economic Influence. Under the economic influence, Riordan Manufacturing is affected by GNP and GDP growth rate. Raymond (2004) explains, â€Å"The GNP and GDP are fairly close, differing mainly in whether non-U.S. residents in the United States or U.S. residents outside the United States are included in this calculation. GNP includes the value of goods and services produced by nonresidents located within the United States but excludes the value of those services and goods produced by U.S. residents working abroad. GNP excludes the former but includes the latter.† (para. 6) Since Riordan Manufacturing is producing goods inside and outside of the United States, both GDP and GNP would directly be affected by the growth of the company. â€Å"Maximum production signifies economic growth, or increasing the total amount of goods and services produced by the American economy.† (Raymond, 2004, para. 6) The second factor is the inflation Rate. Inflation rate is the rise in percentage in prices of goods and services. This phenomenon usually occurs when the demand for goods and services is higher and the supply is weak. If the supply of the raw material required by Riordan Manufacturing is feeble, it would have serious impact on the production which in turn would have unconstructive bearing on the relationship with their clients. Another view is that if the cost of the raw material is high it would have a direct negative bearing on the profit of the corporation. Since Riordan Manufacturing is a manufacturer and supplier, inventory levels play a significant roll in the business practices of the corporation. The company needs to have a certain amount of inventory in stock so that the customer orders are not negatively affected due to any delay in production. This leads to the next influence which is consumer confidence. For any business consumer belief is the most important and essential aspect of the trade. If the customers are not satisfied with the products, the consequence would be dreadful for the business. The scenario is no different for Riordan Manufacturing who works hard to exceed the ISO 9000 standards. ISO 9000 standard according to International Organization for Standardization (2009) website is the standard for quality management system. The last economic influence is currency exchange rate. Since Riordan Manufacturing also has a facility in China that produces fan blades and fan housing, the currency exchange rate could have a good or bad affect in terms of expenses and profits in US dollars. Government Influence. A few government influences also affect the trade practices at Riordan Manufacturing. The US government regulates almost every aspect of the manufacturing industry which impacts the production at Riordan Manufacturing. From the disposal of waste and bi-products to the emission of gases from the manufacturing facilities; everything is directed by laws and standards. These parameters affect the operational cost of the corporation since it has to monitor constantly and maintain the equipment and machinery at the factories and also take measures to abide by the regulatory procedures. Since Riordan Manufacturing is a C corporation, it has to pay income taxes on the profits gained. Higher tax rates mean more taxes have to be paid and would affect the overall profit. Legal Influence. The current federal minimum wage for non-exempt employees is $6.55 per hour. (United States Department of Labor, 2009) Riordan Manufacturing has 550 employees and it has to make sure all the employees are paid at least the minimum wage as stated by the federal and state laws. University of Phoenix (2006) states, â€Å"there have been no attempts by any union to organize the facility; however, there are rumors that an organizing drive may be focused on the plant during the next 12 months. While the company has officially agreed to remain neutral if there is an organizing campaign (as required in its vendor agreement), unofficially, company officials are opposed to unionization and would prefer to stay union-free.† (para. 10) If a union is organized at Riordan Manufacturing, the company will have to abide by all the union regulations which could mean higher pay rates and benefits for the employees; that could affect the profits gained. Environmental protection laws are designed to protect the environment and public health. (Environmental Protection Agency, 2009) These laws regulate emissions and waste disposal methods that directly affect Riordan Manufacturing because during the production of its products, gases and waste is generated, Huffman Trucking Huffman trucking is a national transportation company that employs 1,400 employees, and has logistical hubs located in Los Angeles, California, St. Louis, Missouri and Bayonne, New Jersey. Huffman trucking has its central maintenance facility in Cleveland, Ohio. The company’s expected revenues for fiscal year 2004 is more than $6 million. (University of Phoenix, 2005) Business Type University of Phoenix (2005) states, â€Å"Huffman Trucking continued to grow from internal sales and the acquisition of five Eastern regional carriers. This growth has enabled Huffman Trucking to continue to be privately held.† (Para. 3) As per the balance sheet and income statement, the company has not paid any income tax or is not liable to pay any income tax. (University of Phoenix, 2005) These facts show that the company is a sole proprietorship. Key Influences The business practices of Huffman trucking are shaped by all the key influences that are explained below. Economic Influence. Under the economic influence factor, Huffman Trucking is affected by inflation rate. University of Phoenix (2005) states, â€Å"Fuel and labor are significant elements of cost that impact profits. The challenge to Huffman is to determine when fuel and labor costs have risen to the point that they should pass them on to the customers.† (para. 10) Apparently from their own words, it can be confirmed that inflation rates have direct impact on the profit of the company. Government Influence. Even though the transportation industry is practically deregulated today, there are still some states that have strict regulations governing the trucking business. â€Å"Federal law still requires new carriers to apply for certificates of public convenience and necessity. All tariffs must be filed with the commission. Most states continue to enforce strict entry and price controls on intrastate carriers. These controls cause inefficiency. One result is that in some cases, shipping products from overseas is cheaper than shipping the same goods within the United States. Shipping blue jeans from El Paso, Texas, to Dallas, for example, costs about 40 percent more than shipping the identical jeans from Taiwan to Dallas.† (Moore, 1993, para. 20) Legal Influence. The transportation industry is usually prone to unions and Huffman Trucking is no different. Since there is an organized drivers union at the company, it has to abide by the union laws and regulations. Kudler Fine Foods Located in San Diego, metropolitan area, Kudler Fine Foods is an upscale specialty food retail store that sells domestic and imported food items. The company has a store in Del Mar, California and Encinitas, California. (University of Phoenix, 2007) Business Type From looking at the company’s financial statements and balance sheets, it is pretty clear that there is only one owner and the company doesn’t pay any income tax. This fact proves that Kudler Fine Foods is a sole proprietorship. A Sole Proprietorship is a legal entity where the business is the same as the owner. (University of Phoenix, 2008) Key Influences Economic, governmental and legal key influences that concern the business routine of Kudler Fine Foods are described below. Economic Influence. Since Kudler Fine Foods is in the retail business, inflation rate plays a major role in its business model. With a high inflation rate the cost of purchasing a product for retail would go up which means that the cost would eventually have to be passed down to the customers. This chain of events would drive the customers away from the stores, affecting the profits. The inventory levels have to be strictly monitored. Since the business is related to food that can only be stocked for so long after which it has to be discarded. So, to keep the wastage low only a limited amount of inventory needs to be purchased. The quality, cleanliness and service have to be top class in any food business. This implies that for customer confidence and satisfaction, the quality and service needs to be constantly scrutinized. Government Influence. Food businesses are closely monitored and strictly regulated by the US Department of Health and Human Services. The Food and Drug Administration branch of the US Department of Health and Human Services strictly controls the businesses that are related to foods and drugs. â€Å"The FDA is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation.† (United States Food and Drug Administration, 2009, para. 1) Along with domestic products, Kudler Fine Foods also retails imported food products. This subjects the company to import tariffs and quotas. Legal Influence. Kudler Fine Foods has to regularly monitor the federal and state minimum wages law since it has employees working on minimum wages. This fact also drives down the profit as the minimum wages are increased by the government. McBride Financial Services McBride Financial Services is a fairly young regional mortgage lender based in Boise, Idaho. The company plans to spread out its venture to Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. It caters to professionals, retirees, families and individuals looking to purchase either a primary or secondary residence or recreational properties. (University of Phoenix, 2005) Business Type Though not much information is provided about the formation of the company, it is apparent from the name that the company is owned by a single individual. In addition, there is no mention of the tax expenses in the Pro Forma Budget. Hence, McBride Financial Services is a sole proprietorship. Key Influences. McBride Financial Services is impacted by all three key influences that are explained below. Economic Influence. Since McBride Financial Services is in the financial business that lends money, it is hugely affected by the interest rate. The profit margins are solely dependent on the interest rate that a property is financed at. Higher interest rates mean higher profit margins. The other key economic influence is the monetary policies. The regulation of interest rates and the supply of money to control inflation and stabilize the currency is termed monetary policy. (InvestorGuide, 2009) This policy has direct affect on the financial institution and McBride Financial Services being in the financial services business is precisely influenced by it. Government Influence. Although monitored by the SEC, Until 2009 the banking and finance industries were very vaguely regulated. This allowed the financial institutions the freedom to practice their own business methodology. But, due to the current economic situation fueled by the unethical practices of the finance industry, the government has set forth new regulatory laws which McBride Financial Services has to adhere to. Legal Influence. McBride Financial Services has to abide by the antidiscrimination and fair credit reporting act based on the services that the company is providing. The Elias Group The Elias Group is a non-profit organization that provides consultation services and assists businesses that desire to contract with the United States government. The organization also provides grants to support academic and professional research. (University of Phoenix, 2004) Business Type Since The Elias Group is a nonprofit organization and there is not too much information available regarding the company’s finances, I would guess that it is an S corporation since this is the best way to incorporate a nonprofit company in terms of the tax exemption laws. (University of Phoenix, 2008) Key Influences Being a nonprofit organization, The Elias Group is not concerned by most of the key influences. Explained below are the ones that do influence the company. Economic Influence. The expenses and operational costs are paid by contributions from businesses and individuals. If the unemployment rate is too high, the amount of contribution drops, affecting the operations of the organization. Government Influence. Grants from the government is another major source of revenue required to run the organization. Government debt and budget deficit could shrink the grants from the government which would have adverse results on the functions of The Elias Group. Smith Systems Consulting Smith Systems Consulting is an IT consulting firm that specializes in software and website designing, developing, hosting and maintaining. It also offers database and IT support services. (University of Phoenix, 2004) Business Type As the name SSC, Inc. implies, Smith Systems Consulting is a corporation. Since no information is provided regarding the company’s finances, it is hard to determine what type of corporation it is. Since it is specified in University of Phoenix (2004) that there are 5 partners, it gives an impression that the firm is an S corporation because an S corporation has more tax benefits as oppose to a C corporation. (University of Phoenix, 2008) Key Influences Consulting firms providing IT services are usually not subjected to too many key influences. A few are specified below. Economic Influence. Since Smith Systems Consulting is in the services business, the factor of utmost importance affecting their business practices is consumer confidence. The firm has to work diligently to provide the best quality service to its clients in order to gain customer confidence and keep the consumers satisfied. Legal Influence. In IT development and programming business, copyright and patent laws play a crucial role in how the business is conducted. Smith Systems Consulting has to make a conscious effort not to use source code from any other software company or programmer. Conclusion In conclusion, there are a few key influences such as payroll taxes, political climate, political stability and discrimination laws that apply to the business practices of all types of organizations. Any firm that employs at least 1 employee has to deal with payroll taxes. The political climate and stability is important because if the conditions in the country are not suitable no business can thrive. Lastly, today no firm is exempt from discrimination laws due to the diversity in the workforce and variety in the customer base. 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Logistics Management and Transportation System Dissertation

Logistics Management and Transportation System - Dissertation Example In this scenario, several facets of an organisation such as leadership, production, transportation, strategy, management, logistics, human resource, and other similar elements are being studied by scholars in order to further clarify and understand how developments of these factors contribute to the achievement of the goals of the organisation. Recognising the broad spectrum of concerns in organisations and its management, this research will delve on the connection between logistics and transportation management. In the global economic market, the role of transportation is critical. Since, aside from being a sector on its own, it is an integral section of the organisation that is tasked with the ‘actual’ physical distribution of the finished product to the client or to the warehouse (Samanarayanake and Toncich, 2007). Within the organisation, transportation management falls within the broad functions of logistics management (Langevin and Riopel, 2005, p. 2). Since, logis tics is â€Å"that part of the supply chain process that plans, implements and controls the efficient and effective forward and reverse flow of storage of goods, services and related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet customers’ requirements† (Council of Logistics Management, 2003). Meanwhile, transportation system is the scheme used to reach the point of origin to the point of consumption and vice-versa. In this sense, it is essential that the transportation system be aligned with logistics management in order to minimise costs and satisfy the requirements of the clients. 1.1. Background of the Study Transportation is crucial in logistics because, it is the lifeblood of logistics. Since without proper transit, materials... In this chapter, the analysis of the concepts necessary for clarifying and understanding the connection between logistics and transportation will be carried out. Likewise, in this chapter, various organizational processes and the developments in ICT will also be looked into as logistics, transportation, and their relationship is clarified. In order to achieve this ends, a library research has been conducted to search for scholarly materials that have dealt with the same topic. Through this approach, the literature review presents not only the current discourses relevant to the subject matter of the research, but it also serves as the foundation in which the concepts of the topic are to be clarified and comprehended. In this regard, the discussion and elucidation in this chapter are all drawn from the gathered secondary materials. The literature review will be divided into four parts. The first section will be dealing with the notion of the relationship between logistics and transportation and on how it adds value to the company. This question is important because it zeroes in on the apparent benefits and advantages that are resulting from the ‘connection between logistics and transportation’. Furthermore, it seeks to provide concrete evidence that will assist in determining the clearer perspective of these concepts. The second section of the literature review will tackle the effect of some organizational activities that have an impact on the productivity in the logistics department and transportation system.