John Dunlop and Charles Goodyear The Inventors of Tires

The pneumatic (inflatable) rubber tires that are featured on millions of cars across the world are the result of multiple inventors working across several decades. And those inventors have names that should be recognizable to anyone whos ever bought tires for their car: Michelin, Goodyear, Dunlop. Of these, none had so great an impact on the invention of the tire than John Dunlop and Charles Goodyear.   Vulcanized Rubber According to the latest statistics, consumers purchased nearly 80 million cars between 1990 and 2017. How many are currently on the road is estimated to be about 1.8 billion—and that was in 2014. None of these vehicles  would be operational if it hadnt been for  Charles Goodyear. You can have an engine, you can have a chassis, you can have a drive train and wheels. But without tires, youre stuck. In 1844, more than 50 years before the first rubber tires would appear on cars, Goodyear patented a process known as vulcanization. This process involved heating and removing the sulfur from rubber, a substance that had been discovered in the Amazon rainforest  of Peru by French scientist Charles de la Condamine  in 1735 (although, local Mesoamerican tribes had been working with the substance for centuries). Vulcanization made rubber waterproof and winter-proof, while at the same time preserving its elasticity. While Goodyears claim to have invented vulcanization was challenged, ​he prevailed in court and is today remembered as the sole inventor of vulcanized rubber. And that became hugely important once people realized it would be perfect for making tires. Pneumatic Tires Robert William Thomson (1822–1873) invented the actual first vulcanized rubber pneumatic (inflatable)  tire. Thomson patented his pneumatic tire in 1845, and while his invention worked well, but it was too costly to catch on. That changed with John Boyd Dunlop (1840–1921), a Scottish veterinarian and the recognized inventor of the first practical pneumatic  tire. His patent,  granted in 1888,  wasnt for automobile tires, however. Instead, it was intended to create tires for  bicycles. It took another seven years for someone to make the leap.  Andrà © Michelin and his brother Edouard, who had previously patented a removable bike tire, were the first to use pneumatic tires on an  automobile. Unfortunately, these did not prove durable. It wasnt until Philip Strauss invented the combination tire and air-filled inner tube in 1911 that pneumatic tires could be used on automobiles with success. Other Noteworthy Developments in Tire Technology In 1903, P.W. Litchfield of the Goodyear Tire Company patented the first tubeless tire, however, it was never commercially exploited until it was used on the 1954 Packard.  In 1904, mountable rims were introduced that allowed drivers to fix their own flats. In 1908, Frank Seiberling invented grooved tires with improved road traction.  In 1910, B.F. Goodrich Company invented longer life tires by adding carbon to the rubber.  Goodrich also invented the first synthetic rubber tires in 1937 made of a patented substance called Chemigum.The first snow tires for passenger cars, Hakkapeliitta, was invented by a Finnish company (now Nokian) in  1936.  The tire is considered one of the best in the industry and is still in production today.

Racism and Stereotype in Karl Linders Speech - 1157 Words

Racism is a fatal flaw in human society. Whole cultures could be eradicated or brought to the brink of destruction, such as when Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi regime, brought on the Holocaust. In his efforts to bring the Jews to extinction he captured and imprisoned the Jews into concentration camps separated from the rest of society. Karl Linder in his efforts to keep the community of Clybourne Park â€Å"pure† for his growing family, attempts to assert dominance over the Stoller family (the Caucasian family moving away) and the Younger family (the African American family moving in), as if attempting to create a reverse concentration camp. He uses deceptive language, racial propaganda, and his position of power to influence the world†¦show more content†¦On pages twenty-eight through twenty-nine, Karl initially ignores Bev’s requests to be informed of what Karl was explaining to Russ and Jim the upcoming residents of the household, that is until she que stioned his logic by asking â€Å"[b]ut don’t they [the Youngers] have needs, too?† (Norris). After the rejection of his bribe produced by his leadership role in the Community Association by Walter Younger in A Raisin in the Sun, instead of arguing with the large man, he retreats and attempts to convince the Stollers to either stay in Clybourne Park or to deny the house to the Youngers. Another example of his cowardice towards men is on page forty, where he taunts Russ about his threat to punch Jim in the face by saying that Russ’s actions were â€Å"very masculine† in a sarcastic tone and the Russ was â€Å"mentally unstable† as he started to retreat from Russ and proceeded to go through the door (Norris 40). Though Karl made bad decisions throughout his efforts to keep the community ethnical â€Å"pure†, he had the best intention at heart. His racists views keeps viewers from seeing that fact, a critic of the play named Kevin D. William son said it best by saying that â€Å"Lindner is a oleaginous, conniving, and cowardly, but he is not evil nor is he motivated by malice, but has sincere concern for the stability of the neighbor, the cohesion of the community, and the vacillations of the real-estate market.† This is even supported by

Human Resources Management Contribution Free Essays

â€Å"How can Human Resource Management contribute to the success of an engineering business? † Although there is no widely acknowledged definition for the term Human Resource Management, as far as I can understand it Human Resource Management is an approach to personnel management that sees people as the key resource of a company. In short it is a system that believes it is important to communicate well with employees and include them in what is going on with the organization, to increase the commitment and help them to identify with the organization. HRM specifically is a body of functions and policies that shape the work environment and control the relationship with employees. We will write a custom essay sample on Human Resources Management Contribution or any similar topic only for you Order Now Some functions contain alternative methods or practices from which managers can choose. The key functions in HRM are; Planning the HR needs of the organization, particularly for the future. Integrating HRM with the organizations strategic management process and co-ordinating clusters of HR practices to achieve the desired goals. Staffing correctly; obtaining the correct people with regards to their skill set, abilities, knowledge and experience. Some practices involved within this are HR planning, Job analysis, Recruitment and selection. Developing skills, to ensure that workforce can perform satisfactorily in their jobs and can advance within the organization. To identify employee’s key skills and where they are competent the ‘Performance appraisal’ practice can be employed. Motivating employees through reward system, this can be done through performance appraisal, job evaluation. Designing and maintaining work systems that are safe and promote workplace wellness and employee health so as to fulfil health and safety legislations and retain a capable workforce. Managing relationships between employees, it covers a wide range of practices that can be used to create a better co-operation between employees and also a better feeling of involvement/participation. It also extends to co-operation with unions if they are involved. Managing change for the future by helping others be able to envision and understand the change, along with setting expectations for performance and helping develop the capability to reorganize and reallocate resources (including people). Evaluating the value of the entire HR system y designing procedures and processes that measure it. All of these functions and practices are underpinned by legislation. In a practical application typically a company would set out organizational objectives and then decide on a strategy in order to achieve those objectives. In the context of an Engineering company/business the strategic focus could, for example, be on the following: †¢ Ensure effective training and development of all st aff in order to ensure flexibility and competence within roles. Develop effective communication between employees and between departments/functions. †¢ Develop mechanisms to cope with future environmental change including social, political and technological. In this example strategic focus is on developing a flexible organization that can adapt to change in the environment and has a good communication structure in order to achieve this. Intel is a good example of a company in the Engineering business world whose business competitive advantage is its speed and flexibility in meeting the changing needs of various market niches. Given the extremely short product life cycle in this industry, there is a pressing need, according to Andy Grove, CEO of Intel, to channel resources swiftly from declining areas into emerging/growing areas. In these scenarios technological and financial resource transfer can be done quickly, but people are the hardest part of the system to redeploy. In order to develop and encourage continuing success the business must develop a HRM strategy that focuses on the correct HR areas in order to maximise competitiveness. To develop a successful HRM strategy, the business strategy must first be understood (Key driving forces of the business [technology, competition etc. ], Implications of these driving forces and the fundamental contribution of people in the business). From here a mission statement can be developed that relates to the people side of the business, establishing what they contribute. Analysing the organization (Culture, Organization, People, HR systems) and the external business and market environment will determine potential performance, skill issues etc. and highlight opportunities/threats. For each critical issue options can be generated considering the consequences of possible actions. From this a set of broad objectives can be created that can be split into specific HR areas, for example, Management, training/development, communication etc. The choice of strategy will have a big effect on the company’s success. Smaller companies will have to choose different objectives, for example, it is more expensive for a smaller company to offer effective training to their workforce, so a better option would be to select and recruit the correct staff. This is illustrated by Small to medium sized companies in China, which were found to have focused their HR efforts on selection and recruitment, performance-based remuneration and employee involvement in decision-making. This may be working well for these SME’s but for future success it would be a good idea to develop effective training/development programmes in order to further develop their employee’s skills. The problem here is that in order to compete with other companies there has to be compromise in certain areas. SME’s can’t always provide effective/quality training because of the cost, but over a longer period of time the cost-benefit ratio can be swung in a positive way as effective training can mean future development for the organization. In terms of Engineering industry this can provide greater benefit as development in certain skill areas, and skilled workers in general are essential for business growth. Problems can arise here though as if employee’s leave for other, better paid jobs once they have had training and developed skills in certain areas, the companies lose out on work time and incur costs. Another focus of HRM is to develop the central role of managers and also to prevent the view from workers as ‘us and them’ with regards to managers and help create an ‘us and us’ view. Cost can be controlled to a degree within a larger business by developing the roll of line managers as people managers, this cuts down the need for HR persons and helps to create a more ‘personal’ environment for employees. This is shown by Hewlett-Packard (HP) who relatively recently have been moving back towards developing the central role of managers. Primarily the role of the HR department now is to facilitate, measure, and improve the quality of management and teamwork, not to provide an avenue for managers to abdicate their responsibilities for people. HRM also helps to develop workers ability to manage themselves, many companies now are emphasizing flexibility and cohesion through team based activities and self managed work teams. One of the largest and most successful companies in the electronic engineering world, Apple, are a good example of focusing on self managed work teams and creating very strong employee-company bonds. By facilitating the development of self-managed work teams, HR departments can remove themselves from the intermediary role and allow employees to be self-determining. The HRM system can provide great success for an engineering business. It provides a method to narrow down the problems within an organization relating to the people within it, and create specific areas to focus on headed by generalised terms to provide an easy to follow and implement strategic plan. It has many advantages, such as the ability to create a flexible work environment, focusing on specific areas of the business to maximise competitiveness. However it also has some disadvantages, for example if quality training for workers is provided at great cost to the business, without proper precautions in place it is possible for trained employees then to leave and obtain better paid jobs with their provided training. In many of the examples illustrated here it is possible to see that there is strong links between the success of an engineering company and the use of HRM. Without effective management of people the business can fail to achieve its goals or sufficiently succeed in its market. The many different aspects of HRM allow enough flexibility and variation to allow a business to select and develop specific areas to meet its needs, for example Intel has a built a flexible structure for its employees to allow the business to move in and out of growing/declining markets. Resources An empirical study of high performance HRM practices in Chinese SMEs Connie Zheng, Mark Morrison Grant O’Neill The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol 17 No 10, October 2006 Allbusiness. com – Lower cost, higher value: human resource function in transformation. By Brockbank, Wayne -THE IMPACT OF HUMAN RESOURCE AND OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON COMPANY PRODUCTIVITY Human Resources Management (Theory and Practice 4th Edition) [Bratton and Gold] The essence of Human Resource Management [McKenna and Beech] Introduction to HRM [Maund] Managementtoday. com – Working Human Resoruces into the system How to cite Human Resources Management Contribution, Essay examples

Distorted and unattainable sexist mass images are Essay Example For Students

Distorted and unattainable sexist mass images are Essay the inevitable consequencesof a social system in which those who are thin and big breasted benefit most. We as a society have created an environment so image obsessed that those with power give approval for being thin and disapproval for being fat, creating a generation of women so self conscious about their body image, that it is affecting their health. In this essay I plan to discuss the inexcusable methods in which the mass media encourages young women to disfigure and mutilate their bodies. When an obsessive media targets and forces young women to hate their bodies it makes them more vulnerable to emulating media stereotypes and prone to compulsive dieting. Perfection looks like magic to those who stand aside and do not know any better. The main problem with perfection in a society so obsessed with perception is that it looks too easy. States Florance Brone a physiologist from Michigan. Media purveyors promote the message that unrealistic thinness equals sexiness and popularity, which equals beauty, success and all the good things in life. Yet, recent interviews have revealed that even glamorous and successful supermodels are afraid of getting fat and what it might do to their careers. In many cases the media has constructed faulty images that suggest that the influence of gender in terms of human nature compel people in the eyes of the media to behave and act in certain stereotypical ways, in turn causing young impressionable women to be wrongfully misled. Babies arent born hating their bodies but instead grow up to learn that fat is bad; and thinness will bring you happiness. states Sarah Stephen in the 1998 article Fat is Still a Feminist Issue These images are being taken to extremes throughout the fashion industry, often displayed by the waif look of hollow cheeks and skeletal bodies. It has been proven that media images do have a powerful effect on young women today due to the extensive reinforcement on our everyday lives. Everywhere we look we see unattainable images sworming around us, it seems as though it is a fad we can not get away from. Women are all too often described in terms of what they look like, rather than what they think or what they do. A womens accomplishments are often based upon her physical appearance as opposed to her personality or possible mental capability. It is clearly apparent that stereotypes are not limited to the prejudiced or the bigoted, to racial categories or to the unschooled. It is to be said that those who are considered more attractive beginning at a young age are led to believe that women are successful in part by their appearance and monetary value, which leads impressionable young women to believe that prestige go hand in hand. In my opinion I believe that many solicitors of the mass media try to lay on bandages of political correctness but only magnify the on going battle against women and their bodies. Yet, we as a society seem to passively disregard the fact that distorted, unattainable sexist mass images are the product of the constant exploitation of women and their bodies as well as our losing battle against anorexia and buleima amongst young women today. Todays pretty woman represents a new breed, mannequins with sex appeal, as glamorous as movie legends and as famous as the designer clothes they parade. However, the wide emphasis on beauty and perfection illustrated and promoted everywhere from sitcoms and commercials to magazines and billboards across the nation is only a small reflection of societys constant obsession with image and outer beauty. According to the narrow-minded society we live in, there just doesnt seem to be a limit on how beautiful one can become.

Requiem for a Dream Review Essay Example

Requiem for a Dream Review Paper Essay on Requiem for a Dream I am sure that everyone who watched the film, wants to read the book because the movie makes an indelible impression. But the book somehow disappointed. And its not that it is bad or weak written, just memories of the movie all the time get up before my eyes and in my head sounds the music that runs the leitmotif of all the tragic events and just can not ignore and sosredostochitsya ONLY book to evaluate it separately as an independent work. Read about Sarah Goldfarb and remember her dark room and terrible hallucinations, read about Harry, her son and you see him in breaking, you see him on the operating table Read about Marion and can not help but recall that through she had to go through to get a dose of We will write a custom essay sample on Requiem for a Dream Review specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Requiem for a Dream Review specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Requiem for a Dream Review specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Living with a drug shown without embellishment and false glitter. The author does not spare the reader, showing the inside out gay life. But does not fall into moralizatostvo denying that drugs really give pleasure and emotions, by embracing that only once, his characters can no longer abandon them The very atmosphere of the book -. Stuffy, heart-breaking, anxious It reflects a broken heart, disorder of the inner world of the characters, lost their harmony. And the language is the same a ragged, as if frightened, as if he, too a drug addict, a cornered scored, lost human form The kids are well on drugs, but the dose for dose rob them of the opportunity takes pleasure from what else but drugs and its scary. The price paid for the short-lived pleasure, too high In my opinion, that would be better to give the kids a book from the at risk instead of lecturing about what drugs -. It is evil and harmful. Still, the film, in my opinion, an order of magnitude stronger than reduce a brain. Requiem for a Dream Review Essay Example Requiem for a Dream Review Paper Essay on Requiem for a Dream Hmm Ill try to answer:) First of all, to show the plague of society as a whole not only errors of the main characters. Would Sarah began to chew your tablet if it had not seen enough TV Insanely pocherpnuv out the ideal of beauty and grace, which it did not fit, she believes. I do all she would have those colored circles if her like a butterfly attracted not able to get on screen? And Harry and his friends? Who they are at the beginning of the film? Already outside of society. Already people who are not ready to work honestly, to realize their dreams. What makes Harry still at the very beginning? Hales TV market. Then image of the TV returns Harry buys a new mother, a big TV. What is it an expression of filial love? No. It is an expression of filial willingness to pay off from the mother. Does it need a new cool TV? No! Its old and already a ruined it needs to put pressure son, watched and helped her to get off the pills! After all, its not heroin! And he said, but did nothing. He just walked away an d never came back. Exemplary son, genuinely caring about my mother, is not it? We will write a custom essay sample on Requiem for a Dream Review specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Requiem for a Dream Review specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Requiem for a Dream Review specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In addition to just such social subtleties in the relationship between the characters, drew the attention of many scenes from the life of America. After all, history does not develop in a vacuum, so in our field of vision get many secondary characters, many of the episodes, which is also not the most beautiful way characterize society. Everything in the book seems so shaky and rotten As for the artistic value, I would have said the language. It is unusual and varied, but in general very clearly demonstrates the internal attitude of heroes their impaired consciousness .

Chadwick Inc. Essays

Chadwick Inc. Essays Chadwick Inc. Essay Chadwick Inc. Essay Case Analysis: Chadwick Inc. case analysis Hamzah. Najib, Mustapha, Syed Hasan Background of Case 6: CHADWICK, INC. : THE BALANCED SCORECARD (ABRIDGED) Chadwick. Inc was a diversified producer of personal consumer products and pharmaceuticals. The Norwalk Division of Chadwick developed, manufactured and sold ethical drugs. The company was respected for the high quality of its products. Norwalk sold its products through several key distributors who supplied local markets. Norwalk relied on its excellent relations with the distributors who promote Norwalk’s products to customers and also received their feedbacks about new products desired. Chadwick’s long-term success depended on how much money distributors could make by promoting and selling Norwalk’s products. But, recent inroads by generic manufacturers had been eroding distributors’ sales and profit margins. With regards to its Research and Development, The development of ethical drugs was a lengthy, costly, and unpredictable process. The development and testing processes had many stages, starting with the discovery of compound, extensive and tedious testing, and documentation. Norwalk’s profitability during the 1980s was sustained by one key drug discovered in the late 1960s. However, no smash hit drug had emerged during the 1980s, and the compounds going through development, evaluation and test was not as Norwalk management desired. Scientists in the RD lab are pressured to increase the yield of promising new products, reduce the time and costs of the development cycle. Scientists were currently exploring new bio-engineering techniques to create compounds that had the specific active properties desired rather than depending on an almost random search through thousands of compounds. However, the bio-engineering procedures were costly. A less expensive approach was to identify new applications for existing compounds that had already been approved for use. Suggestions for possible new applications from existing products could be obtained from Norwalk salesmen in the field who were now being trained not only to sell existing products for approved applications, but also to listen to end users feedbacks. Norwalk’s manufacturing processes were considered among the best in the industry as they can quickly and efficiently produce drugs once they had cleared governmental regulatory processes. Challenging financial targets were set for divisions to meet, which were expressed as Return on Capital Employed (ROCE). As a diversified company, Chadwick wanted to be able to deploy the returns from the most profitable divisions to those divisions that held out the highest promise for profitable growth. Bill Baron, Comptroller of Chadwick, had been searching for improved methods for evaluating the performance of the various divisions as division managers complained about the continual pressure to meet short-term financial objectives. He liked the idea of a Balanced Scorecard as it balances short-run financial objectives with the long- term performance of the company. John Greenfield, the Division Manager at Norwalk was sceptical of how much freedom he had to develop and use such a scorecard. Divisional Controller, Wil Wagner, who was involved in the process for creating Balance Scorecards for Norwalk Division lamented that he did not have a clear understanding of the vision and business strategy for Norwalk, which serve as a foundation to build the scorecard. Major Issue: The major issue of the case is with regards to company’s current processes in its RD to develop new products which were lengthy, costly and unpredictable. There is the need to make significant investments in RD to improve the current processes so as to enable the company to sustain and achieve success in the long run. Another major issue is that the company has inadequate or poor performance measurement to ensure managers’ efforts are rewarded for meeting the long term, strategic objectives of the company. Presently, the company only sets Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) as the challenging financial target for the divisions to meet, which places continual pressure on division managers to meet short-term financial objectives at the expense of long-term, strategic objectives in business that requires extensive investments in risky projects to yield long-term returns. Hence, the idea of Balance Scorecard was introduced to the company. SWOT analysis Strength 1)Good reputation: Chadwick Inc. has been established for more than 50 years and it has been known for its high quality products. The quality factor provides the competitive advantage for the company in the pharmaceutical industry. 2)Manufacturing process: The company’s manufacturing process is considered one of the best in the industry. The production process also includes producing separate batches of new products specifically for testing and evaluation purposes. 3)Excellent distributor relationship: This is the main factor that affects the company’s product success. Apart from making the products available in the local markets, the distributors of Chadwick Inc. lso serves the purpose of spokesperson. They will promote the company’s new products and increase the awareness among people about the existence, functions and benefits of the products. They also listen to customer opinions and this enables Chadwick Inc. to receive timely customer feedbacks about their products through their distributers. Weakness 1)Extensive and tedious testing process: In Chadwick Inc. , 30,000 compounds have to be tested before certain products are approves for sale. Although this extensive testing procedures has positive impact towards the product quality and durability, it also causes the production process to be lengthy and costly, resulting in increase of manufacturing and overhead expenses. 2)Challenging financial targets based on ROCE: The top management in Chadwick Inc. has been setting challenging financial targets for the division managers. The financial targets have been set based on Return on Capital Employed (ROCE), which is considered inappropriate for a pharmaceutical company. Due to the desperateness to meet the specified target, there is tendency for the division managers to try to manipulate the actual data to reduce the gap between the budgeted results and the actual results. 3)Pressure to increase yield: The top management has also been pressurizing the scientists of Chadwick Inc. to increase the yield of the products and to reduce the time and cost of production. Generally, if the top management emphasizes on reducing the cost, it may have negative effects on the quality of the products. Therefore, it may result in customer dissatisfaction or loss of customer loyalty. Opportunities 1)Bio-engineering techniques: The bio-engineering mechanism can help the scientists to identify only the active compounds which desired and useful applications, instead of the random search process currently employed by the scientists. Then, they will perform tests on each and every one of them to find useful applications on the compound. This traditional search process results in wastage and very time-consuming since only one or two compounds may have beneficial applications out of ten compounds developed. On the other hand, the bio-engineering mechanism can save time and cost for testing process. Although it requires a huge amount of investment, in the long-run, it will result in reduction on cost of production and more efficient production process as it can eliminate wastage and other irrelevant testing procedures. 2)Changing global environment: Chadwick Inc. ’s products have only been sold in the domestic markets, despite its good reputation and period of existence of more than 50 years. Nowadays, the awareness about healthcare has been increasing all over the world. This indicates the increased global demand for pharmaceutical products. Therefore, it is best for Chadwick inc. to seek opportunity to enter into the global market. Since it has a good reputation as an established pharmaceutical company, it would be rather easier to venture into the global markets and thus, gaining more customers and higher revenue. Threats 1)Recent inroads by generic manufacturers: Generic products are products which are not patented and therefore, it can be produced by many manufacturers. These products usually have higher demand and since there are many manufacturers, it is competitively-priced. The recent inroads by generic manufacturers may affect Chadwick Inc. ’s competitive position in the industry and one of the new entrants may emerge as a bigger player in the industry compared to Chadwick. 2)Too dependent on the distributors: Chadwick Inc. ’s product success mostly depends on the distributors’ effort in promoting them and increasing the awareness among people. They currently do not have an alternative promotional strategy rather than relying on the distributors. In the long run, this may cause the distributors to have higher bargaining power and make expensive demands to Chadwick Inc. in order to promote their products. Critical Success Factors for Chadwick Inc. Customer’s satisfaction-Being in the pharmaceutical industry where the competition is mostly based on differentiation and the customers value the product based on the quality and not its cost, the most important critical success factor for a company is customer satisfaction. This is related to the quality of the product. So, the company should focus on value added processes to ensure high quality of its product that meet customers’ requirement and fulfil their satisfaction Research and Development- To stay competitive in the long run and meet constantly changing expectations from customers, the company should invest significantly in research and development . Proper investment in RD will ensure efficient subsequent business processes and development of high quality products that meet customers’ expectations, and thus fulfil their satisfaction. Products- Being in the pharmaceutical industry, it is very important that every new drug that has been developed and approved to be unique from other competitors’ and patented. Patented drug could generate enormous revenues to a company as it prevents other companies from selling the same drug, thus making the company who produced such drug to be the sole distributor or seller. Internal Business Process- Internal business process is very cr itical to the a company’s success. The processes, especially in manufacturing, should be cost-efficient and speedy enough to reach the customers. Information and communication system- Sound information and communication system is critical to a company’s long-term success since it facilitates exchange of information within the company and between the company and the outside parties. Useful information such as suggestions from employees or feedbacks of customers that are communicated in a timely manner will enable the company to make decision more effectively. Problem Identification From the case, Chadwick Inc. faces several problems within the company which can potentially harm its long-term sustainability and profitability unless the top management do something to address these problems swiftly. Among the problems are: 1) Vision and Mission: As complained by the Divisional Controller of Chadwick, the company currently does not have clearly defined business vision and strategy. Without clear understanding and communication of business vision and strategy across all levels and members of the company, the employees or managers, especially, may commit and direct their efforts or the company’s resources in a way that may be deviated from the vision and strategic objectives of the company. By having clear business vision and mission, it will provide goal congruency, which align manager’s fforts with the company’s strategic objectives 2) Research and Development: With regards to its RD, the problem is that the development of ethical drugs was a lengthy, costly and unpredictable process that involves extensive and tedious testing and documentation. This problem may explain why the company has not been able to produce any blockbuster drug in 1980s since the discovery of one key drug in late 1960s. Besides, scientists are pressured by management to develop promising drug and to reduce cycle time and cost. As a result, the new drug quality may no t meet the criteria and approved by government. The current process in development cycle is considered obsolete and needs to be replaced by new systematic technique such as bio-engineering technique that can significantly reduce time and costs, and enhance the potential of developing new promising product. 3) Performance Measurement: Currently, Chadwick only has one financial measure to evaluate the performance of its various divisions, which are Return on Capital Employed (ROCE). The challenging financial targets set for the various divisions to meet may lead to unnecessary cost cutting measures which can undermine the quality of products. Besides ROCE, does not address long term objective of the company, in which divisions’ managers may disregard critical long-term investments such as buying new equipment or replacing the old obsolete assets if their minimum rate of return is less than the divisions’ current ROCE. This is because, making such investment will reduce their ROCE, which can give negative impression in the performance evaluation Recommendations: The main problems faced by the Chadwick as discussed earlier are particularly in the aspect of goal congruency and the performance measurement. To solve such problems, the company is recommended to adopt a strategic performance measurement system that takes into account â€Å"What gets rewarded, really counts; what counts, get measured; what gets measured get done; what gets done, get rewarded† Therefore, we recommend the company to use Balance Scorecard which provides comprehensive measure of performance for each division and to ensure each business activities of the company are directed towards achieving the strategic objectives of the company . But firstly, the company should establish clear and proper business vision and mission for the Balance Scorecard to work effectively. By having clear business vision and strategy, efforts and resources will be committed towards achieving such vision. For example, the company’s vision could be â€Å"We strive to be the most valued company to customers, employees, investors and business partners†. The company’s vision will provide broad guidelines on how Balance Scorecard is to be designed and is communicated in terms of goals which will be identified in the Balance Scorecard. Balance Scorecard basically provides a four perspectives framework to translate strategy into operational terms. The four aspects of Balance Scorecard are financial, customer, internal business process and learning and growth. These aspects are critical success factors, on which the performance of organizational units can be assessed, which also function to achieve the company’s vision and mission. Balance Scorecard links strategy to operations, serves as a record of results achieved, indicates expected results and focuses on drivers of future performance In each of the perspectives, the main objective will be defined, along with measures to be taken, specific targets and initiatives to be carried out to achieve this objective. Performance will be measured based on how effective the division’s or manager’s efforts and activities in achieving the objectives in each of the four perspectives. Financial perspective of Balance Scorecard how the company’s financial position or performance will be looked by the shareholders. In this aspect, the main indicators of performance is the company’s profitability, cost reduction, and the shareholder value. For example, the company, instead of just using ROCE, can also use Residual Income(RI) and Economic Value Added (EVA) as a basis of performance evaluation for financial perspective. Since RI and EVA are based on monetary value, not in term of percentage as in ROCE, the managers may be motivated to accept investments (which may be critical to the company’s success) as long as they provide positive net income, although the minimum rate of returns of such investments are lower than the current ROCE. Customer Perspective relates to how a company serves the needs of customers and fulfil their satisfaction to be successful. The issues to be addressed are to identify market, how to attract new customers and retain existing customers. Among the important criteria to in relation to this perspective are price and quality of products, service, customer relationship, and reputation. For example, one specific measure to evaluate the performance could be the response time to customer’s inquiry Internal Business Process basically addresses how a company can improve its internal business processes that will satisfy and add value to customers or shareholders. Among the key performance indicators are reduced cycle time, cost per unit, and increase in productivity. For example, the objective could be to improve the quality of work place and the specific measure could be the percentage of employee who report that they are satisfied, while the target set is 80% of employee report that they are satisfied, and the initiative to be taken to achieve this objective is to establish comprehensive HR plan. As internal business process is important aspect of company’s long term success and included in the performance measurement, manager may be motivated to improve the current business processes by making new investments. For Chadwick case, for example, manager may switch to bio-engineering technique to replace the current process in RD as this initiative will ensure the company’s sustainability and profitability in the long run, which are in line with the long term strategy or vision of the company. Learning and growth perspective commits a firm to continually learn to excel and be flexible in their process to adapt to changing economic environment, and to meet changing customer demands and shareholder expectations. Among important aspects of this perspective are new skills acquired by employees and intellectual assets. In this aspect, a firm identifies the infrastructure that an organization must build to create long-term growth and improvement. For example, Chadwick may invest in information technology and systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) to facilitate exchange of critical internal and external information such as distributors’ feedback about the customers or suggestion from employees that will improve the overall process and satisfy customers.

HR paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

HR paper - Essay Example As an HR, there is a great need to look into the above problem statement and redefine it to enable organization solve their current and future talent gaps as reviewed below. Most organizations fail to assess the gaps in terms of competencies and right skills required to meet future goals. Eventually, this leads to lack of required staff resources in the right location to meet the current and future workload. This lack of right individual with the right skills widens capability gap and finally pose a threat to organizational achievements. Additionally, most organizations fail to recognize employees as their greatest assets. They risks losing the few talented individuals to other competitors’ just because the organization fails to encourage, promote and invest in their staff resources. HR manager should lead the organization in rooting out this mentality and instead invest in continuous trainings that build capability workforce to address the organization’s future skill gaps. Due to scarcity in skills, most organizations find it very expensive to hire staff to address the skills gap. Most critical skills attract a market premium for those organizations that fail to develop and retain key skills. The cost of training and developing critical skills has remained high for most organizations hence making such necessary expertise not affordable. Rapid technological changes continue to remain a major challenge to most organization in addressing capability drive. This creates business environment with a more complex operations as skills evolve and become obsolete more rapidly. As an HR, there is a need to establish a proper knowledge and understanding of the global market and get the organization on toss with the changing market trends and technology so as to identify the relevant skills required in today’s world of production (Emmerichs & Marcum 2004). Based on the fact that most graduates are â€Å"half baked†, they get employed