Process for Implemenation of Supplier Development Strategy Essay Example for Free

Process for Implemenation of Supplier Development Strategy Essay Introduction Supply chain management adopts a systematic and integrative approach to manage the operation and relationship amongst different parties in supply chain one of the major issues is supplier development studies have investigated how quality management can be employer in supply chain management to influence performance in the whole supply network. (Mishra Rik, Patel G-Supplier Development Strategies, Data employment Analysis Business Intelligence Journal, January 2010 vol 3 No.1) There are 8 stages of implementation of supplier development 2.1 Identify critical commodities for development Managers must analyse their situation to determine whether Supplier development is important and if so which purchased commodities and services require the most attention. A corporate level executive steering committee must assess the relevant strategic importance of all goods and services that the company buys and produce a portfolio of critical commodities 2.2 Identify critical suppliers for development The managers must assess the performance of suppliers who supply commodities in the â€Å"strategic supplier category†. These commodities considered strategically important, as they might be difficult to substitute or purchase from alternative suppliers. 2.3 Form a cross-functional team A buyer must first develop internal cross-functional consensus for the initiative before approaching the supplies to ask for improvement such consensus will help to show a â€Å"unified front† and ensure that all buyer functions. 2.4 Meet with supplier’s top management team The buyer’s cross functional commodity team must approach the supplier’s top management group and establish three keys to supplier improvement, strategic alignment, supplier measurement and professionalism. 5 Identify opportunities and probability for improvement At these meetings with the suppliers executive should identify areas earmarked for improvement. Companies adopting a strategic approach to supply base development can usually agree upon areas or improvement .In some areas driven by final customer requirements and expectations. 2.6 Identify key projects After identifying promising opportunities of supplier development managers must evaluate them in terms of feasibility, resource and time requirements and potential return on investments. The aim is to decide what the goals should be and whether they are achievable. 2.7 Define details of the agreement After the potential improvement project is identified, the parties need to agree on specific merthies for monitoring its success. 2.8 Monitor status and modify strategies Manages must constantly monitor the progress and constantly exchange information to maintain momentum in the project. (http://www.ethenmanagementor.com.kuniverser/kmailer_universe/manu_kmailers/som-supplierdev1.htm. Accessed 15/09/2011) Different types Supply Chain relationships | |Transactional |Collaborative |Alliance | | |Relationships |relationships |relationships | |Communication |High potential for problems |Systematic approach to | | | |enhance communication | |Competitive |Low |High | |advantage |Independence | | |Connectedness |Little |Interdependence | |Continuous |Few | | |improvement | |A focus on | |Contributions to | | | |new product |Low |Many/early supplier | |development |Short |involvement | | |Reactive |Difficult/high impact | |Difficulty of exit |Price |Long | |Duration | Little or none |Proactive | |Expediting |Low |Total cost | |Focus | |High or total | |Level of integration |Many |High | |Level of trust |No | | |Number of |Incoming inspection | | |suppliers |Inward looking |One or few | |Open books | |Yes | |Quality | |Design quality into system | |Relations | |Concern with each other’s | | |Few/low skill level |well-being | |Resources |Minimal |Professional | |Service |No |Greatly improved | |Shared forecasts |Possible |Yes | |Supply disruptions |No |Unlikely | |Technology inflows |Tactical |Yes | |Type of interaction | |Strategic synergy | (Handfield RB; Monczka RM; Giunipero LC; Patterson JL. Sourcing and supply chain management; 2004 pg 123) Portfolio Analysis 4.1 Captive buyer Captive buyer relationship the supplier dominates the buyer and the buyer depends on the supplier. In these particular captive buyer relationships this dependence of the buyer is due to the unique intellectual property of the supplier. Because of this intellectual property the buyer has limited or no Substitutes to turn to creating a dependence on the supplier. Despite this dependence a high level of trust plays an important role in making this relationship fruitful for both parties. Apparently the dominance of the supplier is limited to the extent that the mutual trust stays intact. But the level of trust also has its limits from the supplier’s perspective. The supplier is not willing to trust the buyer with its intellectual property. The obvious reason for this is the risk that the supplier would lose its dominating position. Thus, the supplier has a special interest in maintaining its dominant position. The survey and interviews indicate that for captive buyer relationships the explanatory variables were the lack of substitutes, legal property rights and size of the supplier. Apparently the legal property rights of the supplier, and the resulting lack of substitutes, causes the buyer to depend on the supplier. These factors, combined with a supplier that is much larger than the buyer, results in a relationship that can be described as a captive buyer situation. (http://dspace.learningnetworks.org/bitstream/1820/3545/1/MWBHMJFleurenmei2011.pdf ;Accessed 15/09/2011) 2 Captive Supplier Captive supplier relationship the supplier depends on the buyer and the buyer therefore overpowers the supplier. This unbalance of power can have one or a combination of factors: the size of the buyer and its market share but also the switching costs for the supplier contribute to the dependence of the supplier on the buyer. Despite the fact that the supplier has important intellectual property this is not sufficient to balance the level of power towards the buyer. To make this relationship a fruitful one cooperation and mutual goals are of great importance. Via these mutual goals the buyer does depend on the supplier to some extent, thus preventing the buyer from abusing its dominance over the supplier. For this reason, in a captive supplier situation the buyer will also invest (heavily) in the relationship but not to the extent that it loses it’s dominating position. While studying the captive supplier relationships, it became apparent that the Explanatory variables were market share, lack of substitutes, legal property rights, non-retrievable investments and the size of the supplier. These factors resulted in a captive buyer situation. Again the presence of legal property rights, this time of the buyer, causes the supplier to have limited or no substitutes. Furthermore the relationship involved significant non-retrievable investments for the supplier, making it even more difficult to switch to another buyer. Finally, the high market share of the buyer compared to the small size of the supplier was a significant factor. The net result of these explanatory variables is a captive supplier relationship. (http://dspace.learningnetworks.org/bitstream/1820/3545/1/MWBHMJFleurenmei2011.pdf; Accessed 15/09/2011) 3 Interdependent Supply Chain members Some kind of starting point is needed for identification of supply chains. For instance, an end product of some kind may be used for identification and analysis of the activity structure organised behind it. This is in line with the transvection concept coined by Alderson (1965, p. 92) who defines transvections as comprising all prior action necessary to produce this final result, going all the way back to conglomerate resources. This, however, entails a first important connection among chains as they typically merge in different stages within an activity structure where different parts of the end product are assembled, welded etc, tying different chains together successively (Dubois, 1998). Consequently, several different products (and thus also several chains, if defined by products) are involved in every supply chain resulting in some kind of end-product. Taking transvections, or end-product related structures, as a starting point we will further analyse the ways in which the activities and resources within supply chains are connected by analysin g how they are subject to the three forms of interdependence. (http://www.impgroup.org/uploads/papers/4324.pdf ;accessed 15/09/2011) 5. Buyer /supplier relationship (Handfield RB; Monczka RM; Giunipero LC; Patterson JL. Sourcing and supply chain management; 2004) High Category Level Low Conclusion The concept of power should be at the centre of any study of buyer-supplier relationships. Power affects the expectations of the two parties over what commercial returns should accrue to them from a relationship. It also affects the willingness of the two parties to invest in collaborative activities. As important, it also affects the willingness of the two parties to share the costs of relationship-specific investments .It also affects the willingness of the two parties to share sensitive information. As a result, an understanding of the power relation which is often stable, with the relative stability should, from the point of view of the purchasing manager, inform both the supplier selection and the relationship management decision as he or she attempts to manage risk proactively. Bibliography 1. http://www.impgroup.org/uploads/papers/4320.pdf 2. http://dspace.learningnetworks.org/bitstream/1820/3545/1/MWBHMJFleurenmei2011.pdf. 3. Mishra Rik, Patel G-Supplier Development Strategies, Data employment Analysis Business Intelligence Journal, January 2010 vol 3 No.1 4. Handfield RB; Monczka RM; Giunipero LC; Patterson JL. Sourcing and supply chain management; 2004 |1.Leaverage: |2.Strategic : | |Captive Supplier |Mutual dependence | |The buyer has power |Trust is necessary | |Trust may be lacking | | |3.Routine: |4. Bottleneck | |Mutual Independent |Captive buyer | |Trust not necessary |The Supplier has power | | |Trust may be lacking | LowHighBusiness Risk

Lord of The Rings :: essays research papers

J.R.R. Tolkien's concept of too much power is summed up by Lord Acton when he once said, "Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely." In Tolkien's first book of his fantasy based trilogy, Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Rings tells a story of a quest to destroy a powerful ring throughout Tolkien's created "Middle Earth". This quest was headed by a "Hobbit" named Frodo Baggins who, in the end, becomes corrupted by power himself. This corruption begins when Frodo uses his ring to become invisible over and over again to escape certain situations. The quest to destroy the powerful "Ruling Ring" forms the basis for this story. The book begins with Bilbo Baggins celebrating his one hundred and eleventh birthday. Many "Hobbits" show up at his party including his third cousin, Frodo, which is the main character of the novel and a powerful wizard named Gandalf. Biblo possed a powerful ring known as the "Ruling Ring" which gives "Supreme Power" to whoever has possession of it. At the end of the party, Bilbo uses his magical ring to turn invisible and stun his guests. Gandalf, the powerful wizard, then meets up with Biblo at his house and takes the ring from Bilbo, which is corrupting him. Gandalf examines it, realizing that the ring Bilbo has is the powerful "Ruling Ring". Knowing that the forces of evil are in search of the ring, Gandalf sends Frodo, a relative of Biblo, to destroy the ring in the only place it can be destroyed, "Mt. Doom". Overhearing the talk between Gandalf and Frodo, Sam, a "Hobbit", that is good friends with Frodo is forced on the quest to aid Frodo. The two Hobbits set off on a journey in which they meet up with others that join them on their journey such as Gimli the "Dwarf", Legolas the "Elven" archer, Boromir a "Human" tracker, Aragorn the heir to the "Human" throne, two more "Hobbits" Merry, Pippin and the powerful "Wizard" Gandalf. They travel across "Middle Earth" fighting off many "Orcs" and "Black Riders" which are in search of the ring by the orders of the powerful evil "Wizard" Sauron. During their quest, they encounter many ambushes by the "Orcs" which they overcome and usually slay. In some of the ambushes, Frodo uses his ring to become invisible to escape from the "Orcs" and "Black Riders". Boromir asks to see Frodo's ring because he has a yearning for power and authority and then tries to take it from him.

Customer Service in Travel and tourism Essay

Communication skills is important an important part of the travel and tourism industry. It is important to use the appropriate methods of communication for a given situation. Communication takes place face-to-face, by telephone, in writing electronically (e-mail and fax). Face to face is dealing directly with customers either face to face, individually or in a group situation. Dealing with customers face to face has a few ground rules. You must always smile greeting the customer, listen to what they are saying and always make eye contact, stay interested, address your customer by names, always thank when appropriate. Communicating by telephone is an essential part of daily life for businesses especially in the tourism sector. Using the telephone is a way of keeping in touch with one another weather its’ with customers booking or asking for advice. Customers find communicating by phone convenient and fast and cheap with instant feedback. As a travel and tourism staff it is important to answer calls quickly, greet the customer with your name and organisation, smile while you’re talking speaking clearly, listen carefully and take notes. Written communication comes in many different forms such as letters and faxes, brochures, memos, reports, documents for meetings and advertisements. This can be formal, informal or complaint. It is important to make sure there are no spelling or grammar mistakes, the intended message should be conveyed, make sure it is made clear who the letter is from when it was received and who it is to, handwriting should be legible and it should be appropriate language. Effective listening and questioning should be the key characteristic of customer service staff. This is important when customers are unsure about something or don’t fully understand a situation. Effective listening and questioning should be performed by maintaining eye contact when facing the speaker. Non-verbal communication is all about the way you present yourselves to others and transmit messages either intentionally or unintentionally. Making eye contact, orientation, postures, physical proximity, and gestures are all a form of non-verbal communication. Presentation is how staff and the working environment are presented to  customers which is the important in the travel and tourism sector. Personal appearance is important like wearing an appropriate dress because what you wear at work says a lot about you and the organisation that employed you, the appearance of the work place and personal hygiene is key! Staff will not tolerate a staff member with poor body odour or bad breath. A tidy workplace enforces a positive attitude and environment. Staff should be clean and well groomed. Teamwork is about getting along with your staff members and having an understanding of each other but at the same time getting things done accordingly together. Most work in the tourism sector is carried out by teams rather than individually. Good services and products all happen from the effort produced as a team to achieve a common goal. Team work will enforce a positive fun environment for an organisation by having the same understanding as one another developing each other’s character. Business skills are needed by customer service staff in order to carry out duties effectively which includes completing documentation that is relevant to the organisation. This also includes keeping records that are needed for internal purposes, IT skills such as sending e-mails accessing internet and using computerised reservation systems. Accuracy, legibility and complying with normal business conventions are important points to be followed. Complaint handling can be challenging but it is also rewarding and interesting. Staff in the industry must know how to handle situations and turn complaints into positive advantages. Complaints should be handled correctly with feedback so that the customer can give the organisation a second chance to put things right. Staff should listen, thank, apologise and provide support to the customer. Selling skills is bottom-line when selling products and services in travel and tourism organisations. Even staff not employed as salesman come into contact with selling when they themselves are customers, expecting the highest levels of customer service, courtesy and attention when making a purchase. Being successful isn’t something that happens. Building rapport is a state of understanding with another individual or group that enables greater and easier communication. In other words, building a rapport involves getting along with another person or group of people having things in common making communication easier and more effective. This can occur in a shop, hotel, restaurant, at home, or in an office. Factors that influence customers to buy from a business or elsewh ere  is the tidiness and cleanliness of the sales environment, the appearance of the staff, and the attitudes received by the customer. Establishing customer needs and expectations is to help the customer to state their needs and expectations clearly. Always remember that customers purchase products and services because they believe they need them. Expectations are what a customer expect to gain from the service or product received. Staff should start communication with an open question rather than questions that simply have responses like yes or no to gain more information. Features and benefits come after determining a customer’s needs and expectations. The next step is to present the product or service based on their specified requirements. The main aim in this stage of sales process is to concentrate on the features and benefits of the products using these statements during the presentation of the product†¦ Features statement highlighting the key features of the particular product, Advantage statement indicating what the product or service can do in general, and benefits statement expressing specifically what the product can do for the customer. Overcoming objections may occur after explaining the features and benefits. These may be based on price or availability of services or may resulting in insufficient choice range by the salesperson. In this stage questions will need to be asked to discover exactly why the customer is not happy and you use of persuasion will come into effect. Closing the sale is all about the persuasion of a customer to make a commitment. Product knowledge and communication skills have been used already to discover and match the customer’s needs and expectations with the right product or service. As a professional salesperson, one must truly believe that they can satisfy the prospect’s needs.

How to Create a Heritage Scrapbook - Family History Album

The perfect place to showcase and protect your precious family photos, heirlooms, and memories, a heritage scrapbook album is a wonderful way to document your familys history and create a lasting gift for future generations. While it may seem a daunting task when faced with boxes of dusty old photos, scrapbooking is actually both fun and easier than you might think. Gather Your Memories At the heart of most heritage scrapbooks is the photos — pictures of your grandparents wedding, your great-grandfather at work in the fields, a family Christmas celebration, and so on. Begin your heritage scrapbook project by gathering together as many photographs as possible, from boxes, attics, old albums, and relatives. These photos dont necessarily need to have people in them - pictures of old houses, automobiles, and towns are great for adding historical interest to a family history scrapbook. Remember, in your quest, that pictures from slides and reel-to-reel 8mm films can be made at a relatively low cost through your local photo store. Family mementos such as birth and marriage certificates, report cards, old letters, family recipes, clothing items, and a lock of hair can also add interest to a family history scrapbook. Smaller items can be incorporated into a heritage scrapbook by placing them in clear, self-adhesive, acid-free memorabilia pockets. Larger heirlooms such as a pocket watch, wedding dress, or family quilt can also be included by photocopying or scanning them and using the copies in your heritage album. Get Organized As you begin to accumulate photos and materials, work to organize and protect them by sorting them in archival safe photo files and boxes. Use labeled file dividers to help you divide the photos into groups - by person, family, time-period, life-stages, or another theme. This will help make it easy to find a specific item as you work, while also protecting the items which dont make it into the scrapbook. As you work, use a photo-safe pen or pencil to write details of each photo on the back, including the peoples names, the event, the location and the date the photo was taken. Then, once your photos are organized, store them in a dark, cool, dry location, keeping in mind that its best to store photos standing upright. Assemble Your Supplies Since the purpose of compiling a heritage scrapbook is to preserve family memories, it is important to start with supplies that will protect your precious photographs and memorabilia. Basic scrapbooking begins with just four items - an album, adhesive, scissors, and a journaling pen. Scrapbook Album - Choose a photo album that contains acid-free pages, or purchase acid-free, PVC-free sheet protectors and slip them into a three-ring binder. The size of your scrapbook is a matter of personal preference (most scrapbooks are either 8 1/2 x 11 or 12 x 12.), but consider the availability and cost of supplies, as well as how many pictures you want to fit on each page when you make your choice. Scrapbook albums come in a variety of styles, with post bound, expandable spine and 3 ring albums being the most popular.Adhesives - Used to secure everything to the album pages, adhesives come in many forms, including photo corners, photo tape, double-sided adhesive strips, and glue sticks.Scissors - Available in both straight-edge and decorative-edge, scissors help cut your photos into interesting shapes and crop out any unwanted areas.Journaling Pens - Acid-free, permanent markers, and pens are necessary for writing down important names, dates, and family memories, as well as f or adding fun doodles and pictures to your scrapbook pages. Other fun scrapbooking supplies to enhance your family history scrapbook include colored and patterned acid-free papers, stickers, a paper trimmer, templates, decorative rulers, paper punches, rubber stamps, computer clipart, and fonts, and a circle or pattern cutter. Next Page Step-by-Step Heritage Scrapbook Pages After gathering the photos and memorabilia for your heritage scrapbook, its finally time for the fun part - to sit down and create the pages. The basic steps for creating a scrapbook page include: Select Your Photos Begin your page by choosing a number of photos for your page which relate to a single theme - e.g. Great-grandmas wedding. For a single album page layout, select 3 to 5 photos. For a two page spread, select between 5 and 7 photos. When you have the option, use only the best photos for your heritage album - photos which are clear, focused, and best help to tell the story. Heritage Tip - If a photo that you wish to use in your album is torn, scratched, or faded, consider scanning in the photo and using a graphic editing program to repair the cracks and clean up the image. The restored image can then be printed and used for your heritage album. Choose Your Colors Select 2 or 3 colors to complement your photos. One of these may serve as a background or base page, and the others for matting photos. A variety of papers, including patterns and textures, are available which can serve as beautiful backgrounds and mats for heritage scrapbooks. Heritage Tip - You can create your own background papers by photocopying precious family heirlooms (such as a bit of lace from your grandmothers wedding dress). If using patterned paper or a photocopied image for the background, then it is usually best to mat photos with plain papers to help them stand out from the busy background. Crop Photos Use a pair of sharp scissors to trim away unwanted background and other objects in your photos. You may want to keep cars, houses, furniture, or other background images in some photos for historical reference while highlighting just a specific individual in others. Cropping templates and cutters are available to help you crop your photos in a variety of shapes. Decorative-edged scissors can also be used to trim photos. Heritage Tip - It is best to make and use copies of any precious heritage photos which you wish to crop, rather than cutting and possibly destroying the only photo you have of a deceased relative. Cropping can also cause crumbling edges and cracking emulsion in older, fragile photos. Mat Photos A bit different than the traditional picture mat, matting to scrapbookers means to glue a photograph on a piece of paper (the mat) and then trim the paper close to the edges of the photograph. This creates a decorative frame around the photo. Different combinations of decorative-edged scissors and straight scissors can help provide interest and help your photos pop from the pages. Heritage Tip - When including original heritage photographs in your scrapbook, it is always a good idea to attach them to your page with photo corners rather than glue or other adhesive options. in case you need to remove them or make additional copies. Arrange the Page Begin by experimenting with possible layouts for your photos and memorabilia. Arrange and rearrange until the layout satisfies you. Be sure to leave room for titles, journaling, and embellishments. When you are happy with the layout to attach to the page using acid-free adhesive or tape. Alternatively, use photo corners or a corner slot punch. Heritage Tip - Always assume that memorabilia is acidic, rather than finding out the hard way. Use a deacidification spray to deacidify book pages, newspaper clippings, and other papers, and enclose other memorabilia in acid-free sleeves. Next Page Add Interest With Journaling Embellishments Add Journaling Personalize your page by writing down names, date, and place of event, as well as memories or quotes from some of the people involved. Called journaling, this is probably the most important step when creating a heritage scrapbook. For each photo or set of related photos, you should follow the five Ws - 1) who (who are the people in the photo), when (when was the photo taken), where (where was the photo taken), why (why is the moment significant), and what (what are the people doing in the photo). When journaling, be sure to use a waterproof, fade resistant, permanent, quick drying pen - preferably black as research has shown that black ink best stands the test of time. Other colors can be used for adding decoration, or other non-essential information. Heritage Tip - When journaling in your heritage scrapbooking, it is important to be specific, adding related memories and details to the names and dates. Grandma in her kitchen on June 1954 is nice, but it is better to write: Grandma loves to cook and is very proud of her kitchen, seen here on June 1954. Her chocolate cake was always the hit of the party. Embellish by adding mementos from the occasion, such as a copy of Grandmas chocolate cake recipe (in her own handwriting, if possible). Add Embellishments To complete your scrapbook layout and complement your photos, consider adding some stickers, die cuts, punch art, or stamped images. Stickers add interest with very little work on your part and help give your page a polished look.Die Cuts are pre-cut shapes cut from cardstock, available in many sizes and colors. They help add pizzazz to your scrapbook without the need for a lot of creative talent. Solid die-cuts also make great spots for journaling. Be sure to select die-cuts made from acid-free and lignin-free paper.Punch Art, the process of using shaped craft punches to cut various shapes from cardstock and them combining those shapes to create completed works of art, is another easy way to add interest to your scrapbook pages. Again, be sure that you use acid-free and lignin-free paper to create your punch art.