How is the contemporary globalization altering or undermining the Essay

How is the contemporary globalization altering or undermining the Westphalian order - Essay Example For the efficient functioning of the world order, the competence of these four principles is important. Functioning as nation –state block, the responsibility of the Westphalian system is to provide welfare for its citizens, the defense around its boundaries, internal order and civic engagement. The role of the Westphalian system in the execution of these duties has been greatly affected by the growing importance of the contemporary globalization. The concept of globalization may be defined as ‘a fundamental shift of transformation in the spatial scale of human social organization that links distant communities’. Globalization helps the human activities to shift from the constricted boundaries of the nation-state to the entire globe itself (Valaskakis, 2000). Due to the rise of the multi national corporations, the globalization of production, which paved way for the mass migration of the skilled labor, trans- border movement of the entrepreneurs, technology etc, i s introduced. Globalization happening in various sectors at a rapid speed makes permanent marks on the face of the Westphalian world order. In the economic sector, the emergence of the international corporations has changed the perspective of the global business. Subjects of a country no longer produce goods only for the local market. People do not entertain thoughts of patriotism when they buy a product in the market. They are primarily interested whether the product is cheap and is of good quality. A consumer uses goods in his day to day life which are probably manufactured in countries he has never visited. The corporations do not want their product to have a national identity since it becomes a burden in the global market (Suter, 2006, p.4). Since the national governments lost control over their economies and hence are unable to provide employment for its citizens, the transnational corporations move across boundaries and encourage intertwining of national economies (Suter, 2006 , p.4) thereby creating job opportunities around the globe. The real power to organize production and marketing of goods rests with the multinational corporations and hence the global financial markets get to determine to which countries the terms of credit go (Mc Grew,p.8). Hence the significance of the role of the national governments in the financial sector is greatly reduced due to contemporary globalization. At the same time, the economic restructuring of countries ‘in response to globalization requirements tend to produce civil strife in structurally vulnerable states’ (Conteh-Morgan, 2006, p.3). Due to free global market competition, the disparities in individual income have become greater which lead to frustration, anger and hostility in states (Conteh-Morgan, 2006, p.3). This makes the nation susceptible to state failure and collective violence. Structurally weak states like the African countries failed to support mercantilism and could not provide national sup port under globalization pressures which made the states work for the upper class at the expense of the lower class (Conteh-Morgan, 2

How Important Is Money Essay Example for Free

How Important Is Money Essay To different people money is important in many ways. Money is used to do a lot, you use it to buy a house so you have somewhere to live instead of living under a bridge, you use it to keep your car running properly, and without money a lot of people wouldn’t be happy. Without money people cannot live healthy. You need money to buy food, clothing, and personal hygiene products. Some people go over bored and think that money is a necessity to have and whine up going over board and buying things non-essential to natural living. To me money is less important as long as I have enough to get food for my family, a roof over my head, clothing on my family and myself, power to my house, and gas in my car or money to ride the bus I am completely happy and that is what is important about money to me. It would be nice to have some extra here and there but as long as my family and I can survive that is all that matter. How would you pay your bills if you didn’t have money? How would sick children get the help they need without money? Both of these questions are questions that have been a big deal in my life. The answer to each is you would be able to. Even if you didn’t have money and you needed assistant that still involves someone donating the money. Money is an important aspect to everyone in this thing called life. Then again to other people money might be important in other ways. It all depends on who we are talking about when we ask the question â€Å"How important is money? † Without money we wouldn’t be able to go to school and prepare for life or get college degrees and further our educations. We wouldn’t be able to pay for medications that help heal us of any diseases or pain management. I do subscribe to the notion that money isn’t everything but I also believe that it is a major, critical facet of life today. If we can take the need for money out of our life’s equation then we will be free to live life as it’s meant to be lived but as long as it remains a means for survival nobody can tell me money isn’t important or doesn’t create an immense amount of unhappiness and stress. I think it’s very easy to say money isn’t important when you’ve got a lot of it but when you haven’t got it; it’s the most stressful part of living life. Many will argue that money is an object that, while making life a little easier, doesn’t or can’t buy happiness.

Romans And The Christian Worldview

Romans And The Christian Worldview Pauls letter to the Roman church was not meant to be a systematic theology. It was an occasional letter that contained a very systematic presentation of the Gospel. This makes Romans a very important book when it comes to the Christian Worldview. It covers a wide array of topics that are essential for a believer to understand and to live by. These topics include: creation, sin, salvation, eschatology, ethics, and theology. It will be shown what Paul teaches about these topics and how they apply to a Christians worldview. Paul teaches that in creation, God has given a testimony of himself and his goodness in Romans 1:19-20. This passage says that what can be known about God is made plain and that His invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:20) It also speaks about how believers should have relationships with the opposite sex and not with the same sex in Romans 1:26-27, because this is the natural way. In ones human nature one chooses to rebel not wanting to be under any kind of authority, whether it is that of another person or God himself. So since humans would much rather choose to live under their own control, Paul teaches that God gives those who would reject Christ over to lust in Romans 1:28-32. Sin is another topic that Paul covers in his letter to the Roman Christians. Sin at one point is described as anything not done from faith, in Romans 14:23. In Romans 6:23 Paul says, For the wages of sin is deathà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Sin is not something that God takes lightly and it is important for Christians to understand that they are sinners and to avoid it at all costs. In Romans 1, Paul gives his readers a list of sins that mankind was committing in Romans 1:29-32. In learning that everyone sins from Romans 3:23 and need a savior, one also learns that there is salvation.  [2]   SALVATION Salvation does not lie in anything that a person can do for themselves; Paul teaches that it is the power of God and God alone in Romans 1:16-17. In Romans 3:24-25, Paul tells about the work of Jesus Christ as the redeemer, who was put forth as the propitiation for the sins of the world. Also including the surrounding verses of 21-21, Paul continually uses the word faith when dealing with Gods righteousness and justification. When it comes to sanctification and living a life empowered by the Holy Spirit, Romans 8 gives one of the strongest sections on how one can live apart from the flesh and live in the Spirit.  [3]   ESCHATOLOGY/ETHICS/ THEOLOGY One can learn about God and some of his ultimate goals by reading Romans 11. In this chapter Paul teaches about the last days and what Christians can expect during these times. Chapter 11 lays out the plan and process by which the Gentiles are saved and how the people of Israel will be saved in the last days. It is important to know our place in all of this. Romans aslo speaks directly as to how we should live as Christians. It begins in chapter12, being told to live as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God in Romans12:1. Paul continues instructing people to renew their minds, basically telling them to think differently than they did when they belonged to the world. Throughout the book of Romans one can gather glimpses of what God is truly like; starting in chapter one verse twenty, his power and divine nature have been clearly seen. Throughout chapter two and parts of three Paul teaches about how God is righteous. In 3:25 one learns about his forbearance with previous sin, al l while learning how much he loves his children. In chapter eight and nine Paul teaches of his sovereignty and that all things are in his control. Through it all Paul teaches that believers can trust God to do what he promises, according to Romans chapter 4.  [4]   CONCLUSION The Book of Romans is full of teachings that are essential to a Christians walk. With all of the talk about evolution and the big bang theory one needs to know what God teaches about creation and what he wants to get across. Sin causes death in a believer and God has provided away for each human to be saved from this death. That comes through salvation from Jesus Christ. In the end times Gods ultimate goal is to see all his children come to a saving knowledge of His Son, Jews and Gentiles. Christians should operate in a righteous fashion while in this world and God will always be there to help and support each and every one of them.

Comparing Womens and Mens Fears in Frankenstein and Pet Sematary Essa

Comparing Women's and Men's Fears in Frankenstein and Pet Sematary      Ã‚   Childbirth and the resulting mother/child relationship are realities for women that leave plenty of room for anxiety. It is no wonder, then, that these themes of birth and motherhood should be featured prominently in women's horror. In contrast, men's horror tends not to focus on these fears, but, instead, focuses on the act of intercourse (the nuts and bolts of making a baby) and the man's fear of the woman's strange childbearing power. In comparing women's and men's fears on these subjects, one can see what fuels resulting horror texts.    In Frankenstein by Mary Shelly a man gives birth which is very curious when considering Frankenstein as a feminist text. The male mother in this text can be read in different ways. One reading of the phenomena could be man's attempt to control nature can have dire consequences. Upon closer reading, however, one can see that by having a male protagonist in the situation of life-giver, Shelly was allowed to make her fears known to her male contemporaries and at the same time explore her own fears concerning birthing and raising a healthy, productive child.    Mary's focus on the birth process allowed men to understand female fears about pregnancy and reassured women that they were not alone with their anxieties. The story expresses Mary's deepest fears; What of my child is born deformed? Could I still love it or would I wish it were dead? What if I can't love my child? Am I capable of raising a healthy, normal child? Will my child die? Could I wish my own child to die? Will my child kill me in childbirth? Mary was expressing her fears related to the death of her first child, her abilit... ... of making a child-the aspect of child bearing that they are most directly responsible for. For men birthing and the relationship between mother and child are foreign and consequently characterize what men are afraid of: "the Other."    Works Cited and Consulted Abrams, M. H., ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 1993 Botting, Fred. Making monstrous. Frankenstein, criticism, theory. Manchester University Press, 1991. Boyd, Stephen. York Notes on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Longman York Press, 1992. King, Stephen. Pet Sematary. New York: Signet, 1984. Mellor, Anne K. Mary Shelley. Her Life, her Fiction, her Monsters. Methuen. New York, London, 1988. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. Edited with an Introduction and notes by Maurice Hindle. Penguin books, 1992   

Windows 95 or NT :: essays research papers

Windows 95 or NT When one asks himself or another, Which Operating system will better fill my needs as an operating system Windows 95 or Windows NT version 3.51. I will look at both operating systems and compare the qualities of each one in price, performance, stability and ease of use. The final results will give one a clear view to the superior operating system for years to come.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As one already knows, that if you keep up with the computer industry, that Microsoft Windows has been around for a long time. The Majority of all PC users use some type of windows for their working environment. Microsoft has spent a great deal of time trying to make the supreme operating system. In doing so they have created two of the most debated systems available to the general public in this day and age. However, in doing so each one of these operating systems has there good side and there bad side.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Windows NT 3.51 was originally created for business use, but has ended up being more widely available for the average PC user in ones home. Windows 95 was developed for the sole purpose as an alternative to Windows NT. But has ended up in the work place more then the home. Windows 95 carries an average price of ninety-five dollars in stores. Which makes it an expensive system worth the money. On the other hand Windows NT 3.51 carries a price tag of three-hundred and forty nine dollars. Making this software very expensive but also worth every penny.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Windows 95 is much easier to use then Windows NT. It was designed to make the PC user have more of an easier time navigating through its complex tasks. This is one of the main reasons why people would rather buy the more less expensive operating system. Rather then the more expensive system Windows NT. Another one the reasons that Windows 95 is more popular is for its simple graphic user interface otherwise known as the GUI. Windows also carries a option that Windows NT does not carry. That option is called PnP or Plug and Play, This is where the operating system will install the hardware and new hardware that could be added at a later date in time, Windows NT does not carry this very useful feature. If one has ever tried to install a new peripheral to ones computer it can be a headache alone trying to decipher the instruction manual that comes along with the device. Windows 95 will do this on its own, one of the downfalls to it is the fact that it can be only a device that is less

1st Merit List Bs English Uog

UNIVERSITY OF GUJRAT 1ST MERIT LIST Hafiz Hayat Campus Department: Programme: S# Serial No. Form No. English Language (02) BS (15) Applicant Information Marks (%) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 00066 00048 00053 00085 00043 00038 2-310 00015 00062 00031 00050 00019 00040 00034 00044 00046 00051 00026 00001 00020 10005 07560 10862 15496 03676 03915 07220 00072 03577 15509 16023 06683 12333 10969 13602 07927 18530 11985 10409 03302 06529 13930Mahmoor Ghani Sheikh D/o Ziad Ghani Sheikh Wajeeha Khawar D/o Khawar Mumtaz Malik Ayesha Zahoor D/o Zahoor Ahmad Maria Fayaz Malik D/o M Fayaz ul Haq Awan Zainab Amjed D/o Amjed Shah Hajab Binte Fayyaz D/o Fayyaz Ahmad Cheem Farwa Arooj D/o Muhammad Sharif Afifa Khalid D/o Khalid Iqbal Tooba Pervaiz D/o Pervaiz Ahmad Ifra Azmat D/o Muhammad Azmat Maryam Tariq D/o Tariq Mehmood Ayesha Zahid D/o Zahid Pervaiz Rafia Ejaz D/o Ejaz Ahmad Ruhma Ahmad D/o Sher Ahmad Tayyaba Jamil D/o Jamil Anjum Junaid Zaman S/o M Iqbal Farah Nasim D/o Muhammad Nasim Ch.Muhammad Tayyab Shehzad S/o Shafqat Ullah Atif Zia S/o Zia Ullah Noorul-Ain Liaquat D/o Liaquat Ali Humaira Chaudhry D/o Bashir Ahmed 75. 66 73. 86 72. 24 68. 94 68. 91 68. 61 67. 63 67. 49 66. 76 66. 54 66. 45 66. 17 65. 96 65. 78 65. 65 64. 85 64. 70 64. 69 64. 67 64. 25 63. 98 Registrar UOG Information System (Admission Cell) Page 1 of 3 13 October, 2011 UNIVERSITY OF GUJRAT 1ST MERIT LIST Hafiz Hayat CampusDepartment: Programme: S# Serial No. Form No. English Language (02) BS (15) Applicant Information Marks (%) 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 00003 00312 00068 00086 00055 00314 00047 00097 00037 00056 00096 00087 00313 00089 00033 00071 00016 00072 00017 00067 00059 07432 72356 16799 19225 18019 72358 10584 01747 13736 18058 18612 29332 72357 13212 13459 19452 03559 15971 15468 17707 17068Badar Zaman S/o Muhammad Zaman Zara Yousaf D/o Dr Muhammad Yousaf Saniha Khalid D/o Khalid Pervaiz Muhammad Arnan Ali S/o Sharafat Ali Muh ammad Usman Gohar S/o Muhammad Ramzan Haroona Mahtab D/o Zafar Iqbal Bisma Mushtaq D/o Mushtaq Ahmed Ranjha Alina Muzafar D/o Muzafar Hussain Maria Kokab D/o Mushtaq Ahmad Khushbakht Shoaib D/o Muhammad Shoaib Khawaja Faiqa Andleeb D/o Zafar Iqbal M Omer Javaid S/o Ansar Javaid Aqsa Ehsan ul Haq D/o Ahsan ul Haq Ammara Ansar D/o Ansar Hayat Muhammad Hamed S/o Abdul Majid Farwa Tahira D/o Ali Asghar Saba Inam D/o Inam Ullah Khan Zainab Imtiaz Warrich D/o Imtiaz Khalid Warrich Tasmia Younas D/o Muhammad Younas Abdullah Amjad S/o Amjad Mahmood Shafaq Khalid D/o Khalid Mehmood Butt 63. 74 63. 41 63. 23 62. 58 62. 34 61. 83 61. 49 60. 81 60. 38 60. 32 60. 01 59. 67 59. 19 59. 17 59. 13 58. 93 58. 89 58. 82 58. 52 58. 40 58. 30 Registrar UOG Information System (Admission Cell) Page 2 of 3 13 October, 2011 UNIVERSITY OF GUJRAT 1ST MERIT LIST Hafiz Hayat Campus Department: Programme: S# Serial No. Form No. English Language (02) BS (15) Applicant Information Marks (%) 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 00035 00095 00069 00088 00032 00027 00064 00094 00065 00073 00018 00090 00052 00049 00060 11833 21798 11178 20608 15219 15458 19561 21725 13763 19511 03783 16770 03557 16063 13499Sidra Qayyom D/o Abdul Qayyom Mehak Wasim D/o Babar Wasim Ather Syeda Zubaria Aqeel D/o Syed Aqeel Abbas M Saqlain Mukhtar S/o Mukhtar Ahmed Saba Nayab D/o Arshad Mahmood Hira Ahsan D/o Muhammad Ahsan Anum Nawaz D/o Muhammmad Nawaz Zunaira ch D/o Ch Salahuddin Syeda Samreen Jaffari D/o Syed Khaliq u Zaman Jaffari Saba Arshad D/o Muhammmad Arshad Ayesha Imtiaz D/o Muhammad Imtiaz Mughal Syeda Rizwana Sajad D/o Sajad Hussain Shah Sidra Naveed D/o Naveed Aslam Saba Asghar Paswal D/o M Asghar Paswal Shama Sahar D/o Riaz Ahmad 58. 19 57. 56 56. 69 56. 40 55. 99 55. 58 55. 46 55. 28 55. 25 54. 82 54. 71 53. 42 51. 68 51. 40 50. 52 Registrar UOG Information System (Admission Cell) Page 3 of 3 13 October, 2011

Busi 650-ILP Final Essay

Table of Contents I. Abstract II. Organizational Setting III. Key Concepts a. Quality b. Total Quality Management c. Innovation d. Strategy Map e. Balanced Scorecard f. Six Sigma g. Bench Marking h. Inventory Management IV. Conclusion V. References Abstract The main purpose of the Integrative Learning Project (ILP) is to introduce an authentic or fabricated company/industry to research. The company’s organizational setting includes the mission statement of the company, who the internal/external customers are, what aspects can be contributed to achieve the organizations mission, and what role Christianity has with the organization. The research includes using eight different concepts learned throughout the course, explaining in detail how these concepts relate to the organization and the benefits the concepts offer to the organization, and what needs to be done to implement these concepts into the organization  successfully. This ILP will prove that a successful business can be run effectively and efficiently when implementing the key concepts. Organizational Setting Dover Saddlery, Inc. is a leading specialty retailer in the English-style horseback riding industry in the United States. The company offers a large selection of quality and premium equestrian products to care for, ride, train, and compete a horse. Founded in 1975 by Jim and David Powers, the company has grown to be the largest multi-channel marketer of premier equestrian products by selling through direct and retail sales. The company serves the English rider through Dover Saddlery and the western rider through Smith Brothers. The company sells their products using catalogs, the internet, and retail stores. The product line includes a variety of items such as tack, horse clothing, horse health, footwear, and specialized apparel. Dover Saddlery, Inc. is headquartered in Littleton, MA, including a warehouse and call center facility. The company has 18 retail locations in Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolin a, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and Virginia. The company’s third quarter 2013 total revenues were $63.6 million, a 6.4% increase from the $59.7 million achieved in the corresponding period. Dover Saddlery, Inc. stock trades on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol DOVR. The company’s mission is to grow the business by providing a broad variety of quality and most advanced equestrian apparel, equipment, stable, and horse care products to all equestrians, while operating efficiently and being profitable. The company carries 5,800 items comprising of approximately 28,000 different SKU’s. The company carries entry-level price points to the premium high-end price points to meet the wide range of customer needs and expectations. The company carries a distinctive and broad selection of need-based and high quality products at competitive prices with prompt order fulfillment ability. The company differentiates itself from competitors by their large inventory consisting of non-branded products, private label products, and premium brands. The current equestrian products market is  estimated by the American Horse Council at $7.6 billion with an estimated 9.2 millions horses in the United States. American Sports Data estimates that over 16.8 mill ion people ride horses. The equestrian industry has many indicators that the equestrian products industry will continue to grow. The company is known for their excellence in customer service and large comprehensive selection. The company promotes a culture of courteous, knowledgeable, and prompt customer service representatives. 90% of the sales and customer service representatives are horse enthusiast. The company offers customers a 100% satisfaction guarantee. The company has one of the largest detailed customer databases. The database consists of customers that have purchased items with the last 12 months and their demographic information. The use of the catalog, internet, and retail stores has enabled the company to capture customer information, cross-market products, and provide a convenient shopping experience for customers. The company’s customers are primarily females with a passion for the riding sport. The customers are affluent and luxury oriented who tend to choose to buy from the company for the high quality and premier products. The customer base shows high repurchase rates and has been ve ry loyal customers. The role Christianity has in this organization is customer service is essential and Matthew 10:31 states, â€Å"Fear not, therefore; you are more value than many sparrows† (ESV). In the service industry, customer satisfaction is key and the company has to recruit the right people and reward them for there expertise. Colossians 3:23-24 states, â€Å"23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving† (New International Version). Another verse that can be applied in this organization is 1 Peter 4:10, â€Å"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace†. The company uses the gifts God gives us and pass them on to consumers to benefit from. The role of Christianity plays a great role in this company. Key Concepts The first key concept that is applicable to Dover Saddlery is Quality. Quality has a huge impact on the quality of products and the success of the organization. According to Dinh, Igel, & Laosirihongthong (2010), â€Å"quality, considered a key strategic factor in achieving business success, is more than ever required for competing successfully in today’s global marketplace and it has become the key slogan as organizations strive for a competitive advantage in markets characterized by liberalization, globalization, and knowledgeable customers† (p. 931). The design and performance of the product are two very important concepts of quality. Quality should start with the customer, the experience the customer has with the product or service will impact the customer’s satisfaction with the total experience. The management and control of the quality of the products and services is very important to the success of the organization. It is very important for organizations to implement a quality assurance program (QAP) to ensure the quality of the products and services. According to Rouse (2007): In developing products and services, quality assurance is any systematic process of checking to see whether a product or service being developed is meeting specified requirements. Many companies have a separate department devoted to quality assurance. A quality assurance system is said to increase customer confidence and a company’s credibility, to improve work processes and efficiency, and to enable a company to better compete with others. Quality assurance was initially introduced in World War II when munitions were inspected and tested for defects after they were made. Today’s quality assurance systems emphasize catching defects before they get into the final product (Quality Assurance). There are many advantages for the company to have a QAP in place, include a competitive advantage, increase in sales and market share, increased customer sat isfaction, better management control, clearly defined organizational tasks, structure, and responsibilities, more effective recalls, and price premium (Aramyan, Meuwissen, Oude Lansink, van der Vorst, van Kooten, & van der Lans, 2009, p. 624). According to Yang (2006) â€Å"several studies on quality management have demonstrated that delivering superior service quality enhances productivity, reduces costs, increases customer loyalty, improves market share, and brings other general benefits to a service organization (p.1129). The QAP helps fulfill the needs  and expectations of the customers and improves the quality of the products and services. The second key concept that is applicable to the company is total quality management (TQM). According to Richards (2012), TQM can be defined as an integrative approach to management that supports the attainment of customer satisfaction through a wide variety of tools and techniques that the end result is higher quality of goods and services (p. 37). TQM is an organizational-wide concept of continuous improvement to ensure the products and services exceed their customers’ expectations. According to Richards (2012), â€Å"this kind of quality management requires the company to always check to make sure that product or service is at the standard that both the company and customer wants is maintained† (p. 37). Exceeding the internal and external customers satisfaction is a key focus of TQM. According to Talib, et al. (2011), TQM â€Å"has received a great attention due to its effectiveness in achieving sustainable competitive advantage and enhanced business performanceâ₠¬  (p. 1331). TQM is â€Å"a total look at the quality of the organization† (Richards, 2012, p. 41). â€Å"All service industries should seek to adopt and implement TQM so that proactive identification and response to needed changes can lead to continuous improvement† (Talib, et al. 2011). â€Å"Quality-conscious companies normally have a strong quality culture, which is helpful for achieving customer satisfaction† (Delgado-Hernandez & Aspinwall, 2008, p.1016). The practice of TQM can grow a company to have a sustainable advantage in local and international markets (Richards, 2012, p. 36). The third key concept that is applicable to the company is innovation. â€Å"In the modern business world, innovation is just as important as quality, so they must go hand and hand and one complements each other† (Perodomo-Ortiz, et al. 2009, p.5088). Innovation is one if the driving forces of a successful business and allows an organization to introduce new and improve products in the market place. According to Bigliardi (2013), innovation is a complex phenomenon that involves the production, diffusion and translation of knowledge in new or modified products or services, or the development of new production processing techniques. Innovation is very important to the  success of an organization, it creates jobs and promotes the growth of organizations. The fourth key concept that is applicable to the company is the strategy map. As a strategic part of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC), a strategy map provides an organization â€Å"with a tool that helps them better monitor important details about their strategic business processes, thereby enhancing their employees’ understanding of the strategy interactions, which in turn facilitates implementing the business strategy† (Meredith and Shafer, 2013, pg. 99). According to Kaplan and Norton (2004), â€Å"the strategy map provides the visual framework for integrating the organization’s objectives in the four perspectives of a Balanced Scorecard† (pg.45). According to Markiewicz (2013), a strategy map is a tool integrating the developed strategy with operating activities of various organizational units operating in an organization. A specific feature of strategy map is that it describes in a clear manner the process of creating values in organization by indicating a number of cause and effect relationships between four perspectives (learning and growth, intemal-business-processes, customer, financial) and goals adopted within these perspectives. (pg. 161-162) The four perspectives a strategy map addresses include the financial perspective, the customer perspective, the internal business process perspective, and the learning and growing perspective. According to Markiewicz (2013), a strategy map â€Å"enables illustration of cause-and-effect relationship between the processes in all four perspectives and performance indicators at the organizational level. Strategy map and performance indicators at the organizational level constitute the basis for different departments when preparing their individual effectiveness indicators† (pg. 160). The top of a strategy map is the goal that has been specified by management, the next step is how the goal be accomplished, and the remainder of the map shows the cause-and-effect relationships that manag ement has developed on how the goal can be accomplished. The strategy map is used very frequently by all organizations as a simple strategy development tool by management to report the progress of the strategy implemented in their organization to achieve its vision or mission.  The strategy map is a powerful technique that can be applied to any type of business from a public sector organization to a non-profit organization. It is very important to organizations because it encourages its managers to think logically about the elements of their strategy and how the strategic elements interact. This effective tool ensures the managers understand the role of the strategy and how the effective strategy embraces all of the organization’s activities. According to Umayal Karpagam and Suganthi (2012), the strategy map describes â€Å"how the four perspectives: financial, customer, internal process, learning and growth are linked and how they create a balance between the more tangible outcomes through intangible resources† (pg. 7). The fifth key concept that is applicable to the company is the balanced scorecard. Kaskey (2013) says the balanced scorecard â€Å"provides an organization with ways to develop and evaluate strategic objectives and goals† (pg. 22). The balanced scorecard uses financial and nonfinancial strategic information and is â€Å"an accounting report that includes the firm’s critical success factors in four areas: financial performance, customer satisfaction, internal processes, and learning and growth† (Blocher, Stout, Juras, & Cokins, 2013, pg. 11). The benefits of the scorecard include ability to implement strategy, ability to track the process of the organization in their achievement of the strategic goals, the organization’s ability to determine manager’s compensation, achieving organizational change, and the ability to achieve the critical success factors. According to Werner and Fuyuan (2012), â€Å"when the score card is adopted, employees become awa re that their performance will be judged based on these measures and targets. Accordingly, employees will act to achieve the established performance targets† (pg. 92). The balanced scorecard is a critical tool for organizations in todays challenging and competitive business environment. It is very important for organizations to achieve its critical success factors to help the overall performance of the organization and to stay competitive. The sixth key concept that is applicable to the company is Six Sigma. This concept is a strategy to increase employee engagement that will then increase customer satisfaction. According to Meredith and Shafer (2013), six  sigma is a comprehensive and flexible system for achieving, sustaining and maximizing business success. Six Sigma is uniquely driven by close understanding of customer needs, disciplined use of facts, data, and statistical analysis, and diligent attention to managing, improving, and reinventing business processes. (Page 129) This method is an inspiring factor for employees and employees have to be completely engaged in the program for it to be successful and impact employee satisfaction. Six Sigma has been embraced by many organizations, that drive’s improvements in processes, products, and services. When implementing the Six Sigma approach, first provide necessary leadership and resources, implement a reward system, provide ingoing training, select early p rojects, break up difficult projects, and avoid employee layoffs. â€Å"Six sigma’s popularity and success is catching fire throughout the service industry across the globe as no other process improvement (PI) movement before (Sunder, 2013, pg. 34). The seventh key concept that is applicable to the company is benchmarking. According to Cruceru (2013), benchmarking is â€Å"viewed as a continuous process of evaluation of products, services, processes and performance of competitors in order to obtain competitive advantage, benchmarking involves knowledge of all elements occurring when implementing in practice† (pg. 6). Benchmarking is a strategy where the desire to be competitive is a challenge for managers to become knowledgeable and analyze their competitors in the industry and implement competitive strategies to be successful. According to Meredith and Shafer (2013), benchmarking is used for a variety of purposes, including the following: Comparing an organization’s processes with the best organization’s processes. Comparing an organization’s product and services with those of other organizations. Identifying the best practices to emulate. Projecting trends in order to be able to respond proactively to future challenges and opportunities. (pg.133) Benchmarking involves three steps: the first step is concerned with preparing the study, the second step is collecting the data, and the third and final step is what was learned to improve the organization. This process has become one of the most valuable processes to identify performance improvement areas. Benchmarking allows an organization to analyze and improve performance, profitability, business  processes, and market share. There are many types of benchmarking including: process benchmarking-compares business processes and operations, product benchmarking-compares products and services, strategic benchmarking-compares organizational structures, internal benchmarking-internal comparison, competitive benchmarking-comparison of direct competitors, functional benchmarking- comparison of organizations in the same field, and generic benchmarking- comparison of the best com petitor in other fields. According to Cruceru (2013), â€Å"those competitors who will know to focus on benchmarking implementation in management and marketing activities of the organization will achieve increased performance and competitiveness in terms comparable to the best competitors of the time† (pg. 9). Appendix A In order to implement benchmarking in Dover Saddlery the following steps are needed: 1. Understand the company’s current process performance gaps. 2. Obtain support and approval from the executive leadership team 3. Document benchmarking objectives and scope; document the original process. 4. Agree on the primary metrics and put them in writing. 5. Agree on what to benchmark. 6. Develop a data collection plan. 7. Identify research sources and initiate data gathering. 8. Determine how to contact and screen companies. 9. Design a detailed survey to gather information. 10. Decide if gathered information meets original objectives. 11. Conduct a site visit. 12. Apply the learning to performance gaps. 13. Communicate to the executive leadership to ensure continued support. 14. Develop a recommended implementation plan with process owner. 15. Know when to update and recalibrate. The eighth key concept that is applicable to the company is inventory management. Inventory management is extremely important for the success of a organization and having the correct number of items in inventory that is necessary for operation is vital for inventory management. According to Chen (2011), â€Å"the inventory in an organization may contain a large amount of items. A logical inventory classification is necessary for managers to have efficient plan and control of the items† (pg. 1702). Inventory management can be a challenge for any business, but can be even more important for businesses with changing product life cycles or product needs. The development of information systems, has eased some challenges faced with inventory management. The introduction of advanced information system, which aim at better performance than manual product identification and inventory data-keeping procedures, hold much promise for the reduction of inventory inaccuracies. Inventories include work-in-process, raw materials, finished goods, component parts, and so on. By eliminating storage space to business is not only saving on space but also removing defective parts from being hidden until no one knows who had made them (Meredith & Shafer, 2013, p. 176). Appendix B Inventory An additional way that we differentiate ourselves from our competition is through our breadth and depth of inventory. We believe our inventory is deeper than our competitors with $10.1 million in on-hand inventory as of December 31, 2005 and more than 5,800 items comprising approximately 28,000 different SKUs. With our extensive inventory position and rapid fulfillment capability, we have historically been able to fill approximately 95% of the items ordered within an average of 1.5 business days. Based on our inventory management systems, continuous monitoring of the products we carry and the fact that we carry very few fashion products, we have historically had very little obsolete inventory. Despite the high level of inventory we have historically maintained, we have turned inventory approximately four times per year and we historically have had no material inventory write-downs. All of the products that are presented in our catalogs are available online and customers can use our websites to enter orders, shop online and check order status and inventory availability. On average, our retail stores stock inventory items represent over 70% of the merchandise  sales we make available through our direct sales channel. 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