Social Psychology of the Learning Environment Essay

Social Psychology of the Learning Environment - Essay Example It is evident from the study that when social psychology is being linked with the learning environment, student-teacher relationship is often given high regard. Social psychology as defined by Mashek and Hammer is the study of how individuals are influenced by other people and the situations they find themselves into. Conversely, according to Fiske et al., the science of social psychology is predicated on the simple fact that human thought, emotion and behaviour are immensely affected by the real, implied and imagined presence of people. Moreover, there are times that individuals’ thoughts, feelings and actions are influenced when they simply think about other persons, speculate about their objectives, visualize their reactions, or even fantasize about them, and a great deal of attention has been paid to how people respond when they think about other individuals. However, social psychology is concerned mainly with how individuals are influenced and affected by those people who m they relate with as stressed by Fiske et al. Social psychology is said to concentrate at three varied levels of analysis. According to Mashek and Hammer, the three stages of analysis are individual processes, interpersonal processes and group processes. Individual processes are employed when regarding phenomena such as impression formation, attitudes and persuasion. Subsequently, interpersonal processes form the groundwork for romantic relationships, friendships and helping behaviours (Mashek & Hammer, 2011). Lastly, group processes are taken into consideration when studying conformity, group decision making and jury behaviour (Mashek & Hammer, 2011). The aforementioned levels of analysis provide the foundation of social psychology as well as the diverse kinds of influence that social methods can take (Mashek & Hammer, 2011). In the classroom setting, the previously cited levels of analysis can be utilized to understand erudition and instruction. For instance, interpersonal proces sed are apparent in the teacher-pupil relationship which may have an impact on learning. Furthermore, the learning environment also employs the use of group processes which aids in facilitating learning. Learning Learning mechanisms provide means through which information about chronic developmental environments are acquired (Fiske et al., 2010). Moreover, it provides strategies through which organisms obtain information about temporary contexts, hence giving them the means to resourcefully modify behavioural responses (Fiske et al., 2010). Affiliation Affiliation as defined by Fiske et al. (2010) is the act of associating or interacting with one or a variety of individuals. The concept of affiliation bears no indication of the quality, affective tone, or length of the social encounter or the nature of the relationship between the people (Fiske et al., 2010). As Fiske et al. (2010) describes it, when people want to affiliate, they only wish to be in the company of and to relate with others. Hence, many theorists supposed that relating with and being in the company of other persons is an essential social behaviour (Fiske et al., 2010). Having an affiliation is crucial in learning because such relationships may greatly contribute to the learning process of a specific individual for the reason that their experience of interacting with other individuals may teach them a variety of new things and to help them explore a wide array of concepts that may be unique to them. Tutor-learner Relationship The tutor-learner relationship can be effective if it imbibes a positive and caring development of the space or time, interpersonal and

Is the 'Promise' of international institutions really 'false' Essay

Is the 'Promise' of international institutions really 'false' - Essay Example The international institution has not conformed to its agenda maintaining world peace as it has been witnessed that institutions such as IGOs do not include its entire agenda in societal and international issues1. Some institutions relates to issues of economic while ignoring cultural, and security issues. International institutions have encountered several critiques questioning their involvement in world issue. The arguments view these institutions as a basic reflection of power distribution in the world2. They have based their self-interest on calculations of achieving great powers and not possessing independent effects on behavior of the states. This shows that the institutions might be seen to be relevant in spreading norms that are common to states but they still do not enhance interstate peace being that they still need to have complex institutional structure to reduce chances of conflicts among states. Besides, the IGOs that still do not include security issues in their agenda, but majors on fewer issues cannot pursue management of conflicts in a peaceful manner .Therefore, the institutions should avoid creation of groups based on powers of those states so that they can abandon their individual interest and be in position to reach mutual agreement. By doing this the institutions can now receive favorable arguments that they are surely decreasing conflicts among states. These issues have therefore resulted to invention of various theories that are concerned with peaceful conflict resolution among warring states3. There have been several empirical evidences showing that commercial institutional peace research to have done commendable work in ensuring that the incidences of military interstate conflict reduced. This has been made possible through the following way; firstly, commercial institutions haveensured that they increase the opportunity cost of war for various states. Secondly this institution has

Scaricity of Healthcare Resources Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Scaricity of Healthcare Resources - Essay Example hilosophical biomedical ethical issues have developed in complexity as they are influenced by a number of factors including religion, law, anthropology and sociology. Each of the influencing factors is complex by themselves and this tends to make the biomedical ethical issues even more confusing for the healthcare service providers, especially as they are in the forefront in the use of the massive technological developments that have been in the recent past. The origins of the practical normative ethics of biomedical ethics goes back to the school of thought normally associated with Hippocrates and the famous Hippocratic oath. This oath sums up the school of thought on the ethical principles of curing and healing. The emphasis in the early days of medical history was on healing and not on curing, as the means of curing diseases was limited. Helping people to cope with diseases that had inflicted them had more relevance. The mode of intervention was left to the judgment of the physician. Thus the first principles of biomedical ethics of beneficence and nonmaleficence were laid. Even today there are many who believe that the goals of medicine remain in these complimentary factors of curing and healing. The subsequent history of bio-ethics is limited to interpretations of Galen in the second century and the opposing views expressed by Vesalius thirteen centuries later. However the next significant step in the development of biomedical ethics was seen in 1803, through the expressions of Thomas Percival, in his work Medical Ethics. Percival expanded the prevalent biomedical ethics of beneficence and nonmaleficence to incorporate the idea of the professional responsibility of physicians and their responsibility to society. Thus introducing the third principle in development of biomedical ethics in the form of justice. Further development in the principles of bioethics was seen in the 1960s and 1970s. Concern on the medical treatment procedures without proper

Genetically- Modified Foods and Ingredients Essay Example for Free

Genetically- Modified Foods and Ingredients Essay Visiting a supermarket has become a usual experience of each one of us. We have to read all the labels that warn us against genetically-modified ingredients and its expiry date. I, try myself to calm down that epidemic services take control over dangerous products. Yet, I have my doubts in eating my favorite snack, French fries that is done in a fast food. The cumulative effect of genetically-modified foods is particularly dangerous for sensitive populations, including kids, elderly people and people who have indigestion people and even us, whose normal healthy living people. I have studies literature on genetically-modified ingredients, trying to be objective in my judgment. Genetically-modified ingredients advance the modern biology achievements. These products and ingredients strengthen the resistance to herbicides and improve nutritional food contents. Genetically-modified (GM) foods production lessens time-consuming than conventional breeding. Molecular Biologists have not discovered yet how harmful GM products and ingredients are but they claim that GM foods may be environmentally hazardous. Only allergy was recognized as negative effect of GM foods. We, cannot break out from the GM products, since two-thirds of genetically modified crops are corn, cotton, soybeans, potatoes even the fruits we eat. This is just a sign that we should be well inform on what is going in our world especially in our foods that can affect our living. We cannot escape from this advancement in our modern world but we, people, can prevent this to have real healthy living life style.

Effect of Foreign Direct Investment in the Retailing Sector

Effect of Foreign Direct Investment in the Retailing Sector The effect of foreign direct investment in the retailing sector  on the economy of Russia Abstract Following the dramatic, although sometime erratic growth of the retail sector in Russia, this paper provides an insight into the growth of this sector of the Russian economy, particularly concentrating upon the impact of foreign direct investment. As part of this process the research studies the potential benefits that are available to the foreign corporation together with the difficulties that making such an investment can experience. It is concluded that, providing Russia maintains a democratic political structure and can eliminate the adverse elements of their current system, such as corporate crime, the country provides an attractive market for retail globalisation, which will continue to benefit the Russian economy. Executive Summary Since the barriers of communism have been eradicated and a capitalist structure introduced, the Russian retail sector has experienced significant growth. As this report shows, much of this has been achieved through the relaxation of the Russian approach to foreign direct investment. From the research conducted for this paper it can be seen that FDI has contributed significantly to the present growth levels being experienced in Russia. Nevertheless, upon analysis of the benefits and disadvantages that face an international retailer wishing to take advantage of this emerging market place, it has been found that there are issues that need to be addressed if the current level of growth is to be sustained in the future. There is little doubt that, with the size of its consumer population and the continuing level of demand for western products, that Russia represents a major new market for the international retailer corporation. As revealed within this paper those who have already established outlets within this market place have already created a competitive advantage for their businesses. The report finds that there are some significant difficulties that still exist, which create a level of reluctance with new entrants. Most of these are based upon the demographic spread of the population, together with the cost of entry that is increased as a result of the current tax and regulatory regime. Similarly, the current domestic retailers are, in some instances, showing reluctance to participate in proposed mergers or takeovers. Whilst this low level of entry from external firms continues, the domestic retailers are also taking advantage of the situation by consolidating their own position within the market. This is being done by way of mergers and also by using the Western concept of retailing and extending their reach and coverage, not only through the main towns and cities, but also throughout the more rural areas. In reality, if they maintain these strategies, it will only serve to further increase the cost of entry to external firms and, from the FDI view, this would further delay their ability to benefit from the available market share. Therefore, we would suggest that two issues be addressed. That, if they wish to be active players in the increasing Russian retail market, the should evaluate whether the cost of immediate entry outweighs the potential loss of future competitive advantage. In respect of the Russian government, it is suggested that there should be consideration given to incorporating a more level of tariffs that is more in line with international standards, thereby increasing the attractiveness of their retail markets to foreign organisations. This is particularly important as they are also competing against other emerging countries and, if they want to benefit from the available investment, like the corporate retailers, they need to consider the advantage of early entry. Table of Contents Abstract Executive Summary Table of Contents List of Tables List of Figures List of Figures Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Motivation for the research 1.2. Aims and objectives 1.3 Overview Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Russian change to capitalism 2.2 The Russian Retail Sector 2.3 Foreign Investment in Russia’s Retail sector 2.4 Summary Chapter 2: Methodology 2.1. Research method 2.2. Research material choice 2.3. Research performance Chapter 3: Findings and Analysis 4.1 Russian retail sector 4.2 Foreign Direct Investment 4.3 Problems and benefits to FDI 4.4 Advantages of FDI to Russian Retail Sector Chapter 6: Conclusion Bibliography Books Journals List of Tables Table 2 FDI in emerging countries in Europe Table 3 Russian major retailers. Table 3 FDI levels 2006-2007 Table 4 Potential FDI retail entrants List of Figures Figure 1 Russian retail growth Figure 2 Breakdown of retail sales Figure 3 Russia Hot Drink sales Figure 4 retail sales 2005 Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Motivation for the research Since the Russian political environment changed in the early 1990’s from the closed communistic approach to the more open capitalist format, which has allowed for the involvement of external financial institutions and corporations, the country’s economy has undergone a dramatic evolutionary process. As a result of this change, and notwithstanding the severe difficulties experienced in 1998, the Russian economy has achieved a remarkable pattern of growth over the past two decades. Nowhere has this growth factor been more noticeable that in the country’s retail sector, which according to recent research (RNOS 2006) has seen a recent growth of 30.8%, of which the food sector itself accounted for 22%. The same report forecasts a dramatic increase on these figures by the end of 2008, with food sector growth expected to double. However, such a dramatic increase in the rate of growth experience could not have been achieved solely by the privatisation of the internal marketplace. As with the economies of other emerging capitalists markets the Russian retail sector has attracted the attention of international corporate players, who have shown an interest in opening outlets in places like Moscow so that they can gain a significant share of the extremely large Russian consumer market. Many international corporations have already established a presence in this marketplace and other corporations such as the American giant Wal-Mart are seriously discussing projects that help them gain entry to this sector of the Russian economy. 1.2. Aims and objectives The purpose of this paper is to evaluate what effect this FDI[1] by external corporations has had upon the Russian retail sector. In conducting this research the objectives are to: To provide a better understanding of the economic forces that currently operates in the Russian retail sector. To evaluate the benefits and difficulties experienced by foreign corporations that have already established a presence in the Russian retail sector. To provide an indication of the issues that corporation intending to invest in the Russian retail economy will need to consider. To evaluate the impact that FDI has on the Russian Retail market It is intended that this paper will add to the existing literature available on the issues raised and provide an indication of areas whether further research needs to be considered. 1.3 Overview Following on from this introduction a review and evaluation of the current available literature relating to the issues raised will be conducted in chapter two. In chapter three the methodology for our research is explained in detail and this is followed by an analysis and discussion of the findings of that research. Chapter five concludes the paper and includes appropriate recommendations as well as indications of where the authors feel that further research on the subject may be beneficial. Chapter 2: Literature Review Within this literature review it is the intention to provide an understanding of the historical growth of the Russian retail sector economy since the capital free-market approach was adopted. As an integral part of this review will concentrate upon the political structure and how this differs from that of more developed countries, such as the UK and US. Furthermore, this chapter will review research that has previously been conducted in respect of the external organisations that have already began to operate within this sector of the Russian economy, outlining the experiences that they have had working within this relatively new capitalist environment. 2.1 Russian change to capitalism Following the collapse of communism in the late 1980’s, Russia began the slow steps towards building a free market economy, and this has caught the attention of numerous academic writers and observers. Many researchers, such as Dyker (2004), Medvedev (2000) and Gustafon (2001), have commented upon the fact that in the initial stages this free-market development was hampered by the continuing power struggle that was still taking place between the old hardliners and the new democratic factions. However, when Yeltsin defeated the attempted coup in 1992, power was finally wrestled from the central politicians and the process of conversion to capitalism could and did begin (Medevdev 2000, p.11). This forward move to a capitalist structure was reinforced in the same year by the â€Å"de-controlling† of prices (Gustafon 2001, 10). However, like fledgling free market economies, in the early stages of development the transition bought with it some difficulties. One of the major difficulties was the financial problem resulting from falling output. A Dyker (2004, p.5) and Granville and Oppenheimer (2001, p.3), comment in their research, it was expected that the transition would be â€Å"weak†, and they have expressed some surprise that the West â€Å"despite their expertise on communist regimes,† as Granville and Oppenheimer (2001, p.3) comment, were not prepared for this event. Others have also commented upon the levels of dishonesty in those early years. In Vadim Volkov (2002, p.3 and p.10) study of the Russian Mafia and organised crime, he reveals that there was a significant rise in business crime, particularly extortion and protection rackets. Volkov’s research shows that by the end of the 1980’s the reported incidences had exceeded 4,500 per annum and that it continued to grow dramatically during the early part of the 1990’s, reaching a peak of 17,169 cases in 1996 and the state was struggling to control this situation. The only beneficial effect of this racketeering as far as Volkov (2002, p.142) was that it led to a growth of a retail security sector. Russia also experienced a significant financial disaster in 1998, which saw the relatively new stock market index fall to 38 points, a 60% drop on its opening position, during which time the country fell back on it â€Å"familiar trade activities and exported natural resources, together with outside help to survive the crisis (Turnock 2005, p.130). Things began to change when President Putin came to power. Despite the fact that many researchers consider his approach to be the creation of a â€Å"managed democracy† (Terterov 2005, p.3), with observers being particularly critical of the lack of competition during the 2004 elections. Despite this perception, Putin was able to restore some measure of order to the process of transition. It is the general view that most of Putin’s reforms, perhaps with the exception of the variety of legislations that â€Å"restricted companies freedom of [financial] action† (Granville and Oppenheimer 2001, p.218), did contribute to a more positive free-market economy evolution (Dyker 2004; Granville and Oppeheimer 2001 and Turnock 2005). As Hoffman (2003, p.372), a trustworthy retail-banking environment was being built and additionally retailing outlets being released from state ownership into the hands of private owners. Granville and Oppenheimer’s (2001, p.511) produced evidence of this from a survey, which reported that, â€Å"by the end of 1995, 34 per cent of retail pharmacies had become independent juridical entities.† Oleinik (2005, p.214) confirms this position, revealing, â€Å"Roughly 50 percent of State-owned retailers, wholesale enterprises, public catering and transport enterprises were privatised as of July 1994.† In fact, in the early years much of the early change to capitalism was centred on internalised privatisation and restructuring of the various infrastructures, which researchers such as Burawoy (1996) and Turnock (2002) considered being a normal part of the process to be conducted before economic evolution can begin. 2.2 The Russian Retail Sector Whilst Russia has relied heavily upon its traditional manufacturing and natural resources to provide economic growth in the past, with the onset of capitalisation, it has been widely acknowledged within researches (Gufaston 2001 and Medvevev 2000 are two of these), the retail sector began to have an increasing impact. In fact it is held that in Moscow, which accounts for 27% of the country’s retail trade, this and â€Å"the growth of its consumer sector was the main factor in Russias economic turnaround† (Gustafson 2001, p.186). Many writers have studied the retail phenomena in an attempt to provide an understanding of the theory surrounding it, and how groups within the retail arena will react (e.g. Porter 1979, 1980; McGee Thomas 1986; Caves Porter 1977, 1978). Roth and Klein (1999, p.173), produce a general system theory that results in a multiple of outcomes irrespective of the fact that all firms may be subject to the same environment. The retail development in Russia over the past decade or tow certainly follows this theory. The growth of firms has been subjected to the many differing consumer demands, with a historical preference for open market and small store shopping. Similarly the geographical situation is Russia, whit a small number of major towns and cities dispersed over a wide area, has made also affected their growth patterns. Despite the fact that it is generally consider that the authorities approach to the retail sector has been correct (Terterov 2005, p. 28), there are others that argue that â€Å"business found it hard going, burdened as they were not only by taxes and the extortions of corrupt officials but also by the cruel racketeering that kept growing stronger† (Medvedev 2000, p.23). Similarly, others believe that there the development of the consumer sector was poor (Dyker 2004, p.57) and, in comparison with more developed economies, the levels of â€Å"integration were rather low† (Wehrheim 2002, p.19). Furthermore, this is said to have led to a wide variance of standards, with some improving and others not (Medvevev 2000, p.91). Thus it is little wonder that such researchers in the early 2000’s, should consider that â€Å"Russia was not the most successful country in pursuing the shift from plan to market( Wehrheim 2003, p.17). However during the last five years this position has begun to change, with the retail sector now growing at a dramatic rate. In fact its growth position is second only to India. This is being partially attributed to the increase in personal and disposable income (see table 1), GDP and the rise in the currency value. (Newswire Today 2007). This growth is encouraging attention from foreign businesses, who are looking for business or joint-venture opportunities in the Russian retail sector, such as the food industry (Wehrheim 2003, p.136) 2.3 Foreign Investment in Russia’s Retail sector Prior to Gorbachev’s accession to the Russian Presidency, FDI in Russia had been banned since the late 1920’s (Brady 2000, p.185). However, since this ban was lifted, and particularly during the past decade, FDI has become an increasingly important part of Russia’s economic growth (Dyker 2004, p.207), However, FDI interest was slow to begin with. Turnock (2005, p.3) advances the theory that this was due to the fact that â€Å"Whilst FDI and economic growth are linked, it does not necessarily follow that FDI helps in improving the investment climate, it usually requires the climate to be good in the first place.† Similarly, as foreign investors had learnt with other emerging countries, there is no â€Å"pain without Gain (Dyker, 2004, p.20). Nevertheless, once the free-market economy begun to flourish for internal organisations, Western corporation became interested, and this led to an increase in investment from overseas, which rose by â€Å"155 in dollar terms† by the end of 1994 (Brady 2000, p.205). Investors wanted to get a share of the market stock, â€Å"even though they often knew nothing about the companies , a situation encouraged by Russian tycoons (Hoffman 2003, p.207 and p.361). The one incident that did produce an adverse effect to FDI in Russia was the financial crisis of 1998 when, because of the apparent inability of the market â€Å"to restore order in its economy has forced foreign investors to take their money and head for the exit† (Medvedev 2000, p.296) However, once this crisis had been resolved, the flow of FDI continued to grow (see table 2). By the end of 1995 it had reached a position where five percent of the Russian consumer market was in the hands of foreign owners or their subsidiaries (Medvedecv 2000, p.156). Table 2 FDI in emerging countries in Europe Source: Turnock 2005, p.5 The position has also increased dramatically in the years post those in the above table. For example, the CIA Fact book (2007) showed that FDI doubled from $14.6 billion to $30 billion between 2005 and 2006. These figures were building on the back of a $9.4 billion FDI amount in 2004 (Special Report 2005), and there is little sign of this situation slowing down in the foreseeable future. In addition to the taking over of domestic retailers, foreign corporations are also setting up their own within the country, with Ikea, which â€Å"has 50,000 workers and 159 stores in 29 countries making and selling over 10,000 articles around the world and is one of the largest furniture companies† (Turnock 2005, p.237) being one of the most noticeable. 2.4 Summary It would appear from the literature that has been reviewed here that, whilst most academics agreed that Russia’s road to capitalism had a less than favourable start, and was also interrupted by the crisis of 1998, it’s economic growth has now become more stable and, despite the current political disquiet that exists about the country, the current levels of growth and FDI are set to continue for the foreseeable future. Chapter 2: Methodology 2.1. Research method Due to the complexities of the research being undertaken, together with the geographical and time constraints, it was felt that the best method of approach for this research was to use a quantitative approach. In view of the study being conducted, it is felt that this approach a wealth of literature, information that would span a sufficient level of governmental, independent observers and research sources to enable this paper to achieve its objectives. Similarly, such is the breadth of these resources that it is felt they ensure accuracy and ample range for comparative purposes. In the view of the author this approach has provided an adequate research base for purpose of this study. 2.2. Research material choice In terms of the government resources, the relevant data has been selected from various national international and global organisations. Other data in respect of FDI and the retail sector activity within the Russian market place, has been collected and researched using academic publications, together with industry news and press reports, supported by surveys and other technical data. Furthermore, we have used the data available on several corporate bodies that have secured a position within this market sector. 2.3. Research performance Using this data, the first step was to study the movement of the retail sector itself during the past few years, then to outline the events within the foreign direct investment factor, including a brief study of some of the external corporations that have sought to invest in this market place. During this process we have been able to also identify the benefits and disadvantage that such a move might bring to the investing corporation company. From these actions we have then been able to conduct analysis and outline areas for discussion. Chapter 3: Findings and Analysis 4.1 Russian retail sector The Russian retail sector, as previously indicated previously, has seen a period of continued growth since the beginning of this century. According to research carried out by RNCOS (2006), The market in 2004 grew to a value of $193.2 million, which represents a year-on-year performance increase of nearly thirty one percent, making in one of the most attractive retail markets globally. The same report also states that the expectation is for the growth rate to continue to exceed GDP during the course of the following years. Later resources available from the Russian Trade federation (see figure 1), show that this growth is continuing and is anticipated to accelerate in the next three years, with the major concentration on the main cities and towns. Figure 1 Russian retail growth Source http://www.russiantradeny.com/index.php?chapter=rtaction=showid=41 Additionally, the Russian statistics service (Rosstat) have released figures for the first quarter of 2007, which show that in that period alone the grown has been 13.6%, which at $117.456 billion, puts the sector on course to reach $500 billion for the who year. , in Russia, retail sales grew 13.6% YOY to reach the level of 3.043 Trillion Rubles (US$117.456757 Billion) from January to April 2007. However, retail sales grew 13.8% to reach around 814.8 billion rubles (US$31.4504652 Billion) in this April alone. A further report by Kuipers (2006) shows a further breakdown of these sales. From this analysis, it can be seen that, whilst food retail is growing appreciably at 17.6%, the non-feed area is doing even better (see figure 2). Figure 2 Breakdown of retail sales Of these amounts approximately 48% represent retail sales attributed to imported goods. The increases n this area has been brought about partially as a result of recent changes that the Russian authorities have made to various duties and levies. For example, as a recent Euromonitor (2006) study shows, the import duty on â€Å"raw coffee beans was abolished in 2006, with the direct intention of encouraging new players such as Nescafe and Starbucks. The following graph shows the effect that it is estimated this will have on the market for hot drink sales over the next few years. Figure 3 Russia Hot Drink sales There has been a significant growth of retail in the past few years in Russia and, as a result of this, Russia’s 76.3% increase in trade outlets is out-stripping the performance of other Eastern European countries (Czech 0% and Croatia 17%) and Europe as a whole (20%). The generally held view, as voiced by Vitaly Podolskyi, CFO of the Russian retailer Pyaterochka, during an interview with Kuipers (2006), is that by 2010 Russia could well become the largest retail market in Europe. However, in a later interview Vitaly Podolskyi, also stated that it was a difficult sector for domestic retailers, and for foreign entrants who were seeking to establish a profitable business in a reasonable timescale, simply because of the geographic fragmentation of the market place. In this respect his view was that for the foreseeable future, the best route for new entrants would be by mergers and acquisitions. As will be seen later this is a route already being preferred by some of the countries domiciled retail corporations. This view is supported by other research conducted by Kuipers (2006), which confirms that the country’s retail sales are still being generated upon old traditional lines. As can be seen from the following graph (figure 4) (Kuipers 2006), nearly half of all shopping is conducted in open-air markets, with modern trade outlets accounting for only around 20%. and the rest being generated through smaller outlets. Figure 4 retail sales 2005 Much of the reason for the slow pace of change in consumer buying habits is because of the fact that most development in this sector has taken place in the major cities such as Moscow and others mentioned in figure 1 above (see page 20). As mentioned earlier, with such a large geographical area and spread of population involved, it is difficult to impact these methods upon the larger population. However, as the growth rates in these metropolis begin to slow down, so the major retailers are beginning to look for growth further afield (Zeitung 2004), this is currentlu concentrated upon areas where the population is more than one million, but as this development continues, as with economies like the UK, smaller areas of population will no doubt be targeted in the future. As of 2004, as reported in a study conducted by Harri Larentz,, the major retailers within the Russian sector are still predominantly of domestic origin (see Table 3), with only three external competitors at that time. These can generally be broken down into three types of operators. †¢ discounters – developed by Magnit, Pyaterochka, Dixi and Kopeika. They feature a limited assortment (up to 4,500 SKUs), selling space of 250-1,000 m ², and a gross margin of 17-24 per cent. They are normally located in residential areas. †¢ traditional supermarkets – developed by Seventh Continent, Perekriostok, Ramstore, Rewe and, recently, by Auchan, with locations in city centres, along highways and in residential areas. Typically they generate a gross margin of 25-32 per cent and have an assortment of up to 20,000 SKUs. †¢ hypermarkets – developed by Auchan, Metro, Perekriostok, Mosmart, Lenta, Karousel and Seventh Continent – with selling space from 4,000-16,000 m ², 15,000-40,000 SKUs and a gross margin of 13-20 per cent. However, since this report was produced, the chains of Pyaterochka and Perekrestok have been merged to form the largest food retailer in the country by turnover.(X5 Retail Group NV 2007). Table 3 Russian major retailers. Source: Harri Lorentz 2004 From the consumers viewpoint, these new retail formats are having a beneficial effect, and not only in increasing the range of choice, but in the early days they increased the consumers purchasing power by bringing down price increases, although in latter years this has not been maintained (Anon 2005). Although the Russian economy experienced a downturn during the first half of 2005, from 7.6% to 5.6%, the position has improved since then, and the advances being made within the retail sector are driving much of this improvement. 4.2 Foreign Direct Investment As has been previously identified within this research, FDI is continuing to increase within the Russian economy (see table 2, p.16) and the latest figures produced by the Russian Federal state statistics service confirms this position for 2006-2007 (see table 3 below). However, as can be seen from this table. The amount of FDI directed at the retail sector is still a relatively small percentage of the overall investment. Table 3 FDI levels 2006-2007 Nevertheless, although this is the case, some of the balance of FDI is going to manufacturing industries that serve as production and supplier organisations for the retail sector. For example, in 2006 Nestle and their main competitor Kraft â€Å"launched and built† instant coffee production facilities (Eurmonitor 2006), which will no doubt encourage other foreign corporations to make the same move. Food Retailers There are already some international corporations already investing in the retail sector. As was noted in the report by Harri Larentz (2004), Auchan from France, Martloraf and Metro from Germany, Ramstore from Turkey, Spar from the Netherlands and Stockmann from Finland already have a foot in the door. But, apart from Ramstor and Metro, which have around 2 and six stores respec

Lean Manufacturing In Automobile Industry Of Pakistan Commerce Essay

Lean Manufacturing In Automobile Industry Of Pakistan Commerce Essay The objective of the lean manufacturing is to reduce the lead time and cost of production. In competitive markets, the issue of lead-time is of great importance, it is the main driving factor for business profitability but people are less aware of the lean manufacturing its importance that can bring drastic improvement in Automobile industry of Pakistan. Lean manufacturing is the production of goods using less of everything compared to mass production. It focuses on less human effort, less manufacturing space, less investment in tools, and less engineering time to develop a new product. Lean manufacturing is a generic process management philosophy derived mostly from the (Toyota Production, 1991) Toyota Production System (TPS) Womack, James P., Jones, Daniel T., and Roos, Daniel (1991). In the simplest form, lean manufacturing means producing goods with less; it applies fewer resources without affecting the quantity or quality of the goods produced. Toyotas purpose in developing the system was the elimination of waste, and TPS is focused on seven sources of it: over-production caused by emphasis on supply rather than demand; wasted motion due to poor processes; waiting time generated by tuning the production system to the fastest rather than the slowest process; conveyance waste caused by poorly designed supply systems that delay the transit of goods; processing waste from badly designed systems; raw material waste from inefficient design or ineffective supply strategies; correction waste caused by reworking badly made products. (Toyota Production, 1991) Toyota Production System (TPS) Womack, James P., Jones, Daniel T., and Roos, Daniel (1991). The results of TPS have included enormous advances in robotic manufacturing systems and factory design, just-in-time inventory management, the kanban system of visual inventory replacement cues, demand-pull management of manufacturing planning and others. But lean manufacturing also has evolved into a business philosophy based on a unique set of practices, and the resulting business culture demonstrates how to use these to create a lean approach to other aspects of business; one area ripe for this lesson is supply chain management. Lean manufacturing is the systematic elimination of waste from all aspects of an organizations operations, where waste is viewed as any use or loss of resources that does not lead directly to creating the product or service a customer wants when they want it. In many industrial processes, such non-value added activity can comprise more than 90 percent of a factorys total activity (Simon Caulkin, 2002). The supply chain permeates every face of the enterprise, and if a lean approach to managing it is to succeed, the entire organization has to focus on removing waste and adding value. As a part of this change it requires everyone to involve for looking beyond the boundaries of the company to relationships with customers and suppliers at all levels. The change in focus is essential, but implementing it can be difficult in todays international supply chain environment. Nevertheless, the principles of lean business are straightforward and can form the foundation for an organizations new approach to its supply chain. (Ventana Research , Europe). First, product value has to be defined from the customers point of view, not the companys. This seemingly simple principle is the key to eliminating waste caused by such things as making the wrong product (one that nobody wants), making the product at an unsuitable quality level, making too much or too little of it, or delivering it too slowly or through the wrong channel. A second principle is that the supply chain should flow continuously, and so should the information that supports it. Delays and discontinuities in the supply chain process are often caused by starting and ending processes or information streams that could smooth things out if they were operated continuously. Product should be pulled by the customer, not pushed by the company. That is, no part of any supply chain process should be started without a complete understanding of the demand destination of the final product that will complete the cycle. Finally, the entire organization needs to continue to manage toward perfection, concentrating on the elimination of waste and the addition of value in all of its supply chain processes. This is a continuous process that starts with the launch of a lean supply chain management strategy and it continues. Purpose:- The main purpose of this thesis is to determine the importance of lean manufacturing and create its awareness amongst the automobile industry of Pakistan, which then can be applied by the whole manufacturing sector of Pakistan to make them more competitive in terms of price as well as in speeding the delivery time. The thesis is to draw together the evidence about the benefits of lean manufacturing in automobile industry of Pakistan. It has been noticed that automobile industry is concerned about the cost delivery time, which are the key success factors for this industry. At present, the whole automobile sector is suffering from losses, which has led many businesses to shutdown. Problem discussion: Pakistans automobile industry is losing its competitiveness in the market due to the intense competition faced from world markets in terms of cost delivery time. Buyers get low quality products which reduces their confidence in Pakistani products. Up till now Pakistan automobile industry has been unable to meet the lead time demanded by highly profitable automobiles and is also unable to fulfill the low price expectations of western markets. Until and unless any initiative to reduce the cost and delivery time of product will not be taken, any improvement in the industry would not take place. In order to bring improvements in this industry, it is important to direct this industrys attention towards lean manufacturing. This thesis has been done to focus in this area to check that why lean manufacturing has not yet been implemented in the automobile industry of Pakistan. De limitation of the study:- There are some limitations of this thesis. The work focuses on Manufacturers and assemblers of Automobiles industry located in Pakistan and which has the sales volume more than 10 million. Due to the limited time only top few Manufacturers are included in the research work, which are Indus Motor Company -Toyota Motor Co Pak Suzuki Motors. Al-Ghazi Tractors Further the work doesnt include interview with supplier customer which requires detail research so it is limited to the organizations internal boundary only. Research Question:- This thesis is an attempt to answer the following question:- Q: What is the knowledge level of production people about the lean manufacturing? Q: Are the production manager of automobile industry aware of lean tools? Q: Are the production manager of automobile industry aware of lean manufacturing benefits? Q: To understand the issues of adoption of lean manufacturing in automobile industry in Pakistan? Implication of the study: The purpose of this thesis is to find how much the management of this industry in Pakistan is aware of lean manufacturing and then highlight the obstacles that exist in its implementation. This thesis also provides the benefits of lean manufacturing to the automobile industry of Pakistan, which is facing troubles in these days due to higher cost of production delay in delivery dates. Hence, this thesis is beneficial for the automobile manufacturers so that they can realize the importance of lean manufacturing and then implement it to gain the competitive advantage in terms of lower costs and on time deliveries. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Lean manufacturing is a technique that allows companies to be more responsive to quickly changing markets and more sophisticated demanding customers. (Dohse, JurgensMalsh,1985,p.118). History of Lean Manufacturing Toyota is often considered one of the most efficient manufacturing companies in the world and the company that sets the standard for best practices in Lean Manufacturing. (James Womack Daniel Roos, 1992). Lean Manufacturing has increasingly been applied by leading manufacturing companies throughout the world, lead by the major automobile manufactures and their equipment suppliers. Lean Manufacturing is becoming an increasingly important topic for manufacturing companies in developed countries as they try to find ways to compete more effectively against competition from developing countrie. Starting about 1910, Ford and his right-hand-man, Charles E. Sorensen, fashioned the first comprehensive Manufacturing Strategy. They took all the elements of a manufacturing system people, machines, tooling, and products and arranged them in a continuous system for manufacturing the Model T automobile. Ford was so incredibly successful he quickly became one of the worlds richest men and put the world on wheels. Ford is considered by many to be the first practitioner of Just in Time and Lean Manufacturing. Beyond large scale production 7 categories of muda or waste:- Overproduction producing more unit than customers are demanding or producing them earlier than customer order them. (Taiichi Ohno, 1988) Waiting people waiting for machine or process; product waiting for people, machines or processes. Transportation moving product from one place to another. Inventory Raw material, work in process (WIP), finished goods in excess of direct customer requirement. Motion: Any movement people or machines that does not actually transform product from one state to another. Over processing Performing operation that are unnecessary. Defect creating or passing along product which contains error in material or processing. Definition of lean manufacturing Lean manufacturing is the systematic elimination of waste from all aspects of an organizations operations, where waste is viewed as any use or loss of resources that does not lead directly to creating the product or service a customer wants when they want it. In many industrial processes, such non-value added activity can comprise more than 90 percent of a factorys total activity. (Simon Caulkin. Waste Not, Want Not, The Observer (September 2002). Many of the concepts in Lean Manufacturing originate from the Toyota Production System (TPS) and have been implemented gradually throughout Toyotas operations beginning in the 1950s. By the 1980s Toyota had increasingly become known for the effectiveness with which it had implemented Just-In-Time (JIT) manufacturing systems. The brainpower that businesses bring to bear to eliminate wasted assets, materials, and time in production should  equally be deployed to improve the processes of consumption that customers follow. Like their earlier work, this is both a landmark synthesis of ideas whose implications havent been fully understood and a breakthrough to new territory. (Thomas A.Stewart, 2000) Main Kinds of Waste Originally 7- 9 main types of waste were identified as part of the Toyota Production System. However, this list has been modified and expanded by various practitioners of lean manufacturing and generally includes the following: 1. Over-production Over-production is unnecessarily producing more than demanded or producing it too early before it is needed. This increases the risk of obsolescence, increases the risk of producing the wrong thing and increases the possibility of having to sell those items at a discount or discard them as scrap. However, there are some cases when an extra supply of semi-finished or finished products is intentionally maintained, even by lean manufacturers. 2. Defects In addition to physical defects which directly add to the costs of goods sold, this may include errors in paperwork, provision of incorrect information about the product, late delivery, production to incorrect specifications, use of too much raw materials or generation of unnecessary scrap. 3. Inventory Inventory waste means having unnecessarily high levels of raw materials, works-in-progress and finished products. Extra inventory leads to higher inventory financing costs, higher storage costs and higher defect rates. For more on this, please see section 2.5 below. 4. Transportation Transportation includes any movement of materials that does not add any value to the product, such as moving materials between workstations. The idea is that transportation of materials between production stages should aim for the ideal, that the output of one process is immediately used as the input for the next process. Transportation between processing stages results in prolonging production cycle times, the inefficient use of labor and space and can also be a source of minor production stoppages. 5. Waiting Waiting is idle time for workers or machines due to bottlenecks or inefficient production flow on the factory floor. Waiting also includes small delays between processing of units. Waiting results in a significant cost insofar as it increases labor costs and depreciation costs per unit of output. 6. Motion Motion includes any unnecessary physical motions or walking by workers which diverts them from actual processing work. For example, this might include walking around the factory floor to look for a tool, or even unnecessary or difficult physical movements, due to poorly designed ergonomics, which slow down the workers. 7. Correction Correction, or reprocessing, is when something has to be re-done because it wasnt done correctly the first time. This not only results in inefficient use of labor and equipment but the act of re-processing often causes disruptions to the smooth flow of production and therefore generates bottlenecks and stoppages. Also, issues associated with reworking typically consume a significant amount of management time and therefore add to factory overhead costs. 8. Over-processing Over-processing is unintentionally doing more processing work than the customer requires in terms of product quality or features such as polishing or applying finishing on some areas of a product that wont be seen by the customer. 9. Knowledge Disconnection This is when information or knowledge isnt available where or when it is needed. This might include information on correct procedures, specifications, ways to solve problems, etc. Lack of correct information often leads to defects and bottlenecks. For example, unavailability of a mixing formula may potentially suspend the entire process or create defective items due to time-consuming trial-and-error tests. What kinds of companies benefit most from lean? Lean is most widely used in industries that are assembly-oriented or have a high amount of repetitive human processes. These are typically industries for which productivity is highly influenced by the efficiency and attention to detail of the people who are working manually with tools or operating equipment. For these kinds of companies, improved systems can eliminate significant levels of waste or inefficiency. Examples of these companies include wood-processing, garment manufacturing, automobile assembly, electronic assembly and equipment manufacturing. Lean Manufacturing is also appropriate in industries for which it is a strategic priority to shorten the production cycle time to the absolute minimum as a source of competitive advantage for the company. Recently, some companies in Vietnam have actively conducted training and implemented lean methods to eliminate process inefficiencies. This resulted in an improvement to their production and service lead times. For example, Toyota Ben Thanh, a service center of Toyota in Vietnam, has implemented lean methods to significantly reduce the process time for its automobile maintenance service from 240 minutes to 45-50 minutes per car, and as a result, increased the total number of cars processed at each service center from 4-6 cars up to 16 cars per day. Toyota Ben Thanh achieved significant reductions in the process lead time by successfully eliminating unnecessary waiting time, inefficiencies of physical motions and process flow. (Thoi Bao Kinh Te Saigon, 2004) Objectives of Lean Manufacturing Lean Manufacturing, also called Lean Production, is a set of tools and methodologies that aims for the continuous elimination of all waste in the production process. The main benefits of this are lower production costs, increased output and shorter production lead times. More specifically, some of the goals include: 1. Defects and wastage Reduce defects and unnecessary physical wastage, including excess use of raw material inputs, preventable defects, costs associated with reprocessing defective items, and unnecessary product characteristics which are not required by customers. 2. Cycle Times Reduce manufacturing lead times and production cycle times by reducing waiting times between processing stages, as well as process preparation times and product/model conversion times. 3. Inventory levels Minimize inventory levels at all stages of production, particularly works-in-progress between production stages. Lower inventories also mean lower working capital requirements. 4. Labor productivity Improve labor productivity, both by reducing the idle time of workers and ensuring that when workers are working, they are using their effort as productively as possible (including not doing unnecessary tasks or unnecessary motions). 5. Utilization of equipment and space Use equipment and manufacturing space more efficiently by eliminating bottlenecks and maximizing the rate of production though existing equipment, while minimizing machine downtime. 6. Flexibility Have the ability to produce a more flexible range of products with minimum changeover costs and changeover time. 7. Output Insofar as reduced cycle times, increased labor productivity and elimination of bottlenecks and machine downtime can be achieved, companies can generally significantly increased output from their existing facilities. In a 2004 survey by Industry Week Magazine, U.S. companies implementing lean manufacturing reported a median savings of 7% of Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) as a result of implementing lean (George Taninecz, 2004). We believe that the savings actually are higher for companies in Vietnam considering the higher levels of waste which they typically have compared to U.S. based manufacturers. Another way of looking at Lean Manufacturing is that it aims to achieve the same output with less input less time, less space, less human effort, less machinery, less material, less cost. When a U.S. equipment manufacturing company, Lantech, completed the implementation of lean in 1995, they reported the following improvements compared to their batch-based system in 1991: (James P. Womack; Daniel T. Jones, 1996) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Manufacturing space per machine was reduced by 45%; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Defects were reduced by 90% à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Production cycle time was reduced from 16 weeks to 14 hours 5 days; and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Product delivery lead time was reduced from 4-20 weeks to 1-4 weeks. Why Lean Consumption Now? While lean consumption would be a sensible idea in any era, we see several convergent trends that we think make it inevitable and indeed, a competitive necessity now. With the regulated economy steadily contracting, consumers have a broader range of decisions to make, from how to invest retirement funds, to what telecommunications provider to use, to what airline to fly at what price. The mass-producer uses narrowly skilled professionals to design products make by unskilled or semiskilled workers tending expensive, single-purpose machines. These churn out standardized products at high volume. Because the machinery costs so much and is so intolerant of disruption, the mass-producer adds many buffers extra supplies, extra workers, and extra space to assure smooth productionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. The result: The customer gets lower costs but at the expense of variety and by means of work methods that most employees find boring and dispiriting. (Womack, 1990 p 13). While on a tour of a large customer, Michael Dell saw technicians customizing new Dell computers with their companys standard hardware and software. Do you think you guys could do this for me? his host asked. Without missing a beat, Dell replied, Absolutely, wed love to do that.4 Within a couple of weeks, Dell was shipping computers with factory-installed, customer specific hardware and software. What took the customer an hour could be done in the factory in minutes, and furthermore, computers could be shipped directly to end-users rather than making a stop in the corporate IT department. This shortening of the value chain is the essence of lean thinking. Direct from Dell, (Catherine Fredman, 1999) Basic Principles of Lean Add Nothing But Value (Eliminate Waste) The first step in lean thinking is to understand what value is and what activities and resources are absolutely necessary to create that value. Once this is understood, everything else is waste. Since no one wants to consider what they do as waste, the job of determining what value is and what adds value is something that needs to be done at a fairly high level. Lets say you are developing order tracking software. It seems like it would be very important for a customer to know the status of their order, so this would certainly add customer value. But actually, if the order is in house for less than 24 hours, the only order status that is necessary is to inform the customer that the order was received, and then that it has shipped, and let them know the shipping tracking number. Better yet, if the order can be fulfilled by downloading it on the Web, there really isnt any order status necessary at all. To develop breakthroughs with lean thinking, the first step is learning to see waste . If something does not directly add value, it is waste. If there is a way to do without it, it is waste. Taiichi Ohno, the mastermind of the Toyota Production System, identified seven types of manufacturing waste, (2002 Poppendieck.LLC) Do It Right The First Time It is instructive to explore the origins of the slogan Do It Right the First Time. In the 1980s it was very difficult to change a mass-production plant to lean production, because in mass production, workers were not expected to take responsibility for the quality of the product. To change this, the management structure of the plant had to change. Workers respond only when there exists some sense of reciprocal obligation, a sense that management actually values skilled workers, and is willing to delegate responsibility to [them]. The slogan Do It Right the First Time encouraged workers to feel responsible for the products moving down the line, and encourage them to stop the line and troubleshoot problems when and where they occurred. ( Womack ,1990 p 99). A more appropriate translation of such slogans as Zero Defects and Do It Right the First Time would be Test First. In other words, dont code unless you understand what the code is supposed to do and have a way to determine whether the code works. A good knowledge of the domain coupled with short build cycles and automated testing constitute the proper way for software developers to Do It Right the First Time. (2002 Poppendieck.LLC) Center On The People Who Add Value Almost every organization claims its people are important, but if they truly center on those who add value, they would be able to say: The people doing the work are the center of:- Resources Information Process Design Authority Decision Making Authority Organizational Energy In mass-production, tasks are structured so that low skilled or unskilled workers can easily do the repetitive work, but engineers and managers are responsible for production. Workers are not allowed to modify or stop the line, because the focus is to maintain volume. One of the results of mass-production is that unskilled workers have no incentive to volunteer information about problems with the manufacturing line or ways to improve the process. Maladjusted parts get fixed at the end of the line; a poor die or improperly maintained tool is managements problem. Workers are neither trained nor encouraged to worry about such things. The truly lean plant has two key organizational features: It transfers the maximum number of tasks and responsibilities to those workers actually adding value to the car on the line, and it has in place a system for detecting defects that quickly traces every problem, once discovered, to its ultimate cause.9 Similarly in any lean enterprise, the focus is on the people who add value. In lean enterprises, traditional organizational structures give way to new team-oriented organizations which are centered on the flow of value, not on functional expertise. The first experiment Taiichi Ohno undertook in developing lean production was to figure out a way to allow massive, single-purpose stamping machines to stamp out multiple parts. Formerly, it took skilled machinists hours, if not days, to change dies from one part to another. Therefore, mass production plants had many single purpose stamping machines in which the dies were almost never changed. Volume, space, and financing were not available in Japan to support such massive machines, so Ohno set about devising simple methods to change the stamping dies in minutes instead of hours. This would allow many parts of a car to be made on the same line with the same equipment. Since the workers had nothing else to do while the die was being changed, they also did the die changing, and in fact, the stamping room workers were involved in developing the methods of rapid die changeover. Ohno transferred most of the work being done by engineers and managers in mass-production plants to the production workers. He grouped workers in small teams and trained the teams to do their own industrial engineering. Workers were encouraged to stop the line if anything went wrong, (a management job in mass production).Before the line was re-started, the workers were expected to search for the root cause of the problem and resolve it. At first the line was stopped often, which would have been a disaster at a mass production plant. But eventually the line ran with very few problems, because the assembly workers felt responsible to find, expose, and resolve problems as they occurred. Flow Value from Demand The idea of flow is fundamental to lean production. If you do nothing but add value, then you should add the value in as rapid a flow as possible. If this is not the case, then waste builds up in the form of inventory or transportation or extra steps or wasted motion. The idea that flow should be pulled from demand is also fundamental to lean production. Pull means that nothing is done unless and until a downstream process requires it. The effect of pull is that production is not based on forecast; commitment is delayed until demand is present to indicate what the customer really wants. Pulling from demand can be one of the easiest ways to implement lean principles, as LL Bean and Lens Crafters and Dell found out. The idea is to fill each customer order immediately. In mass-production days, filling orders immediately meant building up lots of inventory in anticipation of customer orders. Lean production changes that. The idea is to be able to make the product so fast that it can be m ade to order. True, Dell and Lens Crafters and LL Bean and Toyota have to have some inventory of sub-assemblies waiting to be turned into a finished product at a moments notice. But its amazing how little inventory is necessary, if the process to replenish the inventory is also lean. A truly lean distribution channel only works with a really lean supply chain coupled to very lean manufacturing. In addition to rapid, Just-in-Time information flow, Lean Software Development means rapid, Just-in-Time delivery of value. In manufacturing, the key to achieving rapid delivery is to manufacture in small batches pulled by a customer order. Similarly in software development, the key to rapid delivery is to divide the problem into small batches (increments) pulled by a customer story and customer test. The single most effective mechanism for implementing lean production is adopting Just-in-Time, pull-from-demand flow. Similarly, the single most effective mechanism for implementing Lean Development is delivering increments of real business value in short time-boxes. 2002 Poppendieck.LLC Optimize across Organizations Quite often, the biggest barrier to adopting lean practices is organizational. As products move from one department to another, a big gap often develops, especially if each department has its own set of performance measurements that are unrelated to the performance measurements of neighboring departments. For example, lets say that the performance measurement of a stamping room is machine productivity. This measurement motivates the stamping room to build up mounds of inventory to keep the machines running at top productivity. It does not matter that the inventory has been shown to degrade the overall performance of the organization. As long as the stamping room is measured primarily on machine productivity, it will build inventory. This is what is known as a sub-optimizing measurement, because it creates behavior which creates local optimization at the expense of overall optimization. (2002 Poppendieck.LLC) Lean manufacturing Automobile Industry Lean manufacturing is applicable to almost every industry and it is known that the initiators of this technique is TOYOTA by the name Toyota Production System, than this techniques became generalize and open for all with some modifications and named as Lean. We fully expect that lean manufacturing will give a competitive advantage to this industry. Automobile Industry of Pakistan Pakistan is a rising market for automobiles offers massive business and investment opportunities. The total involvement of Auto industry to GDP in 2007 was 2.8% which was expected to increase up to 5.6% in 5 years. Total gross sales of automobiles in Pakistan were Rs.214 billion in 2006-07 or $2.67 billion. The industry tax accumulated to Rs.63 billion in 2007-08 that the government has imposed on automobiles. There are 500 auto-parts producers in the country that supply parts to original equipment manufacturers. Auto sector presently, contributes 16% to the manufacturing sector which also is projected to increase 25% in the next 7 years, compared to 6.7% during 2001-02. Vehicles manufacturers directly employ over 192,000 people with a entire investment of more than $ 1.5 billion. At present, there are about 82 vehicles assemblers in the industry producing passengers cars, light commercial vehicles, trucks, buses, tractors and 2/3 wheelers. The auto policy is geared up to make an inv estment of $ 4.09 billion in the next five years thus, making a target of half a million cars per annum achievable. Pakistan has the highest number of CNG-powered vehicles in the world with more than 1.55 million cars and passenger buses, constituting 24% of total vehicles in Pakistan with improved fuel efficiency and conforming to the l

The Themes in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown Essay -- Young Goodman B

The Themes in â€Å"Young Goodman Brown†Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† the reader finds several themes. These will be discussed in this essay.    Morse Peckham in â€Å"The Development of Hawthorne’s Romanticism† explains what he interprets Hawthorne’s main theme to be:    Once the self has been redeemed from society it can be explored in its own terms, and for this purpose Hawthorne developed his peculiar use of emblematic allegory. . . . This technique, though Hawthorne’s is different from that of European writers, creates analogies between self and not-self, between personality and the worlds. . . .Henceforth Hawthorne’s theme is the redemption of the self through the acceptance and exploitation of what society terms the guilt of the individual but which to the Romantic is society’s guilt (92).    The interplay between the guilt of the individual, Goodman, and society’s guilt, underlies all of â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† from beginning to end.    In reading Hawthorne’s tales, Herman Melville in â€Å"Hawthorne and His Mosses† (in Literary World, August 17, 24, 1850) makes discoveries relevant to the themes:    Where Hawthorne is known, he seems to be deemed a pleasant writer, with a pleasant style,--a sequestered, harmless man, from whom any deep and weighty thing would hardly be anticipated:--a man who means no meanings. But there is no man, in whom humor and love, like mountain peaks, soar to such a rapt height, as to receive the irradiations of the upper skies;--there is no man in whom humor and love are developed in that high form called genius; no such man can exist without also possessing, as the indispensable complement of these, a great, deep intellect, which drops down... ...â€Å"The Return into Time: Hawthorne.† In Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.    Martin, Terence â€Å"Six Tales.† In Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Twayne Publishers Inc., 1965.    Melville, Herman. â€Å"Hawthorne and His Mosses,† The Literary World August 17, 24, 1850. http://eldred.ne.mediaone.net/nh/hahm.html    Peckham, Morse. â€Å"The Development of Hawthorne’s Romanticism.† In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.    Swisher, Clarice. â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne: a Biography.† In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.    Wagenknecht, Edward. Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Man, His Tales and Romances. New York: Continuum Publishing Co., 1989.