An Understanding of Managment Tools The WritePass Journal

An Understanding of Managment Tools An Understanding of Managment Tools IntroductionReferencesRelated Introduction With some 740 stores in 54 countries, the Spanish clothing retailer Zara has hit on a formula for supply chain management that works by challenging conventional wisdom. This excerpt from a recent Harvard Business Review profile on how Zara’s supply chain communicates, allowing it to design, produce, and deliver a garment in fifteen days. Zara’s history began in 1963 when Amancio Ortega Gaona opened Confecciones GOA in La Coruà ±a, to manufacture women’s pyjamas and lingerie products for garment wholesalers. In 1975, after a German customer cancelled a sizable order, the firm opened its first Zara retail shop in La Coruà ±a. The original intention was simply to have an outlet for cancelled orders. However, the experience taught the firm the importance of a ‘marriage’ between manufacturing and retailing a lesson that has guided the evolution of the company ever since. From a starting point of six stores in 1979, the company established retail operations in all the major Spanish cities during the 1980’s. In 1985, Confecciones GOA created Inditex as the head of the corporate group. In 1988, the first Zara store outside Spain opened in Porto, Portugal, followed shortly by a store in New York City in 1989 and Paris in 1990. However, the real ‘step-up’ in foreign expansion took place during the 1990s when Inditex entered 29 countries in Europe, the Americas and Asia. In parallel with its overseas expansion, Inditex diversified its retail offering by another adjacency expansion with new brands like Pull and Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka and Stradivarius to meet new customer segments. However, Zara still count for eighty per cent of Inditex’s revenue. Each of Inditex’s brands operates independently, but shares the commitment to supply fashion at affordable prices and all employ similar management models for the control of the total supply chain to maximize speed to market. Fig 1 illustrates Inditex’s expansion. The figure imitates the stem of a tree, which gain a new circle for every year that goes by. The circles indicate the different expansion Inditex has accomplished, moving from being a fabric to opening its first store and to opening other clothing chains. These types of expansions justify as adjacency expansion. Adjacency expansion draws the skills in the core business to build a competitive advantage in a new adjacent competitive arena in order to target different customer segments. This adjacency expansion has lead to the need of changing Inditex’s core business. Inditex has shifted from being a fabric working towards several retailers, to becoming a big concern covering most parts of the production as well as the final sale. To grow into a new adjacency around a once-successful core business is the critical factor in 75 per cent of today’s total business disasters. The American grocery chains Wal-Mart and Kmart illustrate an example on difficulties in adjacency expansion. They both open their first grocery store in 1962. Wal-Mart successfully moved into adjacency such as Sam’s Club, electronics and Mexico, one by one. Kmart however, struggled more with the expansion. They moved from books to sporting goods and even to a chain of department stores in Czechoslovakia. This drifted Kmart into bankruptcy. Showing that even though they started out equally, the different choose of steps in adjacency expansion lead one to be a big failure and the other to be one of USA most respected companies. Another example is Nike versus Reebok, which in 1990 had almost equal revenue. While Nike had a clear strategy, consisting of a repeatable process it had developed and refined over a decade, to attack one sport after another with the help of different famous athletes, Reebok’s path was a mystery to those covering the company. They expanded in different directions and as their core shoe business was doing badly, they kept on expanding into new unconnected arias. In addition, Nike’s strong adjacencies expansion made it even harder for Reebok to increase the total sale and ended up decreasing its revenue. It is not easy to know which expansion that is the right expansion. However, after studying adjacencies expansion in over 100 companies, Chris Zook presents primary six ways to expand the boundaries of business .Fig 2 illustrates these expansions. This is trough new businesses, forward integration, new geographies, new channels, new customer segments or new products. In parallel to Inditex’s, Zara has accomplished several adjacencies expansions during its history. One of two main expansions is by moving from selling women’s underwear and pyjamas to regular clothes, shoes, handbags and even make-up. This signifies product adjacencies by marketing a new product or service to core customers. This is one of the most commonly pursued and highest potential adjacencies. The other main growth is by expanding into selling men’s wear and children’s wear. These customer adjacencies modifying a proven product or technology to enter a very new market segment and are a major adjacency move for most companies. In addition, Zara continuously expand their business by successfully opening new stores around the world and at the same time enlarge their local industry by expanding the focused production in Spain. Geographic adjacencies move into new geographic areas, is a type of adjacency expansion that companies consistently underestimate in complexity. Zara has also achieved new business adjacencies by opening Zara Home, a store that sell accessories to the home like kitchen wear and bedclothes. With this, it builds a new business around a strong capability and essentially repositioning it. This is the rarest form of adjacency move, and the most difficult to achieve success with. In addition, Zara has also expanded with channel adjacencies by offering a small proportion of its collection on Internet sale. Although this is more for promotion, it is still a channel adjacency expansion. All of Zara’s different expansion fits into the primary six ways to expire the boundaries of business. Fig. 3 illustrated that Zara has expanded in every direction. Finding a repeatable method of moving into new adjacencies, one after the other has a clear benefit in the learning curve. This contributes to competitive advantage making the adjacencies better and faster each time. Zara’s supply chain In an interview with CNN, Jose Maria Castellano, chief executive at Inditex, talked about Zara’s supply chain and indicated its unusual structure by saying: Investment banks used to say that this model did not work, but we have shown that it gives us more flexibility in production, sales and stock management, At a Zara store, customers can several times a week find new products. The whole collection is in limited supply and they achieve a tempting exclusivity by only displaying a few items, even though the stores are spacious. It makes the customer think, This green shirt fits me, and there is only one on the rack. If I dont buy it now, Ill lose my chance. Zara has built a concept around ‘fast fashion’. Moving away from the traditionally one collection per session, Zara continually design, produce and deliver new styles. They base their business on demand instead of forecasting. Picking up what people wear on the street, at the university or at a nightclub, Zara’s designer’s catches ideas for new styles and can present them in a Zara store only two weeks later, while most of the competitors has a lead-time over three months. This makes Zara always able to offer the latest fashion in it store, leading to more sale and fewer discounts. Such a retail concept depends on the regular creation and rapid replacement of small batches of new goods. Zara’s designers create approximately 40,000 new designs annually and select 10,000 of them for production. Some of them resemble the latest fashion design creations. Zara often beats the high-fashion houses to the market and offers almost the same products, made with less expensive fabric, to much lower prices. This fast fashion system depends on a constant exchange of information throughout every part of Zara’s supply chain. From customers to store managers, store managers to market specialists and designers, designers to production staff, buyers to subcontractors, warehouse managers to distributors, and so on. Most companies insert layers of bureaucracy that can bog down communication between departments. Zaras organization, operational procedures, performance measures, and even its office layouts, all are designed to make information transfer easy. Zaras single, centralized design and production centre is in Inditex headquarters in La Coruà ±a. It consists of three spacious halls, one for each of the three clothing lines, women, men and children. Unlike most companies, which try to remove unnecessary labour to cut costs, Zara makes a point of running three parallel, but operationally distinct, product families. Though it is more expensive to operate three channels, the information flow for each channel is fast, direct, and unencumbered by problems in other channels, making the overall supply chain more responsive. Each clothing line has separate design, sales, and procurement and production-planning staffs. A store may receive three different calls from La Coruà ±a in one week from a market specialist in each channel; a factory making shirts may deal simultaneously with two Zara managers, one for mens shirts and another for childrens shirts. In each hall, floor to ceiling windows overlooking the Spanish countryside reinforce a sense of cheery informality and openness. Unlike companies that sequester their design staffs, Zaras cadre of 200 designers sits right in the centre of the production process. The designers are usually in their twenties and got the job because of their enthusiasm and talent, no prima donnas allowed. Split among the three lines, they work next to the market specialists and procurement and production planners. Large circular tables play host to spontaneous meetings. Racks of the latest fashion magazines and catalogues fill the walls. A small prototype shop has been set up in the corner of each hall, which encourages everyone to comment on new garments as they evolve. The physical and organizational proximity of the three groups increases both the speed and the quality of the design process. Designers can fast and easy check initial sketches with colleagues. Market specialists, who are in constant touch with store managers and many of whom have been store managers themselves, provide quick feedback about the look of the new designs (style, colour, fabric, and so on) and suggest possible market price points. Procurement and production planners make preliminary, but crucial, estimates of manufacturing costs and available capacity. The cross-functional teams can examine prototypes in the hall, choose a design, and commit resources for its production and introduction in a few hours, if necessary. Once the team selects a prototype for production, the designers refine colours and textures on a computer-aided design system. If the item is to be made in one of Zara’s factories, they transmit the specs directly to the relevant cutting machines and other systems in that factory. Bar codes track the cut pieces as they converts into garments through the various steps involved in production, including sewing operations, distribution, and delivery to the stores, where the communication cycle began. Zara manufacture approximately fifty per cent of its products in its own network of 22 Spanish factories, 18 of which are located in and around the La Coruà ±a complex, and use around 500 subcontractors located close to the head office for all sewing operations. Zara closely monitor these sewing operations to ensure quality, compliance with labour laws, and adherence to the production schedule. The subcontractors are responsible for picking up and deliver the production items to the factory. Here each piece is inspected during ironing, placed in plastic bags and sent to the distribution centre. The other half of its products are procured from 400 outside suppliers, seventy per cent of which are in Europe, and most of the rest in Asia. Many of the European suppliers are located in Spain and Portugal, close to the headquarters. Zara exploits this geographical proximity in order to ensure quick response to Zara’s orders. From Asia, Zara procures basic products and those for which the region has a clear cost or quality advantage. Having the factories in and near Spain gives Zara a tremendous amount of control and flexibility. The location of the production can be seen as a cost trade-off with the cost saved on transportation. Although the increased cost in production will not be offset by the cost reduction in transportation concerning the labour cost is on average 17-20 times the cost in Asia. For its in-house production, Zara obtain forty per cent of its fabric supply from another Inditex-owned subsidiary. The rest of the fabrics come from a range of 260 other suppliers, none account for more than four per cent of Zara’s total production in order to minimize any dependency on single suppliers and encourage maximum responsiveness from them. Most of the fabrics are ordered un-dyed and dyed in one of Inditex manufacturing facilities. By having its own dying facility Zara can quicker respond to demands and it gain less inventory by not storing every fabric in a range of colours. Moreover, if one fabric is not used it can easily be used next season independent of the colures of the next trend. All products pass through Zara’s major distribution centre in La Coruà ±a. In addition, it also has a smaller distribution centre in Zaragoza. The trucks, which run on a bus schedule, deliver to the stores twice a week, using a maximum of 24 hours to stores inside Europe and 48 hours in America. All in all this supply chain, as illustrated in Fig 4, is giving a lead-time on two to four weeks, with a price thirty per cent higher than its competitors and a need to discount only 18 percent of its production. Outsource Zara is careful about the way it deploys the latest information technology tools to facilitate these informal exchanges. Customized handheld computers support the connection between the retail stores and La Coruà ±a. These PDA’s supplement regular, often weekly, phone conversations between the store managers and the market specialists assigned to them. Through the PDA’s and telephone conversations, stores transmit all kinds of information to La Coruà ±a, such hard data as orders and sales trends and such soft data as customer reactions and the buzz around a new style. While any company can use PDA’s to communicate, Zara’s flat organization ensures that important conversations do not fall through the bureaucratic cracks. The constant flow of updated data eases the bullwhip effect, the tendency of supply chains and all open-loop information systems to amplify small disturbances. A small change in retail orders, for example, can result in wide fluctuations in factory orders after transmitting through wholesalers and distributors. In an industry that traditionally allows retailers to change a maximum of twenty per cent of their orders once the season has started, Zara lets them adjust forty to fifty percent. In this way, Zara avoids costly overproduction and the subsequent sales and discounting prevalent in the industry. The insistent introduction of new products in small quantities, ironically, reduces the usual costs associated with running out of any particular item. Indeed, Zara makes a virtue of stock-outs. Empty racks do not drive customers to other stores because the shoppers can always choose form new things. Being out of stock in one item helps sell another, since people are often happy to snatch what they can. In fact, Zara has an informal policy of moving unsold items after two or three weeks. This can be an expensive practice for a typical store, but since Zara stores receive small shipments and carry little inventory, the risks are small, unsold items account for less than ten per cent of stock, compared with the industry average of 17 to twenty per cent. Furthermore, new merchandise displayed in limited quantities and the short window of opportunity for purchasing items motivate people to visit Zara’s shops more frequently than they visit other stores. Consumers in central London , for example, visit the average store four times annually, but Zaras customers visit its shops an average of 17 times a year. The high traffic in the stores circumvents the need for advertising: Zara devotes just 0.3 per cent of its sales on ads, while its rivals spend three to four per cent. References ZARA Outsourcing = http://industrialeducation.blogspot.com/2009/08/study-of-supply-chain-zara-fast-fashion.html (31/03/11)

Nissan culture Essay Example

Nissan culture Essay Example Nissan culture Essay Nissan culture Essay Product recall Opportunity 1 -Growing demand for environmental friendly vehicles 2-Growth with new strategic partnerships 3-lingering fuel price Threats 1- Decreasing fuel price 2-Piercing competition among automobile companies 3- Natural Disasters 4-lingering cost of raw materials 5-Appreciating Yen exchange rate He was successful to change the profitability of the factory by implementing strategies such as cutting unnecessary expenses by closing inefficient sites, reducing workforces, utilizing less expensive materials, sharing operations with Renault, introducing new products. He improve the efficiency and flexibility of his business and inspire sense of internationalism. A. He could change the atmosphere of his company from a local firm to an international one. The first step to reach this goal was the incentive scheme for mangers who can learn English. By encouraging them and making English as official language of Ionians, he made his company culture closer to a global firm. B . Global strategy view Ionians strategy in purchasing, engineering and production became global. It invested 45 million dollars in its engineering centre near Tokyo to combine its engineering and production activities in one place. Not only Ionians had factories in key markets such as Britain, France and the US but also the cites in China, Taiwan and the Philippines were built to make use of low labors cost in these countries . Shoguns focus on R was a key role in his success. By reinvesting 5% of net sales in new technologies, the Mississippi planet only introduced four models in less than eight months. All these characteristics mentioned, depict that Chosen is a Visionary Leader. To differentiate Ionians position from its competitors and become distinguished in global scale. The nature of Niacins international strategy creates a level of management in which having international vision, allocating resources and participating in international markets are high priorities.

CCI - Exploiting new ventures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

CCI - Exploiting new ventures - Essay Example The day to day affairs of the in-company ventures are handled by the business unit management, whereas, the organization management monitors and controls the overall performance of various business units. Joint ventures, whether local or worldwide, are the organizations engrossing two or more companies merging for an interim period to commence a specific project. Joint ventures may engage two or more companies from a single or more countries. International joint ventures in particular are becoming more popular, especially in businesses where a specific project involves huge amount of cost, for e.g. exploration of oil and gas and minerals and metals handling processes. The basic reason behind this type of venture is always to reduce related costs. A spin-out corporate venture is one when a company breaks up its various sections as independent and stand alone businesses or companies. The split company takes its associated assets, properties, products, related technologies and etc from its parent company. Agilent technology is an example of a spin out venture of Hewlett-Packard

Production of an Industrial Blood Research Paper

Production of an Industrial Blood - Research Paper Example Industrial Production Since there is periodic blood shortage, there is need to industrially produce blood to counter the shortage, as well as the emerging concerns that arise from infection transmission that are attributed to blood transfusions. The infection through blood transmission was sporadic in the late 80s and early 90s, therefore bringing up the need to industrially produce blood (Goldman et al 15). S. Kimoto of the School of medicine in Tokyo University initially enhanced progress towards industrial production of blood. The discovery made by Dr. Kimoto together with assistance from S Kambara was successful in the production of a synthetic substance capable of transporting reasonable amount of oxygen. Dr. Kimoto was able to extract haematin from a cow’s blood and ultimately adding the large molecules of the polysterin type that would be capable of obtaining matter that would in turn release oxygen to the body (Assembly of the Japanese Medical Society, 213). Moreover, by 2006, there was hemoglobin analog that had received approval for human use in the United States (Newton, 66). Newton continues to assert that a veterinary product called oxyglobin that is essentially produced by Biopure, a pharmaceutical company, received approval in the United States and the Europe. In 2001, its human counterpart known as Hemopure was ready for human use in South Africa. Therefore, this was the first hemoglobin analog to attain approval for human use in the world. It is imperative to ascertain that South Africa approved the product because the country needed alternative transfusions since its supply of human blood was at high risk of being damaged by the HIV and hepatitis C viruses (Newton). Compassionately, according to Newton, Hemopure has also been widely used in the United States in almost forty cases. Compassionate-use is a situation that occurs when a patient has developed serious medical condition that requires special attention, thus instigating the Unit ed States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to grant a special, normally one-time permission to utilize a substance that has not yet been officially approved for human use. Similarly, in august 2001, another industrially produced blood called PolyHeme was subjected for approval to the FDA by Northfield Labs, its manufacturer. PolyHeme is the end product of the extraction of Red blood cells and filtering them to sieve impurities, thereafter modifying them through certain chemicals to produce the polymerized hemoglobin analog (Newton 66). Some researchers are on the verge of applying a very different approach in industrial production of blood that will have its focus on synthesizing non-natural substances with blood-like properties. One advantage that this approach can boast of is avoiding animal or human blood, or any of its components. Specifically, some researchers are applying the use of certain chemicals called perfluorocarbons (PFCs). In this regard, fluorine atoms replace hydr ocarbons. Significant achievements were obtained when the first PFC to be commercially marketed was called Fluosol-DA that was manufactured by Japan’s Green Cross Corporation in 1983 (Newton, 66). Fluosol product had the objective of creating the first industrially prod

Advances in transportation HW Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Advances in transportation HW - Research Paper Example Transportation in the world has changed significantly since crude carts pulled by animals gave way to sleek cars,ocean liners and airplanes and the iron monster of the railways has been transformed into a light and super fast bullet train. All these modes of transportation have changed the way people live and work and its impact on trade and commerce and people to people contacts in the fields of art and culture has been tremendous. Fast and convenient means of transport have led to intermingling of cultures and an increase in knowledge of how people of different regions of the world live, as well as an awareness of various problems that affect them. Fast transfer of goods and resources are the backbone of modern industry and this has led to better jobs and living conditions for people all over the world. Faster and better transportation facilities also ensure quick relief to those people struck by natural or man made calamities. Although every invention has its drawbacks, these have been greatly minimized by new technologies and the many advantages of advances in modes of transportation have proved a boon to mankind. We have come a long way since man invented the wheel and realized that his own muscle power could be augmented by a mechanical means of transportation. The pace of inventing various new modes of transport increased during the industrial revolution in the 19th. century; but the 20th.century benefited greatly from these inventions and with increasingly faster, safer modes of transportation invented during the last century, lives of human beings have been greatly changed. The change in systems of transportation from waterways to roadways and then from railways to airways has been breath taking and a salute to man’s ingenuity. James Watt’s invention of the steam engine, led to the beginning of the railways and the Wright brothers first taught man how to fly an airplane.Since then many new engines and airplanes have been invented each wit h greater speeds, more comfort and conveniences.Today high speed modes of transportation are the norm rather than the exception. When man lived without railways and airplanes, he lived and died in a small world which did not consist of more than a few hundred miles. As automobiles and railroads were introduced, the world grew smaller and and more accessible; with the introduction of airplanes today it has been transformed into a global village. These faster means of transportation impact every aspect of human life and civilization. Faster means of transportation meant easily crossing boundaries and seeing and experiencing a different world inhabited by different races with different cultures and ways of living and working. Transportation provides access to resources and markets across countries and continents. It is a conduit not only of goods but also of peoples and cultures, the give and take of ideas and new inventions that have greatly influenced advances in sciences and technol ogy, as well as important fields such as medicine and disaster management. Trade and commerce are greatly impacted due to modern transportation facilities. Roads and railways carry goods and people all over the world and across vast continents like Europe, Asia and America. Resources in any one part of a country or continent are processed and marketed in different parts of the same country or in other countries or continents due to modern means of transportation. Today man cannot envisage a life without an automobile or railway system. Simple everyday life would be in disarray without roads and railways. Ordinary activities like going to school or office or buying groceries or taking someone who is ill to a doctor or hospital would be badly affected without these means of conveyance. Perishable goods like fruit and flowers are easily transported over long distances, so that people who do not reside in the areas where they are grown can enjoy them.

Wooden Furniture Industry In Malaysia

Wooden Furniture Industry In Malaysia Being one of the worlds top tropical timber producers, Malaysia has been the choices of the world demand on wood products. Seals with different types of wooden products, the consumers market have been eyeing this country for its establishment in such field. From office furniture to home furniture, this sector plays a vital role in building up the countrys economy. The value of the product produced and the number of employment held within this industry is significant that the government of Malaysia has come out with various incentives to assist this industry where it is part of the small-medium industries (SMIs). Although this industry deals with low technology involvement and high intensive labour skills, its yet to be recognized as the leading raw woods producers which driven by the demand all over the world. Taking advantage of the Malaysia Industrial Master Plan (1986-1995), foreign investors investing in furniture industry have shown a good performance where these investors spurred the money flow into the industry as the rise in demand was accelerating despite having to transfer the technologies to local entrepreneurs. Malaysia is not only the main tropical timber production especially for wooden products like furniture. The country is even competing with 5 worlds leading exporters like China, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. Year 1990s was a glory for Malaysia as the country managed to catered demands from Singapore, Japan and USA which then contributed to the total export value of RM3, 776.8 million by the year 2000. This significant achievement was due to the fact that Malaysia is rich with the resources and unskilled labour which led to lower cost of production and production can be increased to meet the demand. Malaysia furniture industry however, facing numerous internal and external factors that eventually affect its development including such threats from competitors, technologies, quality, branding and more. Thus theres a need for a better improvement in strategy adopted by all the furniture producers despite to implement better and improved marketing strategy to capture more clienteles. T he high value of their comparative advantage also is needed to bring Malaysia one step ahead as the world leading furniture exporter. Background of Study As the saying once a new technology rolls over you, if youre not part of the steamroller, youre part of the road by Steward Brand, this show how improvement in technology is essential in recognizing the prospect of being efficient in production. Efficient production lead to better quality product thus can cater more demand either current or new demand. Thus, this paper will prove why substantial technology improvement is needed in order to bring the furniture industry in Malaysia to a higher level and then beat the other worlds leading exporters. Apart from technological advancement, comprehensive marketing strategy also considers as the crucial part in determining the level of acceptance of Malaysias furniture products locally and abroad. This marketing strategy will cover all aspect from the internal and external factor on the basis of marketing principles which are price, product, place and promotion. Moreover, the comprehensive marketing strategy develop should also be taken into consideration the Malaysia Industrial Master Plan introduced by the government since 1986. The continuous improvement made the government have given the industry a huge opportunity for growth in the mentioned industry. Moreover, the success rate of the Malaysia furniture industry was also driven by rigorous moves introduced by the government of Malaysia. The implementation of Industry Master Plan started from year 1986 was a total success. In the Industry Master Plan has outlined several ideas on how to improve the whole Malaysia industries especially furniture industry. This master plan is also being implemented until now to safeguard and path for continuation if the furniture industry. Apart from the Industrial Master Plan, the new economic policy or DEB is also was created to channel the growth flow of the furniture industry to a higher level above the major competitors like Indonesia. However, the discussion on furniture industry is much more comprehensive in Industry Master Plan Malaysia thus this paper will discuss how this Industry Master Plan can assist the sustainability of the industry. 1.3 Problem Statement The furniture industry in Malaysia plays a vital role in stabilizing the economy. The growth rate of this industry was significant that Malaysia has recorded a high growth ever since the industry was introduced commercially in Malaysia. Malaysia even became one of the major competitors after Indonesia and Thailand and furniture products produced by Malaysia were exported around the world. Thus from this situation, we would like to analyzed the growth probability involving furniture industry in Malaysia for the past edges. This wills include the process of examining the technology involved in the industry that caused the acceleration of the industry growth. In technology, the flow of capital is crucial in determining the technology know-how used to develop the furniture industry in Malaysia from traditional production onto advance tech machines. Either than that, this paper will also show why Malaysia furniture industry is well accepted around the world as for its quality or for its low cost. The market share will be also examined as to proof the industry is in a good shape. Apart from these views, few suitable marketing strategies for the industry will also be outlined to improve the awareness of consumers around the world on Malaysia furniture. A good and comprehensive marketing strategies are crucial to drive the performance of the industry especially when it comes to capturing new market share or increasing the market share. Meanwhile, the current strategies are included as for discussion purposes and to outweigh the effectiveness of the strategies implemented currently. 1.4 Objective of the Study To study the advancement of technologies used that driven the industry performance in export and import To investigate the current marketing strategies used and new comprehensive strategies that can be used to accelerate the performance to a better level as at the par with other competitors. To review the importance of the Industry Master Plan (IMP) introduced by the government of Malaysia in playing a vital role to validate the current growth rate of the furniture industry. 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW There are four major sectors in Malaysian wood-based industry which are sawn timber, veneer and panel products that include plywood and other reconstituted panel products such as fireboard, moldings and builders joinery and carpentry (BJC). The wood-based industry is fully owned by Malaysian and it is calculated that 80 to 90 % of the businesses comprise small and medium size establishments. The manufacturers of Malaysian furniture produce an extensive range of furniture for households as well as for office use. Before 1995, the activities of Malaysian industry are were mostly in logging, sawmilling and plywood manufacturing. During the period of the 2nd Industrial Master Plan (IMP) (1996 2005), the industry more emphasized value-added processing such as furniture, MDF, panel products and veneer. During this period, the wood based industry has achieved a 5% growth rate. The highest export value is furniture, followed by plywood, sawn timber, logs and fiberboard. The star performer was the burgeoning furniture sub-sector which brought in an impressive double digit return of 11% growth or in real earnings RM 5.8 billion. The 3rd IMP (2006 2020) has earmarked a growth rate of 6.4 per annum for the wood-based industry to achieve RM 53 billion of export value by 2020. The main contributors of this planned growth and export value is to come from furniture and panel products mainly from MDF and plywood. This chapter consists of literature review regard to the wooden furniture export from Malaysia to existing world market. It covers the various aspects of the wood based industry in Malaysia and export of wood based products including wooden furniture to the world countries. The method used in this study to analyze the data was also included to provide a better understanding about the process of analyzing data. According to (MTIB 1994) Malaysia is one of the largest exporters of tropical hardwoods tropical sawn timber, plywood and hardwood moulding. The rapid development as well as the establishment of other primary wood processing industry were supported by large amount of log supply coming from forestland. Once in a while, the wood based sector is dominated by primary processing activities such as sawmilling, veneer and plywood production. However, in recent years, downstream processing activities such as the manufacture of mouldings, furniture and joinery have increased significant ly (Anon, 1 996). According to Lew (1977), the timber industry in Malaysia is an export oriented industry. Malaysias export of major wood based products has increased gradually over the last decade. Even though there is a considerable increase in wood based export, Malaysia is still a small producer in the global market for wood based downstream products. This means that there is a considerable room for expansion in the value added products category. To ensure the continued development of the industry in future, Malaysia is actively pursuing a program of promoting the wood based downstream industry. Many plans and activities have been organized to help the industries in all kind of sectors. These activities including globalization strategy, the knowledge-driven strategy, strengthen cluster development and others. Comparative advantage involves the concept of opportunity cost either in producing or exporting a particular good (Mohd Arif, 2008). According to Mohd Arif (2008), the comparative advantage of one country against others may reflect from the difference of the domestic cost and the world price. The higher the cost differential, the higher is the advantage for the country in producing that good. Some other factors such as abundant resources, technology, telecommunication, subsidized fuel and road development (including low transportation cost) could play their role in the comparative advantage. Additionally, Hunt and Morgan (1995) believed that the efficient use of existing resources and innovation in the production may lead to the comparative advantage of the products. Reduction in trade cost and facilitation of goods and services between places can be done by improving the road infrastructure (Bhattacharyay, 2009). In 1998, Malaysia ranked fifth and seventh in the world ranking of wooden furniture export leaders for office and other wooden furniture, respectively. The United States (US), Japan, Singapore and the United Kingdom (UK) were among the largest destination for Malaysian wooden furniture. Export value of wooden furniture in 1996 was RM 1.6 billion, which placed Malaysia as the second largest exporter in this region, after Taiwan, whilst the 15th in the world (Anon., 2000c). The export value has been increasing every year and it reached RM 3.8 billion in year 2000. However, since early 80s export of Malaysia wooden furniture was mainly to the US and Japan where it accounted more that 50% of the total exports (Anon., 2001) As timber industry in Malaysia traditionally is an export oriented industry, hence the export market is vital in enabling the timber industry in Malaysia to reach its desired growth, despite the continuation from domestic market. During the 70s, major output of the industry which was logs, sawn timber and plywood were largely exported. The export of processed products such as molding has experienced a sudden increase during 80s due to growing demand from overseas market and also governments drive for export which charted out in the Industrial Master Plans (IMP), 1986-1995. The export of molding, furniture and joinery there on continued to increase. The international marketing research, found that there was several dimensions used by the researcher indicate marketing strategy. Previous researchers acknowledged firm strategy (Aaby and Slater, 1989), export marketing strategy (Julian, 2003 ; Akyol and Akehurst, 2003; Zou and Stan, 1998; Cavusgil and Zou, 1994; Koh, 1991), export strategy ( Aulakh et al.,2000;Chetty and Hamilton,1993), business strategy (Baldauf et. Al,2000) or strategy (Cicic et al.,2002; Thirkell and Dau,1998). The International Tropical Timber Organization (2008), Have ranked Malaysia as the biggest exporter of tropical logs amounting to 35% market share. There is an overall of RM22.5 billion worth of Malayasia Timber and related products being exported in 2008. Europe is one of the biggest markets of Malaysia wood products since many decades ago. From ( Boon-Kwee, Ng* and Thiruchelvam, K., 2001) in his statement, Malaysias furniture industry is largely wooden and cane based. The industry is highly fragmented, and the large number of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the industry is very prevalent. As one of the manufacturing sectors, the industry has adopted the standard definitions of SME that have been approved by the Central Bank of Malaysia in year 2005, that is, firms with total number of fulltime employees less than 150 people, or total annual sales turnover less than MYR 25 million. According to the Department of Statistics (2009), the total establishments in the furniture industry were mostly constitute by SME. However, However, SME and large enterprise have equal share in terms of value of gross output, value added, employment salary and value of asset. Ratnasingam (2004) views the value of furniture is based on perception, as it is sold based on a perceived value, rather than on an actual value. This shows that the creation of value-added furniture is not about producing it using high quality equipment neither state-of-the-art technologies, but rather it is about expressing a way of life creatively and innovatively. The uniqueness of thus furniture determines its value, while the scientific aspects ease the production method. Similar view of the value of furniture has been advanced by Ettema (1981), who argued that furniture is an important tool of self-presentation, and thus sensitive to the way it is displayed. He states that technology had caused degradation of style furniture industry. In general, machines have allowed furniture production to increase, but they have also failed to crate variation in style, because machines are incapable of producing inexpensive copies of an expensive-looking pattern As stated by (Z. Noor Aini, 2009), Malaysia is one of the developing countries in Southeast Asia which experienced extraordinary economic growth especially in industrialization in the past few decades. Exports of the natural resources and related products as well as manufactured goods have contributed to the development of Malaysian economy. Besides that, with the fact that 60 percent of Malaysia is covered with natural forest, it is difficult to ignore that forest product industry plays an important role in further developing the economy. Malaysia is currently one of the worlds top tropical timber producers. This work supports the idea of Uusivuori and Tervo (2002) that a country which has richer forest assets will have larger net exports of forest products. Furthermore, the country with a larger forest endowment exhibits the comparative advantages in their exports as in comparison to countries with lesser forest endowments. According to (Shabboo,2011), challenges of maintaining sustainability could be various depending on different factors such as the type of product, knowledge of established principles, consumers expectations, manufacturers policies and facilities, legislation, local resources, etc. In Malaysian furniture industry, a survey that is conducted in 2009 revealed that the adoption of green manufacturing practices is limited among wooden furniture producers. Another study in 2008 discovered that the readiness to adopt chain of custody certification among wooden furniture manufacturers was low. This certification has the objective to ensure the wood products really come from an environmentally certified source. Although the number of studies on the environmental aspect of furniture industry is still small in the country, all results demonstrate the poor implementation of sustainability. In addition, integrating sustainability into furniture industry has not been studied from design perspectiv e yet. Ratnasingam and Thomas (2008) argue that the level of technology employed by the Malaysian furniture industry is on same level with other countries which manufacture furniture, if not higher. The MTC (1998) has stated that most of the countrys furniture manufacturers have invested very much in machinery and equipment. Ratnasingam (2000) states that the machine-operated process is the most important value-addition operation in furniture production, as it convert the raw materials into the sophisticated finished product. The quality of the machine had contributed to smooth and effective production process. However, most of the machinery purchased is special function machinery which is aimed at reducing used of man labor in the manufacturing outfit, with the aim of reducing the manufacturing cost or unit cost. This is to be expected, as the industry is labor intensive in nature, and there is an increasing reliance on foreign-contract workers within the industry (Ratnasingam, 2005). Procedures adopted are also in place in order to meet the increasingly high business standards in terms of price-cutting, quality and material properties. A periodic review of the existing polices is necessary to ensure that the industries will remain competitive. However, the critical problem faces by industries is mismanagement of land utilization, provided the insufficiency of readily available land for the cultivation of plantation forests. Research and development (RD) is hence important for introducing not only new products and new processes that will increase the industrys competitiveness, but also new technology that will reduce the land intensity of rubber tree growing, i.e. clones with shorter gestation and richer wood.( Professor Mohamed Ariff, 2011). According to (Professor Mohamed Ariff, 2011), to counterbalance the decline in rubber wood supply and the lack of possible alternative wood sources, in order to support the ongoing development of the WBI, one solution can be taken include the importation of logs from abroad and increase of plantation forests at home. However, logs importation face problems like log bans from neighboring countries as well as its high transportation cost. Thus, forests plantation within the country are thought to be a better option. Several countries have successfully adopted this approach, which has encouraged the development of substantial downstream industries in forest products. This, in turn, has led to the growth of clusters of supplementary industries. While the Malaysian WBI is predominantly rubberwood-based now, other species including Acacia, Sesendok, Albizia, may well prove equally suitable in future. A study by Bojei et al., (2002) on global marketing strategies in the Malaysian wooden furniture industry, the marketing strategies used by the wooden furniture companies, either original equipment manufacturing (OEM), own design manufacturing (ODM) or own brand name (OBM), the most important factors influencing the success of those strategies were firms primary characteristics, decision makers expectation of exporting and global marketing strategy. Lastly, since export marketing strategy has been considered as one of the key determinants on export performance (Cavusgil and Zou, 1994), though not all of the marketing strategy elements will affect the export performance simultaneously. Study by Koh (1991) found that the relationships among organizational characteristics, marketing strategy and export performance has found that only export pricing, direct buyer, and channel strategies of marketing strategy variations have effects on export performance. However, adapting marketing mix variables cater the specific needs of developed country markets would enhance export marketing performance (Aulakh et al., 2000). In contrast, a study by Julian (2003) to identify the key factors influencing export marketing performance found that export marketing strategy has no effect on the Thai firms export marketing performance. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.0 Research Methodology The research methodology requires collecting data from the secondary sources, which is overview of Malaysian Furniture Industry: Malaysian furniture export, import and destination that are located in the Annual Report from 2007 to 2011 of the Malaysian Furniture Promotion Council (MFPC) that is being published at its website. There are 10 countries being selected based on the complete data and information of the chosen countries. The data is being analyzed using the Shift Share Analysis. Table 3.1 shows the values of Malaysian Furniture Export from the 2006 to 2011 in (RM million). The initial period consists of year 2006 to 2008, while the terminal period consists of year 2009 to 2011. The data is being analyzed using Microsoft Excel. FINDING,ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION Actual Change Let Vj,t represents the values of Malaysia furniture export for country j at the terminal time period t, Vj,t-1 represents the values of Malaysia furniture export for country j at the initial time period t-1, and  Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Vj be the actual change in market j over the specified period of time. Therefore, The formula of Actual change, = 0 , the Malaysian Furniture Export to the particular country remain unchanged > 0 , the Malaysian Furniture Export to the particular country is increasing According to table 4.0, it shows that the value of Malaysia furniture export to 8 out of 10 countries are declining, excluding Singapore which has an increase of RM 442.2 million, and Japan by RM 150.72. B. Total Growth Rate K = Total Value of Malaysia furniture export for terminal period Total Value of Malaysia furniture export for initial period = RM16600.9 million RM17950.45 million = 0.924818041 (92.4818041%) According to Table 4.0 , the total value of Malaysia furniture export for terminal period was RM16600.9 million, and total value of Malaysia furniture export for initial period RM17950.45 million. Therefore, on average, the Malaysia furniture export is declining by 7.5181959% (1-0.924818041). C. Expected Value E(Vj.t )= K(Vj,t-1) The expected export value of Malaysian furniture in each countries at the terminal period, E(Vj.t ), is the actual export value of initial period(Vj,t-1) multiply with the total growth rate (K). D. Expected Change Expected Change is the difference between the expected value at terminal period E ( Vj,t) and actual value for the market at the end of the initial time period, Vj,t-1. Let E( Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Vj) represents the expected change. Thus, E ( Vj) = E ( Vj,t) Vj,t-1 = Vj,t-1 (K-1) E. Net Shift The difference between the actual change and the expected change of a given market is the net shift. This difference is denoted as Nj. Thus, The sum of the net shift values for all markets should be zero: Each country is experiencing 0 growth in Malaysia furniture export. Therefore, there is no relative gain or loss in the value of Malaysia furniture export to these countries in the given time period. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION Based on the results, it showed that the sum of the percentage net shift of Malaysian furniture industry to these 10 countries is equal to 0. Therefore, there is no relative gain or loss in furniture export. Therefore, the producers of furniture in Malaysia, particularly wood based furniture segment, have to be alert and adapt to changes in preferences of the importers on these aspects: price, product, place(distribution), and promotion, so that it will be favourable to them. Despite the strong competition from lower priced Chinese and Vietnamese furniture, Malaysian furniture quality is far more superior. The initiative of the government to expand the export market of Malaysian furniture can be seen by penetrating into the Algeria and Greece in the near future. The government also has set an annual growth rate target of 6.5 % for wood based furniture, which estimates to reach up to RM53 billion by year 2020.

The Black Power Movement

The Black Power Movement During and after the days of Jim Crow, blacks in the United States were economically and socially oppressed. Blacks still faced lower wages than whites, segregation of public amenities and racial discrimination. At this time many groups were created to challenge these injusticces. The Black Power Movement and the Civil Rights movement were similar because they both fought for equal rights and equal treatment for African Americans. However, they sought to achieve different goals and implemented different forms of action to achieve change. The Civil Rights Movement fought for desegregation and believed in non-violence, while the Black Power Movement rejected integration for racial seperation (Jefferies, 2006). In this essay, I am going to further discuss the tactics used by the Black Power Movement to gain change, and the accomplishements they achieved. Emerging after the civil rights movement of the 1950's, the Black Power Movement was arguably one of the most influential and controversial movements of the 20th century. â€Å"Black Power† as a political idea originated in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committe (SNCC) n the mid 1960's (Jeffereies, 2006). At this time a leader emerged by the name of Stokley Carmichael. Upon gaining leadership, Carmichael ejected white members and believed that the only way to bring about change for blacks was to have an all black union. Stokleley Carmichael believed that Black Power would instill a fear in whites and love in blacks ( Carmichael, 1967). In 1966, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale formed the Black Panther Party for Self Defense (BPP) in Oakland California. By the late 1960's, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee SNCC) and the Black Panther Party for Self Defense began to gain momentum. Martin Luther King Jr imitated Ghandi and his use of non-violebnce to gain India independence from Great Britain. Because of the Civil Rights Momvement, in 1964 the Civil Rights Act was passed and a year later the Voting Rights Act was passed, ending segregation and ultimately gave blacks the right to vote (Muse,1968). However, non-violent protestors were being beaten, cut with razors and knives, hot cigarettes and cigars were burnt into their arms and aces, they were spat upon and kicked to the floor, policemen locked them up by the thousands into cramped unsanitary jails (Muse,1968). Even with the obvious progress, discrimination could not be eliminated. Many members of the SNCC grew tired of the non-violent approach used by King and other groups within the Ci vil Rights Organization. Increasing members of the SNCC had come to reject the moderate path of cooperation, integration and assimilation of their elders (Ogbar,2005). Divisions grew betweeen the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panther Movement. The eaders of the Black Power Movement argued that assimilation or integration robs blacks of their identity and dignity (Algernon, 2003). Malcom X, a member of the nation of Islam, believed that Africans historically fought to protect their lands, cultures and freedoms from European Colonists, and that to seek to integrate into a society that has stolen one’s people and their wealth is an act of treason (Algernon, 2003). As a result, aggressively more radical voices came foward to challenge racial discrimination. Black Power advocates began to insist the Blacks carry guns and receive ilitary training in order to protect themselves. Members of the Panthers openly carried weapons and made death threats towards police officers. The Black Panthers sought to oppose police brutality in African American neighborhoods. Police Officers were frequently followed by armed Black Panthers The Black Panthers staged violent protests which often resulted in the death of Panthers and Police officers. From 1967 to 1969, nine police officers were killed and 56 were wounded in confrontations with the panthers (Marine, 1969