Endorser Essay Example

Endorser Essay This research furthers the theoretical perspectives that athlete endorsers are brands unto themselves, and that athlete-endorser effectiveness is determined by congruent pairings of the athlete-endorser brand and the product brand by introducing the Endorser Sexpertise Continuum. This model categorizes athlete celebrity endorsers on the Endorser Sexpertise Continuum with anchor points referred to as â€Å"acquirable expertise† and â€Å"likeability. As in successful brand alliances, this model suggests the types of products/brands the athlete celebrities would be most successful in endorsing, depending on their positioning on the continuum. Simmers, C. S. , Damron-Martinez, D. , Haytko, D. L. (2009). Examining the effectiveness of athlete celebrity endorser characteristics and product brand type: The Endorser Sexpertise Continuum. Journal of Sport Administration Supervision 1(1), 52-64. doi:10. 3883/v1i1_simmers; published online April, 2009. Dr. Christina S.Simmers is an a ssistant professor of marketing at Missouri State University in Springfield,Missouri. Sheholds an MBA from Nicholls State University and a PhD in marketing from Louisiana State University. Her research interests include advertising issues, consumer information processing, consumer behavior and brand alliances. Dr. Datha Damron-Martinez is an assistant professor of marketing at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. She holds an MBA, an MA in Economics, and a PhD in Business Administration/Marketing from New Mexico State University.Her research interests include script use in relationship selling, sexual harassment issues in the sales environment, and unhealthy consumption patterns in the Hispanic community. Dr. Diana l. Haytko is an associate professor of marketing at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida. She holds an MBA and PhD in marketing from the University of WisconsinMadison. Her research interests include consumer response to advertising, advertisin g relationship management and cross cultural consumer behavior. ntroduction Forbes reported that the 10 richest male and female athletes made a combined $600 million in salary, prize money and endorsements, including men’s professional golfer Tiger Woods who alone earned nearly $100 million in sponsorships in 2008 (Badenhausen, 2008; Thomaselli, 2008). Interestingly, many top athlete endorsers make considerably more money as endorsers than as athletes in their chosen sport. For example from June 2007 to June 2008, female professional golfer Michelle Wie earned $12 million in endorsement money but only $39,000 in prize money.Similarly, former professional basketball player Michael Jordan made $45 million in endorsements, despite not having participated in his sport for many years (Badenhausen, 2008). Some athletes endorse a multitude of products (e. g. , National Football League quarterback Peyton Manning, Woods, and female racecar driver Danica Patrick), while others limit th emselves to products associated with their sport (e. g. , women’s professional basketball player Candace Parker) (Janoff, 2008).Recently, many have speculated the value of athlete endorsers to a brand’s image, particularly given the negative publicity surrounding such incidents as (among others) the marijuana incident of men’s Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and the steroid scandal surrounding Major League Baseball player Alex Rodriguez. These factors beg questions as to whether, and if so, under what circumstances, athlete endorsers become effective in brand marketing. Why are some celebrities only able to successfully endorse a limited range of related products, while others can endorse a wide range of unrelated products?How does one determine the most effective combination of celebrity endorser characteristics and product brand types? An integration of the endorser and brand literature offers insight into this phenomenon. The purpose of this paper is to introd uce the Endorser Sexpertise Continuum and its 52  © 2009 †¢ Journal of Sport Administration Supervision †¢ Vol. 1, No. 1, April 2009 Simmers, Damron-Martinez, Haytko use in determining optimal fit between athlete celebrity endorsers and appropriate brands or products. First, this paper defines celebrity endorsers and examines current models of endorser effectiveness.Second, the Endorser Sexpertise Continuum is introduced and described. Third, the paper reviews literature regarding brand concept types and fit in brand alliances. Fourth, the work draws equivalence between the concepts of athletic celebrity endorsers with traditional product brands and likens endorsements to brand alliances. Fifth, the paper provides discussion of how the Endorser Sexpertise Continuum incorporates brand concept types and matchup endorsement effectiveness. Lastly, conclusions are drawn and recommendations are offered for future research. ndorSer dimenSionS The Athlete as Celebrity Endorser Defined Certain athletes are utilized by brands as endorsers of their products because of the celebrity status gained by these athletes as a result of their success in their chosen sports. According to Boorstin (1961), â€Å"[t]he celebrity is a person who is known for his well-knownness (p. 57, italics added). † In fact, Boorstin (1961) refers to celebrities as human pseudo-events, claiming that the omnipresent print and broadcast media have provided a â€Å"†¦means of fabricating well-knownness (p. 47). As such, celebrities rise and fall through the processes and whims of publicity. McCracken (1989) defines the celebrity endorser â€Å"as any individual who enjoys public recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement† (p. 310). According to McCracken, celebrities are believed to increase sales by lending their favorable image to a product through endorsement. Both marketers and celebrities have m uch at stake in these endeavors and therefore should be keenly interested in factors that ontribute to successful endorsements. According to the literature, endorser effectiveness can be determined based on source credibility, source attractiveness, and the attribution of endorser characteristics to the product. Models of Celebrity Endorser Effectiveness Most models of celebrity endorser effectiveness proposed by previous researchers have been based upon two basic models: the Source Credibility Model (Hovland, Janis, Kelley, 1953; Hovland Weiss, 1951) and the Source Attractiveness Model (McGuire, 1968).The Source Credibility Model purports that the effectiveness of the message is largely determined by the expertise and trustworthiness of the celebrity endorser, which offers explanations for why certain athlete endorsers such as highly successful men’s tennis professionals Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer could easily represent any brand of tennis equipment. In a different vein, the Source Attractiveness Model purports that similarity, familiarity, and liking of celebrity endorsers primarily determine their effectiveness, which attempts to explain why some athletes such as Manning, Woods, and racecar driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. an endorse brands in many different product categories. A general measure of physical attractiveness has often been used to assess celebrity endorser effectiveness, assuming what is beautiful is good (Dion, Berscheid, Walster, 1972). However, mixed findings suggest that caution should be exercised in basing endorsement decisions on this model alone, since consumers perceive physical attractiveness differently. The Product Matchup Hypothesis (Forkan, 1980; Kahle Homer, 1985; Kamins, 1989; Kamins, 1990) emphasizes the need for a matchup, also referred to as congruency or fit, between the celebrity and the product.For example, the fit between Woods and Nike Golf 53  © 2009 †¢ Journal of Sport Administration Sup ervision †¢ Vol. 1, No. 1, April 2009 Endorser Sexpertise Continuum is undeniable. However, according to sport marketing consultant Marc Cagins, Woods has failed as an endorser for Buick because of a lack of fit: â€Å"People always shook their head as to why he did the deal anyway with Buick. If he’s going to do a deal with GM, you would have thought Cadillac more than Buick† (Thomaselli, 2008, p. 8). Research based on attractiveness matchup and expertise matchup has supported the hypothesis that celebrity/product fit remains critical to endorsement success. Kamins (1990) tested the matchup hypothesis based on attractiveness and found that the physical attractiveness of a source only mattered when an attractive source was paired with an attractiveness-related product, resulting in increased perceived source credibility and attitude toward the advertisement.Current examples would include the female tennis professionals and sisters Serena and Venus Williams’ Avon cosmetics campaign and the European men’s’ soccer star Thierry Henry/Woods/Federer Gillette campaign. In a study examining the impact of gender and physical attractiveness on responses to motorsports sponsorships (Roy, Stewart, Goss, 2003), attractiveness played a greater role for female drivers than for male drivers, with the more attractive female drivers perceived as possessing greater expertise with products such as shampoo, tanning products, and dietary products.However, Bower and Landreth (2001) found that highly attractive models were not more effective than normally attractive models for problem-solving, attractivenessrelated products and attributed these results to the premise that consumers perceive highly attractive models to have never faced an attractiveness-related problem and therefore have little expertise using these products. To illustrate, this premise would suggest that the current campaign utilizing female tennis star Serena Williams for Pro Activ acne medication would be unsuccessful. However, a moderately 54 ttractive model may be more likely to be perceived to have faced an attractiveness-related problem and overcome it using the advertised product, fully illustrating the premise that the expertise of the source is more important than the attractiveness of the source. In Till and Busler’s (2000) examination of the attractiveness and expertise matchup, while an attractiveness/matchup effect was not found, an attractiveness effect and an expertise/matchup effect were both discovered, suggesting the possibility of expertise trumping physical attractiveness in matching celebrities and products for endorsement effectiveness.These findings also suggest the possibility that physical attractiveness is itself considered a type of expertise. To illustrate, a beautiful female model may be considered an expert on makeup, which is a product she could use to enhance her beauty. However, she may not be perceived as an expert on cars, because while she looks beautiful in the car, the car is not connected to her physical beauty. McCracken (1989) suggests that a matchup of attractiveness or expertise alone is insufficient for achieving successful endorsements, positing a Model of Meaning Transfer.In this model, he proposes that celebrity endorsers are special cases of meaning transfer: â€Å"The effectiveness of the endorser depends, in part, upon the meanings he or she brings to the endorsement process† (p. 312). To elaborate, he explains that numerous cultural meanings exist in the world, and that celebrities draw meanings from the culturally constituted world when developing their images, which are accumulations of meanings from the roles they assume in various aspects of their careers, both in media and in the public eye.McCracken (1989) suggests that, similar to typecasting of actors in Hollywood, the consistency of the images that celebrities develop is the notion that makes them useful to ma rketers. These meanings are then transferred to the products that celebrities endorse.  © 2009 †¢ Journal of Sport Administration Supervision †¢ Vol. 1, No. 1, April 2009 Simmers, Damron-Martinez, Haytko Consumers then recognize that the celebrities possess compelling or useful cultural meanings, causing them to buy the endorsed products and acquire these meanings upon consumption of the products.Therefore, for an endorsement to become successful, products must match well with the bundle of meanings or overall image of celebrity endorsers rather than with the element of attractiveness or expertise alone. The Multidimensional Endorser Since the overall image of the celebrity must be taken into consideration in endorsement decisions, McCracken’s (1989) theory suggests that celebrity endorsers possess a multidimensional nature. Erdogan, Baker, and Tagg (2001) confirm â€Å"managers do not see celebrities as unidimensional individuals (e. . , attractive, credible)à ¢â‚¬  (p. 45). Rather, their findings indicate that advertising agency managers should consider a range of criteria when choosing celebrity endorsers, including trustworthiness, expertise, physical Figure 1 The Endorser Sexpertise Continuum Billy Blanks Denise Austin Rafael Nadal attractiveness, familiarity, and likeability of the source. Further, the importance of the criteria depends on the product brand to be endorsed. he endorSer SexPertiSe continuum This paper posits that celebrity endorsers may possess characteristics from both the Source Credibility Model and the Source Attractiveness Model, albeit in different proportions, which interact with different product dimensions to determine endorsement effectiveness. A new endorser effectiveness model, entitled The Endorser Sexpertise Continuum, is therefore proposed in this article because the need exists for a theoretical construct that considers both the roles of expertise and attractiveness in determining the effectiveness of celebrity endorsers for particular brands.As shown in Figure 1, these characteristics lie along a continuum based on the primary image focus of the celebrity. Peyton Manning Tiger Woods Michael Jordan Likeability Acquirable Expertise Source Credibility Model (expertise, trustworthiness) Attribute-specific Cognitive/Higher involvement Piecemeal approach Functional Can endorse related products Source Attractiveness Model (similarity, familiarity, liking, physical attractiveness) Holistic Affective/Lower involvement Categorical approach Symbolic Can endorse unrelated products  © 2009 †¢ Journal of Sport Administration Supervision †¢ Vol. 1, No. , April 2009 55 Endorser Sexpertise Continuum The left side of the continuum is anchored by acquirable expertise, which relates directly to the Source Credibility Model and includes the concepts of expertise and trustworthiness. The further the endorser falls toward this side of the continuum, the more likely the endorser will be li mited to endorsing products related to his/her own area of expertise, since consumers have higher involvement with these kinds of products and therefore will give much consideration to the products’ functional properties, and will process the information using a piecemeal approach.The right side of the continuum is anchored by likeability, which relates to the Source Attractiveness Model. The further the endorser falls toward this side of the continuum, the more likely he/she can endorse both products related to his/her area of expertise and products removed from that area of expertise. Consumers are drawn to these products through their liking of these endorsers. In this case, product involvement is much lower, so consumers are interested in symbolic properties of these products and will use more holistic, categorical approaches. The following sections discuss these premises in more detail.The Roles of Expertise and Likeability Celebrities â€Å"†¦succeed by skillfully distinguishing themselves from others essentially like them (Boorstin,1961, p. 65). † However, based on the theory that celebrity endorsers possess a multidimensional nature, the Endorser Sexpertise Continuum proposes a distinct difference in the products with which a celebrity endorser can be appropriately matched, a conclusion based upon whether the celebrity endorser’s fame stems from his/ her area of expertise, or whether the source of the celebrity endorser’s fame stems from his/her physical attractiveness or personality.For example, women’s tennis star Anna Kournikova’s popularity stems almost entirely from her sex appeal, whereas Woods is known 56 for his athletic prowess on the golf course. Each of these athletes anchors a different end of the continuum. Some athletes such as female swimmers Amanda Beard and Dara Torres fall in the middle, possessing both sex appeal and athletic success. Celebrity endorsers provide the tools that consumers seek to affect meaning transfer by availing the cultural meanings encapsulated in the material forms of the celebrities’ images through product endorsement.According to McCracken (1989), â€Å"The celebrity is supplying not just an example of self-creation, but the very stuff with which this difficult act is undertaken† (p. 317). Some celebrities possess an acquirable expertise, i. e. , other people can learn the same expertise possessed by certain celebrities. As previously discussed concerning cultural meanings, celebrity endorsers provide consumers with the tools or skills needed to acquire that same expertise.For example, Denise Austin and fitness guru/martial artist Billy Blanks can provide other people with the tools needed for meaning transfer, so their celebrity images focuses more on the characteristic of acquirable expertise through learning their fitness regimens. These celebrities tend to gravitate toward the left side of the continuum, but some may move to the right end of the continuum, depending on their degree of likeability.For example, in addition to wide-ranging fitness options and abilities, Austin is also generally known for her outgoing personality, beauty, and calm, encouraging approach to fitness, so she would fall further to the right side of the continuum than Blanks, who is primarily known for his intense TaeBo fitness regime and is presented as a less dynamic, less personable figure. In contrast, some celebrities possess an inherent expertise unique to that person alone and therefore cannot be achieved by another person. For example, Manning’s football  © 2009 †¢ Journal of Sport Administration Supervision †¢ Vol. , No. 1, April 2009 Simmers, Damron-Martinez, Haytko abilities cannot be imitated, even if someone were to take lessons directly from him. People are attracted to such celebrities. In essence, these celebrities cannot provide others with specific, tangible tools they need for meaning tran sfer. Accordingly, their celebrity images focus more on the characteristic of likeability, causing these celebrities to occupy the right side of the proposed continuum. Furthermore qualifying celebrities for the right side of the continuum would be the popularity and endurance of the celebrity image.Celebrities may also move to the right as their images become more solidified. For example, while Jordan was a highly successful basketball player, he transcended that label to be a likeable celebrity far beyond the basketball court. Logically, if the image of a celebrity is focused on an acquirable expertise, the range of products that he/she can endorse is limited to that area of expertise. However, if the image of a celebrity is focused on likeability, then he/she can endorse a much broader range of products, since the image transfer is based on personality feature rather than a particular area of expertise.BrAnd concePt tyPeS Traditionally branded products are classified into brand t ypes based on consumer needs and consumer involvement with the product. This information becomes critical when allying celebrities with brands. Appropriate pairings can result in synergy, with both parties benefiting from the arrangement, and endorsements done with athlete celebrities remain no exception and, in fact, may be more highly sought because of their tendencies to create such synergy (Rodrigue Biswas, 2004).Since athlete celebrity endorsers are brands unto themselves, information on the types of brands/products they consider for endorsement becomes critical. The following section discusses brand concept types and, subsequently, brand alliance considerations. Consumer Needs In developing their Brand Concept Management (BCM) model, Park, Jaworski and MacInnis (1986) identified three types of brand concepts (or images created in a brand) based on consumer needs: functional, symbolic, and experiential. Functional needs are defined as â€Å"those that motivate the search for products that solve consumption-related problems† (Park et al. 1986, p. 136). Symbolic needs are defined as â€Å"desires for products that fulfill internally generated needs for selfenhancement, role position, group membership, or ego-identification† (Park et al. , 1986, p. 136). Experiential needs are defined as â€Å"desires for products that provide sensory pleasure, variety and/or cognitive stimulation† (Park et al. , 1986, p. 136). As with BCM, the characteristics of each of these brand concepts must be taken into consideration in developing an effective endorsement. Till and Busler (2000) suggested that involvement could be a factor to consider in matchup.Since these brand concepts are based on consumer needs, a closer look at consumer involvement and ways they process information may lead to a better understanding of this phenomenon. Consumer Involvement and Information Processing Petty, Cacioppo, and Schumann (1983) investigated the moderating role of co nsumer involvement in advertising effectiveness. Based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), they identified two distinct routes to attitude change based on likelihood of the consumer elaborating the message: the central route and peripheral route to persuasion.When defining attitude change as a representation of whether a consumer has favorably changed his/her attitude toward the brand after encountering some of its communication (e. g. , an advertisement), higher involvement (the central route) results in more scrutiny 57  © 2009 †¢ Journal of Sport Administration Supervision †¢ Vol. 1, No. 1, April 2009 Endorser Sexpertise Continuum of the message, whereas lower involvement (the peripheral route) results in consumers giving little or no thought about the product qualities presented in the message.In the central route, attitude changes result from consumers carefully analyzing information for a particular situation. In contrast, attitude changes in the peripheral route result from inferences made from available cues. The findings of Petty et al. (1983) indicate that the persuasive message itself has a greater impact under high involvement conditions, whereas the endorser has a greater impact under low involvement conditions. Therefore, the central route is a more cognitive dimension, while the peripheral route is a more affective dimension.This premise most likely explains why Woods failed as an endorser for Buick. Since cars are high involvement products that lead consumers to carefully analyze information, the likelihood that a celebrity endorser will work in this situation declines greatly. Woods’ failed Buick endorsement can also be coupled to a mismatch between the celebrity and brand (Thomaselli, 2008). A hypothetical example of the central versus peripheral route could be found the use of racecar driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. as an endorser. Earnhardt works ell for Mountain Dew’s Amp energy drink (a low involvement product) that serves as a co-primary sponsor of his racecar, since he races with a youthful, energetic style. Theoretically, however, in the same role for the National Guard (a high involvement product), his sponsorships may prove less effective, since no apparent linkage exists between Earnhardt’s racing career and military service. While Petty et al. (1983) indicated that the expertise or attractiveness of a message source is a peripheral cue, their research purports that, when product involvement is high, an expert endorser will serve as an argument for consideration.However, when product involvement is low, the endorser then serves a 58 more affective, holistic function and is indeed a peripheral cue. In their hypothesis test of attractiveness as a peripheral cue for shampoo, Petty and Cacioppo (1980) explained that they found no attractiveness and involvement interaction and commented that some subjects’ lack of interaction might have been attributed to model’s app earance as a relevant, persuasive argument. Sujan (1985) identified two types of consumer processing strategies that complement the central and peripheral routes.In the piecemeal approach, consumers analyze each attribute of a product to determine its overall value. Alternatively, in the categorical approach, Sujan (1985) notes that consumers perform more efficient processing by utilizing previously defined categories: â€Å"The belief is that affect is cued by the categorization of stimuli rather than through a constructive attribute review process† (p. 31). Based on this discussion, since functional brand concepts are related to problem solving, they would require more piecemeal processing and therefore would belong with the cognitive route of the ELM.On the other hand, symbolic brand concepts are related to reference groups and ego enhancement. They require more categorical processing and therefore would belong with the peripheral route of the ELM. Experiential brand conce pts are more internal driven by consumers’ need for cognitive or sensory stimulation and therefore are more context-driven. As such, they may belong in either route, depending upon their context. mAtchuP for endorSement effectiveneSS To this point, the current paper has offered a definition of a celebrity endorser and has examined the branding literature for traditional brands.Now the discussion turns to  © 2009 †¢ Journal of Sport Administration Supervision †¢ Vol. 1, No. 1, April 2009 Simmers, Damron-Martinez, Haytko equating the endorser as a brand, the necessity of considering brand concept types, and the requirements for a successful brand alliance. Athlete celebrity endorsers are compared to traditional product brands, and endorsement agreements are compared with traditional brand alliance agreements. The following discussion begins with identifying the endorser as a brand then moves to examining fit and the role of the Endorser Sexpertise Continuum.Endors er as a Brand Kotler (1991) defines a brand as â€Å"a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or combination of them which is intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors† (p. 442). In essence, a brand is represented as an image that has been developed and that exists in the minds of consumers. Therefore, since a celebrity endorser is essentially a bundle of meanings that combine to form an overall image, a celebrity endorser can also be considered a brand.To further discuss celebrities as their own brands, marketers often attempt to personalize their brands by endowing them with certain human characteristics or brand personalities. Aaker (1997) defines brand personality as â€Å"the set of human characteristics associated with a brand† (p. 347). For example, the Marlboro cigarette brand exhibits a high level of brand personality. According to Lohof (1969), â€Å"The Marlboro image is a cultural symbol which speaks to the collective imagination of the American people. It speaks of virgin frontier and of brutal efficacy and constant vigilance which the frontier exacts from its residents† (p. 47; cf. Reddy, Holak, Bhat, 1994). However, in the case of a celebrity endorser, the brand is an actual person. Rather than developing a brand personality for a product, a celebrity endows his/her clearly defined, existing personality to the product through endorsement. Therefore, a celebrity endorser can be considered the epitome of a brand personality. O’Donnell (2008) claims that the pairing of Michael Jordan and Nike set the standard for athlete/product endorsement matchup, and one can argue that Nike’s success is rooted in that partnership decision.Nevertheless, all brands have lifecycles (Ries Ries, 1998). Nike has experiences problems selling the Jordan brand since Jordan’s retirement in 2003 because many consumers in younger demographics hav e only seen Jordan play on highlight reels and do not perceive him as relevant (Intini, 2008). Thus, the brand’s new focus will be on the myth of Michael with â€Å"Become Legendary† as the new tagline (Intini, 2008). Intini (2008) believes that if Nike handles this new strategy well, Jordan could become sport’s first immortal brand.Endorsement as a Brand Alliance If an endorser can be considered a brand, then the pairing of a celebrity endorser and a product brand is analogous to the concept of a brand alliance. According to Rao Ruekert (1994), because brand names are valuable assets, they can combine with other brand names in a synergistic alliance in which the sum is greater than the parts. In the case of a celebrity endorsement, the product brand associates with the endorser in an effort to develop a stronger positive consumer attitude toward the product brand, essentially hoping to capitalize on positive spillover effects.The work of Simonin and Ruth (1998 ) supports this strategy. Based on familiarity, Simonin and Ruth (1998) found that spillover effects might not always affect the partners equally. If two highly familiar brands ally, they experience equal spillover effects. However, in an asymmetrical relationship the less familiar brand experiences greater spillover effects. In essence, celebrities should be compensated based on their contribution towards such a spillover effect. However, the threat of negative spillover 59  © 2009 †¢ Journal of Sport Administration Supervision †¢ Vol. 1, No. , April 2009 Endorser Sexpertise Continuum effects necessitates consideration by both endorsers and product manufacturers, when engaging in partner selections. An action by an athlete is considered a scandal if it is illegal or unethical, involves multiple parties over a sustained period of time, and/or whose impact affects the integrity of the sport with which he or she is associated (Hughes Shank, 2005). Hughes and Shank (2005) reason that a onetime violation by an admired sports celebrity will carry less impact with the consumer than repeated illegal or unethical events.In contrast, Behr and Beeler-Norrholm (2006) posit that the notion of celebrities-gone-bad is part of the fun for consumers and question whether it truly does serious damage to the consumers’ views of the endorsed brand. This may be true for the celebrities who are liked specifically for their rebellious personalities but is not generally applicable for all endorsers. When measuring consumer skepticism, Bailey (2007) found the strength of the association between the endorser and the brand affects whether the negative information will affect consumer perceptions and attitudes. Positive and negative spillover effects impact brand alliances.Since the image of the brand is composed of an accumulation of meanings, each time a brand associates with another brand, the experience impacts and contributes to its overall image (Rodrigue Bisw as 2004). To maintain its marketing value, the product brand and the endorser brand must each strive to maintain a consistent individual image in the public eye. Fit The concern of fit in a brand alliance can also be applied in the case of an athlete celebrity endorsement. Simonin and Ruth (1998) found that product fit and brand fit are related positively to attitudes toward the brand alliance.In the endorsement literature, expertise had a stronger effect on attitude toward the brand and purchase intentions than physical 60 attractiveness (Ohanian 1991; O’Mahoney Meenaghan 1998; Till Busler 1998). When the fit between the endorser and the endorsed product is incongruent, only attractiveness remains important (Kim Na 2007). Further, the work of Broniarczyk and Alba (1994) supports the idea that a specific brand attribute, such as the expertise of the celebrity, will have a greater influence on the effectiveness of the endorsement than the overall image of the brand.Experien ce with a product does not always equate to expertise with the product (Siemens, Smith, Fisher, Jensen 2008). Sport celebrity endorsers especially must carefully choose their endorsements, since they could be held liable if they do not use the product they endorse (Moorma

Early Marriage Advantages

Early Marriage Advantages Introduction Marriage and family are the two institutes which form the basic building blocks of communities and by extension the society. Sudha (2000, p.198) declares that marriage is a fundamental universal social institute that â€Å"facilitates proper progeny and helps to have life long companionship and family life†.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Early Marriage Advantages specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This assertion is true since it is through marriage that children are raised and the continuity of a community assured. While the importance of marriage is universally appreciated, there are many differing opinions as to the age at which a person should get married. While marriage at a young age was favored in the past, modern day society advocates for later marriage. This is despite the many benefits that are to be gained by early marriage. This paper will argue that people should marry at an early age , this age ideally being 18 years. The paper shall demonstrate that early marriage has many significant advantages most notable of which are: it inhibits crime, it results in stronger families being build and lastly, it reduces the probability of the youth engaging in risky sexual behaviors. A Case for Early Marriage Marriage reduces the likelihood that a person will engage in criminal activity. Particularly, marriage is credited with inhibiting male crime and is associated with lower crime among men. Sampson, Laub and Wimer (2006, p.500) explicitly state that marriage is a potentially transformative institution that may assist in promotion desistance from criminal behavior†. The reason why marriage might lead to lower crime is because it results in a marked change in a persons daily routines. Sampson, Laub and Wimer (2006) note that â€Å"unstructured socializing activities with peers by people aged 18 to 26 increases the likelihood of deviant behavior†. Being married at the early age of 18 has the potential of changing activities such as frequent socializing with deviant peers. It can therefore be asserted that early marriage improves the quality of life for the married couple and the society at large. By reducing the likelihood of the person engaging in crime, the individual is able to engage in more productive activities. This benefits his immediate family and contributes to the well being of the society. Young couples have a higher likelihood of building stronger families than older couples. This is because younger people have not yet formed rigid perceptions concerning life. Strong, Devault and Cohen (2010) state that most marriages are built on the idea that one can change their partner following the marriage union and mold them into more desirable people.Advertising Looking for report on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More As such, both parties to a marriage en ter into the union hoping to change certain behaviors in each other. Young people are more flexible and open minded as compared to older ones. As such, it is easier for a younger couple to forge a coherent family than for an older couple who have already built independent perceptions of life over the years. Marriage at an early age significantly decreases the probability of an individual engaging in risky sexual behavior. We live in an age that is rife with sexually transmitted infections (STIs). While there is risk of infection for both married and unmarried people, the risk to the unmarried people is heightened. The reason for this is that unmarried people are more likely to engage in risky sexual activities with multiple partners. Ellis (2004) goes ahead and advocates early marriage as a means for curbing promiscuity which is one of the causes of the prevalence of STIs among youths. Marriage results in less risky behavior therefore increasing the probability of better health for a person. In addition to this, there is a positive correlation between marriage and the increased mental and physical well being of an individual (Smith, 1999). Counterargument and Refutation One of the most potent argument raised by opponents of early marriage is that marrying young may result in poverty for the couple. This is not an empty argument since as a matter of fact; most young people are economically insecure. Therefore, when these two people with limited financial capabilities come together in marriage, they cannot assist each other to become financially sound. While it is true that marrying young is often accompanied by economic insecurities, this is not a permanent state of affairs. The young couple has the ability to grow into financial security together. The notion that early marriage results in poverty is based on the assumption that the young couple will lack opportunities to better themselves. This is not true since both parties work towards achieving self-relianc e and economic empowerment. Sudha (2000) notes that both parties in the marriage are encouraged to pursue higher education and engage in employment in addition to the activities concerning marriage and family. Another argument advanced against marrying young is that it increases the likelihood of divorce. Opponents of early marriages state that the young are more likely to resort to divorce than older couples. Strong, Devault and Cohen (2010) suggest that the reason why young marriages are more prone to divorce is because of the immaturity and impulsive nature of the partners.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Early Marriage Advantages specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This argument fails to consider that divorce rates are on the increase for all ages (Harvey, 2006). In addition to this, research by Ruggles (1997) states that marital dissolutions have increased dramatically over the last century and while only 5% of m arriages entered into in 1987 ended in divorce, a phenomenal 50% of marriages entered into in 1967 are forecasted to end up in divorce. This dramatic rise in divorce rates has been blamed on a number of factors most notably of which are the increases in the earning power of women in the USA. This assertion by Ruggel is corroborated by Bianchi et al (1996) who declare that while there are many reasons for the rising rates of divorce, the most important factor is the changes in the female labor force over the last two decades. The reason for this is that the wifes employment provides an economic alternative to an unhappy marriage. Conclusion and opinion This paper set out to argue that people should marry at a young age so as to reap the benefits that accompany early marriage. The current reality is that the gap in years between the legal adult age (18) and marriage has increased significantly over the past three decades. This paper has outlined the various advantages that come with g etting married while young. It has been noted that early marriage reduces the likelihood of a person engaging in criminal activities or risky sexual behavior. In addition to this, early marriages result in strong bonds being formed between the couple. With this benefits that marriage beings about as highlighted in this paper, more people should be encouraged to marry at a young age. References Bianchi, S.M. et al. (1996). American Women in Transition. CA: Russell Sage Foundation. Ellis, H. (2004). Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 6. Online-ebooks. Harvey, J.H. (2006). Handbook of Divorce and Relationship Dissolution. NY: Routledge.Advertising Looking for report on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Ruggles, S. (1997). â€Å"The Rise of Divorce and Separation in the United States, 1880 – 1990†. Demography, Vol 34- No. 4, November 1997: 455-466. Sampson, J.R., Laub, H.J., Wimer, C. (2006). â€Å"Does Marriage Reduce Crime? A Counterfactual Approach to Within-Individual Causal Effects†. Criminology Volume 44, No. 3. Smith, J. P. (1999). â€Å"Healthy Bodies and Thick Wallets: The Dual Relationship Between Health and Economic Status†. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 13: 145-66. Strong, B., Devault, C., Cohen, F.T. (2010). The Marriage and Family Experience: Intimate Relationships in a Changing Society. NY: Cengage Learning. Sudha, D. Gender Roles. USA: APH Publishing, 2000.

Enterprise Integration - Infrastructure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Enterprise Integration - Infrastructure - Essay Example For effective integration, it is pivotal that all these information systems are linked together through a reliable technology. So much so that the enterprise as a whole works as a single platform, all the information systems connected and related in a productive manner, providing the processed information as and when needed, or even before hand. This leads to optimized business operations at reduced costs, alignment with the customer and enhanced business agility, streamlined internal business operations, individual roles and growth opportunities. This calls for some strategic decisions about the kinds of technology that a company should use to link its various information systems. The technologies can then be made to work together in a coherent infrastructure to support the work of the organization. Regardless of the technology used, applications and data must communicate, and that communication is growing to include a wide variety of technologies, such as SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), JMS (Java Message Service), FTP and custom APIs. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is by far the most initial tool to serve the purpose of enterprise integration. ERP systems do not define what integration is and how it is to be developed, but they incur a techno-logic that conditions how control can be performed through financial and non-financial representations because they distinguish between an accounting mode and a logistics mode. The concept behind Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is that applications should expose their functionality as services in a way that can be accessed by any authorized external system. SOA isn't a point product or even a suite of products-it requires multiple components comprising multiple products up and down the infrastructure stack and includes messaging (ESB) technology, application servers (ESP), management (SOA Management and Registries) products, development tools and more. Conventional integration technologies are evolving and are quickly being replaced with ESB (Enterprise Service Bus) software. ESBs provide integration plus the capabilities of legacy EAI (Enterprise Application Integration) products, and features and functions that integrate both legacy and contemporary services, such as Web services. Enterprise and infrastructure management system (EIMS) technology offers network managers benefits such as unprecedented control, protection, security and integration with other systems. EIMS bridges network management software and physical layer management. It can self-discover the physical topology of data centers, communication rooms and wiring closets, while, at the same time, manage and troubleshoot network connectivity through integration with third-party logical layer applications. Infrastructure Model It is better to apply SOA concepts incrementally to existing information technology (IT) systems to exploit short-term business benefits. SOA facilitates aligning existing IT infrastructure and systems to achieve end-to-end enterprise connectivity by removing redundancies, generating unified collaboration tools, and streamlining IT processes. The Human Service Bus (HSB) is an optimized organizational

Criminal justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 14

Criminal justice - Essay Example (socyberty.com/social-sciences 2011). Police presence in any situation, in most cases, is a crime prevention measure. While the police do fight crime, the media does not always depict the police in a realistic light. The police are shown as being in a position to sacrifice their lives to uphold and enforce the law; however, this label is real but an over-emphasized depiction. As police go through the day to day deed of fighting crime, the media does not report the ordinary times between events. (Dantzker, 2003). Events that occur without inflated incident will be less likely to be noted by the media due to lack of interest or drama involved on viewers. (socyberty.com/ 2011). Television plays an important role in the myths associated with police crime fighters. According to Dr. Podlas the overall pattern of television programs that viewers are exposed to cultivates a common perception of reality. (Podlas 2006). â€Å"The â€Å"reality† tends to mirror what viewers see on the TV screen.† He contends that people who watch a great deal of television will see the real world as a match to television. (Podlas 2006). The news media do, in fact, overdramatize crime. (C. Michael, 2009). Examples of over-dramatization are such things as racial and ethnic crimes. Television news stories about drugs show blacks 50 percent of the time and white 32 percent of the time. However, statistics show that only 15 percent of illegal drug users in the US are black and 70 percent are white. Newspapers also focus their attention to white crime victims even though most violent crimes are interracial. (C.Michael 2009). The media manipulates reports through misleading information or bias. They randomly select people to interview who support the reporter’s view. Also, vital information, such as history and background information, is purposely deleted from a crime story. (C.Michael, 2009).

Sociology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Sociology - Essay Example parted focuses on the criminal element’s ability to infiltrate law enforcement at the highest and most sensitive levels of operation in order to facilitate criminal and organized crime activities. What results, as demonstrated by the film, is the obscuring of identities, priorities, and loyalties that lead to dangerous and deadly situations for undercover operatives. Actor Leonardo DeCaprio, playing the undercover good cop, has as his counterpart actor Matt Damon, playing the undercover bad guy in the police department. DeCaprio, whose acting abilities and skills bring a superb talent and realism to the role that allows the viewer to suspend disbelief and to become engrossed in the film’s back and forth good cop versus bad cop role playing; is, in character, reduced to the role of the neighborhood thug and thief. In the film, as in reality, men of Irish descent had two options; crime and the streets, or education and law enforcement. DeCaprio’s character opts for education and law enforcement, to move away from not just the stereo-typical image of the Irish thug and hood, but the reality of it as it existed in his family. DeCaprio’s character’s family is well known in the neighborhood and within the hierarchy of law enforcement as breeding criminals. Damon’s family, on the other hand, has a less prominent family history, but nonetheless is inducted into the Irish organized crime scene early on as a child. Damon is quickly recognized as being intelligent, capable of passing the mental and physical tests for acceptance that would give him access to the highest levels of confidence and information as a law enforcement official – with the help of Nicholson’s character’s sponsorship from the outside. Damon, another skilled and talented actor, convincingly portrays the bad guy playing the good cop, and feeds Nicholson’s character inside information with which to pull off successful crime capers by the Irish thugs and thieves. Nicholson is,

Effects of Technical Education on India

Effects of Technical Education on India India is well known for its large pool of technical manpower, a fair proportion of which finds employment in developed countries, especially in the West. As a happy sequel to the story, India has recently witnessed a big boom in the BPO/KPO sector. In order to sustain this trend, and to ensure that India does not throw away this key advantage, it is imperative that we continue to produce a critical mass of highly skilled manpower at an accelerated pace. An enabling academic and economic setting is a key factor determining the fate of our nation in the wake of the knowledge sector boom. Indias growth in recent years has been led by the services sector. The most noticeable aspect has been the recent big boom in the BPO/KPO sector. This off-shoring trend is certain to continue and India faces the challenge of generating an appropriate supply response to retain its existing advantage. It should be noted that Indians spend nearly $4 billion annually to send their children abroad for higher studies and technical training while there is no reason for India not emerging as a global hub for higher education and technical training. The real challenge therefore, is to expand capacities in higher education to keep ahead of the curve of rising domestic and global demand. UN Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commended that the technical education in India as the best in the world, and she also suggested her country and India should work together in the field to help bridge the gap between talent and opportunities. Technical education in India was the best in the world. We need to work together in the field of educational opportunities, she said at an interactive discussion on education organized by Teach India, a NGO on 19th July 2009. GLOBALISATION The term globalization means integration of economies and societies through cross country flows of information, ideas, technologies, goods, services, capital, finance and people. Cross border integration can have several dimensions cultural, social, political and economic. In fact, some people fear cultural and social integration even more than economic integration. Nothing is permanent, only change is permanent. Globalization is a feature of changing world. It is no more a recent phenomenon in the world and since India is major player of twenty first ** Lecturer, Department of Commerce, Loyola College, Chennai 34. century we are facing its socio economic impacts. Initial enthusiasm for globalization as a beneficial set of processes has yielded to an understanding that the phenomenon is largely associated with increasing social inequality within and between countries as well as instability and conflict. Globalization is impacting the institutional framework in both developing and industrial countries. It is changing the way in which governments perceive their role in the society. It has also far reaching implications for socio economic development and educational systems of countries all over the World. With abundance of natural resources India has huge young and skilled man power to excel in every walk of life. Globalization is a contemporary term that has attracted considerable attention of educators throughout most of the world. It is a set of processes to integrate the world into one economic space through increased international trade, the internationalization of production, and telecommunication system (Stromquist Monkman, 2000). Although this definition is made from an economic view, globalization is increasingly connected to political, cultural, and educational influences. Recently, its relationship to education and culture has become important issues because information and innovation are the basic momentum of globalization. GLOBALISATION AND HIGHER EDUCATION According to the results of a special survey Higher Education: Free degrees to fly , higher education is already a global business. The days when higher education was a matter of national policy and government regulation are rapidly fading. Higher Education provisioning is now globalised and in many ways, a commercialized affair and the way that the State had in the goings on is vastly diminished. According to Andreas Schleicher of OECD, a Paris based Think Tank the numbers studying abroad were statistically negligible two decades ago. (Cited in the same survey in the Economist). According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the growth is now soaring: 2 million university students-approaching 2% of the worlds total of around 100 million studying outside their home country in 2003 (cited in Higher Education in the same article in Economist). Since the late 1990s the higher education market is growing by 7 per cent a year. The Economist Survey on higher education further in dicates that annual fee income alone is estimated at $ 30 billion. While private profit seeking companies have entered the education business, even government-controlled universities are seeking independence from governmental authority. However, many countries including India, continue to control the fee structure of their universities causing financial stress to foreign students, who are generally made to pay much higher fees than local students. This has resulted in many universities openly soliciting entry of foreign students. To facilitate this process they have even tailored their courses to international requirements besides appointing agents abroad and publicizing the offers widely in the media. TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN INDIA The history of imparting formal technical education in India can be traced back to mid 19th century, although it got momentum in 20th century with the set up of Constitution of Technical Education Committee of the Central University Board of Education (CABE) in 1943; Preparation of Sergeant Report in 1944 and Formation of All India Council of technical Education (AICTE) in 1945. With the country gaining independence in 1947, the development of technical education had become a major concern for the government of India to face the new challenges and move the country forward. The set up of Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management and Indian Institutes of Science was a major step in the development of technical education in the country. The quality of education of these institutes have managed to change the outlook of India so much that this ancient country which was earlier known for yoga and mediation is now known for computer engineers. However, it does not mean that the challenge of making technical education accessible to the rural populace and other under developed sections of the society has been overcome. In order to maintain the standard of technical education, a statutory authority- The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)- was set up in 1945. AICTE is responsible for planning, formulation and maintenance of norms and standards, quality assurance through accreditation, funding in priority areas, monitoring and evaluation, maintaining parity of certification and awards and ensuring coordinated and integrated development and management of technical education in the country. GLOBALIZATION EDUCATION AND HR DEVELOPMENT Knowledge is the driving force in the rapidly changing globalised economy and society. Quantity and quality of specialized human resources determine their competence in the global market. Emergence of knowledge as driving factor results in both challenges and opportunities. It is well known that the growth of the global economy has increased opportunities for those countries with good levels of education. Globalization has a multi-dimensional impact on the system of education. It promotes new tools techniques in this area like E-learning, Flexible learning, Distance Education Programs and Overseas training. Globalization will mean many different things for education. In the near future, it will mean a more competitive and deregulated educational system modeled after free market but with more pressure on it to assure that the next generation of workers are prepared for some amorphous job market of 21st century. Since Life long jobs have been converted in to yearly contracts there is still possibility of even short duration jobs. Our education system should deliver such education and training so that professionals can adjust themselves as per market expectations. It has underlined the need for reforms in the educational system with particular reference to the wider utilization of information technology, giving productivity dimension to education and emphasis on its research and development activities. The benefits of globalization accrue to the countries with highly skilled human capital and it is a curse for the countries without such specialized human capital. Developing and transition countries are further challenged in a highly competitive world economy because their higher education systems are not adequately developed for the creation and use of knowledge. Converting the challenges into opportunities depend on the rapidity at which they adapt to the changing environment. India is also following the global phenomenon. As part of globalization, the economic reform packages were introduced in India in the beginning of 1991. These reform packages imposed a heavy compression on the public budgets on education sector, more specifically so on higher education. This has trickled down to public expenditure on education in general, and higher education in particular. Indian government and Indian corporate sector has recognized the importance of management education in the changing global scenario. Today under the reforming economic conditions, integration of the Indian economy with world economy presupposes efficiency and competitiveness in the domestic front as well as in the international arena. As the process of globalization is technology-driven, and knowledge-driven, the very success of economic reform policies critically depends upon the competence of human capital. But, what is observed is the reverse. Even within the education sector, relative priority assigned to higher education has been on the decline (Table 1 and Chart 1). It is to be realized that higher education institutions play an important role in setting the academic standard for primary and secondary education. They are also responsible for not only providing the specialized human capital in order to corner the gains from globalisation, but also for training inside the country, provide policy advice, etc. Globalization is expected to have a positive influence on the volume, quality and spread of knowledge through increased interaction among the various states. Today our educational system is strong enough but Central and state governments should change their roles within the education system, re-inventing themselves as facilitating and supervisory organizations. Teacher training, infrastructure and syllabuses need to be urgently upgraded. Industry should come forward to share experience with students and to offer more opportunities for live Projects. The free market philosophy has already entered the educational world in a big way. Commercialization of education is the order of the day. Commercial institutions offering specialized education have come up everywhere. In view of globalization, many corporate universities, both foreign and Indian, are encroaching upon our government institutions. Our Institutes like IIMS and IITS have produced world class professionals. These institutes imparts quality education as per industry expectations and give due importance to Institute Industry Interface. Under the new scenario, Government Private partnership is becoming important in Management Education. Now India is a transforming country. We are near to achieve status of developed nation. The demand for higher education has been growing rapidly with comparatively faster growth in enrolment in higher educational institutions than the growth in number of higher educational institutions . The growth rates are doubled among the students enrolled in post-graduate and research, while the number of institutions for post-graduate and research studies has grown at a slower rate in 1990s than in 1980s. CHALLENGES Globalization leads to challenges and threats also. The major concern is to deliver world class education with updated curriculum and practical exposure. This is possible only by attracting talented experienced persons in to academics. At present it is difficult to assess not only the nature and dimensions of globalization, but also what it means to the field of education. A few educational researchers have attempted to make connections between the several dimensions of globalization and the policies of education. India is witnessing new era in the field of Management Education. Many Corporate groups like Reliance, Nirma, Tata, Sterlite etc. have promoted Management Institutes. Some reputed foreign universities are also coming to India. But Government should issue some guidelines so that fees structure remains with in certain limit and those who are from economically poor background have same opportunity. RECENT TRENDS In the wake of globalization process and to cope up with the changing priorities of the people, the planners are bound to revise their strategies in the education sector. Thus, several specialist committees, involving the elites and captains of industry and education, constituted by the Union ministry are engaged in the process. Whereas, the public interest demands a wider domain for the national debate on syllabus and curriculum reform among other related aspects. As usual there are several viewpoints of conflicting nature expressed by the captains of industry and education like Azim Premji, Prof.N.S.Ramaswamy, Kabir Mustafa and others. While there is a broad consensus on some points, some are almost at variance with each other. The common educational reforms that were endorsed by some of the eminent industrialists and academics include: Liberalize and deregulate the education system to encourage promotion of new schools, colleges, vocational and other institutions of higher education. Diligence higher education, confer institutional autonomy and decentralize syllabus design. Central and state governments should change their roles within the education system, re-inventing themselves as facilitating and supervisory organisations. Teacher training, infrastructure and syllabuses need to be urgently upgraded. The rapid growth of the software development and electronic communications industries is one of the few achievements of Indian industry in post-independence India. Further, because of strong hold of the English language in MNCs and corporate circles, the divide between rural and urban is almost complete in the field of education. In consequence, this great reservoir of skills and expertise offers the opportunity to utilize them for the spread of quality education through several technologies. Obviously, F.C. Kohli, the vice chairman of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) recommended, Through the wider use of computers and technology, curriculums and faculties can be shared by schools and colleges across the country. Again the pace is set by a variety of private educational entrepreneurs, otherwise known as, Edupreneurs, who have promoted internationally recognized institutions of higher education such as the S.P. Jain Institute of Management in Mumbai; Amity University, Delhi; Indian Sch ool of Business and ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad; Mahavir Academy of Technical Sciences and Presidency College, Bangalore and the Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, among others. Besides, some Indian Edupreneur are venturing overseas. These are all certain recent trends that undermine the very social obligations of our governments. OUTCOME OF GLOBALISATION The ramifications of globalization in India have been uneven. Education, as a service industry, is a part of the globalization process under the umbrella of General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).Thus it is of now wonder that like in any other sector, globalization has bred inequality and dependence in the education system of the nation, especially higher education. Thus while a section of the population has benefited from globalization in their academic pursuits, the under privileged section has struggled to receive proper higher education due to excessive corporatization of education ,increasing fees and unavailability of opportunities in the lower strata of the society. India has some very bright spots of excellence in its technical education sector. The IITs and their alumni command great respect in the global market. Globalization has created a market based educational system in India. Thus there has been incredible growth of the number of technical colleges and universit ies providing technical education especially in fields like IT, Computer Science, electronics, architecture. As the job market in these sectors is flourishing, students after getting mere Bachelors degree hardly opt for higher education. Thus India over the years has produced some brilliant technicians but hardly any excellent educationist or a genius teacher. Moreover, as the cost of receiving such technical education is sky high, poor students have been out of the competition to receive higher education. CONCLUSION Given the importance of technical education in the further development of the nation, the Government of India is keen on developing some more institutes in the line of IITs, IIMs and IISCs. The Prime Minister of India has unleashed a plan to establish 8 IITs, 7 IIMs and 5 IISCs to improve the spread and quality of technical education in the country. These institutes along with various private institutes and foreign technical colleges have the potential of making technical education accessible to all sections of society in India without compromising on the quality of education. Education is an important investment in building human capital that is a driver for technological innovation and economic growth. It is only through improving the educational status of a society that the multi-faceted development of its people can be ensured. In the post-industrialized world, the advanced countries used to derive the major proportion of their national income not from agriculture and industry but from the service sector. Since the service sector is based on imparting skills or training to the students and youth, the education sector is the most sought after. It must provide gainful employment so that the sector is developed in a big way. It has also given rise to controversies relating to introducing changes in the inter-sectoral priorities in the allocation of resources leading to the misconceived policy of downsizing of higher education. It has also advocated privatization of higher education without realizing the danger of making the system a commercial enterprise.

Cinderella - Oppression of Women by Women Essay -- Comparative Litera

Cinderella - Oppression of Women by Women Throughout the ages women have always appeared to be victims of oppression by men. There are many cultures and religions that have separate rules for the men and the women. Traditional gender roles have cast men as the providers, while women are the nurturers and stay home to keep the house clean, cook, and care for the children and their husbands. Even the clothes men and women wear are subject to the different rules. Men are free to dress without restraint in order to get the job done, where as women are required to dress modestly - in some religions covered from head to toe, and compelled to cover their hair in others. However, the fairy tale of Cinderella turns the idea of male repression of women on its head, casting women in a position of dominance. It is still a man's world where women must bend to the demands of man, the ball for example. It is in these confines, the ultimate goal in obtaining a suitable husband, that we see what women are capable of doing to one another in o rder to reach their goals. Women use different techniques in order to keep other women down. As Tony Morrison states she is "alarmed by the violence that women do to each other: professional violence, competitive violence, emotional violence. [She] is alarmed by the willingness of women to enslave other women." (Cinderella's stepsisters, p. 500) In this situation, the women in Cinderella, specifically the step mother and step sisters, dominate Cinderella in many ways: name calling, degradation, mocking, and dishing her false hopes. The story as portrayed in Cinderella by Charles Perrault, Ashputtle by the Grimm Brothers and the Walt Disney adaptation written by Grant as well as the animated film Cinderell... ...PHY Behrens, Laurence and Rosen, Leonard F.Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Eighth Edition, University of California ; copyright 2003. Web sources: 1) http://www.northern.edu/hastingw/cinderella.htm Prof. Waller Hastings Northern State University Aberdeen, SD 57401 2) http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/perrault06.html Source: Andrew Lang, The Blue Fairy Book (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., ca. 1889), pp. 64-71. Lang's source: Charles Perrault, "Cendrillon, ou la petite pantoufle de verre," Histoires ou contes du temps passà ©, avec des moralità ©s: Contes de ma mà ¨re l'Oye (Paris, 1697). Revised October 8, 2003. Other sources : 1) Walt Disney's animated film Cinderella

Emerging Logistics Strategy Essay

The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe the emerging business logistics strategies which have emerged in the market place over the last few decades and will remain dominant well into the better half of twenty first century. Analysis through this work will argue that the two strategic concepts, namely supply chain integration and cycle time compression, represent distinctly different yet complementary approaches to corporate logistics which form the frameworks around which hundreds of firms are building successful logistics system. INTRODUCTION Logistics Strategy is the science of evaluating the most cost effective methodology of distributing goods to market while achieving service level objectives. It is important for companies to recognize that logistics strategy can be product-specific, customer-specific, and location-specific and that supply chains for each industry are dynamic and evolving. It is always a challenge for logistics strategy planners to develop a series of logistics strategies for different clients, integrating manpower, facilities and workflow in the logistics strategies together to compromise with other clients’ logistics strategies. The choice of an appropriate and effective logistics strategy must be guided by the objectives of the firm as well as by its capabilities and resources. In addition, the development of successful logistics strategy must recognize and deal with important factors and conditions in the firm’s external business environment. The environment of logistics has changed greatly because of global integration and the gradual shortening of lifecycles of products. For that reason a brief overview of what are, perhaps, the most significant of these factors in the business environment like increasing globalization, mergers and acquisitions, downsizing, new IT systems etc. are also discussed. In this paper, contemporary logistics strategy and evolution of emerging strategies like SCM and Cycle time reduction will be explained. Implementation issues and other challenges like reaping the benefits of IT,  choosing a trade-off between complementary strategies; integration issues etc. are elaborately discussed. This paper will mostly discuss the logistics strategy which the companies are adopting to succeed in the emerging markets like India, China etc. Emerging markets are becoming hot destinations for carrying out business mainly because of access to low cost labors and material. However at the same time how the firm mitigates the risk associated with doing business in foreign territory and how it manages the associated cost of transportation will also be discussed. Logistics Strategy and its importance When a company creates a logistics strategy it is defining the service levels at which its logistics organization is at its most cost effective. Because supply chains are constantly changing and evolving, a company may develop a number of logistics strategies for specific product lines, specific countries or specific customers. The supply chain constantly changes and that will affect any logistics organization. To adapt to the flexibility of the supply chain, companies should develop and implement a formal logistics strategy. This will allow a company to identify the impact of imminent changes and make organizational or functional changes to ensure service levels are not reduced. Parameters Involved in Developing a Logistic Strategy A company can start to develop a logistics strategy by looking at four distinct levels of their logistics organization. * Strategic: By examining the company’s objectives and strategic supply chain decisions, the logistics strategy should review how the logistics organization contributes to those high-level objectives. * Structural: The logistics strategy should examine the structural issues of the logistics organization, such as the optimum number of warehouses and distribution centers or what products should be produced at a specific manufacturing plant. * Functional: Any strategy should review how each separate function in the logistics organization is to achieve functional excellence. * Implementation: The key to developing a successful logistics strategy is how it is to be implemented across the organization. The plan for implementation will include development or configuration of an information system, introduction  of new policies and procedures and the development of a change management plan. Components to Examine when Developing a Logistics Strategy When examining the four levels of logistics organization, all components of the operation should be examined to ascertain whether any potential cost benefits can be achieved. There are different component areas for each company but the list should at least include the following: * Transportation: Does the current transportation strategies help service levels? * Outsourcing: What outsourcing is used in the logistics function? Would a partnership with a third party logistics company improve service levels? * Logistics Systems: Do the current logistics systems provide the level of data that is required to successfully implement a logistics strategy or are new systems required? * Competitors: Review what the competitors offer. Can changes to the company’s customer service improve service levels? * Information: Is the information that drives the logistics organization real-time and accurate? If the data is inaccurate then the decisions that are made will be in error. * Strategy Review: Are the objectives of the logistics organization in line with company objectives and strategies. A successfully implemented logistics strategy is important for companies who are dedicated to keeping service levels at the highest levels possible despite changes that occur in the supply chain. Current logistics operating environment Since 1990s, the environment of logistics has changed greatly because of global integration and the gradual shortening of lifecycles of products. The mode of production in enterprises has changed from the traditional mass production mode led by products into the mass customization production mode to facilitate increasing global market competition. Srinivasa (2001) pointed out three main reasons of such revolution. 1. Change of manufacturing strategy In the past, logistics was recognized as a distinct function with the rise of mass production systems. Since 1990s, the Japanese philosophy of distributed manufacturing and lean manufacturing has become the key technique which is widely adopted around the world. Consequently, the logistics operation is  forced to change in order to fit such new Japanese manufacturing strategy. As a whole, logistics has become an extremely complicated process in which expert knowledge is required. 2. Change of customer demand Business environment as a whole is becoming extremely volatile. As product life cycle becomes shorter, manufacturers can no longer push their products down the supply chain easily. On the contrary, it is the consumer who pulls the products along this supply chain. Price and quality are no longer sufficient to thrive in this market. As speed to market and flexibility of the supply chain become the winning criteria, logistics management has grown much more complex in order to satisfy these conditions simultaneously. 3. Globalization As enterprises expand their markets beyond national boundaries, the need for more sophisticated services like multi-modal transport and international trade rules compliance increases. Hence, redesign of logistics operation is essential in order to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness on these issues. These issues revealed the complexity of logistics management in that traditional logistics operation which includes large quantity of stock storage and distribution cannot fulfill the real time, flexibility logistics service demand among the supply chain parties. Moreover, since logistics network has became more complex, it takes time to make critically decision in resource allocation and work task arrangement accurately. In the current dynamic scenario where business landscape has changed a lot and more and more business are becoming customer centric firms have realized that to remain competitive they need to consider logistics as a part of their strategy and not just another fu nction. Companies have gained significant advantages over their competitors by focusing and crafting a logistics strategy which suits their requirement. However, there is no fixed Logistics strategy solution in place for any type of industry. It depends on and varies from the type of goods, nature of industry, the market it serves etc. Below are some of the questions that a firm’s logistics strategy must address. Fast / Slow -A company logistics strategy must handle fast moving products differently from slow and medium moving products within their own  distribution center(s) and within their distribution network. It is to be seen is it economically beneficial to set up regional â€Å"fast† facilities and a centralized â€Å"slow† facility? DSD / Non-stock – A company must have a clear understanding of all of the cost components and lost profit opportunities for products that are deemed â€Å"Direct store Delivery† or â€Å"non-stock† items. There has to be a logistics strategy in place that clearly delineates when an item should be inventoried. Third Party Services -Does your company need to own and/or operate its own distribution facilities or is it more effective to have third party logistics providers manage some or all aspects of your logistics functions? What are the economical, service and other considerations your company needs to consider before taking these steps? Hub and Spoke -Are there economical cost of goods advantages to sourcing products into a centralized distribution center that subsequently distributes to regional facilities or branches through a hub and spoke distribution network? Inbound Logistics -Are there opportunities to reduce your landed cost of goods through improved inbound logistics strategy including load consolidation, reduced handling, backhauls, etc.? Outbound Logistics-Are there opportunities to reduce your outbound transportation costs through improved private fleet routing? Through improved carrier rate shopping, through load consolidation opportunities, etc.? Facility Consolidation-Is your company operating too many distribution centers that are underutilized? What are the economical benefits and service impacts of closing one or more of your distribution points? Inventory reduction-Is your company carrying the right assortment and inventory levels to achieve service level objectives? To minimize inventory assets, to minimize storage and handling costs? Supply Chain-Are there opportunities to work with your trading partners to reduce supply chain complexities and improve service levels for specific products / vendor product lines? Are there internal supply chain policies that hinder cost-effective operations? Global Logistics-Are there opportunities to improve global logistics to reduce inventory levels in the supply chain? To reduce order cycle times? To reduce supplier lead times? To reduce logistics costs? With these questions in mind we proceed to see what have been few emerging and successful strategies and what the challenges in implementing them are. Emerging Logistic Strategies: Given the expanding complexities of global operations, information about logistics costs and capabilities is crucial to evaluating whether and how to leverage emerging markets as a means for increasing profit margin. Globally, there has been a trend to source from or manufacture in low-cost jurisdictions and emerging markets. This trend, however, is often offset by increased logistics costs and delivery times, along with a growing number of complexities that need to be managed. Senior management has begun to realize that lowering unit procurement costs does not translate directly to lower per-unit total landed costs — the total costs associated with importing goods or parts from distant emerging market locations. The complexities of managing logistics in emerging market locations ultimately add to the total landed costs of the associated goods. Therefore, the process of redesigning supply chain operations to establish logistics management capabilities in emerging markets is a fundamental dimension of a long-term business strategy. Components of this strategy should include a focus on end-to-end integrated operations design and sound process discipline. Further, this focus should include a means to achieve flexibility, responsiveness and resiliency to enable more effective competition in today’s environment of increasingly dynamic global business conditions. To leverage opportunities in emerging markets, companies must transition or expand from managing logistics in a limited number of local geographies to managing them in emerging market geographies worldwide — in a very efficient, agile manner that supports the responsiveness and flexibility associated with an On Demand Business. Companies can leverage specific approaches to transforming their global logistics capabilities and better support the business goals of lower cost sourcing or fulfillment by taking advantage of emerging market jurisdictions. Global supply chain management — a rapidly changing environment Because of competitive pressures in the global marketplace, companies are rapidly migrating to low-cost sources of labor and materials, which are typically located in countries that also represent emerging market opportunities. But the speed of this change may bring challenges associated with escalating shipping costs and increased supply chain risk, and these challenges could exceed a company’s internal skill and resource capacity. If  you are adopting global sourcing practices, you may not yet have the foreign trade experience necessary to manage regulatory compliance and related global supply chain management complexities. For example, multiple, autonomous business units within an organization can contribute to a fragmented logistics process as well as create missed opportunities for leveraging economies-of-scale. Individual business units may also lack the necessary economies-of-scale needed to establish a competitive foothold and gain sufficient influence in emerging markets. Balancing inbound and outbound supply chain logistics requires a comprehensive strategy that incorporates all the key functions of a supply chain to accelerate or expand sourcing from emerging markets. This horizontally integrated approach also helps you make strategic decisions regarding partnerships, shipping and other factors, to help ensure that savings from global sourcing are not eroded by increased logistics costs. Even more significantly, such a strategy can enable you to go beyond sourcing to position your organization to leverage your logistics capabilities to sell and distribute products within those emerging markets. Challenges to leveraging emerging markets in supply chain cost management As you expand your geographic reach of global sourcing into emerging markets, you will likely encounter a growing number of supply chain and logistics challenges, many of which directly or indirectly contribute to a large portion of total landed costs. Each issue can be grouped into one of two categories: tangible or intangible. Tangible challenges of working in emerging markets include obvious things such as the limited physical infrastructure of roads, bridges, harbors and airports. Other limiting items include the communications infrastructure needed to support the necessary IT connectivity. As constraints due to infrastructure bottlenecks represent a clear challenge, government agencies are more aptly able to focus on these items because the benefit for improvement extends beyond just the business sector. Enhancements to physical infrastructure help the greater population of the emerging marketplace and contribute to modernizing an entire region or industry. Physical infrastructure improvements tend to have greater visibility and  political momentum, and often involve just a few government agencies. For example, the current infrastructure expansion in China as described by EFT Research in late 2005:1 †¢ Between 2005 and 2008, more than US$70 billion per annum will be spent to create 75,000 new mil es of expressways †¢ Forty-three airports have been added since 2001, a major focus for expansion †¢ By 2010, China plans to double the number of shipping port berths from the 34,000 currently in use and will spend approximately US$6 billion each year to do so †¢ Between 2005 and 2020, China will build 25,000 km of new rail lines at a cost of US$250 billion. The net effects of current infrastructure limitations in China and other emerging markets are longer-than-expected lead times and greater variability in shipment cycle times. These factors have a direct impact on owned inventory levels and the overall cash-to-cash cycle time — both of which drive the need to tie up more working capital in the supply chain. These shipment cycle time delays, which can be typical, are often offset by shifting to expedited, or premium freight service levels. However, these shifts to faster service levels are what significantly erode the expected savings in procurement and sourcing. While tangible infrastructure and expansion challenges within emerging markets often get the most press and visibility, it is the intangible items that create the greatest headaches for global logistics managers. The list of intangibles consists of items that often carry â€Å"hidden costs† not fully grasped by companies entering an emerging market. Included are all the tariffs, duties, taxes, customs declarations processes, security and compliance requirements, and the daunting task of dealing with government agencies and multiple third parties in a foreign language. The complexity is exacerbated by variables that can constantly change and remain in a near-fluid state. Managing day-to-day events is complicated by the need to factor in multiple working locations, distant time zones, multiple handoffs of products and associated information, different national holidays, language and cultural barriers, and the ongoing regulatory changes. For example, effective January 1, 2006, the Ministry of Commerce of China updated numerous regulations for export processing zones, while at the same time Chinese customs issued new regulations for bonded logistics parks that support export-related handling activities. Understanding how such changes  impact your supply chain requires in-country operating experience and deep collaborative relationships with logistics services providers who manage daily in this dynamic environment. Not to be overlooked is the significant influence that culture and management style can have on implementing and managing a logistics operation. For example, some of the fundamental differences prevalent in the Far East: confrontation avoidance, top-down decision making and agreements formed through handshakes with less regard to contractual specifics are the norm. While the Western approach to dealing with supply chain partners and vendors is to collaborate and pursue a win-win outcome, that attitude rarely prevails in many emerging market locations. Do not underestimate the impact of negotiating style and approach for dealing with suppliers found in different business cultures. In emerging market countries where rule of law can be erratic, establishing sound relationships with known entities is critical. Getting a jump on technical obstacles to integrated supply chain management Leveraging emerging markets as both product source and product destination can be a dynamic response to global market pressures; however, many companies are not well positioned to take advantage of these opportunities. The key objectives for the technical aspects of managing logistics in emerging markets are to build flexibility into the design, develop a core competency to bring logistics suppliers on board in a seamless fashion, and to enable meaningful information capture that supports continuous improvement. For example, effective supply chain management depends on visibility into the status and location of in-transit materials and products, but many companies do not have these systems in place. Fortunately, many technology-based solutions are available from a range of providers. Nearly all transportation companies offer some type of shipment status or information-sharing system accessible through their Web sites. In addition, there are dozens of advanced logistics planning and execution software applications that companies can install and use themselves. While there is no comprehensive solution that effectively serves all industry verticals and logistics partners across the supply chain, it remains critical that companies efficiently integrate multiple applications across diverse trading partners. Even with an integrated value chain that seeks to  leverage leading applications, true visibility into order and shipment status across the logistics chain depends on tightly defined processes and the ability of all logistics partners to exchange and provide timely status reports on materials in transit. Managing logistics within and outside of emerging market locations can make these processes even more challenging — the increase in variables makes consistent execution and the timely exchange of information very difficult to achieve. Meanwhile, the very nature of an emerging market means that the number of logistics services providers with the appropriate experience is limited. And switching logistics providers can be very expensive. So part of the challenge becomes finding partners who either have the appropriate experience or have established networks and partnerships with reputable local providers. Managing and mitigating the risks associated with emerging market logistics In order to address the challenges of leveraging emerging markets as a cost reducing, and eventually, a profit-boosting strategy, companies are finding that they need to develop a strategy for managing logistics that can support multiple service-level requirements. As one element of such a logistics strategy, you need to determine how, where and to what extent the services of logistics suppliers should be engaged. There are several logistics management options to consider before you enter a new or emerging market. One end of the spectrum involves developing extensive multifunction logistics talent within your company, and then managing specific tactical activities and numerous contracts with logistics suppliers that provide narrowly defined services within a specific region or country. In this scenario, pitfalls include the time it takes to develop or recruit the necessary level of logistics talent and leadership, and the administrative cost of managing dozens, if not hundreds, of logistics suppliers. The other end of the spectrum involves leveraging already established and proven capabilities of a few logistics service providers — or even one — who can orchestrate the many activities, dependencies, and relationships across a global logistics network. Companies taking this approach are able to react to new and emerging opportunities in a shorter, more cost-effective time horizon. Figure 1 summarizes the spectrum of relationships with logistics partners. Figure 1: Logistics service provider options While core asset-based logistics providers are critical to logistics execution, there continues to be a competitive desire among service providers to offer strategically integrated solutions with a global reach that include already established relationships in key emerging market locations. As companies decide which model to pursue and which logistics service provider(s) to engage as potential long-term partners in an emerging market, there are a number of factors to consider: †¢ Experience with integrating logistics across the supply chain and related business functions such as direct procurement †¢ Demonstrated ability to lead supply chain transformation in phased initiatives that align with current and future customer requirements †¢ An understanding of the unique characteristics of the emerging market(s) where you are considering expanding sourcing activities or establishing operations and distribution capabilities †¢ Familiarity with your industry vertical and the nature of your supply chain requirements †¢ Proven capabilities to advise on support and manage international trade and customs regulations †¢ The capacity to offer robust middleware as an enabler of cross-functional IT integration with multiple supply chain partners †¢ The experience and capacity to act as information broker between you and your supply chain partners †¢ Infrastructure and business process designs that are highly scalable and redundant †¢ A track record of solid financial health and sound corporate governance A global logistics view in alignment with a top-down business strategy helps to avoid a piecemeal logistics contracting or outsourcing management approach that could exacerbate the challenge of integration and shipment visibility. Your approach to outsourcing should help you develop a responsive, plug and play, logistics management capability that will support your entry into emergi ng markets. This is also a key capability for enabling an adaptive global supply chain footprint and competitive advantage. To further support this goal, it is important to consolidate and align your supply chain management infrastructure, processes and procedures to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Leading logistics providers now have the resources and expertise to help you design your network and make location decisions that optimize the tradeoffs in cost, service level and risk; but you should be aware that such companies may also be driven by their own business goals. When you  receive advice about which emerging markets to target, ask yourself whether this advice is aligned to your business goals, or whether it reflects the logistics supplier’s own growth strategy. It is very important to look for an objective logistics partner who can establish clear business performance metrics and accountability for the entire ship-to deliver cycle. This includes activity from the shipping dock in the source country through each leg and mode of shipment. Such information should be a key part of the overall supply chain performance management dashboard — your logistics service provider should be able to supply you with a range of data and performance metrics such as on-time delivery, damage rates, error rates, cost/sales percentages and related financial metrics that drive continuous improvement efforts. IBM Case Study — overcoming emerging market implementation hurdles Strong global partnerships with leading logistics suppliers are a highly valued asset when it comes to entering emerging markets. IBM offers a case in point. Several years prior to the sale of their personal computing division to Lenovo, IBM shifted PC fulfillment operations to low-cost jurisdictions and emerging market locations. IBM had been conducting business in China for many years, which provided a leverage point for establishing the necessary legal entity and business model to support a manufacturing operation that could act as a global fulfilment center for a limited line of products. Setting up shop in one of China’s free-trade zones offered proximity to key suppliers and abundant availability of low-cost labor during a time of intense, industry wide cost pressures. But from a logistics management perspective, the implications seemed daunting. IBM needed to design and implement the capability to ship from a factory in Shenzhen to customer locations in the United States, Europe and the rest of Asia. This effort required robust process design with multiple logistics suppliers, not to mention the trade-management-related complexities associated with exporting from a free-trade zone to numerous other countries — most of which had their own unique entry and customs-related procedures. In the high-tech industry, the supply chain must be responsive and fast. In logistics, this means pre-clearing shipments through customs while flights are in-transit. The most minor of data inaccuracies on the commercial invoice or shipping  manifest during the entry process can delay shipments for hours. While an import delay of only a few hours may not seem drastic, the result can be a missed cutoff time with the in-country ground service delivery provider. This means an entire day can be added to the shipment cycle time. IBM found that design and implementation challenges resided at the most basic levels. The infrastructure and necessary processes just for getting the trucks from the manufacturing site to the Hong Kong airport caused delays. The frequency and timing of the flight schedules became the hard constraint that all other cutoff times were forced to meet. Getting the necessary level of lift capacity during the high-volume, end-of-quarter seasonal peaks required frequent communication and forecast updates with freight forwarders. Continuous design improvements were needed to reach the necessary process and system integration needed between the freight forwarder, broker and customs agents in the designated country. For small shipments, IBM took advantage of integrated services provided by UPS and FedEx, both of which have ground and air assets for multi-leg shipment continuity. More problematic were larger shipments requiring multiple third party logistics organizations in a series of freight and information handoffs. IBM believes that a core logistics objective should always be to design and implement an integrated end-to-end solution that includes a process and technology design spanning all involved parties, from the shipping site to the final customer delivery location. Other emerging-market implementation hurdles faced by IBM China is not the only major emerging market with strategic significance to the IBM supply chain and global business model. For many years, IBM has sold and distributed products in East European countries. Over the past two years, IBM has expanded operations in countries such as Hungary and the Czech Republic. IBM’s most recent effort included going live with assembly and fulfilment operations with an OEM partner in Hungary. Prior to making a decision about the final location, IBM conducted a network optimization study. Its purpose: to understand the tradeoffs between fulfillment costs, logistics costs, inbound transit times from supplier locations, and outbound transit times to customers throughout Europe. The longer transit times and greater variability were key to understanding if entering the Hungarian marketplace to seize the benefit of lower fulfillment costs was an optimal  supply chain decision. The distance from the manufacturing site to the primary airport in Budapest is a three-hour commute on a two-lane highway. For time-sensitive orders, this long transit time effectively pushes back the cutoff time for shipping to around noon, a loss of nearly a half day. Once the decision was made to operate and ship finished products from Hungary, several supply chain and logistics design points became important to the overall cost reduction strategy. Here are some key elements that helped enable logistics management for IBM in an Eastern European emerging market location: †¢ Extended vendor managed inventory (VMI) programs and pricing agreements with OEM partners to ensure purchase-order flow continuity and control †¢ Extended IBM’s logistics contract agreements to components suppliers on inbound lanes in order to mitigate rising logistics costs and transit time variability †¢ Formed strong partnership with logistics service provider to allow for vendor on premises activity — service supplier resources and systems that manage the flow of finished goods off the back dock †¢ Utilized the network of experienced logistics management professionals in the European region to ensure operational communications and continuity within the same time zones †¢ Took advantage of IBM business presence in-country and local resources to ease the language, culture, and knowledge barrier during transition and initial set up. The above examples reflect IBM’s ability to efficiently enter and enable logistics operations as a strategic component of our global business operating model. Figure 2: IBM logistics cost savings 1995–2004 The cost savings illustrated in Figure 2 were realized during a time when IBM was entering emerging market locations to enable an integrated global footprint. The largest portions of savings were in procurement by utilizing fewer core service providers, and the physical network design efficiencies of operating in key emerging market locales. Realizing competitive advantage from logistics transformation You can prevent rising costs and complexities from eroding the benefits of your global sourcing strategy. The advantages of a strategic approach to logistics are broad and can result in a significant increase in shareholder value. In fact, managing logistics  costs, service-level lead times and overall supply chain security is critical to your marketplace competitiveness. Figure 3: IBM Global Logistics Operating Model The IBM model for managing global logistics highlights its capabilities as a Global Trade Orchestrator. IBM is able to scale this capability for both internal divisions and external customers. The key to managing global logistics is to enable your company’s supply chain with the capability to efficiently unplug from one location or operating scenario, and enter a new or emerging market location. This capability will be both a strategic requirement and a competitive advantage, as long as worldwide business, economic and socio-political variables remain dynamic. Enabling this strategic capability requires cross-function process design, technology integration, and subject matter expertise ranging from network optimization, logistics contract and operations management to global trade and compliance management. This level of orchestration and collaboration is very scalable when merged seamlessly with a global governance model and strategically oriented leadership. Cycle time compression Logistics managers have long recognized the importance of order cycle time, and this concept has entered into the planning and operation of inventory control and distribution systems for decades. More recently, logistics executives have come to recognize the strategic significance of planning, and indeed reducing, the cycle times in their systems. Throughout many different industries, and taught by the examples of successful Japanese competitors, firms are working to reduce the total time required to bring products to marketplace. As George Stalk and Thomas Hout explan in their best-selling book competing against time, today, time is on the cutting edge of competitive advantage. The ways leading companies manage time- in production, in sales and distribution, in new product development and introduction- are the most powerful new sources of competitive advantage. A cycle time compression logistics strategy can be applied to distribution and production, and firms have also shown how the strategy can be employed in product development and roll out. In one frame of reference, cycle time can  be thought of as the time which elapses between the point at which a customer places an order and the point at which the property is received. Traditionally, logistics managers have attempted to control or reduce this order cycle time by increasing in stock availability rates, pre-positioning field inventories close to customers, or using premium flight services to speed delivery. While effective, these tactics are not without cost. From another point of view, customer order cycle times are obviously important, but they do not measure the true response time of the firm since the finished goods inventory performs the function of uncoupling the demand process from the production process. From this point of view, the cycle time is the length of time material remains in the firm as it flows from raw material, to production, to finished goods, and on to delivery to the customer. Attacking this cycle time has several benefits. First, it makes the firm more responsive; that is, the firm may be able to produce and distribute a product to a given customer more quickly. Second, cycle time reduction will reduce the time that material is held as inventory, and hence will increase inventory turnover and return on assets. Firms have employed many different tactics to achieve cycle time compression in their logistics processes, but most successful applications share these common characteristics: (1) The responsiveness of the total system is increased. The firm can more quickly respond to changing customer requirements because the logistics system has become more flexible and adaptive, and more easily able to react to changes in plans. (2) Inventory levels are reduced at all points in the system as on-hand stocks come to reflect more closely true customer requirements. (3) Risk and the associated costs of risk are reduced. As the cycle time falls, the demand forecasting horizon can be reduced, which reduced the risk of stock out, lost sales, obsolescence, redistribution, expediting, and all the other problems associated with forecast error. (4) The information content of the system increases. The system comes to rely  on fast and accurate transmission of information as a substitute for the inventory previously used to operate the system. To reduce cycle time companies need to look at the four major discrete cash cycles within their firms. The sales cycle is the first one to tackle. How long does it take from first contact with a customer to get a signed purchase order? Typically you’re incurring, and paying for, sales expenses during that process. If your normal sales cycle is three months, is there any way to collapse it to two months? One of the best ways to answer that question is by bringing together people within the organization who both work in the sales arena and interface with it. It can also be helpful to have someone from the outside who is not all that familiar with the process in the review. Benefits of cycle time reduction are common in all four areas. The result will be reduced cycle times that translate into a more effective organization and additional money in the bank. Cross-docking: The need for speed In today’s high velocity supply chain world, companies are increasingly focusing on distribution methods that will drive efficiency and increase customer satisfaction. Gone are the days where customer service was merely a buzz word. With the focus on customer service, companies have moved away for a supply driven business towards a demand driven business. Companies are also constantly searching for ways to reduce inventory and holding cost. The increase in speed has forced companies to search for ways to reduce product cycle time and move product quickly and cost effectively. Over the years, companies have seen a dramatic increase in the number of stock keeping units (SKU). The increase in the number of SKUs has added complexity to the business and also has increased the cost and time needed to manage the business. Department heads face additional pressure as they are required to stock shelves with the right products and ensure that customer demand is met all times. In today’s high speed world, shipping windows are changing rapidly, as retail clients demand increased speed to meet store requirements. To achieve these goals, cross-docking has been pushed to the frontline of the distribution strategy. What is cross-docking? Cross-docking is a system that relies on speed and agility and is normally used in hub-and-spoke operations. Cross-docking, in short, is the shipment and receiving of goods by bypassing the storage facility. In the process of cutting out the need for a storage facility, inventory can move quickly from one end of the supply chain to the other. Cross-docking is a fairly simplistic way of handling inventory that involves loading and unloading inventory from an incoming truck onto an outboard truck. During cross-docking storage time varies. However, most experts would agree that anything less than two days can be considered as cross-docking. In some cases staging also takes place. For all of its simplicity, cross-docking requires detailed planning and collaboration with partners. Companies require advance knowledge of product shipment and final destination of goods. Setting up the required infrastructure and systems can take time and capital. Logistic managers are increasingly making use of technology such as Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and automated processes. It is important to note that technology is not the key to success. However, the right system can smooth out problems and increase visibility in the chain. Companies now have the ability to send products on a Friday night, receive them on Saturday, and sell the products later in the day. How is it used? Cross-docking is used in a variety of strategies that include consolidating loads of less-that-truck load (LTL) carriers, consolidate loads from multiple suppliers and/or plants, deconsolidating orders, and preparing for shipping. Cross-docking can be divided into different complexity levels including one-touch, two-touch and multiple-touch. One-touch is considered the highest productivity as products are not loaded on the dock, but is loaded directly on the truck. During two-touch the focus is on load optimization and driving efficiencies. Inventory is received and staged on the dock, without making use of a storage facility. During multiple-touch, products are received and staged for reconfiguration and customization. An increasing number of companies are starting to use cross-docking in their operations. In a 2008 cross-docking trends report in the US, 52 percent of respondents stated that use cross-docking with a further 13 percent planning to start cross-docking in the next 24 months. A number of companies are  outsourcing cross-docking. By doing so, they avoid the challenges of setting up and running a cross-docking operation. Many companies start small and pilot projects are common as they explore the configuration that best fits their needs. For cross-docking to succeed it needs to be a coordinated effort that relies on close partnership and collaboration. What are the advantages? One of the key advantages of cross-docking is that companies are reducing their need for warehousing space, which reduces inventory holding cost. Cross-docking facilities are much cheaper to set up and run than warehouses and companies can save on the capital investment in warehouses. In some cases, companies can reduce warehouse floor space and sell off or lease out underutilized facilities. Companies like Toyota have designed and built their own cross-docking facilities. Normally these facilities are strategically located to reduce distance and maximize support. Some of the biggest advantages for companies are transport related. Companies can achieve significant cost savings, by consolidating loads of LTL carriers. Pallets that are heading for the same destination are consolidated and staged by order sequence. By doing this, companies can reduce the distribution cost of the total supply chain and pass the savings on to the consumer. By making use of cross-docking, companies can furthermore reduce the impact of rising energy cost. Companies like Toyota have used this strategy to great effect. With the increased reliance on Just-in-Time (JIT), parts are being shipped at higher frequency and lower quantity. By making use of cross-docking, Toyota has reduced distribution cost by consolidating smaller part supplies into consolidated loads. Cross-docking has allowed companies to increase JIT and remove waster or muda in the organization. The increased speed in the supply chain helps companies to reduce product cycle time and move product quickly and efficiently down or up the chain. In Toyota’s case, this has allowed them to increase delivery frequency and in some cases even double delivery cycles. Cross-docking also have some major benefits where inventory is limited. As inventory is not kept in storage, companies require less stock. The reduction in inventory will reduce holding cost and at the same time satisfy demand. One of the major benefits of cross-docking is also the reduction of labour cost. With the downturn in the  economy, companies will increasingly look at cross-docking as a possibility. Cross-docking can reduce staff numbers and their associated labour cost and also gives the organization greater flexibility during an economic downturn. Many companies, however, do not start cross-docking primarily for cost reasons. They start to improve customer service. Today’s customers require greater speed and are also more demanding. Companies should establish clear goals and be willing to test different options. For companies that want to streamline operations and increase the supply chain velocity, cross-docking may be the right solution. Implementation Issues and Conclusions Many firms have embraced and employed supply chain management and cycle time compression strategies in their logistics operations with dramatically positive results. However, not all such attempts have been successful, nor has every implementation proved straightforward or simple. In this section, I will list observations and conclusions drawn from scores of firms which have implemented these logistics strategies: (1) Supply chain management and cycle time compression are complementary strategies. The logistics manager is not forced to choose between these two strategies in and either/or basis. In fact, the two strategies are often mutually supportive and self-reinforcing. The strategies so frequently are seen together that it can be difficult or arbitrary to distinguish between them. In practice, the distinction between the two strategies is often blurred. A principal reason to develop supply chain management is often to capture and amplify the benefits of cycle time compression by applying the strategy at all levels in the chain. (2) Each strategy has common barriers to successful implementation. There are many pitfalls involved in employing these strategies, but the most significant problems are generally of two types: High complexity. The new systems are usually much more complicated than the systems and procedures which they replace. Supply chain management, as embodied for example in a quick response system, requires co-ordination of SKU-level item flows across firm boundaries in near real time with great precision and reliability. Low  inventory levels place the entire operation at risk to errors at any level in the system. New data systems and communications systems are needed to drive the logistics flow, and these systems are needed to drive the logistics flow, and these systems must perform flawlessly. In a successful cross docking operation, vehicle schedule and despatching is crucially important as well, and completely reliable carriers must be found. High trust. Supply chain management and cycle time compression must be based on high levels of trust within the various parts of a given firm, such as between production and distribution and between sales and distribution. In addition, very high levels of trust must be established and maintained between buyers and sellers in the supply chain, as well as between shippers and carriers and warehouses. Supply chain members must share and safeguard highly sensitive data, and all parties must be given candid estimates of production schedules, shipping status, and delivery dates. Inability or unwillingness to share these data will generally frustrate meaningful attempts to establish the close co-ordination implied by these strategies. (3) Information technology is the key enabling technology. Another common thread in the successful implementation history of these strategies in American firms is the reliance on fast and accurate information technology. Most such logistics systems use barcode scanning or some other form of automatic identification to provide input of SKU-level transaction data onn sales, inventory and shipments. Data are normally telecommunicated between various operating locations, usually by EDI. In addition, some form of high-level logistics system software is needed to guide the operation of the strategy. (4) Inventory reduction as a benefit. Most successful case histories of supply chain management or cycle time reduction will include inventory reduction, but inventory reduction will not be the whole story. Generally, inventory reduction will be one item on the list of benefits and cost savings which were sought or obtained. In many cases savings due to inventory reduction will be substantial, while in other cases inventory reduction may be a relatively minor consideration. (5) Successful logistics strategies must be integrated with production, marketing, and total corporate strategy. Supply chain management and cycle time compression are strategies which are often highly compatible with the overall strategy being pursued by the firm. Compression of the logistics component of the firm’s total cycle time is an integral component of the firm’s overall strategy of time-based competition. Logistics cycle time compression and supply chain co-ordination are also highly supportive of the general strategy of flexible manufacturing towards which many firms are moving. Many other firms are moving towards a marketing strategy which looks beyond mere ―customer satisfaction in an attempt to move past the competition by ―delighting the customer. In this context, compression of logistics cycle time increases the responsiveness of the logistics system to the customer’s desires. Incorporating the customer into the formal supply chain system should improve the level of support provided to the customer as well as increase the customer’s ability to convey its needs and wants to the firm and have them acted on. In this way supply chain approach will work to reinforce the marketing strategy. Supply chain management and cycle time compression are complementary logistics strategy which progressive firms are employing in many different ways and in many different settings. These strategies are not simply or easily developed, but the results achieved through their use are often dramatic. Any firm which is truly serious about competing in the marketplace should very carefully consider the implications of these strategies for its operations.