Quality of Food Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Nature of Food - Essay Example Also with regards to food items, clients regularly incline toward the nature of food and its taste. As the world is developing, individuals are requesting an ever increasing number of changes in their living, eating and dressing propensities. They are requesting for the minimal effort things as well as request to buy a decent quality item. With regards to food items, purchasers demonstrate an increasingly delicate mentality to purchase a respectable item. The notoriety of a food item depends on the quality and wellbeing of the item. The notoriety of a food item is chiefly set up by the most noteworthy consumer loyalty and inspirational disposition towards the item. As found by Dickinson, Hobbs and Bailey that purchasers of food items are happy to follow through on much more than the ordinary cost just on the off chance that they are guaranteed that the food has passed the typical quality characteristics. This paper would additionally clarify the job of value affirmation in accomplishing the most elevated consumer loyalty and trust in the food business. Nature of an item relies upon various elements like the determination of natural material, handling methods, bundling, strategies of putting away material, security of delicate items and so on. Every one of these components may have an extraordinary positive or negative effect on the nature of the last item. Quality can be characterized as a specific factor which uncovered the level of predominance of an item. The word quality has a more noteworthy task to carry out with regards to food. Nature of food is reliant upon the stages that the food goes from and if or not the food is alluring to eat in the wake of going through the various stages. ' Quality confirmation is the idea which denies the idea that a decent last item can be delivered by a low-quality or poor crude material. In the food business, it is accepted that viable strategies must be utilized and deliberately rehearsed to safeguard the genuine nature of the crude material. In straightforward words, it suggests that valuable methodology may help in sparing time and lessen the typical misfortunes (for instance, Material wastage while moving it starting with one procedure then onto the next), in any case, no successful handling may improve the nature of crude material and henceforth of the last item. Quality confirmation is vital for the flourishing advancement of business and its generosity. So as to make their recognizable standard in the food business, proprietors are required to keep up a steady standard of their items. Quality control bears significance as its point isn't simply to create an item which accomplishes the gauges of value which is now accessible in the market yet additionally to keep up that quality in each bit of its item. Quality confirmation sets its measures and afterward guarantees the clients to keep up and create it all through its business life (2). The point to consider is that in the food business the significant advance, to control the nature of food, must be taken before placing the crude material in its first procedure. When the crude material is added to the procedure it becomes troublesome and practically unthinkable improve its quality. Quality affirmation requires appropriate quality check from the earliest starting point of the creation procedure. Without quality investigations at a few phases it is difficult to guarantee the quality much in the wake of utilizing the most ideal approach to diminish the cost. Quality is

Brita Marketing

Substance Introduction1 Background1 Situational Analysis1 P. E. S. T. L. E Analysis2 S. W. O. T Analysis3 Porter Five Forces Analysis3 STP Analysis4 Possible Options Available5 Do nothing5 Manage decline5 Develop and execute a promoting technique for growth5 Short term †Expand existing market5 Long term †Increase Market Share6 Conclusion6 Introduction This archive speaks to The I-Fusions Consultant’s Report on BRITA. The company’s current business circumstance is broke down and different alternatives for activity considered.The report intends to recognize an unmistakable promoting system for Brita so as to address the present issues confronting the organization the related falling deals. The report is extensively involved three primary areas: 1. Foundation 2. Situational Analysis 3. Choices open to Brita 4. Suggested Strategy Background Brita, after an all-inclusive time of accomplishment and strength in the separated water advertise is confronting expanding r ivalry, new market contestants and falling deals. After different bombed activities to invert the resultant decrease, the organization is looking for another technique that will reestablish twofold digit growth.History as far as item history, Brita has been effective with 2 key water filtration items, Pitchers and Faucet Mounted channels. On propelling the filtration pitchers, introductory endeavors to assemble mindfulness and make a market were fruitful, showing buyers the advantages of sifted water and making mindfulness. Ensuing endeavors to create and widen the market dependent on taste were likewise fruitful (Tap water Transformed crusade). Brita was the market chief for a long time and shielded that piece of the overall industry effectively for some time.However, the market is presently comprised of in excess of 70 contenders and later procedures are neglecting to convey development and benefits and Brita deals are currently really falling. Situational Analysis The documentati on gave can help with recognizing different issues. The key business issues distinguished by I-Fusions are: * Brita neglected to perceive and effectively recognize the serious market they are in * Brita were too delayed to even think about innovating and progressively nimble contenders have entered the market and taken offer * The organization response has been excessively item centered Brita has thought of as well as propelled different receptive publicizing efforts dependent on contender activity, as opposed to considering an all encompassing showcasing system based on advertise investigation. * Brita’s authoritative structure is top-overwhelming with numerous announcing lines and no away from of duty. The outcome is an absence of clearness as everybody is capable yet no one is dependable. * The net aftereffect of the entirety of the above is that Brita deals are falling. P. E. S. T. L. E Analysis Political: There are no noteworthy outside policy driven issues influencing B rita’s business.Economical: The Economy during 1980s and 1990s demonstrated no signs of downturn and the rise of the Internet and the advancement of the worldwide economy created remarkable financial thriving in the United States that lifted shopper buying capacity to better principles. The mid-2000’s denoted the finish of this blast cycle and the economy is beginning to contract. Social: The essential social patterns in the late 1980s and 1990s, as looked by Brita were: * People moving towards a progressively solid way of life * Workers working longer hours to acquire compensation Shift of workforce from Agriculture to Industry and IT Sectors Technology: The start of the 1990’s denoted the start of the Internet insurgency and this has influenced people’s lives and ways of life fundamentally. The effect on business is that correspondences are quicker and client desires are for a progressively customized approach (e,g, Emails, Mobile Phones and so on). Law ful: During 1980s and 1990s, Public Water Hygiene laws and guidelines were not upheld viably to forestall water-borne sicknesses flare-ups that happened during that time of time.During the multi year duration (1991 †2002), Public Water tainting episodes originated from network and non-network water flexibly (78%) contrasted with 22% from private/singular water gracefully frameworks as report by the â€Å"Journal of Water and Health† distributed in 2006 Environmental: During the late 1980s and 1990’s, Environment Friendly associations and NGOs, (for example, Greenpeace) were not making a persuasive attention to drinking water medical problems. Therefore, individuals were not having mindfulness of threats adding to drinking unclean and tainted water. Watchman Five Forces AnalysisRivalry: The market is extremely serious and the danger of rivalry is high. Numerous organizations are available and they are more fruitful than Brita. It appears to seem a competition both as far as item and area Barriers to Entry: The passage boundaries in the market are generally low, making it simple to get to. Be that as it may, as the market is immersed it could be impossible for new organizations to choose to begin new endeavors in this field. Danger of substitutes: This speaks to one of the fundamental dangers for Brita. Both faucet water and soda pops are potential substitutes for the item that Brita offers.Supplier power: The providers don't assume a significant job for Brita development. The item offered is generally straightforward and its segments are anything but difficult to acquire. Purchaser power: The customers have a high choice force which can definitely influence the exhibitions of Brita. Depending what kind of drink they choose to devour (separated water, faucet water or soda pops), the deals will increment or reduction. The Five Forces investigation apparatus features that Brita needs to concentrate on what buyers need so as to make progress (ref erence section A ).The item is neither fundamentally novel nor basic to guarantee accomplishment all alone and taken with regards to an enormous number of substitutes, buyers in this manner hold noteworthy buying power. At the same time, Brita needs to take in thought the exceptionally serious nature of the market. On the off chance that Brita doesn't refresh its item advantages, and afterward position themselves so that they offers clients a one of a kind advantage opposite contenders, it is likely further lose piece of the pie. In this manner, clients and coordinating their way of life decisions ought to be the point of convergence of Brita technique if twofold development must be gained.S. W. O. T Analysis STP Analysis Segmentation Using Behavioral Segmentation, I-Fusions have considered 6 prevalent market sections. See Appendix B and C Tap Traditionalists: Slow to change, similar to the accommodation and affordability of faucet water. Exhausted Tap Users: Low association in thei r water drinking choices. Like faucet water and far-fetched to change. They are likewise the least buyers of absolute water every day. Principled Filter Fans: High contribution in their water utilization choices and accept sifted water is more healthy.Affluent Fridge Fans: Highly engaged with their water utilization choices and partner water with wellbeing and weight control. Self-assured Self Improvers: Highly engaged with their water utilization choices and beverages a ton of water for wellbeing. This gathering has the most elevated generally every day admission of water and beverages the vast majority of their water at home. Filtered water Indulgers: Highly associated with their water utilization choices and use filtered water as a compensation for exertion. They are profoundly joined to filtered water. Of the 6 classes of shoppers, 3 have been pointed as the objective market †PFF, ASI and AFF.Target Market Analysis as far as water utilization designs, faucet water is as yet the most used (35. 4%) with separated water likewise well known (33. 3%). Filtered water is progressively famous and as of now holds 21. 7% of the market. See Appendix D The principle saw issues clients have with Tap Water are Quality and Portability. Most customers accept that utilizing water channels improves the flavor of the waterâ and utilizing cooler channels makes it progressively advantageous to expend separated water. Out of a sum of 59. 6% individuals claiming the Pitcher Filter framework, 50. % own the Brita item standing higher in contrast with the PuR Product. Brita faces some recognition challenges as the Faucet Mount and Pitcher don't as of now have any stand apart highlights for clients and the Filtering Pitcher is viewed as tedious and less basic when contrasted with Bottled water. As far as great kind of the water, 77% customers bolster BW though just 32% help Pitchers. As far as virtue, 63% shoppers bolster BW and 44% purchasers bolster Pitchers. Situating Analy sis Brita has solid brand acknowledgment and is right now saw in the key fragments as a sound water option.There is a reliable client base committed to sifted water which speaks to a development opportunity if Brita can meet the changing buyer needs. I-Fusions would thusly suggest that Brita expands on this brand quality with an advertising procedure that features wellbeing and health and manageability and accepts that Brita has solid points of interest over its opposition to satisfy these objectives. Potential Options Available Brita faces a troublesome market and there are three expansive business choices they can consider. 1. Do nothing 2. Oversee decrease 3.Develop and actualize an advertising technique for development Do nothing I-Fusions perceive that sporadically it might be worthy for firms to take a â€Å"wait and see† approach† to their business however we don't suggest this as a strategy to Brita. The danger of inaction is excessively incredible in a market w ith such high rivalry and falling piece of the overall industry. Brita’s wary way to deal with date is reflected in their present circumstance. Oversee decay Brita could proceed with their present accentuation on pitchers and spigots and oversee decrease †reducing expenses forcefully as deals fall.It is the perspective on I-Fusions that, given the high number of contending brands, there is a hazard that embracing any minimal effort/low value procedure would only prompt

How to Write a Book Report for 5th Graders

How to Write a Book Report for 5th Graders As students grow older and the study process moves to further levels, many of them start having an issue with one common question: how to write a book report for 5th graders in a way that suits teachers? Eventually, it is expected that learners are experienced enough to express their opinions of a book they have read and can provide a report without facing much trouble. However, assignments of this kind could create difficulties for anyone since young writers are often short of ideas. In this case, one cannot do without a resource that gives essential tips on how to get started. What Is a Book Report? According to the definition, a book report is a type of essay, which discusses the content of a particular book. Assignments of this type are issued to US students stating with the elementary school level. It is notable that basic instructions on how to write a book report 5th grade are usually provided by teachers including examples and templates for learners’ better comprehension of the task. However, young men and women often tend to miss a relevant part of information and, thus, may require additional and more detailed material explanation. Luckily, there are online services that can always help with the matter. Concerning the way assignments are issued, teachers usually provide students with the list of books offering a choice of the most suitable/engaging one. Normally, a book report contains details about author/authors, characters, setting, and the key message. In addition, learners might be asked to provide information about illustrations and other visual components of a book and shed light on events’ sequence. Reasons to Write Strong Book Report Those who read a lot usually carry a huge luggage of knowledge that needs to be shared. Indeed, what is the point of learning something if it is not meant to be used in a work or communication with other individuals? The best way to familiarize others with a recently read book is to write a brief literature report. In order to learn how to write a 5th grade book report one needs to clearly realize why he or she is doing it. The following are the common reasons making people want to compose a sustained book report: Need to deliver the key information to audience Desire to warn others of the poorly written content Strivings to boost an author’s popularity Decision to improve personal writing skills Wish to develop excellent reading comprehension There, of course, could be additional motives leading a person to write a strong report on a given book, but one cannot name them all due to inability to predict one’s personal line of thinking. In any case, beside the desire to write a good book report for 5th grade, there are other constituents assigned to determine its success. Work structure arrives as the most significant one. Structure of Book Report As was mentioned earlier, outside the data about publishers, author, and book appearance one needs to clearly state the key structural components when writing a book report 5th grade: introduction, the main part, and conclusion. The main part or body can be presented in a form of summary making emphasis on the main events and strictly following their consequence. In addition, one can include the elements of analysis and answer the most essential questions used to define author’s position, his/her perception of events, general idea, etc. It should be also noted that a strong book report always contains reviewer’s thoughts. People mostly read this kind of an essay to know whether a novel/study is worth their close attention or not. Thus, while writing a 5th grade book report one needs to express his/her personal opinion about a story on discussion and give a credible verdict regarding its readability. How to Write Book Reports? Step-by-Step The first thing you do is download an example of a 5th grade book report and study it carefully. Then you switch to composing the introduction. An introductory part usually contains information about author/authors, the genre of literature, year of publishing, and minor plot details. Make sure that your introduction does not exceed 100-130 words; it must be short and informative. After finishing the introduction one needs to complete the most significant part of the work, i.e. the body. This part may contain a number of passages describing various events of the book in their succession. Pay attention to the sentence structure and do not fall into making long sentences. The information you represent should be both meaningful and comprehensible. Again, a good sample of a 5th grade book report could be of huge help, so take your chance to view it. Finally, the conclusion summarizes both strong and weak sides of the book on review and makes an overall assessment of an author’s work. It should not exceed the introduction in length as this part never goes into detail about plot. Instead, it serves as the logical ending of an entire essay and helps a reader to decide whether he/she wants to read this particular story/novel or not. Tips and Ideas for Writing a 5th Grade Book Report First things first, one should strictly define how long the report will be and which events are more than others worth mentioning. Make sure that each passage you do contains at least three sentences and completes the thought expressed in it. Format for a 5th grade book report can be easily downloaded from the Internet in case your teacher forgot to provide it. Regarding the ideas to focus on, you can describe an event and then try to interpret it. It is important to mention what kind of a message an author attempted to deliver to a reader. This way you will not only learn to express your ideas but will develop critical thinking, which is always of immense value for a writer. Template Naturally, a guide for writing a book report for 5th graders would not be complete without giving some tips about a template. In case you do not have a downloaded version, you can make one by yourself. Your template should begin with typing headings in bold in the left-hand corner of a Microsoft Word document to mark out the sections. In the left upper corner write the word ‘Setting’ and leave some space/lines to be filled. Then make the heading ‘Main Characters’, which is also followed by lines. Below the characters, one should add the information about the ‘Overall Theme’, which may require more space compared to the previous two sections. When you’ve completed all the mentioned parts you can switch to writing the main structural components and answering questions, such as what part you liked most, would you recommend a book to a friend, etc. The given questions may, in fact, serve as the conclusion, so pick them wisely considering the answers readers would like to hear.

Risks And Uncertainty In Entering New Markets Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2105 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? No one can deny that expand the business activity and entering new market as much as having new market for its resources is valid to survive This decision face obstacle which has variety of importance levels, some of them are reach a level of risks and other stay at uncertainty level and have to be considered in order not to reach the higher risk level The word uncertainty means that a number of different values can exist for a quantity and risk means the possibility of loss or gain as a result of uncertainties. In this report we will discuss the case of risk and uncertainty in Syrian case . Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Risks And Uncertainty In Entering New Markets Finance Essay" essay for you Create order Risks: Whenever a purchase or sale is made there is a level of risk this risk can be progress from uncertainty to high risk; in order to fully study the type of risk and uncertainty influence on the international business we have to categorize it according to area of impacting here we will discuss those ideas according the following arrangement: Systematic Risk which include the political Economical and Exchange Risk in general and in Syrian market in specific Market risk which discuss Specific Risk Also in this essay we will discuss the Uncertainty and how we can manage it in order not to revert to risks after discussing the type and the different it and the risks. Systematic Risks: Political Risk: Political decisions can impact on many vital areas for business such as the education of the workforce, the health of the nation and the quality of the infrastructure of the economy It is imperative to evaluate the potential level of risk by using several different approaches and techniques, these approaches fall into several general and common categories: Systemic risk: It is Risks faced by investors as a result from shifts in public policy. New political leadership may adopt policies that differ from its predecessors. For example, Syrian released new regulation at the beginning of 2010 the new role assume that each Commercial Invoice not legalized form the Syrian Embassy of the exporter country is not trustworthy; therefore each exporter to Syrian market has to get a document from the Syrian embassy to certify that the Commercial Invoice value and information of this goods is authoritative; this new procedures badly affect any transaction related to export to Syria be cause not all embassies infrastructure is good enough to arrange all that type of legalization and documents (the size of work are related to the exporting volume to Syria from that country the most confusing situation was in Syrian embassy in China) which mean that the goods has to be wait at the port of discharge or the port of lading according to the type of goods, which mean increase the cost of demerge for goods in boards as well as the discrepancy of banks if the exporter choose the Letter of Credit as a payment term, fortunately this new regulation life period was short and they stop work on it after one month which create another confusing for international trade. A very uncertain political and economic outlook and a business environment with many troublesome weaknesses can have a significant impact on corporate payment behavior. Corporate default probability is high. Procedural risks: Political intervention in procedures to apply specific policy this policy can affect the economy in general. it Created by one movement of people, products and funds that move from point to point in the global market between the units involved, whether units of a company or units of a country. This situation appeared in Syria in the middle of 2006 when the government decides to switch from the Oriented Economy System to Social Market Economy The question arise here how it can affect the purchase or sale internationally and how it affect the companies which decide to login the Syrian market? In fact this policy shifts can create opportunities for some of foreign investors and some local investor as well, since the government apply a lot of facilities and low taxes for specific sectors like trade and tourism on the other hand it will badly affect the other economy sector such as the industries, agriculture and welfare. On the other hand the documentary risk is the main reason behind slow or non-payment in the international trade most of problem is related to the document incorrectly preparation, this document is required to complete the transaction, Cross-border transactions involve many documents, yet just one missing document or a discrepancy in a document can stop a payment temporarily or permanently, for example in the Syrian regulation information and stamps mentioned on the Commercial invoice has to match the one on the Certificate of Origin in case of producer and goods description while the Bill of Lading information has to match the information on the Certificate of Origin in case of carton number, weight and the H.S. CodeÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦ etc. Some of the more common document problems are caused by Letters of Credit, some information dont match the open LC condition like the date of shipments and the port of lading nameÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦ etc. Certifications such as certificates of origin, the information on it dont include the H.S. Code and other information required in host country custo ms. Customs documents: like real packing list or any specific document required according to country policy (in Syria if CI dont bear the paragraph which certify that this goods dont have any Israeli material of labor activity may stop the declaration procedures according the Syrian problems with Israel) Transportation documents, BL may not bear the H.S. code or the consignee party doesnt match the name of registered name of the company which receives the documents. Most important set of documents in Syria is Certificate of Origin, Commercial Invoice, and Bill of Lading, those documents may not have the same priority in other countries according to that country laws. Recently most countries start use the digital world features to facilitate preparing these documents, specially CO and other type of Certificates such as Health Certificate and Certificate of analysis for certain type of goods. Any mismatch between this information will increase the cost of declaration, dela y the payment and may stop the import procedures in all. It is important to pay more attention to the Procedural risks since the custom and monetary system is Syria is not flexible and have a lot of penalties in case of any mistake in the documents caused by the distrust between government and trader, however the procedural risk can be avoided by dealing with local commentator agency which moderate this kind of risks. Distributive risk: Distributive political risk reflects revisions in such items as tax codes, regulatory structure, and monetary policy imposed by governments in order to capture greater benefits from the activities of foreign firms. The new world system in this case is to use the H.S. Code to categorized the goods type and apply the tax accordingly that in case of trade as import and export; another case is to invest in a foreign country the dynamic of distributive political risk is creeping expropriation, a gradual elimination of foreign companys local prope rty rights. As the business grows more successful, officials may question whether they are receiving their fairÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬-share of the growing profits. Most of foreign investor in Syrian market has a good condition and medium tax rate comparing with neighbor countries but they cant own the land they work on it, but usually the corporate financing information often not available and when available usually unreadable Debt collection is unpredictable. The institutional framework has many troublesome weaknesses. Intercompany transactions run major risks in the difficult environments rated C according to COFAC the company who is specialised export credit insurance, managing its own products and State guarantees for French exports. Catastrophic risk: Catastrophic political risk includes those random political developments that adversely affect the operations of all firms in a country; this type of risk can devastate companies and countries as well. It includes political developments that adversely affect the operations of every company in a country, recently civil disorder has appeared which make troubles the trade in general that affect the . POINT-COUNTERPOINT: Political Risk Management POINT- ACTIVE POLITICAL RISK MANAGEMENT: Active political risk management reasons that if one measures the right set of discrete events, one should be able to calculate the degree of political risk in a country and estimate the likelihood that politically risky disruptions, will occur (e.g., civil strife, terrorism, regime change, ethnic tensions, contract repudiation, financial controls, transaction risks). In Syria case the political risk can be predicted since the scene political policy is same since last decade and sharply changes are improbable for the next decades if the catastrophic problem which starts recently become controllable by government so the other risk will be acceptable and can be managed easily. COUNTERPOINT- PASSIVE POLITICAL RISK MANAGEMENT: Many firms choose to treat political risk as an unpredictable hazard of international business. They adopt a strategic response by find a cost-effective way to minimize the risks like purchasing insurance for each of its operational activities which mean increase the cost of establishing of lunching the new market Economical Risk Economical risk can sometimes be forecast but is often completely out of the control in both the buyer or seller sides. Purchasing transaction insurance is essential for a buyer to minimize economic risk. In order to fully analysis the economical risk we will have a deep look at the Syrian Macro Economy act by analysis the following points: exchange rates Foreign exchange risk occurs when the rate of exchange between the sellers currency and the buyers currency changes dramatically between the time the order is quoted and the time the final payment is received, usually this risk appear when the political policy is not clear, in Syria the political policy stability add more stability to the exchange rate and add more trust to foreign investor. Trade Burden size CAD/GDP 2009: According to the World Bank data we can calculate the following: CAD/GDP= -1.1% it is greater than -2% and that a good indicator for low risk Debt service ratio 2009: Relates the cost of repaying foreign debt to the amount being earned by exports. It can be calculated as following: DSR= Total Dept Service/ Export X Total Export/ Export Goods Services DSR= 3.1 X 11,817/18,351= 1.996 It is less than 20% which is very good indicator for low risk Import Reserve Ratio 2009: To analysis how country can compensate its imports we will calculate the IRR IRR= Reserves / Total imports X12 IRR =6512 / 16121 X12 = 4.85 months since it is more than 3 it consider good After years of autarky, Syria still hardly open to the world, but this policy protect it from the bad effects of the economy crises 2009 and we can realize the booming in the real estate sector, also the oil production of country support the currency and government policy, the government facility for foreign investors as much as the availability of raw material and great location of Syria make the investment in the agriculture and transportation is good choice. CAD/GDP, DSR and IRR ratio is n ot the right indicator to evaluate any economy but it can advise us a background of general image of that country economy. POINT-COUNTERPOINT: Economical Risk Management POINT- ACTIVE ECONOMIC RISK MANAGEMENT: some company prefer to consider the Economical Risk management as part of market analysis research which mean that each result will be accompany with other evidence and can have a good research result as a result to have the right decision. COUNTERPOINT- PASSIVE ECONOMIC RISK MANAGEMENT: consider the Economic Risk analysis as a first indicator can give you a first sight at the target market and according to the result some companies prefer to precede the market research, but those companies have to draw more attention that considering the Economical risk analysis alone as a first step will let company loss a lot of good opportunities because usually the greater economy in the worlds can have high risk in some points such as CAD/GDP which has high risk in USA but it still have the best FDI chance since they support the FDI by good facilities offered to foreign investor. Specific Risk: Which also can called Market risk Choose the wrong industry? Choose the wrong positioning? Different types of Strategy.. Corporate Business Who is responsible for what? Uncertainty: https://www.wikinvest.com/stock/International_Business_Machines_%28IBM%29/Market_Risk https://wikieducator.org/Introduction_to_Political_and_Economic_Risk https://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/syria/risk/ https://www.coface.com/CofacePortal/COM_en_EN/pages/home/risks_home/country_risks/country_file/Syria?extraUid=572216

Cognitive, Social And Personality Changes - 1011 Words

Introduction The persistent personal characteristics that are revealed in a particular pattern of behavior in different situation are known as personality. This paper will explore the cognitive, social and personality changes that occur when a person is 24 years old. One of the major issues in cognitive development has been â€Å"nature and nurture†, i.e. if cognitive development is mainly determined by an individual’s innate qualities (â€Å"nature†), or by their personal experiences (â€Å"nurture†). First, the age is characterized by physical changes because it is the period when adolescents are almost becoming adults. Therefore, the age is a transition period from adolescence to adulthood. The person undergoes cognitive development whereby he tries to understand his real identity and becomes more sociable than before. Moreover, the personality of an individual is subject to the person’s need to be recognized and appreciated. Subject introduction The person used, in this case, is Odili Samalu. He is 24 years old. He is a male teenager, and is in his first year in college. I chose the person because of his manifest changes in development, including physique, cognitive and motor development. Additionally, Odili has changed the style of doing his tasks. In this regard, he has changed the walking style, voice, and he already has beards. Additionally, Odili is a representation of a typical teenager in a transition period to adulthood. Another reason for selecting this subject is that heShow MoreRelatedExpectancy Theory And Social Cognitive Theory Essay1190 Words   |  5 PagesMotivation Theories: Expectancy Theory in Practice and Social Cognitive Theory Expectancy theory in practice In Expectancy theory we focus on the mental processes when considering choice, or choosing. It clarifies what an individual feel while making choices. 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Personality drives our interactions with others, our desires – conscious and unconscious, our perceived needs, and to a certain extent, even our actions. Psychodynamic approaches to personality are focused on the beliefRead MoreIs Personality Based On Science?986 Words   |  4 PagesIs personality based on science? Is personality a science? Precisely, what is personality? There has been many theories about personality as it has been viewed differently over the years. With personality, no two theories are the same just as no two individuals are. Personality is an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting. Personality has been studied by many well-known psychologists including Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Gordon Allport, Abraham Maslow, and Albert BanduraRead MoreJulian Rotter Walter Mischels Theories Essay533 Words   |  3 PagesJulian Rotter and Walter Mischel both theorized that cognitive aspects, more so than direct reinforcements, establish human reactions to environmental influences. Both psychologists propose that human expectations of impending events are the foremost factors in determining human performance. Recognized for his cognitive social learning model of personality, Mischel’s theory centered on the particular cognitive variables that inte rvene with the way new experiences influence a person (Feist FeistRead MoreCognitive Behavioral Therapy ( Cbt ) Essay1717 Words   |  7 PagesCognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an insight-focused therapy that emphasizes the here-and-now. It is typically brief and time-limited, collaborative in nature, fairly structured and empirically based (Freeman, Felgoise, Nezu, Nezu, Reinecke, 2005). Aaron Beck is a major name that arises when discussing the origins of CBT. Beck (1970) contends that individual perceptions of events shape feelings and behaviors. This theory places emphasis on the concept of automatic thoughts. Automatic thoughts

Potato Free Essays

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family (also known as the nightshades). The word may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species. We will write a custom essay sample on Potato or any similar topic only for you Order Now Potatoes were introduced outside the Andes region four centuries ago, and have become an integral part of much of the world’s cuisine. It is the world’s fourth-largest food crop, following rice, wheat and maize. 1] Long-term storage of potatoes requires specialised care in cold warehouses. [2] Wild potato species occur throughout the Americas, from the United States to southern Chile. [3] The potato was originally believed to have been domesticated independently in multiple locations,[4] but later genetic testing of the wide variety of cultivars and wild species proved a single origin for potatoes in the area of present-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia (from a species in the Solanum brevicaule complex), where they were domesticated 7,000–10,000 years ago. 5][6][7] Following centuries of selective breeding, there are now over a thousand different types of potatoes. [6] Of these subspecies, a variety that at one point grew in the Chiloe Archipela go (the potato’s south-central Chilean sub-center of origin) left its germplasm on over 99% of the cultivated potatoes worldwide. [8][9] The annual diet of an average global citizen in the first decade of the 21st century included about 33 kg (73 lb) of potato. 1] However, the local importance of potato is extremely variable and rapidly changing. It remains an essential crop in Europe (especially eastern and central Europe), where per capita production is still the highest in the world, but the most rapid expansion over the past few decades has occurred in southern and eastern Asia. China is now the world’s largest potato-producing country, and nearly a third of the world’s potatoes are harvested in China and India. [10] How to cite Potato, Essay examples

Brazil And The Andean Highlands Essay Example For Students

Brazil And The Andean Highlands Essay Brazil and the Andean Highlands The similarities between the societies found in Brazil and those found in the Andean Highlands are relatively few. The Andean Highland dwellers were mostly Incas, found in greatest numbers in Peru. The inhabitants of Brazil were mainly concentrated around the Amazon River Basin area. The Andean Highland people consisted in large part of the Inca civilization (the name of the ruling family, not an ethnicity). However, the geographic location of these societies is not the only disparity that exist between these groups of people. Perhaps the most striking of the differences is the characteristics of these societies and the advancements, or lack of, that where achieved in each. With each group having distinct characteristics in the way of life, government, and labor, this affected the colonizing groups in significantly different ways and ultimately led to the prosperity or decline of the colony at that specific time. The forms of rule in the Amazon Basin a nd the Andean Highlands were of great contrast. At the time of European discovery of the New World, there existed very little political hierarchy in the areas of the Amazon River Basin. At most, and this was fairly uncommon; there was a local tribal chief. However, the government did not extend any further. There was no network of higher ruling. This may have stemmed from the fact that villages were scattered around the Amazon, divided by dense forest. The tribal chiefs would make some village decisions and be a liaison with other local villages. Still, territorial war was a major aspect of the Amazon Basin dwellers lives. This is in sharp contrast to the political system that existed in the Inca civilization. The Inca had a profoundly intricate political system that was based on rule that was inherited through bloodlines. There were local, regional, and empire ruling leaders. These statesmen demanded tribute from the lower classes and also force labor upon them, but they did provid e services for the good of the people and the empire. The leaderships had relatively few physical duties other than overseeing the domain that he ruled. Territorial war was also a characteristic of the Inca society. This society has often been labeled either a socialist empire or a welfare state. Specifically, the people of the Amazon Basin lived in small villages around the Amazon River and relocated often (when the soil became fallow). They were a tribal society maintained through shifting agriculture and hunting and gathering. The staple of their diet was of the tuber variety, a kind of potato. The society had no classes that differentiated between the rich and poor because the people had very little or no private property. However, gift giving was very common in this culture. The Inca had communities that ranged all the way from small villages to thriving cities. The main city of political and civil culture was called Cuzco. This is where the ruler of the entire empire lived. Much like the dwellers of the Amazon Basin, communities were often formed among groups of relatives, which were known as ayllu. In contrast with those of Brazil, classes divided the Incas, and individuals did own property. The lower classes were essentially often used as slave labor and they also pai d taxes and tribute to their local and regional rulers through food, materials, and general gifts that were not reciprocated. Land and human labor power was a main source of wealth in the Inca civilization. The types of labor that took place were vastly different between these societies. In Brazil, the labor was very much communal. Everyone worked together for the good of the village and its people. They worked together to build dwellings as well as for the cultivation and care of the crops. They used a slash-and-burn style of farming and relocated once the nutrients of the land were used up. The Incas were much more advanced. In many areas, labor specialization was common, especially in the large densely populated areas like Cuzco. Many of the people were forced to work building or repairing paved roads, irrigation channels, fortresses, and mines in a system called mita. The Inca took part in labor-intensive agriculture. They employed much more advanced agricultural production methods also. They developed irrigation systems, terracing, and other advanced agricultural techniques. With the arrival of the European colonists, many of these existing institutions and practices were destroyed and replaced with the Europeans system of rule and social customs. However, these clashed with what was practiced before the arrival of the Europeans and this soon became evident. There was much turbulence and revolt against the European ways. In the Andean Highlands, the Incas power was totally lost to the Spanish through force. Every pre-existing class was driven into slavery. The Spanish also employed the ruling-class system of mita to suit their purposes. The lower classes were already used to this type of treatment from the ruling class, but the upper classes resisted and were force to somewhat reform their policies on the strict ruling of the Incas. .uc34d5ec000cdc469446754eb1f40fb12 , .uc34d5ec000cdc469446754eb1f40fb12 .postImageUrl , .uc34d5ec000cdc469446754eb1f40fb12 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uc34d5ec000cdc469446754eb1f40fb12 , .uc34d5ec000cdc469446754eb1f40fb12:hover , .uc34d5ec000cdc469446754eb1f40fb12:visited , .uc34d5ec000cdc469446754eb1f40fb12:active { border:0!important; } .uc34d5ec000cdc469446754eb1f40fb12 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uc34d5ec000cdc469446754eb1f40fb12 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uc34d5ec000cdc469446754eb1f40fb12:active , .uc34d5ec000cdc469446754eb1f40fb12:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uc34d5ec000cdc469446754eb1f40fb12 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uc34d5ec000cdc469446754eb1f40fb12 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uc34d5ec000cdc469446754eb1f40fb12 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uc34d5ec000cdc469446754eb1f40fb12 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uc34d5ec000cdc469446754eb1f40fb12:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uc34d5ec000cdc469446754eb1f40fb12 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uc34d5ec000cdc469446754eb1f40fb12 .uc34d5ec000cdc469446754eb1f40fb12-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uc34d5ec000cdc469446754eb1f40fb12:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Sexual Harassment EssayThe Amazon Basin dwellers essentially suffered the same fate as the Incas. Captaincies were developed along the Atlantic coast of Brazil and the indigenous people of Brazil were forced into working there. There were many attacks against these captaincies by the indigens, which strained their success. Also, these indigenous people were not used to organized work that the captaincies used. Many of the workers tried to escape or commit suicide. This eventually led to their replacement with African slaves. Because of pre-existing conditions, European colonists were forced to deal with enigmas that were ingrained in the culture. Force alone could not override the conditioning of hundreds or thousands of years. This called for the Spaniards and Portuguese to amend their methods of governing the people of this foreign land. BibliographyHansis, Robert. The Latin Americans: Understanding Their Legacy. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1997. Keen, Benjamin. A History of Latin America. 5th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996. Patterson, Thomas C. The Inca Empire and Its Subject Peoples. The Indian in Latin American History: Resistance, Resilience, and Acculturation. Ed. John E. Kicza. Wilmington: Scholarly Resources Inc., 1993Stern, Steve. The Rise and Fall of White-Indian Alliances. The Hispanic American Historical Review. Vol. 61.3 (1981) West, Robert C. Aboriginal and Colonial Geography of Latin America. Latin America: An Introductory Survey. Ed. Brian W. Blouet and Olwyn M. Blouet. New York: John Wiley Sons, 1982.

10 Reasons Dinosaurs Make Bad Pets

10 Reasons Dinosaurs Make Bad Pets It seems that everyone these days is keeping dinosaurs as pets, what with supermodels tugging tiny Microraptors on leashes and pro football players adopting full-grown Utahraptors as team mascots. But before you fill out the paperwork at your local dinosaur shelter, here are some things you may want to consider. (Dont agree? See 10 Reasons Dinosaurs Make Good Pets.) 1. Pet dinosaurs are expensive to feed. If you dont happen to have a Cycad Hut or Ginkgo Emporium in your neighborhood, you might find it difficult to scrounge up sufficient vegetable grub for your pet Apatosaurus (and your neighbors probably wont appreciate him eating the tops of their shrubs). And do you know how many cute, fuzzy mice, rabbits and Labrador Retrievers the average Deinonychus goes through every day? 2. Its virtually impossible to teach a dinosaur tricks. Believe me, its easier to train your cat to clean your windows than to teach the average dinosaur to sit, fetch or heel. Your pet Ankylosaurus will probably just sit there on the floor and stare at you dolefully, while your teenaged Spinosaurus eats the drapes from the top down. (With a little persistence, though, you might be able to teach a purebred Troodon to roll over.) 3. Dinosaurs create a lot of poop. Unless you live smack in the middle of a turnip farm, you may have a hard time disposing of the hundreds of pounds of poop the average Triceratops generates every day. Flushing it down the toilet isnt an option, and neither is using it for insulation in your attic. Some pet owners have experimented with creating kiln-dried dinosaur-poop furniture, with mixed results. 4. No veterinarian will want to de-claw your dinosaur. For liability reasons, most municipalities require you to trim the claws of any raptors, tyrannosaurs or allosaurs residing in your household. Good luck getting a vet to do thisand, if you do miraculously find someone willing to take on this task, even better luck stuffing your Gigantoraptor into your Honda Odyseey  and shlepping it to the clinic. 5. Your pet dinosaur will want to sleep in your bed. In the wild, dinosaurs are accustomed to hunkering down in rotting foliage, urine-soaked sand dunes and ash pits strewn with rotting carcasses. Thats why the average Styracosaurus will insist not only on sharing your mattress, but layering on every freshly washed duvet cover in the house and using your pillows as antler cozies. 6. Dinosaurs arent very good with children... As much as kids love dinosaurs, its unfair to expect the average Ceratosaurus to reciprocate that affection, especially since a well-fed five-year-old can supply a weeks worth of calories. Teenagers will have a slightly easier time of it; in any case, theyll put up more of a fight before being swallowed head-first. 7. ...or with other dinosaurs, for that matter. So youre looking forward to hauling your pet Majungatholus over the local dinosaur park and meeting that cute chick with the Archaeopteryx  popping out of her handbag. Well, bad news: the only thing dinosaurs hate more than children is other dinosaurs. Take your pet to the dog run instead, then sit back and watch the fun. 8. Dinosaur pet-sitters are hard to come by. Isnt it cute when your neighbors eight-year-old daughter drops by to pet your kitty, feed it kibble and scoop out the litterbox? Well, she might think twice about doing the same for your pet Therizinosaurus, especially given the mysterious disappearance of the last six pet-sitters you hired to do the job. 9. Most cities have very strict dinosaur leash laws. Unless you live in Seattle (for some reason, Seattle is very liberal about these kinds of things) you cant just saddle up your pet Centrosaurus and take it out onto the sidewalk. Flout the rules, and your municipalitys animal-control squad will gladly tug your pal over to the nearest dinosaur shelter, assuming they arent eaten first. 10. Pet dinosaurs take up a lot of room. As a general rule of thumb, the American Purebred Dinosaur Association (APDA) recommends at least 10 square feet of living space per pound of dinosaur. Thats not much of a problem for a 25-pound Dilophosaurus puppy, but it could be a deal breaker if you plan to adopt a full-grown Argentinosaurus, which will require its own aircraft hangar.

The Auditor and Fraud Essay Example

The Auditor and Fraud Essay Example The Auditor and Fraud Essay The Auditor and Fraud Essay EXPLAIN THE RESPECTIVE ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF MANAGEMENT AND AUDITORS IN THE PREVENTION AND DETECTION OF FRAUD. The primary responsibility for fraud detection lies with management. This arises due to a contractual duty of care. Directors are able to discharge their duty toward prevention and detection of fraud and error in many ways, for example: * Complying with the Combined Code on Corporate Governance * Developing a code of conduct, monitoring compliance and taking action against breaches * Emphasising a strong commitment to fraud prevention. This involves establishing a culture of honesty and ethical behaviour within the organisation with clearly communicated policies. * Establishing an internal audit function * Having an audit committee The role of the auditor is with assessing the effectiveness of the internal controls. Auditors should appraise the risk of misstatements due to errors and fraud. The role of the auditor in the detection of fraud is appraised within case law, for example: Re Kingston Cotton Mill (1896) – An auditor â€Å"is a watchdog not a bloodhound†. According to Melville (2007), this judgement set the tone for the audit profession for a century. Auditors were to be passive checkers rather than be proactive in searching out errors, misstatements and fraud. This statement may no longer have the force it once did in the light of ISA 240 The Auditor’s Responsibility to Consider Fraud in an Audit of Financial Statements. Auditor’s are now expected to recognise at least the possibility that fraud may exist and, consequently, adopt an attitude of professional scepticism in their approach to audit work. Re Thomas Gerrard Son (1968) highlighted the negligence of auditor in overlooking fraudulent activities committed by directors. Auditors relied on stock certificates given to them by the managing director, a person who they trusted. This was supported by the decision in Re Kingston Cotton Mill whereby an auditor is ‘justified in believing tried servants of the company in whom confidence is placed by the company’. It was held that their responsibility was to investigate the matter fully once their suspicions had been aroused. If they had done so, the fraud would have been revealed. This is supported by the content of ISA 240 which requires auditors to follow up anomalies. Once suspicions have been aroused, tests designed specifically and uniquely to detect and establish the extent of fraud will be performed. Auditor’s should plan and conduct their audit tests to limit the possibility that material fraud and irregularities go undetected. Certain assets such as cash are more susceptible to fraud than others and audit planning should take account of this. Tests are mainly carried out due to the need to assess whether a matter is material before reporting it. If the matte proves to be material, it should be first reported to management (unless management are implicated in the fraudulent activity themselves). Auditors cannot guarantee the detection of all frauds and errors because they are not able to spend the time searching for frauds as they only analyse a sample. A guarantee cannot be made as auditors provide an opinion. IDENTIFY AND DISCUSS BOTH THE ORGANISATIONAL AND PERSONAL FACTORS WHICH MIGHT CONTRIBUTE TO AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE FRAUD IS MORE LIKELY TO OCCUR. The integrity of the individual and whether they seem to have a strong sense of ethics. Although a difficult characteristic to assess, the behaviour of individuals and their opinions on issues may provide important evidence to assist the auditors in assessing this characteristic. Personal integrity may well be a key if not the most important factor in keeping a person from committing fraud. There are many cases in which individuals with severe financial or personal pressures and the opportunity to engage in fraudulent activity do not do so because they have a strong personal moral code. Some fraud investigators believe that a strong moral code can prevent individuals from using rationalisations to justify illicit behaviour. Typical rationalisations include: I am only borrowing the money and will pay it back Nobody will get hurt (perception of fraud as â€Å"victimless† crime The company treats me unfairly and owes me Its only temporary until my financial position improves Everybody’s at it!! The extent to which individuals appear to be motivated by greed. Again, a difficult characteristic to assess but the individual’s concern with money and consumer goods may provide some clues about this. If someone starts turning up to work in a brand new Ferrari, they may have won the lottery, or benefited from the demise of a loving relative, or they could be up to no good!! The degree of loyalty exhibited by an individual. If the individual has been with one firm a long time, this may indicate a certain level of satisfaction with their employment and perhaps reduce the likelihood of them committing fraud. You should, however, also be aware that experienced employees, because they are trusted, might have a greater opportunity to commit fraud. Ernst Young Survey (2000) found that nearly half of the employees who defrauded their firms had been employed for over five years. Also bear in mind that opportunities to commit fraud can arise when an employee reaches a level of trust in an organisation or when internal controls are weak or nonexistent. Then the employee if he or she is so motivated will perceive that there is an opportunity to commit fraud, conceal it, and attempt to avoid detection and punishment Also, recent research undertaken by the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania suggests that in order to make it to the top ranks of corporate management you of course have to be very self-assured, but this can turn into overconfidence which can lead you to â€Å"cross the line† and commit fraud. For example, a senior manager believes that his firm is experiencing only a bad quarter or patch of bad luck. He believes it is in the best interests of everyone involved – management, employees, customers, creditors and shareholders to cover up the problem in the short term so that these constituents do not misinterpret the current poor performance as a sign of the future. In addition, he is convinced that down the road the company will make up for the current period of poor performance. It is the optimistic executive or overconfident executive who is more likely to have these beliefs. May stretch the rules a little or engage in earnings management ploys, but what if things don’t turn around as expected? Then he has to make up for the prior period and that requires continuing fraudulent behaviour. There appears to be a belief that overly optimistic executives can turn their firms around before fraudulent behaviour catches up with them, at least according to the US research. Jordan (2002) as cited in Quirke (2008) reaffirms this attitude by quoting a communist era Czech axiom â€Å"If you do not steal from the state, you rob your family† Antonio Birritella; â€Å"All these funds from the EU were seen as a gift to the Mafia, easy pickings†

Gamal Abdel Nasser Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Gamal Abdel Nasser - Essay Example The nationalist revival during the period of British occupation revealed a public awareness among a segment of Cairo's population, but this seldom was transacted into positive achievements. Instead, the Egypt of 1952 was a stagnant country. Beset by political strife, successive national governments did little to foster the country's development. An archaic structure of land ownership, abysmal living conditions among the great majority of the population, an economy geared to benefit a privileged few, and political instability--this was the legacy after thirty years of independence (Frederick, 268). The existing political parties abdicated their right to govern. In their struggle with the King and their quest for power and office, they treaded ruthlessly on the welfare of their country. Egypt's political structure blocked progress, rooted as it was in the status quo. No parliament controlled by wealthy landowners and Cairo's privileged social elite would support sweeping reform programs to the detriment of the vested interests. Few groups were untainted by the corruption which permeated Cairo. Many ranking civil servants owed their positions to partisan politics; landowners gained protection from the Wafd; businessmen were dependent upon the government for favors; and high ranking military officers often owed their posts to the King's personal support. Only the middle-class military--the captains, majors, and colonels, and, perhaps, a few generals--had the moral credentials for a bona fide movement of reform. And, after the sordid manipulation of the Alexandria cotton market and the collapse of national government in 1952, only the military was prepared to take action in the name of the people. Humiliated in the 1948 Palestine War, the Egyptian army generally had done little to distinguish itself. In its ranks, however, was a cadre of sincere and talented, though inexperienced, officers, and it was they who toppled the government in 1952. Initially, a junta sought to establish a nonpartisan civilian government, but this body proved unwilling to initiate the reforms desired by the young officers. Thus, the job of governing fell to the Free Officers by default. Governing had not been their initial purpose, and they were ill prepared for the task; but they alone were in a position to raze the "old order." And the destruction of the "old order" was a prerequisite for the implementation of profound reforms (Frederick 269). Role in Modernizing Egypt Rapid development in Egypt required an authoritarian government, and it became increasingly obvious that the Revolutionary Command Council could not measure up to the task. Instead, a single leader, a man with dictatorial powers, was needed. Gamal Abdel Nasser became dictator of Egypt in April, 1954. His was a difficult task. The country had not rallied to the military movement. Moreover, there was no panacea for Egypt's problems, and his every move drew the sniping attacks of those without the responsibilities for government. To his credit, he approached his mission boldly. Easy as it was to be irresolute, he determined what was best for

Interpreting Financial Results Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Interpreting Financial Results - Essay Example This means that Apple has maintained enough liquid assets to meet its short-term obligation. However, although Apple did well by maintaining a higher current ratio in 2013 compared to 2012, its current ratio declined in 2014 to 1.08 from 1.68 in 2013, which is a sign of poor performance in 2014 compared to 2013 as far as liquidity position is concerned. However, the Apples current ratio is still within the industrial average, which is a show of good performance compared to its competitors in the industry. Apples also had a favorable quick ratio of more than one in all the last three years. However, it is notable that the after the companys quick ratio had improved from 1.30 in 2012 to 1.64 in 2013, the ratio declined to 1.05, which is an indication of poor performance in 2014 compared to the previous two years. However, the fact that Apples quick ratio is within the industrial average is an indication of good performance in overall. Leverage ratio is another ratio used to gauge the financial health of a company. Leverage ratios are used to determine the amount of debts that the company maintains in its statement of financial position. Accordingly, the more debt a company has, the riskier the company is in case the business became bankrupt and forced into liquidation. Debt-to-equity ratio is one of the leverage ratios used to measure the degree to which a company is financed by debt holders in comparison with its owners. The lower the debt-to-equity ratio, the less riskier the company to invest. From the calculations, it emerged that Apple fiancà ©s much of its operations from shareholders investments compared to debts. The companys debt-to-equity ratios for the three years are below one, which is favorable (2014 = 0.13; 2013 = 0.08; 2012 = ∞). Nevertheless, it also became clear that Apple has been increasingly financing its operations by debt since 2013, which is not a good sign (United

Critically evaluate the role of strategic human resource management

Critically evaluate the role of strategic human resource management The main purposed of strategic human resource management is focussing human resource programs for long term objectives. It help health care to achieved their goal for their business and services. Human resource is an important asset that need to be maintained. Strategic human resouce management can help heatlh care successful by providing high quality from their employee. Several methods of the strategic human resource management have been used by organisation, such as recruitment, selection, developing human resource, and rewards. This essay will explain furthermore about the methods that can improve effectiveness of strategic human resource management, and finally discuss consequences of using strategic human resource management in health care. The main assets of organisations is human resource. In organisations human resource consist of employer and employee. Kabane, Orchard, Howard, Soriano, and Leduc (2006) mentions human resource in health care consist of clinical and non-clinical staff. Clinical staff defined as doctor or physician and nurse and non-clinical staff defined as administrative staff. On the other hand, there are some of the health care that have one type staff. The health care just have clinical staff, so for administrative job it will be organized by nurse. Nurse will have double responsibilites not just maintained patient, but also managed administrative. In this situation, health care should really selective when finding their candidates, because nurses will do different activities in same times. They need candidates that have extra skills, extra knowledge and good personalities. In other words, health care will need strategic human resource management. Firstly, health care should recruit the employee. Recruitment is one of the methods that really important to get qualified candidates with good knowledge, abilities, personalities and skills. Organisationals strategies and culture can be survived and growth with qualified employee. Stone (2008) states that recruitment is process searching aplicants to fulfill the job in organisation. First, organisations should make good planning. Health care should know the main vision and mission when finding the aplications. Beside that, they should determined the quantity of the aplicants. Secondly, organisations should analyse what kind of job that they need. Stone (2008) mentions that job analysis help organisations to define the criteria of the aplicants who are significantly connected with the job. The process of planning and job analysis are significantly important for this step. This strategic will help health care to get qualified manpower. Secondly, health care should selective when select their aplicants. Selection can help them to fulfill the job with the right human resource. Jackson and Schuler (2003) notes that selection is process to determine aplicants by looking their technical competencies, personalities, behavioral styles, and preferences. They explain the strategic of selection by using assessment methods. The first one, organisations should check personal history candidates by looking their resume. Secondly, organisations will give written test to candidates which consist of ability test, knowledge test, and personality test. Third, there will be work simulation. This step help aplicants to know the real situation of their job. Then, the candidates will be interviewed. The aim of this step is to indentified the candidates behavior and their knowledge. After that, there will be medical test which is for showing medical conditions of the aplicants. The test consist of general health examinations, genetic scre ening, and drug and alcohol testing. Finally, aplicants will be interviewed with human resource departement it self. This step need two ways communication. The organisations should explain very clear about the situation of the job. On the other hand, the aplicants should know their qualifications and preferences. Therefore, they will get same advantages. Selection strategic help health care to find the right employee in the right place. Third, health care should develop their human resource. This step will give benefits for organisations and employee. The employee can improve their knowledge and skills. Jackson and Schuler (2003) notes that developing and training employee can help organisations established, because they have competent employee. Jackson and Schuler (2003) mentions that development can maintain employee performances for long terms. In addition, training can help to improve specific skills from their employee. Strategic development and training are give clear instructions and role models, feed back, practice, and evaluation. This step will help employee to get better carrer in their organisations. Beside that, health care can compete in the future, because they can improve their manpower to be more competent. Finally, health care should have good systems for remuneration and rewads. It will retain manpower and make employee will loyal. According to McKeown and Jandrey (1991) organisations should pay their employee balance with their productivity. The remuneration systems should be admited with both of organisations and manpower. Stones (2008) notes that human resource compensation not just consider for employee remuneration but also incentive remuneration and employee benefits. The employee remuneration system is the cost that organisations should pay for employee productivity. Meanwhile, Incentive remuneration is bonus that organisations should pay because the man power can achieved organisation targets. On the other hand, employee benefits is the value that organisations offered, such as annual leave, sick leave, or scholarships. This methods can motivate employee, so health care will have loyal employee. The impact of using strategic human resources management for health care is significantly effective for their business and services. However, Oà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢Brien-Pallas, Duffield and Alksnis (cited in Hogan, Moxham, and Dwyer 2007) point out that health care that not using strategic human resource management can caused the retirement of their manpower to be postpone. In addition, there is no replacement between young members and expertise members. Nevertheless, they notes that strategic human resource management can help employee to get job satisfaction, so the retention, turnover, and leaving rates will be decreased. On the other hand, Kabane, Orchard, Howard, Soriano, and Leduc (2006) explains how budgets, gap between stakeholders values, absenteeism rates, high rates of turnover, and low morale of health personel will be occur without strategic human resource management. Therefore, strategic human resource management help health care to established their organisations. This essay has evaluated the effectiveness of strategic human resource management especially in health care. As discussed above, there are many methods of strategic human resource management that can significantly help for health care to established their business and services, such as recruitment, selection, developing human resources, and remuneration. This methods is great important to help health care obtain the best manpower. Manpower is one of the assets that affected many aspects in health care, so it should be managed very carefully. However, strategic human resouce management give advantages for two side. The manpower received job satisfaction and health care achieved their main goals for long term.

History report Essay

1. Life in the big cities of Europe when Columbus set sail in 1492 were unhealthy, unsanitary, and very brutal conditions. Many poor and people who couldn’t support themselves would starve to death and also many people were dying of diseases that were spreading through the cities. â€Å"For most of its people a land of violence, squalor, treachery, and intolerance. † In-migration from the countryside was a vital part to if the cities were to be saved from going extinct. Conditions with famine were harsh. â€Å"The rich ate, and ate to excess, watched by a thousand hungry eyes as they consumed their gargantuan meals. The rest of the population starved† The slightest fluctuation in food price could cause the sudden death of thousands. 2. If one ventured outside the cities of Europe to the countryside, the quality of life was no better. â€Å"Areas such as Castile and Andalusia were wracked with harvest failures that brought on mass death. † With the harsh conditions people frequently turned on each other during witchcraft hysteria. â€Å"Because of the dismal social conditions and prevailing social values it was a place filled with malice and hatred, temporarily bound by the majority in order to harry and persecute the local witch. † 3. The wealthy of Europe were preoccupied by their need for foreign luxuries. The wealthy were after silver and gold, while on Columbus’s expedition that is what they were out to seek. â€Å"The crusades had begun four centuries earlier, had increased the appetites of affluent Europeans for foreign luxuries. † Columbus had set on his expedition and reached The New Land but the native people he encountered did not have an abundance of gold like he had expected. Columbus came up with the system called the requerimento, to help encourage the Native Americans into finding gold. If they objected to the offer they would make war against the Native Americans and kill or taken slaves. 4. Columbus’s first impression on the New World was that it was filled with new opportunities and was beautiful. He wasn’t used to the different ways of the Native Americans; many didn’t wear clothing and were not as progressed or as modernized. C Columbus’s landing in the new world was significant to the Catholic Church in Spain because, †Each time the Spanish encountered a native individual they were ordered to read to the Indians a statement informing them of the truth of Christianity and the necessity to swear immediate allegiance to the Pope and to the Spanish crown. 5. The requerimiento in a way was just an excuse to be brutal to the natives because the Spanish usually didn’t wait for them to even respond and they were put into chains, also they didn’t understand the language so they had no opportunity to reply. The disease that most likely killed the Native Americans on the second voyage was malaria. The reason Spaniards weren’t as affected was because the Natives hadn’t built up immunity to the diseases they were being exposed to. â€Å"Samuel Eliot Morison diagnosed it as either malaria or something caused by drinking well water or eating strange fish. † 6. Yes, I think these words in a way apply to what the Spanish did to the native people they encountered. I think this because they were being unreasonable and for no reason being very brutal to the natives and killing them and taking them as prisoners. They weren’t even given a fair chance; the Spanish invaded the native’s land and took everything from them because of their consuming greed for gold.

Information Sharing for the Bullwhip Effect

Information sharing for the bullwhip effect: over- or underestimated? Bachelor thesis: Thesis Circle: Organization studies, 2nd semester, academic year 2011-2012 Time will tell†¦. A processes perspective on inter-organizational collaboration Name: ANR: E-mail: PC Jansen 770926 P. C. [email  protected] nl Information sharing for the bullwhip effect: over- or underestimated? Abstract This literature review investigates the effect of information sharing from a buyer to a supplier in a supply chain on the performance of that supplier, with taking in mind that the supplier has to combat the bullwhip effect.With the existence of the bullwhip effect, a supplier cannot make right forecasts and therefore has difficulties in planning its production and/or inventory control. This research shows that information sharing is the key solution to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect and, by that, is positively influences the performance of the supplier in the chain. Keywords: Bullwhip, supply chain, information sharing, supplier performance, inventory control Thesis Circle: Time will tell†¦. A processes perspective on inter-organizational collaborationSupervisor: Remco Mannak Supervisor 2: Annemieke Stoppelenburg Name: ANR: E-mail: PC Jansen 770926 P. C. [email  protected] nl 2 Table of contents Table of contents 1. Introduction 2. Theoretical Framework 2. 1 Performance of a supplier 2. 2 Information sharing 2. 3 Bullwhip effect 3. Methodology 3. 1 Data collection 3. 2 Quality Indicators 4. Results 4. 1 Information sharing is the key solution 4. 2 Information sharing is not the key solution 5. Conclusion and recommendations 5. 1 Conclusion 5. 2 Recommendations for future research 6.Discussion and reflection 6. 1 Discussion 6. 2 Reflection 7. References 3 4 7 7 7 9 11 11 12 13 13 21 24 24 26 28 28 29 30 3 1. Introduction Collaboration is something which has occurred over all times and is a way for people as well as for organizations to accomplish any goal or wanted result. Min and Zhou (2002) stated that in today’s global marketplace, individual firms no longer compete as independent entities with unique brand names, but rather as integral part of supply chain links.According to Christopher (1992), a supply chain is the network of organizations that are involved, through upstream and downstream linkages, in the different processes and activities that produce value in the form of products and services delivered to the ultimate consumer. When looking at the downstream linkages, a supplier delivers his products or services to a buyer. The buyer has a recursive demand, and orders this demand to the supplier every period. The supplier, on his turn, has to deal with production scheduling and/or inventory control every period.However, dealing with those issues can be quite difficult for the supplier, when the demand of the buyer is variable and hard to predict. This problem, or phenomenon, is called the Bullwhip effect. Yu et al. (2001) descr ibed this phenomenon as that the variability of an upstream member’s demand is greater than that of the downstream member, and that the effect therefore largely is caused by the variability of ordering. The supplier’s uncertainty about the upcoming buyer’s demand can lead to inefficient productions and inefficient inventory control, which on their turn will lead to increases of costs or decreased in revenues.According to Chen (2003), information sharing is often suggested to combat the undesirable bullwhip effect. The importance of combating the bullwhip effect was elucidated by Yu et al. (2001), who stated that uncertainties will propagate through the supply chain in the form of amplification of ordering variability, which leads to excess in safety stock, increased logistics costs and inefficient use of resources (Yu et al, 2001). So, in order to reduce the chances for these negative consequences of uncertainties for the supplier, information sharing seems the key solution.According to Mohr and Spekman (1994), information sharing refers to the extent to which critical and proprietary information is communicated to one’s supply chain partner. Yu et al. 4 (2001) stated that while every single member has perfect information about itself, uncertainties arise due to lack of perfect information about other members. This seems logical, since a supplier can’t make the right decisions for his production schedule and his inventory control when he doesn’t know what the demand of the buyer will be. As Yu et al. 2001) stated, the supplier in the supply chain needs to make a forecast of its downstream site’s product demand for its own production planning, inventory control and material requirement planning. But, this forecast seems hard to make when uncertainties, by the lack of information, exist. However, there are some authors who don’t agree with this. Raghunathan (2001) for example stated that suppliers can do mu ch better in the case without information sharing, because the supplier can use its information about the retailer’s order history to greatly sharpen its demand forecast.This leads to a remarkable point, because on first sight it seems that the uncertainties, due to the bullwhip effect, can be solved by information sharing between the supplier and the buyer, but some authors have different thoughts on this point. This literature review will asses both views on the importance of information sharing in the supply chain to get a clear overview of its importance for the bullwhip effect and, by that, on the supplier’s performance. This leads to the following research goal and question:Research Question: What is the effect, according to the literature, of information sharing in a supply chain on the performance of the supplier? Conceptual model The following conceptual model will illustrate the goal of this research: Level of information sharing + Performance of the supplier Research goal: The aim of this literature review is to understand the effect of the level of information sharing in a supply chain on the performance of the supplier, where performance can be measured in terms of reductions in total costs and inventories.This paper investigates whether the performance of the supplier is positively influenced by the level of information sharing or not. 5 The unit of analysis: The unit of analysis in this research is on the level of the supplier. It could be expected that the level of information sharing has a positive effect on combating the bullwhip effect, and by that, on the supplier’s performance in the chain, since information can make the uncertainty about the buyer’s demand disappear. Yu et al. 2001) stated that while every single member has perfect information about itself, uncertainties arise due to lack of perfect information about other members. According to this theory, information sharing seems the key solution for reducin g or eliminating the bullwhip effect. Scientific relevance: The scientific relevance of this literature review lies within the contribution it brings to the field of research of the importance of downstream information for the supplier within a supply chain, in order to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect. It gives insight in the importance of information sharing.Since many authors claim that information sharing is the key solution to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect, but some on the other hand do not agree with this, this paper tries to give insight in what is true for this case. Practical relevance: The practical relevance of this literature review is that in our world a lot of companies are active in supply chains, and therefore, by this literature review, a supplier working in a supply chain is able to get insight in the importance of information sharing for their performance in that supply chain. 6 2. Theoretical framework 2. Performance of a supplier For the purpose of this research, only the supplier’s performance is being overviewed, and the buyer’s performance is disregarded. The reason for this is that the supplier and the buyer have different interests in the supply chain. The buyer only tries to get the best, in other words, lowest price, but the supplier on his turn also seeks to achieve good selling prices, reductions in total costs and inventories, and by that, increase his revenues. Because of these different targets, it is too complex to focus on both sides’ performance in this research.According to Slack et al. (2004), performance should always be measured against benchmarks, which could be historical standards, target performance standards, competitor performance standards, or absolute performance standards. In addition to that, Clifford (2000) stated that performance often is measured using quantitative measurements, in terms of the gains or benefits a company achieves in comparison to the costs invested. For this re search, the benchmark ‘absolute performance standards’ of Slack et al. 2004) will be used, since this benchmark takes performance on theoretical limits. This is what will be done in this paper as well. The performance of a supplier will be measured using theoretical quantitative measurements, in other words, at stated by Yu et al. (2001), by the extent to which a supplier achieves its specific objectives and benefits in terms of reductions in total costs and inventories. Since this is a literature review, no exact numbers will be used, but, as stated here above, theoretical quantitative measurements will be used. 2. Information sharing As stated before, the performance of the supplier is influenced by the level of information sharing. The reason for sharing information in the supply chain was stated by Yu et al. (2001), who stated that a supply chain partnership is a relationship formed between two independent members in supply channels through increased levels of infor mation sharing to achieve specific objectives and benefits in terms of reductions in total costs and inventories. Various authors described the concept of information sharing in supply chains.According to Mohr and Spekman (1994), information sharing refers to the extent to which critical and proprietary information is communicated to one’s supply chain partner. Lalonde (1998) reviewed five building blocks that characterize a solid supply chain relationship and considered sharing of 7 information as one of them. The other four are sharing of benefits and burdens, multiple contacts between economic entities, cross-functional management processes, and futureoriented collaborative processes (Lalonde (1998)). According to Yu et al. 2001), while every single member has perfect information about itself, uncertainties arise due to lack of perfect information about other members. In their paper they argued that the supply chain member should obtain more information about other members in order to reduce uncertainties. Li and Lin (2006) stated that in a highly uncertain environment with changing markets, organizations tend to build strategic partnership with their supply chain members to share information, increase organizational flexibility, and reduce the risk associated with the uncertainty.One of these risks could be the presence of the bullwhip effect. In their paper, Li and Lin (2006) concluded that generally, organizations with high levels of information sharing and information quality are associated with low level of environmental uncertainty. Furthermore, Li and Lin (2006) argued that, by taking the data available and sharing it with other parties within the supply chain, an organization can speed up the information flow in the supply chain, improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the supply chain, and respond to customer changing needs quicker. More precisely, according to Lehoux et al. 2010), if actors have access to the demand of the final consume r, the number of products kept in stock at each location, the quantity ordered in the past few years, etc. , and are ready to cooperate, they can make planning decision that will have a positive impact on the system. Sahin and Robinson (2002) stated that information sharing can occur at several levels. Under ‘no information sharing’, the only demand data the supplier receives are actual orders from his immediate customer. On the other hand, at the ‘full information sharing’ level, complete information is available to support the specific decision-making environment.According to Sahin and Robinson (2002), this complete information include one or more of the following: production status and costs, transportation availability and quantity discounts, inventory costs, inventory levels, various capacities, demand data from all channel members, and all planned promotional strategies. Lin et al. (2002) argued that the higher level of information sharing is associat ed with the lower total cost, the higher order fulfillment rate and the shorter order 8 cycle time. Seidmann and Sundarajan (1997) summed up a number of possible different information sharing arrangements.They showed four categories, based on the level of impact the shared information has on the buyer and supplier. The categories are as followed: exchanging order information, sharing operational information, sharing strategic marketing information, and sharing strategic and competitive marketing and sales information. In a supply chain, two different streams of information can occur: downstream and upstream. According to Claro and Claro (2010), downstream information refers to the information obtained from a supplier’s marketing channels, be they wholesalers, distributors or retailers.The wholesalers, distributors, or retailers can all be seen as a buyer in the context of this research, since they all place orders at an upstream member (a supplier). From this it can be derive d that upstream information refers to the information a buyer obtains from the supplier. For the purpose of this research, the focus will be on downstream information; the information a supplier receives from the buyer. This information is critical for the supplier’s performance because with this information the buyer will have to make its forecast for production and/or inventory control.The upstream information will be disregarded, since, as stated before, this research only focuses on the supplier, and therefore the buyer’s performance will be disregarded. 2. 3 Bullwhip effect Forrester (1958) was the first one to describe the bullwhip effect and identified the supply chain’s natural tendency to amplify, delay, and oscillate demand information, and demonstrates its effect in a serial supply chain consisting of a retailer, distributor, warehouse, and factory. So, this phenomenon is known as the bullwhip effect.According to Metters (1997), it is so called becaus e a small variance or seasonality in actual consumer demand can ‘crack the whip’ for upstream suppliers, causing upstream suppliers to alternately produce at capacity then experience downtime. Yu et al. (2001) described this phenomenon as that the variability of an upstream member’s demand is greater than that of the downstream member. Basically, they say, the bullwhip effect is largely caused by the variability of ordering. Lee et al. (1997) identified the five major causes of the bullwhip effect as (1) the use of ‘demand signal processing', (2) nonzero 9 ead times, (3) order batching, (4) supply shortages, and (5) price fluctuations. According to Sucky (2008), the bullwhip effect has a number of negative effects in real supply chains, which can cause significant inefficiencies. Huang et al. (2007) stated that the devastating consequences caused by the bullwhip effect are clear indeed, like a redundant inventory, excessive production and resultant costs, i neffective transportation and laggardly logistics, inefficient operations, and low economic benefits of supply chain system.Sucky (2008) agreed with this and stated that the bullwhip effect typically leads to excessive inventory investments throughout the supply chain as the parties involved need to protect themselves against demand variations. So, for the supplier, this means that the uncertainty about demand can lead to more costs, derived from those excessive inventory investments, since suppliers have to forecast their production and/or inventory control, without knowing for sure if this forecast is correct. According to Lee et al. 1997), to reduce uncertainties, and by that the costly bullwhip effect, suppliers and buyers should share demand forecast information as well as information on inventory levels, sales data, order status, and production schedules. The bullwhip effect was illustrated by Sterman (1989) by the ‘beer game’. This game is a role-playing simulati on of an industrial production and distribution system. The game is designed in a way that each participant has a lack of information and they cannot communicate with each other. Therefore, according to Lee et al. 1997), each player has to make his decisions relying on orders from the neighboring player as the sole source of communications. The results of this test confirmed the existence of the bullwhip effect, because they revealed that the variances of orders amplify as one moves up in the supply chain (Lee et al. , 1997). 10 3. Methodology The design of this research was an integrative literature review. No empirical data has been gathered, only existing scientific literature was used in order to do this research. Therefore, this research was pure theoretical.The level of information sharing was used as the independent variable and the supplier’s performance, which is based on the bullwhip effect, was used as the dependent variable. 3. 1 Data collection Since this researc h is a literature review, only scientific academic literature was used. Therefore, the reliability of this research was guaranteed. The literature was found by using ISI (Web of Sciences) and Google Scholar. Web of Sciences was used as primary database, and Google Scholar was used when Web of Sciences could not provide the articles it showed in the search results.If this was the case, mostly the articles were indeed found by Google Scholar. When searching literature on Web of Sciences, the citation database was only using the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). Literature was partly searched and selected by some applicable search terms in ‘Web of Sciences’. Table 1 shows the most important search terms which were used. Those terms were used solely as well as in a combination together in order to find relevant articles. The search results were sorted by the times the articles were cited, in order to find the most important paper for my topic.The only problem which cam e up when using this strategy was that the newest articles, which could be important for this research, were very low in those search results, since they haven’t been cited that much yet. Therefore, after finishing this first sorting strategy, a second sorting was done as well, based on newest to oldest, to see if the last couple of years important papers regarding my topic have been written. The other part of data collection was done by looking at articles which were cited by the papers I viewed as important for my research.Search terms Supply chain Information sharing Supplier Supplier’s performance Table 1. Search terms 11 Bullwhip effect Downstream information Inventory control Demand process 3. 2 Quality indicators The reliability of this research was guaranteed, since only scientific academic literature was be used. All the literature that was used in this paper is high quality literature, because the used literature is published in well-known journals, and is pe er-reviewed.The confirmability is high for this research. The results will be able to be confirmed by others, since all statements, definitions and assumptions in this research were derived from previous literature. In this literature review, there has been consistent and correct referring to the authors. Next to that, the validity was also ensured, since more than just one database was used, so that all the relevant literature for this research was assured. The construct validity is enhanced as well.What had to be measured has actually been measured, since the concepts of this research were clearly defined and the used articles for doing this research were all using the same definitions and concepts. 12 4. Results Two different views on the importance of information sharing in order to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect can be distinguished in the literature: a positive effect on one side, and on the other hand there are authors who do not agree that information sharing is the key solution to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect. . 1 ‘Information sharing is the key solution’ The importance of information sharing for combating the bullwhip effect was clearly shown by the simulation study of Chatfield et al. (2004), who used a simulation model to examine the effects in supply chains of stochastic lead times and of information sharing and quality of that information in a periodic order-up-to level inventory system. One of their main findings was that information sharing reduces total variance amplification and stage (node to node) variance amplification.This, is what is needed to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect. Chatfield et al. (2004) therefore indeed conclude that information sharing decelerates the bullwhip effect as we go up the supply chain, which could be the result of planning ahead, since the upper supply chain echelons would be responding to customer demand information before the demands actually show up in the form of an order from the downstream partner. The findings of Moyaux et al. (2007), also by a simulation study, are in line with this.They concluded that, with information centralization (buyer’s demand information available), the supplier knows in real time and instantaneously the market consumption. By this, the supplier will be able to manage his production schedule and inventory control in the best way. Sterman’s (1989) results from his ‘beer game’-experiment are in line with this, since they showed that the bullwhip effect appears when actors in a chain haven’t got all the information they need to make the right decisions about production and inventory control.Sterman (1989) stated that misconceptions about inventory and demand information (Lee et al. , 1997) causes the bullwhip effect. So, Sterman (1989) also states that the effect of information sharing on the supplier’s performance is positive since it helps to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect. Croson and Donohue (2005) do not doubt about whether or not information sharing is the key solution; they see particularly sharing information on inventory levels as countermeasure to the bullwhip effect. According to them, from an operational perspective, inventory 13 nformation can be used to update demand forecasts and lessen the impact of demandsignaling errors and delays. In their paper, they stated that ‘analytical research on inventory management in two-echelon supply chains with a single supplier and one or more retailers (e. g. , Bourland et al. 1996; Lee et al. 1997; Cachon and Fisher 2000; Gavirneni et al. 1999) concludes that sharing inventory information can improve supply chain performance, with the upstream member (i. e. , the supplier) enjoying most of the benefits’ (Croson and Donohue (2005)).According to Croson and Donohue (2005), in these analytical models, inventory information provides the supplier with more timely and less distorted demand signals, and these signals are then factored into the supplier’s order decisions, and these factors result in lower safety stock and/or higher service levels in comparison with cases where no inventory information is shared. Lee et al. (1997) totally agreed with those findings. In their paper, as stated earlier, they analyzed four sources of the bullwhip effect (demand signal processing, rationing game, order batching, and price variations).With their demand model, they considered a retailer's singleitem multiperiod inventory problem, where the retailer (buyer) orders a single item from a supplier every period. In this setting, the supplier relies totally on the order data from the buyer. According to Lee et al. (1997), their result shows that such an arrangement will cause the supplier to lose track of the true demand pattern at the retail end, and, besides that, the supplier's inventory control based on this distorted information will inevitably suffer. Lee et al. 1997) concluded, based on th ese findings, that when sales and inventory data are shared among chain members, the supply chain as a whole can implement echelon-based inventory control which can yield superior performance to installation-based inventory control. Moreover, Huang et al. (2007), based on three simulation experiments according to the empirical practice of the three most representative Chinese companies in the steel industry, found that the bullwhip effect existed in this supply chain, and that the effect can be reduced by a control method they developed.Based on classical control theories and methods, combined with the empirical practices, Huang et al. (2007) concluded that the best way for firms to dampen and control the bullwhip effect is to take effective measures for information sharing, especially in this information society. More specifically, Huang et al. (2007) stated that managers should choose an appropriate method of controlling the bullwhip effect, which 14 as to be the usage of some adv anced information management system and management solutions, for example Advanced Planning System (APS), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), E-business, Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI), short-term inventory, and distribution optimization, is an effective way to control the bullwhip effect. Since those management systems are advanced information management systems, they are all based on shared information in the supply chain. The conclusions of Huang et al. (2007) therefore indicated the importance of information sharing to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect.Ozer and Wei (2004) also showed how important the effect of information sharing can be for the supplier. According to Ozer and Wei (2004), both the cost and the base stock level decrease as customers place more of their demand in advance. Advance demand information, according to Ozer and Wei (2004), refers to the situation when customers place orders in advance for a future delivery. If this is the case, the supplier knows what the order will be for the upcoming period, and therefore, the uncertainty seems low or even eliminated.As a consequence of that, it is clear that the cost and base stock level decrease. However, Ozer and Wei (2004) even go further on this important role of information. Based on a numerical study, where they studied 350 problem instances, they stated that advance demand information can be a substitute for capacity and inventory. In other words, when a supplier receives full demand information from the buyer’s side, the supplier doesn’t even have to hold any stock, and by that, the supplier’s performance is influenced positively, since the supplier doesn’t have the risk of extra costs and inventories.One other way to show the value of information sharing in a supply chain was brought up by Cannella and Ciancimino (2011). Cannella and Ciancimino (2011) performed a supply chain stress test via a sudden and intense change in demand, and they distinguished diff erent supply chain configurations: traditional and information exchange. In the traditional supply chain, each level in the supply chain issues production orders and replenishes stock without considering the situation at either up- or downstream tiers of the supply chain (Cannella and Ciancimino (2011)).On the other hand, in the information exchange supply chain, the retailer and supplier order independently, yet exchange demand information and action plans in order to align their forecasts for capacity and long-term planning (Cannella and Ciancimino (2011)). Their main conclusion regarding the difference in these configurations is that the 15 bullwhip effect, inventory instability and intermittent orders are not completely eliminated, but are reduced with respect to the traditional supply chain, and that information exchange supply chains generally outperform the traditional configuration.This means that, ceteris paribus, all performance measures are superior to the traditional cas e (Cannella and Ciancimino (2011)). This conclusion is an important one for the research question of this paper, since it makes clear that the supplier’s performance is really dependent on whether information is shared or not. One other remarkable thing in their conclusion is that the bullwhip effect is not totally eliminated when information is shared in the supply chain. Dejonckheere et al. 2004) concluded this as well in their paper, when they showed that for the class of order-up-to policies, information sharing helps to reduce the bullwhip effect significantly, especially at higher levels in the chain, however, the bullwhip problem is not completely eliminated and it still increases as one moves up the chain. A new question one can come up with here is if it is possible to totally eliminate the bullwhip effect by information sharing. An answer to this new question is given by Chen et al. (2000).In their research, they provided a model based on the assumption that demand information is centralized, and all stages use the same inventory policy and forecasting technique. Centralized demand information means that customer demand information is available to every stage of the supply chain (Chen et al. , 2000). The findings of Chen et al. (2000) showed that providing each stage of the supply chain with complete access to customer demand information can significantly reduce bullwhip effect. However, according to Chen et al. 2000), the results also demonstrated that even when (i) all demand information is centralized, (ii) every stage of the supply chain uses the same forecasting technique, and (iii) every stage uses the same inventory policy, there will still be an small increase in variability at every stage of the supply chain. Reason for this, given by Chen et al. (2000), is that the supplier can never know the mean and the variance of buyer’s demand. This means that the bullwhip effect can never totally be eliminated from the supply chain, even if full information sharing is done by the buyer.Croson and Donohue (2006), who conducted the beer game-experiment of Sterman (1989), also concluded that the bullwhip cannot totally be eliminated. Croson and Donohue (2006) conducted the game under business students at the University of Minnesota and found that the bullwhip effect still exists when retail demand is stationary (not fluctuating) and commonly known. Reason for this was 16 given by Sterman (1989) itself, who noted that dynamic settings render decision making difficult, even when only one decision maker is involved, due to reduced saliency of feedback.For the purpose of this study this means that a supplier is missing the feedback or forewarning of when the buyer is running short on inventory. Therefore, uncertainty still exist since the forecast is hard to make, and the bullwhip effect will not be eliminated. However, Yu et al. (2001) stated that this is possible. Based on their case study of L&TT, a Hong Kong based mul tinational company which had to deal with a large number of new manufacturers and component suppliers in their industry, Yu et al. (2001) concluded that with access to the customer rdering information, the supplier can eliminate the amplified buyer’s demand variance in its replenishment process. Besides that, Yu et al. (2001), according to their quantitative analysis, stated that the supply chain partnership can not only help the members of a decentralized supply chain to eliminate the bullwhip effect, but also improve the overall performance of the supply chain. So, based on the findings of Yu et al. (2001), the overall performance of the supply chain can be improved. This means that the supplier and buyer should make information sharing arrangements, since it can be advantageous for them both.Seidmann and Sundarajan (1997) summed up possible different information sharing arrangements, showing the impact of information sharing on the operations, sales, marketing, and product ion strategies of the parties that contract to share the information. The four arrangements they summed up are exchanging order information, sharing operations information, sharing strategic marketing information, and an agreement where the information adds both strategic and competitive value to the party that receives it. The sharing strategic marketing information agreement seems the optimal agreement for the research question in this paper.According to Seidmann and Sundarajan (1997), arrangements like these occur when one organization owns information that it can derive little independent value from, but which another can use to generate operational benefits for the company it receives the information from, besides garnering strategic value for its own sales and marketing departments. This level can be very beneficial for the supplier. As Seidmann and Sundarajan (1997) stated, the information in this level can be used by the supplier’s sales and product development groups for improved demand forecasting, promotion scheduling, and segment-specific forecasts and therefore, in 17 hat situation, it is possible for a buyer to allow a supplier to access broad market information that provides the supplier with strategic and competitive benefits. A new point of discussion can come up here, because, according to Lee et al. (1997), sales data and inventory status data are proprietary for buyers, and they are not obligated to share this data with others, in this case, the supplier. Lee et al. (1997) in their paper do not state that sharing information can be advantageous for the buyer as well as the supplier as Yu et al. (2001) do, but they take in mind why the buyer would exchange information to the supplier.According to Li (2002), in line with this, buyers would not voluntarily share their information. He identified conditions under which the manufacturer would be able to buy retailer information. Claro and Claro (2010) concluded as well that sharing informa tion can be good for both sides in the supply chain. They found their results by doing a survey research under 174 suppliers and 67 buyers, with which they tested their hypothesis, which was: ‘the more downstream information a supplier obtains, the higher the degree of collaboration in a buyer-supplier relationship’ (Claro and Claro, 2010).The results supported the hypothesis. Claro and Claro (2010) showed that when downstream information is shared, so, from buyer to supplier, the degree of collaboration, in terms of joint planning, joint problem solving and flexibility in the supply chain is very high. These findings show that sharing the proprietary information can bring advantages for the buyer as well. An interesting point in the studies who showed that information sharing is the key solution for reducing or avoiding the bullwhip effect was brought up by Croson and Donohue (2006).As stated before, they conducted the beer game under business students, but for the pur pose of the study of this interesting finding the participants also had access to dynamic inventory information. According to Croson and Donohue (2006), the results suggest that members near the beginning of the chain exhibit a different impact from inventory information than those near the end. This means that having access to dynamic information will lead to a greater reduction of the bullwhip effect for suppliers like a manufacturer and a distributor, than for suppliers who are closer to the end consumer, like a distributor.So, from their findings, information sharing is very important for reducing or avoiding the bullwhip effect, but much more important for suppliers who are at the beginning of the chain than for suppliers who are closer to the end buyer. 18 ‘Information sharing is the key solution’ Chatfield et al. (2004) simulation model to examine different effects in a supply chain ? periodic order-up-to level inventory system Moyaux et al. (2007) ? simulation s tudy ? Findings: Information sharing reduces total variance amplification and stage (node to node) variance amplification.Sterman (1989) ? Beer-game experiment ? This experiment is used and conducted a lot in the literature Croson and Donohue (2005) ? Analytical research on inventory management in two-echelon supply chains with a single supplier and one or more retailers Lee et al. (1997) ? Analyzed four sources of the bullwhip effect ? With their demand model, they considered a retailer's single-item multiperiod inventory problem Huang et al. (2007) ? Three simulation experiments in the Chinese steel industry ?Based on classical control theories and methods, combined with the empirical practices Ozer and Wei (2004) ? Numerical study with 350 instances Findings: With information centralization, the supplier knows in real time and instantaneously the market consumption Findings: The bullwhip effect appears when actors in a chain haven’t got all the information they need to mak e the right decisions about production and inventory control Findings: Sharing inventory information can improve supply chain performance, with the upstream member (i. e. the supplier) enjoying most of the benefits Findings: When sales and inventory data are shared among chain members, the supply chain as a whole can implement echelon-based inventory control which can yield superior performance Findings: The best way for firms to dampen and control the bullwhip effect is to take effective measures for information sharing, especially in this information society. Managers should choose an appropriate method of controlling the bullwhip effect Findings: Both the cost and the base stock level decrease as customers place more of their emand in advance. Advance demand information can be a substitute for capacity and inventory Findings: The bullwhip effect, inventory instability and intermittent orders are not completely eliminated, but are reduced with respect to the traditional supply cha in, and that information exchange Cannella and Ciancimino (2011) ? Supply chain stress test via a sudden and intense change in demand 19 supply chains generally outperform the traditional configuration. Dejonckheere et al. (2004) ? The class of order-up-to policies Findings: ?Information sharing helps to reduce the bullwhip effect significantly, especially at higher levels in the chain ? Hhowever, the bullwhip problem is not completely eliminated and it still increases as one moves up the chain Chen et al. (2000) Findings: ? A model based on the assumption that ? Providing each stage of the supply chain demand information is centralized, with complete access to customer demand and all stages use the same inventory information can significantly reduce policy and forecasting technique bullwhip effect ?The supplier can never know the mean and the variance of buyer’s demand, so the bullwhip effect is never completely eliminated Yu et al. (2001) Findings: ? Case study of L ? With access to the customer ordering ? Quantitative analysis information, the supplier can eliminate the amplified buyer’s demand variance in its replenishment process ? The supply chain partnership can not only help the members of a decentralized supply chain to eliminate the bullwhip effect, but also improve the overall performance of the supply chain Claro and Claro (2010) Findings: ?Survey research under 174 suppliers ? When downstream information is shared, and 67 buyers so, from buyer to supplier, the degree of collaboration, in terms of joint planning, joint problem solving and flexibility in the supply chain is very high. Croson and Donohue (2006) Findings: ? Sterman’s (1989) beer-game under ? Members near the beginning of the chain business students exhibit a different impact from inventory information than those near the end ? Having access to dynamic information ill lead to a greater reduction of the bullwhip effect for suppliers at the beginning of the chain, th an for suppliers who are closer to the end consumer 20 4. 2 ‘Information sharing is not the key solution’ Eventhough a lot of authors, as shown here above, state that information sharing is the key solution for reducing or avoiding the bullwhip effect and by that improving the supplier’s performance, there are also authors who do not agree with this. For example Raghunathan (2001), based on analysis of the earlier study of Lee et al. (2000) and through simulation. Lee et al. 2000), studied the value of sharing demand information in a supply chain model with a nonstationary demand process. Their key findings are that the suppliers costs can be reduced as a result of information sharing. Raghunathan does not agree with this. According to Raghunathan (2001), a supplier can reduce the variance of its forecast further by using the entire order history to which it has access. Thus, Raghunathan (2001) stated, when intelligent use of already available internal informatio n (order history) suffices, there is no need to invest in interorganizational systems for information sharing.Next to Raghunathan are Cachon and Fisher (2000), who studied the value of sharing data in a model with one supplier, N identical retailers, and stationary stochastic consumer demand. They concluded that, for the setting they studied, implementing information technology to accelerate and smooth the physical flow of goods through a supply chain is significantly more valuable than using information technology to expand the flow of information. The reason they give is that when a retailer is flush with inventory, its demand information provides little value to the supplier because the retailer has no short-term need for an additional batch.According to Cachon and Fisher (2000), a retailer’s demand information is most valuable when the retailer’s inventory approaches a level that should trigger the supplier to order additional inventory, but this is also precisely when the retailer is likely to submit an order. Graves (1999) goes beyond this and gives an even lower value to information sharing in a specific, namely, zero. Graves (1999) developed a model assuming assume that each site in the system orders at preset times according to an order-up-to policy, that delivery times are deterministic, and that the demand processes are stochastic with independent increments.Graves (1999) concludes that information sharing provides no benefits to the supply chain, when there is no outside inventory source and an order-up-to-policy. 21 Gavirneni et al. (1999) furthermore studied different patterns of information flow between a retailer and a supplier. With their study they found that information sharing is does not always have a big value, in other words, is not always the key solution for reducing or avoiding the bullwhip effect.The objective in their paper is to determine a production strategy to minimize the supplier’s costs, under various sce narios that differ in terms of the supplier’s information about the downstream part of the supply chain. Their key observations, according to Chen (2003), are: (1) when the retailer demand variance is high, or the value of (s, S) is either very high or very low, information tends to have low values, and (2) if the retailer demand variance is moderate, and the value of (s, S) is not extreme, information can be very beneficial.A (s, S)-policy, according to Yu et al. (2001) means that an order will be placed to replenish the stock level to S at each time period if the stock level is less than the recorder point s. So, according to Gavirneni et al. (1999), in some situations information sharing is overestimated and is definitely not the key solution for reducing or avoiding the bullwhip effect. Dejonckheere et al. (2003) found some other solution for reducing the bullwhip effect and neither did say that information sharing is the key solution.Based on a methodology by control sys tems engineering, which includes transfer functions, frequency response curves and spectral analysis, they introduced a general decision rule that avoids variance amplification (bullwhip effect) and succeeds in generating smooth ordering patterns, even when demand has to be forecasted. Firstly, Dejonckheere et al. (2003) concluded that whatever forecasting method is used, order-up-to policies will always result in a bullwhip effect. Therefore, they tried to find a solution to reduce or avoid this effect. According to Dejonckheere et al. 2003), the crucial difference with the class of order-up-to policies is that in their proposed rule, net stock and on order inventory discrepancies are only fractionally taken into account. Their general decision rule has to expected benefits: (1) it is expected to detect and eject rogue variations in demand (high frequencies) so that excess costs due to unnecessary ramping up and down production or ordering levels are avoided, and (2) it is possible to quantify the amount of variability reduction by means of the same procedure (Dejonckheere et al. (2003)). 22 ‘Information sharing is not the key solution’ Raghunathan (2001) Findings: ?Analysis of the earlier study of Lee et ? A supplier can reduce the variance of al. (2000) and through simulation its forecast further by using the entire order history to which it has access Cachon and Fisher (2000) Findings: ? Based on a model with one supplier, ? Implementing information technology N identical retailers, and stationary to accelerate and smooth the physical stochastic consumer demand flow of goods through a supply chain is significantly more valuable than using information technology to expand the flow of information Graves (1999) Findings: ?Based on a model assuming that each ? Information sharing provides no site in the system orders at preset benefits to the supply chain, when times according to an order-up-to there is no outside inventory source policy, that del ivery times are and an order-up-to-policy. deterministic, and that the demand processes are stochastic with independent increments Gavirneni et al. (1999) Findings: ? Studied different patterns of ?When the retailer demand variance is information flow between a retailer high, or the value of (s, S) is either and a supplier. very high or very low, information tends to have low values Dejonckheere et al. (2003) Findings: ? Based on control systems engineering ? Introduced a general decision rule ? Whatever forecasting method is used, order-up-to policies will always result in a bullwhip effect ? Their general decision rule: (1) is expected to detect and eject rogue variations in emand (high frequencies), and (2) it is possible to quantify the amount of variability reduction by means of the same procedure 23 5. Conclusion and recommendations 5. 1 Conclusion The answer to the research question as stated in the beginning of this paper is provided in this section. The research question wh ere this research is based on was: ‘What is the effect, according to the literature, of information sharing in a supply chain on the performance of the supplier? To answer the research question, and to see if information sharing for the bullwhip effect is over- or underestimated, the literature around the topic of the bullwhip effect had to be assorted, and it showed that in two main streams exist in the literature when focusing on the role of information sharing for the bullwhip effect. In the literature, with exceptions (Raghunathan 2001: Cachon and Fisher 2000: Graves 1999: Gavirneni et al. 1999: Dejonckheere et al. 2003), information sharing as the key solution to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect seems to have the upper hand.First, shortly the most important findings from the first view will be summarized, which was the view of information sharing as key solution to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect in order to increase the performance of a supplier. Chatfield et al. (2004) and Moyaux et al. (2007) showed by simulation studies that with information sharing in the supply chain, the supplier is much more well-known about what is going happen, in other words, what the market does and what the buyer’s demand will be, and therefore, according to their findings, the bullwhip effect is reduced.Also results of some empirical studies showed that information sharing is the key solution. Huang et al. (2007) concluded that managers should stick to advanced information management systems for their company because this will reduce the bullwhip effect. Ozer and Wei (2004), with their numerical study, found that advance demand information will results in decreases of costs and inventory level, and therefore has a positive effect on the supplier’s performance. Yu et al. 2001), with their case study of L, concluded that when a supplier has access to the buyer’s ordering information, the supplier can eliminate the amplified buyer’s dema nd variance in its replenishment process. Claro and Claro (2010), by their survey research, even showed that not only the supplier can benefit from sharing information but the buyer can do as well, because when downstream information is shared, the degree of collaboration, in terms of joint planning, joint problem solving and flexibility in the supply chain is very high. 24The main findings of the other view, the view which finds that information sharing is not the key solution, were as followed. Raghunathan (2001) stated that information sharing is not necessarily needed, because a supplier can reduce the variance of its forecast further by using the entire order history to which it has access. Furthermore, Cachon and Fisher (2000) concluded that accelerating and smoothing the physical flow of goods through a supply chain is significantly more valuable than using information technology to expand the flow of information.Graves (1999) found that, in a specific market model, informati on sharing provides no benefits to the supply chain, when there is no outside inventory source and an order-up-to-policy. Dejonckheere et al. (2003) had a remarkable result. They introduced a general decision rule, which should detect the bullwhip effect and quantify the amount of the bullwhip effect, so that suppliers can respond to this in time. The arguments for information sharing as key solution seem stronger than the ones who say information sharing is not that important.The argument of Raghunathan (2001) for example, that a supplier can reduce the variance of its forecast further by using the entire order history to which it has access, seems not very strong. The findings of Raghunathan in fact were rejected by Croson and Donohue (2006) who conducted the beer game of Sterman (1989) under business students and found that the bullwhip effect still exists when retail demand is stationary (not fluctuating) and commonly known.This means that, even if a supplier has the order histo ry, the demand is known, and the demand is not really fluctuating, a supplier cannot make the right forecast since the bullwhip effect isn’t totally eliminated. The argument of Raghunathan (2001) can call up more discussion. Results from the past do not guarantee anything for the future, and especially these days with the economic crises, you never know what the market with do and how the financial situation of your customers will be.Therefore, making forecasts based on history seems not a strong argument. Other arguments saying that information sharing is overestimated all focus on specific situations, but it seems that overall information sharing is not overestimated at all in the literature. Much more authors, based on different (simulations) models and empirical studies, claim that information sharing is the key solution to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect than authors who do not claim that, and this seems logical. Without enough information, a supplier 25 annot make r ight judgments about his production schemes and inventory control, since he doesn't know what the next period will bring for him in terms of the buyer’s demand. The results of this uncertainty for the supplier can be either a low inventory and the chance of not being able to fulfill the buyer’s demand because of that inventory, or the chance of having an inventory which is too large and being stuck with too many unsold products after the buyer’s demand. To avoid this effect, the supplier should have access to the necessary information from the buyer.However, as also stated by Li (2002), why would a buyer share this information, when it is not in any way beneficial for him? The information sharing arrangements of Seidmann and Sundarajan (1997) can bring the solution. Their third level, sharing strategic marketing information, is the one which suits the best in this case. The supplier and buyer should make this arrangement, so that the buyer shares the needed down stream information to the supplier. This information shared has strategic value to the supplier.The buyer, on his turn, could, in return for the information, ensure himself for example of better purchase prices. In this way, both parties can gain from the agreement. Claro and Claro (2010) came up with more descriptions of how the performance of the buyer could positively be influenced as well next to the performance of the supplier, by stating that joint planning, joint problem solving and flexibility in the supply chain are all possible consequences of a situation where information is being shared from buyer to supplier. 5. Recommendations for future research For further research it will be very interesting to investigate to what extent the performance of the buyer and supplier can be negatively influenced as well by information sharing within the supply chain. In the literature, as I have seen, a lot is written about the importance of information sharing, and the overall conclusio n is that information sharing is the key solution to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect, and, by that, positively influences the performance of the supplier and also the whole chain’s performance.However, there hasn’t been done much research about possible negative consequences of information sharing within the chain and therefore this seems a gap in the existing literature. For example, what could happen when information is fully shared between suppliers and buyers, is that the suppliers get totally dependent on those information by controlling their production and/or inventory, and when the information for any reason suddenly is distorted, misinterpreted or wrong, a problem can occur. 26 6. Discussion and reflection 6. Discussion As it is clear from the results section and conclusion, two views on the importance of information sharing for the supplier’s performance exist in the literature. The conclusion shows that it can be stated that information sharing is the key solution to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect, and, by that, has a positive influence on the performance of the supplier. The practical implication of this research lies within the insight it gives to actors in a supply chain. The insight is especially meant for suppliers, since this research focused on the supplier and not specifically on the buyer.The bullwhip effect seems a very common problem in supply chains and therefore it seems to be a topic which suppliers will often will encounter. This research gives insight in how the bullwhip effect can be reduced or avoided. As concluded, the first solution on sight seems easy. Suppliers should try to make the buyer share the needed downstream information, so that the supplier can make right forecasts, and wellover thought production and/or inventory control. However, one cannot ignore for example the general decision rule of Dejonckheere et al. (2003).They believe that their model can detect and quantify the bullwhip effect in time, so this might be a solution as well for reducing or avoiding the effect. However, no sequel study on their paper has been done and so, there hasn’t been any further prove of this model. The setting of this paper gives reason for discussion. In this paper, the focus has only been on the performance of a supplier and did not specifically focus on the buyer’s performance. This research even ignored more or less the buyer’s performance. Therefore, discussion can come up, since the supply chain has two sides: a buyer and a supplier.As said, this research only looked through the eyes of the supplier, in other words, how the supplier could reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect, by that make better forecasts and decisions about production and/or inventory control, and so improve his performance. The overall conclusion is that information sharing is the key solution. However, this is only in the interest for the supplier, while the other important player in this story, namely, the buyer, hasn’t been spotlighted in this story. In this paper it is assumed and concluded that a buyers should share his information, but the 7 paper did not really put a good focus on the buyer’s performance, and what the possible consequences of information sharing for the buyer could be. Another point of discussion lies within the literature used for this research. The problem is that a lot of authors use models in their paper to conduct, analyze and conclude about whether or not information sharing is important for the bullwhip effect, but those models differ from each other. Some authors use stationary market models, some use non-stationary, some use order-up-to policy models, some use order-point-quantity policies.In other words, authors use specific supply chain settings to make their conclusions, and therefore, this research includes a very broad scope on the topic, which means that conclusions made in this research are not applicable in every supply chain, since the supply chain settings can differ. 6. 2 Reflection When looking back on writing this literature review, findings literature was not the problem. Many articles have written about the topic ‘supply chain’ in relation to ‘bullwhip effect’, but this didn’t mean that it was easy to find the right literature.Because of the large quantity papers, a very specific search method was needed in order to find the really important papers to be able to answer the research question of this paper. One difficult point in doing this research was that many of the most important papers included very detailed and extensive statistical models, which sometimes made it very difficult to understand the papers in the right way and derive right conclusions from it. Besides that, it was important to focus only on the supplier’s performance and leave the buyer’s performance outside the focus of this paper.The reason of that is that the supplie r and buyer, as written before, both have their own values and interests, and therefore, if the paper would focus on both of these actors, more than one dimension will exist and the research will get too extensive. When the research goal and question were clear, soon it became clear as well that two views on the importance of information sharing for the bullwhip effect existed. However, I was hoping to find much more results on the second view, namely that information sharing is not the key solution. This was a disappointing thing in the research. 28 7.References Aviv, Y. (2001). The effect of collaborative forecasting on supply chain performance. Management Science 47(10): 1326–1343. Bourland, K, Powell, S, Pyke, D. (1996). Exploiting timely demand information to reduce inventories. European Journal of Operational Research, 92: 239–253. Cachon, G. , M. Fisher (2000). Supply chain inventory management and the value of shared information. Management Science 46(8): 1032à ¢â‚¬â€œ1048. Cannella, S. , Ciancimino, E. (2011). On the bullwhip avoidance phase: supply chain collaboration and order smoothing. International Journal of Production Research 48 (2): 6739–6776.Chatfield, D. C. , Kim, J. 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