Importance of Internal Communications Essay Example for Free

Importance of Internal Communications Essay Importance of Internal Communications for a company and two case studies. Internal communications is considered a vital tool for connecting people within the company. It does not refer only to those few â€Å"official† channels of communication in a company, it is also the strategic management of information flows to ensure the optima level of employee engagement. (Civicus, 2001) This business context of communication is a dual listening process. It is a top-down, bottom-up, side-to-side communication harnessed as a means of delivering messages, listening to concerns and motivating staff. Maintaining a good internal communications within a company could reinforce the vision, values and culture among employees, who can then communicate it to internal and external audiences. Internal communications aims to ensure that employees in the company work together towards the same goal, know what they should be doing and by when. Internal communication has evolved various ways of communicating internally. Traditionally, it started off with informal and formal one-to-one and one-to-many meetings where usually the ‘the boss’ would communicate in a highly one-way fashion with employees. Lee, 2006) In this case the message is mostly communicated in one way, it does not include feedback from the message recipients. When print materials were introduced, it was then involved for formal, top-down transmission, for instance, company annual report. Internal communication then evolved to the digital era where Internet was highly used as a communication tool. When email was in troduced into the business settings and with it the nature of communication has radically changed. Lee, 2006) As the digital technology advances, internal communication has evolved to the point where not only can employees and employers freely email each other, forward messages without any editing (showing the whole conversational trail), and forward those messages outside of the corporate walls, but also employees and employers can use these emails to bring about grievance procedures, litigation and dismissal. (Lee, 2006) It is seen that internal communication has undergone deliberately change and will continue growing. Today’s internal communication practitioner is focused on challenging and stimulating employees, managing change and gaining employee engagement and commitment. (Chalmers, 2008) The aim has moved from controlling and directing people, through providing information, making announcements and supporting industrial relations, to supporting the development of a flexible work environment which adapts to change, seeks improvement, shares knowledge and know-how, generates ideas and involves people in achieving strategic goals. Chalmers, 2008) Most of the people understand the significance of internal communication but very few could manage it efficiently. Many people think that internal communication is one of the functions that they think they can do well. In fact, when it comes to real situation on handling employees, certain strategies and techniques are needed to communicate and tackle. In talking to many individuals at very different levels in very disparate sectors, what has come across as crucial is the need for internal communication to be championed at the very top of the organization and also for senior management and the boardroom to respect the expertise of the specialist tasked to deliver, be they internally or externally placed. Smith, 2008) A large number of studies by both professional management groups and professional communications bodies consistently find that ‘communicating with employees’ is a useful and powerful way of engendering greater ‘engagement’ – the propensity of the employee to want to come to work and want to contribute to the success of the company. (Lee, 2006) Gauri Deshmukh, head of HR at SAS India states that internal communication is important for a company as it provides information and encourages sharing by driving and supporting the organisation’s short-term and long-term goals and objectiv es. In addition, Deshmukh also mentions that with effective internal communications, it ensures that knowledge-sharing and communication processes are part of the daily workflow across all functions of the business. By having good internal communication, a company ensures that in between employers and employees they are constantly updated with information. In fact, a good internal communications not only affects organizational and operational success, but it has a considerable impact on external functions such as marketing, community and government relations, nd investor relations. (Brown, 2002) Internal communication is significant in any company because it is the building block of the organisational culture. (Civicus, 2001) Furthermore, internal communication is important so that employees become advocates for company. It is important to create a ‘common purpose’ across the company – creating the sense of a team where everyone feels ownership in their roles and in a chieving the company’s goals. (WK, 2010) In this way employees feel accepted and being part of the company. Likewise, internal communication is one of the key ‘intangible’ factors leading to high performance. (WK, 2010) For instance, if communication in a company is managed well employees are more confident and clear with the company mission and vision thus makes excellent financial as well as business. Not only that, having good internal communication helps build out company’s brand internally as employees are the best ambassadors, and internal perceptions should mirror what the company is telling the world. Trout, 2012) When the company is communicating effectively with its internal stakeholders, be it employees, management or volunteers, programmes and departments share more resources and information resulting in less duplication of work and stronger impact as a whole company. (Civicus, 2001) Without an effective internal communications, a company allows others to determine what information (or disinformation) is communicated to employees about their company. Brown, 2002) Smart employers realize that in environments where employees are able to move from one employer to another with relative ease, it is in the company’s best interests to retain the smarter and more productive employees; doing all they can to communicate with them, inform them, influence them and enter into some sort of psychological contract with them is a wise move. Lee, 2006) Besides, without effective internal communications, the crisis of confidence in businesses and corporate leadership could hurt sincere efforts to build a positive corporate culture and to enhance employee morale and productivity, and devastate the overall image of an organization. (Brown, 2002) Case Study I: Nokia is one of the top mobile phone manufacturer favoured by many people. In order to compete with other mobile phone manufacturer Nokia is constantly improvising and upgrading their gadgets to serve people needs these days. The reason Nokia has been so successful is no doubt its creation on mobile phones, as well as the strong team in the company that has made where it stands today. In a technologically savvy company like Nokia, it’s no surprise that they’ve been successfully implementing social media into their internal communications. (Kass, 2012) Nokia’s motto is connecting people and exploring ways to enhance communication. (Kass, 2012) In order to realize that vision, Nokia uses a number of different vehicles for two-way and push or pull communications; social media plays a big part with fitting into that strategy. Nokia’s Social Media Communications team was established in early 2008, aimed to improve inter-company communications and engaging employees. The objective of the team is to: encourage the use of social media internally to bring out the company’s unique authentic voice and to engage in social media externally on behalf of Nokia, and contributing to product and service announcements by opening up a dialogue and driving online engagement. (Kass, 2012) Nokia has 125,000 employees around the world. It is the company’s utmost important task to engage all employees in order to achieve company business goal. There are a few platforms in Nokia allowing employees from global to connect as if they work in a small company together. According to Molly Schonthal who worked on the companys Social Media team in North America, the BlogHub is Nokia’s most powerful and effective social media tool that is used internally. It has been said that BlogHub lowers the barriers for employees to find conversations relevant to them. In terms of interaction, employees are allowed to communicate freely via BlogHub. They could make comment on posts, share ideas and knowledge on issues that have been mentioned. In addition, BlogHub serves as a useful search engine for employees to seek out information relevant to them. From a management point of view, through BlogHub feedback on various issues are gained quickly and track the conversations that are happening inside the company. Voting and ratings on posts are enabled as well for employees to be part of the decision team. Nokia has also introduced Nokia Conversations blog where latest Nokia product news would be posted. Through this blog employees could find a big overview of all the topics going on in Nokia. Similar to any other company that is engaged on social media, Nokia has its very own YouTube and Twitter account. Other than that, VideoHub has grown increasingly popular with employees allowing for postings to be updated on a daily basis. Besides, Nokia’s Infopedia wiki allows employees to share knowledge inside the company. If someone needs to quickly check a piece of information, Nokia’s effective internal communication channel, Instant Messaging (IM) is available for employees. It claims to remove the barrier of more formalized communication in between employees. For global company like Nokia, in order to save cost and time, Nokia has it’s own video conference channel where annual communication meetings and real time conversations could be held. Considering people do not check their mailboxes as much anymore Nokia has slowly cut down prints publications in an effort to become more environmentally aware. In fact Nokia in North America has completely eliminated print publications. Newsletters are now kept to an electronic HTML format, which is e-mail so it is more easily distributed. Similar to every other company Nokia uses intranet communications as well. It is the center of where people go to get information on benefits or organization charts. Furthermore, to reach more employees, Nokia regularly posts relevant company announcements on plasma screens around regional offices, usually in cafeterias and breakout rooms, with its promise on going environmental friendly. At North America, leadership also encourages employees to speak directly with their line managers to better understand organizational strategy and what role they can play in that strategy. For all of Nokia’s Web 2. 0 tools, Schonthal is quick to point out that â€Å"social media is never a replacement for high touch engagement. † (Kass, 2012) Instead, it can contribute to various company events and other in-person initiatives. â€Å"Social media complements these things but doesn’t take away from the ability to internally engage and share ideas,† she further explains. Nokia provides many platforms for employees to stay engaged, all for one clear identified goal – connect all the people in the company. For such global company I believe Nokia in different countries or branches could decide on which channel they prefer but I believe as a whole, all the employees in Nokia stay connected via BlogHub. After reviewing how Nokia strives to engage the employees I could see that the management team work hard on receiving feedback as well. They listen to their employees. They make changes. All these actions give employees feel accepted and belonged to the company. The end result is the employees are clear with the goals, mission and procedures of the company, which can result increase their work effort and efficiency and boost business. Case Study II: â€Å"We were driven to connect the organization with itself, and realized enterprise social networking was the solution. I can truly say after more than two years that we have achieved an official internal communications channel. Socialcast lifted the boundaries and made our organization transparent. We connect daily with people from India, China, the US, and Brazil. Without Socialcast it would not be possible,† says Dennis Agusi, Global Internal Communications Officer, Royal Philips Electronics. Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people’s lives through timely innovations. As a world leader in healthcare, lifestyle and lighting, Philips integrates technologies and design into people-centric solutions, based on fundamental customer insights and the brand promise of â€Å"sense and simplicity†. Philips Case Study 2012) In 2010, Philips began to explore how the company should help its employees spread around the globe to feel engaged, work like a small team driven by shared goals. On the way of researching, the Corporate Communications and IT department discovered that approximately 1,600 employees were actively using a free tool they had found on the Internet to communicate and collab orate. Knowing two platforms for collaboration would not be a great idea so the team took initiative to introduce a new platform to these early users. These early users provided positive and valuable feedback and recommendations on how to improve the enterprise social experience the best it could be. Then it led to a successful launch of an enterprise social network. The company adopted â€Å"Connect Us† and the network was launched with wide support. On launch day, Connect Us had 400 members. Within two months, 7,000 employees had joined the community. Through Connect Us they allow employee-to-employee exchanges as well as management-to-employee communications. Employees are allowed to post freely, share knowledge to make work easier. Connect Us helps to remove barriers between departments as well. Through Socialcast Reach, employees are allowed to share information and data in between departments resulting a more seamless flow of work. In addition, a new idea can be communicated more broadly, increasing sense of connectedness and engagement across the company. From management perspective, through Connect Us, the Communications and IT team could monitor what’s happening in the company, check trending topics or people, at real time. According to report, Connect Us has enabled new and sometimes unexpected forms of employee engagement. All Employee Jam† was a crowdsourcing project designed to bring to life the company’s new, refreshed Mission and Vision statement through dialogue, discussion and debate. This exercise has successfully drawn employees who had not yet joined the social community into Connect Us. According to feedback, employees who participated in this exercise were found to be far m ore aware of and aligned with the Philips Mission and Vision than those employees who did not participate. This resulted Philips truly believes that enterprise social networks help companies increase employee engagement and retention. I liked the idea of how Philips tries to maintain the communication channel as one, which is Connect Us. I believe there are other platforms available for instance intranet but Connect Us is actively used by people in the company. From not knowing employees are using free online tool to communicate to introducing socialcast network, Philips has come a long way into realizing the importance of internal communication. The All Employee Jam has definitely demonstrated the power of enterprised social networking. It encouraged the employees to share knowledge, to stay connected which resulted in a greater identity with the company. In this two case studies, both companies Nokia and Philips selected appropriate channels for communication according to its needs. Nokia has different communication platforms serving different purposes. For instance, BlogHub allows employees to find information they need and Instant Messaging is a tool for quick and easy communication. On the other hand, Philips focus mainly on Connect Us, from searching information to accelerating ideas to sharing data it is all done on Connect Us. However, on my opinion, Nokia has too many platforms it might be tough to engage all the employees in one platform, as the users are free to choose which platforms they get information from. Whereas Philips uses Connect Us, most of the employees are part of the community and anything they need require can be found on Connect Us. I think this is one of the advantages of having a focused channel. Likewise, the tools and tactics, both companies chose to be focus more on information technology. In terms of interactivity, both companies engage their employees as well as welcoming their feedbacks. The employees are encouraged to utilise these channels to feel more accepted and being part of the company. For instance, Philips Connect Us not only allows employees-to-employees exchange, as well as management-to-employees communication. In this case it removes barriers between management and employees so work can be done easier. As for Nokia, feedbacks are valued through voting and ratings on posts and comments, allowing management to understand the employees better. Besides, both case studies reviewed the importance of evaluation on internal communication. In order to improve, the management team has to constantly measure the effectiveness of the communication tools and find ways to improve. Nokia and Philips monitor their employees through these platforms to find out what is really happening in the company. This way they could make sure the employees are on par with company’s goals. In conclusion, internal communication has never been so important. Many people know what internal communication is and they think they know how to function this but they might not know the true meaning behind it. Effective internal communication does not mean to have a lot of communication platforms, spending big budget on this function but utilizing the appropriate communication tool for employees get involved. If you want to build brand for your company first you have to build your brand internally. After all employees are the representatives of your company, they are the brand. Internal communication comes a long way to build, it might need more time and effort to achieve the effective result as desired but the end result is always proven satisfaction, that I am sure. A combination of strong communication, teamwork and camaraderie framed within trusting relationships will help achieve remarkable results in times of large-scale change and uncertainty, writes University of Nottingham chief executive Peter Homa. And finally, in my own words, you cant communicate with your audience until your internal message is crystal clear.

Pakistani Indian Relations

Pakistani Indian Relations Introduction: From the beginning the seeds of conflicted have been impartially implanted in the roots of Pak-India Relations. These two nations never considered each other as their friends but remained and wanted to be foes. At the time of the partition, about half a million Muslims and Hindus were killed in mutual insurgences following the partition of British India. Millions of Muslims living in India and Hindus and Sikhs living in Pakistan immigrated in one of the most massive transfers of population in the modern era. Both countries blamed each other of not providing suitable security to the minorities immigrating through their territory. This served to increase tensions between the newly-born countries. This created instability in the area and never lead each other to prosper economically. The relations between India and Pakistan have been influenced by a number of historical and political issues, and is defined by the crucial partition of British India in 1947, the Kashmir dispute and the number of military conflicts fought between the two nations. No doubt that the nations share the same historic, cultural, geographic, and economic terms In the Sub-Continent and their relationship has been critical by aggression and doubts. Countries Comparison: Wars, Conflicts and Disputes: Kashmir Issue: The emerging, countering and the most deadly issues in the world is the cause of major tension and conflict between two countries. It was from the beginning when the Ruler of Kashmir decided to remain independent at the times of division. Now after the division Pakistan is claiming its Dominance and India is claiming its reunion with Kashmir which is leading to a critical situation and insurgency. 1965 War Kargil War (1998-99) After the independence, India had left no stone unturned to bring harm to the sovereignty of Pakistan. Moreover their actions of the 1965 war claimed their aggression towards Pakistani community. Moreover it is still pressurizing the army of Pakistan. Another incident when Pak become nuclear superpower in 1999 the Kargil war broke out. But some analysts claim that they have been the victim of releasing of tensions from the both sides. But both were solved by the International communities. Water dispute Since independence the water dispute emerged as major dispute between the two nations about rivers Ravi,Sutlej,Chenab,Beas,Jehlum and Sindh.So after the cooperation of World Bank, In 1960, Indus Treaty was signed to resolve the conflict.Pak get Chenab,Indus and Jehlum and India got Ravi, Sutlej and Beas according to the treaty. Bangladesh Liberation War Since independence, Pakistan was geo-politically divided into two major regions, West Pakistan and East Pakistan. East Pakistan was occupied mostly by Bengali people. In December 1971, following a political crisis in East Pakistan, the situation soon risen out of control in East Pakistan and India intervened in favor of the rebelling Bengali people. The conflict results in a brief but bloody war and lead to the independence of East Pakistan. In the war, the Pakistani army swiftly fell to India while forcing the independence of East Pakistan which separated and became Bangladesh. Control Line Issues A number of times when the relations and tensions between India and Pakistans seemed to be decreasing the control line issues came into existence by the Military of both cuontries. The true example is Kargil war (1998-99).Firings, bombings and arresting of innocent people are key findings of these issues. Conflicts Reborn: Samjhota Express Bombings (2007) The 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings was a terrorist attack targeted on the Samjhauta Express train on 18 February. The Samjhauta Express is an international train that runs from New Delhi, India to Lahore, Pakistan. It is one of two trains to cross the India-Pakistan border. At least 68 people were killed. Mostly were Pakistani civilians but also some Indian security personnel and civilians. Prasad Shrikant Purohit, an Indian Army officer and leader of a Hindu Fundamentalist Group.It was identified and investigated as a key suspect responsible for the bombing. The attack was a turning point in Indo-Pakistani relations, and one of the many terrorist incidents that have effected relations between the two countries. Mumbai attacks (2008) The 2008 Mumbai attacks by ten Pakistani terrorists killed over 173 and wounded 308. The single surviving gunman, Ajmal Kasab (who was arrested during the attacks), was found to be a Pakistani national. This fact was acknowledged by Pakistani authorities. In May 2010, an Indian court condemned him on four counts of murder, waging war against India, conspiracy and terrorism offences, and sentenced him to death. India blamed the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant group, for planning and executing the attacks. Islamabad resisted the claims and demanded evidence. India provided evidence in the form of interrogations, weapons, candy wrappers, Pakistani Brand Milk Packets, and telephone sets. Indian officials demanded Pakistan deport suspect for trial. They also said that, given the sophistication of the attacks, the criminals must have had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan. Role of Media in Promoting Peace: No doubt, over the last two decades, media has been playing a vital role over the peace and trade development talks of Pak-India relations. Not only Pakistani media but foreign media is also participating very actively. From ages these sides have never been to the soft corners of the issue but are always the grand part of mishaps. The both media men and media partners are also demanding their home countries to ensure easy visa policy to promote harmony among the countries. Singers like Atif Aslam and Rahat fateh Ali khan also go India for performing musical activities for the film industry of India. This shows a major peace initiative by media side. The Lighter Side of Diplomatic Relationship: Aman ki Aasha: â€Å"Aman ki Aasha† (Hope for Peace) is a campaign jointly started by the two leading media houses The Jang Group in Pakistan and The Times of India in India. The campaign purposes for mutual peace and development of the diplomatic and cultural relations between the two nations in South Asia. It was started on January 1, 2010. The campaign never received warm response from India and Pakistan. Shoaib and Sania Relationship: The one of the greatest relationships ever made in the history of world and the most renowned one is â€Å"Shoaib and Sania Marriage† which has weaken the strong holds of hatred and anger between two nations. This has also presented a soft image of Pakistani personnel in the light of Indian dilemmas. Bilateral Sports Promotions: Sports have always been a key player in promoting peace and harmony. Both countries were mutually involved in number of sports like Cricket, Hockey and Kabbadi. And both countries important persons often and several times go to their neighbors to see these cricket and hockey matches. Moreover, the recent Kabbadi Final match was warmly attended by Chief Minister Punjab, Mian Shahbaz Shareef. This was an important initiative regarding peace promotion. Trade and Development Talks: In Second Indian Expo on December 14, 2013, Leader of Businessmen Group (BMG) and former President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Siraj Kassim Teli, has advised business community of India to pressurize their government to resolve issues and normalize trade and political relation with Pakistan. While Inaugurating 2nd Indian Expo at Expo Center, he said that both the countries should visit each other’s country frequently and conduct trade. He was of the view that army and politicians both the countries, do not like to normalize relation whereas the business community and general public are in favor of normal relations. There should be no restriction on movement between the two countries. In New Delhi on December 9, 2013, a Pakistani delegation led by Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) said there is a need to take bold steps to encourage business relations and to make changes in investment laws in both the countries. According to him, It is time to take action and to take bold steps. Tourism is an important sector and there is a need to promote tourist movement. There is the need to change the existing investment laws in both the countries. Railways Minister of Pakistan Khawaja Saad Rafique has said that the Pakistan Railways will soon send a delegation to New Delhi. According to the minister, the main purpose of the visit is to learn about the functioning of the Indian Railway System. Rafique acknowledged that the Indian Railways is a profit-making entity unlike the Pakistan Railway. Pakistan also needs to take help and guidance from the Indian Railways to make it economically possible and bring it back on the right track. Addressing a press conference at Pakistan Railway headquarters in Lahore, he also said that Indian Railways, one of the largest railway networks in the world, has 115,000 km of track with a route of more than 65,000 km connecting 7,500 stations. We have to do away with the policy of hatred with neighbors, especially India, as we cannot afford it today. MFN Talks: India-Pakistan relations got an additional setback after the announcement made by Pakistan’s Finance Minister that the MFN status, i.e. the most favored nation status, to India will not be considered. Although the improve trade relations would have a significant impact on the political issues between the two countries, and this announcement makes it more likely that bilateral relations will continue to weaken at current low levels. The latest figures show that India’s 2012 trade with Pakistan accounted for a mere US$2.15 billion of its total trade of US$778 billion (less than 0.3 per cent). Exports to Pakistan accounted for only 0.56 per cent of India’s exports, while imports constituted 0.11 per cent. Given the size of both countries’ economies and the complementarily of their trading baskets, the present level of trade should be higher. The rejection of MFN status compounds these difficulties, and reduces the effect of positive steps taken by both countr ies over the last few years. MFN status would not only help provide stability in trade relations between the two countries but would also assist Pakistan in technology upgrades, greater productivity gains, and increased revenues from legal trade. It is reported that India-Pakistan informal trade (trade occurring through a third country) accounts for more than formal trade (which is around US$4 billion). Further, consumers would experience lower product prices and greater variety. Despite Pakistan’s recent rejection of MFN status to India, India could unilaterally reduce all kinds of non-tariff barriers that would be capable of creating confidence among Pakistani traders. A good and stable political relationship would help trade but opposite is quite possible. Whereas, nowadays Pakistan is closely watching the high-decibel campaign for Indias general elections, andNarendra Moodi has surprisingly emerged as the favorite candidate for many across the border who want peace and trade with India. They believe that Moodi, who boosted trade and investment in Gujarat, may also give a big push toIndo-Pak trade. Observing the Most favorite Nation (MFN) status to India by Pakistan would be a positive step forward in improving the relation between the two neighbors, Islamabad may decide on it after the elections in India, said James Dobbins (U.S Special Representative). Global Views: At their much anticipated meeting in New York, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh guaranteed to find ways to restore calm on their disputed border in Kashmir as an initial step towards reconciliation. An Indian official said that the two leaders have decided to task senior military officers to â€Å"find effective means to restore the ceasefire† in Kashmir. U.S. Special Representative James Dobbins said ahead of an expectedmeeting in New York between the prime ministers of the two neighboring countries.Improvement in Pakistan-India relations is akey to South Asian stability and Washington would support any initiative towardsthat goal. He also said that on India and Pakistan relations, we would support any initiativeswhich led to an improvement in those relations. We think it’s importantfor both countries, it’s important for the stability of the broader region, it’simportant for the world, at Washington’s Foreign Press Center.He was commenting on peace prospects between the two nuclear powersthat saw a cooking of tensions this summer with repeated violations ofnegotiating periods in the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifand his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh are expected to hold peace discussions in New York, where they will both address the 68th UN General Assembly session. They ’re both nuclear-armed powers, and a conflict between them wouldbe disastrous not just for them, but for everyone. The special representative also reminded U.S. backing forimprovement in Afghanistan-Pakistan relations specifically because it would easesome of the pressures and tensions that give rise to the conflict in Afghanistan. And so from our point of view, there is everything to be gained from animprovement in the relationship between two countries. Current Scenario: The Global Discussions for maintaining peace between India and Pakistan are at its peak these days. The newly elected Prime Minister of Pakistan Mian Nawaz Sharif has taken a step forward towards India. Peace between the two nations seems to be his first priority. Mian Nawaz Sharif in his several speeches talked about the betterment of relation between the two nations. He also talked to one of the leading media group of India to play a positive role in this situation. He also invited Indian Prime Minister to visit Pakistan. Recently, Chief Minister of Punjab, Mian Shahbaz Sharif visited India and watched Kabaddi match between the teams of both nations. He said if India wins the match we will congratulate you as our neighbors won and if Pakistan wins, India should do the same as their neighbors won. He invited Chief Minister of Indian Punjab to visit Pakistani Punjab. This shows the positive stance of Pakistan’s government. On the other hand, India is not showing any response to this due to several reasons in which Indian elections are one of the main. Elections are going to take place in India hopefully this year and Monmohan’s government in about to finish its tenure. It seems that Monmahan Singh’s government is not willing to take any step for the peace between the nations as it might harm their party in the coming elections. At the same time, the Prime Minister candidate of BJP India, Mr. Narinder Moodi is using Anti-Pak relations as one of its main stance in his campaign. Both India and Pakistan are looking forward to improve their status economic development, globally. Both the nations are seen in a competition. Conclusion: To sum up this scenario, only one-sided soft corner is seen which is from Pakistan as they are not leaving a single chance to improve the relations but Indian government is not looking forward to it. The relations cannot be improved until or unless both the governments sit together and resolve their issues. The gigantic spending on Defense Budget from both countries is leading them to an economic â€Å"Black Hole†. They should follow the famous sayings; â€Å"Let Bygones, Be Bygones† The Government of Pakistan has decided to give the MFN status to India after their elections. This status will increase the trade between then the two countries through land border and it is hoped that trade normalization can help in resolving the issues. References: http://www.dawn.com/newspaper http://www.brecorder.com/business-a-economy/672:/1264337:second-indian-expo-opens/ http://karachi.newspakistan.pk/ http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-12-09/news/44989244_1_india-and-pakistan-sohail-lashari-salman-bashir http://inserbia.tumblr.com/post/69776834458/pakistan-railways-ready-to-seek-technical-help-from http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/649555/indo-pak-relations-lets-re-write-our-history-for-a-better-future/ http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/india-pakistan-wars.html http://historypak.com/quaid-i-azams-perception-of-pakistans-relations-with-india/ https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~nmonasch/pakistan-india conflict.html http://www.thenews.com.pk/ http://www.nation.com.pk/editors-picks/25-Nov-2013/pak-india-mediamen-demand-easy-visa-policy http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2013/08/28/leaving-pakistan-india-trade-barriers-up-ties-political-progress-down/ http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-12-03/news/44710673_1_mfn-status-narendra-modi-indo-pak-trade http://zeenews.india.com/news/south-asia/pak-may-decide-on-mfn-status-to-india-after-polls-dobbins_896262.html http://tribune.com.pk/story/611555/un-secy-gen-welcomes-pakistan-india-talks/

Objectives and Benefits of Inventory Management

Objectives and Benefits of Inventory Management An inventory is basically a detailed list of all the items in stock. Inventory consists of raw materials, work-in-process and finished goods. In todays highly competitive market, businesses need to maintain an appropriate level of stock to meet the customer demands at any time. Inventory management is part of the supply chain management. Over the past years, the concept of supply chain management SCM has been given a considerable attention. This is an approach to view the supply chain as a whole rather than as a set of separate processes (Weele, 2002). Mentzer, Dewitt, Keebler, Min, Nix, Smith and Zacharia defined Supply chain management SCM as the systematic and strategic coordination of the traditional business operations. The main aim of supply chain management SCM is to improve the long term performance of each firm as well as the whole supply chain (Mentzer, Dewitt, Keebler, Min, Nix, Smith and Zacharia, 2001). Inventory management involves system and processes of maintaining the appropriate level of stock in a warehouse (Barcodes, 2010). These activities includes identifying necessary inventory requirements, and creating replenishment processes, tracking and monitoring the usage of items/stock, reconciling inventory balances as well as reporting inventory status.(Barcodes , 2010). It is basically the process of efficiently controlling the amount of stock in order to avoid excess inventory. Reliable inventory management will therefore minimise the cost associated with inventory (Barcodes, 2010). Inventory management involves a wide scope of processes ranging from inventory forecasting , replenishment, demand forecasting as well as quality management (Wikipedia, 2009). Objectives and benefits of inventory management According to Stylus Systems, The 3 main objectives in inventory management are: Improved customer service Reduce inventory investment To increased productivity of business (Stylus, 2008) Benefits of inventory management (Stylus, 2008): Inventory management systems can help reduce the time to respond to changing market demand of products and can help control excess stock IMS provide a means for business to effectively manage or control their inventory IMS helps businesses to constantly analyse their business processes such as sales and purchasing in order to make efficient inventory decisions Stylus systems also reported that inventory management systems IMS can provide total insight on stock transactions ÂÂ  Stylus systems also stated that IMS can provide hands on knowledge on inventory which might lead to increased sales and efficient customer services. Development in inventory management Presently, there are two major approaches to inventory management Materials requirement planning (MRP):ÂÂ   MRP is simply a management system in which sales are converted into loads on the facility by sub-unit and time period. Here, orders are scheduled more closely thereby reducing inventory and delivery times becomes shorter and more predictable (Hedrick, 2003).ÂÂ   MPR review order quantities periodically and as such allow ordering only what is currently needed. This helps keep inventory levels very low. Just-in-Time (JIT): JIT approach ensures that a business should only keepÂÂ   inventory in the right quantity at the right time with the right quality (David, 2004) .Most organizations adapt to this system to integrate inventory managementÂÂ   for a more competitive advantage (Kaynak, 2005). It eliminates inventories rather than optimize them. Why keep Inventory Inventory refers to a detailed list of all the items in store or warehouse. According to Inman, Inventory refers to the items that are stored in warehouses or distribution centres in excess of what the store needs (Inman, 2010). The following are the reason why business keeps more inventory than they currently need (Inventory Management, 2010). Meet Demand: this ensures that customers get the product or item that they want when they want it. Keep Operations running: When for example manufacturers run out of stock to manufacture certain product, the whole production process or operations will be halted and thus manufacture of the finished product. In order to prevent this, most manufacturers purchase excess inventory. Lead time: When a shop or a factory places an order for a particular item, the period of time between the order placements and when the order is received is known as lead time. Business therefore should have hands on inventory during the lead time in order to keep its operations running. Hedge: This involves keeping inventory against inflation in price of products. This allows the buyer to buy at a lower price than when the price increases. Quantity Discount: Quantity discount refers to reduction in price of an item when purchasing in bulk. This always influences most businesses to buy more than it needs which might lead to excess inventory. Smoothing Requirements: businesses sometimes acquire access inventory for products that have unpredictable demands in order to meet demand. Best practice in inventory management In an effort to maximise their return on investment (ROI) and avoid excess inventory, many businesses invest a fortune in inventory management systems. In a report by Philip Slater (Slater, 2009), he stated that most of these systems fails to render expected services and rather result in excess inventory. This is because software can only optimise the values it has and not what it could be and as a result, it neglects some important external influences like changes in the management process. He stated that Worlds best practice inventory management demands that the inventory management system is optimised not just the inventory. Inventory management therefore goes beyond software system and as stated by Philip Slater (Slater, 2009) inventory management involves combination of know-how, process and reporting that collectively provide a means of maximizing availability while minimizing cash investment. In the report, he stated five level of worlds best practice inventory management that when fully implemented, can enable businesses to reduce their inventory investment or cost. These levels are: Ad Hoc: this level require less control as inventory is expensed when purchased on an as needed basis and used immediately. Storage: this level involves the storage of items for use and not strictly controlled. Here, inventory is expensed when purchased. This approach tends to increase total expenditure as items are purchased in economic quantities and discourage review and development due to lack of control Capitalisation: This approach entails the use of software solution to control inventory and provide good availability. Unfortunately, most businesses use their software mostly for counting and accounting. Software Optimisation: at this level, inventory is capitalised and the levels of stock are optimised based on a risk/return algorithm. Software solution can automatically adjust stock levels based on the history of demand and supply but these level are not trusted by most business because they believe the supply and demand may not represent actual usage System Optimisation: At this level, all factors influencing inventory investment are reviewed periodically. The main purpose of inventory management is to minimise overall cash investment without increasing risk. This according to Philip Slater is the worlds best practice in inventory management (Slater, 2009). Capitalisation and system optimisation goes hand-in-hand. For an effective system, the management is therefore required to possess the know-how, policy development, measures and reporting required to take the business to level 5 (System Optimization) and not just the software alone(Slater, 2009).

Transaction Cost Economics and Organized Labor Essays -- Economics Mar

Cooperation and exchange among individuals often organize in firms rather than adhering to market institutions. This anomaly of market systems can be explained through what Oliver Williamson calls â€Å"Transaction Cost Economics.† Transaction costs are defined as the â€Å"costs of running the economic system† (Williamson 18). Similar to friction in a physical system, transaction costs may be small compared to other costs such encountered by market players, but basing entire models on a ‘frictionless’ system is unrealistic. It is these transaction costs explain the development of firms and hierarchies rather than contracting by market forces. There are three limitations to a market system: bounded rationality, opportunism and asset specificity. Bounded rationality describes the limitations of knowledge by market players. Whereas they will act rationally in a market situation, they are not always presented with all the information required to make a rational decision. Opportunism arises when certain market players are unwilling to accept the status quo and believe they have the ability to improve their position. Finally, asset specificity refers to certain players having technical and contractual inseparabilites. An example of asset specificity is an accounting firm with a long term contract with a given company. After the long term contract expires, the accounting firm would be first in line to renew their contract with the given company. There may be other accounting firms in the market that could also offer similar accounting services, but the company will likely keep its original accounting firm. Switching wo uld incur transaction costs such as transferring of files over to the new accounting firm, legal fees associate... ... asset specificity can no longer be ignored as in classic market models. A highly trained employee is a very specific asset since a firm would incur great costs in training a novice employee and bringing the novice’s productivity up to that of a highly trained employee. Thus, a firm could not easily replace the highly trained employee as the case would be in a market situation. Thus non market contracts are forged to keep the specific asset that is high human capital. Williamson and Coase use transaction cost economics to explain why labor is often organized in firms rather than relying on market institutions. The increasing effect of asset specificity on the labor market is a key validation for their analysis. Firms are more efficient than market institutions in that they save on transaction costs associated with writing, signing and enforcing contracts.

Creating Letterheads with Microsoft Word :: Businesses Sales Letterheads Essays

Creating Letterheads with Microsoft Word What you will write under this heading is the equivalent of the feasibility study which looks at the existing business practice and the problems associated with it. You should describe in general terms what the new system should achieve and consider whether the existing system can be modified. Estimate the time scale for completing the project. Who is the "real" user? Graham Richardson owns a garage and is opening two more branches his letter headed paper is out of date so he needs to create a new letterhead with Microsoft word What is the current problem? You are about to open 2 more braches. The owners need new headed letters showing the details of all branches. The letters are also rather out of date so this is a perfect opportunity to update their image. I must include company name, logo, new addresses, telephone/fax umbers(s) and E-mail address. Why has this problem arisen? The problem has arisen because he has two more new branches opening and they are using old letter heads and thier images are old were they don't use computers much. What is the objective or user requirement for this project? They will need new letter heads and maybe some business cards. What are the different ways this problem could be solved? Send it to a printer or use desktop publishing What is the best way to solve the problem and why? The best way to solve the problem is by using Microsoft Word. Microsoft Word is the best word processor to use for letter heads. The disadvantage is the use of the paper. so to save money print one off and photocopy the rest. The advantages is you can save you work and edit the work without starting again and money so that you don't have to send it to the printer. What is your estimated time scale for implementation? 4 weeks ======= Objectives? =========== Ø Save 70% of storage space by saving documents on a hard-drive and not having to photocopy everything and file it away. =================================================================== Ø Start sacking people because you won't need them anymore. =========================================================== Ø To start using E-mail because it is quicker and you can add documents and pictures and it's a lot more reliable. This will save money as well. Ø ANALYSE ========= The purpose of this stage is to break the problem down into small parts and to plan each part in detail so you have all the information you need ready to move on to the design stage. What information do I need to gather and where will it come from? I will need to gather contact details, to design a logo and make an

Baz luhrmann’s interpretation of Romeo and Juliet Essay

Shakespeare uses a prologue at the start of his play for a number of reasons. Firstly, it acts as an introduction to the story. We learn about the rivalry between the two families, †Ancient Grudge† it also makes clear that it is a tragic story of two †star – cross’d lovers † who are destined to die because of their families hatred. The prologue is like the opening to a film because both need to grab your attention. The setting of Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is in the west coast of America, in a setting, which he calls Verona Beach. However this is not true as the beach’s real name is Venice Beach but the reason why he uses this is because it reminds everyone where William Shakespeare actually set the play, he set the play in Verona so by changing the name he has made quite a remarkable thing by making sure everyone knows where it is set. The other reasons why he filmed ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in the west coast of America is because Los Angeles is a big city just like Verona and because there is also a lot of violence and gangs in Los Angeles just like Verona. The types of film Baz Luhrmann used in the prologue are TV news style footage showing you how much of their fighting is causing their city to be more violent, as well as this they are trying to say that what is happening between the Montague’s and the Capulet’s has an effect on the rest of the city. By doing the prologue, as TV news footage is a clever thing to do, as it is an original idea and by doing it in this way it will keep the audience hooked to the rest of the movie. Another reason why Baz Luhrmann used TV news footage is because it shows the violence in Verona. When the camera shakes, the jumpy effect makes you think the violence is real and also is very dangerous. This makes the audience hooked to the movie. The director uses a voice over to read out the prologue. The actor reading the prologue played the priest. The priest Friar Lawrence is appropriate because he knows both sides of the story. His voice is deep, sorrowful and sad. His tone of voice is meant to be serious so everyone will be influenced by what he says about the circumstances surrounding the storyline and take him seriously. Also by making the priest read the prologue it shows that he is aware of the situation surrounding both the families and the effect it has on the rest of the city and the seriousness of the situation. Not only did they use a voice over, they used captions with bold letters and people shouting to grab our attention. This keeps us hooked and willing to watch the rest of the movie. He says this in a deep American accent, although as we know, he is not really an American but an Englishman. Luhrmann uses some interesting shots in the opening sequences, such as close-ups, because it is important as it shows their facial expression and the body language used, making it more realistic and interesting, thereby attaining the interest of the audience. He also uses long shots (establishing shots) to show the whole city from the helicopter as it gives an overall view of what is happening in the city as a whole, focusing your attention to different parts of the city. He uses medium shots because it is ideal for introducing characters as it concentrates on how they appear on first sight and the impact they have on the audience. He uses high angle shots so that you can see what is going on like a birds eye view, showing a character in proportion and comparison to the rest of the city. He also zooms into the statue of Christ and the two buildings to show how important they are and to make them stand out from the rest of the city, by attracting the attention of the audience and thereby making them focus on the zoomed objects, giving them the utmost importance. He also uses fades and cuts. Fades are when the scene goes black. Fades are to close the scene and go on to another part of the story. Cuts are used to show what may be happening in another part of the story, maybe at the same time of the scene that has just been showed. He also uses freeze frames. One example of a freeze frame was in the scene of the Montague boys, when the characters are still for some time. He also uses wipes to speed up the scenes from the film. The reasons he used these effects could be because they make the story faster and more intense, and tries to show how different the atmosphere in certain scenes are. Baz Luhrmann used operatic and church music as well as dramatic and religious music, because they all tie in with ideas of fate etc. This music is ancient like the families and the story. When the Montague boys come they have different music. They use rap style music to show that they are young and modern and part of a gang. Luhrmann uses different sound effects like gunshots, fires, helicopters, brakes and loud music when they show the Montague boys. The reason why he uses these is because this is meant to be a tense city with a lot of violence and by showing it like this he is to make the audience feel like it still happens in modern times. The director uses images and symbols to focus on emphasizing peace and religion. He uses a statue of Christ because it shows everyone what it represents. The statue represents peace and refers to the Catholic religion. By doing this, they are trying to make the viewer think that Verona needs peace. He also emphasizes on the two towers, because they show the rivalry between Montague and Capulet and the wealth of the families. It also represents both families having a say about what happens in the city. He also uses fire as a symbol, as fire represents danger, death and hell. Everything that is happening in Verona is due to the families. He also uses passion as a symbol, because as we know, passion is the theme of the story throughout as both ‘Romeo and Juliet’ are madly in love. In conclusion, it is clear to see that the director is trying to open the play up to a more modern audience such as teenagers. He has made it appealing to the young target audience by hiring young attractive actors to play Romeo and Juliet. He also uses flashy equipment such as guns and cars to make the story appear more modern and to try to attract the young audience. He also uses different music to show the personality, e. g. when the Montague boys come, the music changes to rap music, as they are young and modern. Lurhmann also uses different styles like exciting visual tricks to attract their attention.

Short History of Mass Comm

A Short History of Mass Communication Theory Paradigm results is a theory that summarizes and is consistent with all known facts and this often leads to a paradigm shift a fundamental, even radical, rethinking of what we believe to be true (Kuhn, 1970). Mass communication theory is a particulary open to such a paradigm shifts due to 3 factors : 1. Advances in technology or the introduction of new media. 2. Calls for control or regulatiin of these new technologies require. 3.As a country commited to protecting democracy and cultural pluralism. These factors produced 4 major eras of mass communication theory A. The era of mass society theory B. The era of scientific perspective C. The era of limited effects of theory D. The era of cultural theory A. THE ERA OF MASS SOCIETY THEORY During the second half of 19th century and the first decades of 20th century mass circulation newspaper and magazines, movies, talkies, and radio all came to prominence at this time.The country’s peacef ul rural nature was beginning to slip further into history, Industrialization and urbanization is spread. The media needed to be controlled to protect traditional values and to prevent similar abuses at home. The resulting paradigm was mass society theory, the idea that the media are corrupting influences that undermine the social order and that â€Å"average† people are defenseless against their influence. The fundamental assumption of this paradigm is expressed in the hypodermic needle theory or magic bullet theory.Mass society theory is an example of grand theory, one designed to describe and explain all aspects of a given phenomenon. Media did have effects, often good ones. B. THE ERA OF THE SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE Scientist determined that different factors led some people to be influenced and others not (Lowery & DeFleur, 1995) The researcher had benefit of advances in survey research, polling, and other social scientific methods developed and championed by Austrian immi grant Paul Lazarsfeld.