...Macro Environment Analysis Definition Macro environment analysis is a review of all the factors that a company is unable to control. Companies conduct this analysis to stay aware of the issue in the current business environment. A common tool for conducting a macro environment analysis is the PESTEL framework, which include factors from the political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal aspects in the business environment. The ultimate purpose of this analysis is to create a strategy that will leverage as many of these external factors as possible to the company’s favor. The political factors of the PESTEL analysis include the current stability of the government, social welfare policies imposed upon companies, trade tariffs or regulations that restrict international business and tax policies on corporate profits. This information is quite important to businesses, as extremely difficult political situations often result in lower profits and a more inflexible business environment. A macro environment analysis may focus heavily on the political factors in countries with difficult business environments. The group of external factors for this analysis comes from the economic factors within a country. Companies are unable to control issues like the income of buyers in the market, available credit offered by banks, unemployment, interest rates and inflation found in the economic market. These factors can also affect the company, lowering purchasing power...
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...1. What types of decisions must Jim McMaster make on a daily basis for Natural Designs to run smoothly? What kind of decisions must he make on a long-term basis? Short-term Decisions (Infrastructural) • In terms of workforce, Jim has to decide on a daily basis on how many employees will work on customized feeders depending on volume of sales orders. Since orders vary per season, he may train other employees from other departments/products for the skills needed in producing the customized bird feeders. These employees can work on the customized bird feeders product during peak season and go back to their original job function or product on low-volume seasons. • Still depending on sales volume, Jim has also to decide how many orders to be satisfied daily. This includes production and distribution of the products to customers. As orders are received and updated real-time with the help of the internet, daily production targets should likewise be updated. • Quality control should also be part of Jim’s daily decisions or of the company. To ensure that customers receive high quality products, there should be a dedicated group assigned to check product quality. This group may be part of the production team or the task may be assigned by Jim to his production manager. Long-term Decisions (Structural) • An explicitly stated structural decision in the case is Jim’s consideration of either a second facility or moving to a larger facility. • There is also a need for Jim to...
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...N atural Designs manufactures a variety of bird feeders, garden accessories, and other items intended to help people get in touch with and observe nature. Founded in 1995 by Jim McMaster in LaGrange, Illinois, the company started when he was working as a fourth-grade teacher. Presentations to students on birds and wildlife had a way of capturing their enthusiasm; thus, McMaster started offering presentations to other schools in the greater Chicago area. Within a few years, McMaster was so busy doing presentations at various schools, as well as running nature camps from his home, that he quit his full-time job as an elementary school teacher to form Natural Designs. At first, Natural Designs was mostly Jim and his wife giving presentations and running camps, but gradually the company expanded to sell some of the bird feeders and other nature devices featured in his class talks. Today, the company has sales of $2 million per year, most of which comes from physical products sold to outdoor, nature, and bird stores such as Wild Birds Unlimited. In the first few years of operation, Jim McMaster and his wife, Sheila, produced bird feeders and other products in their garage. In 1997, however, the operation became too large for their garage, so they rented a 4,000-square-foot facility for production and distribution purposes. They also hired two employees to manage these two functions so that the McMasters could continue giving school talks...
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...internet, daily production targets should be updated. Jim will also have to decide on a daily basis how many employees will work on customized feeders depending on the volume of sales orders. Because orders vary per season, he can train other employees from other departments/products for the skills needed in producing the customized bird feeders. These employees can work on the customized bird feeders product during peak season and go back to their original job function or product on low-volume seasons. Jim should also consider quality control as part of his daily decisions to ensure that customers receive high quality products. Long-term Decisions Due to Jim’s increased costs and decrease in profit he needs to review product costs and identify which costs he can do without. He may also consider opening a second facility or even moving to a larger building to take on customer demand. In terms of capacity Jim can review his current product range since 500 SKUs maybe large enough for a company with only 15 employees. He can trim down his product offerings or hire additional employees. But since Jim may currently be having problems with cost control, trimming down the company’s SKUs may be more beneficial. 2. Describe the operations strategy for Natural Designs. Has this strategy changed as a result of the custom bird feeder operation? If yes, how? The...
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...CASE 1: NATURAL DESIGNS, INC. I. The business of Natural Designs, Inc. (NDI) is focused on manufacturing a range of products of bird feeders and garden accessories as well as conducting presentations on birds and wildlife. Based on this, Jim McMaster accordingly makes decisions in order to run the operations of the business on a tactical basis. These decisions include the following: 1) manufacturing-related: sourcing of raw materials, production schedule, and distribution of products; 2) wildlife presentations: scheduling and preparation of presentations. • The order quantity placed by distributors collectively differs tactically, thus Jim and his team has to be able to source raw materials for the bird feeders and other garden accessories from their suppliers at any given time, depending on the demand for raw materials. This entails for Natural Designs, Inc. to cultivate a good partnership with its accredited suppliers so that it could easily tap its suppliers for additional orders without compromising quality and lead times. • Since NDI’s product range consists of 500 SKUs, the production schedule needs to be carefully plot so as to maximize machine hours and labour hours, taking into account machine set-up time, preventive maintenance, and scheduling of labour. Forecasting of product quantities to be manufactured is deemed necessary in order to stock the appropriate levels of inventory for each SKU. • Putting into consideration that the retailers of NDI may be dispersed...
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...they are the only birds can that hover in one place and can fly up to thirty mile per hour. Like other hummingbirds, they mainly eat nectar from flowers. Do the hummingbirds prefer some colors over others when selecting flowers for feeding? Hypothesis: If red flowers are present; then birds will ignore other colored flowers in the area. Prediction: If the birds flock to the red flowers more than other colors; then they select their food based on color. Controlled Experimental Method: This test will include three bird feeders made of the same material, same size, placed at the same height but three different colors; red, blue, and green. Hummingbird feeders are made of glass or plastic. The feeders will be hung outside in the bird’s normal feeding environment near the woods. All three feeders will be filled with the same source and amount of water and equal amounts of sugar so that only the color will differentiate them apart. The feeders will be hung out for one week and observed at the same times of day. The times chosen were morning and dusk; 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Results: Since this is a "thought experiment," you will make up results according to what you think might happen if you actually did the experiment. Results should include detailed raw data (numbers) rather than just a summary of the results. For example, if data are collected...
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...Essay 1 Energy Independence 9/28/2011 Persuasive Writing Charles Mountin Thesis Statement America needs to achieve energy independence and reduce its dependence on foreign oil. Abstract The United States need to lower its dependence on foreign oil. The U.S. dependence on foreign oil has created a huge trade deficit that puts billions of U.S. dollars into the hands of countries that are not U.S. allies. This dependence also could lead to an economic downturn if there is another spike in oil prices. The U.S. needs to find alternatives to foreign oil that are environmentally sound and U.S. made to achieve energy independence. America needs to find new energy sources and better energy conservation to meet its future energy needs. As of now America is far too dependent on foreign oil for its main energy source. Many experts say that the world is at peak output for oil right now and will be decreasing into the future. Right now the world has about 6.7 billion people, but by 2050 the estimate for world population is more than 9 billion people. That means we need a lot more oil than we now produce and our production capacity is already almost at its peak. If are still powering our cars, factories, and homes with oil when oil starts to run out we will be in a lot of trouble. In 2008 when oil supplies were near capacity the price of gas shot up to over $4.00 a gallon and I could barely keep up with my bills because of the extra money spent on gas. The price spike also...
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...any satellites. Normally, if they do not have a counter pull, they should have been dragged into the sun by the gravitational pull. These gravitation pulls of the sun and the counter pulls of the planets are called centrifugal forces. The planets revolve round the sun in their own specific orbits. These planets could be arranged in an order based on their distance from the sun. The nearest to the sun is Mercury and the next is Venus. Third comes the Earth. Later in the same order come Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Pluto is the most distant planet. If the are arranged in the order of size, the order would be ; 1. Jupiter, 2. Saturn, 3. Neptune, 4.Uranus, 5. Earth, 6. Venus, 7. Mars, 8. Pluto and 9. Mercury. The solar system has a diameter of 17,900 million kms. The nine planets can be grouped into two groups: 1. Small but high density planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars and 2. big but low...
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...energy is a capacity or the abilty to do a work. What is a renewable energy? A Renewable energy is an energy that can be renewed or be used again also it might be like it is recylcled ,the main point is it releases less cabondioxide and other greenhouse gasses, which is very good for the envoriment and it prevents global warming too! There is Non Renewable energy too, which is the direct opposite to Renewable energy! Types of Renewable energy They are: Hydropower, solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, biomass energy etc. Solar Energy Solar energy is the energy from the Sun. It produces heat as well as light and together it produces electricity! You might be surprised if you knew that you are using solar energy everyday! For e.g. for showers, cleaning and heating up your home! Solar panels produce electricity and save energy for our homes. Solar energy is natural and renewable as it comes from the Sun. Wind energy Wind energy is a form of solar energy. It is also natural like solar energy. Wind energy is useful and wind turbines produce lots of electricity.Wind turbines or wind mills as they were called has become the most use of producing energy in many countries. Wind turbines are located Renewable Energy! Do you know what is a renewable energy is? First you should know what energy is ! What is energy! An energy is a capacity or the abilty to do a work. What is a renewable energy? A Renewable energy is an energy that can be renewed or...
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...Various other models predict the nation's vulnerability. Bangladesh is the nation most vulnerable to global climate change in the world, according to German Watch’s Global Climate Risk Index (CRI) of 2011. This is based on the analysis of impacts of major climate events that occurred around the world in the twenty-year period since 1990. The reasons are complex and extremely intertwined. Located at the bottom of the mighty GBM river system (comprising the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna), Bangladesh is watered by a total of 57 trans-boundary rivers coming down to it: 54 from neighbouring India and 3 from Myanmar. The country, which has no control of the water flow and volume, drains to the Bay of Bengal over 90% of the total run-off generated annually. Coupled with the high level of widespread poverty and increasing population density, limited adaptive capacity and poorly funded, ineffective local governance have made the region one of the most adversely affected in the planet. There are an estimated one thousand people in each square kilometre, with the national population increasing by 2 million people each year. Almost half the population is in poverty (Purchasing Power Parity of $1.25 per person a day). Hence these people do not have the ability to respond to a natural disaster and the government cannot help them.[2] Effects[edit] It is projected that, by 2020, from 500 to 750 million people will be affected by water stress caused by climate change around the world...
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...is electricity and heat generated from solar, wind, ocean, hydropower, biomass, geothermal resources, and biofuels and hydrogen derived from renewable resources.” Renewable energy resources and significant opportunities for energy efficiency exist over the world. Compare to other traditional energy resources like fossil fuel, which are concentrated in a limited number of countries. The rapid development of renewable energy and energy efficiency, and the technological diversification of energy resources, would provide a sustainable and stable supply of energy and a significant growth in economy for the world in a foreseeable future. History of Renewable Energy Prior to the development of coal in the mid 19th century, nearly all energy used was renewable. The oldest known use of renewable energy, in the form of traditional biomass to fuel fires, dates from 790,000 years ago (K. Kris, 2013). The second oldest usage of renewable energy is using the wild to drive ships over water. This can be traced back 7,000 years ago, to ships on Nile (The Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy and Sustainable Living, 2013). Moving into the time of recorded history, the primary resources of traditional renewable energy were human labor, animal power, water power, wind and firewood (traditional biomass). By late 19 century, people concerned of running out of coal, so they promoted experiments with using solar energy. The development of solar engine continued until...
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...Ken Hayes EDU-450-O101 Classroom Engagement and Management August 11th 2013 Shica Little A case studies a student's disruptive behavior. I’d like to take make a case study of a person I shall call Max. Now Max is a student who is normally a good student but has a I think I know everything type attitude so sometimes he becomes a disruption for he likes to show off to the class with his storehouse of knowledge and can sometimes test the teacher’s patience. In this case study I shall go through the behavior cycle as listed in our textbook, “Lee Canter’s Classroom Management for Academic Success.” For instance the first part of the cycle mentions using explicit directions or to communicate your instructions clearly and that a teacher cannot afford be vague when issuing directions in what he/she would like to have the class do. In this case, the teacher tells the class to go to their seats and begins to work on their worksheet on the planet Saturn. Max starts out going to his seat but stops to make a commentary on Debbie’s attire and then gets to his seat and then starts his assignment but then stops his work and starts to tell the class all he knows about Saturn. Now according to the text he did do what he was told but he did it his way and on his time frame. This is because the teacher did not give explicit enough instructions. A sample of this would be, class, go directly to your seats to not talk and get to work on your worksheet on the planet...
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...Executive Summary We are launching “Power Plastic” as a subsidiary of “Konarka Technologies” in India, it’s unique technology is based on patented photo-reactive materials made from conductive polymers and organic nano-engineered materials, this allows Power Plastic to provide alternative and new lightweight, flexible, and cheap material that converts indoor and outdoor light into electricity, our product is much more versatile than traditional solar panels, which will utilize in our marketing strategy. We are targeting India’s middle-Class segment, rural & remote areas which lack basic power grid infrastructure, we are expecting to utilize India’s policy shift towards more clean and renewable energy, which lead India to be among the top 5 countries in the world in terms of renewable energy capacity. Our positioning strategy is based on the competitive values Plastic Power brings as opposed to the conventional solar products currently available in the market, though competition would be fierce with industry leaders who have been operational in India for the past 2 decades, posses governments support whether in access to land or allocation of government subsidies to their customer base, in addition showcase many success stories despite the many challenges faced. Our objective in terms of market share is to 5% for the next 12 years, targeting 80m households; our overall marketing budget is 24 million US Dollars. Macro-environmental Factors India, due to its fast...
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...Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) By: Adriana Zavala They are many myths about the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights), named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for the north wind, Boreas, by Pierre Gassendi in 1621.The Lapps or the Saami people that were a closely related race of the Finns’ who lived in Lappland, in what is officially Northern Finland, Sweden, and Norway traditionally believed that the Aurora Borealis “were the energies of the souls of the departed. When the fires blazed in the skies, people were to behave solemnly, and children were admonished to quiet down and be respectful of the fires. It was believed that whoever disrespected the fires incurred bad fortune, which could result in sickness and even death” The Lapps believed these fires to have magical effects; Lappish shaman drums often have runes illustrating the fires to connect their energy. The lights were believed to have a serene effect on arguments, and the time of the fires was beneficial to problem solving. The Lapps also had a belief that if you whistled under the Aurora Borealis, then the lights would take you away with them (1). An American history on the Aurora Borealis took as an event. After the battle of Fredricksburg, the Aurora Borealis could be seen. The army took is it as God’s sign to show that he was on their side throughout the battle. It is very unusual to see the Aurora Borealis in Virginia (2). The Aurora Borealis is seen in many ways. One as a diffuse...
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...Mass of the Planets and the Sun | Rank | Name | Mass (kg) | 1 | Sun | 1.9891 x 1030 | 2 | Jupiter | 1.8986 x 1027 | 3 | Saturn | 5.6846 x 1026 | 4 | Neptune | 10.243 x 1025 | 5 | Uranus | 8.6810 x 1025 | 6 | Earth | 5.9736 x 1024 | 7 | Venus | 4.8685 x 1024 | 8 | Mars | 6.4185 x 1023 | 9 | Mercury | 3.3022 x 1023 | 10 | Moon | 7.349 x 1022 | 11 | Pluto | 1.25 x 1022 | Volume of the Planets and the Sun | Rank | Name | Volume (cubic km) | 1 | Sun | 1.409 x 1018 | 2 | Jupiter | 1.43128 x 1015 | 3 | Saturn | 8.2713 x 1014 | 4 | Uranus | 6.833 x 1013 | 5 | Neptune | 6.254 x 1013 | 6 | Earth | 1.08321 x 1012 | 7 | Venus | 9.2843 x 1011 | 8 | Mars | 1.6318 x 1011 | 9 | Mercury | 6.083 x 1010 | 10 | Moon | 2.1958 x 1010 | 11 | Pluto | 7.15 x 109 | PLANETS | DISTANCE FROM THE SUN | Mercury | 57,910,000 km | Venus | 108,200,000 km | Earth | 149,600,000 km | Mars | 227,940,000 km | Jupiter | 778,330,000 km | Saturn | 1,429,400,000 km | Uranus | 2,870,990,000 km | Neptune | 4,504,000,000 km | Pluto | 5,913,520,000 km | PLANETS | RADIUS | Mercury | 2,439.7 km | Venus | 6,051.8 km | Earth | 6,371.00 km | Mars | 3,389.5 km | Jupiter | 69,911 km | Saturn | 58,232 km | Uranus | 25,362 km | Neptune | 24,622 km | Sun | 695,508 km | DISTANCE OF THE PLANETS FROM THE SUN RADIUS OF THE PLANETS Assignment in nsci 211b – 10b Submitted by : Amago, angelo submitted to: ...
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