Southwest Airlines Essay Example for Free

Southwest Airlines Essay Southwest Airlines has employed unique operational strategies, incorporating industry revolutionizing methodologies, while developing and sustaining a strong corporate culture that has allowed Southwest Airlines to be profitable for a phenomenal 30 straight years and capture the Airline Industry Service Triple Crown five years in a row from 1992 to 1996. Southwest Airlines own success threatens whether it can maintain the strong corporate culture responsible for its prosperity while growing and adding additional routes. More pressing than the long-term strategy however were the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 that created uncertainty in the general environment of US economic trends and the task environment coping with new government security regulations that challenges whether the business model Southwest Airlines was founded on needs to adapt to continue to provide profits to stockholders. Southwest Airlines Organizational Structure Culture Southwest Airlines began in concept in 1967 and took its first flights in 1971 connecting three underserved metros in Texas: Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas. Founding members Rollin King and Herb Kelleher pursued a strategy that focused mainly on cost-leadership (goal to make flight less expensive than driving between destination points) and niche strategies (business and pleasure fliers with simple itineraries and short trips) while also offering differentiation (high frequency departures to destinations via point-to-point flights) that did not demand a premium from the customer. The founding strategy drove decisions that resulted in Southwest revolutionizing the industry. Although the aviation industry is considered highly technological, much of Southwest’s organizational design dimensions reflect conscious choices to reduce complexity, partially as a result of regulatory constraints the company faced early in its existence. Southwest was first limited to intrastate routes when it began and following deregulation of the industry in 1978 Southwest was only allowed to fly directly to adjoining states from it base at Love Field in Dallas. Southwest chose to standardize on one type of jet airliner, the Boeing 737. The choice of the 737 allowed for routinization of parts ordering, inventory control, maintenance tasks, and training, significantly reducing expenses. Southwest also chose not to incorporate the hub-and-spoke system intended to increase available seat utilization. The point-to-point route system allowed Southwest to turnaround flights much more quickly gaining greater seat utilization. Other factors reducing complexity included the decision not to serve meals and limiting checked-in baggage on short flights. Early job descriptions in union contracts were not highly formalized; ground crews, flight crews, and boarding personnel were not required to adhere to subdivision of tasks and instead were asked â€Å"to do whatever else might be needed to perform the service† to get a flight off. Agents, or liaisons, with a great deal of autonomy and wide variety of resources to bear on the flight servicing process were incorporated also. Southwest broke away from the conventional boarding system of pre-assigned seats using colorful boarding passes given to patrons on a first-come, first-serve basis encouraging early arrival of customers and preventing mediation of an accidental double assignment to a seat. In yet another innovation, after being kicked out of all the major ticketing and reservation systems except Sabre in 1994, Southwest created the first â€Å"ticketless† travel program and leveraged internet technology to become the first airline to establish a home page to sell tickets on the Internet. Currently Southwest Airlines management is organized as a team minimizing horizontal and vertical differentiation. In addition to founder and chairman, Herb Kelleher, the management team also includes, Jim Parker (CEO), Colleen Barrett (COO), plus three executive vice presidents responsible for operations (Wimberly), customer service (Conover), and corporate staff services (Gary Kelly). The top management members spend a great deal of time together and serve as a cross-functional team making decisions as one. Within Southwest there is minimal hierarchy of authority although the locus of power is centralized within this team. In contrast to highly vertical organizations, the team has a wide span of control since Southwest is more heavily staffed with mangers responsible for coordinating functions at the front-line operating level. Although the organizational structure and design of Southwest Airlines are key factors to Southwest’s success and longevity, probably the most important factor is the culture that has been nurtured and firmly established by its charismatic founder Herb Kelleher that gives Southwest Airlines its sense of identity. Throughout the organization stress has been placed on the value of â€Å"family† and affects everything from the way new recruits are hired to the way union contracts are negotiated. Southwest Airlines has a very strong â€Å"Club† Organizational Culture that incorporates at least six of the seven elements of culture: innovation (first frequent flier program, ticketless flight, first Internet home page), orientation toward people (partnering with unions, acknowledgement of exceptional employees by the culture committee), results-orientation (efficiency and adherence to 15% growth strategy that maintains a strong balance sheet to manage for bad times), easygoingness (jeans for corporate attire, Texas greetings, hugs), attention to detail (winning Airline Industry Service Triple Crown 5 years in a row), and collaborative orientation (team turn-arounds, nobody saying â€Å"it’s not my job†). Clear adherence to the core values of profitability, low cost, family, fun, love, hard work, individuality, ownership, legendary service, egalitarianism, common sense, good judgment, simplicity, and altruism are expected and reinforced through rites, ceremon ies, symbols, and myths. Just being hired at Southwestern Airlines is a rite in itself that Kelleher once described as â€Å"a near religious experience†. Candidates for entry-level positions were interviewed in groups of 30 and monitored for signs of interest, concern, and empathy for the presenter. Frequent fliers were even included in the interview panel to ensure Southwest would hire people who fit in with the â€Å"Club†. Passing the six-month probationary period is one rite of passage while being nominated to the Culture Committee was definitely both a rite of passage and a rite of enhancement providing a high amount of exposure to the corporation management and employees. Advancing to the position of operations agent is a definite rite of enhancement since it could position an employee to be a prime candidate for other front-line management jobs. Ceremonies reinforcing the cultures and values of Southwest Airlines are the responsibility of the Culture Committee and it is tasked to create the Southwest Spirit and Culture where needed; to enrich it and make it better where it already exists; and to liven it up in places where it might be ‘floundering’. The annual awards banquet is the biggest companywide event of the year for which employees from all over the system are brought to Dallas and honored for their length of service. Southwest Airlines emphasis on personal relationships keeps the employee turnover rate hovering around 7%, further ensuring that â€Å"graybeards† are around to help enforce the values and culture of the corporation. In Dallas, at the corporate headquarters, employees find walls lined with pictures of other employees receiving awards for community service activities. The pictures serve as strong symbols that reinforce that the Southwest Airline culture inspires extra-role performance, specifically organizational citizenship behaviors such as altruism. No doubt the awards ceremony also provides an opportunity for many of the legends of Southwest to be told that solidify the â€Å"we vs. them† mentality derived from the Southwest’s organizational experience fighting court battles just to survive and other unique events such as organizational founder Herb Kelleher arm wrestling a competitor for the legal rights to use an advertising logo. The organizational structure and design of Southwest combined with the organizational culture that has been nurtured has served Southwester Airlines well. Southwest Airlines success is evidenced by 30 straight years of profits and being able to grow to become the fourth largest U. S. airline (in terms of domestic customers carried). However, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 resulted in a dramatic drop in airline customers and the issuance of over 200 industry regulation directives in the span of 60 days. The directives had a huge impact on the task environment Southwest and the other airlines operate within. Almost overnight, in an effort to win back airline customers, all of Southwest Airlines competitors became low-fare carriers temporarily negating one of Southwest’s marketing advantages. Security issues made the handling of passengers, baggage, and other matters more complicated and time consuming. Additionally many of Southwest’s best customers (business travelers), who due to their â€Å"last-second† arrivals at the gate, fall into the terrorist profile requiring that they be searched before being allowed to board the flight, further causing delays and threatening the validity of Southwest’s corporate motto, â€Å"you are now free to fly about the country†. Other airlines have added additional time into their flight schedules to manage perceptions of a key industry statistic that is very important to potential customers when purchasing a flight ticket; on-time arrival percentage for the particular airline. These factors have reduced profits, almost ending Southwest’s string of 30 consecutive years of profit, and placed Southwest next to last amongst major US airlines in percentage of on-time arrivals. At this point management is pondering whether changes in the fundamental business model are necessary to protect the bottom line and increase on-time performance. Proposed Solutions Analyzing post 9/11 performance in the airline industry convinces us that Southwest Airlines business model of frequent departures, unassigned seating, point-to-point flights, equipment standardization, strong family culture, and managed growth is sound. Amongst major US Airlines only Southwest and JetBlue were profitable between first quarter 2001 and first quarter 2002. In fact, cost/seat mile for Southwest has decreased in the period and revenue should increase as the US becomes more convinced of airline security and other airlines are forced out of the low-fare segment to try and earn profits. Management may be caught up in comparing its net income to its own past performance when they should be comparing it relative to its competitors who are doing far worse. Changing the business model in an environment of uncertainty would be disastrous resulting in employee turnover (feeling they no longer fit the company), huge hiring and retraining costs, and additional costs associated with attracting a new type of customer. Southwest’s business model displayed its resilience and daptability, when Southwest made the decision to increase schedules, after 9/11, and to continue to add Norfolk to its list of cities served. The decision allowed Southwest to increase market share in passenger miles flown from 7. 5% in first quarter 2001 to 7. 8% in first quarter 2002. Increased market share should increase revenue and profits when security regulation stabilizes and customers return to the airlines. The on-time arrival percentage is a skewed inaccurate statistic being manipulated by Southwest’s competitors. Although turnaround times have grown from 24 to 27 minutes this is still far superior to the industry average which is twice as much. However, to ensure last minute arrivals are boarded quickly we believe Southwest should go ahead and hire or pay for additional security in the gating areas in the short-term. Eventually new security equipment, such as high resolution x-ray scanners, will be deployed upstream of the gating areas by the US government, mitigating the need for preboarding searches. Southwest’s employees, with their strong sense of company ownership, will serve as the alarm to tell management when the added expense of federal security agents is no longer needed in the gating areas. Adding time to flight schedules increases the likelihood that a reduction of one flight departure from each city could be necessitated at a great reduction in profit ( 56 cities X 96 passengers X 500 miles avg. flight. X $. 8 profit cents/mile = $750,000 using 2002 profit data, = $3,494,400 using 2001 profit data of $1. 30 cents/mile). In order to continue growth, Southwest should first pursue adding the long flights, similar to the Oakland to Baltimore route, connecting highly serviced cities. The high seat utilization coupled with low per-flight labor costs will increase profits without requiring additional labor expenses that would be incurred if new cities were added to the service list. JetBlue is making a handsome profit on these longer flights. When the market has stabilized Southwest should once again pursue adding new cities to their service list while continuing to add longer flights. Finally the inaccurate perception by industry analysts, and potentially future customers, that Southwest service levels are declining should be aggressively attacked using one of Southwest’s legendary strengths, humor in advertising. The culture committee should be recruited to brainstorm advertising ideas pointing out that competitors cannot beat them in service levels so they have to cheat to beat the system. After all, Southwest Airlines continues to be #1 in fewest customer complaints for the last twelve consecutive years. Ads could humorously depict travelers boarding competing airlines in summer vacation attire, being passed in mid-flight by hot air balloons and hang gliders, and deboarding during blizzard conditions. The ending tag line would reassure current and future customers, â€Å"You are still free to move about the country†.

Louis Philippe Sub Brands Marketing Essay

Louis Philippe Sub Brands Marketing Essay Louis Philippe was launched in India in 1989. Celebrating the sophistication of the Indian gentleman, Louis Philippe garments establish that their wearer is a man of infallible taste and class. The brands Franco-Italian lineage, combined with its focus on global fashion gives it indisputable premium and an exclusive image. Today, Louis Philippe is a brand leader in formal and quasi-formal wear. The embellished Crest is a sign that the wearer of a Louis Philippe wardrobe has truly arrived. Today, the Crest is prized even more for its focus on luxury, exquisite craftsmanship and attention to detail, establishing that its wearer is truly a member of The Upper Crest. The comfort and perfection of the clothing is also evident in their line of elegant shoes, crafted from the finest leather, and their range of innerwear, sourced from the softest cotton. Louis Philippe garments are available at 125 stores, and at the exclusive LP stores created by famous European architect John Marsala. The brand continues to be the leader in retail sales in all leading menswear and department stores. The retail experience is further augmented by Madura Fashion Lifestyles retail chain Planet Fashion. Louis Philippe also launched sub-brands including LP and Luxure. LP by Louis Philippe has an exciting range of shirts, trousers, T-shirts, suits, jackets and accessories to put together a youthful wardrobe. Luxure, the masterpiece collection, was created to deliver sartorial elegance for the refined connoisseur. Louis Philippe recently made a foray into the footwear segment, offering more than 40 exciting designs, in an unparalleled width in the formals market. Louis Philippe sub brands LP by Louis Philippe http://www.madurafnl.com/brands/images/lp_image.jpg Louis Philippe expanded its offering with the launch of a sub-brand in November 2007. LP by Louis Philippe is aimed at young achievers and upscale urbanites, who demand wardrobe versatility. It ascertains the style mantra for todays generation.   Formals finally get what they have always deserved: style, attitude and panache. The new age formals with hidden styling detail in every single garment: a coloured gusset on the side seam, an innovative trim, or a unique fabric wash. Half the battle is already won with the all-occasion LP wardrobe. Priding itself on being the trendsetter for the cool, stylishly spirited confident youngster who lives today with a confident eye on tomorrow, LP is the brand for those who are in a hurry to make a mark in this world, but will not compromise on either their values or on fun, en route.   The LP line has an exciting range of shirts, trousers, T-shirts, suits, jackets and accessories to put together a youthful wardrobe. Crafted with love and passion, and a fine eye for detail, the collection has been designed by ThincTank New York, a group of ace designers from New York, and the Design laboratory at Bangalore. With two trendy fits in shirts and denims, four styles in trousers and three in suits and jackets, the LP range provides ample options for customising a wardrobe to individual preferences.   Luxure Inspired by Louis Philippe, a monarch of another age, and Art Nouveau, an artistic movement of an era gone by, brand Louis Philippe was born in the United Kingdom in 1965.   A lyrical ode to the tailor, artist, craftsman, all rolled into one, Louis Philippe celebrates the craft of the artisan in true Art Nouveau style. Louis Philippe test-launched the Luxure brand in select stores across India in November 2008. Created to deliver sartorial elegance for the refined connoisseur, the masterpiece collection strengthens brand Louis Philippes promise to deliver excellence to customers who have an appreciation of the finer things in life. With Luxure, consumers have access to exquisite apparel, consummate craftsmanship, luxurious materials and delicate aesthetics, all core to the values and heritage of Louis Philippe. Louis Philippe footwear http://www.madurafnl.com/brands/images/luxure_shoe.jpg Louis Philippe recently made a foray into the footwear segment, offering more than 40 exciting designs, in an unparalleled width in the formals market. The footwear range includes the Classic, the Dress and the Relaxed product lines for style-conscious, comfort-seeking customers. Louis Philippe shoes have been manufactured with the latest know-how of the Italians, who are known for their fine craftsmanship. Louis Philippe shoes undergo 200 different processes of production excellence in order to craft every single masterpiece. Pure leather has been used for both the outer body and the inner lining. The soles are soft and light; some of them constructed with the lightest wood, Masonite. Leather boards have been introduced in the front and back of the shoe to help retain its elegant shape for a long time. Twin material leather sole helps it to breathe and thereby retain freshness for the feet at all times. In order to provide longevity, technical sole construction is introduced in the shoes. TALKIN ABOUT BRAND BUILDING ACTIVITIES Teeing off Indias richest domestic golf tournament   Louis Philippe is a premium brand synonymous with sophistication, style and success, qualities that are essentially associated with golf as well. And in a perfect match between the Madura Fashion Lifestyle brand and the prestigious sport, Louis Philippe has come to be associated with Indias richest domestic golf tournament, the Louis Philippe Cup, held at the KSA Golf Course, Bangalore, between March 5- 10, 2012.   According to Jacob John, Brand Head, Louis Philippe, fan involvement is a key element of the Louis Philippe Cup. We want to build a platform where true golf fans have a chance to play alongside pros, he adds. Pointing out that the values and qualities of Louis Philippe blend with those of golf, he feels this association with the premier sport is a perfect match, and will help the brand to move up to the next rung in the ladder. The Louis Philippe Cup is creating a buzz in Indias 100,000-strong golf community, which is growing phenomenally. The event promised to tee-off greater interest in the sport, raising its profile across India. Louis Philippe presents DIMENSIONS with Vijay Amritraj Louis Philippe, the premium mens clothing brand, in association with CNN-IBN brings you Dimensions with Vijay Amritraj, a first-of-its-kind show in the history of Indian television. This special series presented by Louis Philippe, will be anchored by the legendary tennis player Vijay Amritraj and will feature the brightest global icons that have mesmerised people across the globe with their magic; from sporting legends and business tycoons to supermodels and Hollywood A-listers. http://www.madurafnl.com/images/dimension_vijay_donald.jpg BUSINESS POTENTIAL AND ENVIRONMENT FACTOR ASSESSMENT A Shirt A Louis Philippe Shirt Functional Emotional/Functional Concrete, Rational Conceptual, Perceived Describes What Describes What Who Generic Unique, Distinct Limited life span Unlimited life span Transaction oriented Relationship oriented Easy to copy Cant be copied Luxury Brand Management Protect clients from non-clients. Luxury brand awareness must be superior to its penetration. An object must always be up to par with its brand. Brand Strategy Source Brand Strategy Endorsing Brand Stategy Analysts said the new sub-brands which were launched as a result of the brand getting extended both to new segments as well as to other product classes like footwear would contribute too much of the projected future growth. Despite the phenomenal growth in the sales, the Louis Philippe brand had been facing some problems. The raw material costs associated with apparel making had increased due to the high rates of inflation which the Indian economy had been facing for some years before 2011. Rupee Depreciation Blues Louis Philippe has stepped up local sourcing and reduced imports to protect it from the rupees vagaries. It imports specialty fabrics, trims, finishing and woven garments from China, Indonesia, Italy and Turkey. Imports account for 25 per cent of its fabric needs. This used to be 35 per cent till a few months ago. With the rupee depreciation, imports have become costlier. We have increased domestic sourcing to reduce dependence on imports. If the rupee behaviour continues, we will reduce imports further, says Jacob John, Brand Head. Specialty fabrics The brand has traditionally sourced from mills in Ahmedabad and Chandigarh. Apart from deepening existing ties, Louis Philippe has now found new suppliers in Kolhapur. Many Italian mills have set up units in Kolhapur, says John. But imports cannot be shunned, given that certain specialty fabrics are hard to find in the country. They need a good balance of local and imported fabrics. We are negotiating with suppliers abroad on the price front. While the rupee depreciation has not affected most apparel brands in the country, as they mainly source locally, premium brands which have a high import content face a margin squeeze. The weak rupee forced Louis Philippe to hike retail prices by Rs 100-200 in July, which marked the start of the autumn-winter season. Price hikes Earlier, Louis Philippe shirts were priced between Rs 1,299 and Rs 3,000. Now, the price range is Rs 1,399-Rs 3,500. With the end-of-season sales hogging the limelight in July-August, the real impact of the price hike will be felt this month onwards. There is an overall sluggishness in the market. Hopefully, the festive season will perk things up. We will continue to expand our retail network aggressively. Says Brand Head. In the last one year alone, Louis Philippe added 50 exclusive stores to take its total tally to 135. Louis Philippe expects to grow 15 per cent and touch a retail turnover of Rs 1,000 crore this year. OVERVIEW These new super premium ranges of branded apparel were priced 100 percent higher than the other existing premium brands in the market. The Louis Philippe brand was also extended to cater to the needs of different customer segments. Louis Philippe entered the luxury market for mens formals with the introduction of the Luxure sub brand. Luxure was very successful and contributed to nearly 15 percent of the total revenues in the stores in which it was introduced. Louis Philippe introduced another sub brand called LP for semi-formal clothing for young customers. It also introduced premium footwear for men in the year 2010. The introduction of new sub brands paid off and the sales of Louis Philippe reached Rs. 6.5 billion for the fiscal year ending March. 2011. But Louis Philippe was also facing some challenges in the form of new players entering the market and an increase in excise duties which increased the price of branded apparel. The question to be asked is whether Louis Philippe wil l be able to sustain its growth momentum in future and what the implications are for marketing. The market for branded readymade mens wear was very limited in India till the early 1980s. The growth rates were also very low. One of the main reasons for this was that Indian men were accustomed to buying cloth and getting it stitched as per their custom body measurements. This practice hindered the emergence of national level brands in the apparel business. The market began to change by the mid-1980s and a small market for branded apparel started to emerge. One of the first entrants into this sector was Madura Coats India; a 51 percent subsidiary of the UK-based JP coats. It entered the ready to wear garments business in India through three divisions: Madura Garments (ready to wear clothing), Coats India (threads division), and Madura Textiles (fabric supplier). Madura Garments was acquired by ABG in the year 2000 and later renamed as Madura Fashion and Lifestyle (Madura FL) The Louis Philippe brand was extended into the footwear segment in April 2010. The entry into the footwear sector was aimed at giving more choice in style and needs to Indian customers in the matter of their footwear. The lack of choice in the Indian footwear market had led to many Indians shopping abroad for their footwear needs. Initially, mens shoes were launched in the formal wear sector with 40 unique designs to choose from. Just like its apparel business, the new footwear was launched in the premium and super-premium segments Continuing its growth momentum, sales of the Louis Philippe brand were expected to reach Rs. 8.50 billion by the fiscal year 2011- 2012.

A rose for emily character analysis Essay -- essays research papers

Pity for Emily   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the short story A Rose for Emily, by William Faulkner there is a very interesting character. Her Name is Emily Grierson and she is a rich southern gentile. All her life it seems that she was raised at a standard that was above the rest. By living such a secluded and controlled life it set her up for the happenings in her future.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When her father passed away she had nobody to tell her what to do and how to act. This was very devastating and she had a hard time dealing with change. So much so that she wouldn't let the police take the body of her father out of the house for three days after his death. The only thing that was constant in her house was the slave that was bound to serve her.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this writing I feel that the author takes an outside look at Emily to let you make your own decisions about her. This is a very good way of doing it because it leaves you with an open-ended judgment. You may feel a variety of ways about her, the first being that she is completely psychotic. This is the first and easiest conclusion to come up with. If you weren’t reading with much thought and analyzing the character it would be easy to feel this way. The second emotion is the strongest I feel about her, this would be pity for her. Leading a life that is mapped out for you by someone would not be a hard task.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the â€Å"old south† when this story takes plac...

The Difference Between Men and Women Essay -- Men Women Compare Contra

The Difference Between Men and Women When they say opposites attract, they aren’t kidding! The difference between fondness and loathing of girls and boys are exceptionally vivid and apparent. After watching â€Å"The Notebook† for the six hundredth time, with tears streaming down her face, a girl can finally declare it as being her favorite movie, and maybe even deem it as the best production ever created. The clichà © motives of the woman always seem to involve love and a knight in shining armor. Naturally, every woman dreams about Mr. Right, and falling head over heels in love. This is why females are so vulnerable to passionate films. â€Å"My heart melted when I saw him kiss her like that.† Stereotyped as the hopeless romantics, girls live to love and be loved. Girls want relationships. Girls enjoy corny love movies. This is somewhat of an escape route for the girls, knowing that in reality, the average guy isn’t interested in a relationship, or falling in love. But for the sake of women, in the hours of our mourning, why not take advantage of the blockbusters while their...

ALS DISEASE Oral Notes :: essays research papers

ALS- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Lou Gehrig’s disease- Yankee B-Ball player 1903-1941 Neurodegenerative disease- Unknown cause breaks tissue down in nervous system. Motor Neurons- they control muscle movement Affects nerves from the brain to the spinal cord (upper motor neurons) then the lower spinal cord (lower motor neurons) which control muscle movement. With this disease, for unknown reasons, these neurons die, meaning a progressive loss of the ability to move nearly any of the muscles in the body. Lou Gehrig’s disease affects voluntary muscles, controlled by conscious thought, such as the arm, leg, and trunk muscles. ALS DOES NOT affect the heart muscle, or the â€Å"smooth† muscle of the digestive system, bladder, and other internal organs. Most keep eye movement as well. â€Å"Amyotrophic†- means the loss of muscle bulk. â€Å"Lateral† indicates the spinal cord being affected. â€Å"Sclerosis† describes hardened tissue that develops in the place of healthy nerves. 50,000 approximately people in the US, 5,000 new cases each year. Onset between ages 40-70, usually. Men have a slightly higher chance of developing ALS. Normally, neurons in the spinal cord and brain convey messages from the brain to muscles to give movement to the arms, legs, trunk, neck, and head. When the motor neurons die, the muscles can’t move, with weakness in result. Loss of bulk is also a symptom. Loss of Lower motor neurons can make twitching. Two forms are known- Familial and sporadic. Familial accounts for about 10% of all Lou Gehrig’s cases. Sporadic LGD has no known cause. The earliest sign of LGD is weakness in arms or legs, and the throat and mouth muscles.-Speech slurred, hard to chew and swallow. Other early signs are twitching and muscle loss. Later symptoms lead to the loss of the ability to walk, use arms and hands, to speak clearly or at all, to swallow, and to hold the head up. Eventually coughing and breathing become difficult.

A Brief Summary of Russia’s History Essay

Russian history is filled with an immense amount of events. Many great and horrible rulers have also ruled over this piece of land. For example, Ivan the Terrible/Great was one of the first well-known and beloved tsars of Russia because he was the first to conquer the Mongolians in 1500. This feat earned him the rule and name as the great ruler of Russia. Over time, another great ruler such as Peter the Great would come. However in 1917, Lenin rose in the Russian revolution and ended the tsar’s rule. In 1922, the fall of the tsars led to the rise of a new government, the U.  S. S. R. Although it was meant to improve the economy, it did not do much and eventually felled in 1991. After many years of difficulty, they are currently on their way back to modernization with the election of President Vladimir Putin. Russia’s history consists of four parts and the longest and most eventful is its history of expansion. This time period lasted from the medieval ages all the way to 1917. However, Russians did not always have a rule on their land. Before the 1500s, the Mongols ruled a small piece of land that was known as Russia. The Mongolian soldiers were known quite fiercely for the battle skills and kept a tight hold on this land that they kept for manservants. This went on until the 1500s when the Grand Prince Ivan of Moscow (later known as Ivan the Terrible/Great) defeated and conquered the Mongols. Under his rule, Russia expanded immensely and even continued through his successors. Peter the Great also made a big impact despite his well-known and influential ancestor. Many things happened under his rule including expansion. Not only did he create a Navy (which did not exist in Russia at the time), he also moved the capital from Moscow all the way to St. Petersburg. He was also greatly known for his three goals that are to expand, Europeanize Russia, and for the czars to have absolute power. Throughout his lifetime, Peter the Great will make tremendous additions to Russia. After his death, there comes great czars and empresses who will expand even further like Empress Catherine the Great and Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. However, Nicholas the Second was the last tsar due to the rise of Lenin and the Russian Revolution.

Finance Proposal Essay

.1.INTRODUCTION: This research is an overview that how organization can improve their output by information system planning and implementation? Ethical and professional practices as well as effective risk management, improving the outcomes and monitoring the performance.ERP system gives flexibility, quick response.ERP was introduced in early 1990’s to cope with the requirements of the market. This system is difficult to get in practice as it has many modules and can be modified according to the need of an organization. 1.1Company’s introduction SSGC (Sui Southern Gas company limited) is the Pakistan’s most leading company. Its purpose to provide natural gas to all the regions of the country. Beside transmission construction off all high and low pressure distribution systems. The vision of the company is to provide excellent services by maintaining high level of ethical and professional standards. The mission of the company is to meet the needs of the customers in friendly environment and securing the the responsibility of all stakeholders. 1.2ERP Overview: Question arises what is actually ERP? How it works? ERP are software packages comprise different modules e.g. Human resource, sales, marketing etc. These software’s can be modified according to the needs of the department of an organization.ERP system is not a project which will end one day, they are the way of life. However ERP does not guarantee the solutions of the problems but those who will understand and implement it will be most likely to succeed. 1.3Importance of ERP: ERP is the most important and effective tool used in today’s time across the globe. It is not that easy for business people to start competing on global scale because there will be complications and hardship for them to line-up their operations and processes and makes them works smoothly.ERP is not the solution to all problems . Researches From the beginning ERP was the most expensive tool only handful companies afford it at that time. Even it was difficult for workers to accept and work with new tool, due to lack of knowledge about the ERP tool workers failed to make it useful and how to implement it companies’ purchases falling in loss. Setting up the ERP system in organization is complex and time consuming minimum time for fully implementation for big organization is six months and maximum eighteen months for some reasons. It is important for workers to understand and have plenty of knowledge about the tool so it gone a be easy for organizations to meet its needs, Every organization have different needs and make it ERP tools more effective to meet the needs of an organization. 1.4Dominant factors in ERP: Different studies has been conducted on critical factors that should be carefully analyzes to make possible and successful implementation of an ERP project. Implementation of ERP project on all levels carried out by these factors. Researches highlighted these factors play important role in ERP implementation. These factors monitor all stages of ERP implementation top management, experienced project management, world class training are all main factors of ERP project. 1.5Dimensions and phases of ERP: ERP life cycle phases contains many stages that ERP system goes through longer span of life hosting within an organization. Following are the phases of life cycle of ERP. 1. Adoption decision phase 2. Acquisition phase 3. Implementation phase 4. Maintenance phase 5. Evolution phase Retirement phase. In ERP dimensions first preference is to analyzing phases of life cycle which are 1)product 2)process 3)People 4)change management. 1.6Advantages and disadvantages of ERP: ERP system has more advantages than disadvantages. Its been used to solving number of problems that are faced by large organizations. Using this technology a company can get a path to sucees but it does not guarantee it, This technology costs very high so every organization can not implement it .It is complex system only trained employees can modify it according to the need of an organization Otherwise it is useless and wastage of time and money. 1.7 Research problem: * To find out the factors of implementation of ERP. * To analyze the structure and planning of ERP in Sui Southern Gas Company Limited. 1.8Objective: * To overview the implementation of ERP in Sui Southern Gas Company. * To explain the importance of ERP as best practice in an organization. 1.9Limitations: There are many limitations in our current study due to which our research work got effected. Due to limitation of time(4 months) we do not at this point differentiate between alternative explanations for our findings. Also due to the limited financial resources. 2.Literature Review 2.1Social capital: Social capital :is the way to secure benefits via social networks. These benefits include gaining knowledge about network norms. It also represents the benefits of the benefits of members of human networks and communities. Repetition of interaction between people while they perform routine actions and work and procedure will form and transfer information .Social capital bridges the gap between the people within organization. Social capital; enhances communication, collaboration, knowledge access between the employees of organization. Social capital exploits knowledge and information skills. It is positively much related to post implementation learning. 2.2Post implementation: It is the process in which knowledge is created through experience. Post implementation gives an idea to look after its implementation. Post implementation focus on effectiveness of training before making any project operational.ERP is the complex system and limits the amount of knowledge. There is a gap between the usage and potential of technology. Post implementation learning realizes the firm specific of knowledge within the organization which is the key to know the potential of technology. Social capital is positively related to Post implementation learning Post training Self efficacy: 2.3Post training Self efficacy: Self efficacy defines ones maximum capabilities to perform its task to accept the situations face by an organizations which brings changes in behavior and decisions taken by employee. According to Campeau and Higgins (1995)introduce to IT field that’s computer self efficacy is only the believe that how an individual can use computer effectively. Self-efficacy is just a construct during the acqui ions of new technology. Self-efficacy can be improved by trading internalizing the conceptual models into their mental model to fill the gaps in understandings, it can provide knowledge and experience. It also provides the firm believer of an individual to perform specific task according to his or her ability after training, self- efficacy positively related to motivation learning and skills. 2.4ERP usage: ERP performs different task and it refers to the usage of the ERP system on individual basis in an organization such as problem solving and customer services.ERP usage gives competitive advantage competency and increase in productivity. The ERP system integrative the characteristics that learn new knowledge and skills training gives the brief idea of proper implementation of ERP systems and it doesn’t ensure that sustain the stability. Post implementation and obtaining knowledge based on practical work communication and feedback and knowledge transfer to improve ERP usage and major progress can be seen in the financial suggestion of an organizations it also give vast area for knowledge transfer from social networks ERP system has different modules and factors usage of ERP highly dependent on the training of employs and modification of ERP software’s according to the need of an organizations. 2.5ERP Impact: ERP gives a brief summary on the research of success of information system concluding six major categories system quality, quality of information, use, user satisfaction, individual and organization impact. ERP impact depend on the individual uses of knowledge and information of the technology. According to delone and mclean (1992) suggested that â€Å"Individual impact is closely related to performance with the impact indicating whether IS has given the users a better understanding has improved their productivity has produced to change their activities and change the perception of importance and usefulness of IS.† Continuous learning of the system leads to the reminding and modifying but absence will cause the gap and will effect the performance of individual work 3.Conceptual Framework: 3.1.Independent variable: * Social capital * Post training self efficacy Social Capital ERP impact ERP usage Post implementation learning Post training Self efficacy Fig. 2.Conceptual Framework 3.2. Dependent variable: * Post implementation learning * ERP usage * ERP Impact 4. Research methodology: Research methodology is financial in this research. It focuses on the implementation and planning of ERP system in SUI southern gas company. financial assessment helps us to analyze the financial position of organization. trends and abnormalities can also be highlighted and determined through these analysis. 5. Sources of data collection: 5.1.Primary source of data collection: Data for this research has been collected from the visits of company and help was taken from personal contacts, meetings and discussions and with executives. 5.2. Secondary source of data collection:It was collected from annual reports, institute magazines, department manuals, and the data was gathering by the 6 published research paper. 5.2. Statistical tools: Descriptive statistic and other test are employed. 6. Findings: Analysis shows positive trend in the company. As the profitability increases every year. The abnormalities shown in the analysis are clearly defined in notes at the back of annual report.The company indicates good asset position of the company. The company also got sufficient reserves and Surplus to meet the future financial contingencies of the company. Company considers Corporate Social Responsibility as one of the pivotal functions to accelerate the process of overall sustainable development and make significant contribution to Nation building. 7. Conclusion: The research which we have done gives a relative briefing by the ERP system. We have analyzed that ERP usage can give Competitive atmosphere in productivity and personal competency, by the powerful and integrative characteristics of ERP usage, the knowledge and skills increases. ERP usage and impact increases after the implementation. Although ERP is the best practice but it does not guarantee success.