Tesco. Ligeher Essay Example for Free

Tesco. Ligeher Essay Opening: Hallo, Ladies and Gentleman Thank you for inviting me to speak at this conference. It is a pleasure for me to be here today at the London School of Economics and it is great to see so many business students at one place. Introduction: My name is Sir Alen Iverson and I am the PR assistant at Tesco, the largest British supermarket chain. And today I would like to talk a little about retail market general. How it has developed the last couple of years. And I talk about Tesco’s current problems and finally I will comment on the company’s efforts to solve them taking the changing consumer behavior into consideration. I expect my presentation will last about 30 to 45 minutes Feel free to ask any questions, speculations or something that you cannot understand you might have during my presentation. The world and the  retailing is different from what it used to be. People wants bigger things now and that is the reason why we need to gather all the stores in one place. Shopping malls are the new today. All the small convenience stores cannot compete with the big shopping malls where you have the oppurtunity to shop all what you want. Many consumers do not have the time to run around from one shop to another to find what they are looking after, therefore the consumers prefer to shop in one big shopping mall. An example of a very successful retail outlet is Tesco. Tesco is a supermarket which contain pretty much everything you need. Tesco is gathering information about their customers through a club card, so if the customers change their way of buying Tesco will be first to know it. But you cannot knpw everything.. As the most of you probably know, then Tesc o had some of our worst years in history. In Januar we came out with a profit warning showing that we have hadlower profits as expected. Tesco’s shares have fallen 20 % and it has an expected loss of the market value of 5 billion pound sterling. After Tesco ´s many successful years we have changed our boss, CEO Chief Terry Leahy who had been CEO from march 1997 until march 2011. He made Tesco expand so much, that some thought of him to be â€Å"too successful† and he was criticised a lot because of this. The critics thought that he had forgotten to tighten the economics, and to keep focus on our driver’s values, which is Quality and Service. The new CEO is Philip Clark who ´s expected to get Tesco back on the right track. He will obviously be facing a long and hard task. We had an ill-fated price drop, which means that we went from being a quality store, to a discount store. This also meant that we did not live up to our costumers expectations. The consequences of this was that we decided to drop 182 of our branches. Then we could reconnect with the costumers and change our corporate culture. Another way that we thought we could make this possible was by introducing the new private label called Every Day Value. This would give the customers a chance to buy quality products for a reasonable price. Further more we opened a few bakeries in our stores to give the customers a better experience. Then we made some further research on our products, by asking our costumers what they thought of them, referring to design and colours. It turned out that our costumers thought our colours to be â€Å"too hard†. A result of this research was that we added softer colours of course. We at Tesco have received a lot of complaints from our customers referring to the lack of employees to give a better service and empty shelves. Thats why we ´ve planed to employ twenty thousand extra employees. So far we ´ve managed to employ an estimated 8000 new employees to improve the service and to avoid the empty shelves. In the year 2007 Tesco founded Fresh Easy in the United States of America. But Tesco should have waited. It was a really bad timing. Fresh Easy failed to take off and you could probably blame it on financial crises. Therefore we decided to shut it down. To solved these problems we have invested 150 million pounds in online shopping, which mainly is for selling non-food products. Then we made an app for the use on your phone. This will make it possible for you to shop from your phone, and go straight down to our stores and pick up our products, which of course is ready to go. By doing these things and keeping on we can now all ready see that our sales has increased by 1,3% and we will keep on investing in the stores on the United Kingdom market with about 1 billion pounds. In Tesco, we have chosen to make it possible for our customers to become members of the shop chain. That gives our customers benefits every time they shop in our stores and create loyalty to Tesco. And at the same time memberships give useful information about the shoppers purchase patterns. The weekday is very stressful for many people, so we need to make it easier to do the daily shopping. One option could be to use Internet based shopping to help the customers save time. In times where the number of smartphones are increasing, a free application that enable users to easily order product from the stores with a few finger clicks, would help people to save time and use their spare time for other useful things. One problem when you are shopping in a retail store is that you might end up in a long line. Most people shop at the same time of the day, that is, when they are getting home from work. That creates problems with long lines at the cash disk. To prevent all that wast of time waiting in line, you could install small cash disks with self-service to make the payment much faster for the busy customers. We have already seen self-service cash disks but in Tesco we think that self-service cash disk will be a part of the future shopping to a much higher degree. Finally, let me sum up the main points of my presentation on this subject: * How the retail market, the world and us customers has changed. * Tesco terrible 12 months and how we will solve the problems * Ideas of shopping in the future – E-business, but still physical stores I believe that we at Tesco have done a great job so far. But there is still a long way to go. If we want to keep on being one of the biggest companies in the world we have to keep on focusing on the constant changing culture and behaviour of our costumers. Every one of you is different and you all have different desires. We will make Tesco just the right shop for you! Thank you for listening and again my name is Alen Iverson and I hope you liked or join my speech. Thank you! [ 1 ]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopping_mall [ 2 ]. http://www.tesco.com/ [ 3 ]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesco_Clubcard and Tesco, Philip Clarke 1 (4:03) [ 4 ]. Tescos Terrible 12 Months [ 5 ]. Tescos Terrible 12 Months [ 6 ]. Tesco: Domestic Turnaround a Priority [ 7 ]. Tescos Terrible 12 Months [ 8 ]. Tescos Terrible 12 Months and Tesco: Domestic Turnaround a Priority [ 9 ]. Tesco: Domestic Turnaround a Priority [ 10 ]. Tesco: Domestic Turnaround a Priority [ 11 ]. Tesco, Philip Clarke 1 (4:03) and 2 (4:53) [ 12 ]. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2135553/The-self-service-checkout-The-site-new-middle-class-rebellion.html [ 13 ]. Tesco, Philip Clarke 1 (4:03) and 2 (4:53)

Why is Sir Isaac Newton Essay Example for Free

Why is Sir Isaac Newton Essay Why pick a scientist over someone who has contributed to any other field of endeavour? Look at the evidence: here is a person who discovered the universal law of why what goes up must come down, the explanation of the colours of a rainbow; and a method of calculation with applications in far reaching areas that affect our lives today. Newton is best known for formulating a universal law of gravitation, however it is unlikely that his ideas stemmed solely from the well-known story of an apple falling on his head whilst sat under a tree. His mathematical researches into planetary motion drew him to the conclusion that that the force of attraction that held planets in their orbits, and the Moon in its orbit around Earth, varied inversely with the square of their distance from the sun. In other words, the nearer you are to a planet the greater its force of gravitational pull. This was his fundamental law of gravitation. He discovered that the force of gravity affected all objects in the universe. His laws of motion can be summarised as follows: 1) Everything preserves its motion in a straight line unless its deflected from that course by a force. 2) The rate at which a body travels is in proportion to the force applied on it. 3) To every action there is an opposite and equal reaction These laws held true for many years and it was only until Einstein, in the twentieth century, proposed his theory of relativity that we were to have a more accurate picture of how the universe behaves. Newton is said to have invented the Calculus. The calculus, most simply put, is a way of finding the area under a curve drawn on a graph and the gradients of tangents drawn at any point on that curve. Why is this useful? Well, this allows us to find out rates, areas and volumes by what is known as differentiation and integration. For instance, if you wanted to find out how quickly your reconditioned MK1 Ford Cortina with go-faster stripes accelerated to 0-60 mph in, you could set up an experiment to plot the distance travelled by the car accelerating from a stand-still to its top speed against time. If you used differentiation on a corresponding curve drawn on a graph, you could find the speed of the car at any given time. Furthermore, if you used differentiation again, you could determine its acceleration. Alternatively, you could set up an experiment to measure the cars speed against time, if you were to find the area under the resultant curve using integration, you would be able to establish the distance travelled. Apart from measuring the performance of tasteful 70s automobiles, the calculus can be applied to more significant things like ascertaining reaction rates of chemicals, or discovering where the greatest stresses and strains are likely to be caused on a bridge. In the field of optics, Newton discovered that if a beam of sunlight were passed through a glass prism it would reveal rays forming a spectrum of colours, like that of a rainbow. He concluded that white light was composed of many different types of rays which when refracted at slightly different angles would produce a different spectral colour. He made this observation when using a refracting telescope and witnessed that the lenses were not clear but had an abnormal colour. It also led him to invent a reflecting telescope that did not display this aberration. But what of Newtons character: He typified the mathematical genius. He was obsessive by nature; at times toiling sixteen-hour days on work that would change the course of history. Anecdotes abound about his absent-mindedness, especially when entertaining friends (which he did rarely), where he would excuse himself to get more wine or run a similar errand, and would not return for some time because he had been busily working on some mathematical problem that had been troubling him, oblivious of his guests. He is someone who overcame adversity, probably being plagued with depression for most of his life, which resulted in him suffering two mental breakdowns. Despite his achievements he remained a modest man saying once: If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants. During his lifetime he never married, although one could argue that he was married to his work. He summed up his scientific endeavour and cosmic curiosity when he innocently remarked. I know not what I appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me. Greatness but touched with humility, a lifetimes work that has had an enormous impact on the development of mankind and a single-minded pursuit to uncover the secrets of the universe: Surely Newton is the greatest Briton of all time.

History Of Penguin Paperback Books Arts Essay

History Of Penguin Paperback Books Arts Essay Penguin paperback books have become a constantly evolving part of British culture and design history since 1935 when the company was founded by Allen Lane. Lane came up with the concept of mass-producing inexpensive paperback editions of hardback titles. McLean (1952) mentions that the Penguin book venture is a standing reminder to manufacturers that the best is not too good for mass consumption. For the design of the books, Lane wanted to keep a consistent template for all the book covers to follow. He instructed his office Junior, Edward Young to devise a simple horizontal tripartite division of the covers using colours to signify the genre of each book orange for fiction, green for crime, dark blue for biography, cerise for travel and adventure and red for plays (Baines, 2005). The design featured contemporary typefaces at that time. Bodoni Ultra Bold was used for the publishers name Penguin Books and two weights of the relatively new (1927-8) Gill Sans Serif for the contents of the book cover and spine information (Baines 2005). First editions of Penguin paperback books (Adapted from Baines, 2005. p18-19) The fresh and modern appearance of the Penguin book covers was a major contributor to the commercial success. Other British publishers soon realised that design was an important feature for book covers and the demand for highly skilled designers increased (Doubleday, 2006b). Penguins design standards established uniformity and improved the overall aesthetic of books in Britain (Doubleday, 2006b). Despite the unity of their appearance there was twelve main front cover variations with some that contained illustrations. Lanes simple template for the Penguin books is derived to a degree from the Albatross book covers brought about in 1932. These designs were devised by Hans Mardersteig (McLeery, 2006). Lane was often quoted that he was trying to emulate the Albatross collection series which set the standard for early paperback book design (Doubleday, 2006b). Mardersteig designed the covers with the efficient system of colour-coded subject matter. Symmetry and centred sans-serif type placements were a feature. The size chosen for these books were 181 x 112 mm which adhered to the golden section of 1.61. Penguin books initially followed this size format which has become one of the two standard sizes within the paperback book industry, known as A and B format (Baines, 2005). The A format gives the reader a good line length for reading and a suitable compactness of the book (McLeery, 2006). Albatross book cover design series 1932 (Adapted from Genetic Joyce Studies, 2006) The bird inspired name and colophon, bright, plain coloured covers and focus on contemporary titles provided the influence for Lane a captivating standardised cover. Young, who went on to become the production manager at Penguin Books stated: it was time to get rid of the idea that the only people who wanted cheap editions belonged to a lower order of intelligence and that therefore cheap editions must have gaudy and sensational covers. (Joicey, 1993, p4) The classic design and layout of the Penguin books were to undergo a subtle, refined advancement under the direction of Jan Tschichold. Tschichold arrived at penguin in 1946 and asserted a more disciplined approach to the design (British Council Design Museum, 2006). The template for all Penguin books to follow consisted of designated positions for the title and authors name with a line between the two. The most notable change was the replacement of Gill Sans for Bodoni Ultra Bold for the PENGUIN BOOKS publisher title. He also drew the penguin symbol in eight variations. The oval or quartic that contains the publishers name is subtly more elegant and attractive than Youngs [Do a comparison in illustrator]. Some books included an illustration on the central horizontal band as shown on the Pelican book Sailing. Tschicholds Pelican Books follows the standardised layout with the inclusion of illustration and the blue colour that distinguishes Pelican. As Tschichold was already distinguished in the field of typography, great care was taken to optically letter-space all text on the covers and inside the book. Tschicholds experimental layout,left, and the revised design and layout, right (Adapted from Baines, 2005. p56 58) Tschichold studied a theory which claims to provide the most beautiful and harmonious proportions. It is was first documented in a book by Fra Luca Proportione(1509) and is said to have been the method laid down by Phidias, the architect of the Parthenon. It states clear rules of of the division of space. It is known as the Golden Section. The Golden Section is described as an aesthetic phenomenon. It is a division of space omnipresent throughout the universe. This division is an irrational ratio of 0.618:1. It represents every line, every surface, every volume whose elements are arranged in conformity with these proportions reflect the idea of Beauty (Br, 19xx). It has even been linked to the scale and proportion of human anatomy. It is all about expressing harmony. [Golden Section Diagram] The Golden section had great influence on Tschichold in his search for perfection in design and a greater awareness of proportion. He controlled the placement and size of elements with this ratio. The size of Penguin books were close but not precisely equal to the Golden Rectangle. It can be noted by (Br, 19xx) that the Golden Ratio can be substituted by another ratio e.g. 3:5, 5:8, 8:1, 13:21 etc. This is because such small differences are not picked up by the eye and can still be perceived as the Golden Ratio. The Golden section reassures that aesthetics is not subjective. That it is not an individual feeling and more a general taste that can be measured and mapped out. Tschichold commonly expressed the importance of constant adherence to standardised formats and composition rules. Soon after being offered the job at Penguin, Tschichold produced a set of rules known as the Penguin Composition Rules (Doubleday, 2006b) that were to be followed by Penguins typographers and printers to ensure the books followed the same style and that there were no variations. These rules, which ran into four pages long, standardized the formats and typographic specifications and unified the design of the book series (Doubleday, 2006a). Tschichold implemented a coherent grid system in conjunction with the Penguin Composition Rules that set the foundation for the trimmed page area, width and height of each book, visual cover size, type area on cover and spine, position and style of the spine label and lettering on labels for all the Penguin series (Doubleday, 2006). One of Tschicholds grids to control the design and production of Penguin books with detailed instructions (Adapted from Hurlburt, 1978. p70) This above illustration shows that Behind the simplest grid there is often a complex process of analysis (Hurlburt, 1978, p71). Hurlburt cites that many publishers treat the book cover design as a separate entity, often using different designers for the book to encourage advertising. But a better looking product will result when the overall design of a book is considered in the early stages. Magazines and newspapers designers always work in the sizes of the established format (Hurlburt, 1978). On the other a book designer may have the responsibility to select the size of shaped and pages. Also, a concern with the weight and thickness of the book will put a three-dimensional edge on the project. Tschichold identified contrast as the most important important element in all modern design (cited in Hurlburt, 1979, px). Furthermore, Hurlburt (1979) believes that the importance of contrast in the design of layout is very important. He states: The contrasts of dark against light and large against small, the contrast of mood in subject matter, and the punctuation of space in strong accents all contribute to the dramatic presentation of graphic material. (Hurlburt, 1979, px) This element of contrast is clearly evident in Tschicholds work for Penguin books The idea of great literature mass produced and sold cheaply, the famous Penguin slogan Good Books Cheap (Doubleday, (2006b), p24). The brightly coloured contrasts of each genre cover. The separation of the cover into three coloured sections for publisher, book title and author, and logo. The dissimilarity compared to other books on a merchants bookshelf that makes them stand out. The moderate use of then contemporary fonts instead of traditional ones. Doubleday (2006b) reasons Tschicholds main objective at Penguin books: was to synthesize all of the Penguin series with unprecedented quality, distinctiveness, and uniform styling, while at the same time, designating singular individuality and genuine features for each and every book. (Doubleday, 2006b, p45) Rationale Penguin books have been in production for over 70 years and although the cover designs have seen changes from different designers, the Tschichold era remains to be the most studied and the most iconic. Tschichold left a lasting impression on graphic design that few could compete against and undoubtedly set the standard for successful book design. Tschicholds design work and principles while at Penguin, inspires a great standard for design, even for contemporary designers. What was it about the Penguin book covers that made them so successful and in retrospect, a timeless and iconic part of British design history? The two defining achievements for Tschichold and his time at Penguin are the standard typographic conventions of the Penguin Composition Rules and the rigid grid structure that housed the design. The following list summarises Tschischolds achievements while at Penguin: Develop a grid for rigid and consistent use across all platforms. The grid must have distinct planned placements for the different elements and provide balance and uniformity Use the Golden Section to influence proportion Apply typographic standards for continuity Use legible and contemporary typefaces Pay close attention to brand loyalty and do not deviate far from it Use contrast for effective presentation of graphic material and to stand out from competition. Contrasting elements include colour, size and mood. Over the years, other popular culture mediums take shape that require tactile and original design in order to survive in such a competitive market. Many companies choose to re-brand in order to refresh their image due to decline in sales. In popular culture, it is not uncommon to recycle trends. Covers of contemporary media such as computer games have some similarities to book cover design after all, computer games are essentially a more interactive version of story-telling. Like book covers, they require the name of the publisher, the game authors, the title, room for illustration and other elements such as age-rating. A continuous grid structure that separates all these elements is used as well as typographic specifications. This shows a cover for Uncharted for the Sony Playstation 3 gaming console. It is a cover for the platinum range of Playstation games the games that sell a high amount in their first year. The design differs from the original game covers in order to signify its high acclaim in sales. These games are less than half the price of the original games and stand for good value gaming. The grid system used for the range of covers is shown below. [IMAGE] The current design of Playstation Platinum covers is hotly debated. They are deemed ineffective, perhaps because of a grid structure that does not allow for a well-proportioned design. To clarify this, a short questionnaire with a series of eight questions was presented to a number of computer-gaming community based forums. The questions were presented through Survey Monkey(http). The following is a breakdown of the questions with the three most relevant answers contributed. 1.How many hours per day/week do you spend playing computer games? 20 hours a week if I have time too many4 hrs per day 20-25 hours per week 2.Are you bothered by a games cover design? I prefer the cover to look nice, but not really no. A little Bothered no, but they can do catch my eye sometimes. 3.Do you think a games cover design inspires you to purchase it? It might make me want to purchase a game I was already interested in a little more. Impulse buying, Yes no. the game has to be good for me to purchse it. 4.Do you like to collect your game purchases and keep them in good condition? Yes. After all, I worked to buy them. Yes I do like to keep them in good condition. no. I just toss them in a file cabinet to play later. 5.Do you ever buy from the platinum game range? If no, please specify a reason why not for PS3 because of the game covers, but yes for other platforms Not usually, because I like to keep a well organized collection No as the boxart looks out of place with my other games 6.What are your views on the platinum game covers? Plain. Should re-design the covers entirely. They are fine, and allow one to find the cheaper games faster. platinum branding ruins the look 7.Would you prefer to see a better cover design for the platinum range? Possibly modify the colour, reduce the size of the borders. They shouldnt be as conspicuous as they are (e.g. not luminous yellow for EU PS3 platinum covers) yes. Something that shows off the greatness of the game. 8.Would you prefer to see the same cover design for the platinum range but with the price reduction only? No Have some distinction it is a platinum title. yes, however some indication that its platinum range would also be good, maybe a sticker or something id have no covers if it made it cheaper Considering these comments, create an alternative grid structure that will influence better proportions. Practice 1.Taking an accurate measurement of the physical dimensions and a rough idea of the elements to be included e.g. type size, line-height, image sizes. 2.Thinking about the nature and content of the project. Considering how to best present this and the amount of emphasis each element needs. Emphasis is the contrast between elements size, colour, disposition, placement. Used correctly, it should signify hierarchy. 3.Considering which type of grid best suits the project. [ILLUSTRATIONS OF GRIDS AND INFO ON TYPES] 4.Sketching the grid to a closely accurate scale that justifies the division of space and the placement of elements at the co-ordinates. The following image shows a grid using a series of Golden Sections constructed from the dimensions of the cover. There are six Golden Sections reaching from each side of cover. Using the co-ordinates of this grid to position elements may seem unorthodox. There is no sense of continuity and unvarying spatial zones. However, the asymmetrical divisions of the Golden Ratio is the concept of its beauty and harmonious proportions. A Golden Section grid was best suited to this project as it called for irregular proportions and a slightly intuitive placement of the objects. There is a clear hierarchical structure evident in the design. The tripartite division of the cover resembles the Penguin series. The top horizontal division contains the well known Platinum title and is of a modest type size. It casually confirms the highly acclaimed status of the game. The colour choice seemed appropriate to be eponymous to the section. In the bottom horizontal division is the game title, publisher, game authors and age certificate. This division needed to be the largest to house all the objects. The game title has the largest font size as it is the most important characteristic of the game. It is slightly off centre to the right and does not align with any other element. The unevenness gives the cover an edge and emphasizes each element individually. The choice of colour for the bottom division is reminiscent of the Penguin concept to visually signify the genre. It was decided to use a colour system of green for action and adventure, blue for sports, cerise for strategy, red for combat and orange for racing. The font used for the platinum title and game title is FF Blur medium by Neville Brody. Created in 1991, it was chosen for its irregular yet legible appearance that gives it a contemporary aesthetic. Its not too serious and not too playful, which aptly fits the nature of Playstation 3 and the temperament of its users. The font was chosen consistently for the platinum title and game title so that it keeps the range of games on the same level and is clear and lucid to observers on a sales stand. [FF BLUR TYPE] The middle horizontal division contains the non-translucent part of the game illustration. The illustration shows in-game action, like a snapshot of the game-play that encapsulates the greatness of the game. The top and bottom divisions are translucent to support a full cover illustration and provide a constant contrast against the text across all game covers. The middle division is structured as a focal point according the Golden Section and acts as a peer into the game-play. The borders to the left are kept constant with the regular non-platinum game covers. This is to keep an order of continuity in a game-players library. Many mentioned in the questionnaire they are put off buying platinum games because the luminous yellow borders hamper their ordered games library. The overall appearance of the game cover is suggestive of the Penguin covers and what they stand for good games cheap. This is perhaps overlooked by most gamers, however, the design is not intended to be nostalgic. When a project is planned like this it leaves little uncertainty for positions, image sizes etc. In a well structured grid, elements fall into place and the design takes shape more easily. Careful planning of this type can be applied to all mediums of graphic design. Grids for books, posters, magazines, web design etc. call for different grid structures. It depends on the subject matter and how it is to be presented and communicated. When including photography in any piece of design it is necessary to have good composition. Golden Ratio dimensions can to help compose a photography appropriately to achieve a sense of balance and harmony. The following page shows photographs that have been positioned appropriately to Golden Sections within a spatial zone. To do this, a program called PhiMatrix can be used as an aid. It displays a completely customisable Golden Rectangle over any program at any time. The three most important customisable features are the size of the rectangle, the amount of divisions within the rectangle and the style of Golden Rectangle. Although this program is useful for quick mock-ups of Golden Rectangles, it restrains the freedom to move in and out of programs when you want the Golden Rectangle to stay positioned where it is. Also, it does not contain the spiral rectangle. A better solution is to manually draw each type of Golden Rectangle. Begin with a scaled Golden Rectangle by using the Golden Ratio of 1:1.618. If the rectangle is 100mm in height, then it would be 161.8mm in width. To get the first vertical line for the grid do a calculation of 161.80.618 which equals 99.99mm. Make a vertical rule division 99.99mm across. To get the first horizontal rule for the grid do a calculation of 1000.618 which equals 61.8mm. Make a horizontal rule division 61.8mm up. These are the first two lines of the Golden Grid. If you need more lines in the grid for added structural assistance then times 0.618 by the next rule divisions i.e. 99.99mm and 61.8mm. Keeping repeating these steps until there is sufficient spatial zones to work with. For the grid to have a more modular structure, copy and flip the horizontal and vertical lines. For the purpose of positioning photography, four rules should be sufficient as shown. To draw a spiral Golden Rectangle begin by drawing a square and a horizontal halfway line of the square. Locate the point where the halfway line meets the squares edge. Draw a circle from this point with the radius of the distance from the point to the opposite top corner of the square. Extend the square up until it meets the tangent point of the circle. Draw another within the new rectangle division and repeat the process three times for the spiral to emerge. The Golden Ratio is becoming more established as practicable method method in influencing graphic design. It is believed that many logos are influenced by the Golden Section. A fictional Swedish brand was created to use the Golden Ratio to create a logo. The brand is called Skogsr . The idea of the logo was to use three crowns as it is a national emblem of Sweden, present in the Coat of Arms of the Realm of Sweden. The crowns were created using a total six Golden Rectangles that combine to make up one large Golden rectangle. The finished logo was wrapped around a 3D-model of two beer cans using 3DS Max. The beer cans were positioned relative to a Golden Ratio grid. The end result is an example. Evaluation To achieve a successful design solution, the process can be broken down and simplified by use of a grid. When all the necessary information of words and images are composed in a proportionate manner, the design then takes a dynamic form. This is a fundamental part of what design is elements positioned in a beautiful and harmonious system. Considering which elements go where when piecing together a work of images and words can be for the most part an unsure process. Experience and perhaps an innate sense of proportion account for most judgements when weighing up proportion. Essentially, there are two methods in which a designer can take to tackle a design problem using creative intuition about sense of proportion or using a grid for a sense of proportion. Both methods can result in a beautiful and harmonious design solution where all elements have a unique relationship to one another. It may be argued which method is best for the study of graphic design. From the experience gained during the course of this study, it has helped find solutions faster and more efficiently. Evidence shows designing with reference to a planned grid can consistently produce better results (Hurlburt,1978). When an intuitive course of action leads the creative process it could produce sometimes unordered and self-indulgent results. This may hinder the communication purpose of design. On the other hand, a purely pragmatic approach could result in design that lacks originality and flair. Breaking a grid in certain circumstances can be practical but knowing when to do so is import ant Education of design does not really call for a rigid use of grids. This is perhaps because people who seek roles in design are people with creative insight and have an innate sense of balance and proportion. A grid is essentially a combination of horizontal and vertical lines that act as a foundation for the placement of elements. The mind makes these lines when deciding where to place things. A grid can provide these lines and help the mind focus on the objective of communicating design effectively. Hurlburt(1978) states that many highly educated and and contemporary graphic designers can perform without the use of formal grids. Even so in Switzerland and Germany where it is believed grid systems originated. Grids provide a solid framework to work with and can be used in all desktop publishing software. Quite often, effective design ideas come as a correspondence in time between thoughts/moods and the design project at hand. There are times when creative ideas come to mind easily and design solutions are apparent. There times when there is a dry-up of creative flow, possibly as a result of outside forces. During these times a solid framework with which to work is the best course of action. It is comforting that a framework that assists the creative process exists, as graphic design is often thought of as a purely creative line of work that combines knowledge in software and not as a subject where rigid structures exist. Grids provide beautiful harmony and make a design more lucid. It can make a page come alive. They are a guide to, but not a guarantee to effective design and a sensible approach to the design problem. The design work created has laid the foundations for effective future work

The Role of Water in the Lives of Organisms Essay -- Biology Essays

The Role of Water in the Lives of Organisms Water is perhaps the most important molecule for the survival and life of all living organisms because there is a wide spectrum of roles that it plays. The fact that the earth's surface consists of 70.8% water shows its significance and importance. ====================================================================== Firstly, water has the chemical formula Hg0 (two Hydrogen atoms to one Oxygen atom), the covalent bonds between which create cohesive forces. Water has a very high specific heat capacity, measuring 4,200 Joules, creating a stable environment for organisms to live in. This means that water does not heat up or cool down too rapidly due to the difficulty in breaking the hydrogen bonds, which restricts the movement of the water molecules. This property of water is beneficial to aquatic organisms (e.g. Fish, Jellyfish), as they do not have to keep adapting their own body temperatures for survival. Another property water has is its insulating nature in lakes and rivers. As water cools toward 0Â °C, the water molecules slow down to form the maximum number of hydrogen bonds. As this process continues, water molecules must give enough space for all four hydrogen bonds to fit, causing the water to expand as it freezes to form ice. Ice is less dense than the liquid form and therefore floats, a property very significant to the survival of fish as this layer of ice insulates the liquid water below to prevent the whole lake or river to freeze. Otherwise, this could be fatal for many organisms in the aquatic food web. Aquatic plants can survive in deep waters due to the fact th... ...er as sweat, the liquid gets turned into a vapour causing humans to cool down and control our body temperature (a homeostasis process). The cooling functions of water are connected to its high heat capacity nature. Water has influences on a large number of aspects of organisms' lives'. From habitat, transport, support, movement, fertilisation, insulator, roles of key processes (photosynthesis and respiration), protection from damage, homeostasis and gas exchange. Enzymes are very important in the body of some / most organisms and catalyse almost every reaction. However, they are soluble and will need water to function, as a result water is very important. Water is an important substrate for chemical reactions as well as product. Around 70% of human mass consists of water, in plants, 95% of mass consists of water.

Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown †Conflict, Climax, Resolution :: Free Essay Writer

â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† – Conflict, Climax, Resolution  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   Edmund Fuller and B. Jo Kinnick in â€Å"Stories Derived from New England Living† state that   â€Å"’Young Goodman Brown’ uses the background of witchcraft to explore uncertainties of belief that trouble a man’s heart and mind† (31). Are these critics’ statement correct?   This essay will examine Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† to determine the conflict, climax and resolution.    The conflict between pride and humility is the direction that Clarice Swisher in â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne: a Biography† tends: Hawthorne himself was preoccupied with the problems of evil, the nature of sin, the conflict between pride and humility† (13). There is little doubt about the pride of the protagonist as he scolds his wife for not fully trusting him: "’My love and my Faith,’ replied young Goodman Brown, ‘of all nights in the year, this one night must I tarry away from thee. My journey, as thou callest it, forth and back again, must needs be done 'twixt now and sunrise. What, my sweet, pretty wife, dost thou doubt me already, and we but three months married!’" And looking at the end of the tale, perhaps it his Goodman’s pride which causes him to live the rest of his days in gloom; the opposite virtue of humility might ease his adjustment into a world of sinners.    Gloria C. Erlich in â€Å"The Divided Artist and His Uncles† says that â€Å"he let his more extravagant characters test the unlimited for him and sadly concluded that it was unlivable† (38). Stanley T. Williams in â€Å"Hawthorne’s Puritan Mind† states: â€Å"What he wrote of . . . . unforgettable case histories of men and women afflicted by guilt, or, as he called it, by â€Å"a stain upon the soul† (43). Sculley Bradley, Richmond Croom Beatty and E. Hudson Long in â€Å"The Social Criticism of a Public Man† state: â€Å"He was absorbed by the enigmas of evil and of moral responsibility† (47). Using an assortment of literary critical opinion, this reader considers that the central conflict in the tale is an internal one - the conflict in the mind and soul of Goodman Brown between joining the ranks of the devil, and remaining a morally good person, and the extension of this conflict to the world at large represented by the villagers of Salem.    It is a difficult personal journey for Young Goodman Brown, a young Puritan resident of Salem, Massachusetts, in the 1600’s to say goodbye to Faith on that fateful night and to keep a prior commitment made with an evil character (the devil) in the woods.

Essay --

The Canada-China relationship has been through many fluctuations since China’s establishment in 1949. The Canadian Cabinet decided to give its recognition in the same year as China’s establishment on 16 November. However, the diplomatic relations with China was not formed until 1970, two decades from Canada’s primary consideration. Though there were many factors influencing the Sino-Canadian relations since 1949, due to the limitation in length, this essay will focus on three main reasons, how the political consideration, the attention on human rights problems and Canada’s economic interests influenced its relations with China from 1949 to the 1990s. From 1949 to the 1960s, the relationship between China and Canada was strongly influenced by Canada’s political consideration. With Canada’s gradually pursuing of independent foreign policy together with the change in international climate eventually left the room for Canada’s recogniti on to China. Since then, the Canadian economic interest started to dominate any other factors in this bilateral relationship, even if Canada paid attention to China’s human rights problem. Thus, the Sino-Canadian relationship after the 1970s is a balance between Canada’s economic interests and human rights issues in China. This essay will examine the three factors thematically, and in each factor, it will follow a chronology order. In the first part of the essay, it will discuss Canada’s political consideration in recognition China when taking the U.S. influence and the change of international atmosphere into account. Canada’s willingness in achieving an independent foreign policy led to its formal relations establishment with China in the early 1970s. Then it will discuss how the Chinese human rig... ... China dominated the human rights problems, and enabled Canada-China to be an economic partnership of each other. From 1949 to the early 1960s, the American pressure that Canada received was the fundamental reason for the delay of recognition China. As Canada’s desire of pursuing an independent foreign policy grew stronger, the impact of the U.S. government on the normalizing relationship between Canada and China was less and less. After the establishment of relations in 1970, the bilateral relationship remained steady besides the human rights issue in China. When China dominated on the economic terms in the world, Canada preferred to cooperate with China. The economic trade between China and Canada brought positive influence to both economies, and the Sino-Canadian relationship should maintain at a peaceful and beneficial level if both states worked together.

Sadada

Heineken Netherlands B. V. : Reengineering IS/IT To Enable Customer – Oriented Supply Chain Management In June 1993, Jan Janssen, financial manager of Heineken Nether lands B. V. and the person responsible for Information Systems (IS) and Information Technology (IT), and his IS manager, Rob Pietersen, faced the challenge of developing an IS/IT configuration that would add value to the business and support the ongoing transformation of Heineken's supply chain management system.This system was extensive, not only supplying the Dutch home market, but also providing a significant part of the supply to more than 100 export countries served by the Heineken Group. Supply chain management central to enterprise-wide transformation. Management was committed to a process-driven organization, customer service partnerships, 24-hour delivery lead time, major innovations in the transport system, and resulting changes in the way people worked. And Janssen knew that all of these-and more-requi red fundamental changes in the way this new work was to be supported by information systems and technology.Janssen was convinced that the effective management of information as well as a more appropriate IT infrastructure were critical to achieving Heineken's goals of increased flexibility, greater coordination, and a sharper focus on customer needs. In his mind, the change program initiated in 1990 in the IS/IT area had just been the beginning. Now, he and Pietersen needed to design an information systems and technology backbone that would be flexible enough to evolve with the changing business needs and adapt to continuous changes in technology.HEINEKEN NETHERLANDS B. V. Heineken Netherlands B. V. was the principal operating company responsible for operations in Heineken's home market. It also accounted for a significant part of Heineken N. V. ‘s worldwide exports. Of the 60. 4 million hectoliters' of beer produced worldwide under the supervision of the Heineken Group in 199 4, a significant portion was produced in the company's two Dutch breweries- Zoeterwoude and `s-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch).Likewise, 11 percent of the Heineken Group's sales took place in the domestic market, and more than 5400 employees worked for Heineken Netherlands. Supply Chain Management The supply chain at Heineken Netherlands began with the receipt of the raw materials that went into the brewing process, and continued through packaging, distribution, and delivery. Brewing took six weeks; it began with the malt mixture of barley and ended with the filtering of the beer after fermentation.Depending on the distribution channel, the beer was then packaged in â€Å"one-way† or returnable bottles or cans of different sizes and labels, put in kegs, or delivered in bulk. The variety of outlets meant that the company had to manage differences in response time (beer for the domestic market was produced to stock, while exported beer was produced to order) and three distinct distri bution channels. While each channel consisted mainly of the same steps from the receipt of raw materials through brewing, they differed greatly in packaging and distribution.Beer could be distributed to either on-premise outlets (hotels, restaurants, and cafes, where it was delivered in kegs or poured directly into cellar beer tanks), off-premise outlets (supermarkets, grocery and liquor stores, where it was sold in a variety of bottle and package sizes for home consumption), or to export markets (export deliveries were made to order). Ongoing Transformation With key customers requesting faster response times, the development of a process-driven view of Heineken's supply chain activities became critical.The company started the transformation of its supply chain management system by creating customer-service partnerships with its largest domestic customers. The overall objective was to improve the logistics chain dramatically for these customers. In response, delivery lead times were reduced and the transport system was changed. However, the supply chain transformation was seen as a never-ending process. New Customer-Service Partnerships In these new service partnerships, Heineken was requested to reduce the time from the placement of the product order to the actual delivery.Before, this delivery lead time had been three days, but the supermarket chains wanted Heineken to supply their warehouses in the Netherlands in 24 hours. Each of the warehouses carried only 8 hours of stock at any time, so the supermarket chains depended on quick and flexible delivery to maintain low inventories and fast response times. To further enhance its close cooperation with customers, Heineken had embarked on a pilot test of a new logistics improvement called â€Å"Comakership† with Albert Heijn, the largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands.Comakership was part of Albert Heijn's Efficient Customer Response project, â€Å"Today for Tomorrow. † The Albert Heijn reta il stores sent their sales information as scanning data to the computer in their central head office. There, the data for Heineken products were scanned out and separated. The beer sales information was then relayed via a standard EDI system (provided by a value-added network operator) from the central office of Albert Heijn directly to Heineken's Zoeterwoude brewery. Heineken was usually able to deliver within 18 hours.Although the pilot had been initiated in only one of Albert Heijn's distribution centers (and the set of stores it served), it had already resulted in lower lead times, decreased costs, and less complexity in the distribution system. Moving to a 24-Hour Delivery Lead Tinge As a result of these successes, top management concluded that delivery lead time could be cut to 24 hours for most domestic customers. However, it would require major shifts in the company's stock levels, distribution centers, work organization, transport system, organizational structure, and infor mation systems.The 24-hour lead time allowed for greater stock turnover and for lower stock levels in the customer distribution centers. There was, however, more interdepot traffic and higher stocks of packaging material (â€Å"returnables†) on the brewery premises (which had been located elsewhere along the supply chain). But management believed that as less total inventory was held in the system, these packaging material stocks might be reduced over time. New Transport System Until 1991, Heineken Netherlands had contracted out the transportation of its products from the two breweries to about 50 transporters.All of them used a lorry-trailer system with â€Å"dedicated† drivers-a driver and his â€Å"truck† could make an average of 2. 1 deliveries per day. To meet the 24-hour lead time, Heineken had to completely change the fleet used for transport and reduce the number of transporters from 50 to 10. Heineken then contracted 4 cabin trucks from each transporter (40 cabin trucks in total) and paid them for the use of the trailers. The ability of the driver to move from one trailer to another without waiting for unloading meant that he could make an average of 2. deliveries per day (a cost reduction of approximately G1. 5 million ). New Information Management (IM) Needs Heineken's customer-service partnership with Albert Heijn and the other changes Heineken had implemented in its supply chain activities brought new information requirements to support the more stringent delivery dictates. With the pilot testing of the Comakership logistics improvement, Heineken needed to implement systems which could manage this new transfer of information, and make appropriate modifications in work activities and organizational structure.Furthermore, the new IS/IT infrastructure needed to be flexible enough to handle and reflect individual retailer and customer beer purchasing patterns. In the context of these changes in supply chain activities, Janssen ref lected on the beginnings of the transformation of IS/IT: The transformation of IS/IT and the shifts occurring in our supply chain activities were concurrent without causality. That is very strange, but it just happened that way. I can't say to you that it is a â€Å"chicken and egg† kind of story. Of course, there was a link but not an explicit one. Somewhere in our minds, when you do one you do the other, too.Jansen knew that the relationship between information management, information systems, and information technology had to be clearly defined to have optimum support for the new approaches to value creation. Information management focused on supporting customers and creating new â€Å"bundles of goods and services. † Information systems focused on developing applications software, managing data, and supporting the new business processes. Finally, information technology related primarily to data and text services, and the underlying operating systems, interfaces, ha rdware, and networks.PHASE l: RECOGNIZING THE NEED FOR CHANGE In July 1989, at the beginning of all the changes at Heineken, Janssen (then at headquarters and responsible for IS/IT worldwide) received a request for a second mainframe at Heineken Netherlands, costing G6 million (with another G6 million required in three to four years); Janssen brought in the consulting firm Nolan, Norton, Inc. to evaluate the IS/IT infrastructure, first at the corporate level and then at the operating company level for Heineken Netherlands: A proposal to purchase a second mainframe focused everybody on our IS/IT infrastructure.You have to have some kind of crisis to get people thinking. IS/IT Benchmarking Nolan, Norton, Inc. benchmarked Heineken's IS/IT cost structure against the beverage industry IS/IT average and it was clear that Heineken was indeed not competitive-the company was spending twice the money for half the functionality. â€Å"The Nolan, Norton report confirmed what a very wide group of the users thought,† Janssen commented. In response, management recommended decentralizing the data center and having each business area manage its own computing resources.At the same time, Janssen asked Heineken Netherlands, the largest operating company, to develop a new IS/IT plan based on new computer technology, â€Å"which meant looking for mid-range platforms, decentralized computing, and standard software packages, rather than developing customized programs for every new application-previously the standard practice. † Before determining an appropriate IS/IT plan, Janssen made sure that information management scans were conducted in every functional area. Managers were asked, â€Å"What do you need and how can that used to create information plans.Working with KPMG Management Consultants and Nolan, Norton, Inc. , Janssen developed a list of priorities for IS/IT and selected a new IT platform (IBM AS/400)-both were accepted in July 1990: The AS/400 became the c ore of our new IT platform for two reasons: first, we had been a client with IBM for roughly 40 years, and it was not their fault that we used their mainframes in the wrong way; second, we already knew that huge masses of application software were being written for the AS/400, as a quick scan easily confirmed.Furthermore, we were starting to think about an appropriate IT architecture and we were considering the possibility of using personal computers as peripherals linked together through local area and wide area networks. Implementation of the New IS/IT Plan Before the end of 1990, Janssen was appointed financial manager. He became the person responsible for IS/IT at Heineken Netherlands and was to oversee the implementation of the new IS/IT plan. Janssen concluded that outsourcing would play a critical role in this process: The decision to outsource was part of the plan.When we came to the conclusion that a major change was necessary, that we should look for midrange computers, th at we should go for standard software, that we should not go for dumb terminals but for personal computers as peripherals, it became clear to us that this was a big operation and we could not evolve to it. We could not manage just to keep the old systems in the air with all the problems and have enough management attention for building up the new systems. So we told the organization, â€Å"Gentlemen, we are going to outsourcers, and we are going to freeze the applications to free up management time. PHASE 3: OUTSOURCING TO DEVELOP THE NEW IS/IT INFRASTRUCTURE Outsourcing enabled the IS group to keep the â€Å"old† mainframe applications running while it developed a new IT approach-focusing on the development of its client/server distributed processing infrastructure, the appropriate new IT architecture, and the IS people and skills to achieve these new objectives. Outsourcing In 1991, after scanning the outsourcers' market, Janssen chose Electronic Data Systems (EDS), the la rgest provider of computer services in the United States.EDS provided the expertise and infrastructure required to meet Heineken's information systems and technology needs, and career possibilities for Heineken's mainframe personnel, both vital to the successful transformation of its IS/IT infrastructure. Finally, the five-year contract (with declining involvement each year) provided â€Å"guaranteed continuity† while Heineken maintained control. The plan indicated that the last mainframe program would be replaced in 1996 and the contract with EDS would end. Development of the New IT Architecture The development of the new IT architecture took place almost concurrently:We moved in two directions-one, to outsource our operational concerns, and two, to focus on our new architecture development, eventually replacing everything which was on the mainframe with standard packages on AS/400s. With the decision to downsize-to move off the mainframe platform-and to decentralize the inf ormation management and systems, Janssen chose a comprehensive client/server strategy using a combination of workstations, local and wide area networks, mid-range systems such as AS/400s, and local area servers to complete the technology architecture. (Refer to Figure 1 for Heineken’s IT architecture. â€Å"Personal computers† became â€Å"Heineken workstations† to eliminate the confusion and â€Å"mess† of having 2000 â€Å"personal† workstations-in this way, every workstation had the same setup. Furthermore, the sales force began using â€Å"Notebooks† for customer sensing and information sharing. Changing Over to Standard Packages and Developing Greater Flexibility to Serve the Business In 1993, Rob Pietersen became IS manager at Heineken Netherlands. He believed that the decentralized IS/IT operations gave more â€Å"computer power to the people,† and enabled the â€Å"user† to become the process owner.Old mainframe program s were replaced with new standard application packages that covered all the functions in the supply chain. Heineken started this â€Å"changeover† by focusing on the software applications dealing with clients: order entry, delivery, transport, invoicing, and accounts receivable. Selecting Standard Software Packages To increase flexibility and customer responsiveness, Pietersen knew that Heineken had to shift from the â€Å"waterfall approach† to the development of standard software packages: At that time in the mainframe orld, we were developing software applications using a methodology often referred to as the â€Å"waterfall. † You started with a requirements definition from the users, developed a design and the code to implement that design (getting signoffs at each point along the way). You put the code in production, tested the code, released the code into operation and then you maintained it. When you adopted the code, you went back to the users and asked them if this was what they wanted, and often they said â€Å"What? This waterfall process took 18 to 36 months or more, and by the time it was completed, the users' requirements often had changed. Pietersen began using the PILS (Project Integral Logistics) – named after the successful approach developed to select appropriate logistics software – to test and select standard software packages (refer to Figure 2). The PILS approach involved: Oidentifying appropriate software packages; Osetting the top two package vendors against one another in a â€Å"shoot-out† as in the American â€Å"Wild West†-where the specific elements of each software package were compared and contrasted;O implementing it; O evaluating its performance. For IS people, this meant moving from COBOL programming to developing a thorough knowledge of the business. Pietersen chose PRISM for the logistics area and J D Edwards for the financial area. Pietersen found that the new systems and p olicies better fit the information needs of the company: We needed more flexibility, more power, and less cost. Our current systems have scored high in each of those areas. Computer power is now where it belongs: not with the IT people, but in the hands of the people who need it. IS Group ReconfigurationOutsourcing the mainframe and mainframe applications to EDS led to a change in the configuration of the IS group as well. Contracts with employees from software houses were stopped, and many of the individuals working on the mainframe went with the mainframe systems to EDS while other staff shifted to other areas of the IS group, such as systems management. Pietersen was convinced that the competencies and capabilities of the IS group had to be expanded to align the use of IT with the evolving supply chain, rather than simply promoting IT solutions as â€Å"answers† to the company's information management â€Å"problems. Pietersen understood that this change in approach for t he IS group required not only a deeper knowledge of business processes and strategy, but also an understanding of how people used the information. Pietersen therefore transformed the IS department from units for application development, customer support, and operations (a functional structure) to teams solution, and customer-service areas-the â€Å"process owners† (a team-oriented business approach). (Refer to Figures 3 and 4 for the IS organization before and after 1993. The information management needs of the business areas were thus defined by people from both the business areas and IS. These account teams helped select standard application packages and, afterwards, adapt the business process to the software package or adapt the software package to the business process. These teams thus developed and implemented systems that gave the required support for the respective business processes and delivered information to enable a better control of the supply chain. Shrinking fr om 130 to 40 people, the IS group was now â€Å"doing what they had been doing differently. Pietersen and Janssen believed that increasing overall access to information would support management's efforts to enhance the employees' empowerment. Client/server systems also fostered teamwork and horizontal decision making. They were fast, flexible, and permitted greater communication with customers and suppliers, which resulted in improved customer service. And they promoted the development of a â€Å"process view† (focusing on total processes rather than on discrete tasks). Furthermore, the new configuration of the IS group, with its more team-oriented business approach, also promoted a spirit of greater cooperation and communication.Pietersen commented, â€Å"If we still had the mainframe, all this would not be possible. † Evaluating IS Performance In 1995, Pietersen and Janssen were still trying to determine how to measure the performance of the IS/IT department. They a greed that IS/IT needed to serve the business, and different service level Agreements were to be negotiated with the different functional areas (as shown in Figure 5): What is our business? Is it information technology? No, our business is brewing and selling premium beer of high quality.We changed our IT policy to make it clear that IT supports the business, but doesn't drive the business. We started to focus on having a beautiful bottom line rather than beautiful IT applications. IS performance then became based on the timely and successful completion of projects. The most important measure was the improvement of the business process for which a system or service was meant. In the future, Pietersen and Janssen would be trying to develop criteria to measure the impact of an IS project on improving overall business performance.INFORMATION ASSETS IN THE BUSINESS Executive Information Systems (EIS) By 1995, Heineken's operational supply chain system-from supplier to end customer-was i n its final phase, and the company had begun to add the decision support element. Decision-support or executive information systems would make it possible for managers to express their information requirements directly. Pietersen hoped that their ease of use would encourage managers to analyze past performance in greater depth and enable them to simulate the possible consequences of proposed actions more accurately.When it came to selecting the appropriate software, Pietersen had chosen EIS Express: I call it the technical infrastructure; the basic logical infrastructure of all these systems is in place, and now we come to enabling real improvement, not just the EDI links we have with our retailers, but also such things as installing executive information systems (EIS) to give our management team the control instruments they need to navigate us through the more turbulent business environments we will face in the coming years.The executive information systems gather their data from t he data warehouses of the different business systems in all areas and can show this easily through different (graphical) viewpoints. One of Janssen and Pietersen's goals for the use of executive information systems was to have unity in the data. Janssen explained: Having unity in our data is crucial. Only a few years ago we discovered some departments were using different unit volumes than we were. And that just should not happen in any organization. Better Planning ToolsA key part of the IS/IT strategy was to develop an integrated set of systems to plan and control the overall supply chain, both in the short run (bottle-line scheduling and daily operations) and over a longer horizon (sales forecasts and long-term operations research). The aim was faster and more flexible control of supply chain activities. Jan Janssen elaborated: What we are working toward is a coherent and consistent set of planning and scheduling tools which are more or less compatible and interconnectible so tha t you can build up or build down the basic data.Our goal is to be able to model business processes and to have the data, like sales forecasts, to support our decisions about capacity, bottling lines, and stocks. We want to be in a position where, if you have to make a decision, you can run simulations based on actual data. The concept of supply chain management ultimately served as the driver for to optimize the supply chain activities as well as to ensure better information management. (Refer to Figure 6 for Heineken's information systems. )Janssen and Pietersen had put in place information systems to collect and integrate information on Heineken's â€Å"on-premise† customer activity. Information on each hotel, restaurant, and cafe/pub that Heineken Netherlands had contact with (as owner, financing agent, or product supplier) was included in these systems. In this way, Heineken Netherlands was able to provide the relevant sales force with an integrated view of their customer s (large or small) as well as with information on competitors catering to the same establishments, beer sold, and contract terms. Janssen elaborated:We are thinking about what the â€Å"next stage of the rocket† will be. We have defined the baseline and are looking at workflow, EDI and planning information systems-how should these planning systems interrelate? We are in the process of defining the next phase of the vision for Heineken as a business in the Netherlands and for the IS/IT fit to that. The current debate is just how far to go. This case is a condensed version of Heineken Netherlands B. V. A&B. It was prepared by Research Associate Kimberly A. Bechler under the supervision of Professors Donald A. Marchand and Thomas E.Vollmann, as a basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a business situation. The names of the Heineken managers involved have been disguised. It was developed within the research scope of Manufa cturing 2000, a research and development project conducted with global manufacturing enterprises. The authors wish to acknowledge the generous assistance of Heineken management, especially IS manager Gert Bolderman. Copyright @ 1996 by IMD- Institute for Management Development, Lausanne, Switzerland. Not to be used or reproduced without written permission directly from IMD.CASE STUDY QUESTIONS 1. Analyze Heineken Netherlands using the value chain and competitive forces models. Why did the company feel it needed to transform its supply chain? 2. Analyze all the elements of the new IT infrastructure that Heineken selected for its new business processes. Were Heineken's technology choices appropriate? Why or why not? 3. What management, organization, and technology issues had to be addressed when Heineken Netherlands reengineering its supply chain? ‘Hectolitre = 22 Imperial gallons = 26. 418 U. S. gallons; Heineken 1994 Annual Report. 21000 Guilders (G) = approximately ? 368 = U. S. $575 (at December 31,