Punishment And Rehabilitation In The Community Criminology Essay

Punishment And Rehabilitation In The Community Criminology Essay Critically evaluate the use of the prison as a sentence of the court in England and Wales over the last 20 years. The 1990s witnessed a sharp rise in the politicization and in the severity of sentencing policy (Maguire et al, 2007). Since the 1990s legislation has been heavily criticised, this saw the abandonment of key pillars, yet the rise of others. Therefore, The Criminal Justice Act as somewhat revolutionised bringing forward newer legislation over the years that have impacted on the way sentences are used. The change in government from Conservative to New Labour also saw a bewildered mixture of new polices, which have contributed and influenced the use of the prison. Since the post war years the prison population began to expand, which led to a sense of crisis for the government from two perspectives. The first was in terms of social control. The significant and rapidly rising prison population had the potential to be perceived as a breakdown in social order. The other area of concern was due to the expanding prison population and the increase in expenditure. At the time the government were trying to reduce expenditure and instigate new community sentences to limit the number of offenders who actually went to prison. Consequently, there have been many theorists who have attempted to structure the criminal justice system. There have also been new ideologies for how the prison should be used as a sentence. By analysing the use of the prison it will help to define contemporary prisons in western societies, not least since there is considerable consensus that the penal system in England and Wales has been in a state of ever deepening crisis since the 1960s (Maguire et al, 2007). Statistics show a major increase in the prison population. In 1989 the prison population was 48,600 throughout the year and in 2008 the prison population increased to 83,190. Crime measured by the British Crime Survey (BCS) fell from 18.5 million offences in 1993 to 11.7 million by 2003/04. BCS crime fell by around a third in England and Wales at the same time as the prison population increased by two-thirds (Home Office 2008). These statistics suggest that the use of the prison has been very effective by how recorded crime rates have fell over the years and that the number of offenders going to prison as increased. However, it strikes controversy due to the increase in prison populations. In 1997, Labour had created 16,000 more prison places when the Government were trying to reduce expenditure in that area. The lead up to the 1991 Criminal Justice Act witnessed a shift in penal policy. The ongoing concerns of ever growing prison numbers accompanied a widespread disenchantment with the rehabilitative ideal and concerns were raised about the matching of sentences to offenders rather than the crime (Brownlee 1998). The conservative government had issued major changes to the sentencing framework influenced by retributivist theory and the concept of just deserts where offenders were punished in proportion to the crimes they had committed. Also the 1990 white paper, Crime, Justice and Protecting the Public introduced new legislation in the criminal justice system. Now, Community sentences could be used as alternatives rather than the use of imprisonment. Home Office (1990) also claimed a more consistent approach to sentencing so that criminals get there just deserts. The central aims of sentencing were just desserts and proportional sentences; however, deterrence was demoted as a sentence. This criticism was made of the 1991 Act and 1993 Act as there was an unworkable hybrid sentencing framework. The Criminal Justice Act 1991 was clear that the main sentencing decision was to calculate offence seriousness and a proportionate (commensurate) sentence. Prison therefore, was used to keep people in custody by the seriousness of the offence (Easton et al, 2005). Consequently, the use of the prison had changed by acknowledging the seriousness of the offence, whereas before anybody who committed a crime would just go to prison. Thus, somebody convicted with murder would go to prison, whereas somebody who was vandalising would more likely pay a fine or have a community sentence depending on the circumstances. This significant piece of legislation appeared to pave the way for community sentences, and indeed the Probation Service to play a central role in criminal justice policy. Courts were now guided by seriousness thresholds, which required them to justify why a sentence was either serious enough for a community penalty, or so serious that only a custodial sentence could be warranted (Cavadino Dignan 2002). By 1993 however the incoming Home Secretary made it clear that he was an advocate of custodial measures for offenders in his statement Prison Works. The 1993 Criminal Justice Act rescinded on some of the positive aspects of the earlier 1991 Act, and marked a resurrection of law and order rhetoric in determining criminal justice policy. By 1995 in the Green Paper Strengthening Punishment in the Community, despite the considerable changes brought about to community sentences by the 1991 Criminal Justice Act, the claim was made that probation supervision was still regarded as a soft option. The subsequent White Paper Protecting the Public clearly emphasised the need for community sentences to have a punitive rather than rehabilitative focus, and called upon these sentences to be physically, mentally or emotionally challenging with a stress on personal responsibility and discipline. The rapid increase in the prison population and the numbers sent to prison represented a radical break with the virtual stability of previous decades. Even so, two considerations should be borne in mind before attributing the total responsibility for the increase in prison population solely to Michael Howard. First there is some evidence that public opinion took a more punitive turn in the 1990s, which might explain why the anticipated public outcry against Howards policies was so muted, and why the mass media were largely supportive of these policies (Hough, 1996). Ryan (2002) also argued that a series of moral panics was manipulated by politicians to win the support of voters for a tougher law and order platform. Populist Punitiveness had a major effect on legislation because it became central to the concerns of the general public and there responses to crime. A synopsis of the 1991 and 1993 Criminal Justice Act highlight the use of the prison by how serious the crime is. The prison is used to confiscate liberty and by 1993 and the use of community sentences made it more definable by the level of crime committed by using seriousness thresholds. However, by 1995 they recognised that the probation service was to soft and needed amendments. The use of the prison was now seen as a last resort or for very serious offences. In addition, public opinion had a major influence on crime, which is argued one of the reasons why the prison population is said to be so high due to the publics view and fear of crime. In May 1997, the Conservative Party was ejected from power as Labour; Led by Tony Blair enjoyed a landslide victory. Tony Blair, thought to alter Labour to New Labour, and one of the ways he did this was through public image by becoming tough on crime (Mathews 1999). Labour introduced a various amount of legislation, which led to the circulation of community penalties. This was evident in the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act, which created the Drug Treatment Testing Order, and the 2000 Criminal Justice and Court Services Act. This brought about the Probation Order, Community Service Order and the Combination Order. Two further sentences were also created that are the Exclusion Order and the Drug Abstinence Order. However, the Drug Abstinence Order was later abandoned as it was proved unworkable; this could be due to Populist Punitivism. The conservative government have a right wing approach, whereas New Labour comes from the left. This however, had little effect for the use of the prison as labour emphasised on the conservative approach to crime and made it stronger. Although there was new legislation that gave the court more power and options over the offender, prison numbers continued to rise. This was also apparent when David Blunkett became Home Secretary as the prison population started to rapidly grow months after (Guardian 2001). In 2001, the prison crisis of over crowding, and the fiscal problems were highlighted again, which resulted in new legislation from results drawn from the Halliday Report. The review was born out of a belief that the present sentencing framework suffers from serious deficiencies that reduce its contributions to crime reduction and public confidence (Halliday 2001). The report highlighted key limitations and suggested new approaches to strengthen the criminal justice system. One of the highlighted problems was the short prison sentences of less than 12 months and that they had no effect on the offender. It was also noted that persistent offenders do not appear to receive significantly longer prison sentences. Halliday (2001) shows that in a sample of male offenders aged over 18 and sentenced in1998, the average sentence for burglary for an offender with 10 or more previous convictions was only 4 months more than somebody with no convictions. The Halliday Report led to the White Paper in 2002, Justice For All, which sets out the Governments far reaching proposals for the reform of the criminal justice system and resulted in the 2003 Criminal Justice Act. The Halliday Report noted that just deserts and the punishment fitting the crime are key features of the statutory framework set up in 1991 and that there is nothing wrong with this in itself. However the report now focuses on three tiers of seriousness established by the Act: fines, community punishment and custody (Easton, 2005). This created a new framework and therefore saw the collapse of just deserts. Instead of focusing on just how serious the crime was for punishment, the court now had power to punish the offender in many of different ways depending on the offence. From the 2001 Halliday Report and the 2002 White Paper the new findings created a new framework to sentences. The Act clearly sets out the purposes of sentencing, which include retributive, deterrence and reductive, reform rehabilitation, public protection, and reparation, (Criminal Justice Act 2003). The Halliday Report also influenced the new legislation in 2003 by identifying a gap in the sentencing framework. The Act replaced all the adult community sentences with a generic community sentence. This allowed the courts to attach requirements to this community sentence from a number of options; supervision, unpaid work, activities, prohibited activities, accredited programmes, curfew, exclusion, residence, mental health treatment, drug rehabilitation, alcohol treatment, attendance centre (for under 25 yr olds) (Criminal Justice Act 2003). The Criminal Justice Act 2003 also introduced a number of other measures such as Conditional Cautions, Strengthened deferment of sentence to include an element of probation supervision, Custody Plus, Intermittent Custody, new Suspended Sentence Order; however, these measures show unclear boundaries between community and custodial penalties. Thus, the argument against this is whether the courts will favour a custody followed by a rehabilitative sentence and that they will become more popular, which will help reduce overcrowding. Faulkner (2002) prior to the 2003 Criminal Justice Act urged caution in seeing the introduction of a new sentencing framework as the answer to addressing crime. He states that: If the new sentences are to contribute to reduced rates of crime or re-offending, they will at the very least have to be applied in the context of a prison system which is no longer distracted by overcrowding, of a well-resourced and innovative National Probation Service. This may sugge st that there is a covert meaning under the new framework for the use of imprisonment. By utilising community sentences it is thought that this will free prison space, which will stop over crowding and make punishment worth while. However, statistics show far greater use is being made of the prison and probation service because in 1996, 85,000 offenders were given a custodial sentence and 133,000 were given a community sentence. By 2001, both had increased by 25 per cent, with 107,000 offenders given a custodial sentence and 166,000 offenders receiving a community sentence (reference). The use of the prison as changed significantly over the years, with a major influence from the change in government and the change in the sentencing framework. Originally, the prison was used for any type of crime but due to over crowding the government came to recognise that the prison should be used for the more serious offences and introduced the community service for petty crimes. Community service was perceived to free up prison space and the fiscal crisis, however the prison population kept expanding over the years. This could be due to the numbers of offenders caught and sentenced as police powers had expanded or the increase in the overall seriousness of the crimes brought to justice or the increase in the sentence severity for specific offences. New legislation allowed the courts to have an option, however, this soon expanded focusing more on community services using the prison as the last resort. Nobody wants to go to prison; therefore by issuing a community service it is g iving them a strong warning using the prison as the most feared punishment. Individuals who then break the community service punishment will then be sent to prison. A new Act came Criminal justice and immigration act 2008 brought forward the release date of prisoners serving sentences greater than 4 years imposed before 4 April 2005. It did not apply to prisoners serving life sentences or serving sentences for violent or sexual offences. This section came into force on 9 June 2008. This was in order to alleviate prison overcrowding. prisons are for suspects refused bail and detained before trial, or convicted but not yet sentenced, are held in custody to ensure that the course of justice proceeds to its conclusion and that everyone concerned is protected against the likelihood of harm in the interim. The system needs to ensure that the increased investment in prison and probation is targeted effectively to reduce crime and maintain public confidence. The use of prison and probation has increased by over a quarter since 1996, even though the number of people arrested and sentenced has remained broadly constant. The growth is due to the increased severity of sentences, which is linked to the fall in the use of fines. terrorists #3 strikes mandatory life sentence 2003

Craven Books Issues

The purpose of this paper is to give and provide detailed information about the reason why Craven Books was having issues on the implementation of the new information technology system which should help to improve the performance of the business. Other than that, the implementation of this new information technology system nearly makes Craven Books face bankruptcy and lost many customers.In this paper, 3 issues that lead Craven Books faced failure in the implementation of the new information technology system will be chosen to discuss in detailed. Each issue will be discuss in detailed together with any related case studies that can take as reference and recommendations to eliminate and cope each issue.Company’s BackgroundCraven Books is a distributor of comics and magazines and books. The company was founded and evolves in the market place in the late 1960 as it founder, Peter Craven started to distribute sci-fi and horror books through direct mail. In 1970’s, the busi ness began to be known in the market place by buying comics in bulk from both the American publishers and the second hand comic market and sell this on their customers in the United Kingdom by using a mail order catalogue. This had helped the company to grow in the market place and be known by many other customers. Because of this the company had been able to encounter growth both in profit and in the number of their regular customers.In this regard, the company decided to use a new information system as part of their business strategy. In 1990’s, this plan has been initiated as Craven Books invest in new integrated information systems that will include all business operations of the company, from ordering, to processing, accounting and warehousing. All in one information system which aims to ensure that they will provide quality service to their customers and to make their logistics be more dependable. However, upon implementation of such project, the company’s expect ation has not been achieved and worst, it weakens the competitiveness of the company and the competitive advantage  that it builds had been destabilized.Reasons That Cause Unsuccessful Of Information Technology System According to the video that was showed in class which is titled ‘The Great IT Horror Story’, there were many reasons that lead the implementation of this new information technology system into disaster and chaos to the business. In addition, people who were relevant to the cause of this incident were being interviewed too and they also gave out their own opinion on why this disaster can happened and what preventions or actions should be made to cope and prevent the issues on the implementation of the new information technology system.As mentioned, due to the objective to have and efficient distribution system, the management of Craven Books has decided to create an IT system. At first, the new system was expected to and should provide great time, effort and savings for the company to achieved the company’s objective but upon implementation of the new systems, the company’s expectation has not been achieve and even worst, it weakens the competitiveness of the company and the competitive advantages that the Craven Bookstore built had been not stable. In the video, it shows the common or classic mistake that make by the small business which also make by Craven Books that lead to this failure. Through this report, the following are the reasons why the new system in Craven Books was a failure.1.) Unable to determine the suitable IT system One of the first reasons for the failure of the system is the over-ambitious of Craven Books’ management that unable to determine the best IT system to use, to prepare a strategic plan before the implementation which lead to the result in choosing the IT system that is unfit to the company. Due to the reason that the company wants to be more competitive immediately, they pick the s ystem without even trying to identify whether the system really works or not. Furthermore, there wasn’t anyone is in charge of the systems to teach the employees to use the new system.2.) Rely too much on software consultants Another mistake was that Craven is relying too much on its software consultants, did not try to review or assess the given system to test its efficiency and effectiveness before it implemented. The consultant’s suggested Craven to go for an existing system because the implementation of customized system was a bad choice to achieve Craven’s purpose or objective; it’s like putting a third wing on a jumbo jet as the thing was going so fast that the desire result wouldn’t be achieved. Besides that, the project will not employ a staff to monitor, so that when the system went wrong there was no one has to take responsibility on it.The company was giving choice on the standard package that provide the advantages of the low cost and t he another one is tailored solution which give the advantage to use the tailored solution that can modified the system that suit to the business but on the other side this method is more expensive than the standard package.3.) Disaster strikes After the implementation of the new system, Craven faced some disaster strikes, they lost most of their major or main customers and almost more than 60% of the staffs were being dismissed. Because of the failure in the new system, it brings many negative feedbacks to the company. This leads many issues that reduce the company’s performance such as the conflict that happen in the actual situation with the result shown in the computer system.Despite that, the inaccurate of the weight device that was implant in the computer system always give wrong measurements and this problem had lost customers and created many angry customers due to the wrong orders were being deliver to the customers. In order to manage this disaster, the company had t o fire most of the staff and changes back the system to old system. The computer disaster cost Craven about $1 million dollar.4.) No one to blame or responsible for the failure of system Another reason of this failure of new system that there wasn’t anyone is responsible or managed to the project and the absent of a project team leaders that should be accountable to the system and lead the project into success. In the end, the suppliers and Cravens blamed each other for the result that it should be the responsibility of the company’s management because they didn’t do any preparation or strategic planning before the implementation of the project.In this report, we have picked 3 reasons that cause the unsuccessful of the new information system which was implemented by Craven Books to discuss:1. Unable to determine the suitable system for business 2. Rely too much on software consultants 3. No one to blame or responsible for the failure of systemIssue 1 The first r easons which cause the unsuccessful of the new system that we would like to discuss is the failure of Craven Books’ management level to determine the suitable system that can help the company to achieve objective and improve performance. The management level of Craven Books cannot decide and determine the appropriate system to the company because they were over-ambitious to improve their company’s performance and competitiveness quickly.In the end, they didn’t develop a strategic plan before the implementation of the new system. Other than that, they also didn’t conduct any testing on the new system to identify whether the system really can help the company to reach their objectives. Furthermore, there wasn’t anyone is appointed to handle and in charge the systems to teach the user or employee the proper method to conduct the new system.Example case As for example, a similar case study has been chosen in order to compare and discuss with this issue . This shows that Craven Books wasn’t the only victim of the information technology disaster. The similar case that happened under the same reason as Craven Books is FoxMeyer Corp. during 90’s.Due to the intense competition among competitors, FoxMeyer was in a great need of a solution that would have helped the company to achieve a complex supply chain decisions and improve the company’s performance. During the early 90’s, the company’ management level decide to focus on a business strategy of transferring the company into low cost distributor to increase competitive advantage and also provide differentiated services to different target customers.Based on the supply chain analysis that had been developed by the company, it was decided that an ERP system would provide a perfect solution for FoxMeyer to achieve the company’s objectives and goals. In  1992, the company had decided to hire Arthur Andersen consulting company to implement the SA P (R/3).The implementation of SAP In September 1993, FoxMeyer had contracted with SAP, Anderson Consulting and Arthur Andersen & Co. to implement the R/3 software. This multi-million dollar project had covered the entire supply chain and was the first information system launched in the pharmaceutical industry that utilized extensive technology coupled with automation of warehouse functions. In the end, the system didn’t provide expected result and the performance was unacceptable. It was completed late, failed to deliver expected benefits and went over budget due to huge expenditures for new computers, software and new warehouse. In 1996, FoxMeyer was forced to file for bankruptcy and was taken over by its largest competitor – McKesson Corp for only US$80m.In 1998, the bankruptcy trustee of FoxMeyer launched 2 lawsuits against SAP and Andersen Consulting. FoxMeyer charged SAP with fraud, negligence and breach of contract for convince them to invest in a system that fai led to achieve the company’s objective which leads to the bankruptcy of FoxMeyer while Anderson Consulting was charged with negligence and breach of contract for failing to properly manage the implementation but both defendants denied the allegations and blamed FoxMeyer for mismanagement.Reasons why FoxMeyer faced failure of ERP system There are many reasons why FoxMeyer faced failure in the ERP system which should assist the company to achieve goal and some of the reasons are same with the issues which were the reasons that lead to Craven Books information system disaster too.The reasons that lead to FoxMeyer’s ERP failure are: 1. Poor selection of the software – SAP R/3 was originally developed and designed for the purpose to business such as manufacturing companies and not for business such as wholesaler, especially those doing large number of transactions.This software has never been used for wholesale distributor before because this software lacked many req uirements needed for successful  wholesale distribution. SAP R/3 was inflexible software, it required many time and a large amount of financial investment if it require any modification and this software was unable to handle large number of orders. These weaknesses were the reason why this software was not suitable to FoxMeyer because this company handled orders from thousands of pharmacies and each of pharmacy had hundreds of items.2. Lack of contingency planning – FoxMeyer didn’t prepare any contingency planning to deal with the changes in the business operations. For example, one of FoxMeyer’s major client which was accounted for more than 15% of FoxMeyer’s business, declared bankruptcy shortly after FoxMeyer’s launched the ERP system.3. No end user involvement – The implementation of this ERP system was done using a top-down approach. The planning was performed by FoxMeyer’s upper management, Andersen Consulting and few technica l people. Only a few end users were participated in the planning, analysis and design process. In the end, there was a communication gap between the end users and the system planners.4. No restructuring the business process was done – SAP was not fully integrated and worked effective because FoxMeyer was incapable to reengineering their business processes in order to make the software to work more efficient.5. Lack of system testing – Due to the reason of rushed schedule, some modules testing was skipped. Other than that, the system was not properly tested to detect any problems when the system handling large amount of orders. There wasn’t enough testing and lack of time to modify or debug the system to ensure its functionality.6. Over-ambitious project scope – FoxMeyer’s project team members and information system staff were unfamiliar with the system hardware, system software and application software. In the end, the project scope was enlarged wi th simultaneous implementation of computerized warehouse project.  Other than that, some technical issues on complication were not managed properly by the staff and this incurred extra expenditures and time.7. Poor management support – At first, the management level were supportive and committed to the implementation of ERP system but once the implementation started, management were unwilling to acknowledge any system problems. Furthermore, management failed to identify the timeliness and resources needed in the implementation process.Recommendations According to the case of FoxMeyer, the case is very similar with Craven Books’ case especially in the reasons that both company can’t identify suitable software for company and insufficient of preparations or pre-activities before the implementation new system. In order to eliminate and cope the issues, Craven Books should follow these recommendations before the implementation of new system.1. Software selection à ¢â‚¬â€œ A project steering committee should be created and should involve high level of expertise, both technical and operational in the software selection process. They should do some research in different software, compare and assess their pros and cons to identify the suitable software which best fit the business needs.2. Contingency plan – A contingency plan should be develop to handle the situation when the system failure. Stipulate clearly the roll back procedures or develop new contingency plans to prepare for the breakdown of any system modules and for the total new system.3. Stakeholders’ involvement – Any new project implementation should get the involvement of all stakeholders which also include end users and customers of the company. All related parties should understand the purpose of the project and voice out their opinion especially in the earlier stage when any critical issues are just evolving.4. Thorough testing – An organized comprehens ive testing plan should be develop, encourage user participation in the testing process and make sure proper testing situations are done to the new system.5. Realistic project scope – Project scope should not be over-ambitious, it should be clearly identified with realistic targets.6. End user support – All employees and end users should be well trained to handle the new system. Response and address to the end users’ concern to reduce any negative feelings to the new systems. Identify the need of any changes on agents and create a high and positive morale to meet the new challenges.7. Post implementation review – Quality assurance and control programs should be develop to ensure the system checks are done. Develop business metrics to measure and compare the project’s estimated results with project’s actual result that have been achieved. Prepare an evaluation report and pass to stakeholders to review the results.Issue 2 The second issues are that the company relied too much on their consultants and suppliers who provide the system. This could be issues for Craven because they did not review the system, all the procedure just follows the consultant’s suggestion, they did not test the efficiency and the effectiveness of the system before it implemented.The consultant’s suggested Craven to go for an existing system, the suggestion for Craven’s purpose was a bad choice, and it’s like putting a third wing on a jumbo jet. The things were going fast but at the end it does not work. Craven is too much reliance to the outside consultant. Craven did not do any reference check to the consultant; they just hired the consultant and just rely on the consultant to do the implementation of the new system for the company.Consultant is playing an important role when a company wants to implement a new system. The consultant responsible for the whole systems, to provide the software solutions and other recommen dations based on the assessment. Consultant do give advice, but they frequently also perform tasks that  result from that advice. Those tasks can range from running a public relations campaign to building a customized order fulfillment system. The consultant may integrate customized software into a business or organization’s processes in order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the systems and to minimize manpower or the costs.For example, a fitness centre could benefit from the integration of proprietary software that tracks the progress of the gym’s members, in the form of measurements and other personalized data. A consultant, might specialize in the creation of such software for the fitness centre, and pitch the software to various business and organizations within the fitness industry. As software can perform a wide variety of functions, a software consultant might deliver software solutions to a wide variety of industries. Businesses and organizati ons will often hire one or a firm on a contract basis, if such expertise is not already is available in-house. For example, a real estate company that already employs a computer programmer, webmaster, or other information technology professionals might also hire a consultant who can create a database of properties customized to suit the company’s information management needs.If the consultant fail to perform their tasks, there is many possible failure for the project and will impact the whole company as well. The company will face cost overruns, over budget and project delay due to the poor project management by the consultant. The consultant is not focus on the organizations change systems and lack of attention to the business process reengineering. Some consultants have never done the things they consult on. In innovation circles this means they have never been managed a team of people, never prototyped an idea, never filed a patent, never taken creative risks, so instead o f banking on their experience, or even their knowledge of the experience of others, they make stuff up, there is an issues arise from that.Recommendation There is no one to blame with this implementation, the company should cancel the whole project and kick out the consultant. For the implementation of the new system, Craven should seek a qualified and experienced consultant but  not just book knowledge. A good consultant has valuable experience in one or more areas of specialty, and they can use this experience for the company advantages. Craven at start should select the right consultant firm, next is to get the consultant involved early and set up a clear and formal communication system allowing the company to communicate with the consultant what they needs to be clearly understood and turn into designing the software that suitable for the company.Craven should having an interview session to choose the consultant from the hundreds out there, have a reference check on the consul tant to check their background to ensure they have a good background and don’t have any bad reputation out there, also have to review what they have done before, for example if they have any success implementation job before and when choosing a suitable consultant don’t forget the fact that the company will need to work closely with this person for months and sometimes years, so have to choose carefully to ensure the consultant can work with the employees, the consultant should has the ability to communicate effectively and gather accurate details regarding to the business process.Craven buy the system from the supplier and trying to get more advice from consultant is not wrong. However, the mistake of Craven is they relied too much with the supplier and consultant that they did not carefully review the advice and do a better decision before implemented the system. Craven can collect all the opinion and suggestion from the consultant but have to review and have a meeti ng with top management to consider the possible consequences that may affect the company as a whole. The top management have to consider cautiously and have to discuss the feasibility to implement the new system, coming out with a better outcome for the better future for the company.Planning is very important before the consultancy process so that the business is able to set out the objectives that they want to achieve after implemented the new system in the company. In addition, Craven has to ensure that they are hiring a consultant that has adequate knowledge about the system implementation. A consultant with adequate experience has the ability to identify the specific needs of the business based on the knowledge that  they have acquired over the years.Craven should not rely on the suppliers. Suppliers can supply with the templates and best practices that can take the company a good part of the way but Craven still need to define what is constitutes success and failure, progress and set-backs, also set a deadlines. Top management of Craven should have the responsibility to the company, they must have to know that suppliers are just selling the software and the implementation, the decision of the management made will directly affect the future for the whole company. Craven have to know what their business processes up front is, and don’t let the suppliers software define for the company.Issue 3 The third reason that causes the new system implementation failed is nobody is responsible on the system. Based on the case study, the intension of Carven Book decided to implement new system for enhancing their company competitive and more effectiveness for company system, but there were not one to follow up and back up the systems after implementationThis failure happened to be nobody to handle or managed the systems or the lack of system team members and leader who have experience in this information system field followed all the requirements needed to make the project successful. Hence, Carven management lack of experiences and it is a first time of system implementation to the company. Before these, all the company’s transactions, orderings, delivering was under manual systems. Due to company willing see improvement of the information system, they started their first try to implement the computer system.Besides that, Cravens argued the responsible of information supporting should be provided and back- up by the supplier of the software, on the other hand, supplier re-blamed back they do not have any responsibility on this issue since they just developed the ready software and sell to their customer needs. Both parties involved blamed to each other for the consequent that it is the sole mistake of the management of the company because they did not again, strategically planned the project.Due to the issue arose, below are the recommendations parts can be given:Employing IT technical support background people as company employee As result of new system transformation of company, Carven may consider to employ new staff from the specific IT field as company sources for supporting and back- up Company new system implementation as a team with the former management. Forming a department or a group member into â€Å"system development & supporting group† with collaboration with the company system user for supporting company system.Hence, Carven may appoint management manager as the department head whose job scope is leading the whole team of members to solve the problems what the system user met during implementing period. At the beginning stage, department manager has to conduct the new system education to company system user through system trainings & lessons for the current staffs.Normal situation can be seen in the beginning of new system implementation, the most of the users were lacking of experiences in applying the new system in their workplace, especially for Carven employee who is the first time who use the new system in 1990s. After few months of training and lesson, company system users will be more familiar and useful to systems.It can be seen that they have more capability and acceptable for using the new software in this period. In this system implementation stage, department manager may regard the system support in more upper and deeper level on the system error or system problems which maybe faced by the company users. System users must voice up the issue and the problems which they faced and handled to the IT group. Through this issue arose, IT supporting group must size up the situation and problems at the first and try to resolve it for the current company demand.Some of the time, company may change their company strategy or follow the customer’s need changes, it will affect directly into company information system procedure and lastly system user will also be affected through the transformation. That situation may generate some dispute and problems betwee n the system and the users. IT development group have to follow up it  and back up anytime with those issues arise.Their job scope not only on the back up the system, however they also involved in protecting and upgrade the software system if there have any disputes between the system and user or customers. The reason that some of outdated or old system code or services transaction, it was not be used by the company, thus IT group should upgrade into new version.Do not rely too much on the Suppliers and ready software It is important that always picking a reliable suppliers and ready software company for future better support. Some of the ready software company and suppliers who are not too much experience and have depth software knowledge will drag the effectiveness when any problems arise. IT support Group or specific manager must always take noted the software version depend company need to the suppliers in anytime for the better system using. Besides that, IT group members may pint out the problems which is software shortcoming or deficiency to the supplier then has a period meeting with ready software suppliers in a quarter year once for system information updating.Another important factor should be taken note by company user are not rely too much with the suppliers. If they faced any issues from the former system, it will drag down company performance once supplier cannot give the system support on time. Company implement information systems may hire and develop their own IT support group in company for nearest support and backup.Benchmarking with other company One of the business strategies can be applied in Carven book is benchmarking. Benchmarking is the process of comparing one's business processes and performance metrics to industry bests or best practices from other industries. Dimensions typically measured are quality, time and cost. In the process of best practice benchmarking, management identifies the best firms in their industry, or in anoth er industry where similar processes exist, and compares the results and processes of those studied or the â€Å"targets† to one's own results and processes. In this way, they learn how well the targets perform and, more importantly, the business processes that explain why these firms are successful.The objective of benchmarking is to understand and evaluate the current position of a business or organization in relation to â€Å"best practice† and to identify areas and means of performance improvement. This process is used in management and particularly strategic management, in which organizations evaluate various aspects of their processes in relation to best practice companies' processes, usually within a peer group defined for the purposes of comparison.This then allows organizations to develop plans on how to make improvements or adapt specific best practices, usually with the aim of increasing some aspect of performance. Benchmarking may be a one-off event, but is often treated as a continuous process in which organizations continually seek to improve their practices.Company can choose benchmarking with other not the same field company which is best practice in information system owning to understand other company system. Through the benchmarking, company send out some IT supporting group member out to benchmarking company learn their best system culture and how they implement the system in their company. Thus, the benchmarking project may exchange the views and experience between the benchmarking company and current company each other together during their visit.Once the benchmarking project finished, IT supporting group member may discuss with current company system user concerning the good practice and services from benchmarking company respectively as well as learn from it and improving the deficiency of current systems. Also, it is vital that any new system developing or changing must according or depending to present company’s ne ed and requirement.Recommendations from the video In the end of the video, there were some recommendations were given the computer journalist-Lynn Clarke. She suggested that the company should consider the business priority than the technology and simplify or rationalized the business as possible. Moreover, she also gave comment that the company should utilize the time to in prepare and design strategic plan before making any decisions in choosing the suitable system that fit the  company. So, in order for Craven Books to solve its problem and continually to have a competitive position in the market place, a strategic planning must be done before the information technology system was created to prevent any more problems and major downturn.Conclusion As for conclusion, nowadays all the industries need information technology in order to become the strongest in the marketplace. It shows that to be competitive in this modern world, information system should follow up too. This is to e nsure that the company is achieving to the needs of its stakeholders and to meet the requirement that the customers wants.However, in order for Craven Books to solve the problem and continually have competitive position in the marketplace they must bear in mind that creating new systems for the company, they need to do strategic planning, having a meeting among all top management in the company to discuss about the possible for the implementation, and to have enough preparation to implement the new systems in order to prevent all the possible problems happened during the implementation stages.

Nissan Corp Swot Essay

Global interdependence: possible new marketsGovernment regulations: abroad in other countries as well as US and the US; global warming, CAFE standards, safety issues Growth of existing market: widen market New entrants: threat of potential inclusive of generation X,Y and baby boomersnew competitors Strong economy: economy not faltering;Changing market tastes: need for consumers still buyingcontinuous innovation to appeal to ifferent segments Nissan’s reputation: leads the industryShortage of resources: workforce in reliability, performance, and design dissatisfaction, hiring good talent Emerging technologies: innovative through the development of technologies for improving fuel economy and reducing fuel emissions Introduction This Case Paper will examine accessible information about Nissan Corporation and determine its position in the world market through a business SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). Through this analysis, we hope to see where the Nissan has been and make suggestions as to where the corporation should go to improve their bottom line, increase market share, and plan for future products to ensure their viability in the world automobile marketplace. Market Analysis Nissan’s focus in establishing a multi-cultural company begins with regaining global market share. The company has learned from past mistakes and is determined to succeed, developing a common vision and a global ompany culture that will need to be a main driver for continued strength (Associated Press, pgs. 1-8). For instance, establishing a brand name and personality that is sensitive to nationalistic cultures. Strategic alliances and joint ventures are growing in importance in the automobile industry and Nissan is no stranger to the competition. Nissan’s mission statement delivered by Mr. Ghosn in the Automotive News World Congress in 2001, is evidenced in how the company exploits synergie s to create positive alliances with other manufacturers (Ibid). For example, Nissan’s announcement to venture with Ashok Leyland to build small trucks and other light commercial vehicles in India gives them an opportunity to enter a market that in recent years has been dominated by its competitors, Toyota and Honda. This venture will produce at least 100,000 vehicles annually for sale in India and for export, as it will facilitate the construction of a plant near the southern Indian city of Chennai to manufacture and export compact cars to Europe. The deal with Ashok Leyland will broaden Nissan coverage in the Indian market in addition to providing new LCV (lightweight commercial vehicle) products for emerging markets which will sell for around $3,000. 00. Ashok Leyland’s strengths in large and mid-sized trucks combined with Nissan’s strength in smaller vehicles creates a positive synergy (Ibid). According to Mr. Ghosn, partnering globally is an opportunity and the Chinese market is no exception. China is Nissan’s third largest single market, after North America and Japan. Vehicle production has grown over the past ten years. However, the major source of growth has been the production of passenger cars (The Business Review, pg. 7). Passenger car production has doubled in the past ten years. This shift is in response to a change in market conditions and in a desire for Chinese manufacturers to enter the global auto passenger car market. Consumer demand is also increasing and in order to satisfy this demand, auto production has been increasing. The demand for autos is expected to continue (Ibid). According to the Wall Street Journal, the car craze in China has just begun. There are two factors that create possible opportunities for Nissan: 1) the country has the world’s largest population and as incomes rise, so will the hopes of buying an auto some day. 2) the market may grow to 8 million vehicle sales annually by 2010. Nissan’s new line of cars in China will be designed and engineered in Japan, based on a common â€Å"B† platform shared with Renault that centers on smaller engines. Annual sales of the entire family of cars are expected to reach 200,000 units globally and will be launched in other markets over the next couple of years (Financial Times, pg. ). However, the threat of inadequate roads and the government’s changes in regulating how autos are purchased will make the costs unpredictable. On a financial scale, the banks are under pressure to control credit, so auto loans may not be easy to acquire. North America accounts for nearly 40% of Nissan’s global sales, and in each of the past years sales have exce eded those in Japan, with the gap widening each year. Nissan is spending several billion dollars on new models, and the U. S. assembly plant in Canton, MS is aimed at maintaining momentum (Ward’s Auto World, pg. 1). The most significant automotive development in North America is continuing growth in the luxury segment and the increasing popularity of cross/utility vehicles. Nissan is on track to rebuild its image and regain brand value. In the past, customer satisfaction was good, but the model lineup was limited. Now, with the Q45, M45, G35 sedan and coupe and the FX models, the market has begun to recognize that Infiniti provides a range of real luxury models (Ibid). According to Bloomberg, Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. led Asian automakers’ U. S. sales gains in September as Toyota Motor Corp. posted a third straight decline. Accord helped boost sales by 9. 4 percent. Toyota’s 4. 4 percent drop marked the first time since 1995 that Japan’s largest automaker logged three consecutive months of lower U. S. sales. Sales of the five year-old Corolla model, Toyota’s second-most popular in the U. S. , dropped 8. 5 percent and demand for the company’s light trucks declined amid rising gasoline prices. Industrywide U. S. sales fell for a fourth consecutive month, by 2. 9 percent to 1. 31 million light vehicles (Bloomberg. com, pgs. 1-3). Toyota’s old models like the Corolla are dragging down while Honda and Nissan have brand-new models. Nissan reported a 6. 7 percent increase in sales (Ibid). Nissan, sixth in the U. S. , sold 94,269 vehicles, helped by higher demand for midsize Altima and Versa compact cars. Nissan’s market share edged up 0. 7 percentage point to 7. 2 percent. The Japanese are becoming more aggressive in terms of incentives and pricing, which makes them more competitive against South Korea’s largest automaker. The company faces tough competition from Japanese and Korean auto makers like Toyota, Honda and Mitsubishi, which are rapidly gaining ground in the European markets. Asian manufacturers are continuing to fortify their position in the crucial North American and European market. It can also expect stiff competition from Toyota and BMW (Ibid). Nissan believes that growing the business means introducing new products and has created the Nissan Revival Plan to realign their cost structure. Significant amounts of money are funneled back into product development, mostly going towards the North American market. This means there are opportunities for new innovations that will bring the company in line with a mix of vehicles that are currently on the road. Its R&D costs in FY 2006/2007 stood at JFY 464,839 million, an increase of 3. 9% when compared to JFY 447,582 million in FY 2005/2006. The company increased its investment on R&D activities to launch a host of new products throughout the year (Ibid). In 2007, Nissan launched a new version of its minicar, namely, Pino E, which is a 2WD model and equipped with a three-speed automotive transmission. It is claimed to offer a fuel economy of 21. 0 km/1. Furthermore, the model is considered safe and environmentally friendly, as it features anti-lock braking system (ABS), brake assist (BA) and electronic braking force distribution (EBD) systems. It is low emitting, complying with the 2005 emissions regulations in Japan. In March 2007, the company also developed a new engine technology that helps balance between responsiveness and fuel efficiency, high power and low emissions (Ibid). Today, Nissan stands behind its offerings; that fundamentals of the business are strong, products are attractive to customers, and the company is poised for sustained, profitable growth. Environmental Concerns In researching the issues of automakers in regards to the environment, many nations as stated in The Wall Street Journal, are concerned about climate change and energy security. One of the most important issues all automakers are faced with on a global scale is the reduction of emissions, more specifically carbon dioxide or CO2. Concerns for the future in the minds of the majority are setting new goals for automakers of vehicles with internal combustion engines to become more efficient if they are to remain profitable or even in existence, which is further backed by a global treaty known as the Kyoto protocol (Wall Street Journal). In the protocol’s drafting of new rules they are intended to cap emissions of CO2, the gas widely blamed for global warming can potentially pose a major threat. According to scientists, it is reported that the rise in the earth’s average atmospheric temperature is largely due to this major contributor CO2 which will bring changes to the global environment, and therefore affect our daily lives (Ibid). According to the Wall Street Journal, a debate is raging in the US over how much time automakers actually need to boost fuel economy, and whether setting stringent targets will compromise safety by encouraging car makers to use lighter materials. Additionally, the US has not adopted the Kyota protocol and is under less pressure to reduce CO2 emissions as they are in Europe. Therefore, Nissan’s global prominence puts the auto manufacturer in an â€Å"opportunity† position by making concentrated efforts in advanced technology to reduce carbon dioxide emissions at every stage of the vehicles life cycle and their corporate activities, from manufacturing and transportation to use of Nissan’s vehicles by its consumers. Nissan, currently the third largest automaker out of Japan has opportunity to grow stronger from the threats of one and two automakers Toyota and Honda respectively, who lead the market in alternative fuel development (Wall Street Journal). According to Nissan’s Green Program, it is Nissan’s view that internal combustion engines will continue to be the main power source of vehicles globally in the years ahead. Therefore, Nissan therefore takes a stance of reducing CO2 emissions through the development and widespread adoption of advanced technologies for improving the fuel economy of gasoline engine vehicles. Currently in the works for Nissan is the development of cleaner diesel engine vehicles that run on biofuels made from plants and other reusable sources (Ibid). Nissan estimates that over half of the vehicles they sell by 2050 will need to be electrically powered if they are to reach their long term goal of reducing CO2 emissions. Nissan’s threat has been its major competitors in developing hybrid electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles and electrical vehicles. Other companies such as Toyota are setting the bar in alternative fuel sources which makes them a profitable industry leader with the obvious threats of gas prices that change virtually on a daily basis (Ibid). Nissan History and Innovation Nissan Motors’ history dates back to the 1930s when Jidosha Seizo Co Ltd was established in 1933 in Yokohoma City, Japan. Its beginnings as a munitions company was short lived when the company was renamed to Nissan Heavy Industry Co Ltd and introduced the first Datsun, manufactured after World War II. After the company began exporting the cars to the US in 1958, it gained popularity due to its small size and high fuel efficiency. Subsequently, in 1980, Nissan Motor established Nissan Motor Manufacturing Corp. USA to strengthen its market potential in North America (ABI/INFORM Global pg. 1). Today, Nissan supplies a widespread customer base classified across regions, namely, Japan, the US, Asia, Europe and General Overseas Market, which includes Mexico and Canada. This market includes 150 dealers and 2,500 outlets worldwide (Ibid). This is the age of globalization and the worldwide interdependence of resource supplies, product markets, and business competition. Nissan has succeeded in meeting its challenges due to its focus in valuing diversity both in its workforce and through understanding customer needs. This is evident in how the company plans ahead and is always looking for new ways to improve current performance. For instance, the company learned from past mistakes; failure to recognize changing customer focus in non-growth sectors, and being competitively focused rather than market focused. Also, finding the right people and the right plan to maximize growth is key (Nissan News, pg. 8). Shiro Nakamura Nissan’s automotive designer is known as â€Å"The man behind the Nisan Look† and has developed some up-to-date, eye-catching designs that have no resemblance to the old models, and the company is optimistic that sales will increase once the current plan to launch 28 new cars during fiscal year 2008. Most of the changes are defined to the upper body and adjusted to make it more like the Altima (Business Week, pg. 1). Nissan’s innovations stem from producing a product that their customers want. Their philosophy is that investing in a product that will bring value and satisfaction to its customers will build loyalty as well as expand that market base. Nissan’s models include Maxima and Sentra cars, Altima and upscale sedans, Frontier pickups, the 350Z sports car, and Xterra and Pathfinder SUVs. In 1999 French automaker Renault took a 37% stake in Nissan, and installed president and CEO Carlos Ghosn (nicknamed â€Å"Le Cost Killer† based on his talent for turning red ink black) who has since returned the company to profitability. Renault now owns almost 45% of Nissan. According to Hoovers, Nissan fiscal year end sales in March were in millions, $80,583. 7. Net income in millions was $4,427. 8, and 1 year net income growth was 7. 0%. Their top competitors were General Motors, Honda, and Toyota (Hoovers. com, pg. -2) Generation â€Å"X† consumers can identify with the sports world, ESPN’s X Games. Games showcase the world’s most dangerous events. The â€Å"X† generation is also playing a big role in the fashion world, thus the automotive industry has been one of the leaders driving the â€Å"X† growing trend. Jaguar’s Web site prominently features a glowing X to promote the new â€Å"Jaguar X-Type: a car for a new generationâ⠂¬ . And Nissan has scored big with the model Nissan Xterra. This trend is enabling Nissan to tap into a pool of younger car buyers. The vehicle has attracted many new buyers, some of which have never purchased a Nissan before. The Xterra is aimed to attract 25 to 35 year old drivers. Marketing tactics fill viewers with scenes of athletes doing extreme outdoor exercise, and pushing their SUVs to the extreme. Polls cited that men were most affected with the advertisement than women. 13% to 9%. According to the Gallop polls, the ads scored highest among those 30 to 39 years old, which is right where the company was trying to segment. The 25 to 35 year old target market (USA Today, pg. 2-3). Baby Boomers on the other hand are most attracted to the Nissan Murano, or Nissan Bevel. Nissan’s long term vision for 2015 is that future vehicles will save lives by installing a series of sensors that can detect sobriety of a driver and can immobilize the car. Other features include detecting operational changes, such as drifting out of a lane, at which time the system navigation system alerts the driver with voice message alerts and the seat belt is tightened. Nissan is currently testing an on-board breathalyzer and road sensors to help reduce accidents. Other plans to develop an Intelligent Transport System Project and road sensors will help reduce accidents (Nissan. com, pg. 1-2) The company understands the importance of agility in a dynamic 21st century market and is continuously reinventing itself to stay ahead of the competition. Sometimes, this means taking risks. Most recently, the company made an announcement that it was moving its headquarters from California to Tennessee. The new facility will accommodate 1300 plus employees and favorable for business, not to mention contributing to the infrastructure and supporting the community with more jobs. It’s inevitable that there could be some unforeseeable threats perhaps with current labor force. Some issues could be that they are not in agreement with the transfer and choose to leave the company, thus the need for new hires. Other potential threats are the risk of new competitors in the area, and developing a new sense for the new market. The California population may not have the same tastes and likes as the Tennessee population, thus Nissan could expend additional resources to substitute products and services (Tennessean. om, pg. 1-4). A strategy for the future that Nissan could consider would be to offer a motorcycle product. Exploring and pursuing this opportunity would allow them to remain competitive and also to offer products to meet different needs. Honda, BMW, and Suzuki, all of whom offer cars, trucks, and sport utility vehicles, Nissan too should visit the idea of offering a motorcycle. Over the years Nissan has developed quality products that are dependable, hi ghly functional and desirable; this being an advantage for Nissan. Along with remaining competitive, the high price of fuel recently would make a Nissan motorcycle more appealing. The motorcycle would alleviate fuel expenses and consumption. The Nissan motorcycle would also be appealing in geographic locations such as Japan, China and major cities in the United States that do not have the space on roads for larger vehicles. Nissan plans to offer a concept vehicle that resembles a car and a motorcycle. This vehicle is called â€Å"Urge† and offers state of the art gaming systems that allow the driver to use the gas and brake pedals to play. When considering the pricing of a Nissan motorcycle and remaining competitive, Nissan should consider that Honda and Suzuki offer motorcycles at reasonably affordable prices. Suzuki offers several types of motorcycles to include cruisers, motocross, and sport bikes all at reasonable prices ranging from $6,000. 00 to under $10,000. Honda also offers cruisers, motocross, and sport bikes. Honda motorcycles range from $3,000 to $13,000. In order to lure prospective buyers into purchasing a Nissan motorcycle, Nissan should strive to offer its motorcycles at reasonable prices, similar to Suzuki and Honda. The price range for motorcycles made by BMW is slightly higher starting at $8,000 to $15,000. BMW has offered a motorcycle since 1923. Its tenure along with the fact that consumers have learned to trust the German made motorcycle are what keep BMW competitive. Offering reasonably priced and desirable styles similar to BMW, Honda and Suzuki is a great opportunity that has not been approached by Nissan. The cruiser styles offered by Honda, Suzuki and BMW resemble that of a Harley –Davidson motorcycle without the high cost. The market for Nissan motorcycles is positive with the increasing cost of fuel and the ages of future drivers. Most of the baby boomer generation have become accustomed to the quality of Nissan vehicles and would be approaching retirement age in the next few years. Nissan’s release of motorcycles would segment the soon retired baby boomers as a fun and recreational of transportation. The Nissan motorcycle would also segment the new drivers of today which in a few years will be the young generation to market to. Nissan would have to be conscious of expenses in marketing and production of the motorcycle, a product never offered and could use the business model already established by its competitors offering both motorcycles and automobiles in the industry. According to Analysts, the economy is not faltering and people are still hopeful for the future. It is a race to the finish line, and who ever gets there first wins. It will be interesting to see how automobile manufacturers will implement new strategies (Economy Today, pg. 1) Nissan Technologies –Past and Future New technologies were as important to Nissan’s past as they are to Nissan’s future. Nissan has always addressed environmental issues, including the development of clean power sources for vehicles and recycling of natural resources. Nissan has been able to release one new model after another with fuel-efficient direct-injection gasoline engines and direct-injection diesel engines since 1997. This has led to the expanding application of the Hyper CVT (continuously variable transmission) , the Extroid CVT, the Tino Hybrid and the two-seater Hypermini electric vehicle in the early part of 2000 for efficient fuel economy (Nissan global. om). Nissan’s history goes back to an automobile factory started by Masujiro Hashimoto in 1911 called the Kwaishinsha Co. In 1914, a box-type small passenger car was completed and in the following year the car made its debut on the market under the name of Dat Car. Another predecessor of Nissan was Jitsuyo Jidosha Co. , Ltd. , which im ported machine tools and components from the U. S. , and was one of the most modern automobile factories of its time. Kwaishinsha Co. and Jitsuyo Jidohsa Co. merged in 1926 to form Dat Jidosha Seizo Co. , and two years later to the establishment of Nissan Motor Co. Ibid). In preparation for post war capital investment in Japan, Nissan developed two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities leading to the advancement of motorization and increased traffic accidents; and contributed to the problem of air pollution. Nissan developed its first Experimental Safety Vehicle (ESV) in 1971 and over the years created a reputation for excellence in engineering and advanced technology. Nissan has developed weight-reducing materials, engine management systems for controlling combustion, and using CAD/CAM systems and industrial robots (Ibid). Recently, Nissan has also been localizing R;D operations, which has now advanced decision-making through the regional headquarters in North America and Europe. Nissan’s local operations in their respective regions oversee product development, manufacturing, procurement, fund-raising and mutual complementation of parts between companies (Ibid). Nissan’s Vision Nissan is developing corporate activities centered on automobile manufacturing based on their vision of â€Å"enriching people’s lives. In order for cars, which provide mobility, to truly become reliable partners for our customers, a number of issues including global environmental issues, traffic accidents and congestion problems must be tackled as part of a long-term vision (Nissan global. com). The global automotive industry is entering an era that will change almost every facet of the car in the future to come. Nissan’s global vision includes the pursuit of environmentally sustainable technologies creating one of the greatest engineering competitions in history that has the potential to deliver significant benefits to humanity (Ibid). To realize our vision, Nissan is developing technologies based on a framework called the â€Å"Orchard† concept. † This concept allows Nissan to embrace technologies in a comprehensive manner (Nissan global. com). In order to create a distinct value in order for customers to choose their cars, Nissan is likening its approach to the management of a fruit orchard in which â€Å"fruit† is planted and raised. The process has three phases, one – the Harvest Plan, two – Seeding and Growth and three – Soil Enrichment. The Harvest Plan takes into account social needs and market demands for the commercialization of technologies and the timing of releases. Seeding and Growth will implement strategies for the realization of the Harvest Plan and to formulate development of schemes. Lastly, Soil Enrichment will create value for the long term by researching reliability improvement and analysis technologies (Ibid). Some of the proposed solutions are more efficient fuel-cells for electric cars, bio-fuels, advanced diesel fuels or combinations of these solutions. However, the most effective solutions will not be decided by engineers. It will be decided by consumer demand, which is the most powerful force for global environmental progress. Every new car buyer in every country gets a vote by exercising their right to choose, thereby dictating both the pace of future change and its direction (Ibid). Nissan’s vision is to invest massively in R&D in pursuit of new technologies. This has not always been the case. Due to perilous financial decisions, in 1999 Nissan could not afford to invest in the core of its brand identity – technological innovation. Today, Nissan’s R&D budget is much healthier than the level of 1999 due to significantly increased efficiency of their R&D activities. This has led to an environmental blueprint known as Nissan’s â€Å"Green Program 2010†. Also taking advantage of the alliance with it’s parent company, Renault, Nissan is able to focus on specific promising technologies – such as advanced lithium-ion batteries and other areas, such as clean diesels. Nissan’s vision includes the determination to be the leader in environmental progress. It is Nissan’s belief that motoring can be both green and fun allowing consumers to expect new technologies that will enhance dynamic performance (Ibid). Some of the latest technologies being embraced by Nissan are the X-Trail Fuel Cell Vehicle, Ultra-low Friction Diamond-like Carbon (DLC), the Super Motor, and the Compact Lithium-ion Battery. Nissan continues to raise the practicality of FCVs, which are being developed as the most eco-friendly vehicles. The X-Trail FCV provides increased cruising range. (Nissan global. com). The FCV also provides improved acceleration. The new model features a Nissan-developed fuel cell stack that is more efficient than the previous stack resulting in maximum power of 90 kw compared with 63 kw in the 2003 model. Ultra-low Friction Diamond-like Carbon (DLC) is Nano-technology based on ultra-low friction technology. Nissan has substantially reduced friction between engine parts by developing the first technology in the world to combine a hydrogen-free diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating with special oil. Energy is lost due to friction that arises between the hundreds of parts that comprise an engine. This ultra-low friction technology uses nanotechnology in order to reduce friction by approximately 40% compared to conventional engines. The DLC works by use of a hydrogen-free DLC coating, improves binding with the engine oil, and results in the formation of a firm ultra-low friction film when special oil additives are added. It is now possible to reduce overall engine friction by 25% (Ibid). The Super Motor and Compact Batteries Nissan has independently developed the Super Motor based on an all-new concept. One motor provides output through two shafts, enabling it to function as both a motor and a generator. This innovative technology has a wide range of potential applications (Nissan global. com). The Super Motor can dramatically reduce the size and improve the efficiency of the drive unit compared with the use of two conventional motors. Independent control of the power obtained from the two shafts. The Super Motor has rotors positioned on both the inside and outside of one stator, enabling power to be delivered through two shafts by use of a new technology to apply compound current to the Stator coils (Nissan global. com). Nissan has succeeded in independently developing a laminated lithium-ion cell that displays an exceptionally high output characteristic. This cell is the result of many years of lithium-ion battery research that began in 1992. The laminated cell is featured from the 2003 model X-TRAIL FCV (Nissan global. com). The laminated cell design and high-power electrode technology improve power output by 1. 5 times and reduce the volume by more than half compared with the conventional cylindrical cell. The thin cell construction also enables a thin module design for a substantial improvement in battery ooling efficiency. Locating the battery under the floor achieves compact and highly efficient vehicle packaging, including a low, flat floor, among other advantages. Compared with the cylindrical cell, the laminated cell has fewer components and is extremely compact and lightweight. Moreover, Nissan has succeeded in achieving higher power output through material improvements made to the lithium manganate positive electrode and the carbon negative electrode (Nissan global. com). Executive Summary Like any other automobile manufacturer, to stay competitive in today’s world markets, one must consistently innovate and stay one step ahead of the competition. In the past, automobile manufacturers have been first in presenting more fuel efficient vehicles, increased gasoline mileage rating through body redesign, and have introduced new safety features for the yearning public marketplace. Nissan current project in India is to try to regain market share from its competitors Toyota and Honda by creating Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV’s) which are small cars that can be sold for around $3,000. 00. This innovative idea can create a brand new market segment of customers who could not, up until this point, afford to purchase and operate a vehicle. Along with being fuel efficient and maintaining competitive, Nissan’s offering a motorcycle would be an added strategy to pursue. Dealing with the myriad of different cultures across the globe is also a major focus of Nissan’s Chief Operating Office Carlos Ghosn who realizes that the creation of multi-cultural company can flourish and grow through exploiting it synergies, believes that feeding off each other’s strengths, and minimizing its weaknesses are key. Automobile manufacturers like Nissan can never be â€Å"one size fits all†, but they can certainly try to understand and adapt to different cultures to maximize desired commonalities and maximize profits. These days, partnering globally cannot be realized without including China. China is Nissan’s third largest single market (only after North America and Japan). Although vehicle production has significantly increased over the last ten years, passenger car production has actually doubled in the last ten years due to market conditions and Chinese automobile manufacturers ntering the car market. China has a great position in the future manufacturing of automobiles because of increased income and an already over-inflated population. However, threats of inadequate roadways, governmental regulations on how automobiles are purchased, and pressure on Chinese banks to â€Å"control credit† may temporarily slow the process. North America has captured 40% of Nissan’s global sales and has caused an ever-widening gap with Japanese sales which has been increasing each year. Nissan has recently spent several billion dollars on new models and a new U. S. ssembly plant in Mississippi to ensure that this momentum continues. Nissan believes that growing this business means introducing new products while realigning cost structures. Large sums of money are being placed back into product development – most geared towards the North America market. Although the United States never signed onto the popular Kyoto protocol which planned to significantly reduce the amount of carbon emissions in the world, many other nations did because of the ever growing concerns of climate change on a global scale which many believe poses a worldwide threat. Nissan, however, has proactively realized this concern and has taken advantage of this opportunity by making concentrated efforts in advancing technology that reduces carbon dioxide emissions â€Å"at every stage† of the vehicle’s life cycle. Nissan is vigorously working on the creation of cleaner diesel engines that run on biofuels made from plants and other renewable sources. The threat to Nissan has been its competitors who are developing hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles. Toyota has lead this aspect of the automobile industry, and has been setting the bar in alternative fuel sources making them the very green and very profitable company that envisions change in the industry. Nissan began exporting cars to the U. S in 1958 and gained popularity because of its small size and great fuel efficiency. Today, Nissan has developed new eye-catching designs that do not resemble older models. Nissan is very optimistic that sales will increase significant once these 28 new models are launched during the 2008 year. But the look of new models alone isn’t all Nissan is after. Safety features such as installing a series of sensors that can detect alcohol levels in the driver will alert the car to slow and/or become immobilized. Corporate agility is also a key factor as is shown when Nissan moved its headquarters from California to Tennessee, which accommodates over 1300 employees, supporting the community with more jobs, and reducing significant overhead. New technologies developed at Nissan have addressed environmental issues including clean power sources for its vehicles and recycling of natural resources. Nissan has envisioned that the future of their company will greater enrich peoples lives through global environment issues, and reducing traffic accident and congestion problems. Some of Nissan’s proposals include more efficient fuel-cells for electric vehicles, bio-fuels, and advanced diesel fuels. The most important facet that Nissan realizes is that effective solutions will be decided by consumer demand, not engineers. Nissan has constructed a â€Å"Green Program 2010† which has become their environmental blueprint for success in the industry.

Stigma Is An Interesting Concept In Social Psychology Because

Stigma is an interesting concept in social psychology because it not only studies the experience of marginalized people (who already do not receive enough attention in science) but dissects the inner workings of power imbalances, internal dynamics, and interpersonal conflicts. Arguably the most important foundational text in stigma research, across all disciplines, is Goffman’s Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Goffman’s perspective and definition of stigma has been revised many times since its publication, but it remains one of the most influential works in the field. Goffman suggests that stigma is an attribute which sets an individual apart from others in a negative way, which leads to social outcasting or unacceptability. He†¦show more content†¦Socially, stigmatized individuals are usually met with opposition from â€Å"normal† people—there is a severe lack of acceptance and alienation that result from stigma, and with these also c omes discrimination. Goffman notes that even within the first few minutes of a conversation, a â€Å"normal† person can find fault in stigmatized individuals and entirely shift the tone of the encounter. However, Goffman makes sure to note that stigmatization isn’t always a bad thing. Outgroup perceptions and prejudice are definitely detrimental, but stigmatized individuals are often able to form an identity around their stigma—or at least positively integrate it into their self concept. As a result, stigmatized people may be able to find support in people with a similar stigma, and can also accept their â€Å"blemishes.† Some, Goffman says, insist that their socially undesirable attributes are actually a blessing in disguise as it has changed their world view or personality for the better. Other scholars have taken Goffman’s work, which is truly a foundational stigma text, and dissected and revised his conceptualization. For the purpose of this pa per, four articles by Link and Phelen (2001), Major, Kaiser and McCoy (2003), Chen and Bargh (1997), and Scott (1997), will be discussed in the context of Goffman’s work. These texts are especially important because they all build on one another and consistently link back to prior concepts. Each text is able to redesign theShow MoreRelatedJournal Article Evaluation And Critique1625 Words   |  7 Pageset al. (2014). â€Å"Good Girls†: Gender, Social Class, and Slut Discourse on Campus. Social Psychology Quarterly, 77(100), 100-122. Doi: 10.1177/0190272514521220. The issue that the authors address is trying to find an explanation and understanding of why women actively participate in slut shaming. 2. The theory that was tested was whether women participate in slut stigma in order to maintain their different status in regards to social standing. 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