DMC Review Papers Essay Example for Free

DMC Review Papers Essay As Mr. Grant, CEO of DMC has realized, the current growth strategy of the company is insufficient. DMC needs to identify their primary business problems and prepare a new or revised strategy with alternative tactics to address it. Even though DMC had grown to become a multi-billion dollar company and consistently ranked in the top five in their industry, DMC’s returns between 2008 and 2012 showed great profits and loss swings unpredictably. These ranged from a net income loss of $1.5 billion in 2008, . 9 billion in 2009, to a profit of $1.9 billion in 2010, $1.7 billion in 2011 then a loss of 1 billion in net income in 2012, the most recent year. (Table 1) Despite of the up-side-down net income and over $3 billion in long-term debt, DMC was able to make financial arrangements for a line of credit of from $500 million to nearly $2 billion to finance potential acquisitions of major competitors whose financial situations made them available. DMC’s top management team is well aware that a major change in strategy causes other changes. This also causes each manager concerned how his/her own area will change, even while they all know they have to help determine a direction that is the best overall choice for the company. They are well aware that the current growth strategy is insufficient. Top management team also need to consider whether or not a chosen target segment is profitable enough to pursue, and how these changes might influence manufacturing, supply chain, and personnel. Depending upon future direction, there will likely be an impact on information system as well. While IT is a progressive management team who is always willing to implement technical solutions to expedite product development and sales, their budget has been constrained along with all departments over the course of recent recession and the variability of returns to the company. Finance and accounting remain concerned about cash flow demands a nd financial activity for major company undertakings. HR knows from experience that major change can have a significant impact on staffing and morale. Besides company own business problems, DMC also faces industry’s issues as well. In the highly volatile electronics industry, international competition put pressure on the way DMC traditionally did business, including with whom, where, and at what price levels. Their ability to respond rapidly to market change is always difficult, based upon the nature of the product and the heavy investment required for future technologies. As a result, development costs continue to rise while sale margins have dropped steadily. In their industry, innovation is not an option, but an absolute necessity and maintaining a competitive advantage and building market share comes slowly and only to the best and smartest companies. DMC needs to consider the selling to wholesale distributor, particularly VAR. The VAR group always has irregular demand, as they react to the supply chain cycle of their small manufacturing customers and budget cycles for equipment upgrade customers. This segment is highly price sensitive, demanding attractive discounts and low delivery costs. Because of their reactions to the change in the market, DMC will be affected as numbers of demand increase or decrease irregularly, increasing unit cost of production. Now with DMC’s business problems, including within industry problems, have been issued they need a new or revised strategy, which, obviously, would lead to the best overall outcomes. With the problem of net income up and down dramatically and COGS as percentage of sales being a large number affecting net income, DMC needs to find a way to prove selling. They need a more effective way to sell product. Besides, new product development is always important to DMC. The founders believed that the experience of an entrepreneurial driver or team had to start from scratch and create success. They did not believe the future evolved from forecasting or planning in the technology world. The company identified outstanding managers coming up through the ranks, selected a few each year, and gave each $5 million to â€Å"make something happen.† With three or four new product efforts each year, they recognized most might fail, but hoped the winners would make up for the losers. With that in mind, DMC tries to create the own personal computer and touch screen products. It might fail  most of the time but it only needs one success to build up the brand and the future direc tion of the company. DMC really needs to take direct sales to the end user customer into consideration. Even though the Business-to-consumer (B2C) is not common in the electronic components industry, it is well worth the try. After an informal meeting with VP of IT, CEO Grant understands the possibility of moving into B2C without a large capital outlay if they could allocate some dedicated programming time to the project. There are still some concerns over the fact that the sales team would have to be heavily involved in any project like this and smaller orders would not be cost effective and would require too much support for product selection. However, the IT team’s view of sales on the web was that it could a relatively automated process, with a built-in digital configurator tool to help customers choose the right parts with minimal human intervention overall. With the B2C on the line, DMC can seriously consider cutting wholesale distributor like VAR. They not only can save the dollars-turn in every product but also avoid the irregular demand from VAR. With the B2C interface, DMC has the advantage knowing what customers need and the way they thinking. DMC can react quickly to market change and therefore save a lot of money in cost of unit production. B2C e-commerce has a lot of advantages in the business world nowadays. By using B2C, DMC can easily reach worldwide market with unlimited volume of customers. They also can display information, pictures, and prices of products or services without spending a fortune on colorful advertisements. By reducing the cost of advertisements, DMC can save a lot of money and use that to spend for new product development and make up the cost of changing strategies toward each functional division effectively. In some cases, B2C e-commerce makes order processing an easier task than before. With that, DMC als o can save up a lot of cost production and use that to make the selling more effective. One of the biggest advantages of B2C e-commerce is that DMC can operate on decreased, little, or even no overhead. Also, as VP of manufacturing Bret Hendricks expresses, DMC manufactured  division already do a great job of controlling costs and improving processes. He strongly feels his group cannot achieve any more efficiencies from the manufacturing lines unless they do a major overhaul and replace some of the manufacturing systems. With the strong competition from foreign suppliers who receiving funding from government, DMC really needs to find a way to make the manufacturing processes strongly effective. That should be done even it takes a great cost and time to do a major change. In the financial aspect, DMC has been good of negotiating deals with the company’s line credit to create resource and capital for the company major moves like acquisitions and mergers. However, the financial team needs to work on more areas to explore to lower general operating expenses that create problems for the bottom line. The idea of direct sales floating around is very promising. This can create pricing to wash any increased handling costs and significantly exceed the margin offered to their larger wholesale customers to make the new venture worthwhile. However, the difficulty lies on calculating ROI on any type of IT project. There were many variables and intangible benefits to consider. Lastly, if DMC is going to do a major change in strategy, they need to consider the large expenses of doing so. One of the major changes can be made is that DMC might consider insourcing. While outsourcing saves money in the short term, over the long run the company may suffer from not having a large enough employee pool to promote from in certain areas. The IT division of DMC has been doing well over the past. They need to continue to do so and try to explore in some new Business Intelligence tools. That includes the process of running the electronic commerce site. The IT team is a talented team, VP of IT division could try to create things that keep them motivated and create more ideas to help the company’s success. Overall, the main business problems of DMC is their ineffective selling led to dramatically up and down income and their COGS being a large number affecting sales; the functional division that requires lot of things in order to create a change in strategy, this includes cost, time and human resources; management problems of choosing a right market segment; DMC’s  problems within the industry such as international competition, the adaption of market changes response and the increase of development cost. However, DMC also has many opportunities and advantages such as the ability to deal with financial institution with credit card in order to have capital preparing for acquisitions or merger. They also have a good IT team, manufacturing process and talented human resources. DMC already established their reputation as one of the dominant computer component manufacturers in the world. Recommendation for DMC is that they should consider creating a major change in strategy and manufacturing process to make the company sales more effective. In order to do so, they would need to prepare a brief and careful plan because it requires much of cost and time involving all of the company divisions. DMC also needs to invent and explore more to create new products and choose the right market segment. They need to find a way to deal with international competition’s pressure and respond quickly to market change. COGS as percentage of sales needs to be adjusted so that the net income and sales of the company don’t be affected in a wrong way. Lastly, because DMC has problems with market changing and wholesale distributor’s irregular demands, they should seriously consider starting B2C e-commerce. The advantages of B2C e-commerce could really change the status of the company and make sales and manufacturing process more effective.

Are Americans Allergic to Traveling Abroad? :: essays research papers

â€Å"Are Americans allergic to traveling abroad?† I asked Poonam, an immigrant from Nepal, who states that such a notion is â€Å"ridiculous†. Nepal has suffered lately due to a despotic ruler. The newspapers have recently reported that the king has cut off Nepal from the rest of the world by closing airports and shutting down communication. Poonam’s father owns a resort in Nepal, and his family has struggled to keep business open through these tough times.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"How do you explain that only 15% of Americans have passports to travel abroad? Is it because we are lazy?† Poonam furthers that Americans are not lazy or allergic to traveling. He points out that Americans do not have the time to travel abroad. The strength of our economy is based on the working class. He points out that most employees only receive one to two weeks of vacation. In Nepal if he were to take a vacation, his employer would give him one to two months off so that he can travel and enjoy himself. He explains that to travel to Nepal, it takes two days to get there and two takes to get back home (Baltimore). The weary traveler usually needs a day or two after each way to recover from any jet lag or from the pure exhaustion of balancing airplane and other time schedules. Poonam also points out, the vast land in United States allows Americans the opportunity to take mini-trips that can be very enriching. This is one of his favorite aspects of ou r country. Poonam who works 72 hour work weeks without overtime, will spend his only day off taking his son and wife to Washington D.C. or Philadelphia.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We both agree that this point is overlooked. Traveling abroad is reserved for those who do not have to work – the independently wealthy. Poonam does not believe that apathy prevents us from travel, but rather our drive to succeed in our careers. I posed the question as to whether or not we work too much? He reminds me of the French government who require mandatory vacations and 35 hours work weeks. I counter with a recent news article that reported a decline in the French economy. The French government is thinking of reversing the 35 hour work week law.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I am definitely very interested in traveling. I have started taking French lessons so that I can travel abroad.

Challenges Children Face in Divorced Families Essay

The death of a parent is less devastating to a child than a divorce. (Billota, 2012) There are long term and short effects that children face during and post divorce. There are six stations in which most couples face while going through these trials. About fifty percent of married couples will get a divorced before the children are of the age of 18. (Scott, 2010) Since divorce is so complex I will discuss some guidelines on how to ease the pain on children growing up or going through a household in which parents are getting a divorce. The death of a parent is less devastating to a child than a divorce. (Billota, 2012) After carefully analyzing this statistic I can say that I agree with the statistical fact. Speaking from personal experience, I feel like I am a creditable source and can relate to this topic of Challenges Children Faced in Divorced Families. Another statistic is that half of American children, under the age of eighteen will witness the actual break of their parents and half of those children will also witness the failure of the second marriage. The percentage of children being raised without their fathers in America is an astonishing forty percent. Children who experienced a divorce are more like to be at a higher risk for illness or injury such as asthma, headaches, and speech defects. (Billota, 2012) These are just a few of the statistical facts that children of divorce face. My name is Mayra and I am a statistic. I come from a divorced family; I witnessed the breakup of my parents and both of their second marriages. I am a divorcee, my son is a recipient of speech therapy and I was raised without a father. Divorce is a death of a commitment and a promise, but unlike a death of a parent, it isn’t someone we mourn and then slowly move forward from, it is a death that we have to deal with on a day to day basis. This is why the death of a parent is less devastating to a child than of a divorce. (Billota, 2012) â€Å"I, Mayra, take thee, Erick, to be my lawful wedded husband. To have and to hold from this day forward; for better or for worse; in sickness and in health; to love, to honor, obey, and cherish; from this day forward; till death do us part.† These are common broken vows. Why do people marry? According to our text, people marry for love and commitment as well to avoid the inevitable feeling of loneliness. (Scott, 2010) A steady companionship is ideal in society and although that isn’t the sole reason for marriage, it is one of the major reason people pursue marriage. Other reasons people get married besides personal fulfillment, can be for financial reasons, wealth, power and reproductive reasons. (Scott, 2010) In a perfect world everyone would live a fairytale marriage and live a happily ever after. In today’s society divorce is what happens when couples don’t work out. Some might refer to it as a trend; do to the simple fact that in the most recent years the numbers of divorce rates have increased to a little more than 1 million a year. (Scott, 2010) Factors that affect marital stability are, but not refined just to, age of first marriage, education of individuals, income, religion, parental divorce, cohabitation, and presence of children. (Scott, 2010) There are different stages in the process of divorce. Starting from when the conflict between the married couple begins and last a period of time; to the initiation of legal paperwork; to the spouses’ adaption to the dissolution of the troubled marriage. (Scott, 2010) As mentioned above some factors that affect marital stability include the presence of children. Marriages can last longer if children are indeed present do to the fact that parents don’t want their children to grow up in a broken home; it can be imposed values or the sense of guilt. In cases when the marriage cannot be salvaged and there are children involved in the dissolution; it is best that the parents take time to careful initiate the process while providing stability and structure. (Scott, 2010; Block, Kemp, & Smith, 2012) The six stations that married couples face as they divorce are: emotional, legal economic, coparental, community and psychic divorce. During the emotional station, either one or both partners begin to question their marriage based on the viability or quality. One or both partners may withdraw emotionally, withhold feelings and may withhold affection. Intentionally hurting one another may occur because of the frustration, anger or resentment that they might feel towards each other or one another. Separation during this stage is common and it is common to do so after an argument or fight. (Scott, 2010) It is crucial that from this stage parents recognize that in order to avoid their children from feeling the stress and the pain of a divorce, that they provide structure, love and reassurance to the children. One thing to remember is not to belittle one another or argue in front of the children. (Block, Kemp, & Smith, 2012) During my emotional station, we both detached from one another and intentionally hurt one another by verbally insulting each other. An argument that occurred while placing an order at a restaurant was all it took to know that the person that I married knew nothing about me after 6 years of marriage. I took into account that I had a son and I didn’t want him to grow up without both parents, but I figured it wasn’t a healthy marriage and I couldn’t hide my pain, it showed and affected my relationship with my son. I left within a couple of days of that argument. Second station: The legal divorce officially ends the matrimony and gives both parties the right to remarry or see other people as they please. This is a deliberating period of time and usually takes months before it’s finalized. Divorce can be expensive and result in either spousal support, alimony, and or child support, which leads’ us to our third station: economic divorce. Economic divorce involves the economical settlements of tangible items that may have been accrued during the marriage. It includes homes, cars, bank accounts, investments and any future earnings. This station is not applicable to every marriage being that not every marriage last as long and may or may have not accrued much. Stations two and three may also affect the challenges the children face during these periods. Children may face the challenge of not seeing either parent for long periods of time and have to incorporate a new schedule and routine. It is common for a father to become less involv ed with their children during this period because of their perceptions of possible sources of support. Fathers may feel that by providing child support they no longer have resume their ties to fatherly duties. During the economic station, children may also face economical changes. It is common for the mother to have custody and usually in household incomes the father has a higher income. If they live with the mother the child may not live the life as if both parents combined their income causing stress and emotional pain to a child. (Scott, 2010) Being involved with the children after divorce is a great way to reassure them that they have both parents’ regardless of the separation. And even through the economical changes, providing the children with a safe secure home, establishing a routine, and providing structure will ease the challenges the children face. (Block, Kemp, & Smith, 2012) Children react to divorce by having feeling of denial, anger, sadness, rejection, despair and grief and loneliness. Station 4 the coparental divorce involves the responsibilities the parents have to the children that include, custody, visitation, and financial and legal aspects of it. (Scott, 2010) Engaging in custody battle adds an abundant amount of stress to all parties, especially the children. Ensuring that the children don’t get caught in between battle is important. Parents should make sure they don’t have the children chose sides and always remember it should be in the best interest of the child. (Block, Kemp, & Smith, 2012) The community divorce, station five, involves the changes of the social relationships which includes relatives and friends that are associated with a former spouse. This can act as a loss to either family member. Having to detach from relatives, such as in-laws, mutual friends, family members of the former spouse, puts a toll on everyone because people are left to feel like they have to choose sides. Children face the challenges of losing friends and the luxury of having the sense of family. (Scott, 2010) In my personal situation, mutual friends were forced to take sides because my former spouse couldn’t handle the thought of sharing anything that had to do with me. Former family members feel like they can’t invite to family parties out of respect to my ex, but it affects my son because, he misses his father’s family. Situations like these are best handled by presenting as a united front. (Block, Kemp, & Smith, 2012) The psychic divorce, sixth station, has no time frame and involves defining yourself as single person rather than a couple. During this process, people mourn their failed marriage, use the time to discover their self, distance themselves from the divorce and accept the breakup. The station of difficulty and time varies from individual to individual. (Scott, 2010) Children absorb so much through divorce and being a strong parent, who reassures them that they are not at fault or cause for the divorce helps ease the grief caused by the divorce. Helping children express emotions and committing to listen to the children without getting defensive reassures the unconditional love that you have for them. Adjusting to new circumstances is difficult for children, they can look at divorce as a loss and by supporting their feelings helps create that trust that may have been lost with the divorce. (Block, Kemp, & Smith, 2012) Divorce on children has a short term and long term effect. The short term experiences that are most commonly shared among children whose parents divorced are: rejection, anger, denial, sadness, despair, and grief. Children tend to feel guilty and blame themselves for the divorce and fantasize about parents reuniting. The stresses of this may cause health problems, both physical and psychological. Health problems may be caused by the lack of health insurance following the divorce, which creates a health problematic for children. The stress of the divorce may lead to depression and leave the children feeling incompetent. This depends on the guidance of the parents and the adjustment process of the child. Long term effects may not be as clear and consistent. Long term effects are long-lasting and interfere with the process of social-emotional developmental. (Scott, 2010) Children of divorced families are four more times likely to have problems with their peers. It is also said that boys who come from divorced parents tend to be more aggressive toward their peers than those who don’t come from a broken home. (Billota, 2012) The adult children of divorced parents show much more anxiety and have a higher rate of having failing interpersonal relationships. The more common long term effect of children of divorced parents is low self-esteem, depression and school and behavior problems. These are the negative effects and challenges children face. (Scott, 2010) Support for marriage and families can be found online, within the community and schools. Some schools provide affordable counseling services. Parents who decide to divorce are encouraged to learn about the effects children face during divorce. It may help reduce risks children might face during and after the process. There is a high risk for fathers to be less involved with their children after divorce, so it is encouraged that families promote activities that involve parents and children so that it help them stay connected (Scott, 2010) Important guidelines to help children cope are, telling the truth, saying â€Å"I love you†, addressing the changes, avoid blaming anyone, listening and acknowledging feelings, having patience, providing reassurance, and providing a structured routine. When in doubt, it is encouraged to seek professional help. (Block, Kemp, & Smith, 2012) By providing all the above, helps give the children a sense a security and perhaps the hope that everything is for the better. It would be nice if children from divorced families could break the vicious cycle of divorce. I can say that for two yours I put a lot effort into making my marriage work. I encourage everyone to take premarital counseling and post-marital counseling. I believe to have a strong successful marriage there needs to be a solid foundation of communication, trust and respect. Love is an emotion and in most cases conditional, the only unconditional love that I ever known is for my son. I can’t say that for everyone. If I would have known that I was going to cause so much emotional pain getting a divorce, never in a million years would have given up after two years. The death of a parent is less devastating to a child than a divorce. (Billota, 2012) Works Cited Billota, L. (2012, March 23). 18 Shocking Statistics About Children and Divorce. Retrieved from Marriage Success Secrets website: http://www.marriage-success-secrets.com/statistics-about-children-and-divorce.html Block, J., Kemp, G., & Smith, M. (2012, March 21). Children and Divorce. Retrieved from Helpguide.org: http://www.helpguide.org/mental/children_divorce.htm Scott, M. A. (2010). Marriages and Families. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Sha’Lynn Ayler . Mrs. Cowan. Honor English 12 4Th Block.

Sha’Lynn Ayler Mrs. Cowan Honor English 12 4th Block 20 February 2017 The Life of Ted Hughes In the â€Å"The Hawk in the Rain,† Ted Hughes writes, â€Å"I drown in the drumming ploughland, I drag up / Heel after heel from the swallowing of the earth’s mouth, / From clay that clutches my each step to the ankle / With the habit of the dogged grave, but the hawk/ Effortlessly at height hangs his still eye† (News about Ted Hughes†). This is Hughes’ first and most accomplished collection to this day. During the twentieth century Hughes produced some of his most important works that became influential in todays’ society. Hughes was famous for his animal poems that was written for both adolescence and adult audiences. Ted Hughes’ works were†¦show more content†¦Throughout Ted Hughes’ works his fascination with animals is vastly prevalent. During Hughes’ childhood his family moved to Mexborough when he was seven years old. The Hughes’ family resided in rural area. Hughes as well as his childhood friends would often interact with the animals within the community. He would capture birds, foxes, and fish for loaches. He developed a passion for animals at the early age of four when he was given a photographic book of animals on his fourth birthday. The book had descriptions of the animal’s history which was rather advanced for a young child. Hughes attempted to draw and copy the pictures within the book. He relished collecting living creatures, such as mice (Feinstein 8-9). In addition, with the influence of his brother Gerald Hughes, Ted Hughes had a desire for hunting and shooting animals, uncommon among the others that live in the village. According to London Times contributor Thomas Nye, Hughes once confessed â€Å"that he began writing poems adolescence, in his earlier years he had a passion for hunting animals, whether the animal was dead or trapped Hughes had an attraction to animals. He wanted to capture not just live animals, but the aliveness of animals in their nature state: their wildness, quiddity, the fox-ness of the fox and the crow-ness of the crow† (â€Å"Ted Hughes, Poetry†). In Hughes’ poems animals mirror mans’ inner turbulence. In his poem