Essays about Support.

Section 1: Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

With upwards of 20 stores and operations across multiple countries, Guaranteed Shoe Company should expectedly have supply chains that involve even more countries, staff, and business partners. This renders it necessarily difficult, resource-intensive and laborious to ensure the business runs effectively, especially given the automated online ordering. Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP) offer a backbone in the integration and automation of internal information systems and business processes across the logistics, manufacturing, distribution, accounting, human resources and finance functions of the organization.

It offers seamless support for internal processes and integration with external business partners to ensure that value is delivered to the customers. For instance if a client places an order for shoes that are unavailable at a store, the system can have the shoes shipped from other stores, and/or make an order from the supplier without the involvement of staff. Similarly, while the company, currently has to stock products in the stores, determine how fast they move before deciding on the pre-order amount and/or discontinue the product, this can now be done automatically. It is possible to determine how well individual products sell, and ERP systems’ automatic inventory management systems enable the company to automatically re-order more and/or make other decisions regarding the stocks. The system aggregates customers’ orders, handles purchasing and accounts payables, scheduling, order tracking, inventory control and warehousing, distribution/shipment and accounts receivables.
According to O'Brien & Marakas (2010), ERP systems create commerce platforms, backed up with additional support capabilities that include streamlined inventory management, warehouse management and flexible pricing, strengthened back office and core applications (e.g. finance and accounts receivables). Other benefits include increased visibility into the Guaranteed Shoe Company’s supply chain and ease operational scalability. Since the company is headquartered in the US and has 20 branch offices across the world, decision-making is heavily dependent on the ability for the senior managers to get excellent quality information on the company’s performance. With ERP systems, this information is readily available and continuously updated, which means that managers do not have wait for reports from the branch offices before they can a decision.

This way, the system ensures quality and efficiency in the internal processes, cost reduction, provision of real-time cross-functional information to support decision-making, and organizational agility in responding to varying consumer needs. These systems transform Guaranteed Shoe Company into one giant store, despite the geographical dispersion. However, while the company already has a website that allows automated ordering, order processing, and management, it does not have a proper ERP system, which does, however, offer it considerable value. However, the company needs to be alive to the issues associated with the implementation of ERP systems, which owing to their complexity present a considerable risk of implementation failure. Improper implementation may result in catastrophic disruptions. If the company chooses to implement the systems, it is critical to plan, customize the system to the firm’s functions, and manage the change process effectively. This frees up the staff to concentrate on other activities, such as customer service, while at once making the firm’s functional business practices easier for the company, which is critical given the company’s global operations.

Section 2: Customer Relationship Management Systems

Guaranteed Shoe Company thrives based on its great customer services, as perhaps best shown by its commitment to arrange for, and ship shoes that are unavailable at stores to the customers. Given the wide range of products, coupled with every client’s unique needs, it extremely difficult for the company to meet its obligations without the right technology. The CRM software will help the company’s sales, marketing and customer service practitioners to track relevant data about the past and future customers and prospects, as well as other life cycle and business events. Customer information may be captured from numerous contact points, including the website visits, email, fax, retail stores and personal contact with others. The data is then stored in databases that integrated and availed across the organization, effectively facilitating better customer service since all staff can access the clients’ information. Further, Guaranteed Shoe Company’s sales staff would be equipped with the tools and data necessary to support their marketing activities, o;optimizing cross- and up-selling. For instance, emails gathered through multiple contacts can be used to sent marketing information (offers, discounts and product recommendations).

It is easy to customize services to every customer because the company will have a wealth of information about them. For sales agents, decision support is easily the most important aspect of the CRM system, not least because it gives them important information about the customers’ past history, shoe sizes, type, regularity of purchases and responsiveness to marketing campaigns. With the multiple number of stores, it is important that Guaranteed Shoe Company’s retention and loyalty programs are effective by tapping into the pool of existing customers and making sure that they remain committed to the firm. Given the intense competition in the retail market, hanging onto the existing customers is critical, and if the company fully implements the CRM system, it will have the best chance of getting it right. With the help of these systems, the company can save up to 600% of the costs necessary to get new customers, achieve greater customer satisfaction, brand loyalty and equity.
Similarly, the gathered information is important in direct marketing campaigns, not least because allows the company to automate some of the marketing activities, including the planning, scheduling and tracking marketing campaigns. Manipulatable customer data is available to the Guaranteed Shoe Company’s staff, who can assess the performance of marketing campaigns, as a basis for further campaigns. For instance, the number of customers that respond to emails about new shoe lines at the company’s store can be targeted with further marketing messages (including discounts, free deliveries and other offers). Even most importantly, once orders have been placed by the customer, the system’s real-time order tracking and customer support capabilities schedule clients’ requests for service and assign them to staff where necessarily, ensuring that as many customer needs are served to the best possible extent. O'Brien & Marakas (2010) points to call center and help desk modules/software that can make the company’s sales support activities markedly easier.

Section 3: Supply Chain Management Systems

Supply chains, especially for a company whose operations spans several countries are considerable. The most important difficulties for Guaranteed Shoe Company include high volatility in the clients’ demand, higher consumer expectations in regard to customer service, in part because of the intense competition and quality. The company already uses its intranet, extranet, and electronic commerce portals to ensure customer orders are managed efficiently. In addition, the company has to ensure that it meets these expectations at acceptably low costs, because the ability to pass on additional costs to the consumers is limited both by the competition as well as the customers’ unwillingness to accept such costs, which means that if the company has to be profitable, it faces an increasing logistical burden to deliver value. Other challenges include globalized competition, commodity prices’ volatility, complex consumer demand patterns, increased financial volatility (including exchange rate volatility and inflation), globalized labour markets (raising cross-cultural and employee compensation issues), increased exposure to varied regulatory requirements across different countries, supplier landscape complexity, and geopolitical instability. Navigating all these factors is difficult enough, but even worse, is the fact that these variables are characterized by considerable uncertainty.

These risks cannot simply be managed by buying larger insurance policies, and Guaranteed Shoe Company needs to explore a range od strategies to ensure The company should shift its focus towards better cost management (logistical support) and value chain management. Operating costs reduction is critical for survival in this business, and to achieve this,the company needs to cut back its overall inventories, bolster quality, improve customer service, increase the order turnaround time, reduce capital costs and ensure that the company adheres to the highest possible ethical standards. This is impossible to accomplish without a supply chain management system. These systems integrate planning ordering, production and delivery in the organization as well as across the company’s value chain. According to O'Brien & Marakas (2010), these systems use information technology to manage and support the firm’s value creation operations from the supplier to the customer.

This system will help the company to anticipate better the customers’ needs by forecasting, which in turn allows the company to anticipate demand and plan according. Effectively, this will make it possible reduce inventories considerably since the stores will only hold stocks that are likely to move fast. This also cuts back on the cost of holding too much stock (including warehousing) and reduces the probability of shoes being unavailable in the shops and forcing clients to place singular orders that are more expensive to fulfil compared to large orders. In addition, Guaranteed Shoe Company can integrate its supply chain management system with its suppliers, to ensure seamless cooperation in the planning and delivery of the customers’ needs. This eliminates any need to for the company’s staff to fill out orders in order to get more stock. Given the fact that the company’s suppliers are spread across the world, as well as its stores, the instantaneous communication and cooperation is extremely important in overcoming many of the challenges facing a multinational company such as ours. For instance, the changes in the supply chain can be automatically reflected in the product’s pricing, which makes it possible for the company to incur the risks of exchange rate and inflation fluctuations, etc.

Section 4: Business Intelligence

Business intelligence will prove to be a critical strategy for Guaranteed Shoe Company, especially if the company chooses to implement the enterprise resource planning system, the customer relationship management system, and the supply chain management system. These systems present considerable opportunities for the company to harvest consumer, supplier, and other data, process it, and use it to create real time and actionable strategic information that can be used to create competitive advantages. The company need to invest in technologies that would create value out of the wealth of data that it will collect from its customers, suppliers, and other business partners, to help in strategic decision-making.
According to Bradburry (2014), technology, including simple tools such as Microsoft Excel and Access can transform data into usable information that would make the difference between it and its competitors. This is even more important for organizations that have the infrastructure to collect data (including ERP and CRM systems). This goes to show that in order for Guaranteed Shoe company to reap the most benefits from the recommended technologies, it needs to create synergies from the implementation of multiple similar complementary technologies. With these technologies and the wealth of data that they can gather from differing contacts with customers and business partners, it is possible to develop business intelligence. Effectively, information technology will be rendered into a tool that does not only achieve efficiencies and improve customer satisfaction but perhaps most importantly, take a central role in strategy formation. Even most importantly, is the fact that business intelligence facilitates the innovation of products and services, which help achieve further client value. For instance, the company may decide to include clothing lines if it realizes that its customers desire to shop for both shoes and clothes. The fact that the information available to the firm may be unique to it means that the data can help it generate sustainable competitive advantages.

References

Bowen, D. (2014). E-commerce: how to approach the next big thing in B2B marketing. Retrieved 2015
Bradburry, D. (2014, Apri 7). New weapon for small businesses: data mining. Retrieved 2015, from http://business.financialpost.com/entrepreneur/how-small-businesses-can-find-success-in-their-data
Brassington, F., & Pettitt, S. (2006). Principles of Marketing (4 th Ed ed.). New York: Financial Times/ Prentice Hall.
Kirby, S. L., & Richard, O. C. (2000). Impact of Marketing Work-Place Diversity on Employee Job Involvement and Organizational Commitment. Journal Of Social Psychology, 140(3), 367-377.
McKinsey & Company. (2010). The challenges ahead for supply chains: McKinsey Global Survey results. Retrieved July 25, 2015, from http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/operations/the_challenges_ahead_for_supply_chains_mckinsey_global_survey_results
O'Brien, J., & Marakas, G. (2010). Management Information Systems (10th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Companies,Incorporated.

Marketing Plan for Windroid Mobile Phone Company

Brief Introduction of the Company
Windroid is a new mobile phone company based in New York, USA. The company deals in mobile phones that support both Operating Systems (OS) windows as well as android. Basing on this particular characteristic, it is named “Windroid”. WMP (Windroid Mobile Phones) has a vast network of selling locations, and to achieve this purpose in the best possible manner, they have opened their branches in all major cities of the state.

Environmental Analysis

According to Reeve (2002), the purpose of environmental analysis is to discuss all the internal and external factors that can influence a particular

Abstract

The child’s trust in people is formed in the early stages of development. The factors that influence the impact of the child’s ambitions, such as taking the initiative and being active in the world, feeling confident were discussed. In studies reviewed, researchers wanted to determine the impact of relationship with parents and educators during the early stages of development. Research methods included questionnaires, surveys and statistical data. It was found that the relationship between a child and significant adults is very important to shaping the child’s personality, trust and love for her surroundings.
Keywords: childhood, parents,

My organization is preparing to deploy a Microsoft Windows SQL Server 2012 on dual servers as production databases. The organization aspires the servers to handle 500 users on a daily basis. This paper documents a research pertaining SQL 2012 planning and installation process. The first section will detail the list of considerations the organization needs to have in mind before installation of the SQL server. The second part review the SQL Server 2012 editions and provide a rationale on the best option. The third section details the minimum hardware requirement for the machines and the maximum resources necessary to

Introduction

One among the accepted reality in international relations is the prevailing recognition of the idea that terrorism is the weapon of the weak. This is further reinforced by the shocking turn of events on September 11, 2001 where a group of terrorist coordinated a series of bombing in the United States. However, many political analysts argued that terrorism is not solely associated as resort taken by the weak to get their messages across, rather, it also a means by which the strong impose their will on the former. While this may not be generally accepted, defining terrorism would shed

Thesis

Sources
In arguing his thesis, the author uses multiple sources to show the diverse patterns intimacy when the Chinese, who lived in the hinterland of British Columbia, are compared with their counterparts in Chinatowns, with the latter showing more liberalism. One of the categories of sources used by the author to argue his thesis is the reports prepared by different scholars at the time. These reports give accounts on different aspects that are important to the author’s thesis. The Canadian census is also utilized richly as a source, especially where statistical information to track the growth of Chinese

One issue on which I have a strong opinion is whether or not the same-sex marriage ruling improves public health. This issue is rooted in the argument for how the development of the concern for social rights effects the underlying public health.
The way in which the argument concerning the issue is that it is essentially an issue concerned with the overall ability of these rulings to lead to the improvement of public health. This issue was presented by a policy maker or member of media within the past six months. Furthermore, it presents the issue of how to

Earley, Pete (2012). The Serial Killer Whisperer: How One Man's Tragedy Helped Unlock the Deadliest Secrets of the World's Most Terrifying Killers. Touchstone. New York City: NY. ISBN-13: 978-1439199039.

Purpose of the book

The purpose of “The Serial Killer Whisperer” is revelation. The minds of serial killers and serial murders have fascinated us through investigative documentaries, sitcoms and Hollywood blockbusters (Schmid, 2005). The information that is portrayed to us in these mediums is generally violent and usually illogical behavior on part of the serial offender. This book, however, reveals a different side to the readers. The side that eludes investigators and criminal profilers;

The Common Core Standard program is a federal program that regulates a set of standards for states to follow in preparing students for college and the job market after high school graduation. In essence, the states lose their ability to implement programs that cater to their unique demographics and local characteristics. In the vast career driven civilization prospering today, many young adults are expected to perform at a certain level. So the Common Core Standard program was developed to educate students using the mantra: clearer, higher and deeper that will lead them to prepare them to meet these expectations.

Earlier studies have also reported the correlation between psychological problems (e.g. anxiety and depression) and nightmares, and more recent studies have focused on the correlation between suicidal tendencies and nightmares among adolescents. More particularly, according to Liu (2004), sleeplessness is more widespread in students with higher suicidal tendency, and this pattern is usually attended by frequent nightmares. Nightmares are described as intense dreams characterized by heightened feelings of fear that rouses the person, which normally take place during REM sleep. In a research of individuals experiencing major depression, Agargun and associates (1998) (as cited in Liu, 2004) illustrated that recurrent nightmares are linked to heightened suicidal ideation. Current studies indicate that nightmares are more widespread than initially thought.
Hershner and Chevin (2014) put forth another detrimental impact of sleep quality on psychological wellbeing. They reported that sleep disruption is an important factor which brings about poor sense of worth or self-image, which, in turn, could cause depression. They further conveyed that university experts are more inclined to handle depression as the greatest contributing factor to poor academic outcomes, neglecting the fact that a poor self-image caused by poor sleep quality is major root of depression. Thus, given these gaps in the literature, it is essential to identify the actual fundamental relationship between sleep quality and depression among college students.

Nonetheless, despite the comprehensiveness and validity of the findings about the greater importance of sleep quality over sleep quantity, some researchers claim that proponents of sleep quality did not take into consideration other factors that could influence academic performance among college students. Without taking into account sleep quantity, these researchers argue that it is not possible to draw an accurate conclusion about the actual impact of sleep disorders on the academic performance of college students (Wolfson & Carskadon, 2003). The studies of educators, social scientists, and developmental psychologists in evaluating aspects that focus on disparities in academic performance have emphasized the significance of a more inclusive model than most sleep experts have adopted.
Similarly, other social scientists currently argued that researchers that examine the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral performance of college students have to take into full account of the quantity of sleep on the psychological and physiological health of college students. They argue that sleep quality alone cannot account for the full aspect of the academic performance of college students. For instance, studies have reported that shorter duration of sleep affects the ability of college students to focus during classroom activities and examinations. Lawrence Epstein, a medical professor at Harvard University, argues for the importance of sleep quantity (American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 2007, para 3):
Recent studies have shown that adequate sleep is essential to feeling awake and alert, maintaining good health and working at peak performance. After two weeks of sleeping six hours or less a night, students feel as bad and perform as poorly as someone who has gone without sleep for 48 hours. New research also highlights the importance of sleep in learning and memory. Students getting adequate amounts of sleep performed better on memory and motor tasks than did students deprived of sleep.
Several researchers support lengthier sleep for students because brain functions are also dependent on the amount of sleep an individual receives.

All of these contentions are valid and reasonable. It is true that both sleep quality and sleep quantity should be taken into account in the examination of the physical, cognitive, and behavioral performance of college students. Both sleep quality and sleep quantity affect the overall wellbeing of an individual. However, the primacy of sleep quality over sleep quantity has been supported by a fair number of studies. Stenzel (2015) firmly argues that college students should be trained in time management and taught about the importance of quality of sleep. He found out from his study of the impact of sleep quality on college students’ behavior that sleeping longer during weekends or free time does not compensate for the lack of efficient sleep. Deficient sleep quality is harder to recover than inadequate sleep quantity. Hence the argument of this paper stands—there should be a greater emphasis on sleep quality among college students.
In conclusion, there is a certain level of confusion between sleep quality and sleep quantity. Many mistakenly interchange the two. Sleep quantity refers to the quantifiable aspect of sleep, such as duration and amount of sleep, whereas sleep quality refers to the intangible characteristic of sleep such as its efficiency and depth. It is the contention of this paper that sleep quality has a greater influence on the academic performance of college students than sleep quantity. There are three supporting premises for this argument: the greater impact of sleep quality on the cognitive performance of students; on the onset of depression; and, on life satisfaction. Poor quality of sleep adversely affects the learning, memory, and concentration skills of students, while nothing of the sort has been mentioned for sleep quantity. According to several studies, too much sleeping can even impair daytime activities, but there is no such thing as ‘excessive’ sleep quality that could detrimentally affect an individual’s psychological, emotional, and physiological performance.
Depressive symptoms usually occur in individuals who are chronically deprived of quality sleep. Staying awake for a number of hours does not significantly contribute to the onset of depression among college students, but excessive stimulation or repetitive arousal during sleep can significantly affect the ability of an individual to cope with internal and external stressors. And, lastly, the wellbeing and quality of life of students is largely determined by the quality of sleep they obtain. The recuperating and invigorating impact of sleep is simply achieved through efficient sleep. However, not everyone is convinced that sleep quality is more important than sleep quantity. Several professionals from various disciplines still adhere to the idea that the duration and amount of sleep that students get significantly affects their ability to perform well academically. Some support a more balanced view of sleep quality and sleep quantity.

Primary References

American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2007, November 30). College students: getting enough sleep is vital to academic success. Retrieved from http://www.aasmnet.org/articles.aspx?id=659.
Edell-Gustafsson, U. (1999). Sleep, psychological symptoms and quality of life in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting. Uppsala, Sweden: Linkoping University. https://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCEQFjAAahUKEwin5_Ok_PXGAhULSI4KHUqCAZA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.diva-portal.org%2Fsmash%2Fget%2Fdiva2%3A249227%2FFULLTEXT02.pdf&ei=J1ezVee3GIuQuQTKhIaACQ&usg=AFQjCNFTWpGghxcnvGlMBa3jnItZyM3_FA&sig2=bEsX_hMXMTqE9UfyC2lHdw&bvm=bv.98717601,d.c2E
Galambos, N., Howard, A., & Maggs, J. (2010). Rise and fall of sleep quantity and quality with student experiences across the first year of university. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21(2), 342-349.
Gikunda, R. et al. (2014). The effect of sleep quantity on performance of students in public universities, Kenya. Merit Research Journal of Education and Review, 2(6), 113-118. https://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCAQFjAAahUKEwiR6rSX_PXGAhWJjo4KHdk2AmQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmeritresearchjournals.org%2Fer%2Fcontent%2F2014%2FJune%2FGikunda%2520et%2520al.pdf&ei=C1ezVdG4BomdugTZ7YigBg&usg=AFQjCNEUDQJxV-UTOTxn89xNx8eF8IYVog&sig2=6DMgKt4XXobK1l81KvX5xg&bvm=bv.98717601,d.c2E
Gilbert, S., & Weaver, C. (2010). Sleep quality and academic performance in university students: a wake-up call for college psychologists. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 24, 295-306.
Gruber, R. & Brouillette, R. (2006). Towards an understanding of sleep problems in childhood depression. Sleep, 29(3), 351-358. http://www.journalsleep.org/Articles/290401.pdf
Gunnarsdottir, K. (2014). Effects of poor subjective sleep quality on symptoms of depression and anxiety among adolescents. Thesis Paper for the Department of Psychology, 2-16.
Hershner, S., & Chervin, R. (2014). Causes and consequences of sleepiness among college students. Nature and Science of Sleep NSS, 6, 73-84.
Johansson, A. (2012). Sleep-wake-activity and health-related quality of life in patients with coronary artery disease. Linkoping University Medical Dissertations, 1272, 3-107.
Liu, X. (2004). Sleep and adolescent suicidal behavior. Sleep, 27(7), 1351-1358.
Lowry, M., Dean, K., & Manders, K. (2010). The link between sleep quantity and academic performance for the college student. The University of Minnesota Undergraduate Journal of Psychology, 3, 16-19. http://faculty.oxy.edu/clint/physio/article/TheLinkBetweenSleepQuantityandAcademic.pdf
Pilcher, J., Ginter, D., & Sadowsky, B. (1997). Sleep quality versus sleep quantity: relationships between sleep and measures of health, well-being and sleepiness in college students. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 42(6), 583-596.
Stenzel, J. (2015). Sleep quality and negative associated behaviors of college students: A Cross-Sectional Study. The Spectrum: A Scholars Day Journal, 3(10), 1-11.
Telzer, et al. (2013). The effects of poor quality sleep on brain function and risk taking in adolescence. NeuroImage, 71, 275-283.
Trockel, M., Barnes, M., & Egget, D. (2000). Performance among first-year college students: implications for sleep and other behaviors. Journal of American College Health, 49, 125-131.
Wolfson, A. & Carskadon, M. (2003). Understanding adolescents’ sleep patterns and school performance: a critical appraisal. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 7(6), 491-506.

Secondary References

Agargun, M.Y. et al. (1998). Repetitive and frightening dreams and suicidal behavior in patients with major depression. Comparative Psychiatry, 39, 198-202.
Bertocci, M.A. et al. (2005). Subjective sleep complaints in pediatric depression. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 44(11), 1158-66.