Pricing Strategy and Channel Distribution Essay Example for Free

Pricing Strategy and Channel Distribution Essay Pricing Strategy and Channel Distribution Senior Concierge Services Kelly Spino Strayer University Dr. Robert Badowski Abstract Determine and discuss a pricing strategy (penetration or skimming). Determine and discuss pricing tactics (product line pricing, value pricing, differential pricing, or competing against private brands) to be used for your product. Identify any legal and ethical issues related to the pricing tactics. Prepare a marketing distribution channel analysis identifying the wholesaler, distributor, and retailer relationships. Discuss how the distribution strategy fits the product/service, target market, and overall marketing objectives for the company. As a service business, Senior Concierge Service will offer non medical care and maintenance for senior citizens and their families. This type of service business does not have many competitors, and pricing is consistent among the senior care industry. The pricing strategy for Senior Concierge Service will be to stay within the normal range for its services. Consumers will choose Senior Concierge Service over the competition not by cost, but by the quality of services offered. Price skimming is a pricing strategy in which a marketer sets a relatively high price for a product or service at first, and then the price is lowered over time. This is a version of price discrimination. Price skimming allows a business to recover its resources quickly before a competitor moves in and lowers their prices, lowering the market price. The objective of a price skimming strategy is to capture the consumer surplus. There are several potential problems with this strategy. It is effective only when a business is facing an inelastic demand curve (demand that is not very sensitive to a change in price). Skimming encourages the entry of competitors. Penetration pricing is a more suitable strategy in this case. This strategy is a pricing technique of setting a relatively low initial entry price, often lower than the market price, to attract new customers. This strategy works on the probability that customers will switch to the new business because of the lower price. Penetration pricing is most commonly associated with a marketing objective of increasing market hare or sales volume, rather than to make profit in the short term. This can take the competition by surprise, not giving them time to react. It can also create goodwill among the early customer segment. This can create more trade through word of mouth. Ethical thinking is responding to situations that deal with principles concerning human behavior in respect to the appropriateness and inappropriate ness of certain communication and to the decency and indecency of the intention and results of such actions (distinctions between right and wrong). Marketers are ethically responsible for what is marketed and the image that a product portrays. Marketers need to understand what good ethics are and how to incorporate good ethics in various marketing campaigns to better reach a targeted audience and to gain trust from customers. (Wikipedia. com) Unethical or controversial marketing strategies include: bait and switch, pyramid scheme, planned obsolescence, lock-in/ loyalty schemes, viral marketing, and, monopolies/oligopolies. In retail sales, a bait and switch is a form of fraud in which the party putting forth the fraud lures in customers by advertising a product or service at an unprofitably low price, and then reveals to potential customers that the advertised good is not available but that a substitute is. A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, without any product or service being delivered. Pyramid schemes are a form of fraud. The scheme collapses when no more people are willing to join the pyramid Planned obsolescence is the process of a product becoming obsolete or non-functional after a certain period or amount of use in a way that is planned or designed by the manufacturer. The purpose of planned obsolescence is to hide the real cost per use from the consumer, and charge a higher price than they would otherwise be willing to pay, or would be unwilling to spend all at once. For industries, planned obsolescence stimulates demand by encouraging purchasers to buy sooner if they still want a functioning product. In business, vendor lock-in or customer lock-in, makes a customer dependent on a vendor for products and services, unable to use another vendor without substantial switching costs. Lock-in costs which create barriers to market entry may result in antitrust action against a monopoly. Loyalty programs include frequent flier miles or points systems associated with credit card offers that can be used only with the original company, creating a perceived loss or cost when switching to a competitor. Most programs are able to get consumers to spend more money just to get to free or bonus item. Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Monopolies and oligopolies often use anti-competitive practices, which can have a negative impact on the economy. This is why company mergers are often examined closely by government regulators to avoid reducing competition in an industry. Since this business caters to seniors and their families, it is especially important for Senior Concierge Services to represent quality, value and confidence in its services and staff. The success of this company depends on compassionate, trustworthy, conscientious, and ethical care givers providing non-medical in-home care. A different take on the loyalty program would allow customers to receive a discount after x amount of service visits or when prepaying for multiple services. A marketing distribution channel analysis is a means used to transfer merchandise from the manufacturer to the end user. An intermediary in the channel is called a middleman. Channels normally range from two-level channels without intermediaries to five-level channels with three intermediaries. Intermediaries in the channel of distribution are used to facilitate the delivery of the merchandise as well as to transfer title, payments, and information about the merchandise. Distribution describes all the logistics involved in delivering a companys products or services to the right place, at the right time, for the lowest cost. For many products and services, their manufacturers or providers use multiple channels of distribution. Well-chosen channels constitute a significant competitive advantage, while poorly conceived or chosen channels can doom even a superior product or service to failure in the market. Distribution channels may not be restricted to physical products alone. They may be just as important for moving a service from producer to consumer in certain sectors, since both direct and indirect channels may be used. There have also been some innovations in the distribution of services, such as an increase in franchising and in rental services. There has also been some indication hat service integration can benefit many providers. Senior Concierge Services will look to link with other service providers to create a mutually beneficial arrangement. Medical providers, beauticians, landscapers and general contractors would all be a good fit with the services offered. A distribution strategy defines how a business is going to create and satisfy demand for its products; how a business is going to move produ cts from point of creation to points of consumption, in a cost-effective manner; as well as defining how a business is going to manage its brand. Todays customers shop and buy very differently than ever before. Access to high-quality information, via the internet, combined with their heightened price sensitivity, has created customers that are more sophisticated, better informed and often times, more demanding than customers of the past. A distribution strategy must be in sync with how the customers of Senior Concierge Service want to shop for services. Franchising is an option worth considering. For a fee, a small business owner can take advantage of the marketing research completed at the corporate level.

Lord Of The Flies: Human Nature :: essays research papers

Lord of The Flies: Human Nature "We are all murderers and prostitutes - no matter to what culture, society, class, nation one belongs, no matter how normal, moral, or mature, one takes oneself to be." R. D. Laing British psychiatrist. R.D. Laing obviously backs up William Golding's point of view that human nature is evil. Human nature is directly affected by the environment; and is constantly changing due to the experiences of the individual. Oscar Wilde once said "The only thing that one really knows about human nature is that it changes. Change is the one quality we can predicate from it. The systems that fail are those who rely on the permanency of human nature, and not on its growth and development. The error of Louis XIV was that he thought human nature would always be the same. The result of his error was the French Revolution. It was an admirable result." Human nature depends upon the environment in which they are immersed. The idea that children, not humans in general, are swayed by the ideas and actions of their parental figures is also a central idea of the book, "The Lord of the Flies" by William Golding. Because of the war in England where the boys were from their human experience was one of war. If there was no war going on in England at the time they were evacuated from England, there would've been no deaths, no Lord of the Flies, and certainly no beast. Because if they had came with a good human nature then how would there have been a beast which Golding classified as the basic evil inside all of us. Another thing that ties in with this that children try to copy what they see adults do so if a child sees an adult smoke up or drink then he may believe that it is okay or it is right because their parents do it. As George Orwell once said "Part of the reason for the ugliness of adults, in a child's eyes, is that the child is usually looking upwards, and the adults are rarely looking down. Yet no matter what they will always adore, look up to and love their parents." But as was just said sometimes that can be a bad thing. So what must we do? Well for starters why not try to teach our children better and try at all costs to set good examples for our children so that our society will hopefully be salvaged from the god forsaken wrath of evil. Children who's parents smoke have a 40% higher chance of smoking than

Comparative Paper Essay

The welcome table and country lovers share the same theme but are adversely different in many ways, yet in some they are a lot alike. In this paper I will compare and contrast The Welcome table by Alice Walker and Country lovers by Nadine Gordimer. I will address how they both are written in form, context, and style. I will explain different literary elements the author’s used to give detail about the stories. The two stories being compared and contrasted are similar in that they both are written around the same theme, race, and ethnicity. They are also both written in third person. The two writers Alice Walker and Nadine Gordimer were both expressing stories of racial inequality. They also show the reader that when the story was written it was not allowed to have a white person and black person in a relationship. They also express how unequal it was for a white person compared to a black person. In â€Å"The welcome table† a black woman came up to the steps of a white church and the preacher of that church stopped her at the lobby and said â€Å"Auntie, you know this is not your church† (Clangston 2010).† In the story country lovers Thebedi and Paulus, the main characters, had grown up together and ended up having a sexual relationship. When Paulus finds out Thebedi had a light skinned child he kills it because a white and black relationship is not allowed. He is also ashamed about being in a relationship with her and denies all accusations against him. In country lovers the story is about a white male, Paulus Eysendyck, who is the son of a farmer, and Thebedi one of the black female workers on the farm. The story starts off with them as children playing together along with all the other children, but Paulus and Thebedi were closer than the others. As they grow up Paulus goes to school and brings Thebedi gifts and tells her stories about school. They eventually end up having a sexual relationship and Thebedi ends up pregnant. Paulus is away at school when she finds this information out along with finding out she is getting married to Njabulo a black male who also works for the farmer. Thebedi gets married and has the baby. Njabulo knows that the child is not his because it has straight hair and light colored skin, but still raises him as his own. Paulus returns from school and overhears the in house servants talking about the light skinned child. He then goes out to the living quarters to see it. He finds Thebedi and Njabulo’ s house and secretly kills the child. The author uses imagery, character, and third person point of view (bookrags.com) throughout this story. The author paints a very good picture for the reader by using very graphic details describing everything. She uses character to describe the people in the story. Nadine Gordimer writes the story in third person objective. She only speaks as an outsider looking down on the story unfolding. She does not tell the reader what the characters feel throughout the story. Using imagery she makes a visual image of the characters and setting. â€Å"down there hidden by the mesh of old, ant-eaten trees held in place by vigorous ones, wild asparagus bushing up between the trunks, and here and there prickly-pear cactus sinken-skinned and bristly, like an old man’s face, keeping alive sapless until the next rainy season†. (Country lovers Nadine Gordimer). This is one example of what the reader experiences throughout the story. In The welcome table the main theme is also about racial inequality. This story starts out with an old black lady standing on the stairs of a church. She walks into the church and the preacher says â€Å"Auntie, you know this is not your church?† as if one could choose the wrong one. (Clangston 2010). She just walks past him and sits down in the very back row of the church. All the white people sitting inside near the front starred at her in disbelief. The usher came up to her and told her she needed to leave she just waved him off and told him to go away. The white wives told their husbands to get her out of the church also. They acted quickly and went to her and put an arm under hers to pick her up and carried her out. The author told the reader about the smell the men had on their fingers after carrying her out. It was a musty smell from her under arms. While she was standing on the front steps she looked up the road and saw Jesus. She was excited waving her arms so he did not miss her. She started walking with him and talking to him explaining everything even singing at times. At the end of the story they never saw her again. Many people speculated that she had died walking along the road. Many people though she had family on the other side of the river, but no one knew for sure. The incident was never spoken of in the church again. Alice Walker used third person, character and imagery like Nadine Gordimer did also. Alice Walker used third person omniscient allowing you not just to observe the action, but to see inside the thinking of those involved. She described the main character in great detail. She described here clothing â€Å"the missing buttons down the front of her mildewed black dress.† She described her personal qualities more in depth. She described her eyes, skin, and smell. â€Å"Aged blue-brown eyes†, â€Å"she was angular and lean and the color of poor gray Georgia earth, beaten by king cotton and the extreme weather. Her elbows were wrinkled and thick, the skin ashen but durable, like the bark of old pines.† (Clangston 2010). She also used similes throughout her story. The author did paint a picture using imagery, but this time it was of the main character, not the setting like Nadine Gordimer did. To compare the two stories both authors used imagery, character, third person point of view, and shared the same theme. The theme of both stories is about racial inequality. Both stories involved a black female as main characters. Life in the days these stories were written was not what it is like now. The story The Welcome Table was written in a collection of stories between 1967 and 1973. (Bradley, D). The story Country Lovers was written in 1975 (Custodio, L). This story also won the literary Nobel Prize in 1991. (nobelprize.org). Life in this time was not equal at all. Blacks were looked at as to be less that white people. In most places blacks and whites could not eat in the same areas or use the same drinking fountains and in most cases as we see in The Welcome Table could not even go to the same church. These were called Jim Crow laws. (nps.gov) In Country lovers we see they definitely could not be in a relationship. Both authors used imagery to let the reader see what was going on in the story. They both used describing details. In the welcome table the author describes to use the frigid cold outside and inside the church. She also tells us about the color and texture of her clothing, even describing the greasy hair stain on the bonnet. She also tells the smell of the underarms of the old lady after the men pick her up to remove her from the church. In Country lovers the author also uses imagery to give the reader a visual image of the story. She describes how Njabulo has built his house, making the reader feel as if they were right there looking at it. â€Å"Thebedi appeared, coming slowly from the hut Njabulo had built in white man’s style, with a tin chimney, and a proper window with glass panes set in straight as walls made of unfired bricks would allow.† (Clangston 2010). Along with telling the reader how the hut was built the author also describes the setting down by the dried up creek with great detail. â€Å" It had always been a good spot for children’s games/ down there hidden by the mesh of old, ant-eaten trees held in place by vigorous ones, wild asparagus bushing up between the trunks, and here and there prickly-pear cactus sunken- skinned and bristly, like an old man’s face, keeping alive sapless until the next rainy season.† (Clangston 2010). Both authors used character in their stories. The characters were involved in racial inequality yet neither author said anything about race or inequality in their stories. In The Welcome Table the old black lady tried to attend a white church. Three different times she was told that she did not belong first by the preacher â€Å"Auntie, you know this is not your church?† (Clangston 2010). The second, by the usher, who had never turned anyone away for church, never thought he would ever have to turn anyone away, and also â€Å"whispered that she should leave† (Clangston 2010). The last time was when the white wives told their husbands to remove her and that they did. They picked her up under her arms as set her back outside. In Country Lovers the main character Thebedi is a worker on the Paulus’ family farm. She is a poor black child whose parents had worked on the farm also. In the beginning Thebedi and Paulus along with all the other children played together and it was ok. As they got older and Paulus went to school he brought Thebedi gifts but, none for the other workers and once again that was ok. It’s when they begin their sexual relationship that problems occur. When Thebedi gets pregnant by Paulus she refuses to tell him. It is when the baby is born and Paulus over hears the in-house servants talking about it that it became a problem for him. Paulus immediately goes down to the hut to see the baby for himself and sees that the baby is light skinned, green-eyed, and straight haired. He then becomes ashamed and says â€Å"I feel like killing myself† (Clangston 2010). The authors chose to write in third person point of view, which to the reader, in these stories, lets them see and get a better understanding of what is happening and also lets the reader form their own opinion of the situation. If Nadine Gordimer would have written her story in first person she would have only let the reader see and understand what Thebedi was seeing and feeling. This would have taken the story in a completely different direction. At the same time if Alice Walker would have told the story in first person the story would have been less â€Å"juicy† with details. To contrast the stories, the stories are written in different types of third person, using imagery the authors describe different parts in the story and the stories plots were completely different. In Country lovers the plot was a love story. In The Welcome Table the plot was an old black lady not being allowed in a white person’s church. The type of point of view used in Alice Walker’s story is third person omniscient which allows the reader to see the action but to know the feelings of those involved. She used this to let the reader feel and know what the main character was thinking and feeling, and at the same time still tell what everyone else is doing around her. By writing in this version of third person the story was more informative. Had she written the way Nadine Gordimer wrote her story the reader would not fully understand what the main character was feeling. The point of view in which Nadine Gordimer wrote her story is first person objective. First person objective is â€Å"an external narrator who takes a detached approach to the action and characters, usually to create a dramatic effect, and does not enter into their minds.† (Clangston 2010). By writing this way she made the story more dramatic and kept the audience guessing until the end. If Country lovers were written like The Welcome Table Paulus would not have been as much of an influence in the story as he is now. Using imagery the authors went two completely different ways. One described qualities of the main character and little about the setting the other described the setting at multiple times. Nadine Gordimer wanted the reader to be standing next to the characters, seeing and almost being able to feel the setting throughout the story. Alice Walker on the other hand, wanted the reader to see the qualities of the old lady. She wanted the reader to be able to visualize every wrinkle and weather beaten inch of the old lady’s body. Other items the authors did differently were similes and character names. The only character named in The Welcome Table was Jesus. In country lovers almost every character in the story was named. By doing this the author makes the reader create a picture of the characters and it helps them understand the story line better. The Welcome Table used more similes than Country lovers. Nadine Gordimer wrote the story as if it were unfolding in front of the reader’s eyes. Alice Walker wrote in a past tense type of way. She put different selections of words in to make it seem as if she was there and was telling it to a school class trying to make them think. Both of the literary works are short stories. The way they write involves setting and specific details. They do not use a lot of dialog between characters, which would be indicative of a play. Short stories are close to the being written like a play would. A play is written with multiple characters. They all have multiple lines that describe what the story is supposed to be betraying. There are multiple set or setting changes throughout plays. The setting changes coincide with acts. Acts break up a play into many different parts. They will lead the audience into the next set of events that is about to happen. Inside each act is a scene, multiple scene makes up one act. The way plays are written compared to the way short stories are written are very different yet close in some parts. When a play is written it almost like reading a conversation between the characters with some describing lines to give a setting. Both The welcome table and Country lovers are written in the same form as compared to a play. They both do not use acts or scenes in the stories. With that being said Country Lovers could be turned into a play with the details and characters used throughout it. The lack of dialog and setting details in The Welcome Table would make it very hard to be turned into a play. In Country Lovers the author describes the setting very well. This helps the reader visualize what is happening and what the characters are doing and how they are acting. In this paper I compared and contrasted many different ways of writing between Country Lovers by Nadine Gordimer and The Welcome Table by Alice Walker. Both writers used the same theme, race and inequality. They also used many of the same literary terms. Some of which were the same however most of which were not. They taught us that there is not a specific way every term or type of writing had to be written, there are many different ways to write the same thing. The welcome table and country lovers share the same theme but are adversely different in many ways, yet in some they are a lot alike. Some examples I explained were imagery, point of view, and character. The theme may be the same but Country lovers and The Welcome Table do not share the same plot or story line. Every story paints a picture, yet some paint in different ways. I also described how the forms of the short stories are written compared to a play. Country Lovers was written in great detail of the characters and the setting. The Welcome table on the other hand lacks the qualities and elements that Country Lovers have. Which would make Country lovers much easier to turn into a play compared to The welcome table. References http://leecustodio.hubpages.com/hub/Country-Lovers-an-Analysis Explore  » Books, Literature, and Writing (105,185)  »Books and Novels (16,746) Clangston, R. W. (2010). Journey into literature. San Diego, California: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. https://content.ashford.edu/books Bradley, David (1984). The New York Times. New York Times Company http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/10/04/specials/walker-story.html â€Å"Nadine Gordimer – Nobel Lecture: Writing and Being†. Nobelprize.org. 14 Aug 2012 http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1991/gordimer-lecture.html http://www.nps.gov/malu/forteachers/jim_crow_laws.htm The Welcome Table from BookRags and Gale’s For Students Series.  ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.

Modern Banking World Leading To A Financial Crisis Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 12 Words: 3640 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? In 2007, the world was plunged in shock with revelations of the modern banking world leading to a grave financial and economic crisis. The bewilderment was actually triggered because of those dubious subprime loans leading to finance becoming malevolently complex and opaque. More precisely, the banking system had created numerous complicated, cross-border financial chains. Although these chains were believed to make the system more safe and efficient during the booming times but when the disaster struck, new risks were produced which took the market by storm. But the question arises that can the lessons learnt from this financial downturn be transposed to the worldwide manufacturing sector? This is the same question which is hanging over the markets as the long term impacts of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami are being assessed. In the last couple of decades due to the emergence of countries like China on the global economic stage, the role played by Japa n has shrunk. But still Japan is playing a crucial role in some of the big manufacturing supply chains, especially in the electronics and auto sectors. Japan manufactures about 30 % of the worlds flash memory which is used in electronic cameras and smartphones and also about 15 % of the D-Ram memory which is used in PCs. Many Japanese manufacturing units are facing temporary or partial closure and this has raised concerns with the investors as to how difficult it is to maintain complex cross-border linkages in manufacturing rather than in finance. The chunk of the problem is that big manufacturing organizations have their supply chains spanning across multiple borders. Taking the example of the  ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½iPhone ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ and assessing how it was manufactured and the components used reveals a magnificently complex arrangement, typical of several sectors. Manufacturing a iPhone involves 9 major companies like Samsung, Toshiba, Infineon, Broadcom, Murata, Numon yx, Cirrus Logic and others. All major suppliers and producers are located in Japan, PRC, the Republic of Korea, China, Taipei, Germany, and the US. Looking at the dizzy patchwork of supply chain of organisations spanning over various countries implies that the companies are spoilt for choice as to from where to procure. But in real, competitive cost cutting strategies have forced companies to streamline their operations to such an extent that if something goes wrong with even one of the linkages in the cross-border supply chain, it can lead to the break-down of the entire system. Also bottlenecks and vulnerabilities occur when such companies streamline their operations in this way. These strategies often fail to overlook the macroscopic effects again a prevailing pattern in finance. Even a small component bearing a small value when compared to the overall value of the finished product can lead to a standstill in the entire production process. For example, some years back, Eur opean car manufacturers had to halt the production in their factory lines because of problems at an Asian factory which used to supply thread for seat belts to these car manufacturers and it was their only source. There have been more than 1000 examples tracked in the last five years when companies had to face disruption in the processes because of obstacles at a factory producing a perilous component, or at a crucial transport stage. The Business Continuity Institute last year published a report containing a survey of companies which faced three-quarters of production setbacks in their supply chain in the past year or so because of unexpected issues ranging from weather to health issues to earthquakes. One quarter conveyed that the problems were getting worse. This was because the global market had become highly competitive in the recent years and hence many businesses had implemented and adopted cost-saving strategies to sustain profit margins, also including just-in-time (JIT) deliveries of important components and resources. But these strategies are becoming operational weak links, especially in extended supply chains. The corporate awareness for this problem is now slowly rising and many companies have started developing mitigation strategies to develop mitigation strategies to diversify their supply chains. But still many of the severe vulnerabilities in these chains remain unaddressed till date and are poorly understood. Hence, the uncertainty with Japan. Many analysts still are of the opinion that any knock-on supply chain disruptions have relatively limited effects. However, if several manufacturing units and factories are shut down for an extended period, the damage can be wide spread. On the other hand, such events have been a timely reminder that finance is not the only sphere of 21st century which investors evaluate. Risk-off modes in supply chain are known to a few. Japan ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s role in the world economy The importance of Japan on the global economic front can be seen from some of the statistics given below. As the table above depicts, the Japanese economy accounts for 9% of the global economy measured in nominal terms. However, as the growth in Japan is pretty low, when the economy expands at trend growth, the actual contribution to the global GDP is just 0.1%-points. Thus, Japan is only responsible for 3% of growth in the global economy. Comparing this with the global scenario in which the US contributes 18% and the Euro area contributing 12%. With imports of around 13% of GDP, Japan is a reasonably closed economy. The total exports to Japan from the US and the Euro area is only 3.3% and 2.3% of the total exports, respectively. The data stated above suggests that the Japanese economy is not contributing much in substantial to the global growth. Further the main scenario of the Japanese economy and its impact on the global economy is sketched and a comparison is made with the bad scenario w here Japan is suffering from a wide-scale emission of radiation hitting Tokyo post the earthquake and tsunami. Trade dynamics Japan ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s World Exports Break-Up Japan ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s India Export Break-Up Japan ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s India Import Break-Up The earthquake and proceeding tsunami have caused untold loss of lives in north-eastern Japan last week has resulted in an untold loss of lives and has badly crippled Japan ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s economy. This is now sending ripple effects throughout the supply chain of major organisations especially electronics companies. As a primary nuclear power plant of north-eastern Japan is not operational, the power supply in the entire region is significantly affected. TrendForce is expecting a complete power outage or limited power supply in its manufacturing units over the next two weeks even though plan ton distribution of limited power have been drafted. SUMCO and Shin-Etsu Semiconductor have been forced to shut down their production of silicon wafer fabs. Significant damage has also been caused to the production lines of both companies. Hence global players for semiconductors will now compete for materials citing the drop in silicon wafer supply. Shin-Etsu Semiconductors primarily manufactures 12-inch silicon wafers and 95% of their production is used in the semiconductor industry. Shin-Etsu Semiconductor is also a major supplier of wafer silicon to Elpida and Toshiba. The majority of Japanese semiconductor companies are still estimating the damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami. Minor injuries have been reported to some employees of Panasonic at several of its companies including Panasonic Electric Works Co., Ltd. Koriyama Factory (manufacturing electronic materials), and SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. Gunma Factory (manufacturing washer/dryers etc), AVC Networks Company Sendai Factory (manufacturing optical pickups), AVC Networks Company Fukushima Factory (manufacturing digit al cameras). Damages to equipment, production lines and building were also reported. The sites of Texas Instruments (TI) in Miho and Aizu were also affected by the initial earthquake. No injuries to employees at these sites were reported and their fourth site in Hiji was not impacted. Spot price quotes halted for DRAMs Japans earthquake and tsunami has also impacted the DRAM market. Spot price information is not being provided by Samsung and Hynix, according to DRAMeXchange. In Taiwan, spot price quoting has been stopped for DRAM by PSC and Nanya Tech. These firms are waiting to listen to more information on the current situation and then will make necessary adjustments. The spot prices in China have started increasing because of the impact on the expected supply according to DRAMeXchange. Although there has been only a minor setback to Toshiba ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s NAND production line, the impact of the earthquake and tsunami on their supplies, traffic and Japan ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s construction is enormous. Toshiba has a 12-inch plant producing logic and consumer ICs in Iwate Prefecture. As this facility is very close to the epicentre of the earthquake, the production has been impacted severely while on the other hand, the production facility in Kansai has noted minor damages. Fab3 and Fab4 Flash memory plants of Toshiba and SanDisk are located approximately 800 miles away from the epicentre of the earthquake and hence there is no serious damage. The official statement from SanDisk stated that no employees were hurt but production did halt temporarily. Majority of the solar cell manufacturers like Sanyo, Sharp, Kyocera etc are located in the Kanzai region which has a minimal impact cause of the earthquake as reported by EnergyTrend which is a green industry research subsidiary of TrendForce. Sony ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s production units manufacturing Blu-ray discs, magnetic heads and batteries are located in north-east Japan and faced power loss problems. At the time of the quake, all employees had to be evacuated. In the aftermath, Korean and Taiwanese battery manufacturers saw increased orders as there was temporary but significant impact on the supply. The shutdown of Seiko ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s plant in Japan has had the biggest impact on the overall supply and this could see Korean and Taiwanese battery protection IC manufacturers benefit largely. Considering upstream material suppliers, the main casualties are Mitsubishi Chemical and Seiko. The anode powder manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemical is used in the Japanese market mainly for NB applications. Many NB brands, especially Apple ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s new Ipad 2 use battery protection IC manufactured by Seiko. Also impacted was the battery cell manufacturing unit of Sony. These cells are required for NB applications and power tools. The shutdown of battery supply for NB applications is around 2 weeks and the impact is 8M. But considering the existing inventory w ith Sony and as the battery pack is assembled in China there is a chance that not much loss will be caused. If Sony can manage to restart its production within 2 weeks with successful shipment, there will be minimal impact. The suppliers of LCD panels are located in the Kansai region and hence are not greatly impacted. But the impact of the earthquake and tsunami in the Kanto area of Japan has led to temporary shutdown of the PLD (origin IPS) six-generation fab supplies to Panasonic for TFT-LCD TV panels. This is a closed supply chain and the unit is located in Mobara. Another player in this industry is Corning Japan. It ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s plant at Kakegawa, Shizuoka has capacity which accounts for 70% of the total capacity of Corning japan but it hasn ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½t faced much equipment damages. Also the leading LED manufacturers of Japan namely Toyoda Gosei and Nichia have their facilities far off from the disaster area in north-east Japan but LED production line of Chiba m ay be impacted. According LEDinside, there is not much impact on this industry. Globalisation, intense business competition, sustainability etc. have leveraged hidden cost embedded in efficiency for companies. Companies aim to lower operating costs by sourcing raw materials and production inputs from overseas. At the same time, many companies started taking efforts for simplifying and streamlining their supply chain involving systematic consolidation of suppliers through re-engineering initiatives and thus leading to administrative efficiency and cost reduction. Companies can negotiate for greater volume discounts and better service quality by reducing the number of transactions through consolidation. On the other hand, there is a hidden cost situated behind these benefits of global sourcing and supplier consolidation and that is increased exposure to the risk of supply-chain disruption. The potential risks that come along are increased distance and more complex linkages. Also the risk of failure is concentrated among a few suppliers. The supply chain of companies needs to be insulated from disruptions so that full advantage can be taken of these flexible, efficient and predictable strategies. The paper also caters to one of the most important categories of supply chain risks and that is the risk to the physical assets along the entire supply chain. These are the risks that can be caused due to the impact of natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, floods as well as non-natural adversities such as fires or explosions; and poor physical asset management, both at company-owned facilities and at partner ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s facilities. These risks have come up and have assumed a significant impact in wake of the recent disasters that have taken the companies ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ supply chains by storm. The recent examples of catastrophic events like Hurricane Katrina and Rita, earthquakes and flooding in China, tsunamis in Southeast Asia etc. hav e spread their destructive impact not only on humans, families or communities but also on the global economy. THE VIEW FROM FINANCE global sourcing vs. risk exposure A survey was conducted to find out how much do companies ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ supply chain depends on foreign sourcing activities, especially after the global economic recession. The current sourcing practices and policies were evaluated as to whether their current activities regarding sourcing would increase, decrease or remain at the same level over the next couple of years. The findings were that a lot of companies-almost more than two thirds (67%) of the companies are sourcing inputs for production from abroad and such trade practices are being encouraged to cut down on costs. Another finding is that a big majority of companies surveyed are expecting the overseas sourcing activities to increase of the next couple of years. The research survey also brought forward the fact that finance personnel find a conne ction between overseas sourcing and risk exposure. 39% of the companies surveyed agreed to the fact that their overseas sourcing policies and strategies increase physical risks along the supply chain. Another finding was that just-in-time (JIT) inventory and lean manufacturing practices which are proven to optimize the supply chain were less common at most of the companies. Also nearly two-thirds of companies surveyed (66%) suggested lean manufacturing practices lead to increased risks while 64% said just-in-time (JIT) inventory practices lead to increased risks. Another aspect of the research was that physical and natural hazards which include natural disasters and physical failures at companies ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ facilities have had a negative impact on the companies ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ performance. Chalking out the reasons for supply chain performance shortfalls, 55% believed it is due to logistics disruptions and 54% are of the opinion that it is due to underperformance of the s upply chain partners. On the whole a significant proportion of surveyed companies (45%) believed that natural catastrophes negatively affected performance, and an almost equal number of companies (42%) reported that physical asset failures at companies ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ facilities were the cause of negative performance. The effect on India Auto: Maruti Suzuki * Supply constraints of components and currency risk can cause impact. * Since Suzuki is a partner and it is based in Japan the impacts will be more on both grounds as compared to other players in the sector. * Credit Risk is a big factor for Maruti Suzuki. 1% change in Japanese Yen (JPY) will impacts the Maruti ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s Fiscal Year  ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½12 EBIDTA and EPS by 2.7% and 2.6% respectively. Also the company could face tighter margins as it ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s JPY currency risk is not hedged. * Maruti Suzuki imports steel and other components like injectors, sensors etc from Japan (directly or indirectly via vendors). Thus shortage of supplies can lead to negative performance and temporary halt of production line. * Steel imports can have an alternative by importing it from other locations but problem will be created at the current juncture because of disruptions in the supply chain and negotiating with alternative suppliers. IT: Wipro and Infosys * Wipro and Infosys which are among the tier 1 companies in the IT sector derive approximately 1-1.5% of their revenues from Japan whereas the share of revenues of TCS is less than 1%. * The clientele of these companies in Japan consists of global players majorly located in and around Tokyo. * Nucleus Software which is among the small or mid-tier segment accumulates Similarly, amongst small/mid-tier companies, Nucleus Software derives approximately 33-34% of revenues from Japan. Nucleus gets services revenue from clients such as Shinshei bank and revenue from selling od IT software products like FinnOne and [email   protected]/* */ Co Name Metals and Mining: * The recent earthquake and tsunami that devastated a portion of North Eastern Japan is likely to have negligible impact on the Indian metals industry. * Global steel industry however, can see some positive impact due to production cuts, estimated to the tune of 10- 15 million tonnes by major Japanese steel mills. * Price of iron ore and coking coal on the other hand, may see some weakness due to lower demand in the near term, as Japan contributes ~25% and ~13% to the global seaborne trade of coking coal and iron ore respectively. Imports of iron and coking coal by Japan million tonnes * The raw material imports of Japan from India constitute of iron ore only. * Sesa Goa and NMDC export just approximately 5% of their total produce to Japan. India ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s iron ore exports to Japan Oil Gas: Reliance Industries, the prime beneficiary * Japan imports approximately 4.4mnbpd crude oil which mak es it the third largest consumer of crude oil having 5.1% share of the total world consumption. * Middle East countries are the major exporters of crude oil. * Because of the earthquake and the tsunami Japan had to shut down five refineries which had a capacity of producing 1.2 million barrel per day (mnbpd) which is approximately equal to 27% of Japan ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s daily requirement. * The prime beneficiary of this situation is Reliance Industries as it exports to many Asian countries.S * The shutdown of Japan ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s refineries has led to a large demand for petroleum products. * Product categories in the light and middle distillate segment will lead to higher Gross Refining Margin (GRM) for Reliance Industries. Conclusion: Beyond the saddening loss of human lives, Japanese earthquake and tsunami have brought forward the fact that how complex the global supply chain is and the companies are interdependent on complicated linkages in the productio n systems which make the organizations efficient and their process highly optimized incurring low costs. The raw materials and input components are procured from manufacturers based in different countries that span across borders. Such catastrophes are a test challenging the robustness of their supply chain. The ripples of Japan earthquake and tsunami are being felt right from Apple Incs new iPad to Chevrolet pick-ups and several of the worlds airplane kitchens because of the devastating negative impact on the global manufacturing supply chain. The supplies of everything from semiconductors to car components have been threatened because of the earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear crisis and manufacturers all over the globe are now feeling the pinch. Some areas where the impact of the earthquake wasn ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½t large have factories in operational mode but shortfall in supplies of fuel and raw material, power outages, ruptured logistics are causing delay in production and he nce adversely affecting the delivery of products to respective customers. Honda Motor Co had to extend the halt of its production facility in Japan, where one-fifth of its total production is produced. There were even reports in the US markets that Honda won ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½t be able to resume production of vehicles until May; such devastating was the impact. The role played by Japan in the global electronics supply chain is so crucial that major concern of trade and economics is aligned to this sector. Japans electronic parts ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ exports were about 7.2 trillion yen last year. If the crisis in Japan prolongs, the second quarter is going to see a shortage of components for all electronics manufacturing companies over the globe. Japan caters to 57 % of the worlds semiconductor wafers. The much awaited Apple iPad 2 was announced with a lot of fanfare but now is a victim of the shortage of semiconductor parts. Toshiba caters to 35% of the production of flash memory in the world. Its clientele include brands like Apples iPad and other smartphone manufacturers. As a result of this other chip makers of DRAM memory in Korea like Samsung and Hynix, Taiwanese company Powerchip etc. have stopped quoting of prices. Analysts at Goldman Sachs are warning of potential bottlenecks in the silicon wafers supply chain. Major deficits are also expected in the conductive film supplies used in LCD circuits and resin used to connect chips to boards. Taking the case of Shin-Etsu Handotai, which is the world leader in production of silicon wafers and ingots. These are used in the manufacturing of semiconductors. Its Shirakawa plant is very close to the epicentre of the earthquake in Fukushima and also close to the some nuclear power plants. The nuclear crisis is hovering and the plant contributes about 22% of the world ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s supply of silicon wafers. Power outages have taken a toll on the production affecting its global supply. Japan is responsible fo r 70% of the world ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s supply of anisotropic conductive film. It is a vital component used for the manufacturing of LCD flat panel displays, smartphones, notebook computers and tablets. According to reports dated March 16th, booking orders has been stopped by suppliers. Although a majority of the world supply of LCD panels comes from Korea, China and Taiwan. Sony ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s plants manufacturing lithium ion battery are around the disaster affected area of Fukushima as well as some of its suppliers. This as a result will cause a halt in the production of notebook computers. Automobile manufacturers in Japan also have some of their units in the disaster affected area. Even facilities which are located away from the epicentre and the disaster affected area are facing problems due to power outages. Damages to the suppliers and subcontractors of parts and components have thus led to halt in the operations of major manufacturers not only in Japan but all around the world. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Modern Banking World Leading To A Financial Crisis Finance Essay" essay for you Create order