Way of preserving your wine Essay Example for Free

Way of preserving your wine Essay As a wine importer, educator and wine writer, I get asked time and again- â€Å"how long can I keep undrunk bottle of wine once it is opened? † and â€Å"what is best method for preserving half drunk wine? † Each and every time I have answered the questions to questionnaires, today I felt like writing about the ways of preserving half drunk wine that can remain fresh and drinkable for several days after opening the bottle. We often completely drink a bottle of wine once it is opened since we socialize a glass or two with family and friends and it gets completely drink. Once wine is completely finished drinking, there is no concern about preserving remaining wine that was purchased for expensive price. Usually, that is the case in Nepalese market. However, in some occasions, we have some undrunk wine and we want to keep it for future consumption but we know that it gets undrinkable in couple of days later and don’t know how to preserve it. I have seen people looking for ways of preserving undrunk wine as fresh as possible for several days’ later consumption but they have reported that wasn’t the case more than often. It is regrettable and disappointing to see such a good bottle of wine go wasted. Don’t worry, we have several solutions to our problem and apply whichever we find easy, cost effective and appropriate. Below are tried tested several ways preserving our wine as fresh as possible for at least next five days: 1) Argon gas preservation method: This method of preserving half drunk wine is very simple and easy; however, unavailability of argon gas in Nepal; we couldn’t apply this method at the time of writing this article. Hope demand for this gas increases in future and we could import or create in Nepal. Usually Argon gas comes in bottle with pressurised one way valve system. Simply release pressurised argon gas inside the half drunk wine bottle for three to four second and close your wine bottle with cork or other type of stopper. Keep your wine bottle inside the fridge or outside in room temperature; wine remains fresh for next 3-4 days. Longer it can keep if wine has good quality wine which needs oxidization after opening the bottle. 2) Transfer Method: There is cost effective, quick and easy way of preserving our undrunk wine is transferring remaining wine in smaller bottle. Transferring wine in smaller bottle prevents wine coming to contact with oxygen; therefore, we can remain fresh for several days. The main enemy of wine spoilage is oxygen coming in contact with wine and being terms called ‘oxidized’. Once wine bottle is opened and few glass of wine is drunk, oxygen sits in empty space of the bottle. In later time, oxygen comes in contact with wine and wine gets ‘oxidized’ and becomes undrinkable. For preventing wine from oxidization, transferring remaining wine from bigger bottle in smaller bottle prevent the wine to be as fresh as the day it was opened. This method is most practical and cost effective for regular wine drinkers at home or in the restaurants. 3) Using Coravin method: Coravin method is the technique of taking required amount of wine out of bottle without taking cork out. With this method, an innovative device is used for injecting wine by inserting syringe type of device which penetrates through cork and helps to take required amount of wine out of bottle. As we take wine out of the bottle, argon gas gets injected in the bottle for filling empty space. Caravin method is applied for very expensive wines which can be drunk little by little for longer period of time. Usually, wine is expensive and we don’t want the wine to go off in any cost. This device in not available in Nepal and it is very expensive purchase. 4) Using Shielder: Wine Shielder is type of innovative round think object that is dropped inside the bottle which sits on top of surface of wine, separating wine from empty space in the bottle. Wine Shielder basically prevents oxygen coming in contact with remaining wine inside the bottle so that wine doesn’t get oxidized. The shield is assorted with nitrogen which floats on top of wine inside the bottle preventing oxygen coming in contact with wine. Wine Shielders are very hard to find in wine accessory stores but can be often purchased online. The Shielder is costly and it can’t be reused. 5) Using vacuum method: This method is very simple, cost effective and easy to use too. A vacuum method is the practice of taking oxygen out of half empty wine bottle using vacuum pump that are available for purchase in wine stores. After drinking whatever amount of wine, simply place the one way valve stopper and using vacuum pump to take air out. Also there are types of vacuum pumps available which do take air out from bottle as well as work as cork or stoppers. They serve two purposes. Vacuum pumps are available in Nepalese market and the devices are reasonably well priced. Let’s hope from now on, we don’t need to worry about spoilage of our unfinished beloved wine. We believe, despite of many constraints, we have illustrated few simple solutions that can be applied at home with very little cost. Those who are passionate of trying to drink different type of wine every day and need for preserving remaining wine as fresh as first glass drunk, it is best to use high tech method such as Coravin method. Finally, buy screw capped bottle wine so you could put cap back after drinking your desired amount. It is cost effective and easy way for preserving the wine for few days. Note: All Mark Davidson wine available in Nepal are screw capped and can stay fresh for next five days after opening the bottle. Look for the same bottle and give us a feedback. Drink for good health.

Value Chain Analysis Toyota Motor

Value Chain Analysis Toyota Motor Toyota Motors vision is to be the most successful and respected company that can created the happiness for customers. Toyota also wants to be the best solution of the automobile industry with the variety of its products, and the best quality of its people and technology. Mission of Toyota motor is to provide customer with safe and sound journey. Because of Toyota concern with the environmental-friendly is the first and most important issue for its working, so it developed many new technology for energy saving and diversify energy source while Toyota also concern for creating a good and clean society. Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Thailands vision is to be the leader of Toyota Asia Pacific and Toyota motor network around the world that be the most respected and admired company in Thailand. For the mission, it wants to strengthen its production and support the collaboration in the Asia Pacific area that can achieves the high customer satisfaction and market share. Moreover, Toyota Thailand focuses on the safety with the first issue for its working and also wants to create social quality through many useful society activities. 2. Value Chain Analysis ( focus on Toyota Motor Thailand ) Toyota uses a Cost Leadership as its generic strategy. Toyota has been trying to reduce their costs in every stage of value chain but still, they need to maintain the high-quality standard. So, each stage of the analysis will show how it links the cost leadership strategy to the value chain. 2.1. Inbound logistics In this stage, Toyota receives parts from both local and international suppliers. They ship components from international suppliers by ships then deliver to production plant by trucks and for local suppliers in Thailand, trucks with full-loaded are used. This way they can buy components at cheaper price. Toyota makes suppliers making a commitment that they will share any innovation in the suppliers group that produces similar products. This will make suppliers produce better quality parts, more efficiently. Also they use Just-in-time and Milk run. (see appendix) Just-in-time is a part of lean management. It reduces lead time, inventory level, so holding cost decreases. In this stage, by applying JIT, we will receive parts from suppliers at the right time and right amount. Because we will order parts at the amount the production plants really need. For this method, you offset holding cost with ordering cost. Milk run is the method you use logistics providers to get auto parts from all suppliers in the routes and deliver to production plants. This method can reduce traffic at the production plants. There will be fewer trucks because sometimes many suppliers used to deliver their supplies to the plants but now only logistics providers truck with full-loaded of parts from different suppliers. Also, this will make inventory level decreases, because you will receive the parts many times a day, instead of getting a big lot once in a while. So cost in traffic management and holding cost decrease. 2.2 Operation After receiving components from suppliers, now production plants put all the parts together at their own production plants in Sum Rong, Gateway and Baan Poh. This can be called as Lean manufacturing which involve of Just-in-time, Jidoka and Kaizen. (see appendix) For Just-in-time, Kanban has been used to help achieving. Kanban tells you what to produce, when to produce and how much to produce by handing cards along in the production process. So you wont produce if the previous production process has not passed you the card, which also could not get started if there is no demand from customers. Also it could reduce lead time, which satisfies customers, because it can respond to customer demand immediately. Furthermore, no stocking occurs in the production plants. Jidoka can reduce defective goods by detecting the production process closely, so if any problem occurs in the assembly line, the production line will be stopped immediately, fixed and make sure that it will not happen again. When less defective goods occurs, the production system becomes more reliable, higher quality, the chance that customers will get defective goods will decrease, satisfaction increases. Kaizen is used to improve all functions continuously. It starts with idea generations, then tests the best with the standardized process, if it is good, they will apply that idea to the old process. The key in this method is to keep improving, never stop generating ideas and test to see whether it is a good idea. By Kaizen, it creates value to customers because they will get better and better product from the improvement in production process. For Toyota, it has worked on improving their lean manufacturing system in order to spread their fixed costs more over production. They have surpassed Ford and GM in production and costs. They can produce 15 cars per worker which is far more than the 4.7 vehicles per employee Ford can produce. By creating more cars to sell, Toyota has effectively spread their fixed costs over more production. 2.3 Outbound Logistics After products are finished, production plants need to delivery its finished goods with the full-loaded truck of cars directly to its own showrooms following the demand order of each showroom. Toyota Motor Thailand manages its own showrooms around the country. It helps customers to find Toyotas product easily. In the distribution process, Toyota will wait for the customers demand. Most of the car will be parked at the parking lots in which they are waiting for the purchasing orders from the dealers. For the cars that already have been placed purchasing orders from customers, they will be parked at the point of exchange and will be sent to the customers as fast as possible. And around 15 % of the cars that have been parking in the park lots will be sent to the near parking lots for further sending to the dealers In Thailand, there are 119 dealers with 319 showrooms that Toyota production plants in Thailand have to serve. For this outbound logistics in Thailand, Toyota has developed a system called Vehicle Logistics which is a cluster deliver. In the past, one truck can carry 3 large-sized cars and 6 small-sized cars. In nowadays, it is improved so that one truck can carry 4 large-sized cars and 8 small-sized cars. This also helps save the transportation cost for the company as well as reduces carbon dioxide emission to protect the environment which is one of the Toyotas purposes. 2.4 Marketing and Sales At this stage, Toyota communicates their cars by focus more on local area and specific lifestyle to satisfy the different need in each area by using below the lines marketing. It is because Toyota found out that auto market expanded more than 50% from the previous year and only mass media cannot build up attention of its target. So, Toyota decided to offer more of its events through segmenting lifestyles of its customers such as for people who love racing, Toyota offers the Toyota One Make Race which the event is for racing Toyota cars and to show quality of Vios and Yaris, around the country. For sport market, Toyota offer itself to be a sponsor in many sports that popular in Thailand, boxing and football, such as the Toyota Thai boxing marathon Vigo smart and the Toyota premier cup 2010. Toyota also provided 100 cars for the prize of short film competition in the Film Expo Asia 2010. However, Toyota tries to expand its events in every part of Thailand which Toyota will not control all of those events but local dealer to be the one who manage each event. This method can make Toyota get more attention from people in different lifestyle and help to increase the impulse purchasing from customer. Environmental friendly is the one that Toyota considers as its first issue for working. Therefore, Toyota pushes many CSR activities for save environment and improve the society such as the White Road Campaign to teach children about traffic regulations and safety through fun and practical lessons Toyota also communicates and updates its news through electronic media such as its website, www.toyota.co.th. Moreover, direct mail is a tool for people who want to receive news through e-mail from Toyota by register on its website. Brand ambassador also another tools that Toyota use for gain more attention from people by using celebrities who popular in at that time for promote its cars such as it used Joe-Wan AF to be brand ambassador for New Toyota Vios in concept of Make it happen. Even though Toyota focus more on below the line advertising but it also communicate its cars through Mass media such as Toyota launch its advertisement of New Toyota Vios, which has Joe-Wan AF to be a presenter, through television, radio, newspapers, magazine, and billboard. As a result, people aware that Toyota has new Vios in the market because mass media can communicate in wide area. Besides Toyota communicated its cars by advertisement and promotion for its current targeted, it tries to catch new target customer which is a teenager with in-trends lifestyle by building a place for hanging out, learning, and show up their creative of student at the center of teenager, Siam Square. This place was called The Style by Toyota which has the concept of Edutainment that people can come to this place to have fun with many entertainments and can also learn new technology or news of Toyota in the same time. Moreover, Toyota also launch a new model of its cars, Yaris beà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Groovy, to satisfy its new targeted which are teenager from 18-25 years old with fashionable lifestyle. Toyota change its Yaris to be superior and fashionable with its new technology ,such as engine start, from its Vios and Honda Jazz which is a main of its competitor. Therefore, the price of Yaris beà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Groovy also higher than the main competitor which is Honda Jazz for make customer s value its Yaris to be high quality than Honda Jazz. 2.5 Services After customers make a purchase of automobiles, the most important thing they need is customer service, which are check service. Toyota provides its customers a guarantee after purchased by 36 months or 100,000 km. depends on an offer. For this guarantee, if there is any defect components or any activity that affects from the irresponsible of an assembly line. Toyota will replace and fix those for free. This guarantee could also pass along through different ownerships but within 36 months or 100,000km. Express Maintenance is after sale service for car checking. They can give customers a fast service, normally within 1 hour or the given exact time by having 2 technicians check on your car and a boss to make sure that your car meets their standards. Also, they provide a very comfortable waiting room for customers or if you can ask the technicians about problems you have with your car, you can. From the room, you can see the place where all the cars are being checked. There are magazines, TV, snacks, soft drinks for customers to enjoy. Toyota Sure is a Certified Used Cars center. It is the place where you can sell, buy or exchange your used Toyota car with a better deal. They buy at a standard price. They make sure that the cars they are selling meet the same standard, with high quality. About 176 points need to be checked before they sell those cars. Every car that has been purchased, they offer a 1-year warranty or within 20,000. And they offer a wide service with more than 50 Toyota Sure across Thailand. 3. Porters Five Forces Analysis on Automotive Industry 3.1 Threat of new entrants: Barriers to entry Economies of Scale: High If we take a look at a big players in this industry; Toyota, Ford or GM, that sell the products to many countries all around the world. We could see that they are producing in the large amount. And of course, this is in the advantage of economies of scale. For automobile industry, it is very large and of course economies of scale must have been successfully reached. In order to compete in this big industry, a manufacture must be able to achieve economies of scale. It is generally valued to be a low-cost producer, sales of over four million vehicles a year are necessary. For this to happen, manufacturers have mass-production of the automotives so that the price of product will be affordable to the customers. This also implies that, the more the company produces the lower cost per unit. This means in term of the fixed cost like the rent, the electricity, the overhead cost, etc. The company can save the advertising cost and the transportation cost as well. As once they pay for the advertising cost or transportation cost, the cost per one unit is less if there are more units produce to sell. Therefore, for this industry, it requires high economies of scale for the businesses to compete. Product differentiation: High For the automobile industry, for sure there will be high product differentiation. As we can see in daily lives, many brands of cars are in the roads and even if in the same brand there will be many models available for customers to choose. Nowadays cars demonstrate a variety of features in which they differ from their predecessors that an entrant has to spend big amounts on safety, motor management, comfort, design, and numerous electronics functions. However, the innovative technology can also be one of the tools that established firms use to make their differentiation in products as well as create brand identification and customer loyalties. For example, Toyota has been introduced the hybrid technology in many models of their cars. This also helps save the environment. However, Ford also comes up with a new model called Ford Fiesta that inventing the new technology that uses drivers sound to control the cars. Therefore, in the present day technology and design can be use to create the differentiation between brands and this helps to satisfy the needs of customers as well. Capital Requirement: High The investment in capital is another barrier to entry that it keeps the difficulty and inconvenience for the new entrants to enter in the industry, since it takes a marvelous amount of capital to manufacture the automobiles. It takes an extreme amount of capital not only to be able to manufacture the products but also to keep up with the Research and Development (RD) cost that is necessary for the innovation requirements and product development. So, in order to start the business, it requires quite a high investment. There must be an investment in term of the factory, machines, warehouses as well as other supporting facilities like service facilities. Lets take a look at the example of Toyota, in the year 2010 Toyota has invested its fund for the development of environment technologies, maintenance and replacement of manufacturing facilities, and the introduction of new products. And the net cash used in investing with these activities was  ¥2,850.1 billion for fiscal 2010. Therefore, in starting or existing in the automobile industry, high investment in capital is substantial. Switching Cost: Low For the automobile industry, the switching cost is low. Lets say if you would like to change from buying a Honda car to a Toyota one, this would take you a little bit higher or smaller amount of money for you to pay. As there are many competitors for customers to choose and there are in competitive price, the price for each brand is not largely different. However, the switching cost is not only mean in term of the money or the amount you have paid, but this also involves your time, energy, and other costs that have been used to search or learn for the information base on the new brand you want to purchase. Since people get familiar with the car and they can also listen from the words of mouth from their family or friends so, they might not have to pay a large amount of time or energy to search for information. Therefore the switching cost from one brand to others is low and the gap of price among brands is not largely different. Access to distribution channels: High Access to distribution channels is another high barrier to entry. A company must find a dealership to sell their automobiles or consider having their own dealership. Also, considering with dealership, since space in the dealerships lots is quite limited. This makes it difficult to have a wider variety of inventory. And of course, to find a dealership is not that easy regardless of brand awareness Limited capacity within distribution channels (e.g., brand reputation), risk aversion by dealer ship, and the  ¬Ã‚ xed costs associated with carrying an additional product can result in retailers being reluctant to carry a new manufacturers product Government policy: High Local content requirement is one of regulation that government set to protect the local automobile companies to get hurt from the foreign automotive manufacturer that access to invest in lower cost countries. It is a regulation, that automotive manufacturer, especially on Toyota which is the biggest firm from Japan have to follow, that required manufacturer to use some parts of car that come from local country. In Thailand, the government required that about 85% of local parts are for picks up cars production, almost 70% are for passenger cars, and around 100% are for motorbike. Imported car tax requirement is one major of regulations that control the quantity of imported finished or unfinished cars to target countries. In Thailand, the imported cars tax are charged around 200-300% of car values while the cars that produce in Thailand are charged only 40-70% of cars values. Even with the same brand, same series would be more expensive if it is imported. Therefore, the government policy of automaker in Thailand is high because government issued the law for protect the local firm intentionally. Which mean its really hard for new entrants to import their cars or invest production in Thailand because regulations that government required, new automotive manufacturer need to have good relationship of suppliers to send the parts for productions and if some parts of productions need to import from oversea, it will effect a lot for new manufacturers to face the high cost of tax. In conclusion, the threat of new entrants for automotive industry is high. 3.2 Threat of substitute products: Low Transportation system such as buses, trains, motorbike, sky train, subway, ferries, and airplane are consider as one major of substitute products of automobile. Because transportation system can satisfy people need that for transport people from one place to another, similar to automobiles. Moreover, nowadays the oil price is rising continuously due to the hedge of world price of oil; it tends to motivate more people to use transportation system which can save their money. Environmental effect is also one reason that makes people turn to transportation system because of the driving more cars, the more Co2. So, people concern more of the earth and environment that make them try to change their lifestyle. As people take more interest on time than before especially on working time in urban people so instead of get stuck on the road from traffic jam and wasting time, people turn rely on sky train and subway for saving time and cost. In Bangkok, even though it has the rate of using sky tr ain slightly increased from 132,071,000 people to 146,964,000 people in 3 years, but the rate of cars on the road also high more than 2 times when it compare with the sky train using rate in same period of time. Moreover, for Thai people, car is more than a vehicle. It also shows the image and social status of the driver. That is why Thai people value cat as social materialism and they do not want to go by public transportation like bus to show lower social status. (see table in appendix) Walking, riding bicycle is other substitute product for using car because these activities can also bring people to other place without tax paid like taxes of imported car, and it can benefit more for personal health and environmental advantages. But concerning with Thai weather which is quite hot, therefore it is quite impossible for a person to go by bicycles in a far distance. Therefore, threat of substitute products of automobile is low. As well as, the management of transportation system in Thailand is lower than the standard that should be. In addition, Thailand do not have good city plan system for transportation so people in Thailand willing to pay more of cost and time for private cars more than using transportation system. Moreover, the weather in Thailand is not suitable for walking or riding a bicycle for other place because it too hot and wet. So even though there are many ways to transport people from one place to another place but private car also offer people more personal and comfortable. 3.3 Suppliers Power: Low As there are about top 49 vehicle manufacturing groups (by volume), range from big players like Toyota, General Motor, Volkswagen Group to local groups such as, Ashok Leyland from India, Navistar International Corporation from USA which produces trucks, internal frameworks, Diesel engines, buses, and school buses. For suppliers, there are about thousands suppliers around the world. When talking about suppliers, it means to supply from very small components such as battery boxes, battery switches, electrical fuses, etc. to bigger components, such as wheels and tires because normally car makers outsource those components and out together those components in their own manufacturing plants. So, suppliers power in automobile industry is low because they are lots of suppliers with very few top vehicle manufacturing companies. This means automakers have a high bargaining power over the suppliers; the suppliers rely much on those auto makers. If the supplier does not meet auto makers expectations or rules in terms of standard, price, lead time, etc., they can just switch to a new supplier. 3.4 Bargaining Power of Buyers: Moderately high The buyers can purchase almost all of the industries output since there are many brands for them to choose. The manufacturers depend on them to stay in business. The buyers also are a significant portion of the industries revenue. If they cannot keep their buyers with satisfaction then they are in risk to lose them to their competitors. However, the buyers may go for the other brands if they are not satisfied. All the buyer do is sell the car they own and purchase a new one. For example, like I buy a car from Toyota and I am not satisfy with it I can sell it and purchase a new Honda. The reasons why the power is not completely high is that the buyers are not large and few in number. The buyers do not have the ability to integrate backwards into the industry. If they want a car then they have to purchase it from a dealership. 3.5 Intensity of rivalry among competitor: High In Thailand, Toyota holds almost half of the market share, along with 2 big holders which are Isuzu and Honda. So we could say that automobile industry is a consolidated industry, which means it has few big players who hold major control within the industry. For car industry, they compete in the similar target market, price, and product innovation. When one company comes up with one of those techniques, other companies tend to follow. For example, Toyota Yaris launched the first generation in 1999; two years later Honda Jazz had been introduced to the market and in 2007 Mazda launched Mazda2 to the market. These 3 cars, Jazz, Yaris and Mazda2 are segmented as a hatchback subcompact car. They target same group of people who are looking for affordable transportation with fuel efficiency, young and energetic. They all come with slightly different prices with slightly different options, performance and promotion. (see appendix ) For automobile industry, the intensity of rivalry is high because there are few big players where 1 product innovation encourages other companies to launch the same type of product, either with the same or better function or more valuable. They could not let anyone take a step ahead for so long, because they would lose a high market share to the product leader. 5. Implementing Strategies Lean Manufacturing failure and Vertical Integration Toyota had to recall millions of Prius, Tundra and many other models during the past years, from their gas-paddles, floor mats, fuel-pressure sensor, etc. These results from Toyota tried to cut their unnecessary costs too much, to reduce any waste as it said in Lean Manufacturing strategy. The reason why many models of Toyota had been recalled is because Toyota used the same model of those defective goods from suppliers in many models, to gain more Economy of Scale, for company to reduce cost and get a higher margin. These recalls caused sales of Toyota to decline by 16% last year. As we can see that the problem arises from defective goods from a supplier, so we could apply the Vertical Integration to supply components, instead of outsourcing. This way we can control and maintain a standard of Toyota cars, protecting a companys image and creditability. Push and Pull Strategy As Toyota has been implementing the Pull Strategy, which mean they usually wait for the demand to come then produce, as applying the Kanban tools. But sometimes, this results a long lead time for customers. From this situation, Toyota should integrate Push and Pull strategy together to balance customer satisfaction and cost. For Pull strategy, they already gained a benefit from producing less excess inventory, reduce cost, and flexibility of products increases. But for Push Strategy, they can use for high-stable-demand products. For example, applying push strategy with the popular car color, features and model. So if you already have those high-demand cars for customers, customer satisfaction will definitely increase, due to less lead time. Normally, people tend to buy more cars during the Motor Show session because they get a better deal. In this case, after having a demand forecast, we could produce cars in advance. Centralized distribution system This strategy is used to respond to Push Strategy because when finished goods are waiting for demand, they will need a space for cars to store. By using this system, fixed cost, renting cost, overhead cost, electricity and water, etc. reduces; also inbound cost because instead of delivering goods to many distribution centers, you only deliver to fewer centers, risk decreases but outbound cost increases, comparing to cost that incurred from decentralized distribution system. Time Postponement Toyota has been implementing the Manufacturing Postponement, which directly links to Kanban, wait for demand to start producing, but if Toyota would apply the Push strategy and centralized distribution system, they should apply Time Postponement Strategy too. Because it means that the finished cars would be kept in central location and wait for demand to deliver the orders to customers. Demand Driving Strategy As we want to implement the Push Strategy along with the Pull Strategy, Toyota can use this strategy to forecast demand for Push Strategy from historical data to develop an expected demand from customers. But also demand could change, due to marketing, advertising campaign on your products, trends (about color for example), economic condition, etc. So as you forecast, these factors should be include under your consideration, in order to get the most accurate forecast. And the more accurate your forecast is, the fewer inventories you have to hold, the more cost reduction and the more customer satisfaction. Graph1: the comparison of using Sky Train and cars from 2007 to 2009 in Thailand. Table1: The table shows the specification of Toyota Yaris, Honda Jazz, Mazda2, and Suzuki Swift. Toyota official website www.toyota.com Toyota Thailand website www.toyota.co.th/th/toyota2009_home Figure 3: Milk Run delivery system Figure 4: The differences between doing business as usual and practicing Lean Manufacturing Figure 56: Toyota Production System including Just-in-time, Jidoka and Kaizen Guarantee after sales Express maintenance Toyota sure Below the line Mass media Vehicle logistics Deliver directly from plants to dealer Just-In-Time Milk Run Just-In-Time Jidoka KaiZen Figure 2: Strategy used in Toyota Motor Thailand Value chain Appendix A Figure 1: Toyota Motor Thailand Value Chain Appendix B Toyota Innovative Technology Hybrid Technology What is hybrid technology? A hybrid system combines different power sources to maximize each ones strengths, while compensating for the others shortcomings. A gasoline-electric hybrid system, for example, combines an internal combustion engines high-speed power with the clean efficiency and low-speed torque of an electric motor that never needs to be plugged in. Are all hybrids creating equal? There are several ways in which electric motors and a gas/petrol engine can be combined. Toyota perfected the series/parallel or full hybrid to deliver the energy-saving benefit of a series hybrid together with the acceleration benefit of a parallel hybrid. Two key technologies the power split device and sophisticated energy management make this possible. They constantly optimize the flows of mechanical power and electric power for safe and comfortable vehicle operation at the highest possible efficiency. The Full Hybrid Toyotas unique hybrid system combines an electric motor and a gasoline engine in the most efficient manner. It saves fuel and reduces emissions while giving ample power. For more information: www.toyota.global.com/innovation/environmental_technology/hybrid/ THE TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM Toyotas approach to automobile production, with its inherent quality controls, revolutionized the industry. Its just-in-time supply-chain concept has become a model for manufacturers around the world, and not just for automakers. The Toyota Production System (TPS) calls for the end product to be pulled through the system. This means the right parts reach the assembly line at the right place, just as they are needed, and with no excess. This approach represented a radical departure from conventional manufacturing systems, which require large inventories in order to push as much product as possible through production lines, regardless of actual demand. The idea of TPS, the contrary, is to produce only the products required in the precise quantities desired at a given point in time Focus on flexibility By basing production on demand rather than simply on capacity, Toyota manages to keep inventories, both of parts and of finished goods, to a strict minimum. But this is only one of the more obvious advantages of Toyotas unconventional approach. By focusing on smaller production lots and producing only what customers require when they require it, Toyota has developed a flexibility and responsiveness that continues to set the standard for the industry. With its attention to continuous improvement (Kaizen), Toyota has attained die-changeo

Cellular Evolution Response :: essays research papers

The golgi apparatus and the mitochondria are both eukaryotic bond organelles. The Golgi apparatus is a membrane-bound organelle found near the cell nucleus in eukaryotic cells which is responsible for sorting and packaging proteins for secretion to various destinations in the cell. It is typically comprised of a series of five to eight cup-shaped, membrane-covered sacs called cisternae. Cells may have many cisternae. Vesicles near the golgi are involved in the transfer of material between the golgi and other structures. The mitochondria is a site for cellular respiration. It generates ATP by extracting energy from sugars, fats, and other sources with the presence of oxygen. The mitochondria has two membranes. Both membranes are made of a phosolipid bilayer with embedded proteins, but the (smooth)outer membrane doesn’t have folds, cristae, that the inner membrane has. The inner membrane makes the proteins and enzymes that are used for cellular respiration.The two membranes are separated by a space, called the intermembrane space. The two membranes surround the mitochondrial matriz which contains enzymes, ribosomes and mitochondrial DNA. The mitochondria makes the ATP needed to help the cell function. b) DNA is a double helix and it replicates itself by separating the two strands while each serves as a template for new nucleotides to pair up into two new complementary strands. In prokaryotes, DNA is located all over the cell, but in eukaryotes it is only in the nucleus, and more specifically on their chromosomes. Prokaryotic DNA are located in loops, and does not contain the proteins found in eukaryotic DNA. Prokaryotes DNA has less unhelpful DNA than eukaryotes do, who have about 95% unhelpful DNA. Prokaryotes also have less complex transcriptional regulatory mechanisms than eukaryotes. The cell wall is a rigid layer surrounding a cell that gives it support and protection. It protects the inside of the cell from internal movement while supporting the cell. Animal cells do not have cell walls, instead, they have a semi-permeable plasma membrane. Most prokaryotes have cell walls made of peptidoglycan made from polysaccharide chains cross-linked by peptides. They are semi-rigid and protect the bacteria again possible toxins. Unlike prokaryotes, the cell walls of plant cells are made of cellulose, while the cell walls of fungi are made of chitin.

The Source of Conflict between Antigone and Creon in Sophocles Antigon

The Source of Conflict between Antigone and Creon in Sophocles’ â€Å"Antigone† In the following paper, I plan to discuss the source of conflict between the title characters of Antigone and Creon in Sophocles’ â€Å"Antigone†. I also plan to discuss how each character justifies his or her actions and what arguments they give for their justifications. I will also write about the strengths and weaknesses of these arguments. The final points I try to make are about who Sophocles thinks is right and who I think is right. The main source of conflict between Antigone and Creon is the issue of the burial of Antigone’s dead brother. Both of her brothers were killed in battle, however one brother fought against their home city and was considered a traitor. Creon issued a law that whoever tries to bury this man will be put to death. Antigone is very upset because her one brother is graced with all the rites of a hero while the other is disgraced. Antigone is determined to bury her brother because of her loyalty to her family and to the gods. She believes that no mortal, such as Creon, has the right to keep her from her own. Even if Antigone must die during the burial, she will not disgrace the laws of the gods. She believes that she has to please the dead much longer than she has to please the living. Creon states, â€Å"Whoever places a friend above the good of his own country, he is nothing.† Therefore, he does not allow the burial of Antigone’s brother because he did not place the good of his country first. He was a traitor. Creon makes this law for the good of his country. The following statements that Creon makes exemplify this: â€Å"I could never make that man a friend of mine who menaces our country†, â€Å"never will the traitor be honored a... ...er of what he hears people around the town saying about the situation. Haemon says, â€Å"No woman ever deserved death less, and such a brutal death for such a glorious action†¦ Death? She deserves a glowing crown of gold.† The play seems to praise the actions of Antigone and it is never seen that she is looked down upon for what she did, except by Creon. In conclusion, the gods and the love of her family rule Antigone’s life. Creon’s life is ruled by what he thinks is good for his country and pride. Creon did not change his mind to free Antigone until a prophet told him he would suffer horribly for his actions. However, because Creon was so stubborn for so long and did not take heed to anyone’s advice sooner, he ultimately suffers in the end, as does everyone else in the play. This was all due to a man’s lack of good judgment, his selfish pride and his stubbornness.

Macromedia Dreamweaver Essay

The club will definitely need a web site which they can use to do a great number of things. Some of them are to attract customers and members, post up new events, provide customer support, make new members, submit it to search engines so more people can find out about it and so on. Cost is also a big factor to consider. Having a website is much cheaper than putting up an advert in a local or national publication. Some other advantages of having a website are reduced costs for printing and distributing services and sales information. Increase in customer base as new people learn about the club and its services. The hardware and software needed to make this site includes a web space on the net, a few good WYSIWYG editors for designing the pages like Microsoft FrontPage, Namo Web Editor or maybe Macromedia Dreamweaver and Fireworks depending on the club’s needs. Also you obviously need a computer with an internet connection to make, upload and view the site. The website will have different pages to the site like home, members, contact us, about, events, register and site map. Database: A database would be very useful for the club because currently they have a long list of members and their information and details all on paper. So a computerized way of storing, inputting, viewing and editing data would be extremely useful because it would increase the speed and efficiency at which the staff would view and input data. The database will store information including but not limited to: name, address, email, phone number and date of birth. The hardware which we will need is a computer for making the database and the program. The software which we will need to create the actual database file would be Microsoft Access or SQL Server, and the software which we will need to create the program which can access the database and provide methods for viewing and inputting data could be Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual C# or any other programming language. We could just create the database and the interface both in Access but a good programming language offers a lot more flexibility and functions. Forms: This can prove to be very useful for the club because currently the club has all of its forms on paper. So with computerized forms, when members want to book a plane for skydiving, or want to enroll for summer bungee jumping classes then the staff can just input the data needed in a Microsoft Word template and print it for the member. The hardware which we may need is a computer for printing and inputting data in forms, printer for printing out forms and receipts. The software which we will need is Microsoft Word with a customized template for each form so the staff can just open Word and load the template so all the fields required would already be there, they would just need to fill them in. Printer: The club will definitely need a good color printer to print out all sorts of things like forms, receipts, posters, banners, leaflets and pictures. The club right now doesn’t have a computer or a printer so they cannot make any banners or posters to advertise their club or any new events or services. Also because they don’t have a printer they cannot print out forms and receipts so they have to right down the information for a receipt and then give it to the member or the customer which is very time consuming and inefficient. The hardware which we will need is obviously a computer to connect the printer with and to send data to the printer so that it can print the desired information. E-commerce: An e-commerce system would also be useful for the club if they want to sell their own extreme sports gear like snowboards, goggles, etc. Or things like Proudlie’s Xtreme t-shirts and caps to promote their club and make it more popular. An online shopping system would enable them a place where members or customers could go, get and purchase sporting gear online. A link to the catalogue would be added to the main website. The online shop would also enable PXtreme to make a lot of extra money which they could use to improve their services. Programs we might need for this could be editors like Microsoft FrontPage or Namo Web Editor. The hardware needed would be a computer with an internet connection to make, upload and view the site. Camera: A camera should be necessary for this club because if the club has a camera then it could do many things like take pictures from events and post them on the site for other members to view. The club could take pictures of the summer programs in action. It could take pictures of the club itself so that people know what it looks like and they might come and enroll for membership or it could take pictures of the staff so that they can post it up on the site in staffing section. With a camera they would be able to upload the pictures onto a computer and then it will be a lot easier for them to make posters and banners because they would be able to insert the club’s pictures in them. The hardware needed would be a computer to upload the pictures on and then print them if needed, and the software required to upload photos will come with the camera. Staffing: The staff in PXtreme is made up of 5 people: the founder, the president, the vice president, secretary and the treasurer. This is the board of directors. These people will be running the club for the next 4 years and they have just been elected by the members of the club apart from the founder who will be looking after the club until he retires. The staff gets a very small salary and this isn’t their full-time job, they have another job besides running the club. These people are running PXtreme just because they love sports. Each person is looked at in detail below. Founder: The founder of this club is Ozzy Kumar who has been with the club ever since it was made. Ozzy grew up in Yorkshire but moved to Hong Kong for financial reasons. He studied in Leeds University and finished his masters in computer science and graduated with first class honors. He doesn’t do much except for making sure that his club is running fine without any problems and is making lots of profit. He is obsessed with extreme sports like snowboarding which is why he opened up this club. He isn’t directly involved with anything going on in the club but he was the one who hired the four people below. President: The president of Proudlie’s Xtreme is Jenice Whitehouse. She grew up in London, driven by her love of history she went on to Bristol University to complete her BA. Jenice is the head of staff and she is the one who comes up with new events, services, makes sure that the staff is doing its job properly and makes sure that the club is running smoothly without any problems. She makes the big decisions for the club like when to buy new equipment and basically supervises everything which is going on. She knows every little nook and cranny of the club because she is always cruising around the club ensuring everything’s working well. The IT needs which would be useful to her would be the website which she would use when she wants to update any events or news. Vice President: The vice president of PXtreme is Robin Hampshire who helps Jenice Whitehouse with everything. He grew up in Scotland and studied in De Montfort University Bedford when he gained a BSC in sport science and a PGCE in Physical Education. He helps to make decisions and also it’s his job to decide what sports the club should provide and when and where the classes and training programs should be. He is never to far from the action and is always involved with all the activities going on. The IT needs which would help him would also be a website and he would use it when he needs to upload information about events and programs. Secretary: The secretary of PXtreme is Ivy Alba who really loves extreme sports and her role in the club is to handle all the paperwork. She is Korean but has lived in Hong Kong. She studied in Newcastle for a BA in Sports Studies followed by time at the University of Exeter, St Luke’s College where she gained her PGCE. She also has to keep track of all the members’ information and details. She is the one who signs up new members and she also handles any phone calls to the club. Ivy is very good at art so she has been assigned to make small posters and leaflets informing members of new events. The IT needs which she would find useful are the database, forms and the printer. She would use the database when she wants to add new members to it or edit member info, and she would use the forms to print and give to the members. Treasurer: The treasurer of PXtreme is Jack Frost who grew up in Japan and is a graduate of Leeds University. Jack only loves two things in life: business studies and extreme sports. He is in charge of all the finance, the funds, revenues and taxes. He decides the membership fees and the fees for specific training programs or summer classes. He sees how much money comes in per month and handles the money accordingly. He decides what equipment needs to be bought. The IT needs which he would find useful would be the e-commerce system. He will figure out the pricing and cost of each product and handle the purchasing process.

The Day I Will Never Forget

Cassandra SmithOctober 13, 2011 EnglishFormal 2 The Day I Will Never Forget The hardest thing I had to face in my life when I was younger was when I was thirteen. That day would be July 14, 2005 and it is the day my grandmother passed away. My family and I went through so much about seven months prior to her passing. We got through the tragedy. She was eighty-two years old at the time. I will never forget her telling me the night before that she had to go to the doctors for a check-up meanwhile I was in school but when I got home, I would go right up to my grandmas. We lived on the same property. That day I went up there I remember her telling me that she had cancer and the doctors gave her six months to live, maximum. I was devastated and I didn’t know what to think. I was so close with her so it was hard for me to handle. We moved into her house three months before she went and we took care of her while no one else. That summer morning on July 14, 2005, I remember my parents, my brother and I sitting on the porch. My cousin came over to see her around 8:30 and then she left because she had to head to work. It was ten minutes to nine and I laid on the couch that was located on the porch. I remember how everything was set up. I remember the living room, the porch, just everything in that house. The couch was a sand tan color with a floral design and a table diagonal from where it sat. Nine o’clock rolled around, my father walked in to see if she was alright but when he came back to the porch he said, â€Å"She’s gone†. Those words hit me like a meteorite falling out of the sky hitting Earth. I immediately started crying because it just didn’t seem real to me. The crazy thing is a few days before she passed I made a picture of a cross with the date and year of when she was going to die and my picture was right. It was just scary. That day and the next few weeks were chaos. My father had to call all the family, set up the obituary and the funeral services. The next few days I would cry myself to sleep, cry all day. I didn’t know how to cope with what was going on around me, I was only thirteen. My parents called the funeral home and told them what happened; the directors came and took her. The family didn’t want my brother or I in the house so they sent us back to my house. Of course, I put up a fight because I didn’t want to leave, I didn’t want her dead. I wanted her here. The following week was hectic with the funeral arrangements, sitting down and talking about everything so it could go in the paper. I stayed in my room on the computer while the family gathered in my living room to talk about what they wanted to write for the piece. My cousin took my brother and I shopping in Kingston to get an outfit for the funeral; I didn’t know what to pick out but my brother found his right away. The following year was the hardest because I knew she was gone. I knew I couldn’t just walk across the drive way to visit her like I normally would have, I can’t sit with her and watch television, I can’t sit and help her with her word search books. All I thought was why did she have to go so soon? I didn’t want to accept it but it was life and I had to accept it; it was reality that I had to face. I talked to my dad about how I felt and what was going on and both my parents supported me through the whole thing. My mom and my dad knew how close I was with her. Two years later, my house burnt down while I was at school and when I arrived home I was just worried about my dad and the rest of my family. The one thing that was crazy in the house was there was one picture of my dad’s family on the wall and the fire never touched it; all my family had the instinct that my grandmother was in the house as the guardian angel. I know that she is looking down on me and my family because of the events that have taken place from when she passed up until now but I know she will be looking down on me all the way up until I die.

Comparison of strategy of Nike and Adidas Essay

1.0 Introduction: Johnson, Scholes and Whittington (2005, p.9) defines strategy as the way in which an organisation plans to use its resources effectively in order to gain a competitive advantage over the long term. In other words the carefully planned guidelines that organisation’s follow, which differentiates them from other organisations. Mirow (2005,p.10) suggests that strategy of Amazon.com,Inc., a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, focused on providing customers with low price, convenience and a wide selection of merchandise. They focused on this strategy and started their website in 1995 as an online book retailer. They slowly expanded their products and are currently an online shopping website with the largest product supplies online earning revenues in billions. Hence we can see how important strategy is for the success of an organisation. There are three levels of strategy, which are corporate level, business  level and functional level strategy. Strickland and Thompson (2003, pp.50, 55 and 56) suggests that the corporate level strategy is the strategy which is determines the overall purpose and prospect of an organisation and reflects on how to add value to different parts of the organisation. The business level strategy provides guidelines on how to excel competitors or survive in a particular market and the functional strategy is the contribution made by the resources, people and processes to the business and corporate level strategies. Companies strive with their strategies in order to become the leader in their specific industry or market. Nike and Adidas are the top two competitors in the footwear, apparel and accessories segment of the textile industry. The focus of the latter part of this report is on how these competitors compete with each other using their strategies. 2.0 Literature review: In order to fully understand about strategy, it is mandatory to know about the five generic competitive strategies. The five generic strategies according to Strickland and Thompson (2003, p.150) are low-cost provider strategy, in which the organisation provides goods or service at a low cost, broad differentiation strategy, in which the organisation differentiates its products or services making it appeal to a vast range of customers, best-cost provider strategy, in which the organisation provides goods or services of high quality making it worth the amount they are charging which is lower than their competitors, a focused strategy based on lower cost, in which the organisations focus on a narrower buyer segment and provides them their goods or services at a lower cost than its competitors and focused strategy based on differentiation, in which the organisation focuses on a narrower buyer segment and produces product customized according to their needs. 3.0 Backgrounds of Nike and Adidas: [IMAGE URL: http://digestingdesign.wordpress.com/tag/nike/] 3.1 Company overview of Nike According to (www.nikebiz.com) NIKE,Inc. was founded in 1972 by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman. It designs, markets and distributes athletic footwear,  apparel, equipment and accessories for a vast range of sports and fitness activities and are currently the world’s leading company in the athletic footwear, apparel and accessories segment in the textile industry. It is based in Beaverton,Oregon and has subsidiaries such as Cole Haan, which designs, markets and distributes luxury items such as shoes, handbags and coats. Their subsidiaries also include Converse,Inc. and Hurley International LLC and Umbro,Ltd. The revenue of Nike,Inc. as at May 2010 is around US$ 19014 million according to (www.biz.yahoo.com). [IMAGE URL: http://www.soccercleats101.com/2009/10/07/adidas-predator-x-get-ready/] 3.2 Company overview of Adidas Group: According to (www.adidas-group.com) Adidas, founded in 1949 by Adofl Dassler, is a sports apparel manufacturing company. Starting with athletic footwear such as running shoes and soccer shoes, they currently manufacture a wide range of products such as bags, watches, shirts and accessories. They are the second largest sportswear manufacturer, behind Nike,Inc. Adidas Group is made up of three companies, Reebok, TaylorMade Adidas Golf company and Rockport. The revenue of Adidas as at May 2010 is 14878 US$ Million according to (www.biz.yahoo.com). 4.0 Critical Incidents that occurred in the past: 4.1 Critical incidents that affected Nike: Nike, Inc. had gone through various incidents which had an impact on their success. According to Dermesropian, Drage, Grigaite and Lopez (2004,p.3) in 1972, Nike persuaded marathon runners at Olympic Tracks to wear their shoes which was an innovative strategy as it resulted in strong advertising when some of the runners were the top finishers and popularity of Nike continued to grow throughout the 70s. In 1979 Nike had 50% of the US running shoe market. In 1988 Nike introduced their famous slogan ‘Just do it’ and acquired a company called Cole Haan. They sponsored many famous athletes such as Michael Jordan, a famous basketball player and Tiger Woods, an excellent young golf player. During 1992 Nike acquired Canstar sports which included the hockey equipment maker Bauer and opened its first Niketown store. In early 1995 Nike acquired a license to put its logo on NFL uniforms  which resulted in strong marketing. Air Jordan [IMAGE URL: http://www.myairshoes.com/air-jordans/air-jordan-xx3-officially-unveiled.html] They launched a new brand called Jordan, in 1997, which was influenced by the famous basketball player Michael Jordan and one of the most famous shoes of that brand were called Air Jordan. Some incidents harmed Nike during 1998 as they had to cut 1,200 jobs due to the fall of sales in Asia and the demand of athletic shoes fell in 1999. Nike wanted to diversify and in the year 2000 they shifted a little towards the technological and electronic sector and introduced athletic electronics, which included MP3 players, heart monitors, and two-way radios. Products of Nike in the BCG matrix [IMAGE URL: http://www.robmillard.com/archives/BCG%20Matrix%20Big1.html] They opened their first Nikegoddess store in California in 2001. They acquired Hurley International, a distributor of action sports apparels and lost their license to put their logos on NFL uniforms to Reebok in 2002. In 2003 they acquired one of their competitors called Converse but it continued to operate independently in order to sustain the brands popular name. 4.2 Critical incidents that affected Adidas: Adidas also faced various occurrences in order to attain the title of the second largest athletic footwear sportswear and accessories manufacturer.   Adidas Samba [IMAGE URL:http://www.bestshoesmen.com/adidas.Men.Samba.Classic.Soccer.Shoe/detail.html] According to (www.adidas-group.com) Adidas registered as a company in 1949 with the three stripes logo as their trademark. (www.footballshirtculture.com) explains that in the year 1950 they produced the â€Å"Samba† all-round soccer shoes which are even now considered to be the best classic training shoe today. One of the biggest successes of Adidas was in 1952 when it was the most common shoe brand worn at the Olympic Games  held in Helsinki. They made the first track shoes with removable spikes. Emil Zatopek, in Adidas shoes, won three gold medals in one week creating a huge impact on the image of the brand. German National Team wearing Adidas in the 1954 football world cup [IMAGE URL: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/feature?id=696762&cc=4716&ver=global] In 1954 Adidas became famous all over the world as the German national team was victorious in the football world cup for the first time, wearing Adidas shoes with screw-in spikes. In 1955 Adidas came up a shoe with exchangeable spikes which became very popular among the high jumpers. In 1964 Billy Mills won the men’s 10,000 meters wearing the new Adidas shoe which was considered the lightest shoe weighing 135 grams. In 1969 Adidas produced the world’s first injection molded multi stud soles of polyurethane, which gave a one year guarantee on the soles. Adidas began production of balls in 1961 and in 1970 their football was the official ball of the football world cup. In 1971 the famous ‘Fight of the century’ where Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fought with each other, both of them wore special boxing shoes designed by Adidas. Products of Adidas in the BCG Matrix [IMAGE URL: http://www.robmillard.com/archives/BCG%20Matrix%20Big1.html] Adidas Copa Mundial [IMAGE URL: http://www.footballbootroom.com/Adidas-Copa-Mundial] In 1979, Adidas produced ‘Copa Mundial’, which even today is still the world’s best selling soccer shoe. In 1986 Adidas introduced Azteca, the first synthetic world cup matchball in the world. However, in 1993 Adidas took over Sports Inc., a US based sports marketing company and Adidas was loosing US$100 million a year. Robert Louis Dreyfus had become the new president of Adidas and he downsized the German staff and went subcontracting to China. Adidas once had 70% market share in the US and it fell to 2% in 1993. In 1994 Adidas made a comeback by producing the revolutionary soccer shoe called the Predator during the soccer world cup in the USA. They went public in 1995 and acquired the Salmon Group which consisted of the brands TaylorMade, Mavic  and Bonfire in 1997. The new company is named Adidas-Salmon AG. They were the first sporting goods company to chosen as the official sponsor of a soccer world cup in 1998 when they sponsored the 1998 FIFA World cup in France. Adidas Predator Mania [IMAGE URL: http://www.produktenews.ch/newsflashartikel.cfm?key=179710] In March 2002 Adidas launched ClimaCool a footwear with a ventilation system and introduced the new Predator Mania boots and jerseys with the dynamic layering concept in the 2002 FIFA world cup with their own official ball called the Fevernova. They sold over 6 million footballs and more than 1.5 million jerseys and half a million of the Predator Mania that year. In 2006 Adidas became the official partner, supplier and licensee for the FIFA world cup to be held in 2006, 2010 and 2014. They acquired Reebok International in the same year. 5.0 Comparison of the strategies of the companies: 5.1 Strategies of Nike: In order to become the world’s leading designer, marketer and distributor of athletic footwear, apparel and accessories, Nike followed many strategies. Their corporate level strategy, according to Dermesropian, Drage, Grigaite and Lopez (2004,p.15) is their focus on innovation and emphasis on their research and development department in order to be profitable in the long run and they do their best to produce footwear, apparel and athletic equipment that reduce or eliminate injury, help in athletic performance and maximize comfort. They continue to expand their operation in the USA, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the American regions trying to reach as many customers as possible. Their business level strategy is a combination of the best cost provider and broad differentiation strategy, but more emphasis is put on the best cost provider strategy. They rely heavily on strategic outsourcing and most of their products are manufactured outside the United States. One of the main reasons behind their success following the cost leadership strategy is their extensive network structure that allows them to cancel their alliance with any company that fails to maintain their standards. They work very closely with their suppliers which allow them to produce their goods at a very low price and of superior  quality with the newest technology which makes them the market leader and the rest have to try producing similar goods close to their standard in order to survive in the market. They work very hard in their marketing strategies and which one of the primary reasons behind its success. Fig.1Fig.2Fig.3 Players who wear Nike – Fig.1) Cristiano Ronaldo [IMAGE URL: http://s702.photobucket.com/albums/ww24/bleedingblue97/?action=view ¤t=Cristiano_Ronaldo_Manchester_United.jpg&newest=1 Fig.2) Michael Jordan [IMAGE URL: http://www.ionlinephilippines.com/2009/12/michael-jordan-look-alike-michael-jordan-imposter-video/] Fig.3) Tiger Woods [IMAGE URL: http://www.dailyworldbuzz.com/tiger-woods-still-has-support-of-nike-gatorade-and-gillette/4970/] Nike hired famous basketball player Michael Jordan, tennis player Serena Williams and Tiger Woods who signed a seven year contract in order to be the spokesperson of Nike. In 2003 they spent around US$ 32.4 million on Net TV commercials and another US$ 39.8 for magazine ads. In order to become the market leader one has to follow a rigid and innovative strategy but to remain as the market leader the strategy has to be sustainable. According to (www.bizjournals.com) on a report published by Nike, suggest that they have planned five major programs in order to keep their corporate level strategy sustainable. In order to sustain in the long run Nike is now emphasizing more on the concerns about global warming. They have decided to focus more on their product design process, eliminating toxics and wastes wherever possible, start a GreenXchange web marketplace to share intellectual property which have been designed to act as a catalyst in green development, establish a lean manufacturing and human resource management in order to acquire a more equitable supply chain, establish a social program which combines education and sports programs for the third world countries and establish a new group call the Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy. 5.2 Strategies of Adidas: The strategies of both these sports giants are very similar but Adidas  focuses more the broad differentiation strategy. According to (www.adidas-group.com) the corporate level strategy of Adidas also focuses on innovation, trying to produce new products, services and processes in order to cope up with the competition. In 2009 the Adidas Group strategically decided to move from a vertically integrated brand structure into a functional multi-rand structure for the Reebok and Adidas brands. This created a global sales function which were responsible for commercial activities and a global brands function which were responsible for the marketing of both brands. The global sales function was also split into two departments, wholesale and retail, which catered to the various needs of both these business models. This was done in order to sustain their corporate level strategy for the long run so that these divisions could emphasize and work hard in their respective departments in order to make the most of their efforts. This led to the elimination of regional headquarters and moved towards more direct communication between the local markets and the global functions. They implemented a multi-brand strategy by having a diverse brand portfolio which allowed them to cater all segments of the market from players to almost everyone. This helped them to keep a unique identity and concentrate on their core competencies. Adidas focused their investments in the best marketing and distribution channels in different countries by critically evaluating the consumer buying behaviors and their constant struggle to secure prime shelf space. They have also embraced e-commerce in order to become more efficient and appeal to more customers and make purchasing much more easily accessible for them. Their supply chain is closely communicated and hence it helps them to customize their products which appeal to a wide range of customers. The organizational culture of Adidas group obligates employees to be innovative. This culture forces them to produce goods which are highly innovative and with the use of the latest technology their products have a very good quality. According to (ar2001.adidas-salomon.com) using latest technologies they produce products which enhances performances of players and they focus on sports such as football, tennis, basketball and even training shoes which are used by anyone with the ability to run. Their new technologies have lead to the production of Climacool, a shoe with a ventilation system and a ­3 a shoe with an energy management system that guides and drives an athlete’s foot  through each stride. Fig.4Fig.5Fig.6 Famous players who wear Adidas – Fig.4) Zinedine Zidane [IMAGE URL: http://s670.photobucket.com/albums/vv70/tomdavies99/?action=view ¤t=09_zinedine_zidane_dpa_300.jpg&newest=1] Fig.5) Kaka [IMAGE URL: http://soccerpitch.co.za/tag/real-madrid/] Fig.6) Kobe Bryant [IMAGE URL: http://family-fitness.mattters.com/2010/7/2/couldnt-wait] Adidas Trefoil logo [IMAGE URL: http://free-extras.com/images/adidas_logo-658.htm] Adidas has world class players who wear their products such as Zinedine Zidane of France, Alessandro Del Piero of Italy and Kobe Bryant an NBA champion who is a style icon for basketball lovers. They also concentrate on their classic items, reintroduce and redesign them under their Trefoil logo. 5.3 Comparison of the strategies of Nike and Adidas: According to (http://comparisonz.com) Nike and Adidas have almost similar strategies but different implementation methods. Both the companies concentrate heavily on technology and strive to produce new and innovative products. Nike focuses on the American markets whereas Adidas focuses on the European market. Nike does not have any production plants as they only design, distribute and market their products and hence they outsource to various countries in Asia, mainly Taiwan and Korea, which outsource their production to China, Indonesia and Vietnam. Adidas on the other hand, carry out all their production in Germany and recently has adopted Nike’s outsourcing policy by outsourcing to Asian countries. Nike and Adidas both follow a premium pricing strategy which according to Kotler (2003, p.272) is a strategy where companies charge a premium price for their products. Their competition is always intense and according to Anderson (2010) during the world cup 2010 Nike launched the popular â€Å"write the future†, three minute advertisement featuring world cup stars which was a major hit on Youtube and Adidas replied with their two minute video with celebrities like Snoop Dogg  and Daft Punk into a famous scene from the movie Star Wars. Nike sponsored nine teams whereas Adidas sponsored 12 teams. World’s Largest LED by Nike [IMAGE URL: http://johannesburgbc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/nikefootball-delivers-the] Even though Adidas was the official sponsor of the World cup 2010, Nike attached an LED display to a 30 story skyscraper in Johannesburg where soccer fans could write short messages using popular social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook and Nike put up 100 messages on the side of the walls every night. Adidas adiPURE III Nike Tiempo Elite [IMAGE URL: http://soccerlens.com/shirts/nike-vs-adidas-buying-football-shoes-in-2010/6410/] Umair (2010) compares the constant rivalry between Nike and Adidas using their products. During the world cup Nike launched an Elite series for the 2010 world cup called Nike Tiempo Legend Elite which had customized shoes worn by famous football players such as Christiano Ronaldo and Cesc Fabregas. Adidas on the other hand, launched a new collection called Adidas Adipure for the world cup 2010 which also had customized shoes worn by famous players such as Kaka and Lionel Messi. In soccer Adidas shoes are worn by famous players such as Zinedine Zidane, Kaka and Lionel Messi, whereas Nike shoes are worn by Christiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and the original Ronaldo. In basketball Nike shoes have been used by Michael Jordan and Adidas shoes have been worn by Kobe Bryant. 6.0 Future Plans of Nike and Adidas: It is easy to become the market leader or the market challenger for organisations but sustainability is the primary concern and hence organisations focus of the sustainability by coming up with strategies that will make their position sustainable in the long run. According to (www.environmentalleader.com) Nike’s future plans are to focus on the environment and production of eco friendly products. They mentioned in their 2005 and 2006 Corporate Responsibility Report that they will become carbon neutral by 2011 by reducing their Caron Dioxide emissions. They have decided  to design all Nike brand footwear in ways through which they can reduce waste production during product design and packaging. They will eliminate the use of volatile organic compounds and use more environmental friendly material in their products and be carbon neutral by 2011. Adidas on the other hand became the official sportswear partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games. The London Organising committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOGOC) has few regulations which all of its partners are obligated to follow. These obligations are focused towards the environment. Adidas, being a partner of LOGOC has to follow all these regulations as their future plans are to be the official sponsor of almost all major events in the world, and in order to achieve this goal their strategy is to produce environment friendly goods as well. They have to ensure that all their products are produced with environment friendly materials, which would protect the human health and the environment and their packaging should also be produced with materials that can be recycled. Hence we can see that both the future plans of Nike and Adidas are quite similar. 7.0 Conclusion: The main element that determines an organisation’s success or failure is the strategy it follows. Any industry is vast and the competition is also fierce and in order to survive in the competition organisations must devise innovative strategies. Nike and Adidas have started their journey decades ago and they have struggled but sustained their positions; Nike as the market leader and Adidas as the market challenger. Various incidents have occurred in the past to both the companies which were both good and bad, but it was the strategies that helped them survive and sustain their positions. The strategies of both these companies are quite similar and Adidas is not far behind from Nike, but any small mistake by Nike, might make them the market challenger and Adidas the market leader. Nike has to be very careful while implementing their strategies because Adidas is very close to becoming the market leader. Nike’s initial strategy of being just the product designer, distributor and marketer gave them the competitive edge against Adidas, because their investments were low compared to Adidas as they have production plants, but Nike should be very careful to sustain their market position. 8.0 List of references: Books: Johnson,G., Scholes,K. and Whittington,R.(2005) Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and Cases. Seventh Edition. Prentice Hall. Thompson,A.A., and Strickland,A,J.(2003) Strategic Management Concept and cases. 13th edition. McGraw Hills. Kotler,P. ( 2003)Marketing Management, Eleventh Edition, Pearson Education. Websites: (2010) NIKE, Inc. Company Profile, [URL:http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/14/14254.html] (accessed: 29 August 2010) (2009) Adidas Group History, [URL:http://www.adidas-group.com/en/ourgroup/history/history.aspx] (accessed: 29 August 2010) (2010) Nikebiz: Company Overview, [URL:http://www.nikebiz.com/company_overview]/ (accessed: 29 August 2010) (2010) Adidas AG Company Profile, [URL:http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/92/92632.html] (accessed: 29 August 2010) (2010) The history of Adidas, [URL:http://www.footballshirtculture.com/2006102796/history/adidas-football-shirt-history.html] (accessed: 29 August 2010) (2010) Strategy, [URL:http://www.adidas-group.com/en/ourgroup/strategy] (accessed: 29 August 2010)/ Strategy: Adidas, [URL:http://ar2001.adidas-salomon.com/adidassalomon2001/strat_adidas/] (accessed: 29 August 2010) (2010) Nike vs. Adidas – Compare Side by Side, [URL:http://comparisonz.com/comparisons/100305/nike-vs-adidas]/ (accessed: 29 August 2010) (2009) Adidas: 2009 Sustainability review, [URL:http://ser2009.adidas-group.com/suppliers/3_4.html] (accessed: 29 August 2010) Articles: (2010) Nike plans to be Carbon neutral by 2011, [URL:http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/05/31/nike-plans-to-be-carbon-neutral-by-2011] (accessed: 29 August 2010) Umair,A.(2010) Nike vs Adidas – Buying football shoes in 2010,