Saturday, August 31, 2019

A Case Study Analysis on the Strategic Alliances of Audio

A Case Study Analysis on the Strategic Alliances of Audio Duplication Services, Inc. (ADS) Abstract Logistic strategy is vital part of company’s goal to reduce cost, gain more profit and improve supplier-customer relationship. This paper studied the logistic process of Vanity Products to have a grasp of how logistic works and affects the flow of supply chain. Guide questions are answered to have a better understanding on the logistic and warehousing; and how these decisions must be well thought.Evaluation, conclusions and recommendation are done to know the best alternative for Vanity Products. Introduction Background and Significance of the Study The strategic decision with regards to alliances is an option for firms to improve and strengthen their respective firms. Strategic alliances is said to be a multi-faceted, goal oriented partnerships of companies in which each shares resources and rewards but the risks involved is also shared.In deciding whether such alliances will h elp your firm, several factors should be considered. These factors are, if this would add value to the products, if this would improve the firm market access, if this would strengthen the operation, if this would enhance strategic growth and organizational skills, and if this would build the firm’s financial strength. The decision if one firm should make an alliance to another company is something that is thought thoroughly.This strategic alliance is a very big step for any firm and the firm should be very critical in making such decisions because the benefits are high and so the risks in this kind of arrangement. Objective of the Study This study aims to: 1. Study and analyze the strategic alliances of Audio Duplication Services, Inc. (ADS) 2. Evaluate the alternative of ADS on its logistics management 3. Study and analyze the benefits of Vendor-managed inventory(VMI) Key Terms to Remember * Shipping Cost – Third Party Logistics- the use of outside company to provide for a particular services to perform all or part of the firm’s material management and product distribution functions * Strategic Alliances – agreement among firms in which each commits resources to achieve a common set of objectives * Vendor-Managed Inventory (VMI)- a family of business models in which the buyer of a product provides certain information to a vendor Results and Discussions Case Questions 1. Why are ADS’s customers’ customers moving towards VMI arrangements? ADS’s customers’ customers (i. e. etailers) are moving towards the VMI arrangement so that the likelihood of being out of stock is reduced and the inventory level in the supply chain is also reduced. This will be achieved because through VMI the retailers could provide a continuously updated point-of-sale (POS) to the record companies. By then, the decisions that will be made by the record companies like how much of each album, CD, and cassette title is delivered and when each delivery is made will be more accurate because the records company’s data is updated. 2. How will this impact ADS’s business? How can ADS management take advantage of this situation?This decision on VMI arrangement will have a big impact on ADS. The ADS management should take advantage in the new arrangement because through this they could maintain a more accurate inventory level. Because in this kind of arrangement, the ADS takes full responsibility on the inventory level and through VMI they could have a more accurate inventory level and also ADS could deliver the product on time. 3. How should ADS manage logistics? The ADS should manage logistics by hiring a third party logistics to manage the logistics in their supply chain. This decision is based on several reasons.One of these is that managing logistics is not one of the expertises of ADS Company and by hiring a third party logistics the ADS Company could now focus on their competency of cassette duplicatio n. Also, the new arrangement of direct shipping to the stores would incur higher shipping cost for ADS because of a more complicated route that unlike before there is a distribution center where the products are shipped; in this situation it is very logical for them to hire a third party logistics so that the path networks of these stores would be manage efficiently by third party logistics who are experts in this things.Another reason why ADS Company should not opt to buy a fleet of trucks is that this alternative would require a very high capital investment. Thus, ADS should hire a third party logistics to manage their logistics. 4. Why are the large national retailers moving toward a direct shipment model? So that the product would get into the specific stores where it is needed on time and with the right quantity. Also, direct shipment model is important in a business to reduce the lead time especially for a company whose nature is already changing due to the changing technology .Conclusions, Recommendations, References, and Other Details Conclusions Ultimately, a business organization’s goal is to make profit. But one cannot forsake the quality of the product as well as the satisfaction of customers. In this case, the customers of Vanity Products made changes in terms of ordering the products they need. It was very challenging for VP to adapt to the changes made by the customers since significant changes have to be implemented to address the demands of customers.VP encountered problems regarding cost as well as logistic service. With this, Tom White recommended a solution where different warehouses will be established near the customers. In the long-term, it is beneficial to the company because it decreases the cost in terms of transportation. Recommendations From the main discussion, Tom’s proposal is the best course for Vanity Products. The requirement of the customers that the products be delivered within five days will be met.At the same time, the cost of VP will be lower compared to that of delivering less than truckload quantities to a specific store or using a peddle run method to deliver a full truckload quantities to a set of stores or customers. Thus, the best alternative or solution to the problem is to implement Tom’s proposal. References (1)J. Heizer and B. Render. (2010). Operations Management. Tenth Edition. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. (2) Munley. com. Truck Accidents Glossary. Retrieved February 4, 2013 at http://www. unley. com/truck_glossary/legal_glossary_p. html (3) Businessdictionary. com. Freight Costs. (2012) Retrieved February 4, 2013 at http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/freight-cost. html Other Details â€Å"A Case Study Analysis on the Strategic Alliances of Audio Duplication Services, Inc. (ADS)† IE 191 Section: V Date of Submission: March 21, 2013 Contributors Signature Members: Josol, Patricia Beatriz| ___________| Palomar, Romelyn Mae| ___________| Tena, Mara Alyssa| ___________|

Friday, August 30, 2019

Pet food recall Essay

A recent recall across the United States and Canada has pet owners in frenzy. More than 60 million cans and pouches of pet food have been recalled as they have been linked to 10 cat and 6 dog deaths recently. The manufacturer sells food under 95 different brands, including Wal-Mart, Iams, and Safeway. As of yet the specific ingredient linked to the pet deaths has not been determined. Speculation links the liver failure of the cats to a wheat gluten ingredient. The FDA said that wheat gluten itself would not cause liver failure, but if it was contaminated with metal or mold toxins it could cause liver damage. The chief executive of menu foods, Paul Henderson issued a statement saying, â€Å"Our hearts go out to all of the pet owners across Canada, the United States and Mexico for any losses they experience and certainly for the worry this incident may be causing† (â€Å"Company behind pet†, 2007). Pet owner’s expectations when buying pet food are to keep their pets happy, healthy, and well fed. Many of the products recalled were manufactured under the best pet food names in the industry. Pet owner Chris Wood says â€Å"We love our pets just like children. They are not careful enough with the ingredients they put in pet food. That’s scary† (Molina, 2007). Pet’s are companions that owner’s have a deep responsibility to care for. Implications caused by this recall include worry for one’s pet, having to find a new brand of food not manufactured by menu foods, and in the worse case scenario losing one’s pet to liver failure. The worry alone is taking time and energy from pet owners across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Pet owners are not only returning the recalled food but are taken precautions that cost a lot of money to ensure the safety and well-being of their pets. A veterinarian at the Animal Medical Center on the East Side of Manhattan, Dr. Ann Hohenhaus, said one cat died there over the weekend of kidney failure linked to the recalled food. Hohenhaus said the Animal Medical Center has tested 143 animals for renal failure since worried pet owners started taking their cats and dogs in for blood and urine tests on Saturday (March 18th, 2007)†(Mathews , 2007). Retailers are taking all measures to reassure pet owners. After the recall â€Å"PetSmart general manager Gary Brown said, ‘Everything on our shelves is 100 percent safe for your pet’†(Molina, 2007). Petsmart is offering a full refund on all food purchased between December 3-March 6. A Long Island family whose two year old bull mastiff, Princess, died as a result of the recall are suing Menu Foods. Princess ate nothing but Nutro Foods all of her life and passed away from liver failure. The family is absolutely devastated by their loss. The family filed a lawsuit â€Å"Wednesday against Nutro and manufacturer Menu Foods. The lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court in Nassau County, seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, said Bobb’s attorney, Kenneth Mollins†(Mathews, 2007). Quite often consumers put much research and time into products they purchase. When a consumer makes a purchase they assumed the manufacturer is offering a product that will be satisfactory and meet standards. Menu foods did switch to a new supplier for wheat gluten. As of the March 6, 2007 issued recall Mend Foods has once again changed its wheat gluten supply and is once again stocking shelves with premium pet food. Menu Foods expects losses of 24-60 million dollars for this recall and lawsuits that will prevail as a result of the contaminated pet food.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

All About Maps Essay Example for Free

All About Maps Essay Maps are the world reduced to points, lines, and areas, using a variety of visual resources: size, shape, value, texture or pattern, colour, orientation, and shape. A thin line may mean something different from a thick one, and similarly, red lines from blue ones. A photograph shows all objects in its view; a map is an abstraction of reality. The cartographer selects only the information that is essential to fulfil the purpose of the map, and that is suitable for its scale. Maps use symbols such as points, lines, area patterns and colours to convey information. A map gives a miniature â€Å"picture† of a very large space. A map is a guide to a space you have not encountered before. Maps have distance, mountains, rivers, and shapes of places or destinations. With a map, one does not have to depend on local directions. For a small price, it is a direction finder and a dependable way to take a journey. An atlas is a collection of maps in book form. Atlases are made for different regions and areas, and are prepared for desk use or travel use. A travel atlas is usually packaged for easy use during a trip, often with spiral bindings so it can be folded flat, and with maps at a large zoom so that they can be easily consulted on the go. A desk atlas features sizes and bindings that are typical for reference books: usually a paperback or hardcover format. These are imaginary lines that circle the world in an east-west direction. They tell you how far north or south a place is from the Equator. They are drawn parallel to the Equator. There are five main lines of latitude. They are the Equator, the Tropic of Cancer, the Tropic of Capricorn, the Arctic Circle and the Antarctic Circle. Longitude is the angular distance, measured in degrees, east and west of the Prime Meridian, which is at 0o. These are imaginary lines that run across the Earth’s surface in a north-south direction, from the North Pole to the South Pole. Since a map is a reduced representation of the real world, map symbols are used to represent real objects. Without symbols, we wouldn’t have maps. Both shapes and colours can be used for symbols on maps. A small circle may mean a point of interest, with a brown circle meaning recreation, red circle meaning services, and green circle meaning rest stop. Colours may cover larger areas of a map, such as green representing forested land and blue representing waterways. To ensure that a person can correctly read a map, a Map Le All About Maps. (2016, Dec 16).

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Analysis essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 3

Analysis - Essay Example The use of direct quotes of the author calling his siblings shows the author’s attempts to imitate the family set-ups he watched in his favorite program. The quotes are useful in creating an imagery of the author’s actions and his desire to mimic the perfect families in TV. Orr (82) explains that the use of satire throughout the story is the writer’s strongest aspect in constructing his arguments. The author asked his brother Rick and sister Debbie to put on shoes to the dinner table just like in the TV where people dress appropriately for dinner parties. However, Rick defied him and came to the dinner table with only his swim trunks on. The writer’s attempts to influence his siblings and his brother’s defiance occurred without the mother realizing. The use of satire is more evident in the author’s use of an exclamation mark in the sentence â€Å"†¦to become wealthy, and right away!† The author is so obsessed with the rich lives of the families he watches in the TV such that he decides to take a rake and look for work in the neighborhood. Even though doing manual jobs such as cleaning using rakes cannot make one rich, the author still believes he can be rich. Even more satirical is the fact that the author walks in the neighborhood requesting to collect leaves in the summer. It is clear that the author’s obsession has impaired his judgment and reasoning. It is in the summer therefore, there are no leaves to clean up. However, the author’s insistence on the presence of leaves to clean up is ridiculous and discomforting. The author’s use of satire is his strongest literary aspect to show his childhood and often, stupid obsession with families in TV (Orr 83). Gary Soto discusses at length his quest to work for people in the neighborhood in order to get rich (Orr 93). He succinctly describes the work he did for his neighbors and in the process, highlights the stupidity of his

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Evaluate the fairness of the regime of 'commercial opportunities' and Essay

Evaluate the fairness of the regime of 'commercial opportunities' and 'fair competition' expressed in the bilateral 'o - Essay Example After the 1970s, there was perceived large-scale liberalisation in the air trade based on bilateral or multilateral intra regional treaties. Within the next few decades US has signed a large number of â€Å"open skies† treaties with its trade partners for a better economic integration. Various studies have revealed that the economic conditions and the process of development within the African continent does not hamper with the formation of a uniform field for the complete liberalization of the aviation market, and experts contend that the overall African business conditions will show an increased if the liberal policies are indeed embraced. The Yamoussoukro Decision, which reflects the African process of aviation liberalization, has not achieved much success, owing to a lack of the political will to make the provisions enforceable. in this context the various â€Å"open skies† treaties signed with US needs to be examined in order to ascertain whether they will be succes sful with the African context and whether they spell out fairness in ‘commercial opportunities’ and ‘fair competition’ in the air trade relations between the United States and African countries Fairness of the regime of ‘commercial opportunities’ and ‘fair competition’ expressed in the bilateral ‘open skies’ agreements between the United States and African countries 1 Introduction The development of an efficient and a competent aviation sector is necessary for a rapid economic progress and global integration of the African countries. The land-based infrastructure (the railroad) that exists in Africa was primarily for facilitating the extraction of the continent’s rich raw material deposits, while the road network is completely in shambles and without any signs of further development or renovation, thus rendering them useless to the intra-African trade or passenger travel.1 Taking note of the present poor conditi ons of the African infrastructure, they further added that such dismal conditions largely display the â€Å"geographical realities† in Africa, while â€Å"international competitiveness† makes it necessary to have a set of effective institutions that would help to link the national economy globally.2 There is little doubt that under such poor rail and road connectivity the aviation sector in Africa has great potential for setting Africa free in the global market; however, it is imperative that a better infrastructure is provided for the air transport to effectively perform their role. A large number of regulations (domestic and international) rule the global aviation sector, which place severe limitations of the airline activities. The monitoring body is the Montreal (Canada) based The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) that ensures the compliancy of all global air activities with the existent Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs). The regulation of economic advantages in global air transport is primarily monopolized by the norms of bilateral

Monday, August 26, 2019

How is internationalisation transforming the nature of the Australian Essay

How is internationalisation transforming the nature of the Australian screen industry and what tensions does this create for local content and the representation of national identity - Essay Example Nevertheless, the year 1968 saw the revival of Australian cinema, in a quest to nationalize its content to address local and national interests. Accordingly, by the 1980s, Australian cinema produced respectable and morally cultivated films that fit the interests of the middle class viewers, as well as middle-aged ones (Ryan, 2009; pp. 45). The Australian government had put in place several regulations to ensure that the film content adhered to the preservation of Australian identity, culture, and character. Australian cinema was national in every sense, since it produced images that reflected the everyday life of the Australian people, the challenges they faced and their aspirations (Kindem, 62, 2000). The images in Australian film showed the Australian landscape and resources, while all the actors were of Australian origin, thus, enhancing the localization of Australian cinema. For a long time, Sydney has been the center of film production in Australia as the New South Wales (NSW) became the leading national producer of audio-visual films. This dominance by NSW and Sidney in Australian film production was a result of heavy federal funding and the presence of many institutions for training in cinematography. In spite of this growth in nationalized films, the Australian cinema was in a dilemma because the cultural and goals were in conflict with the goals of global economy. Evidently, the global economy affects each and every sector of the society, thus, the Australian film industry had little choice but to shift towards the goals of the global economy. During the twentieth century, Australia was also struggling with exhibition venues for its content, especially after the disintegration of the European movie production after World War II. Essentially, this is what made the Australian film industry form an alliance with the producers in Hollywood, leading

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Health and Social Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

Health and Social Care - Essay Example Due to technology and modern science outbreaks of diseases like malaria, and water-borne diseases could be prevented. Comparing with the past, it was hard to avoid any disease occurrence. One of the similar strategies that were used currently and it still existed in the past was waste disposal. The sewers systems were considered in the past and currently so that diseases that emanate from poor disposal of waste could be treated and be prevented in advance. To prevent those diseases, city planning was considered so that the outbreaks of diseases that used to kill many individuals could be curbed (Scriven and Garman, 2007). The current features of public health on family planning are operational up to date. Comparing with the past, they did not consider family planning but relied on the natural means to control birth. Currently, the group that is concerned with public health policy is the government, and other agencies like, World Health Organization and United Nations among others. The health of the public in UK is considered a lot and it is monitored. For example in the North West and the South West of England, knowledge and intelligence team significantly considers the health of its residents. For example, in the South West of England, they have intelligence hub that is concerned with improving collection and the analysis that is done in daily routines in all health care centers. The hub is concerned with the quality, volume and the cost that is incurred by the patients to treat a particular disease. For example, one of the tools that are available on the site is the injury profile that is concerned with how injuries can be prevented and if they occur how they are handled. The public health has introduced Sexual Health Balanced Scorecard that is concerned with sexual related health strategies to support both local and nationally residents of South West of England. Others departments that have been used to support the local and international

International Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 7

International Finance - Essay Example There are various assumptions that are held regarding this model. The first one is that all prices, wages included are flexible both increasing and decreasing to restore the equilibrium after the observed shocks. The other assumption is that economical agents are rational and that exchange rate is regarded as an asset price, which is seen as a means of holding the wealth (Ghatak & SaÃŒ nchez-Fung 2007). There is also an assumption that there is a perfect sustainability of foreign and domestic goods, PPP holds continuously, capital is perfectly mobile and that money supply is exogenous with an instant clearing. The assumption that PPP holds continuously can be represented as follows: St=Pt-PtFor UIP, given the sustainability of the bonds and the mobility of capital: ∆Set+1=it-it. For the domestic residents wealth constraint: Wt=Mt+ Bt+Bt .Here Wt is nominal wealth, Mt= holding of domestic money, while Bt=holding of the domestic bond. This allows the IUP to hold. Attention is often focused on the money market where bonds have no independent role in the determination of the exchange rate (Evans 2011). This could be indicated by considering the domestic and foreign money demand: Thus, if the national income goes up, there is more demand for an individual to hold money in ones hands as one wants to spend. Moreover, if interests go up there is more incentive to save rather than hold the money (Parvin 2009). This leads into a less to hold making an individual to hold less in the long run. If the prices go up, it costs more to purchase given goods and services making an individual more content in holding money more. This makes an individual to hold more of this money (increase in pt while the mtt also increase). Considering that money supply is in this extent exogenous with instant clearing where money market is always equilibrated: then, mtD =mts≠¡mt, and mtD =Mts≠¡mt..From the equations, mt is the

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Law,human right and government report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Law,human right and government report - Essay Example With my self-control ability, determination, and time consciousness, I constantly kept on reminding members to attend meetings and submit their contributions in time since time management is imperative in the success of any group especially academic groups and life in general. Interestingly, many abided. I often consciously reminded team members of participating into meetings in time. My group operated well by following three principles. We were courageous and intimate to tackle the issues that were prevalent. We chose the issue Self Determination of Aboriginals a topic that our tutor cautioned that it was possibly one of the hardest topics and advised us to rethink of another topic. However, team members insisted that we work on such a challenging topic as it would allow us gain greater perception of issues and consequently learn more. Additionally, we maintained a good relationship by embracing forgiveness and apologies for those who did not make to attend meetings. Finally, fairness was highly embraced in task allocation, with each member taking an equal workload thus eliminating any sense of discrimination. I was delegated the task of completing ‘the political context’ of autonomy of aboriginal that included domestic and international political contexts, and its supporters and opponents. Three main tools proved to be helpful in finalizing the task; library database, Google scholar, and Google search webpage. The library database helped me to find outstanding and peer-reviewed articles. The Google scholar provided supplementary literature that might be missing in the library database. The Google search webpage further complemented the research by providing up-to-date news and imperative information about the concept. I used the date of publication/update of articles and reliability to ascertain the usefulness of the literature. The

Friday, August 23, 2019

Human Resource Management Skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Human Resource Management Skills - Essay Example Human resource management is a vital part of any organization. To be more effective, a human resource team needs to be experts in a number of important sections in an organization. That is, the HR department is responsible for diverse aspects of each employees career, starting with recruitment to hiring to various sections of their job while employed in a particular organization. An effective human resource department effectively executes the policies and procedures and thus ensuring that the employees in an organization are properly motivated. The study is going to view various skills and techniques that one will need to effectively lead the human resource department in an organization. In my research, I prefer that the operation of the human resource department be conducted in one central point to ensure that there is proper coordination of activities from one functional level to another (Martin, 2009). Despite the fact that human resource functions are broad, the management will e nsure that it adequately delegates duties and responsibilities to ensure that the department meets its set goals within the periods. In this study, I am going to major on various aspects in human resource department. For instance, the study will have to capture on the merits of carrying out human resource functions in one central point other than conducting it at a functional level. Moreover, the study will give a detailed explanation of various skills and techniques that a human resource manager, as well as the entire department, should have to run the organization more effectively (Lohman, 2002). I am going to discuss the skills of training and development skills, management skills, communication skills as well as discrete and ethical techniques that a human resource officer in an organization should have for effective operations. Moreover, the study will analyze the ability of HR department in policy formulation and implementation as well strategic planning skills and techniques.

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Emotions make the world go round Essay Example for Free

Emotions make the world go round Essay Emotions are one of the unique traits of humans. Not all living things created by God were able to have emotions, only men are permitted to feel and express. Although animals have the ability to sense some things, it is not as powerful and as expressive as that of the humans. Human emotion speaks a thousand words†¦ in silent mode. What we have to understand when it comes to emotion is the reality that it comes from different factors which affects the cycle of emotion and feelings. Organism and environment has something to do with this but it is always linked to the question, â€Å"how do you feel? † which basically means that in emotions, feelings are essential (Kuhl, 1986). Do you ever wonder why a new born baby cries after his or her birth? Scientifically speaking, babies cry after birth because they are cold but there is a long story behind this one which we will not elaborate anymore. Looking in another aspect, away from science, babies cry because it signifies their ability to live. It serves as a sign that they are alive and it assures the people inside the delivery room about the baby’s existence. Looking at this situation through science’s perspective, an infant’s emotion is more likely associated with both conditioning and stimulation. Remember that around four (4) minutes before the baby is born, something happens inside his or her body which triggers the crying when the time to get out of the mother’s womb comes (Morley, 2002). On the other hand, when the baby is already born, we all know that the doctor taps the baby which ignites a little sense of feeling or sensitivity on the baby’s side. Therefore, conditioning and stimulation happens before and after the baby is born, thus, it is clear that there is really an effect both inside and outside the baby’s body. Although science can explain almost everything in life including emotions and feelings, in the end, it does not really matter that much when you were used in feeling and not thinking too much. Emotions are reactions in everything which happens to you. Others might associate it with adrenalin rush but thinking outside the box, emotions were proofs regarding your humanity. It is not the basis of weakness but instead, it is the sign that you are alive and doing well. Many people were not able to express their emotions like anger, fear happiness and sadness and decide to go to medical doctors for check ups. Perhaps, this is one proof that emotions are not just a thing in our life but ability. Works Cited Kuhl, J. (1986). Motivation and information processing: A new look at decision making, dynamic change, and action control. In R. M. Sorrentino E. T. Higgins (Eds. ), Handbook of motivation and cognition: Foundations of social behavior (pp. 404-434). Chichester: Wiley. Morly, G. M. (2002). Why Do Babies Cry? The Anatomical and Physiological Changes During the Moments After Birth. http://www. cordclamp. com/Why Do Babies Cr1. htm

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Training for improving service quality at Honda Essay Example for Free

Training for improving service quality at Honda Essay This case is about Honda American Motor Company which tries to improve quality due to blended learning approach. They split it in three different phase. 1. Phase one: The first phase takes place online. For two to three weeks, learners access a series of online modules that introduce the logical processes for effective problem solving and decision making. Learner progress is essentially self-paced, but since the content is driven from a Web server, the instructor can follow the progress of each learner and provide on-going encouragement and support. During phase one, learners are also asked to identify situations to which they intend to apply the techniques so they can focus on these situations when they attend the workshop. This powerful combination of initial learning and preparation for applying the concepts to real-life issues ensures the following phase will not only be efficient but also build deep understanding and significant motivation to use the ideas on the job after training. 2. Phase two: The second phase takes place at the workshop. Guided by the instructor, learners spend two days deepening their understanding of the concepts, discussing best practices and additional techniques for problem solving and decision making, and practicing on detailed case scenarios. Since skill transfer and results occur most rapidly when starting with the learner’s on-the-job issues, a significant portion of the session is spent working on the problems, decisions and plans identified in phase one. Simultaneously, learners receive coaching and feedback from the instructor and one another. Learners leave the session ready to fully apply the concepts and with a plan in hand to move successfully from the workshop to consistent use of the concepts back on the job. 3. Phase three: The final phase takes place back online. In the three weeks following the session, learners resolve the on-the-job issues they began to work on during the workshop. They document for instructor review, feedback and approval the specific techniques they used to resolve the issues. During phase three, learners have access to a host of online support tools and information. They can contact the instructor with questions at any time. The goal of this phase is to ensure use of the learned concepts and build  confidence. Advantages of Honda’s blended learning approach Quality of individual output is improved. Employees have the same way of thinking and working - Makes it easier to work with manager and all the co-workers. Deep understanding and strong motivation from the employees Personalized support Reduce their time away from the job Take advantages of expanding technology capabilities and infrastructure Assure tangible transfer of skills Format which best support the overall emphasis on growth and quality Questions After the presentation of our case some questions have been asked by the students of the class. We have discussed about them and tried to bring some explanations. There were different kinds of questions. The first kind was about the learning model itself. The main questions were the followings: 1. How can you measure the quality improvements? Overall and in figures? 2. Is the learning time too short? 3. Can you find in the library some video clips? 4. Is it not to theoretical this learning system? For the first one we think that it is really difficult to measure in term of figure this kind of program. Indeed it is not a small part of Honda’s employees that are training but the whole company. In addition it is not a program for the short term but for the long term. The global quality of Hondo production will increase due to the learning program that means that the customers will be more satisfy. In the long run they will come back to the company to buy their next car. It will take years to quantify the real impact on the turnover. However it is possible to conduct some survey to the customer to know if they think that the quality has improved. The company  can also check if the time to make a car decrease or if there are less failure with the production. For the second one we do not think that the learning time is too short. 6 weeks is enough for this time of training. Moreover it is not because you have done it one time that you cannot do it anymore in the future. With a short training you can be focused on the main point and do not lose time on secondary information that the employee will never use. For the third one we do not know if it is already available on the intranet of Honda. But it can be a really good idea if it does not exist yet. People prefer to watch somebody explaining something (and see how it is working) than only read it in a book. The last one if one of the most important question for this kind of program where you mix theoretical and manual learning. Where is the border between too much of one or the other? At the first view it seems that two days of practice is not enough. However when the employee start is manual formation he has already learned lots of information. So the trainer will not lose lots of time to explain easy and obvious things but can be directly focus on the main important information that the trainee must learn. The second kind of question was more about the employees and their interaction with the learning program. The following questions have been asked to us: 1. How can you motivate the employees, with which kinds of incentives? 2. What about the learners who are not ready after phase 2? 3. What are the interactions among the employees? By participating into an important process in order to improve the quality of their company, the worker feels involved and useful. Indeed, its not sufficient for the most part. Regarding to the low wages that the workers can perceived, a money incentive can be a real motivation to make them want to learn. Moreover, they can motivate them by establishing in the company policy, a rule that explain that if the worker is efficient and provides good work quickly, he can whether be promoted or get bonus in the end of each month. The answer of the second question is quite simple. Indeed, the instructors  can easily evaluate the learners by watching him doing the job. If the learner applies the method perfectly, the instructor will give him the permission to go to the next phase. Otherwise, according to his level of difficulties, the instructor will send him either in the first phase or remake the second phase. Employees interact each other every time (within the company, lunch breaks), but also on the intranet through forums or instant messages. Thus, they can talk easily about working problems, or for instance, share tips and solutions about technical problems. Every single solution is directly saved into the database. Lot of communication channels allows workers to interact easily each other. How does Honda doing compare to its competitors? First of all it is a really complex process to compare sales and figures with quality management. As we learned during the lecture there is no guaranteed effect between sales of products, Stock price progress and quality. Therefore it is even challenging for Managers to analyze the effects of quality improvements. In ours point of view there is one obvious point how to compare it. The annual recalls of Cars. Toyota US 2013 (Toyota US, 2014 Reuters, 2014) Cars Sold: 182’152 Cars Recall â€Å"Nearly 19 million vehicles globally from late 2009 to early 2011 due to unintended acceleration claims.† Honda US 2013 (IBT, 2014 Reuters, 2014) Cars Sold: 135’255 Cars Recall â€Å"Between 2008 and 2011, Honda was forced to recall about 2.8 million vehicles after finding a defect with driver-side airbags supplied by Takata.†  « Honda (2.8 million), Hyundai-Kia (2.2 million) and Ford Motor Co. (1.2 million) rounded out the top five in terms of vehicles recalled in 2013.  » Conclusion To conclude, this system of training in three phases has many advantages. It permits to all employees to feel involved in it because it is not only a theoretical learning system, to have a personalized support and a control at each phase permit to really evaluate their progression. Furthermore this system of training allows them to reduce their time away from their job. We have analysed some questions about this system such as the measurement of the quality improvement because we can’t really quantify the real impact on the turnover now. The project is on the long term and it will take some few years to measure the satisfaction of the customer, if they will buy another car of this brand or not. The other questions were about employees and their interaction with the program. The money is not the only motivation for employees; they are also motivated by the self-satisfaction (increase their knowledge, promotion, or belong to a company of quality). This program permits the skills transfer also, to discuss of problems on the intranet (forums) Despite some â€Å"issues† such as measuring the efficiency right now of this system or the non-guarantee of effect between sales of product, stock price progress and quality; Honda is the company with the lowest annual recalls of cars. Bibliography IBT http://www.ibtimes.com/here-are-december-2013-big-eight-us-auto-sales-numbers-gm-ford-chrysler-toyota-honda-nissan-1525492, 16.04.2014 Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/11/us-toyota-recall-idUSBRE93A04D20130411, 16.04.2014 Toyota US http://toyotanews.pressroom.toyota.com/releases/tms+march+2014+sales+chart.htm, 16.04.2014

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

The Worlds Biggest Illegal Arms Market History Essay

The Worlds Biggest Illegal Arms Market History Essay The town is basically one street lined up with gun shops, other shops present are tea stalls or butcher shop. One can hardly find any women in the main Bazaar. The roof tops are used as guns testing grounds for the weapons made and the air is usually filled with noise of fire arms. Workshops are present on the main road which consist of Hundreds of closet sized rooms where young boys and men make copies of the entire worlds guns (in working condition) with nothing more than hand tools and a small drill press. Astonishingly the tools used to make guns are highly primitive, yet accurate reproduction of every conceivable sort of weapons is made. Because its a very perfect location to have these gun factories as it is surrounded by mountains, for years these people have been making guns, its a time tested area and is pretty safe. That why its only is darra and nowhere else in the frontier. In Dara Adam Khel, almost three fourths of the people are in the gun trade. Around 1000 guns are made in Dara Adam Khel each day and the number is rising as new and better tools are been introduced to the workers. They had been making guns for more than 120 years. These guns are more than enough for the Pashtoons themselves. Many guns are smuggled in Afghanistan through Russia and other countries. Although heroin trade was shutdown in 1980s but the Pashtoons could not shutdown this guns factory. They are so much so involved in this business that Pashtoons call these guns their ornaments; they exchange guns like people exchange cars, people can bring in old guns and exchange them for new ones. Guns are available at frighteningly low prices. People carry guns as Englishmen carry umbrellas. However manufacturing of  heavy ammunition has been closed downed. Nobody messes with them in regard of trying to shut their guns business; the guns made are tested in the open 2 or 3 feet away from the shop. At any time a Pashtoon comes out of the shop and pumps twenty rounds into the air from a freshly made M-16 rifle. Such is the magic and aurora surrounding this place. Rules for foreigners who want to visit Dara Adam Khel is a forbidden area for any kind of foreigners. A permit and an armed escort are required from the Home Secretary of KHAIBER PHAKTOON KHAWA whose offices are in the Civil Secretariat on Police Rod in Peshawar. The permit is free of charge and issued on the very instance it is applied for. Only a few specific places are allowed to be seen. Travelers can only drive through the bazaar without a permit if they do not make any sort of stop, because if they do make a stop they would invite trouble. In case travelers buy guns, the shopkeepers mostly inform the customs and the police about the purchase. As a result, buyers are caught and the guns are either confiscated or released by giving a bribe. Arms trade The Dara Adam Khel arms trade fired up in 1897. The British even being in power at that time were afraid of the capabilities that the people of these areas possessed. They usually turned a blind eye to all the illegal guns being made; in return the Pashtoons gave them a safe passage to travel through the main bazaar without making a stop. Afridis This arm trade has won fame for the Adam Khel Afridis who are the major inhabitants of the town. They are the ones who basically control everything Insurgency in Dara Adam Khel Mughals and British periods Durand line is 2600 Kilo Meter long border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, on both sides of the border tribesmen inhabits the tribal areas, history tells us that tribesmen of these areas have always caused problems for the rulers of the time, only one ruler was able to conquer them and make them their loyal subjects, his name was Akbar e Azam (Mughal Emperor) no other ruler of Subcontinent including British colonial rulers was ever became able to defeat them in their backyard. Dara Adam Khel a tribal area located between Kohat and Peshawar capital of Khaiber Pakhtoon Kha has always been a source of problem for Pakistan since Pakistan was created. Herion business (including other narcotics as well), illegal weapon trade, kidnapping for ransom, murder and many different kinds of crimes have always been related to this area. Pakistan Government efforts to resolve issues Darra Adam hel is predominantly under the control of Afridi tribes men, when Pakistan was created Dara Adam Khel was equipped with schools and colleges, Pakistan Governemtn has triesd its best to ensure calmness in this area and to stop the illegal trades by giving the educated people of Dara Adam Khel Government jobs, but to no avail. Ojhri camp Weapons Dara Adam Khels Afridi tribesmen are highly intelligent and have a great ability to make weapons. After the disaster of Ojhri camp ammunition depot in Islamabad, the remaining weapons and weapon parts were sold to the people of Dara Adam Khel who quite effectively copied the designs in Dara Adam Khels weapon manufacturing factories. This was proven when Army was attacked by similar rockets to those present in Ojhri camp, during their ongoing operation in Fata area. This further strengthened the belief in tribesmen ability regarding weapon manufacturing. Element of foreign militants Sources say that foreign militants of India or other countries disguise themselves as Taliban and are financing 90 percent of the illegal activities in these areas in order to destabilize Pakistan internally, Islam is a peace loving religion and such activities are not promoted. Taliban Militants are misusing the name of Islam in order to weaken, disintegrate and eventually denuclearize Pakistan. Role played by Pakistani army Army had to intervene when the situation was getting out of hand, the militants started to kill travelers on Kohat Peshawar road. They hanged any person who went against them, then threw his dead body at the roadside in an effort to create fear among others, this finally lead to their strong foothold in Dara Adam Khel. Well trained and well equipped government troops took timely action and responded to the challenge, posed by these militants, in a very strong way. Army members are permanently deployed along the roadside and on strategic hills in Dara Adam Khel in an effort to provide safety to the travelers and the local innocent people between Kohat and Peshawar. In the ongoing clashes, Taliban militants escape from Dara Adam Khel usually towards Orakzai agency, Khyber agency and Afghanistan .The friendship tunnel of Kohat was targeted at the start by militants but they were soon defeated and flushed out by the security forces, according to sources good number of militants take refuge in Kohat as proven by the rocket attacks from these areas. Militant attack on Kotal check post was also successfully defended by the brave and valiant men and officers of Pakistan army. Trick played by Taliban Militants Afridi tribesmen are against the Taliban militants. In the beginning the Taliban entered Dara Adam Khel on the name of Islam and due to their views the militants gained popularity among the people of the area. But once the militants gained control of the area they showed their true colors, they imposed heavy taxes, started spreading fear by killing people and by implementing hard lining rules. They made court decisions in public and gave the punishments in public as well.Tthey destroyed many schools and colleges in the name of Islam, particularly girls schools were targeted. Everyone was forced to pay taxes of about 60000 rs per family A resident of Tor Chappar (area of Dara Adam Khail) says that his family was displaced during army operation against militants. Now in Tor Chappar empty houses with opened doors are present as all the residents have escaped to areas which are comparatively safer areas like Peshawar. Though locals of Tor Chappar do not like the militants but they cant take up arms against them because if militants block their ways and tracks they would completely loose their contact with the outside world and would eventually die or be killed .So the fear is the main factor they all are quite and take no significant action against the militants. Views of a Taliban militant spokes person When a spokes person of Taliban militants was questioned regarding their real intentions, he has said that militants are active to destabilize Pakistan but he was unable to answer the real purpose behind their militancy. Leaders of Jamaat e Islami blame India for financing attacks in tribal areas of Pakistan through its consulates in Afghanistan. A journalist Shakil Ahmed based currently in Australia, in his recent article made a bold claim that around 1500 Indian Army men are present in Afghanistan and are making efforts to encircle Pakistan. Despite many claims no one could come up with a proof of Indian involvement. According to Dawn news report arrested Arab militants from Mehmand Agency were financed by Afghanistan. Many Uzbek militants were also captured during the operation conducted by the security forces in these areas of Fata. View of an elder in Khaiber Pakhtoon kha. According to an elder of Khaiber phaktoon kha Baitullah mehsod (Taliban leader) is a friend of Maulana Fazal ur Rehman who is a leader of Jamiat ul Islam. According to him many religious parties of Pakistan are also behind the current insurgency in the areas of Fata and Swat, this is the exact reason why they oppose Army operations in these areas. Its a very complex situation, only a group of people cannot gain such a strength that they could challenge the paksitan military. Indian and American views on the fata Foreign Minister of India Mr Krishna offered friendship to Pakistan, only if Pakistan would destroy its training camps of militants. Statement made by him is a clear recognition of potency of Pakistan Army, Media reports show that US president Obama and Hillary Clinton (secretary of state) rely heavily on Pakistan army to control cross border activity. Pakistan current situation and importance of Pakistani army Cynics predict another 1971 type debacle for Pakistan, but the fact of the matter is that Pakistan is a nuclear power now, and elected government of PPP lead coalition is in power, Army is committed to its role of, helping elected government to restore peace in FATA and Malakand division and its performance up to date reflects its potential to wipe out the militants from Pakistani soil. International community is quite satisfied regarding the human rights situation in Pakistan, with reappointment of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary and his other deposed colleagues independent judiciary does exist in Pakistan to guard the constitutional rights of people of Pakistan. Circumstances in 1971 were altogether different in Pakistan when it was dismembered. Now even security of US lead NATO forces is dependent upon Pakistan Armed forces ability to stop cross border activity on Durand line, Indias security will also be in jeopardy if Pakistan existence as buffer zone between Afghanistan and India is jeopardized, most of the analysts agree on this point news media reports reflect. Purpose of Research: The focal point of this research is to analyze the controversial condition of Dara Adam Khel, one of the globally acknowledged ethnic regions of Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan that borders Afghanistan; we will try to explore its evolution and progress as what has happened to this geographical area that it emerged, gradually with time, as the worlds largest illegitimate arm market. We will spot what types of illicit arms in form of hand grenades, pen pistols and more are produced by this particular largest arm manufacturer of the world and analyze the supply and demand situation as which countries are purchasing and demanding these low-cost illicit weapons and obviously for what reason. Besides, this study highlights notable facts and figures and the aftermaths too along with the recommendable policies to the government in order to curb the exceeding production of illicit weapons that is almost 40 Million in Pakistan in 2009. The performance of government of Pakistan shall be evaluated as to why the country is rated as one of the greatest per capita rates of gun ownership in the world despite the fact that government has continuously been taking action by implementing the UN program of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) but still Darras local inhabitants are allured by the illegal production of replicas of imported weapons as their chief source of income. Problem Definition: The illicit arm industry located in Dara Adam Khel was flourishing by leaps and bounds with the passage of time, therefore consequential in the expansion of problematic issues created by it. This unlawful production and supply of a vast array of handmade and small industry created weapons as well as imported replicas are responsible for the domestic as well as international criticism. The repercussions our country has been facing consist of intensifying crime rate, murder rate, escalating rate of use of non-genuine currency, drugs, and bombs. 2.0 Literature Review In Pakistan Arms can be acquired legally or through unlawful means, all a person requires is money or strong reference with someone involved in trading of weapons. A survey conducted by Small Arms back in 2002 found the illegally held weapons in Pakistan were approximately 18 million in comparison to only 2 million legally held weapons. This comprises of almost nine illegal weapons for each licensed weapon currently owned by the Pakistanis. The report illustrated that, regardless of the official ban on trade of non-licensed weapons, unauthorized arms trade and gunrunning continue to flourish and ammunition remains in open circulation (Burke, 2001). Darra Adam Khel is a Tribal town adjacent to Peshawar, is stated to be the largest producer and supplier of low-priced guns in the country. According to the latest survey held in 2009 the legal licensed weapons sum around 4 million and illegal weapons have exceeded 40 million in Pakistan. The weapons are considered an ornament for men and are regarded as a part of attire. This is the reason that a household stove may be kept cold, but the barrel of the gun is kept warm. According to the sources the Arms in Darra Adam Khel are mostly manufactured using small machines or are hand made. A large sum of ammunition produced is distributed to Taliban fighters waging war in Afghanistan against the U.S. Army and coalition forces in North and South Waziristan against the Pakistan Army (Bonner, 2002). The Federal Administered Tribal Areas Secretariat, the government agency that administers the region, the total number of personnel employed by Darra arms factories are around 10,000 people and they make several million weapons annually. The owner of Sher Ghulam and Sons Arms Dealer, Malik Muhammad Asif says that business is invigorating despite the enhanced security at Pak-Afghan border and a disarmament campaign by the Afghan government has resulted in price hike. An AK-47 Kalashnikov rifle that used to sell for a $165 in 2004 now sells for as much as $ 700, the cost of explosives have also risen by approximately 20% (FATA, 2007). Another local arms merchant Haji Ahmed Khan says that The demand has increased so much that factory employees now work around the clock to fulfill demand. The replicas of imported and local weapons have been manufactured in Darra since the early 1900s. Successive Pakistani governments have tried hard to control the arms industry with little success, and tribal areas operate under a semi-autonomous agreement that dates back to British rule. Law Enforcement Agencies and federal judges have limited authority and foreign journalists are prohibited from traveling to this particular region (Schmidle, 2008). In 2003 a survey by SPADO showed that only in Darra Adam Khel there are around 1,200 gun selling shops. These guns are supplied by almost 1,500 small workshops and more than 50 medium-scale manufacturing units employing over 6,000 gunsmiths. Pakistan, according to anti-arms activists, has one of the greatest per capita rates of gun ownership in the world. However, there are no official figures rough estimates put the total number of small arms at large in the country at more than 20 million, with about half of them illegal. Half a million illegitimate small arms and light weapons are believed to be owned by people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. But in 2000, state arms manufacturer, Pakistan Ordinance Factories (POF) managed to dent the illegal trade by recruiting some of the skilled artisans from the tribal areas to POFs main manufacturing unit in Wah a cluster of 14 factories 40 km north of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad (Haqqani, 2006). It is estimated that 22 million AK 47s are in public use whereas the countrys total population is around 170 million, which accounts 13% of the countrys population. In Pakistans tribal culture the use of heavy weaponry is quite common including the use of rocket launchers, short, medium and long range rockets, anti aircraft guns, mortars etc all are made in the vicinity of Darra (Khan, 2006). State Interior Minister Tasneem Qureshi was summoned by Standing Committee on Interior for issuing approximately 6,000 prohibited-bore licenses within two months. The committee was informed that 26,000 bogus licenses were issued to strangers with the consent of certain fraudulent officials. It came into notice that Each senator, member of National Assembly and member of Provincial Assembly can avail 25 non-prohibited bore licenses every year, out of which 75 percent have availed it, That generally indicated the induction of nearly 20,000 fresh weapons in the country. A newspaper report dealing with illegal arms trade notes, A pistol that costs around Rs. 20,000 can be acquired on rent with no trouble for Rs. 150 an hour if a person has strong references. Most people get pistols on rent on the alleged reason that they want to use them at weddings; instead those arms are used in roadside snatching incidents. It is more or less like getting a motorbike on rent (IPDF, 2008). An interviewer from BBC was told by Haji Munawar Afridi, an arms trader at Darra Adam Khel that There is nothing we cannot copy. At another point he stated You bring us a Stinger missile and we will make you an imitation that would be difficult to tell apart from the original. (Aamer Ahmed, 2006) Some of the influential traders in Darra Adam Khel proudly talk about their ammunition supply to the Islamist fighters engaged in Kashmir. Currently, there are about 2,000 families who are involved in manufacturing of weaponry in Darra and are also supplying to clients abroad. Rest of the families continues to focus on local markets. Another famous gun trader in Darra asserts that Punjabis love small arms and Punjab is our major market. Mekarob pistol is the most demanded one because of its low price and compact size (BBC, 2006). Dilawar Wazir, a political analyst in the tribal area of North Waziristan says militants are the everlasting buyers of the armaments of Darra, and nearly 40 percent of their explosives and light arms used to make bombs are supplied by these factories. However, the trade of manufacturing weapons is well confined, making Darra the South Asian capital for compact unlawful weapons. (Rahmanullah, 2007) The purchasers of illegal weapons are world over. Insurgent armies, from Asia, Latin America, Africa, have in the past sent their middlemen to acquire weapons from here and still do so. Moinuddin Haider the Minister of the Interior in previous government, said in an interview in Islamabad. We want to close them all down,. Last year the government also launched a campaign to confiscate all illicit guns and bring to an end the issuance of new licenses (Rahmanullah, 2007). Gone are the days of the 1980s, the gun industry in Darra was at boom when Islamic fighters, CIA operatives and ordinary Afghans fighting the Soviet invasion of their country just across the border would flock to Darra Adam Khel, and mostly the orders placed for weapons were massive in numbers (Wilkinson, 2005). Jan Muhammad, a 63-year-old arms dealer who is considered one of the leading experts in pistol manufacturing confessed that their business in late 1980s was so good when the Afghans fought a Holy war against the Soviet aggression. Nevertheless, Muhammad regrets the misfortunes fallen upon his family since then. Another arms trader at Darra Mr. Hassan states that Business is bad, very bad. He pulled a .30 caliber pistol off the shelf, shiny black with no markings. A year ago, he said, he could have sold it for 5,000 rupees. Now, he asks 1,000 rupees for the same pistol. (Bonner, 2002) Brigadier Mahmood Shah the head of tribal regions in northwestern Pakistan says that People have been in the weapons business at Darra Adam Khel for decades, but we are taking into account suggestions to regulate it. He also claimed that weapons at Darra are of substandard, and are more like souvenirs than weapons. However, the buyers disagree to his statement, Mohammed Raza, 38, a resident living on the suburbs of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province says that I have a feud going with some people in my village and I have come here to buy a pistol. Declaring he had no doubt the weapon would prove deadly if he chooses to use it (Khan, R. 2005). Raza scoffed at the conception the government will ever be able to stop people from purchasing weapons in a constituency where almost every house contains a gun and many men walk the streets with rifles slung over their shoulders. The reality behind the omnipresence of arms bazaar is that the workmen at Darra Adam Khel are masters of placing together well-designed copies of some of the worlds most popular guns. A copy of an Italian-made, pump-action shotgun, which would cost about US$1,300 in the West, can be had for between 3,000 and 8,000 rupees and a replica of the famous AK-47 assault rifle goes for about 10,000 rupees in Darra Adam Khel, 10 times less then the real thing but just as deadly (Riaz, 2005). Whatever the reality, it is clear that the government will have to come up with a highly innovative and aggressive strategy to bring this lethal trade under control

Monday, August 19, 2019

Drinking Water Sustainability Essay -- Potable Water Scarcity

Introduction The importance of water, in relation to the Earth and its inhabitants, can only be rivaled by the importance of oxygen. Living things depend on water in their habitat. However, the abundance of water is not as important as the usefulness of the water. Much of the Earth is made up of this unique liquid combination of hydrogen and oxygen, but the amount that can be used for human consumption is less than one percent (Boland, 2003). In essence, humans use potable water, water that is suitable for drinking and cooking, to satisfy their basic needs. Drinking (potable) water is free from poisonous substances, contaminants, and disease-causing organisms, which would be unsafe for human consumption (Gulflink). In pre-historic times, inhabitants understood the importance of water sustainability for survival of the population. In ancient civilizations, water sustainability and potable water were both emphasized as ideals for the progress and continuity of the societies. Today, humans continue to progress in their understanding and utilization of technological processes to develop potable water. As a result, water filtration, water management, and water conservation efforts are becoming more effective and commonplace. Thus, as the technology continues to improve the quality of water as a resource, we cannot forget the basis to which past cultures had accepted: the continual existence or sustainability of this limited resource. Abstract A Historical Perspective Man’s existence relies on water, and he cannot survive for more than seven days without it. M.N. Baker, a water quality historian, states, â€Å"In the earliest days of the human race, water was taken as found. It might be pure and abundant, plentiful but mud... ...ment in the twenty-first century: What should we do, not what can we do? The National Academies. . Accessed 11 October 2004. Phippen, Kari. Ancient Egypt – culture: The ancient Egyptian people’s dependence on the Nile. . Accessed 11 October 2004. Potable water through solar energy. The Tribune – India. 18 March 2003. . Accessed 11 October 2004. University of South Florida Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Water resources and environmental systems. Flyer. VOC polluted water remediation technology. Sasakura Engineering Company Ltd. . Accessed 11 October 2004.

Essay on Picture of Dorian Gray: Looks Can Kill -- Picture Dorian Gray

Looks Can Kill in The Picture of Dorian Gray   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      Have you ever heard the saying, "If looks could kill"? Well, they can. Oscar Wilde reveals how looks can be charming, deceitful and even deadly. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, there are three main characters. Dorian Gray, who is a calm, very attractive young man and adored for his good looks, Basil Hallward who is a painter that idolizes Dorian and Lord Henry Wotton, an older man, who becomes a good friend of Dorian's. As Basil is painting a portrait of Dorian Gray, Dorian makes a wish that only the picture would age and he would stay the same. As he later notices, his wish is granted and the picture begins to age. Not only is the portrait aging, but the face is also becoming more devious looking. This is because Dorian had fallen deeply in love with an actress, Sibyl Vane, and one night he had taken Basil and Lord Henry to watch her act. That night Sibyl Vane was acting so badly that people were beginning to leave. Dorian was humiliated so intensely that he went back stage and told her he had fallen out of love with her. She said the reason for her bad acting was because she no longer cared for acting, just for him. Dorian s till could not take the humiliation and told he was never to see her again. After he left, Sibyl ended her own life by drinking a cleaning fluid that was in her dressing room. Wilde first shows the importance of looks when Basil first sets eyes on Dorian Gray. "I knew that I had come face to face with someone whose mere personality was so fascinating that...it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself" (7). This was before Basil had even talked to Dorian, and he had already judged what type of personality he had, ... ...e picture itself . . . . He would destroy it . . . . He looked round, and saw the knife that had stabbed Basil Hallward . . . He seized the thing, and stabbed the picture with it . . . . There was a cry heard, and a crash . . . . When they entered they found, hanging upon the wall, a splendid portrait of their master as they had last seen him . . . . Lying on the floor was a dead man . . . with a knife in his heart. He was withered and wrinkled . . . it was not till they had examined the rings that they recognized who it was" (253-254). Wilde uses great characters, setting and plot to explain the significance that looks have. Everyone's life could be altered just because of the way someone looks, or even the way they look. Looks can not only be charming and deceitful, but deadly as well. Works Cited: Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Grey. Penguin, 1992.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

The American Dream in the Great Gatsby Essay -- F. Scott Fitzgerald

The American Dream can mean different things depending on who is asked. Some will answer it is the freedom of religion, class or race, others will claim it is about the ability to choose where they want to work, what they want to wear, or what’s for breakfast the next day. For Jay Gatsby and many others, the American Dream is about gaining wealth and material possessions in an attempt to find happiness. Through his novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows how the American Dream is only the concept of perfection, something that can never be acquired, but always can be reached for. Daisy Buchanon was always mesmerized by wealth. Her dream is to have a luxurious lifestyle filled splendor. Before the events of the novel, she could not see Gatsby providing this lifestyle for her. Before Gatsby went to war, she promised him that she would wait for him to come back and they would get married. Instead, she met Tom and married him, not for his personality, she married him for his money. Her promise to Gatsby before he left was an empty one – she never intended to follow through with it. Gatsby wasn’t upper class at the time they met, he was relatively poor and could not satisfy her desire for wealth. Even Gatsby realized he was below her and he felt that, â€Å"he was in Daisy’s house by a colossal accident . . . he was at present a penniless young man without a past, and at any moment the invisible cloak of his uniform might slip from his shoulders.† (149). Gatsby showed no ability to be able to support her, so she lost interest wh ile he was away and eventually forgot about him. She only started showing renewed interest when he began throwing extravagant parties every night. While over at Gatsby’s, Daisy comments about... ... will store up in his ghostly heart" (101). Gatsby expected perfection from Daisy, but was instead met with a shallow corrupt woman, who could never fulfill all of Gatsby’s dreams. Daisy was never meant to be Gatsby’s, she was only supposed to be the thing he tried to get, the false image of perfection. The real fulfillment of the American dream was Gatsby’s path towards perfection, not his eventual failure to reach the end. Throughout his novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows many characters trying to find perfection. Daisy, Myrtle, and Gatsby all believed wealth would lead them to happiness, though, no matter how hard they tried, they could never quite get there. These characters show that the American Dream is about striving for perfection, but never reaching it. Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Evaluating Areas of Knowledge

Music can affect us in many ways. It can evoke emotion or bring back a long-forgotten memory. It is present in nearly every aspect of life. Anywhere you travel, you come into contact with music. Whether it is on the radio in the car, in the supermarket, or on television, there is no escaping the constant presence of music. Music is composed for various reasons and purposes. Sometimes, composers are compelled to create a musical work to express their emotions, or even opinions. Music is also created to express the cultural aspects. Since there are so many reasons music is created and purposes it is used for, how is it possible to know music and in what ways can music be known? According to the International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge, there are several specific ways of knowing that allow knowledge claims to be evaluated. The infinitive, to know, can be evaluated by using reason, language, perception, and emotion. All of these ways can be utilized when evaluating the claim â€Å"I know this music. † Also, most of these mentioned ways of knowing can be applied to other areas of knowledge besides the arts. To begin, knowing music can be evaluated by using reason as logic. Obviously, if someone where to make this claim, he could simply be referring to the fact that he had heard it before. But logically, looking on a deeper level, the claim could mean that he had played through the music before. Often when musicians play a piece of music, or especially when it is performed, it has greater meaning to them and allows them to know it more intimately. When playing a piece of music, artists can put their own personal feeling into it. They can vary certain aspects such as tempo and phrasing. Not only does playing music speak to a listening audience, it speaks to the artist. This makes playing music a very psychological process, as it evokes certain feelings from listener and performer. Very gifted musicians are sometimes able to merely look at a piece of music, to analyze each note and rhythm, and be able to claim they know the piece. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was able to know music in this way. He would compose entire symphonies and concertos entirely in his mind before ever writing them down. And when he did write them down, he never changed a note. Mozart never had to physically hear a piece of music to know what it sounded like; he could hear it in his mind. Likewise, this was true for Beethoven, who composed and conducted his ninth symphony after becoming deaf. This process of knowing occurs on a much more intellectual level then actually playing music. However, both methods present knowledge of music. Besides using reason as logic, one can also consider the reason in the purpose of music in order to fully know it. Music is usually always created for some purpose. Composers are inspired and feel compelled to express their creativity. However, despite the composer's initial purpose for the music, its purpose to society may become completely different. For instance, many early classical composers were hired by courts and forced to compose music for the king. Often they would just write so as to get paid and to save themselves from poverty or execution. They would never have imagined that their music would, hundreds of years later, be listened to in the homes of middle class amilies as their children fervently practice the current assignment from the piano teacher. Music can be written to express opinions of society, culture, and authority. The popular rapper Eminem, constantly criticized for his outspokenness, articulates his views through his controversial lyrics. Similarly, the members of the heavy metal band Rage Against the Machine are known for their radical views of government and have even been arrested several times for protesting on the steps of the capital. Rage uses their music to communicate their opinions and speak to others who feel the same. Altogether, the purpose of music can be used to evaluate how it is known. Next, the claim can also be evaluated by analyzing certain aspects of language. Semantics is a term often applied to the study of meaning in language. In order to study language, one needs to consider two aspects of language: denotation and connotation. Denotation can be thought of as the way in which a word is defined, as in the dictionary. Connotation, on the other hand, is thought of as the color of the word, or what it implies. Therefore, according to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, the definition of the verb ‘to know' is: to perceive directly, or have direct cognition of, to have understanding of, to recognize the nature of, to recognize as being the same as something previously known, to be acquainted or familiar with, or to have experience of. The denotation of a word is very straightforward and differs from the connotation in that it lacks emotion. For example, when trying to explain love to a child, it does no good to give them a dictionary definition. On the other hand, the connotation of knowing can be explained in countless ways. For example, the word can infer that there is a strong emotional connection, whether it be positive or negative. The connotation also involves many other areas other than just the word, such as the tone of voice it is said in, or the context in which it is placed. When evaluating a claim, one cannot fully depend on a single aspect of semantics. Both denotation and connotation need to be taken into account in order to evaluate knowledge claims. In addition, perception is another way of knowing. Perception varies between all individuals. Perception makes each person unique. Therefore, it is difficult to make a generalized statement about perception besides the fact that it can drastically change the way identical events are interpreted. Perception can be influenced by many different factors such as culture, economic status, and religion. These factors can be described as filters through which the world is perceived. When applied to a knowledge claim, perception mainly varies between individuals' views of what it means to know something. Take, for instance, the individual making the knowledge claim, â€Å"I know this music. One person's perception of what it means to know could vary from the perception of the person being told. The only way to bridge this gap in perception, is to become tolerant of others' views. Applied to others areas of knowledge, these ways of analyzing knowledge claims are valid yet sometimes irrelevant. For instance, the methods work for theoretical, language, and creativity based areas such as politics and the arts. However, when applied to more factual areas like mathematics and the natural sciences, the above methods are not suitable. For these areas, processes such as proofs and the scientific method are used.

Friday, August 16, 2019

African American Religion Essay

Before Africans were brought to America during the slave trade, they had their own culture and society. They had their own language and dance. They also had their own religion. History tells us that the Europeans justified their abuse toward the Africans as helping them become more civilized because the Africans lifestyle appeared primal to them and not as developed and industrialized as theirs. What is often overlooked is that even though Africans were taken from Africa and Americanized and have been stripped of their religion, culture, language and even their name, the very essence of the African as a people did not go away. Some African American slaves rejected Christianity’s religion because they saw it as the â€Å"white man’s religion†. History tells us American Slave Masters abused the Africans by whipping them like animals and by treating them inhumane. The fact that these slave masters wanted the African American to worship their god was unacceptable for some because they could not fathom why they should worship a god who allowed people to be so badly treated. Some Africans accepted Christianity’s religion and faith by identifying with Jesus Christ, the son of God who according to the Bible was innocent of sin and yet he was beaten, bruised and crucified for the sins of the world. Some African Americans wanted to remain faithful to their heritage yet did not agree with the conjure practices. Seth Holly’s character is a good example of conforming to the economic prosperity of America which was founded by Christians. White Christians enforced Christian beliefs, values, and some practices based on the Euro American Christian interpretation of Christian text. Seth developed a kind of hatred for his own people proving that he has adopted the practices of white America in the early 1900s. â€Å"Niggers coming up here from that old backwoods†¦ coming up here from the country carrying Bibles and guitars looking for freedom. † Seth says. â€Å"They got a rude awakening† (6). Seth signifies the African American who resents assimilation to the white American culture. But, at the same time, he too attempts to connect with his heritage by simply allowing Bynum to live in his home and bless it with his conjures rituals. Seth also participates in an African dance ritual called the Juba. Bynum’s character is introduced by practicing conjure rituals. He cuts open pigeons and spreads its blood onto him as a type of cleansing to communicate with spirits. Bynum represents the African American who chose to remain faithful to the religion of his heritage. Others who have chosen the faith of Christianity view conjure rituals as evil, witchcraft, or demonic. Some African Americans wanted to remain faithful to their heritage yet did not agree with conjure practices anymore. Loomis walks in on the juba dance and goes into a trance after dinner at the boarding house. He had a vision of skeletons emerge from a body of water. â€Å"Loomis: I done seen bones rise up out the water. Rise up and walk across the water. Bones walking on top of the water† (53). Loomis recognizes through the vision, his state of ignorance to the knowledge that will lead him to the new way of thinking. Bynum serves as a supporting character reacting to Loomis’s trance. â€Å"Bynum: They walking around here now. Mens. Just like you and me. Come right up out the water† (56). Loomis’s trance and Bynum’s interpretation of it is a turning point in the story. The skeletons coming from the bottom of the sea in Loomis’s vision represent the slave ships, the disorientation experienced by the slaves during emancipation, and the confusion of his release from Joe Turner. Both Loomis and Bynum have tapped into their ancestral religion. The difference between the two is that Bynum represents the African who never renounced his religion and Loomis is the African-American who turned from conjure religion and converted to the faith of Christianity. After Joe turner took his life away from him, Loomis questioned his Christian faith and his identity. By walking in on the ancestral ritual of the Juba dance, Loomis literally walked into what he had actually been looking for, his religion, consequently, his ancestral identity and this is why he fell into the trance. Throughout the play conjures is encompasses four generations; Bynum’s father, Bynum, Loomis, and the neighbor boy Reuben. Reuben’s vision is of Seth’s mother by the pigeon coop, she encourages Reuben to release the caged pigeons. Wilson writes in a way that leads the reader to believe that Loomis needs to find his missing wife. Martha Pentecost is not the one who was lost; Loomis was the one who was lost, wondering around from town to town, searching. Loomis came into the state of belief when Bynum helped him translate his vision. That vision represented Loomis going back to his ancestral conjure religion. Loomis needed to find Martha Pentecost simply to say good-bye to her and their life former together. Up until this point of the story, I believed that Loomis needed to find his wife so they could live out the rest of their lives as a happy free family with their daughter. However, it is made pretty obvious this was never Loomis’s intentions. â€Å"That goodbye kept me out on the road searching,† Loomis says, â€Å"now that I see your face I can say my goodbye and make my own world† (90). Martha Pentecost, a woman of Christian faith, represents the African who assimilated into white America’s culture and Loomis needed to find her to say good-bye to her and the Christian faith. Martha stands by her Christian faith by accusing Loomis â€Å"you done gone over to the devil† (91). White man’s religion believed that conjure was evil or the way of the devil. Loomis finds it easier to reject her for her Christian beliefs. â€Å"Loomis: Great big old white man†¦your Mr. Jesus Christ. Standing there with a whip in one hand and a tote board in another, them niggers swimming in a sea of cotton† (92). Loomis proves with his statement, his version of a bible story that differed from other African Americans but was similar to that of the white man who believed that they were on a level below God and the African’s were beneath them, African’s were one third of a person. Loomis now believes that if African’s are going to be free then they have to take charge of their own destiny. Martha Pentecost represents the African American’s religion, she identifies that Loomis needs to â€Å"be washed in the blood of the lamb† (92) and â€Å"you done gone over to the devil. (91) Through class lessons I learned that African American slaves compared themselves with stories in the bible to instill hope of a life free from oppression, violence, and bondage. Jesus according to the bible was innocent of sin and yet he was beaten, bruised and crucified for the sins of the world. The hope of reigning in heave with Jesus is considered the ultimate reward for suffering life’s trials and tribulations. It is the faith of the African Americans who accepted Christianity religion. Blacks trusted in the Lord instead of man. America was Egypt in the exodus story and as long as the enslaving and oppressing took place America would face the same wrath as Egypt. â€Å"Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. † The bible was depended on in justifying and motivation rebellion for the blacks and used as a tool to keep blacks enslaved by the whites. African Americans used sermons, song, and prayer to convey and teach their message of travail and triumph of Israel. Some African Americans could not get past the treatment from the white people that called themselves Christians and as a result they rejected Christianity. Selig’s role suggests that the link between characters is the acquisition of material goods. Selig admits that his ancestors have always made their living pursuing African Americas; his great grandfather transported slaves from Africa, his father captured runaway slaves and returned them to their masters for a reward, and Selig locates displaced people for a fee. Selig attains his ecstasy through consumer capitalism, through the selling of material goods. African Americans are objects for exploitation and exchange in the new economy. He binds African Americans to the economic system, demanding payment of his services and products which necessitates subsistence labor by taking them from one construction site or work site to another, similar to a temporary employment agency today. You pay for an employee to work for some time, but Selig is getting paid by the person looking for work or a ride to a chance of freedom. Selig cannot find a person that has not purchased a dustpan from him because he keeps the names of his customers. Seth is determined to achieve material success, he has very little patience for African Americans migrating north looking for the same prosperity that he desires. Seth is very demanding of his patrons, insisting on advance payment in full, and is preoccupied with maintaining a respectable house. â€Å"It’s hard enough now without all that ignorant kind of acting. Ever since slavery got over with there ain’t been nothing but foolish-acting niggers. Word get out they need men to work in the mill and put in these roads†¦ and niggers drop everything and head north looking for freedom. †(5, 6) Seth wants to blend in with the white man’s world; therefore he keeps a link with Selig by negotiating the manufacturing and sale of dustpans. Seth does not have any idea of what it would be like to be a slave, as he was born free in the North and was educated. He demonstrates his education with his math calculation when dealing with the boarding house patrons and the quick notation of him letting Selig know that he is trying to overcharge him for the dust pan materials. Educational differences played a role in tension with Southern blacks, most of who were forbidden from learning to read, saw religion as a matter of oral tradition and immediate experience and emotion. Northerner blacks, stressed that one could not truly be Christian unless they was able to read the Bible and understand it. This play denies individual worth and identity for some of Wilson’s characters. To be defrauded of the products of one’s labor or to see that creation diminished, like with Jeremy and the guitar contest, is to be denied a reflection of individual worth and identity. If people have been separated from this truth of individual worth and identity through oppression their capacity to bond with one another, form friendships, or couples, families are undermined. Social alienation in Wilson’s characters are expressed in their stores of broken relationships, uncertainty, or suspicion that they feel toward one another. â€Å"Seth: Something ain’t setting right with that fellow, Bynum. He’s one of them mean-looking niggers look like he done killed somebody gambling over a quarter. †(20) Connection between oppression, alienation from self and inability to form bonds with others is displayed in the character of Loomis. Joe Turner’s ability to oppress Loomis carried a judgment of non-worth. â€Å"Loomis: He told me I was worthless. Worthless is something you throw away. Something you don’t bother with† (73) Turners judgment of worthlessness forced Loomis to accept the reality of the white man’s power; he was marked as â€Å"one of Joe Turners niggers and forced to forget his song. †(71) Being alienated from himself and displaced with his relation to the world, Loomis is unable to establish bonds with people around him. The oppression encountered by Wilson’s characters is material or economic, that oppression is spiritual as well in the capacity to deprive the individual of a sense of himself or his unique song. The reawakening of Loomis after his encounter with cultural wisdom is not the self discovery of an average African American but creation of a new source of cultural wisdom, a new African holy man. Wilson uses many metaphors throughout the play. The song is a metaphor for Loomis’s identity and the African American cultural identity. Music is a large part of African American identity, so it makes since that in search of one’s identity they are searching for their song. The boarding house serves as an inn for traveling folk, but the tenants actually receive a form of healing during their stay. Tenants get direction and guidance from Bertha and Bynum. The shiny man that Bynum is in search for signifies African American independence. The man that Bynum met on the road was an independent African American, just as Loomis was freed by his past when he cleansed himself in his own blood. â€Å"Bynum: Herald Loomis, you shining! You shining like new money! †(94) Loomis has dismissed that the blood of Christ can wash away his sins and make him the man he used to be, but by washing himself in his own blood he has sacrificed the old life to begin his new journey on his terms. Bynum’s shining man has been found, meaning his work is complete; he has passed his powers on to the next generation, Loomis. â€Å"They tell me Joe Turner’s come and Gone† is a song that is sung by Bynum, when I first read the story I thought that the meaning was came and now he is dead however, the second time I read the play I realized that it meant that Joe Turner has come and snatched the men and now he is now gone. August Wilson uses symbolism in the play as a very important part in conveying the meaning of the story. Wilson’s use of symbolism is demonstrated through Mr. Wilson’s use of the road, Martha Pentecost, and Herald Loomis. Symbolic importance is give to the word freedom. The word freedom has instilled hope into the lives of African Americans: during slavery, hope for the release from bondage; after emancipation, the right to be educated, employed, and to move about freely; twentieth century, social, political, and economic justice. Freedom has always stood for the absence of any restraint, because God made all men from his image. There are a number of characters that travel around searching for their place in the world. Mattie, mentions that she keeps on looking, seems like she just keeps starting over, I ain’t never found no place for me to fit. † (76) Reuben tells Zonia, when he finds out that she is leaving the boarding house in search of her mom, â€Å"when I get grown, I come looking for you. †(84) Jeremy does not seem to care much when he loses his job because, â€Å"don’t make me no difference. There’s a big road out there, I can always get my guitar and find me a place to stay. I ain’t planning on staying in one place for too long noway. † (64) Martha & Reverend Tolliver moved the Church up north because of the trouble the church was having. When the Civil War finally brought freedom to previously enslaved African Americans, the task of organizing religious communities was only one element of the larger need to create new lives, to reunite families, to find jobs, and to figure out what it would mean to live in the United States as citizens rather than property. August Wilson’s play, Joe Turner’s come and Gone, examines African Americans search for their cultural identity following slavery. Bibliography Murphy, L. G. (2000). Down By the Riverside. New York: New Yourk University Press. Wilson, A. (1988). Joe Turner’ Come and Gone. New York: Penguin Group.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

The Chinese Fireworks Industry

THE CHINESE FIREWORKS INDUSTRY – REVISED Ruihua Jiang wrote this case under the supervision of Professor Paul W. Beamish solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality. Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation prohibits any form of reproduction, storage or transmission without its written permission. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization.To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 3K7; phone (519) 661-3208; fax (519) 661-3882; e-mail [email  protected] uwo. ca. Copyright  © 2011, Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation Version: 2011-09-21 In February 2009, Jerry Yu was spending the Chinese New Year holidays in Liuyang (lee-ou-yang), a city known as â€Å"the home of firecrackers and fireworks,† located in Hunan Province in China.Jerry was an ABC (America-Born-Chinese). With an MBA, he was running a small family-owned chain of gift stores in Brooklyn, New York. Liuyang was his mother’s hometown. During his visit, his relatives invited him to invest in a fireworks factory that was owned by a village. Mr. Yu had been impressed by the extravagant fireworks shows he had seen during the festival; however, he wanted to assess how attractive the Chinese fireworks industry was before he even looked at the financial details of the factory. HISTORY OF FIREWORKS AND FIRECRACKERSFireworks referred to any devices designed to produce visual or audible effects through combustion or explosion. The art of making fireworks was formally known as pyrotechnics. Firecrackers were a specific kind of fireworks, usually in the form of a noisemaking cylinder. Firecrackers were often strung together and fused consecutively, a staple of Chinese New Year celebrations, weddings, grand openings, births, deaths and other ceremonial occasions. The main ingredients of fireworks had remained almost the same over the past thousand years: 75 parts-byweight potassium nitrate, 15 parts charcoal and 0 parts sulfur. It burned briskly when lighted, but did not erupt or make any noise. When it was found that a projectile could be thrust out of a barrel by keeping the powder at one end and igniting it, black powder became known as gunpowder. Today, smokeless powder has replaced black powder as the propellant in modern weaponry, but black powder remains a main ingredient in fireworks, both as a propellant and as a bursting charge. It was generally believed that the Chinese were the first makers of fireworks.The Chinese made war rockets and explosives as early as the sixth century. One legend said that a Chinese cook, while toili ng in a field kitchen, happened to mix together sulfur, charcoal and saltpetre, and noticed that the pile burned with a combustible force when ignited. He further discovered that when these ingredients were enclosed in a length of bamboo sealed at both ends, it would explode rather than burn, producing a loud crack. This was the origin of firecrackers. In fact, the Chinese word for firecrackers — bao-zhu — literally means â€Å"exploded bamboo. † Page 2 9B11M006The loud reports and burning fires of firecrackers and fireworks were found to be perfect for frightening off evil spirits and celebrating good news at various occasions. For more than a thousand years, the Chinese had been seeing off past years and welcoming in new ones by firing firecrackers. Fireworks made their way first to Arabia in the seventh century, then to Europe sometime in the middle of the 13th century. By the 15th century, fireworks were widely used for religious festivals and public enterta inment. Most of the early pyrotechnicians in Europe were Italians.Even today, the best-known names in the European and American fireworks industry were Italian in origin. From the 16th to the 18th century, Italy and Germany were the two best known areas in the European continent for fireworks displays. In 1777, the United States used fireworks in its first Independence Day celebration, and fireworks have become closely associated with July Fourth celebrations ever since. Up until the 1830s, the colors of the early fireworks were limited, but by 2009, there were six basic colors used in fireworks.LIUYANG — THE HOMETOWN OF FIRECRACKERS AND FIREWORKS According to historical records in China, firecrackers and fireworks â€Å"emerged during the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD), flourished during the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD), and originated in Liuyang. † For more than 1,000 years, Liuyang had been known as the â€Å"hometown of firecrackers and fireworks of China,† a title that was officially conferred to Liuyang by the State Council of China in 1995. As early as 1723, Liuyang fireworks were chosen as official tributes to the imperial family and were sold all over the country.Exports started early: by 1875, firecrackers and fireworks were being shipped to Japan, Korea, India, Iran, Russia, Australia, England, the U. S. , and other countries. In China, the name Liuyang had become almost synonymous with firecrackers and fireworks. Liuyang-made firecrackers and fireworks won numerous awards over its long history of fireworks making. The long history and tradition had made fireworks more than just a livelihood for the Liuyang people. Almost every native person in the area knew something about fireworks making, or had actually made firecrackers or fireworks in their lifetime.As a result, Liuyang claimed an impressive pool of skilled labor. Firecrackers and fireworks had become the pillar industry of Liuyang, accounting for nearly 50 per cent of all jobs o r about one-third of the total population in the Liuyang District (including Liuyang City and the surrounding counties). In 2008, Liuyang claimed 2,702 fireworks manufacturers with an additional 2,144 in the surrounding area. In total, there were 6,458 fireworks producers in China. While there has been some trend towards consolidation in the industry, most factories were still owned either by villages or families.Among them, about a dozen or so were medium to large factories with employment between 100 to 500 workers. The rest were small workshops employing anywhere from 10 to 50 people, depending on market demand. Liuyang was the top fireworks exporter in the world, making up 60 per cent of global production. The trademarked brand â€Å"Red Lantern† had become well known to fireworks-lovers around the world. China now accounted for 89 per cent of worldwide fireworks exports with the vast majority of that coming from Liuyang.In addition, over the past ten years, China had bec ome the largest market for fireworks. The ratio of domestic use to exports was 6:4, and Chinese imports of fireworks were negligible. Page 3 9B11M006 The increase in demand in the Chinese market had only intensified the competition. All new demand was more than met by the Chinese fireworks industry. Thus, instead of seeing increased margins, the profit margins for many small manufacturers had shrunk over the past decade. In order to make up the difference, manufacturers were cutting corners.However, some of these cost cutting efforts came at the expense of safety. A 2007 factory explosion that left 11 workers dead was blamed primarily on decreased safety standards, which were blamed on a lack of money due to cut throat competition. In response, the government and company officials from Luiyang and surrounding areas agreed to regulate the price of fireworks with the hope of increasing profit margins. With higher profit margins, company officials vowed to increase workers safety. The Product Fireworks could be classified into two categories: display fireworks and consumer fireworks.The display fireworks, such as aerial shells, maroons, and large Roman candles, were meant for professional (usually licensed) pyrotechnicians to fire during large public display shows. They were devices that were designed to produce certain visual or audio effect at a greater height above the ground than the consumer fireworks, which the general public could purchase in convenience stores and enjoy in their own backyards. Display fireworks were known as Explosives 1. 3 (Class B prior to 1991) in the U. S. The consumer fireworks belonged to Explosives 1. 4 (Class C prior to 1991).The difference lay mainly in the amount of explosive components contained in the product. Canada had a similar classification system. In the U. K. , it was more carefully divided into four categories: indoor fireworks; garden fireworks; display fireworks; and display fireworks for professionals only. There we re many varieties of fireworks. Liuyang made 13 different types with more than 3,000 varieties. The major types included fountains, rockets, hand-held novelties, nail and hanging wheels, groundspinning novelties, jumping novelties, floral shells, parachutes and firecrackers.Historically, firecrackers made up 90 per cent of the total production and sales. Over the past 50 years or so, however, there had been a shift away from firecrackers to fireworks. In 2009, firecrackers made up less than 20 per cent of the total sales. The skill levels of fireworks-making had been greatly improved. For instance, the old-day fireworks could reach no more than 20 metres into the sky, while the new ones could go as high as 400 metres. Not much had changed in fireworks-making. Over the last few decades, numerous novelties were added to the fireworks family.However, innovation had never reached beyond product variations. The ingredients had remained more or less the same. The process technology had no t changed much either, although some manual processes, such as cutting the paper, rolling the cylinders, mixing powder, and stringing the cylinders could now be done by machines. Safety Issues The fact that fireworks were made with gunpowder and listed under explosives brought about the issue of safety. Numerous accidents related with fireworks had resulted in tragic human injuries and considerable property damages.As a result, fireworks had become heavily regulated in most countries. Page 4 9B11M006 According to the manufacturers, fireworks were the most dangerous during the production process. Powder mixing and powder filling, in turn, were the two most dangerous procedures. The workers had to abide by strict safety measures. Even a tiny spark caused by the dropping of a tool on the floor or the dragging of a chair could start a major explosion. The quality of the ingredients was also of significant importance. Impure ingredients could greatly increase the possibility of accidents .In Liuyang, almost every year, there would be one or more accidents that resulted in deaths and damages. With an ever increasing number of firms entering the industry, safety was an ongoing concern. Once the fireworks were made, they were relatively safe to transport and store. Even in firing, good quality fireworks rarely caused any problems if everything was done properly. Most of the fireworks-related accidents occurred during private parties or street displays, and quite often involved children playing with fireworks that needed to be handled by adults, or adults firing shells that required professional expertise.Most accidents were linked to consumer backyard events rather than to public displays. According to the United States Consumer Products Safety Commission’s (CPSC) data, injuries related to fireworks had declined substantially, even though their use had increased (see Exhibit 2). For 2009, there were an estimated 5,244 fireworks-related injuries, 30 per cent of w hich were caused by firecrackers and bottle rockets. Of all the injuries related to firecrackers and fireworks, most were treated in the emergency department. Eight per cent of patients had to be admitted to hospital, and 7 people died due to sustained injuries.Children from ages five to 14 were the most frequently involved in fireworks-related injuries. However, fireworks were not the only consumer product that might cause injuries to this age group. According to a 2008 CPSC Injury Surveillance Report, fireworks were actually safer than swing sets and baseballs. However, fireworks-related injuries were usually the most dramatic and the most widely publicized accidents, which partly explained the fact that fireworks was the only category among the products listed in Exhibit 3, for which prohibition, instead of education and adult supervision, was often urged.In the United States, multiple government agencies were involved in regulating fireworks. The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Fi rearms (BATF) controlled the manufacture, storage, sales and distribution of explosives, i. e. , Class B fireworks. The CPSC regulated Class C consumer fireworks, and the Department of Transportation dealt with the transportation of fireworks. Although at the federal level, fireworks and firecrackers were allowed as long as the safety features were up to the standard, local governments would have their own different regulations regarding fireworks consumption.Out of the 50 states, one would allow only novelty fireworks, 5 had banned all consumer fireworks but allowed professional pyrotechnics, and 4 allowed customers only wire or wood stick sparklers and other novelty items. However, the remaining 40 would allow essentially all consumer fireworks. For display fireworks, permits would have to be obtained from federal and local authorities and fire departments. All legal consumer fireworks offered for sale in the United States had been tested for stability by the Bureau of Explosives and approved for transportation by the U. S. Department of Transportation.Because of the limited amount of pyrotechnic composition permitted in each individual unit, consumer fireworks would not ignite spontaneously during storage, nor would they mass-explode during a fire. Therefore, no special storage was required. In most of Europe, similar regulations were in place for safety considerations, only the requirements were regarded as less stringent. In Canada, however, regulations were extremely restrictive. However, over the past decade Chinese fireworks companies had made great strides in the Canadian market. In 1999, there Page 5 9B11M006 were no Chinese companies allowed to sell fireworks in Canada.By 2009, over 75% of all fireworks imports to Canada were from China. THE FIRECRACKERS AND FIREWORKS INDUSTRY IN CHINA The firecrackers and fireworks industry in China was dominated by small family-owned-and-operated workshops. It was essentially a low-tech, highly labor-intensive ind ustry. After 1949, government-run factories replaced the family-owned workshops. The increased scale and government funds made possible the automation of some processes. However, the key processes like installing powder, mixing color ingredients, and putting in fuses, were still manually done by skilled workers.The factories themselves were made up of small workshops that stood away from each other, so that in case of an accident the whole factory would not explode. For the same safety consideration, the workshops were usually located near a water source and in sparsely populated rural areas, to reduce the noise and explosion hazard. After the reform towards a market economy started in 1979, most of the factories were broken up and became family-run units of production again. It was hoped that this privatization might help to motivate people to increase their productivity and raise output.However, this move also served to restrict further technological innovations. There were hardly any research and development (R&D) facilities, nor human and capital resources allocated to R&D in most fireworks companies. The few resources that were available were all spent on product varieties. Even in Liuyang, out of the 400,000 or so people working in the industry, very few were engineers with advanced professional training. In response, the Hunan and other local governments began initiatives aimed at upgrading the traditional fireworks industry. Substantial amounts of money were spent on R&D.The Liuyang Firecrackers and Fireworks Authority reported that they had spent RMB 2,000 million in projects with the Beijing University of Technology and the Nanjing University of Science. Among these initiatives were environmentally friendly fireworks, which used cold flame fireworks technology. The majority of the manufacturing workers were regular farmers who had learned how to make fireworks just by watching and following their elders. They would come to work in fireworks workshops when there were jobs to be done, and return to till their fields if there were none. In Liuyang, for instance, few factories operated year-round.Most workshops would operate as orders came in. Since the fireworksmaking communities were very concentrated geographically and had lasted for generations, only a few places (like Liuyang) could claim a large pool of skilled fireworks-makers. Although Liuyang was by far the most well-known place for making fireworks in China, it faced increasing competition within the country. Also located in Hunan Province, Liling was another major manufacturing community of fireworks. Liling fireworks did not enjoy the same reputation and variety as Liuyang products, but they were fierce in price competition.In the neighboring Jiangxi Province, Pingxiang and Wanzai fireworks had become strong competitors both in price and quality, especially on the low- and medium-priced market. In the high-end product market, especially in large-type display fireworks a nd export market, Dongguan in Guangdong Province, had taken advantage of its closeness to Hong Kong and more sophisticated management and marketing practices, and snatched market share from Liuyang. By 2009, however, more than one third of all firms and 60 per cent of Chinese production remained in Luiyang.Page 6 9B11M006 The initial capital requirement for starting a fireworks-manufacturing facility was relatively low. To set up a factory with the necessary equipment for making large display shells would require around RMB1,250,000. 1 However, setting up a small family workshop making consumer firecrackers and fireworks would require less than RMB125,000. Consequently, the number of small manufacturers mushroomed after the government started to encourage private business ventures. While labor costs in the area were still low, they were steadily increasing.As a result of Chinese economic growth, wages had almost doubled over the past 5 years. This was in part because many workers we re moving into less dangerous occupations. Skilled workers engaged in major processes would earn an average of RMB1,200 to RMB1,800 per month. A non-skilled worker would be paid only RMB500 to RMB700 every month. In larger factories, labor costs were between 20 and 30 per cent of total costs. The main raw materials for fireworks were gunpowder, color ingredients, paper, fuse and clay soil. None would be difficult to procure.However, because of the growth in the Chinese domestic fireworks market, costs of raw materials were steadily rising. Another possible problem in supply was quality. Major manufacturers would usually establish long-term relationships with their suppliers to guarantee the quality of the materials. The small workshops would often go with the lowest prices, sometimes at the cost of quality, which could lead to fatal results. The number of small companies intensified competition. The private workshops were flexible and quick in responding to market demand. They did n ot entail much administrative cost.Compared to governmentowned or some collectively-owned factories, they did incur the costs of providing health care, retirement benefits and housing. They usually did not do any product research or design. Oblivious to intellectual property protection, they would copy any popular product design and sell it for much less. The resulting price drop had become a serious problem for the whole industry. As the profit margin kept shrinking, some workshops would hire cheap unskilled workers, and use cheap equipment and raw materials to cut down on cost. The results could be disastrous. THE DOMESTIC MARKETFirecrackers and fireworks had long been an integral part of any ceremonies held in China. Until recently, demand had been stable, but had risen in the past three decades because of increased economic development and living standards. Economically, market reform and unprecedented growth had given rise to the daily appearance of multitudes of new companies and new stores. As people’s income level and living standards kept rising, fancier and pricier fireworks and firecrackers were desired over the cheap simple firecrackers, thereby creating more profit opportunities for fireworks manufacturers.Almost every household would spend at least a couple of hundred RMB on firecrackers and fireworks during the Spring Festival. However, during the 1990s, increased concerns over environmental pollution and safety of human life and property led more and more cities to regulate the consumption of fireworks and firecrackers. Every year, high profile fireworks-related accidents were reported and emphasized on mass media before and after the traditional Spring Festival. Some articles even condemned firecrackers and fireworks as an old, uncivilized convention that created only noise, pollution and accidents.In a wave of regulations, city after city passed administrative laws regarding the use of fireworks. By 1998, one-third of the cities in Chi na had completely banned the use of firecrackers and fireworks. Another one-third only allowed fireworks in designated places. This led to a decline in domestic market demand. 1 In 2009, the exchange rate was around 6. 60 yuan per US$1. 00. Page 7 9B11M006 However, all this began to change in the mid 2000s. Demand began to soar when Beijing lifted a 12-year ban on fireworks in 2005. Other cities followed suit.In 2005, 106 cities eased restrictions on fireworks; in 2006 another 54 cities eased restrictions. This was followed by 40 cities in 2007 and another 79 cities in 2009. All this lead to an explosion in the Chinese domestic fireworks market. In the meantime, domestic competition grew intensely. The reform towards a market economy made it possible for numerous family-run workshops to appear. They competed mainly on price. Almost every province had some fireworks-making workshops or factories, many set up and run with the help of skilled workers who had migrated from Liuyang.These small establishments usually were located in rural, underdeveloped areas where labor cost was low. The manufacturing was done manually, sometimes without safety measures, using cheap raw materials and simplified techniques. The products were sold locally at low prices, making it difficult for Liuyang fireworks to sell in those areas. To make things worse, these products would often copy any new or popular product designs coming out of Liuyang or other traditional fireworks communities, even using their very brand names. In the past, fireworks were sold through the government-run general merchandise companies.Eventually, private dealers took over a large part of the business. Overall, the distribution system was rather fragmented. The old government-run channels were not very effective, especially for general merchandise. In the new distribution channels, wholesale dealers would get shipments directly from the manufacturers, and then resell to street peddlers and convenience stores. In the countryside, wholesale markets would appear in focal townships, with wholesale dealers and agents of the manufacturers setting up booths promoting their products.Small peddlers in the surrounding areas would get supplies from the market and then sell them in small towns or villages. The wholesale markets in China were important outlets for distributing general merchandise like fireworks. In the display fireworks market, the buyers were often central and local governments, who would purchase the product for public shows on national holidays or special celebrations. Obviously, a local company would have advantages in supplying to local government in its area. Large fireworks shows usually would use invited bidding to decide on suppliers.The amount of fireworks used could range from RMB100,000 to several million yuan, depending on the scale of a fireworks show. Account receivables and bad debt control was a problem not just for fireworks manufacturers, but for all businesses in China. Bad debts and lack of respect for business contracts had created a credit crisis in China. The bad debt problem greatly increased transaction costs, slowed down the cash turnover, and had become a headache for fireworks manufacturers. Some had chosen to withdraw from selling in the domestic market, although the profit margin was higher than in the export market.Legal restrictions, local protectionism, cutthroat price competition, hard-to-penetrate distribution channels and bad debt were impacting negatively on the domestic sales of Liuyang fireworks. In 1997, seeing the decline of its fireworks sales, Liuyang Firecrackers and Fireworks Industry Department, the government agency in charge of the overall development of the pillar industry, decided to start an offensive strategy. First, it opened local offices in most of the 29 provinces, major cities and regions to promote Liuyang fireworks.Second, it regulated the prices that Liuyang fireworks companies could quote and sell i n export sales. Third, it resorted to a government-to-government relationship in order to secure contracts for large public fireworks displays in each province. One year after introducing the offensive strategy, Liuyang fireworks sales had increased. By 2009, they controlled an estimated 60 per cent of the global market. Page 8 9B11M006 Over the next ten years, many legal restrictions were lifted. One of the most notable legal restrictions to be eased was foreign direct investment.With huge growth in both the Chinese domestic market and with China nearing a virtual lock on export market, the Chinese Fireworks industry had become a magnet for foreign investors. Liuyang remained the center of the Chinese fireworks industry and an attractive region for foreigners and foreign firms looking at controlling the entire fireworks value chain. THE EXPORT MARKET Since the opening of the Chinese economy in 1979, exporting had become a major market for the Chinese fireworks industry. As one of t he most celebrated products out of China, export sales of fireworks had risen dramatically between 1978 and 2009.According to independent research, the recorded exports of firecrackers and fireworks reached US$675 million in 2009. This was up from an estimated US$143 million in 1994. The products from China were rich in variety and low in price, but also had a lower reputation in quality control, packaging and timing control, compared to the products made in Japan and Korea. China-made fireworks also would wholesale for much lower prices, usually 80 per cent lower than similar products made in Japan or Korea. There had been little overall co-ordination of export sales.As more and more companies were allowed to export directly, competition kept intensifying and the profit margins on export sales kept slipping. As a result, underpricing each other became a common practice. Therefore, despite its dominant share of the world market, the Chinese fireworks export industry enjoyed limited profitability. The export price of Chinese fireworks was between one-fifth and one-third the wholesale price in the United States. The importers enjoyed a high markup even after paying the 2. 4 per cent U. S. import duty.Of course, the importers had to absorb the cost of getting permits, shipping, storing and carrying the inventory for three to four months before making the sales. This gap pushed both domestic and foreign companies to find ways to control more of the value chain from production to retail. Besides suffering from low profit margin, the Chinese fireworks makers were also risking losing their brand identities. Given the low cost and reasonably good quality of the Chinese fireworks, many large fireworks manufacturers and dealers in the West started to outsource the making of their brand-name fireworks.Failing to see the importance of brand equity, the Chinese fireworks manufacturers were sometimes reduced to mere manufacturing outfits for foreign companies, gradually los ing their own brands. There were also fireworks merchants in Korea, Japan or Spain, who would buy the products from China, and then repackage them, or replace the fuses with better quality ones, then resell them for much higher prices. The export market was usually divided into five blocks: Southeast Asia, North America, Europe, South America and the rest of the world.The most popular market had been Europe, where the regulations on fireworks were less stringent, and orders were of larger quantities and better prices. The United States was considered a tough market because of complex regulations and high competition, nevertheless a necessary one if a company wanted to remain a viable world-player. While in the past, the Canadian market was virtually closed to the Chinese fireworks due to its regulations, by 2009 Chinese imports dominated the entire Canadian market. Page 9 9B11M006 The foreign importers were powerful buyers for several reasons.First, they were very well informed, bot h through past dealings with China and the Internet. Second, they were able to hire agents who were very familiar with the industry in China. Third, they could deal directly with the factories that were willing to offer lower prices. Fourth, there were basically no switching costs, so they could play the suppliers against each other. The diversity of the cultures in the destination countries greatly reduced the seasonality of the fireworks production and sales. As a result, orders evened out throughout the year. However, the peak season was still towards the end of the year.For the U. S. , it was before July 4. Usually, the importers would receive the shipment two or three months beforehand. While the U. S. was still China’s major export market for fireworks, other countries were also importing large quantities of Chinese made fireworks (see Exhibit 4). The Internet had become a marketing outlet for Chinese fireworks. 20 per cent to 25 per cent of the worldwide sales were thr ough the Internet. However, export sales were still made mainly through foreign trade companies or agents. In recent years, foreign investments were also funneled into the fireworks industry.In Liuyang, four of the large fireworks factories had foreign investments, made mainly by the fireworks trading companies in Hong Kong. In 2009, the Liuyang Fireworks Company was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE), a first for a Chinese fireworks manufacturer. The Future of the Fireworks Industry in China The managers of the Chinese fireworks companies that Jerry talked to expressed mixed feelings towards the future outlook of their industry. One pessimistic view was that fierce competition and more stringent safety regulations were killing the industry.As the Chinese economy advanced, the government was forcing more manufacturing regulations onto firms that were driving up costs. Moreover, as people became more environmentally-conscious and more distracted by the endless diversities of modern entertainment, traditional celebrations using firecrackers and fireworks would die a gradual death. As to the function of attracting public attention for promotional purposes, fireworks also faced challenges from new technologies, such as laser beams combined with sound effects. In fact, â€Å"make-believe firecrackers† already appeared as substitutes in China.These were made of red plastic tubes strung together like firecrackers with electric bulbs installed inside the tubes. When the power was turned on, the lights would emit sparks, accompanied by crackling reports that sounded like firecrackers. These were being used at weddings and grand openings in cities where firecrackers and fireworks were banned. More interesting substitutes were spotted at some weddings in Beijing, where people paved the road with little red balloons, and made the limousine carrying the bride and groom run over the balloons to make explosive cracking sounds as well as leave behind red bits a nd pieces of debris.Also, more and more young couples were getting married in western styles, in a church or a scenic green meadow outdoors, where serene and quiet happiness prevailed over the traditional noisy way of celebrating. Therefore, some managers believed that firecrackers and fireworks were doomed to fade off into history. The more optimistic view, however, was that the industry would not die at all. If the right moves were made by the industry, it could even grow. Some said that tradition would not die so easily. It was in their national character for the Chinese to celebrate with an atmosphere of noisy happiness.Moreover, even in the West, the popularity of fireworks was not suffering from all the regulations. No real substitutes could Page 10 9B11M006 replace fireworks, which combined the sensual pleasures of visual, audio and emotional stimuli. For instance, the U. S. Congressional resolution in 1963 to use bells to replace fireworks in celebrating Independence Day nev er really caught on. Fireworks were also being combined with modern technologies like laser beams, computerized firing and musical accompaniment to make the appeal of fireworks more irresistible.The safety problem was not really as serious as people were made to believe, and would only improve with new technological innovations like smokeless fireworks. With the success of the fireworks displays at the Beijing Olympics, China’s brand as a world class fireworks producer was on the rise. With better management practices, perhaps margins could be increased. However, both sides agreed that the Chinese fireworks industry would have to change its strategy, especially in international competition, to stay a viable and profitable player. THE DECISIONWhile the Liuyang fireworks industry dominated the worldwide industry, Jerry had to decide whether he should invest in the industry. If he did invest, what was the best way to capitalize on the potential that remained unexploited in this industry? He wondered whether he could apply the industry analysis framework he had studied in his MBA program. Page 11 9B11M006 Exhibit 1 CHINA & LIUYANG FIRECRACKERS AND FIREWORKS: TOTAL REVENUE (US$000) 2007 2009 Total Revenue Domestic (estimated) All China 742,395 1,009,757 Liuyang 450,000 757,500 Total Revenue ExportsAll China 494,930 673,171 Liuyang 300,000 505,000 Total Revenue (estimated) All China 1,237,325 1,682,928 Liuyang 750,000 1,262,500 Sources: International Fireworks Association; ICON Group Ltd â€Å"The World Market for Fireworks: A 2009 Global Trade Perspective Notes: 1. Domestic Revenue estimate based on a 6:4 domestic to export ratio as reported by http://www. articlesbase. com. 2. Alternative sources put the Chinese domestic market much higher. 3. 2009 data and 2007 data are from different sources. Caution should be used when making comparisons.Growth rates of 15 to 18 per cent per year have been reported by other news sources (especially: http://www. newsreel network. com) Page 12 9B11M006 Exhibit 2 TOTAL FIREWORKS CONSUMPTION AND ESTIMATED FIREWORKS-RELATED INJURIES IN U. S. : 2000 TO 2008 Year Fireworks Consumption, Millions of Pounds Estimated Fireworks-Related Injuries Injuries per 100,000 Pounds 2000 152. 6 11,000 7. 2 2001 161. 6 9,500 5. 8 2002 190. 1 8,800 4. 6 2003 220. 8 9,700 4. 4 2004 236. 2 9,600 4. 1 2005 281. 5 10,800 3. 8 2006 278. 2 9,200 3. 3 2007 265. 5 9,800 3. 7 2008 213. 7,000 3. 3 Source: American Pyrotechnics Association. Exhibit 3 ESTIMATED EMERGENCY ROOM TREATMENT PER 100,000 YOUTHS (AGES 5 TO 14) FROM OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES (JUNE 22 TO JULY 22, 2008) Source: American Pyrotechnics Association As cited from the CPSC National Injury Information Clearinghouse 5,244 13,501 14,258 6,349 21,040 15,268 18,365 21,032 68,553 0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 70,000 80,000 Fireworks Skateboards Fishing Swing Sets Swimming 4 wheel ATVs Sof tball Baseball Bicycles Page 13 9B11M006 Exhibit 4 FIREWORKS EXPORTS FROM CHIN A, 2009Country of Destination Rank Value (000 US$) % Share Cumulative % United States 1 301,500 44. 8 44. 8 Germany 2 83,553 12. 4 57. 2 United Kingdom 3 33,645 5. 0 62. 2 The Netherlands 4 32,586 4. 8 67. 0 Japan 5 26,764 4. 0 71. 0 Russia 6 16,157 2. 4 73. 4 Italy 7 15,967 2. 4 75. 8 France 8 13,574 2. 0 77. 8 Spain 9 13,009 1. 9 79. 7 Denmark 10 9,935 1. 5 81. 2 Canada 11 9,817 1. 5 82. 7 Poland 12 9,580 1. 4 84. 1 Taiwan 13 8,130 1. 2 85. 3 Finland 14 6,002 0. 9 86. 2 South Africa 15 5,623 0. 8 87. 0 Austria 16 5,488 0. 8 87. 8 Ukraine 17 5,445 0. 88. 7 Sweden 18 4,868 0. 7 89. 4 Albania 19 4,835 0. 7 90. 1 Argentina 20 4,793 0. 7 90. 8 Turkey 21 4,592 0. 7 91. 5 Belgium 22 4,583 0. 7 92. 2 Norway 23 4,336 0. 6 92. 8 Czech Republic 24 4,312 0. 6 93. 5 Venezuela 25 4,257 0. 6 94. 1 New Zealand 26 4,024 0. 6 94. 7 Switzerland 27 3,316 0. 5 95. 2 South Korea 28 3,104 0. 5 95. 6 Thailand 29 2,720 0. 4 96. 0 Indonesia 30 1,925 0. 3 96. 3 Other 31 24,731 3. 7 100. 0 Total 673,171 100. 00 100. 00 Source: Professor Philip M. Parker, INSEAD, copyright  © 2009, www. icongrouponline. com