Steve Jobs Speech-Free-Samples for Students-Myassignmenthelpcom

Question Anayse the Steve Jobs Speech. Answer: Introduction Steve Jobs the founder of Apple, Next, Pixar Animation, was acknowledged widely for transforming electronic consumer fields and personal computers world. Steve jobs perseverance has led to enormous growth and development that has an impact on every one of us. The innovations brought forth by Steve jobs has brought about significant change in the world. The innovations comprise of, Macintosh computers, iPhones, and iPods. Steve Jobs are recognized for his brilliant speaking abilities apart from being known for his significant impact in technology world. Contrasting other authors and speakers, Steve jobs incorporated a plenty of rhetorical aspects into his presentation and speech. Steve job was invited at Stanford University to give a commencement speech to graduates of 2005.throughouth the speech; Steve Jobs uses rhetorical figures of speech that enable him to connect with the audience, through his life reflection and personal experience. He appeals to logos, pathos, and ethos of his listeners to support his argument and inspire listeners to go after their dreams. He urges his listeners to do what they love and what pleases them although, times it does not always go as planned. Various rhetorical measures have been used by Steve Jobs to create an emotional appeal in the audience during his speech at Stanford University graduation ceremony. Rhetorical figures generate an impression of a certain degree to the audience, while the context is dependent on this impression (European-rhetoric.com, 2017). Ethos Jobs establish ethos for him, he talks about his second story by explaining, he grew Apple into a two billion company from a garage with four thousand employees with his friend. Steve presents an idea of failure and success, with the aim of making the audience understand what it takes to be successful and procedures for achieving. Steve makes use of metaphor with the intention of evoking pity from the audience when he talks about being fired from Apple the company that he started. He says that, I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about was running away from the valley,(77,81).Steve talks about overcoming this difficulty; he says he even thought of running away but decided to stay and do what he loved doing. He talks about his perseverance and starting again rat her than quitting. Steve started two new big companies NeXT and Pixar, after several years he was back to his position of chief executive officer at Apple. He inspires the audience by saying, the only way to do great work is to love what you do (102,103). He developed ethos when he explains the hardship he faced during his sickness. Steve brings the idea through explaining to the graduates, that they should try to live their own lives, rather than those of others since life is too short. And they should make the most out of it. Steve explained to the graduates that even though the doctors had warned him that he had three to six months to live; he was able to extend his life through conquering challenges that attacked him. Pathos At the start of his speech, he begins by complementing the listeners: I am honored to be with you at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college(6,7). Admitting the he never graduated from university shows humility and makes the audience have a great feeling about them. These are strong opening remarks by Steve jobs increased the receptivity of the message he has for the audience by the audience. In the beginning comments, he makes it clear to the audience what his message is all about. He lays the groundwork for his message by saying that he has three important words for his audience. Strong opening during a speech increases the connectivity of the audience to the speaker by making them more comfortable. Steve establishes pathos in the speech h through showing humility and making the listeners feel accomplished. Creating of pathos helps the speaker and audience feel comfortable during the speech as it releases the tension betwee n them. After the effective, although brief introduction, Steve discusses the three stories of his life that all the audience can relate. Steve establishes a simple structure that during his speech. He is very concise of sentence structure. The structure of his statement is based on three main points. Steve begins the first part of his remarks based on his background story through stating that, my biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adopting option( 14,15).He discussed about how he grew up and how he dropped out of college after six months of admission. However he introduces the twist that is very surprising to his dropout, he said that dropping out was the best thing that ever happened to him. He employs the use an antithesis: is a figure of speech using juxtaposition of contrasting word, often in parallel structure (Elevanto, 2017).He says, if I had never dropped out, I would never drop in.(jobs).according to jobs dropping out all owed him to do what he loved the most. He stopped taking classes that did not interest him and focused on those that looked interesting to him. Through taking classes that interested him made jobs discovered his love for Calligraphy, which eventually becomes the source of his income ten years later when he designed first Macintosh computer. Jobs then share his humor with the audience through showing what the benefit of taking the risky step of the unknown can lead. Through sharing of his background story to the Steve appeals to pathos, through the use of emotional story which the listener can relate to. Steve made it clear to the students that as long s they pursue their dreams they will achieve it and become successful. He made it clear that the background does not define your future but the path that they decide to take is what will define their future.Steve final story on his medical condition, generate feelings of sympathy in the audience through use of simple statements. Which create emotional and personal connections. Steve uses pathos when he says, About year ago I was diagnosed with cancer(121). Jobs appeals to both pathos and logos while sharing his death view with the aim of providing proof to his claim. He says remembering that I will be dead soon, is the most important thing Ive ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failu re-these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going you are going to die the best way I know to void the trap of thinking you have something to lose .you are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart(114,120).Steve simplifies the idea of death and life in a more skillfully way to his audience. He proves to the audience that life should not be spent wastefully or living other people lives since its short. Life should be spent doing what one love. Logos A sense of logo is shown in the speech when Jobs state that it wasnt all romantic. I did not have a room, so I slept on the floor in friends rooms, I returned coke bottle for the 5c deposit to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a weak at the Hare Krishna temple(35,38).By sharing this, jobs makes it clear to the student that the path of achieving dreams is full of stumbling blocks and hardship as well as a lot of sacrifices that one has to make. To achieve the set dream is not a walk in the park. Steve tries to show his audience that if he could overcome the hardship, then the graduates can overcome s well.Jobs uses antithesis to end his first main point by saying, you cant connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward,(60,61) The rhetoric techniques of antithesis, transition Steve into his second main point of his story .Steve tell the audience that, so you have to trust the dots will somehow connect in your future .You have to trust in something; your guts, destiny life, and karma. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life, (61,63). Rhetorical devices. Steve strengthens the rhetorical aspect of his speech through the use of repetition. This is illustrated when job says Dont settle. If you havent found it yet, keep looking. Dont settle,(104). as with all matters of the heart, you will know when you find it.And like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle (104,106).Use of metaphors allows jobs to put more emphasis on his ideas and engage the audience further. As the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Dont settle (106).Use of metaphors allows jobs to put more emphasis on his ideas and engage the audience further. Through the use of rhetorical devices such as antithesis, personification, metaphors, and anaphora, jobs show his audience how he spent his life. This is more clearly when he talks about founding Pixar and founding next, and even in meeting his wife, Laureen. He says, Im pretty sure none of this would have happened if I had not been fired from Apple. It awful tasted medicine, but I guess the patient needed it.Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Dont lose faith,(96,98).utilization of anaphora figure of speech is seen when jobs repeat a phrase at the beginning of clause. When he says remembering that I will be dead soon, is the most important tool Ive ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because of almost everything all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important(114,120).The use of anaphora is seen when jobs repeat the word All at the sta rt of the three clauses. Conclusion At the end of his speech, jobs repeat the phrase stay hungry. Stay foolish through this statement; Job urges the students to be eager to learn new things and be willing to try new things. He also encourages the students to continue pushing themselves towards achieving of their goals. Steve jobs simple way of delivering his speech to the audience, during the graduation commencement, has created a logo for him as a trustworthy yet straightforward person. Through sharing his experience in career path, he has made it clear to the students that where you are at the moment does not matter, what matter is what one does to change the current situation at hand. Through sharing of his experience of success and failures, he has made it clear to the graduates that, to achieve one's dreams, there are stumbling block that might cause you to fall, all that matter is what one decides to do after drop is what matters. Throughout his speech he has been able to make the audience go through, and various emotions. He has been able to make his audience relate to his belief thus creating pathos. Steve urges graduates to find what they love in life and go after their passion. They will live a Successful life if they follow their heart and intuition. References Report, S 2005, 'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says, https://news.stanford.edu/2005/06/14/jobs-061505/ Elevanto. (2017). Speech Analysis: Steve Jobs at Stanford University - Elevanto. [online] Available at: https://elevanto.co/speech-analysis-steve-jobs-at-stanford-university/ [Accessed 21 Nov. 2017]. European-rhetoric.com. (2017). Steve Jobs Use of Figures of Speech in the iPhone Presentation. [online] Available at: https://www.european-rhetoric.com/analyses/ikeynote-analysis-iphone/steve-jobs-figures-speech/ [Accessed 21 Nov. 2017].

Fedex Analysis Essay Example

Fedex Analysis Essay TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARYII TABLE OF CONTENTSIII LIST OF FIGURESV LIST OF TABLESV 1INTRODUCTION1 PART 1: TRANSPORTATION AND LOGISTIC INDUSTRY2 2EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS2 2. 1TECHNOLOGICAL2 2. 2ECONOMICAL2 2. 3MARKET2 2. 4POLITICAL AND LEGAL2 2. 5ENVIRONMENTAL3 2. 6SOCIETAL3 2. 7DEMOGRAPHIC3 3INDUSTRY ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS4 3. 1PORTER’S FIVE FORCES MODEL4 3. 1. 1Threat of new entrants (Low)4 3. 1. 2Threat of substitutes (Low – medium)5 3. 1. 3Bargaining power of buyers (High)5 3. 1. 4Bargaining power of suppliers (Medium – high)5 3. 1. 5Intensity of rivalry (High)5 4CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTOR6 4. STRONG AND TRUSTWORTHY BRAND6 4. 2ADVANCED IN IT SYSTEMS6 4. 3INTEGRATION TO CUSTOMERS SUPPLY CHAIN6 4. 4LOCATION AND ACCESSIBILITY6 PART 2: FEDEX CORPORATION7 5COMPANY ANALYSIS7 5. 1PRODUCTS AND SERVICES7 5. 2STRUCTURE7 5. 3STRATEGY7 5. 4GENERIC POSITIONING7 5. 5KEY STAKEHOLDERS8 5. 6PERFORMANCE8 5. 6. 1Marketing8 5. 6. 2Operations8 5. 6. 3Human resources8 5. 6. 4Research and development8 5. 6. 5Information Technology8 5. 6. 6Finance8 6COMPETITORS ANALYSIS10 7SWOT ANALYSIS11 7. 1STRENGTHS11 7. 2WEAKNESSES11 7. 3OPPORTUNITIES12 7. 4THREATS12 7. 5POSITIONING OF FEDEX13 8RECCOMMENDATION14 8. 1CORPORATE LEVEL14 . 2BUSINESS LEVEL15 8. 3FUNCTIONAL LEVEL15 8. 4NETWORK LEVEL16 8. 5SUGGESTED IMPLEMENTATION PLAN16 9CONCLUSION17 REFERENCES18 LIST OF FIGURES This is the complete listing of all the figures used throughout the report. FIGURE 1 ILLUSTRATES PORTERS FIVE FORCES MODEL FOR TRANSPORTATION AND LOGISTICS INDUSTRY. 3 FIGURE 2 ILLUSTRATES POSITION OF FEDEX IN SWOT. 7 LIST OF TABLES This is the complete listing of all the tables used throughout the report. TABLE 1 ILLUSTRATES IMPLEMENTATION PLAN OF SUGGESTED RECOMMENDATION13 1INTRODUCTION FedEx is the world leader in transportation and logistic industry. It was founded in 1971 as Federal Express which provides only express delivery services. Over the decades, it has transformed it self to a global logistic and supply-chain management company (Express, Ground, Freight, etc. ) through massive investment in its IT infrastructure and acquisition of Caliber systems, Inc (Figure 1) 1971 1994 Now Figure 1. FedEx Brand Transformation FedEx has always been an innovator in changing how the world works and lives. Today’s FedEx is a network of companies, worth $34 billion, offering the right mix of transportation, e-commerce and business solutions. While each company has a unique history, collectively they exhibit the â€Å"absolutely, positively† dedication to providing specialised solutions for every shipping, information and global trade needs that the world has come to expect from FedEx. But as every cloud has a silver lining, so does FedEx Corporation. Through the reading and analysis of the case study of FedEx Corp. in 2000, provided in De Wit and Meyer (2004, pp. 647-662), some recommendations have been made to address the key issues concerning the organisation, in the context of its structural transformation through e-business. We will write a custom essay sample on Fedex Analysis specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Fedex Analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Fedex Analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer PART 1: TRANSPORTATION AND LOGISTIC INDUSTRY 2EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS 2. 1Technological The development of information technology (IT) has dramatically changed the way businesses operate in express transportation and information industry. It gives organizations the ability to share information within and between organizations, and hence, promote more time and cost effective operations which leads to shorter order-to-payment cycle and better cash flow. With the use of e-commerce in transportation and logistics, the consumer can now even track the progress of the courier at any point of time, at any given hour. 2. 2Economical The globalization of world’s economy has trigger enormous demand for transportation and logistic industry. As businesses expand itself into other countries, whether for seeking the new market or cost reduction, the transportation of goods or raw-material and management of information pertaining with them are essential. To cater to this need, as of 2000, FedEx now operates in 210 countries managing over 10 million square feet of warehouse space worldwide. Other than globalization, there are more economic factors that affect the transportation and logistics industry, for example economic rates, fuel price and economic growth. Economic rates, such as interest rate, inflation rate and currency exchange rate, and fuel price affect the price management of this industry. While economic growth affects the industry in terms of the demand of the services from customers. 2. 3Market Globalization has broadened market for all industry, from nationwide to world wide. The speed and accuracy has become the critical success factors not only for transportation and logistic company but also for their customers as well. As a result, fast and reliable service is not considered as values anymore, it becomes norm which customers expected from every transportation and logistic company. Therefore, to be competitive in this industry, companies must provide value-added-services which create great satisfaction to its customers. 2. 4Political and Legal The transportation and logistic industry is greatly affected by political stability, government policies, and regulations in each country. The deregulation and trade agreement has eliminated boundaries between countries such as U. S and Mexico, and hence, encourage transportation and logistic companies to easily establish and operate within those country. In addition, the regulations on airline and trucking industry also play vital roles on this industry because it directly impacts the core operation of industry. 2. 5Environmental Weather and climate change have great impact on transportation and logistic industry due to the fact that this industry is deeply associated with travel of airplanes, truck, freighter, and other vehicles. The ability to understand and predict weather and climate change can save company from delay, loss of its fleets, all of which is directly proportional to its reputation. 2. 6Societal Social mobility affects this industry in some way. It refers to the dollars consumers are willing to spare at the cost of time; as the most important asset in today’s cut-throat world is time. One of the most important social factors for the transportation and logistics industry is the labour part which helps the organisation carry out the day to day operations and keep the cash charts ringing. 2. 7Demographic The demographic is one external environment that affects transportation and logistics industry, especially the location of the stores; distribution centres hubs and so on. INDUSTRY ANALYSIS FedEx Corporation has been operated in the transportation and logistic industry which mainly involve in delivery, and managing and controlling of goods, information, and other resources like products. 3. 1Porter’s five forces model Figure 1 illustrates Porters five forces model for transportation and logistics industry. 3. 1. 1Threat of new entrants (Low) To be competitive in t his industry, businesses must have their own freighter, airplanes, trucks, etc. This result in very large capital investment required in order to start a business. Moreover, brand awareness is also very crucial. Without strong brand, particular company would not be able to gain trust, which is very important in this industry, from customers. For newly established company in this industry where there are already many strong players, it is not easy to create and strengthen its brand image. As a result, the entry barrier is considered very high. 3. 1. 2Threat of substitutes (Low – medium) Emergent of internet and email do reduce the necessity of express delivery of documents. There are also some moving and shipping services which target private households when they have to move aboard, or international students moving from or to their origin. But these are still in different market segment. There are still no potential alternatives which can fully replace service of FedEx. 3. 1. 3Bargaining power of buyers (High) Since there are many of companies which offer the same service as FedEx and with the increasing contribution of IT in logistics industry, buyers can easily compare prices and offers from different companies and choose the one that cheapest and most suit their needs. FedEx should provide significant service to its customers and have high differentiate products. 3. 1. 4Bargaining power of suppliers (Medium – high) The main suppliers of FedEx are fuel and other energy provider, aircraft manufacturer, and truck manufacturer. The bargaining of vehicles manufacturer is considerably medium because even though FedEx is a big organization which requires big fleet of vehicles and continuous maintenance service, but vehicle manufacturers still has other choice of buyers from various industries. 3. 1. 5Intensity of rivalry (High) The intensity of rivalry is considerably high due to the three strong competitors which are UPS, DHL, and TNT. Need more 4CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTOR 4. 1Brand The reliability and accountability is the most important factor in this industry. Even though the company can make the very low price with easy access and user friendly service, but if the company could not guaranteed the speed and accuracy of its services, customers would not take the risk. 4. 2IT systems The advancement of IT systems leads to more efficient operations which again lead to faster and more accurate services with lower cost. In present, from the comfort of ones home, they can use most of the services offered by FedEx, booking a delivery or tracking the progress of the courier and so on so forth. 4. 3Service quality By providing services which integrate into customers’ supply chain, the company built up barrier to protect its customer from its competitors, as FedEx delivers almost anything anywhere at the quickest time possible, which is not really exclusive but with the continuous innovation and creativity, it helps in customer retention. 4. 4Location and accessibility Location of hub has massive impact on the speed of services. Proper distributed hub location according to geographic and intensity of demand could leads to faster and more responsive services. The accessibility such as customers care centre or user friendly systems also promote more pre and post sales. PART 2: FEDEX CORPORATION 5COMPANY ANALYSIS 5. 1Products and services FedEx corporation start the business with express delivery services as Federal express and the transform it self in to a global logistics and supply-chain management company. At present, FedEx offers wide range services which include express delivery, business to business ground small package delivery, special express delivery, less than truck freight, integrated logistics and warehousing solutions, supply chain management solutions. 5. 2Structure FedEx has been through many transformation of its organization structure with the goal to make it easier and faster for its customer and also to improve efficiency of its operations. Currently FedEx Corporation consists of six subsidiaries which independently operate but collectively compete with its competitors. 5. 3Strategy Base on case study, FedEx has always emphasis on shear innovation, industry leadership and IT development and use it as its key competitive advantages and also use it as the tools to help its customers take advantages of international market. Moreover, FedEx is the first company in the industry which owns all transportation fleet and expands its business through acquiring more trucks and planes. 5. 4Generic positioning . 5Key stakeholders FedEx works in the B2B as well as B2C model, which makes the customers as well as the organisations that it caters to as its key stakeholders. Moreover, its employee from all subsidiaries; its suppliers, such as fuel provider and packaging suppliers, and environmental activist group also constitute a large share of stakeholders. 5. 6Performance 5. 6. 1Marketing FedEx has a strong marketing presence but need to market all of its subsidiaries to gain a bigger market share as only FedEx Express is the dominant one amongst all. It uses the print media as well as TV campaigns to attract customers as well as create awareness for its excellent supply chain systems. 5. 6. 2Operations FedEx’s operation was one of the critical issues in the company as learnt from the case study, where it does not operate efficiently as a whole company. Not only it had different operations department for each division, it also added to the operation costs to great extent, which otherwise could be minimalised by sharing the available resources. 5. 6. 3Human resources FedEx failed in utilisation of its HR as one person was assigned one work only, irrespective of their maximum capabilities. 5. 6. 4Research and development FedEx allocates excessive resources to its RD division in order to keep itself updated with the every-day increasing IT developments in logistics field. But it still stands a fair level in terms of the services offered for customers. 5. 6. 5Information Technology FedEx was the first logistic company which introduce the use of IT to the business in 1984, by using the first PC-based automated shipping system. Since then, FedEx has been always implementing and improving its IT system, from barcode labelling, websites, software, e-Business and so on. FedEx IT has become its competitive advantage for years comparing to its competitors. The information about a package is as important as the delivery of the package itself. —Frederick W. Smith (1979) 5. 6. 6Finance In 1998, FedEx was listed as a US$10 billion company and it used US$1 billion annually on IT developments plus millions more on capital expenditure. And in 1999, it spent US$1. billion on IT from US$17 billion annual revenue. On 31 May year ending sheet, the company out-performed the projections and posted record earnings on 73 percent increasing the net income to US$221 million. Financially, FedEx spent about US$100 million for the reorganization over three years in 2000. In simpler terms, companies operating income as well as net income has been going down since first quarter ending 31 August, 1999. 6COMPETITORS ANALYSIS 6. 1UPS oStrong in logistic and delivery, especially in US. oIT developed as well (spent $9 billion on IT) Formed 5 alliances in 1997 to disseminate its logistics software to e-commerce users oFormed a strategic alliance with Open Market Inc to deliver a complete Internet commerce solution oWorking with IBM and Lotus to standardize formats on the websites oShipped more than 55% of goods ordered over internet and offered over full range of logistics solutions to its customers oOnly market 1 brand UPS 6. 2DHL oStrong in logistic and delivery, especially in Europe. o1993 DHL announced a 4 year US$1. 25 billion capital spending programme aimed at investing in handling system, automation, facilities and computer technology. Launched website in 1995 o25% owned by Deutsche Post and 25% owned by Lufthansa Airlines oDominated UK market oProjected an increase in worldwide turnover of 18% to US$5. 26 billion 6. 3TNT oOnly provide express delivery service. oLaunched website in 1998 oLaunched the first global price checker service on its website that allow customers to calculate the price of sending a consignment from one place to another anywhere in the world o1999, TNT launched QuickShipper, nonstop online access to TNT entire range of distribution services SWOT ANALYSIS 7. 1Strengths †¢Innovation and creativity. †¢Strong and well established research and development centre for IT systems to promote more efficient operation. †¢Very advanced â€Å"Global Operation Command Centre† which allows FedEx to prioritise hundreds of variables (eg. world event, weather patterns, and real time movement of its freighter) involved in the successful operation. †¢Excellent reputation in the industry. †¢Own all transportation fleets. †¢Strong business networks in the US. 7. 2Weaknesses Historical image of the company makes customers perceive FedEx as just an express delivery service company. †¢Complex and inefficient organization structure. There a re too many part of organization that duplicates each other. †¢Entirely reliant on manual labour to a great extent, which can be a prospective weakness in some circumstances †¢ Insufficient promotion of the other sectors and fields where FedEx offers its services †¢Disproportionate branching of FedEx subsidiaries thereby increasing the operating costs which can be otherwise be reduced by sharing the resources. . 3Opportunities †¢Government deregulation of airline industry, permitted the landing of larger freight planes, thus reducing operating cost of FedEx †¢Deregulation of the trucking industry, which allowed FedEx to establish a regional trucking system to lower costs further on short haul trips †¢Trade deregulation in Asia Pacific, which opened new market to FedEx, expanding globally became a priority for FedEx †¢Technological breakthroughs and applications innovations promoted significant advances for customer ordering, package tracing and pro cess monitoring. Rising inflation and global competition gave rise to greater pressures on businesses to minimize the costs of operation, including implementation of JIT inventory management system and created demands for speed and accuracy in all aspects of business. 7. 4Threats †¢FedEx advantages were quickly eroding as newer technologies became more powerful, developed faster, and less expensive – more affordable for its competitors. †¢Potential financial crisis due to too much fixed cost, such as aircrafts, vehicles and other heavy equipments. On the lines of blue ocean strategy, CHEP is a possible/prospective threat to FedEx as it explores altogether new approach in the supply chain industry. †¢Rocketing fuel prices which increase the transporting cost to sky-end. 7. 5Positioning of FedEx Figure 2 illustrates position of FedEx in SWOT. Base on the SWOT analysis, even though FedEx has many strong points but its historical brand image has put limit on almost all of its strength. Due to this constraint, it is known only as Express Delivery Company. As a result, FedEx is currently located in weaknesses-opportunities quadrant. If FedEx could widen the perception of its current and potential customers, and fully utilize its own strength to pursue its opportunities, it would be one of the strongest in its industry. 8RECCOMMENDATION 8. 1Corporate level Get slim: FedEx could shrink down its structure by integrating some division of its subsidiaries together to reduce cost and time caused by duplication of works. And by doing so, it would encourage lateral flow of information between each business unit. And as a result, its operations would be more efficient which leads to more flexible profit margin and more customers’ satisfaction. Add pic Acquire CHEP: CHEP is a global leader in pallet and container pooling services. It is not actually a logistics company. It provide and manage, returnable and reusable supply chain packaging solutions (such as pallets and containers) to help customers to store, protect and move their products through the supply chain in a cost-effective, safe and environmentally sound way. By acquiring CHEP, FedEx will benefit from immediate horizontal expansion of its company and also its customer base. Moreover, acquisition of CHEP will also allow FedEx to integrate more into its customers supply chain and hence create strong barrier from its competitors and substitutes. Take serious concern on environment: Due to the fact that the nature of FedEx businesses required extensive amount of transportation activities which results in largely emission of green house gas that create global warming effect. Therefore, in order to get strong support from community and environmental activist such as Greenpeace, FedEx should then come up with the environmental concern vision to make its fleet cleaner and be more environmental friendly. This could be done by modifying its fleet or support or joint-research with any car company or institute to develop an alternative cleaner power source. Moreover it could establish its own manufacturing plant for shipment package and protection (such as cardboard boxes, paper envelope, bubble wrap, shredded paper) by emphasis on recycle of material. 8. 2Business level Promote brand awareness of all FedEx subsidiaries: Now FedEx is struggling with its historic image which narrows customers’ perception to FedEx as only an express delivery company. To deal with this problem, FedEx should promote all of its services by strong marketing campaign. This could be done by advertisements in television, its website, or major video clip website such as Youtube. Alternatively FedEx could collaborate with 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks Picture to create a film, which represent all the of its services, as it was done before in â€Å"Cast Away†, 2000. 8. 3Functional level Developing and training for multi-task oriented employees: In order to successfully shrink down company structure as proposed before in corporate level recommendation, FedEx should develop a training program for its employee to be multi-task oriented. By doing so, FedEx encourage its staffs to be able to work in more than one job. This does not means that FedEx should overworks its staff, but it should be able to rotate its staff around for different roles such that one staff could delivery a package to customers and in the same time pick up another couple of packages which one suppose to be sent by ground and another one by express air. Create strong marketing division FedEx should establish a separate marketing division which in charge in creating strong marketing strategy for all of its subsidiaries. FedEx should allocate some portion of budget from its research and development to its marketing division in order to support strong marketing strategy which is very vital for creating brand awareness for all of its subsidiaries. 8. 4Network level Alliance with companies in IT industry: The research development and advance in IT systems are one of FedEx competency. But with too high budget allocation, this could cause adverse effect to the company. FedEx should make strategic alliance with IT systems company such as IBM or HP in order to reduce their cost of operation. 8. 5Suggested implementation plan Table 1 illustrates implementation plan of suggested recommendation

Negative Expectations and the film While You Were Sleeping essays

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Draper Manufacturing - Case Study Example For instance, when Brent asked Adam Fox about on time shipment of orders, Adam’s reply hinted the dearth of workforce rather than any other issue. Additionally, the company does not enjoy financial stability and growth, but is facing some serious financial, economic and environmental challenges. On the economic front, the increase in the oil price passing the point of $60 per barrel negatively impacts over the cost of the company as the petroleum is a basic raw material component for mattress. Second, the Gulf hurricanes severely damage the TDI, the chemical consumed to develop polyurethane foam. In addition, the Draper manufacturing also faces some competitive challenges from the competitors. In the recent times, there has been growing tendency to import low priced Asian products, which bring more challenges for the company. Â  Company has adopted some measures to reduce its cost burden. This is where the Draper manufacturing really needs put its efforts and try to bring imp rovements in order to meet the business challenges. Workforce diversity is going to be there, and it cannot be termed as a problem for the growth of the company. In conclusion, the Draper manufacturing faces business challenges rather workforce diversity issues.Although there is no doubt that the current workforce working in the company is diverse and belongs to different races, yet the cause of contention between or among them does not represent their personal views over the racial issues but the business issues.

Advanced Corporate Reporting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Advanced Corporate Reporting - Essay Example This is in particular for the companies that issue public bonds on a regulated European market. These accounting standards have shown a significant impact on the potential influence on the behaviour of economic agents. Accounting standards caused the financial institutions to behave in a certain way that enhances the financial stability in the long run.1.2 Arguments of European Commission/ Union on IFRS: It was opined by analysts that the core of the financial mismanagement lies within the commission and due to the fact that structure is opaque. The problems of financial mismanagement are the basic enforcements weaknesses. The court of auditors of European union admitted that the 80 percent of taxpayers money was never accounted properly. The responsibility for combating fraud has been considered by European commission. It was observed that the EU's financial regulation 2342/2002, article 87(4) claims that there I no need to attempt the recovery of any sum less than million euros and this has been ruthlessly exploited. By eliminating the loop hole, the European commission resulted in shared responsibility instead of separation of the responsibilities. As the improvement is not possible if each EU institution or department works with different standards and criteria, the common standards for the accounting were considered. Due to the erroneous accounting the debtors of European commission simply disappeared in 2002-03. ... Another problem with the old system is potential mismanagement of cash due to lack of principles in cash flow analysis. The maintenance of huge cash suggests the deliberate retention of member states and companies surpluses against EU rules, the establishment of own resources by the tax payers money. These huge funds are used to maximize the public funds. This should be avoided as the cash in hand by any company should be reported and the use of it can be restricted. To avoid these issues, the credit rating of the companies should be true and fair and must be based on accounting statements. This should be regulated by EU. The implementation of IFRS auditing on EU and the companies in the EU states resulted in overcoming the problems regarding the financial mismanagement and misuse of cash. The action on fundamentals and injection of commercial reality was made possible by the introduction of IFRS. The commercial organizations will ask themselves the questions regarding their performa nce and they should be reflected in the financial statements. The IFRS made it possible and the transparency has been resulted in the use of the money of the investors. This needs a creation of financial infrastructure and that was taken by the lesson from New Zealand that will audit fully singed annual accounts within three months. The auditors were made independent in assessing and auditing the company's financial statements and strict guidelines have been imposed according to IFRS. This made possible good financial management in the company's possible and gave the required security for investor's money in the company. This gave chance to investor to estimate the

Cooperative Movement in India | Development

Cooperative Movement in India | Development Introduction In the todays growing world Co-operatives do activities for the development of agriculture, small industry marketingandprocessing, distribution and supplies. The progress report of co-operatives in the State is very good and contribution to agricultural progress has particularly been significant. For the purpose of Green Revolution, these Co-operatives introduced various schemes for the conversion of villages into towns and also the construction of go downs. The Co-operative Movement was introduced into India by the Government to overcome the burden of debt of farmers and they can sell their products easily and can get the maximum profit. The Co-operative Credit Societies Act, 1904 was passed by the Governmentof India and rural credit societies were formed. Through the appointment of registrars and through vigorous propaganda, the Government attempted to popularize the Movement in the rural areas. Within a short period, the Government realized some of the shortcomings of the 1904 Act and, therefore, passed a more comprehensive Act, known as theCo-operative Societies Act of 1912. This Act recognized non-credit societies also. But the rural credit societies have continued to be predominant till now. Agricultural Credit/Service Societies The structure of Agricultural Co-operative credit in the Punjab State is divided into two sectors i.e. Dealing with the short-terms and medium-terms finance and the other with the long-term credit. The short-term and medium-term credit structure is based on a three-tier system i.e. the Apex Co-operative Bank at the State level, the Central Co-operative Bank at the district level and the Primary Agricultural Credit Societies at the village level. The major role of these services which is provided to the farmers is to make the funds available to the farmers for their agriculture production, for the purchase of machinery, fertilizers etc. Type of societies Co-operative Weavers society Co-operative Consumers Societies Co-operative Housing Societies Co-operative Womens Societies Co-operative Milk-Societies Problems for Co-operatives Lack of supervision leads to the misuse of the financial resources. Lack of inspection by Registrar Government is hesitating to entrust any important government work since it does not have any participation. The Co-operative Banks and other important institutions are located far away from the reach of the farmers. NABARD and RBI are not agreeing for conversion of Central and Urban Co-operative Banks. R.B.I. has also objection about the use of word Co-operative since Banking Regulation Act uses the word Co-operative Society. Wrong persons may take advantage of the situation to cheat the general public. When the Government are exploring the possibility of regulating the Non-governmental organizations having vast experience, it is doubtful as to whether the mutually aided Co-operatives in various field can give desired result. Introduction to NABARD NABARD is set up by the Government of India as a development bank for facilitating credit flow for promotion and development of agriculture and integrated rural development. It also helps in all other economic activities in rural areas, promoting sustainable rural development and for the prosperity of the rural areas. With a capital base of Rs 2,000 crore provided by the Government of India and Reserve Bank of India, it operates through its head office at Mumbai, 28 regional offices situated in state capitals and 391 district offices at districts. Present Scenario Initiates measures toward institution-building for improving absorptive capacity of the credit delivery system, including monitoring, formulation of rehabilitation schemes, restructuring of credit institutions, training of personnel, etc. Coordinates the rural financing activities of all the institutions engaged in developmental work at the field level and maintains liaison with the government of India , State governments, the Reserve Bank of India and other national level institutions concerned with policy formulation Prepares, on annual basis, rural credit plans for all the districts in the country. These plans form the base for annual credit plans of all rural financial institutions Undertakes monitoring and evaluation of projects refinanced by it Promotes research in the fields of rural banking, agriculture and rural development Functions as a regulatory authority, supervising, monitoring and guiding cooperative banks and regional rural banks Role and Functions COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT FUND (CDF) In pursuance with the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Cooperative Development Fund was constituted by NABARD in the year 1992-93 under the provisions of Section 45 of NABARD Act, 1981 with a view to strengthening and providing assistance to Co-operative Credit Institutions for improving their infrastructural facilities. The initial Corpus of the Fund was Rs.10 crore which was subsequently raised to Rs.75 crore. The cumulative assistance sanctioned to cooperative institutions from the Fund for various purposes unto 31 March 2007 amounted to Rs.76.35 crore against which Rs.67.66 crore has been disbursed. National Conference of Urban Credit Cooperative Societies Saturday, 22 April, 2006, Pune (Talking Points) Dignitaries on the dais, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Cooperative Movement in India has contributed to the rural development of the country. Though the movement has developed in different States of the country not in the uniform manner, some of the States like Maharashtra, Gujrath, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh have shown tremendous growth of the Cooperative Movement in these States. The cooperatives were considered as the balancing force between the private sector and the public sector. The advantages of the private sector and the public sector could be very well achieved through the cooperative sector and the disadvantages associated with the private sector and the public sector could be eliminated in the cooperative sector. The societies, which were promoted by the leadership having vision and who managed these cooperatives well, have become successful; whereas the cooperative societies, which suffered from the lack of dynamic leadership were mismanaged and these cooperative societies became failure. Maharashtra State is one of those States in our country, which can boast of claiming that the cooperatives in the State are managed by the elected representatives by the members and the elections do take place regularly except in few cases where there are problems of mismanagement. Out of the total number of 1.75 lakhs cooperative societies in Maharashtra there are hardly few hundred cooperative societies, where the administrators are functioning. This shows the Cooperative Movement in Maharashtra is functioning purely on democratic principles. The Cooperative Movement in Maharashtra has made tremendous progress during the last 45 years. The number of societies in 1960 was hardly 30,000 in 1960, which has gone upto 1.75 lakhs in 2005. The number of membership of all these societies increased from 42 lakhs in 1960 to almost nearing 5 crores in 2005, whereas the members capital was only 53 crores in 1960, which has increased to around 13,000 crores in 2005. Though the figures indicate that the cooperatives have made tremendous progress in Maharashtra some of the sectors in cooperatives have been highly successful, whereas some of the sectors could not make any success. The examples of successful societies are found in large number in the areas of Cooperative Sugar Factories, Dairy Cooperatives, Urban Banking, whereas almost 50% of the Primary Agricultural Credit Coop. Societies and 50% of the District Central Cooperative Banks are in a very bad financial position. The Agro Processing Cooperatives also could not make any progress, though there is a tremendous potential for these cooperatives, considering the huge production of the fruits and vegetables (production of fruits is about 100 lakh tonnes and that of vegetables is around 50 lakhs tonnes, which is likely to be doubled in the next 5 years) as well as other agricultural produce in Maharashtra. The Government of Maharashtra has recently passed various amendments in the Maharashtra Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation) Act, 1963, on the lines of Model Act prepared by the Govt. of India and has introduced the provisions for establishment of Private Markets, Farmer Consumers Markets, Direct Marketing, Single Licence for the Traders and the Contract Farming. These amendments will have very good effect on the growth of agro-processing sector, exports of fruits and vegetables and value added produce from agriculture and the development of retail chain management, as these sectors will be able to source the requirement of their produce directly from the farmers. This will also have good impact on large private investment coming in to agricultural sector, development of infrastructure like pre-cooling units, cold storages, cold chain for transportation of perishable produce, putting up of the processing industries etc. The employment generation in agriculture and allied sectors will also be improved. It is envisaged that because of these changes the overall economy will grow and the farmers will get better returns for their produce. This will also have the positive effect on quality and productivity improvement in agriculture. Besides 20,000 Primary Agricultural Credit Coop. Societies, 34 District Central Cooperative Banks and the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank, there are about 25,000 Urban Cooperative Credit Societies in Maharashtra. While the Primary Agricultural Credit Cooperative Societies give loans to the farmers for agriculture and for crop production, the urban credit societies cater to the needs of the urban population, particularly to meet their requirements of credit for consumer articles. The total membership of these societies is around 1.10 crores. The share capital of these societies is around Rs.3,500 crore and their own funds amounting to Rs.5700 crore. The deposits of these societies are around Rs.10,000 crore and they have given loans of about Rs.15,000 crore. The working capital of these societies is around Rs.25,000 crore. The cooperative credit sector is operating in both Urban and Rural areas. The Urban credit societies cater to the needs, primarily, of the urban population. It also caters to the household needs of the rural population. Recently the urban cooperative credit societies in rural areas have started financing the agricultural needs of farmers. This effort was initiated and promoted by the Government by issuing the Govt. Resolution on 22.12.2005. The loans to the tune of about Rs.15,000 crore to 1.12 crore member itself speaks of volume of work of these cooperative credit societies, who necessarily reach the urban and rural masses. The presence of credit societies in the vicinity provides confidence of easy availability of funds, to both urban and rural masses. The credit societies are now intending to diversify by extending their  services such as cash transfers and other permitted banking operations. The credit societies Federation is trying to play a prominent role to have joint venture operations along with the similar international organisations. The State Federation of Urban Credit Societies in Maharashtra has decided to extend the insurance to the Depositors of Urban Credit Societies, by forming their own Deposit Insurance Scheme. This is a unique revolutionary decision and it will go a long way in building confidence of the depositors in these societies. There are 2,106 Urban cooperative Banks in the country having deposits of Rs.1.10 lakh crore. Out of these, there are nearly 650 Urban Cooperative Banks in Maharashtra, having the total deposits of Rs. 65,000 crore. The Urban cooperative Banks are also catering to both the rural and urban population. The huge membership base available for both the urban cooperative banks and cooperative credit societies must be utilized for the ultimate upliftment of both the members and the organizations. This base can be utilized as channels both forward and backward in respect of different managerial aspects such as marketing, distribution, services etc. For achieving this, both these organizations should have integrated approach in functioning and their policy framing like Rates of Interest on deposits, Rates of Interest on loans etc. It is necessary that borrowers get loans at reasonable rate of interest so that any business becomes viable and borrower is able to repay loans. The financial involvement of both the urban and rural masses in the  cooperative credit societies by way of deposits always demanded its safety. The involvement of Insurance Agencies was well solicited. However, the effort in this direction was uniquely made by the Maharashtra State Cooperative Deposit Guarantee Corporation which happens to be a cooperative society. It has to go a long way but a good start has been made to cover up 70 credit societies guarantying their deposits up to the limit of Rs.50,000/-. The consolidated effort to qualitatively strengthen the organisation and increase its scope is the need of this hour. The cooperative credit societies are facing innumerable problems some of them can be listed as follows. Accepting deposits at higher rate from depositors Huge expenses on administration. Lack of management skill Lack of training and education to the employees and Board of Directors Poor performance in recovery Loans are sanctioned without proper scrutiny These problems needs to be addressed by all the concerned with the focus on the overall quality to be maintained by these cooperative organizations. The cooperatives including the urban credit cooperative societies should function in such a manner that they have the highest operational efficiency and professional management so that they can deliver the desired results to the members and the common man. Unfortunately the professional management and operational efficiency is lacking in many societies. As I have already mentioned earlier the societies, which have been managed efficiently and have been able to serve their members and public in a most desirable manner the example of the cooperative sugar factories in Maharashtra is an eye opener to a person who looks at these societies very closely. Out of 200 cooperative sugar factories in Maharashtra almost 50% have excellent results whereas 50% of these factories are in problems. Some of the cooperative sugar factories, which are excellently managed could pay almost Rs. 1100 to 1200 per tonne as a sugarcane price, whereas many of the badly managed Cooperative Sugar Factories could not pay even statutory minimum price. For paying the statutory minimum price, these factories are required to borrow from banks by creating short margin and with the Govt. guarantee. The Govt. of India is helping these factories with the package for rehabilitation. Though this is required in the larger interest of the farmers, the sugar factories, which are performing well should also be given incentives by the Govt. of India. Same policy should be applied to the other successful cooperative societies also. The urban cooperative credit societies in the State and in the country must remember that they have to face competition with big Multi-National Banks and the Commercial Banks. These societies should therefore, be vigilant in advancing loans and in no case loans, which cannot be recovered should ever be sanctioned. These societies must adopt the modern management practices including computerization in their working, professional training to their employees and to their members of the Board and should keep their level of functioning very competitive. This only can bring success to these societies. Thank you. Jai Hind .!!! Jai Maharashtra ..!!!! Interpretation: In the above article, the man stress is on using the modern techniques of working, professional training should be given so that they can handle each and every single problem and most important all work should be done thorough computers so that the commitment of errors should be minimum. Whatever the loans provided to the farmers, the record of that and the documents should be maintained properly so that it will be easy for the working of the employees as well as for the farmers to know every single point. With this proper documentation recovery department can easily comes to know about the person from they have to collect the particular amount. Proper education training should be given so that the employees can give their 100% to the work and they should no charge higher rate for accepting the deposits. The loans which will be given to the farmers should be given after the enquiry of that particular person that whether the person really need the loan and the information he is provid ing is true or not. AGRO-INPUTS DISTRIBUTION IN AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES R.C.Gupta Agricultural Cooperatives in India are very actively and intimately involved in several agriculture related activities. The most important activities are the disbursement of production credit and distribution of fertilisers and other inputs viz seeds, pesticides and agricultural implements. Agricultural Cooperatives are also involved in procurement of farm produce, processing and marketing of oilseeds, Cotton, sugar, milk and milk products, distribution of essential commodities, clothes, kerosene oil and merchandise etc. Coop. movement in India started way back in 1905. Till 1939, Agricultural Cooperatives in India were distributing only the credit to the farmers. Its activities got diversified to consumer articles and also some agricultural inputs in the rural areas over a period of time. Subsequently, based on the suggestions made by different committees and commissions, the cooperatives were given a significant role in distribution of fertilisers. Currently, cooperatives are playi ng a significant role both in production and marketing of fertilisers. Cooperatives Role in Agricultural Credit Disbursement Cooperatives play a very important role in disbursement of agricultural credit. Credit is needed both by the distribution channel as well as by the farmers. The distribution channel needs it to finance the fertiliser business and farmers need it for meeting various needs for agricultural production including purchasing fertilisers. The credit needed by the farmers for purchase of fertilisers and other inputs is called ‘short term credit or ‘production credit whereas credit needed by the distribution channel is called ‘Distribution Credit. Cooperatives also play a very important role in disbursement of ‘Medium Term and ‘Long Term credit needed by the farmers for purchasing agricultural equipments viz tractors, installation of tubewells and land development  works etc. ‘ Joint General Manager(Marketing), IFFCO, 53-54, Nehru Place, New Delhi -110019 Paper presented at 13th ICA-Japan Training Course on â€Å"Strengthening Management of Agricultural Cooperatives in Asia† 1988-99 at FMDI, Gurgaon, Haryana, India, on Jan 21, 1999 In India, 78 per cent of the farmers belong to the category of small and marginal farmers. They depend heavily on credit for their agricultural operations. These farmers will not be able to adopt the modern agricultural practices unless they are supported by a system which ensures adequate and timely availability of credit on reasonable terms and conditions. Credit in India is made available to the farmers through a multi-agency network consisting of cooperatives, commercial banks and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs). However, cooperatives accounts for a large proportion of the agricultural credit made available to the farmers. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) was established in the year 1982 by an Act of Parliament and was entrusted will all matters concerning policy, planning and operation in the field of credit for agriculture and other economic activities in the rural areas. Before that, this job was being done by Reserve Bank of India itself. NABARD works for progressive institutionalization of the rural credit and ensures that the demands for credit from agriculture including the new and upcoming areas like floriculture, tissue culture, bio-fertilisers, sprinkler irrigation, drip irrigation etc. are met. The medium and long term of loans are disbursed to the farmers through Primary Land Develo pment Banks (757) who draw their finances from Central Land Development Banks (20) who in turn draw their finances from NABARD. As for the short term credit, this is disbursed to the farmers through Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS-66,200) who draw their finances from Central Cooperative Banks (363) who in turn draw their finances from the State Cooperative Banks (29). The State Cooperative Banks draw their finances from NABARD. Cooperatives Role in Fertiliser Distribution: Introduction Agriculture continues to be the mainstay of Indias national economy. Its contribution to Indias Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is about 30 per cent. Nearly two thirds of the population still depends on this sector directly or indirectly. Self-sufficiency in foodgrains has been the basic objective of Indias policy on agriculture. Foodgrain production has increased from the level of 52 thousand tonnes in 1951-52 to 199 million tonnes in 1996-97. However, the foodgrain production declined to 193 million tonnes in 1997-98. The present population of the country is about 960 million and is likely to touch 1000 million by the turn of this century. To feed this level of population, India has to produce 208 million tonnes of foodgrains from the present level of 193 million tonnes which is, no doubt, a gigantic task The vital role of fertilisers in increasing agricultural production is well recognised. Since, the land man ratio is declining due to increasing population, the additional foodgrain production has to come by increasing the productivity of land under cultivation. Adoption of modern agricultural practices is the only way for increasing agricultural productivity. This calls for application of inputs like chemical fertilisers, high yielding seeds and pesticides besides use of mechanical equipments like seed-cum-fertilizer drills, sprayers, pump sets etc. Chemical fertilisers are very costly, particularly the phosphatic and potassic ones which have been decontrolled w.e.f 25th August, 1992. Urea, of course, is relatively low priced due to grant of subsidy by GOI. However, unless balanced nutrients are applied, the productivity cannot be sustained. Fertilizer Distribution Channels Fertilizers are produced/ imported at about 200 locations in the country and distributed to the farmers scattered through the length and breadth of the country in about 600,000 villages through a network comprising of private and institutional channels. Some quantities are also made available through manufacturers own outlets. Private trade accounts for about 60 per cent of the total fertilisers distributed in the country followed by institutional agencies at 35 per cent and remaining 5 percent through the manufacturers own outlets. Among the institutional agencies, cooperatives are the main agency which alone account for nearly 30% of the total fertiliser business. The total number of fertiliser salepoints in the country is 262,000; out of which about 71,000 (27%) are institutional agencies salepoints (mainly cooperatives) and the remaining 1,91,000 (73 %) are controlled by the private trade. Cooperative Channels Cooperatives are the main institutional agency in the country handling fertilizers. Cooperative network, at present, comprises of 29 state level marketing federations, 171 district level marketing societies and about 66,200 village level cooperative societies. These village level cooperative societies are generally called Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS). These societies are the backbone of the cooperative marketing system. These societies are well spread in the entire country covering 97 % of the 0.6 million villages and 95 % of the farming families. The other main institutional agencies engaged in the distribution of fertilizers are State Agro-Industries Development Corporations, Commodity Federations and State Departments of Agriculture etc. They operate both through their own sale depots as well as through the private dealers network. However, their share is only marginal. The cooperative structure differs from state to state and societies at different levels (distric t/taluka/village) perform different functions in different states. Generally, the cooperative network operates through a 3 tier system. However, in some states such as Haryana, the cooperative marketing system operates on 2 tier basis, while in some others like Gujarat a 4 tier system exists. At the state level, Apex Cooperative Marketing Federations act as wholesalers; marketing societies at district/taluka level as sub-wholesalers while PACS, PAMS (Primary Agricultural Marketing Societies) at grass root level act as retailers. The function of State level Apex Cooperative Marketing Federations differ from state to state. In some states, the Federations are actively involved in fertiliser business like Gujarat, Haryana, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh etc. and they act as the wholesalers for the entire State. In some States like Uttar Pradesh (U.P.), they are not directly involved in the fertiliser business and do the job of liaison and coordination only for which they are getting servi ce charges from the fertiliser suppliers. In U.P. , the State Federation is also doing warehousing as well as transportation job both for IFFCO and KRIBHCO (The only manufacturers in the cooperative sector). In the States where Federation is not involved in fertiliser business, the manufacturers are supplying fertilizers directly to the lower societies at the district/village level and the societies are getting full or near full distribution margin which has improved the financial health of these societies. Current Cooperative Fertilizer Distribution Status Presently, in Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, J K, H.P. and Assam, in the cooperative sector, fertiliser supplies are made to the Apex Coop. Marketing Federations only and they act as wholesalers. Direct supplies are not there at all. Only small quantities under the special scheme like IFFCO-NCDC scheme in Haryana and IFFCO societies adoption programme in M.P. are supplied directly to the societies. In these states district level societies operate as sub-wholesalers. In the states like Punjab, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa A.P. and Kerala, both the systems i.e. supply through federation as well as direct supply to the societies are prevalent. As a result, some of the societies at the lower levels are getting supplies directly from the manufacturers while others are getting from the Federations. However, in the states of U.P. and Bihar, supplies of fertilisers are made to the village level societies directly by the manufacturers. In states where state level federations act as wholesalers, the manufacturer has to deal with only one agency. Consequently, the job of sales planning, movement and stocks planning, realisation of sales proceeds etc. becomes very easy. In states where manufacturer deals with the lower tier cooperatives directly, the volume of work increases many fold and it becomes much more complex. The material has to be released to individual societies and the sales proceeds realisation has also to be done at that level only. This requires deployment of larger field force. Decentralised release system leads to establishing larger number of warehouses and correspondingly larger inventory. This all increases the operating cost. Manufacturers Own Outlets Some manufacturers viz. IFFCO, KRIBHCO, GSFC, GNFC and NFL have their own retail outlets called Farmers Service Centres or Service Centres or Farm Information Centres etc. In these outlets, agricultural inputs like fertilisers, seeds, agro-chemicals and agricultural implements etc. are made available to the farmers under one roof along with agricultural production technology literature. The main motto of these service centres is not only to provide all quality agro-inputs to the farmers but also educating them on scientific agricultural by providing technical know how in the field of agriculture. This help the farmers in increasing their agricultural p roductivity and profitability. Promotion activities are also carried out in the villages located around these centres ( within radius of 8-10 kms) which includes demonstrations, farmers meetings, soil test campaigns, crop seminars etc. In addition, social campaigns like tree plantations, medical check-up, veterinary check up etc. are also organized. They also serve the purpose additional/alternative distribution channel for the organization. A graphical presentation of fertilizer distribution channels in India the cooperatives and the private trade is given at Annexure- I. Linkage in disbursement of Production Credit and Agro-Input Distribution As already mentioned elsewhere in this paper a large number of farmers in India particularly the small and marginal farmers depend upon credit for purchase of fertilizers and other inputs. A very strong point with the cooperative is that the Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) which are involved in disbursement of agro-inputs Interpretation: Agricultural Cooperatives in India are the backbone of the cooperative system and involved in variety of function and serving the rural masses by providing credit, fertilizers, seeds, Agro-Chemicals, Agriculture Implements etc. Their role has been commendable and helped in making essential inputs availability to the rural masses. These need to be further strengthened. Conclusion: In the end we can say that these Co-operative societies plays a vital role in the growth of the rural areas as well as the growth of the Economy of the Country. These societies helps in the development of the farmers by providing funds to them for the irrigation purpose and also provide new machines for the farming so that they can produce maximum in the minimum time period and of the best quality and also they helps them in earning the good value of their produced products. Bibliography Websites: http://agriculture.indiabizclub.com/info/agriculture_cooperatives http://www.nabard.org/nabardrolefunct/nabardrolefunctions.asp http://www.nabard.org/nabardrolefunct/cooperativedevelopmentfund.asp http://www.nabard.org/developmentpromotional/developmentalinitiatives.asp http://www.maharashtra.gov.in/english/chiefminister/ccs.pdf http://www.iffco.nic.in/applications/Brihaspat.nsf/d111b7bb8d3d76bbe525656f00324885/ca039309da93bec0e5256778003cf811/$FILE/rcgica.pdf

Essay on The Supernatural in Toni Morrisons Beloved :: Toni Morrison Beloved Essays

Supernatural in Beloved Elements of the supernatural pervade Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved. These elements include evidence of African-American folklore and tradition in the everyday lives of the inhabitants of 124 Bluestone Road. Beloved's character is another obvious use of the supernatural: she's a ghost for part of the novel and a "ghost-in-the-flesh" for the major part of the book. In Beloved, Morrison extracts African folklore from history in order to enrich the authenticity of an account of the lives of ex-slaves during the late 19th century. Her extractions include medicinal, religious, and superstitious components from African life. As doctors were not available to most blacks during this time -- slave or free -- they were forced to depend upon their intuitive nature and upbringing. For instance, spiderweb is used as first aid for cuts, while grease is spread liberally over these same cuts as a long-term ointment of sorts. For slaves, church was simply another segregated part of life which forced them to develop their own way of practicing their faith. African roots are very visible in Baby Sugg's "sermons" in the Clearing. White men go to church, sit down in wooden pews, and settle in for a lengthy dissertation on their sins. On the other hand, Baby Suggs calls her people into Nature to dance, cry, and finally, to laugh. Her version of a sermon is actually an outpouring of the vast contents of her heart. Superstitions are a natural part of any culture's make-up. However, some superstitions are firmly rooted in one specific culture. This is evident in Baby Sugg's statement to Sethe where she says, "Not a house in the country ain't packed to its rafters with some dead negro's grief" (Morrison 5). Similarly, Ella comments to Stamp Paid, "You know as well as I do that people who die bad don't stay in the ground" (188). Morrison's style embodies an additional aspect of African philosophy. According to John S. Mbiti, "[it] emphasizes that the spiritual universe is a unit with the physical, and that these two intermingle and dovetail into each other so much that it is not easy, or even necessary, at times to draw distinctions or separate them" (Samuels 138). One can see how Morrison fits this definition with her constant interweaving of the spiritual world along with the physical world. Stereotypical thinking says that a fine line exists between the spiritual world and the natural world.