Case Sharp Printing Essay Example for Free

Case Sharp Printing Essay Three years ago the Sharp Printing (SP) strategic management group set a goal of having a color laser printer available for the consumer and small business market for less than $200. A few months later the senior management met off-site to discuss the new product. The results of this meeting were a set of general technical specifications along with major deliverables, a product launch date, and a cost estimate based on prior experience. Shortly afterward, a meeting was arranged for middle management explaining the project goals, major responsibilities, the project start date, and importance of meeting the product launch date within the cost estimate. Members of all departments involved attended the meeting. Excitement was high. Although everyone saw the risks as high, the promised rewards for the company and the personnel were emblazoned in their minds. A few participants questioned the legitimacy of the project duration and cost estimates. A couple of RD people were worried about the technology required to produce the high-quality product for less than $200. But given the excitement of the moment, everyone agreed the project was worth doing and doable. The color laser printer project was to have the highest project priority in the company. Lauren was selected to be the project manager. She had 15 years of experience in printer design and manufacture, which included successful management of several projects related to printers for commercial markets. Since she was one of those uncomfortable with the project cost and time estimates, she felt getting good bottom-up time and cost estimates for the deliverables was her first concern. She quickly had a meeting with the significant stakeholders to create a WBS identifying the work packages and organizational unit responsible for implementing the work packages. Lauren stressed she wanted time and cost estimates from those who would do the work or were the most knowledgeable, if possible. Getting estimates from more than one source was encouraged. Estimates were due in two weeks. The compiled estimates were placed in the WBS/OBS. The corresponding cost estimate seemed to be in error. The cost estimate was $1,250,000 over the senior management estimate; this represents about a 20 percent overrun! The time estimate from the developed project network was only four months over the top management time estimate. Another meeting was scheduled with the significant stakeholders to check the estimates and to brainstorm for alternative solutions; the cost and time estimates appeared to be reasonable. Some of the suggestions for the brainstorming session are listed below.

Knowledge as a Double Edged Sword in the novels Oryx and Crake as well

Is knowledge, which is the base of human ingenuity and intelligence, also the factor which will bring upon humanity’s impending destruction? Knowledge today plays a key role in almost every facet of human existence, from food, to water, to providing the foundation for every piece technological equipment ever constructed. Knowledge though has also provided us with ever more imaginative and efficient means of killing and destroying each other and the planet, these means include nuclear weapons, and of course biological warfare. Therefore knowledge plays the role of the doubled-edged sword, bringing humanity luxuries and power beyond conception, as well as arming us with the tools to completely eradicate all life. In the novel of Oryx and Crake, a slightly more advanced civilization than ours, where biotechnology has brought numerous wonders to the world is brought into perspective. This civilization, wrought by corruption, has eliminated disease, and now is making synthetic viru ses in order to cash in on the destruction, the perfect scheme. One of the protagonists, Crake, discovers this scheme, and with this knowledge, seeks to destroy the corrupted civilization, by performing the same atrocity. With Crake’s synthetic virus, he eliminates the entirety of human race, with the tools knowledge supplied him with. In the novel A Canticle for Leibowitz the human race is just an insignificant remnant of its former glory, after it obliterated itself with the use of nuclear weapons. This novel shows humanity’s rise out of the ashes, with focus being placed on the Order of St. Leibowitz, the sole caretakers’ of the hated knowledge from the age past. With the knowledge contained with the Order, humanity experiences a renaissance, in which ulte... ...prized knowledge above all else. In both Oryx and Crake and A Canticle for Leibowitz, knowledged acts as a doubled-edged sword bringing wonders and inventions that truly make life easy, and at the same time bringing death and destruction in the form of weapons and military advancements. It is quite evident in both novels that knowledge acts a god, to be worshiped and studied, and as a god, chooses when to deal out good and bad deeds. Knowledge provided mankind with miracles and massacres. Knowledge itself is not lethal, mankind is the hand that directs the pathways of knowledge. Humans cause massacres, with the aide of knowledge. But if mankind is truly born evil, than it is only a matter of time for it to destroys itself. As mankind delves more deeply in the the endless mine of knowledge, it must take caution, as it has within its grasp to become gods†¦or demons.

Matsushita and Japan’s Changing Culture Essay

1. What were triggers of cultural change in Japan during the 1990s? How is cultural change starting to affect traditional values in Japan? Cultural change in Japan during the 1990s has a few factors. One of them was the richer society. The society being richer than the previous times made the new generation feel that they had greater opportunities rather than being tied to a company for life and being a â€Å"salary-man†. The western culture was also a big influence in this respect. The laying off of older workers also made them believe that loyalty to a company might not be reciprocated. Cultural change is starting to affect the traditional values in Japan. Values like strong group identification, reciprocal obligations and loyalty to their company are being taken over by individualism and lack of loyalty. People don’t want to be tied to a company for life anymore. 2. How might Japan’s changing culture influence the way Japanese businesses operate in the future? What are the potential implications of such changes for the Japanese economy? Japan’s changing culture will influence the way Japanese businesses operate in the future. Companies might change their benefits and pay structure from traditional retirement plan structure. They might allow employees to choose from different type of employment contracts where they can choose greater salary to forego company housing, lifetime employment guarantee, seniority benefits and retirement bonuses. The potential implications of such changes in the Japanese economy might be the rise of a dynamic workforce with ambitious individuals who would be rational and logical in their thinking. This workforce can be the agent of the economic growth of Japan in the future. 3. How did traditional Japanese culture benefit Matsushita during the 1950s-1980s? Did traditional values become more of a liability during the 1990s and early 2000s? How so? The traditional Japanese culture helped Matsushita achieve its goals during the 1950s – 1980s because in response to all the benefits Matsushita gave to its employees, the employees worked hard for the greater good of the company. The employees were given guaranteed lifetime employment and so the employees never left the company. Matsushita took care of them from â€Å"cradle to the grave† by bestowing â€Å"blessings† on employees. The traditional values did become liability during the 1990s and early 2000s because the company faced financial crisis and its growth slowed down, but it couldn’t lay its  employees off because of the lifetime employment guarantee. 4. What is Matsushita trying to achieve with human resource changes it has announced? What are the impediments to successfully implementing these changes? What are the implications for Matsushita if (a) the changes are made quickly or (b) it takes years or even decades to fully implement the changes? With the human resource changes it has announced, Matsushita is trying to achieve a younger workforce that is encouraged with individuality, initiative taking and risk seeking. It wants its young managers to become rational and logical, ambitious and aggressive, and at the same time to create an organization that can carry out their ambitious plans. One of the impediments to successfully implementing these changes is the lifetime employment commitment, which held Matsushita back from cutting off unnecessary management staffs. Also, the existing managers are performing poorly because of their old way of doing things. Again, since it cannot lay workers off, it has to cut back on its hiring and this is triggered by the slow growth rate. Implications for Matsushita: (a) If changes are made quickly, the company would have a dynamic workforce that would increase the growth rate. But that would lack the loyalty of its employees, which is still a very strong force to keep the company going. (b) If Matsushita takes too much time, it might fall back and become unable to revolutionize its workforce. If old employees do not make way for new employees, the company will have a slower growth rate with an aging workforce. 5. What does the Matsushita case teach you about the relationship between societal culture and business success? The Matsushita case teaches us that societal culture and business success are very closely related. This is because the culture in the organization is a very important driver of its success and this culture is shaped and determined by the existing culture of the society.

Immigration to the United States The German Immigrants...

Many immigrants came to America seeking freedom, jobs, and land while others were running from famine and war. While immigrants ran from the problems of their native land, they were running into new problems in America. Americans feared the immigrants would take their jobs or have the right to vote. This fear caused discrimination against the immigrants due to their diverse backgrounds from Germany, Ireland, and China. Immigrants that came to America faced the hardship of discrimination because they did not only stand out with their culture but also because Americans didn’t necessarily want them in America. The German immigrants made up most of the immigrants between 1820 and 1860. Most of the Germans traveled to America for economic†¦show more content†¦Irish had often lived in unhealthy and unclean tenements. Then when they arrived in America they too had faced discrimination. They had many organizations conspired against them to ensure the immigrants could not vote, or hold office (Baker 262). â€Å"In 1844 controversy arose in Philadelphia over whether Catholic children in public schools could be allowed to read from the Catholic version of the Bible rather than the King James version and other issues†(Baker 262). This caused a violent reaction of the people who were against the Irish and Catholics (Baker 262). â€Å"Catholic churches and priests were the most frequent nativist targets† (Baker 262). The Americans had thought that the Irish Catholics had used the U.S voting system to elect followers of the pope so the pope could have some power in the United St ates. The nativist did not just have conspiracies about the Irish but many other immigrants too (Baker 262). China is one of the oldest countries in the world. Most of the Chinese immigrants were motivated to come to America due to the California gold rush .They sold many of items in order to afford a ticket to the New World, this included livestock, and property. The immigrants started arriving around 1850. Many of the Chinese did not have intentions of staying in America, those people were called sojourners (Huot 221). The Chinese were not accepted throughout the nation. One of the most popular reasons for rejection was becauseShow MoreRelatedPolitical Dimensions Of Us Immigration Policies1207 Words   |  5 PagesPolitical Dimensions of US Immigration Policies Japanese and Chinese Immigration and Exclusionary Immigration Policies Anti-immigrant driven exclusive immigration policies barred Japanese and Chinese immigrants from immigrating to the United States and accessing the privileges of citizenship. 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Your huddle masses yearning to breathe free, huddle masses come with a quota and whichever nationality was in favor at the time. Send these the homeless, tempest, tossed to me (The New Colossus, Emma Lazarus 1883) just as long as you weren t Chinese or Japanese. In a thirty year span between 1870 and 1900 the United States saw twelve million immigrants pass through her golden doors. 70% of these immigrants were English, IrishRead MoreAMH 2097 Paper 21345 Words   |  6 Pagesthe top of the social hierarchy ever since they arrived to America in the 1600s. The first wave of immigration consisted of the Germans, Irish and Chinese. The WASPs created a way to measure the success of each immigrant group. They acknowledged four factors of success that would show them whether an immigrant group was successful or not. The first factor of success was how much money an immigrant had when they came to America. The more money they came to America with, the more successful they wereRead More Immigration into the USA Essay1729 Words   |  7 PagesImmigration into the USA My essay is a nation of immigrants in the United States which is about German, Irish, Jewish immigrants in the 1800’s or early 1900’s. I’m a Asian so I know about Asian immigration. But I didn’t know about Europe immigration very well. So I chose it among many topics. I know that I will find about aspect of immigration important and I will fall into interest of this history. A continuing high birthrate accounted for most of the increase in population, but by the