Biology Sensitivity Lab Report

To investigate the effect of skin sensitivity In response to cold temperature in different parts of the body by timing the maximum amount of time in which Ice-pack can be held to that area. Hypothesis: If the layer of skin Is relatively thin, the nerve response to cold will be the fastest, Increasing the skin's sensitivity. This therefore means that the fastest responses to cold will be in the face, and specifically the nose.The skin consists of 3 main layers; the epidermis, dermis and hypodermic (also known as the subcutaneous). The epidermis consists of dead and nearly dead skin cells which protects us from injury, infections, fluid loss†¦ Acting as a barrier. The Dermis is the skin layer which contains most of the nerve cells, hair follicles, sweat glands and many others. The Hypodermic layer is not really a skin layer, it attaches the skin to everything else; it contains the fat layer.The layer of fat in the nose's hypodermic is very thin in relation to other parts of the bo dy which will make the nerves detect the change in temperature on the surface the fastest, therefore bringing upon the response In less time. Variables: Independent variable: The part of the body (area of skin). Dependent variable: The maximum amount of time the ice-pack can be held to the skin (Using a stopwatch).Controlled variables: * The same height group (1 55-CACM) * The same weight group (45-keg) * The same age group (15-20) * The same sex (female) * The same temperature of the Ice-pack (placed In the freezer for 5 hours) * The same surrounding temperature (20-ICC) The same body temperature (3709 ; The same material used in the icepack( plastic and gel) ; The same size and thickness of the icepack (medium sized) Fair test: This experiment is considered to be a fair test because I think that most of the rabbles that can manipulate the results in any way other than the variable which I want to manipulate which is area of skin being tested, for example the height group and age g roup are controlled which ensures that the layer of fat in different people is similar due to these characteristics. Materials: * 3 ice-packs of the same temperature * Stopwatch * Thermometer * A long table Method: 1 . Place 3 identical icepacks in the freezer for 2 hours before starting the 3. Take their temperature making sure it is around ICC (If not change one of the people to one with all the requirements including temperature). 4. Make the person lay on the table on her back. 5.Take out one of the icepacks from the freezer. 6. Place the icepack on the thigh and time the time needed for the person to reach his limits with the cold. 7. Repeat the above step for the other body parts (Upper arm, belly, forearm, forehead and nose). 8. Replace the ice pack in the freezer again and take out another one. 9. Repeat the experiment on the same person another time. 10. Replace the second ice pack and repeat the step above with the third icepack. 11. Replace the ice pack in the freezer. 12 . Wait for an hour to regulate the temperature of the ice packs in the freezer. 13. Repeat steps 3-10 for the second female. 14. Record the result throughout the whole process. 15.The results are not completely constant though since the belly normally has more fat than the upper arm, but since the belly was covered with a shirt beforehand this led to tampering in the reliability of the experiment which is noninsured a source of error. The thermo receptors face's skin is the most responsive to temperature changes; the forehead had an average response time of 17 seconds. I came up with an average for each person's tree trials first, and then I came up with a final set of data for the average of all 6 trials on the two people. I came up with the final average by adding up all the 6 results from the several trials and divide them by 6 giving us a final result that we can work with to draw conclusions about our results and their reliability. Data presentation: Conclusion:My main conclusi on from this experiment about skin sensitivity in different areas in response to cold temperature changes is that the skin on the nose is the most affected. This is because of two things, the main reason being the layer of fat on the nose is a lot thinner than the layer of fat on other parts of the body like the thigh and the second reason being that thermo receptors which are the nerve cells which respond to temperature changes in the surrounding are highly concentrated in the face area so the fastest responses would therefore surely be from the face, explaining the fastest two reactions; nose (an average of 9 seconds) and forehead (an average of 17 seconds). This supports my hypothesis since that was my initial thought regarding the experiments' results due to scientific research.My results are highly valid since they make sense and are backed up with concrete scientific reasoning. The face brought upon the fastest responses followed by the belly and the arm. The belly has a thick er layer of fat than the arm; this is where my results got a bit mixed up since the people tested were wearing shirts which warmed them up fore starting which brought a faster response due to the bigger gap in change of temperature. The thigh had the slowest response time of an average of 163, which is logical since the thigh has the thickest layer of fat between the areas tested. Evaluation: In general I think my method was pretty valid since I controlled all the factors and explained the method in which I did.In my method I also showed steps of finding the average for the data collected which makes my results more reliable since they become more accurate. I also made the person getting tested to lie on a flat surface o that the icepack would be even on her body and won't move or fall down. Sources of error: 1 . The skin temperature was not constant all over the body since the belly for example was covered with a shirt. 2. The Ice-pack got warmer, so the last tests were less reliab le. 3. The pressure applied to the ice-pack was altered and not completely constant. 4. The difference between the reaction time of the forehead Improvements: 1 . The test should only be performed on parts of the body exposed completely, not the ones covered with clothes.

Christian Respose to Islam

Christianity and Islam are two of the most significant religions since their creation. Islam means â€Å"submission† in Arabic, and a Muslim is one who submits to the will of God (Allah). Christians are called so because of Jesus’ title Christos, which is Greek for Messiah. Christianity and Islam are similar in a lot ways, but also have quite a few differences in beliefs, practices, and basic theology. They also give separate messages to outsiders as to what their religions stand for. Both religions are monotheistic with a holy text and they both strive to conquer evil. Islam has a set of rules (5 Pillars of Islam) set forth to reach enlightenment while Christians repent, accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and then are forgiven for their sins. A lot of people in today’s world believe that Islam and Christianity are very similar with only a few subtle differences, but this paper will discuss some of the big difference regarding the belief in on God, the view on prophets and the view on the Day of Judgment. To begin, lets compare the Islamic view on the belief in one God. The first and greatest teaching of Islam is proclaimed by the Shahada, which states, â€Å"La llaha illa-l-lah, Muhammandun rasulu-l-lah. † (â€Å"There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the apostle of Allah†) (Robinson). After a person sincerely makes this confession than they become a real Muslim. Muslims believe that Allah is one, and has no partners, no equals. The Quran states, â€Å"And cry not unto any other god along with Allah. There is no god save Him. † (Sura 28:88). This statement in the Quran makes a clear claim that Muslims believe that Allah is supreme, that he created and maintains the world. In Islam it is also very clear that Allah has no son, no father, no relative and no associates. â€Å"The Muslim prophet Muhammad is reported to have written down 99 names to try and express the attributes of Allah. Some of these that Muhammad wrote down is that Allah is merciful, that he is all-powerful (omnipotent), all-knowing (omniscient) and that he is eternal (no beginning and no end)† (Robinson). The Christian response to this claim by Muslims is that there is only one righteous and transcendent creator God. In the Old Testament Moses states, â€Å"The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. † (Deuteronomy 6:4). This passage makes it clear that God is there is only one God who wants us to love him totally with all our being. Once again in the New Testament Jesus Christ himself states, â€Å"29 The most important one, answered Jesus, is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord our God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (Mark 12: 29-30). The problem between Christians and Muslims is not the fact that there is only one God, but the view of the trinity. Christians believe that there is God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit. These three persons are complete in unity of will, purpose, action and love, yet cannot be separated even though they have different functions. The Bible speaks of God, the Father, who as the co- Creator, blesses: â€Å"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Ephesians 1: 3), initiates and sends â€Å"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. † (John 17: 3). And finally God sent the Holy Spirit, who is resident within a Christian, to guide, instruct and empower them. â€Å"16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. (John 14:16-17) It is important that God as â€Å"Father† not be viewed within a biological context. Christians share with Muslims the prohibition against conceiving of God in the form of an image. God as â€Å"Father† refers, rather, to a relationship between God and man. Christians accept all the 99 names of God, which Muslims repeat in praise to God. Even the name Allah is affirmed by Christians as one of the names of God, the same Arabic name that the Prophet Abraham used in Hebrew as â€Å"El† or â€Å"Elohim. † Secondly, lets compare the Islamic belief about the prophets to that of the Christian belief. Islam makes a distinction between a messenger (rasul) who is sent with a Divine Scripture to guide and reform mankind, and a prophet (al nabbi) who simply carries information or proclaims Allah's news. Therefore, though all messengers are prophets, not all prophets are messengers. The number of Allah’s prophecy is said to be 124,000, yet the Quran mentions only 25 prophets. Some of these prophets are Adam who is the first, Abraham, Jacob, Ishmael, Isaac, David, Solomon, John the Baptist, Jesus and also Muhammad, who is said to be the final and greatest prophet. And verily, we have raised in every nation a Messenger, saying, â€Å"Serve Allah alone and shun false gods in any form. † Then Allah guided some of the people. And error took hold of others. Do take lessons from history as you travel in the earth, and see the consequence of the deniers. † (Sura 16:36) According to the Sura Allah raised up these prophets, among every nation, to provide mankind with firm and constructive guidance, so that they could walk the straight path of Allah, could live happily in this world, and could be prepared for life after death. Allah promises to protect his prophets from serious sin, bad disease and death. Muslims use this belief to deny that Jesus, who they believe was just a prophet, did not die on the cross because as stated above prophets cannot be killed. The Christian response about prophets is that God appointed prophets and others to speak to mankind about his word, and his story of redemptive acts in history. Christians believe that God revealed the interpretation of his acts to the prophets who then passed it on to man by preaching, teaching and writing it down. Even though â€Å"Muslims and Christians have quite a few people that both agree were prophets Muslims do not believe that Isaiah, Jonah, Daniel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul and Jesus were prophets† (Robinson) Prophets within Christianity came from different classes of society, some rich, others poor, young and old; some scholars, and others with little education. Not all wrote books (Elijah, John the Baptist), but they all heard God's word, either through angels, by means of visions, by God's voice, or by receiving the message in their minds and hearts. Also contrasting Islam we know that prophets were not sinless, but just normal believers whose sins were forgiven by God. The prophets most important message was that since there are none who could obey the law fully, they remained still in sin, and so deserved death. â€Å"Yet, those living with sin need not despair, because God had promised to take upon himself the guilt of their sins, by incarnating himself and dying on the cross, thus taking upon himself that penalty, and so freeing him to forgive them from those sins, which then brought them back into a personal relationship with him. (Rahim et al). When a Christian tries to evaluate to see whether or not Muhammad was a prophet, they must try to see him in light of the total Biblical witness ending with Jesus and displaying these three criteria. One that he fully accepts the former Scriptures, two that he points to the central significance of Jesus as redeemer and three that his life and teachings exemplify suffering redemptive love. Based on these three criteria, which are shown through the life of Jesus, Muhammad is not at all a prophet. Thirdly, lets view the Islamic view on the Day of Judgment (Death) and the Christian response to what they believe. â€Å"To begin we must first find out what a Muslim believes about sin. To a Muslim sin is a private matter, which is not binding from one generation to the next. This is so because Satan is the root of all sin and Allah being all merciful, forgives those who ask. There is only one sin that the Muslims believe is so bad that it is deemed unforgivable, that of â€Å"shirk,† which is the practice of associating anyone or anything with Allah. Going by this logic the sin of Adam and Eve was not really their fault at all because Satan tricked them, and they asked for forgiveness. Furthermore, their sin was not hereditary/ passed down to their children. Also because the sin committed by Adam was not his fault and he repented, Allah made him earth’s first messenger. † (Nazir-Ali 142-144) For the Muslim, salvation is attained not by faith, but by works, in observing the Five Pillars of Islamic practice, as well as avoiding the major and minor sins. Tradition indicates that on the Judgment Day, once the person is buried, the two recording angels appear, and the dead person sits up to undergo an examination. If he says the â€Å"Shahada† (â€Å"There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the apostle of Allah†), he lies down peacefully and awaits his judgment. If he refuses the â€Å"Shahada,† he is severely beaten for as long as Allah pleases. Once the individual is awakened for judgment a scale is presented, which weighs the good and bad deeds of the person taken from their â€Å"book of destiny. Ultimately Allah makes the decision as to whether someone should be received into paradise or not. â€Å"If Allah places the individual’s book in his right hand then that person is saved and crosses a razor sharp bridge to paradise, which holds a perfumed garden of material and sensual delights, surrounded by rivers and flowing fountains, populated with black-eyed virgins, who are there to serve them with all variety of fruits† (Nazir-Ali 145). On the other hand, a vivid hell (Gahenna) awaits those who fail the test. This hell is described in the Quran as a place consisting of boiling water, gore and fire; it is a hell of extreme physical pain† (Nazir-Ali 145). Christians view of sin/death is drastically different that of Islam. A Christian believes that any sin is an abomination to God, because it is, in essence, a rejection of His character. Christians believe, as Muslims believe, that Satan does tempt us. Yet, Christians are responsible for their own sins, and not Satan. Christians believe that they have the choice to reject Satan's tempting. But, The Bible insists throughout, that the wages of sin is death, and since we are all guilty, therefore, we all deserve death. God, however, in His mercy, has not left us in that guilt, but has offered payment and forgiveness for those who receive it. He has sent His Son (Jesus Christ) to die in our place, to take upon himself our guilt. Therefore, those who believe in His redeeming death on the cross, and repent of their sins, are saved from eternal separation (John 3:16-17), while those who reject Him will be eternally condemned. Before His ascension into heaven, Christ promised to return a second time to judge the world. When He returns, He will raise all the dead to life, and will separate those who believe from those who reject, as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. Those rejecting Christ will live in eternal punishment, in total isolation from God because, in rejecting God's Son, they have rejected God the Father and God the Holy Spirit as well, and no sin is greater than this. â€Å"22 Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. (1 John 2:22-23). Those who have truly believed in Christ the redeemer, will not fear Christ on Judgment Day, and will have eternal life. This does not mean that they will go into a garden full of carnal pleasures, which, as we know in this life, separates us from God, but they will go into the presence of God Himself, to live forever with Him in love and in joy. For, as it says in The Bible, † 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, â€Å"Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. † 5 He who was seated on the throne said, â€Å"I am making everything new! † Then he said, â€Å"Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. † 6 He said to me: â€Å"It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. (Revelation 21: 3-7). To summarize, even though Islam and Christianity both are monotheistic, both have a holy text and both strive to overcome death/evil there are big blatant differences. Hopefully the above paper achieved its’ aim in informing people of the differences regarding the belief in on God, the view on prophets and the view on the Day of Judgment. All in all those that believe that these religions are similar and basically the same thing are incorrect and should stop skipping over/ignoring the discrepancies between the religions.

Plato’s Philosophical Significance (in Regards to Metaphysics, and Ethics Essay

Philosophy spans the reaches of the human mind in countless topics, but is often divided into three main branches: metaphysics, the study of the nature of existence; epistemology, the study of knowledge and truth; and ethics, the study of morals. One of the first philosophers to look at these fields is Plato (427BCE-347BCE), whose writings are incredibly influential. Plato’s work lays the fundament for philosophy because of his cohesive contributions to the fields of metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Firstly, Plato’s work with Forms greatly influences metaphysics. He contributes the idea of the Forms which exist as â€Å"eternal and perfect ideals that exist in an unchanging, perfect heaven† (via Velasquez, 2002, p. 84). [2] The Forms contrast with worldly matter; this contrast leads to Plato’s next contribution to metaphysics, his concept of â€Å"Two Worlds. † Plato divides reality into the worlds of senses and forms, the latter of which he considers to be true reality and where the soul resides. Finally, Plato’s description of the tripartite human soul greatly influences St. Augustine’s religious work on Christianity 800 years later. Therefore, Plato’s Forms helped shape metaphysics. Secondly, Plato’s Forms and myths built the foundation for epistemology. Plato argues that due to the soul’s unchanging nature, the process of â€Å"learning† is the soul’s recollection of knowledge. He also provides two myths, both closely related to his metaphysical works. In the first, the Chariot Allegory, Plato describes a charioteer en route to heaven, in which there exists â€Å"true reality [the forms] with which real knowledge is concerned † (as cited by Velasquez, p. 84). The journey is impeded by an unruly horse that represents ignobility. The concept of the journey’s difficulty is mirrored, finally, in the Allegory of the Cave, which discusses ignorance and the escape thereof. Thus, Plato’s myths form the basis of epistemology. Finally, Plato’s work in ethics regarding justice is among the first and most influential. Firstly, he defines justice as the balance between the three parts of the tripartite soul. Thus, his justice theory states that justice in both the state and the individual is defined by â€Å"harmony between the various parts for the good of the whole† (Velasquez, 2002, p. 630). This justice theory shows cohesiveness with Plato’s tripartite theory of the soul. Finally, Plato associates justice with merit: individuals are treated proportionally to their talents and accomplishments. Hence, Plato’s philosophies regarding justice form the starting point for the field of ethics. In conclusion, Plato’s writings act as a basis and connection for the three main branches of philosophy: metaphysics, through his Forms; epistemology, through his myths; and ethics, through his justice theory. His influence on philosophy and society is expansive and, as such, Plato is one of the most significant philosophers. That his ideas are still being taught to modern day shows the true nature of philosophy: to pose questions so profound that they cannot be answered 2500 years later.

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Traditional Cultures Report - Essay Example Forces contributing to cultural change Modernization has been examined as a force that causes cultural change in the social structure as a culture. It is through modernization that societies have experience urbanization, industrialization and social change that transform the lives of people in the different societies. Modernization tends to be a positive force that impacts the social structure in that it is because of it that societies have moved from barbarism to civilization. However, it is also evident that modernization may have a negative impact on the social structure in terms of the destruction it causes to the traditions of the different societies. This is thought to be, as a result of, the incorporation of some aspects of westernization. It is as a result of, this that social structures have been destroyed since the indigenous cultures have been replaced by some western cultures (Sijuwade, 126). Research reveals that globalization is one of the forces that have contributed t o the changes experienced in the social structure. This can be illustrated from changes in the social structures of the different African communities. Globalization tends to have both positive and negative impacts on the social structure. It has resulted to changes in the social structure from changes in the lifestyles, thoughts and technology. ... ion is thought to have a positive impact on the social structure in that it enhanced evolution of the cultural processes of some societies through the exposure of people to different ways of thinking. It is because of some global trends that societies get to know more about each other, therefore, improving the social structure of communities as a cultural aspect (Sijuwade, 126). Reasons why the change seems inevitable The changes that have been experienced in the social structure seem to be inevitable. This is because of the increased processes of modernization and globalization. The changes in the social structures of the different societies seem to be for the best. This is because when human communities from different societies share information through global networks of information the cultural understanding is normally enhanced, therefore, resulting to an improvement in the lives of individuals within the different societies. An example of this is evident in the African society. It is evident that many changes associated with the development have taken place in the African society as a result of globalization. Despite the negative views concerning the impacts of modernization and globalization of the social structure. People should embrace the changes that have been experienced in the social structure because of the advancements they bring to the society (Sijuwade, 127). Globalization has also had an impact on the social structure of communities through the establishment of online communities. Some of the factors that have been lost include the destruction of social structures through the establishment of new identities. However, it has enhanced the acquisition of new ideas, therefore, resulting to the development of social structures (Sijuwade, 127). An

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Abraham Lincoln (Sixteenth president) - Essay Example Even though the great future speaker almost did not attend school he received a good self-taught education (BiographyShelf.com n.p.). During the Black Hawk War, Lincoln served as a captain in the U.S. army and later he tried himself at several political and business ventures (USA Presidents n.p.). Then he served four times in the Illinois State Legislature and was elected to Congress for two times in 1847 and 1849 (USA Presidents n.p.). During this period, Lincoln being a member of the U.S. House of Representatives he opposed the Mexican War (Marian n.p.) During the Presidential election of 1860, Lincoln took the post of the head of the country. Being born to parents who thought the slave trade despicable, the President issued the Emancipation proclamation in 1863 (USA Presidents n.p.). This proclamation excited rebellion in some states, in result of which there were enacted the 13th and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution. Thus, Lincoln established the federal enforcement of civil rights and abolished slavery (USA Presidents n.p.). As a president, Abraham Lincoln was focused on the political and military dimensions of the war, showing tremendous leadership to the Union populace during the war (USA Presidents n.p.). Abraham Lincoln actively participated in the war and closely controlled the war effort (USA Presidents n.p.). Thus, he made the faithful decision to appoint an army commander General Ulysses S. Grant, who had applied his military skills and knowledge to bring about the close of the Civil War (USA Presidents n.p.). During the Civil War, the president held more power than any previous president did; he frequently imprisoned Southern spies without trial and suspended the writ of habeas corpus (USA Presidents n.p.). During Lincoln’s terms in office, he set up the Department of Agriculture and facilitated the setting up of agricultural and mechanical colleges in each state (Marian n.p. and BiographyShelf.com n.p). Also, Lincoln

An Analysis of Literacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

An Analysis of Literacy - Essay Example Firstly, it must be understood that literacy in and of itself can and should be described as a type of awareness. As described by Paul Kei Matsuda in his piece, â€Å"Alternative Discourses: A Synthesis†, the definition of what specifically defines literacy evolves and grows as a function of type and nature of literature that exists within a particular period in time. As such, the reader can readily note the fact that what defined literacy within the 18th century might not necessarily be what defines literature with the current era. However, a thread of similarity and comparability exists between all levels of literacy. The similarity is with respect to the fact that the individual who is literate is both aware and able to express themselves with regards to salient topics within a range of different issues. This does not necessarily engender the fact the individual must be a polymath who is talented a great range of different subjects; rather, it denotes an individual that is capable and willing to research and litany of different areas and present a balanced and reasoned analysis that can readily be understood by even an individual is not an expert within the given field.From the information that was provided within James Gee’s article, â€Å"What is Literacy†, it can also be understood that a pitfall that many professors, and indeed universities themselves make, is with respect to formalize the discussion in seeking first English as second language and native speakers integrate with the topic. in a particular way. Ultimately, the author points to the fact that college and/or University should be to a period of time in one’s life that they are able to use as a means of expanding their horizons and honing their ability to create and argue a well reasoned point. Ultimately, rather than forcing a level of similarity of content, the author argues for the fact that the rhetorical analysis process in and of itself is the greatest virtue. Finally, a further point, and thread of similarity that exists between three articles, is referenced in the third and final argument that will be analyzed. The author of â€Å"Acquisition of Literate Discourse: Bowing Before the Master†, Lisa Delpit, denotes the fact that even though it is human nature to define and define people based upon their abilities, it is unfair and unreasonable to stipulate that an individual is somehow inherently incapable of creating a well reasoned argument within a written format. Ultimately, the case in point is provided, is that of a disadvantaged African-American female who, although her GRE scores were insufficient for admission, she nonetheless was able to develop or rhetorical skills and proved to be a successful writer and explicate or complex and nuanced ideas. Accordingly, the author helps to argue for the fact that grouping individual into the category of â€Å"unable to write† is somehow akin to the way in which individuals are grouped and discriminated against with regards to other categories. Further, instead of a rash judgment being

Ethnicity in Cameroon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethnicity in Cameroon - Essay Example Its relief ranges from desert in the north, Savannah grassland to tropical rain forest in the southern region. (World InfoZone, 2008). It is called ‘Africa in miniature’ as it harbors almost all the political, economic, religious, cultural and relief features of the entire continent. (World InfoZone, 2008). Ethnicity has been a topic of debate in the country for a long period now. With over 250 different ethnic groups having different cultures and local dialects, representative governance and integration becomes difficult and thus has recently become a national topic of debate. This has its roots dating back to 1964 when the late Dr. Bernard Fonlon questioned the former president Ahmadou Ahidjo on the Functioning of the then Federal Republic of Cameroon which was failing. This led to the change of the structure to ‘the United Republic of Cameroon’ in 1972 and later to the ‘Republic of Cameroon’ in 1984. (Culture of Cameroon, 1997). The national question in Cameroon is more an issue of being either being part of the ruling majority and in which case, being submissive, paying allegiance to the powers that be, or being part of the geographically privileged southerners who dominate and control power. (Mentah, 2008). The latest tendency is for the ruling establishment to meticulously fuel ethnic exclusion, articulating ethnic animosity getting isolated entities or ethnic groups for the-right-moment political manipulation. (Mentah, 2008). This means that the system of government is that of little or no patriotism but a struggle to share in the constantly diminishing ‘national cake.’ (Nyamjoh, 1999). Though the country is politically very stable, the question of National unity and integration due to the ongoing ‘politics of regional and ethnic balance, chronic lack of vision as a country, the lack of real commitment to democracy, the propensity to vacillate on most issues of collective

Drug addiction Essay Example for Free

Drug addiction Essay As a part of the human service professional reviewing case studies will be an important part of the job. Not only should we keep notes on every client but we could use them as a reference for future clients. The case studies could become useful if past and future clients have similar cases. In this case study we will examine family, social, and intimate relationships. Identify any role changes that may have occurred, and immediate and future effects of healthy and unhealthy habits demonstrated in this case study. My case study is on Jackson the 25-year-old, unemployed, single adult male, with a substance and alcohol abuse problem. After graduating high school Jackson started attending college the following fall to earn a degree in chemistry. In the course of his freshman year Jackson suffered a major head injury in a car accident. As a result he sustained loss of his cognitive and analytical functioning skills, due to damage to his Cerebrum. Jackson begin drinking alcohol and abusing the painkillers giving to him by Doctors following the accident. As a result Jackson is now using prescription painkillers and mixing with alcohol to relieve the pain of feeling like a failure because he had to quit college. He now lives with his mother in Chicago Illinois where he currently attends a substance abuse program. Growing up in a single-parent household without the contributions of a father figure, Jackson has had problems holding on to any type of relationship. Although he’s been involved with women in his past, while in college he began to question his sexuality after becoming sexually attracted Hall 3  to this college roommate, uncomfortable with the way he was feeling toward another man Jackson asked the transferred to another room. As a son, Jackson was dependent on mother. Growing into a man, he left for college and begin to gain independence. After the accident it seems roles may have changed over time because Jackson has retreated back to his infant dependence stage. He’s now reliant on his mom, painkillers, and alcohol. As a middle adult male Jackson’s future looked bright, but after slipping back to young adulthood Jackson has lost the inability to maintain  control over his life. Jackson’s unhealthy habits will have many ill effects now and in the future. Starting with his alcohol abuse as stated in an article about underage drinking among college students, alcohol use among college kids is a major concern†¦ At colleges and universities throughout the United States. The main problem being alcohol is consumed by students on the under the legal age of 21 (Miller, Stout, and Shepherd, 2000). Jackson’s drinking is putting at risk for splurging on alcohol, killing someone or himself, or trouble with the police. Jackson also suffers from substance abuse problem, which according to the article, Trauma and Substance Abuse, there are an estimated 20. 6 million young and middle adults that are classified as the defendant on drugs or alcohol (Galonte, Salman, Albers, and Sena, 2012). Jackson’s drug use is also increasing the risk of death. After long-term drug and alcohol use Jackson’s behavior could lead him to stealing from his family, thus bringing Hall 4 about issue of trust within the family. His run-ins with the police and having a record could hurt his chances of obtaining a job. The drug use could also affect him from being able to pass a drug test. Jackson’s inability to gain his sobriety is not only hurting himself, but his future, family, and even his health (mixing alcohol with prescription drugs can damage the liver). This paper has assessed Jackson in great detail. A 25-year-old middle adult whose future seemed bright, but due to the accident Jackson has lost all hope. Jackson needs to complete his substance abuse program, become sober, become employed, and consider going back to school, this will ultimately built his self-esteem and give him self-worth. After careful consideration, I will continue to follow up with the client in order to repair his self-confidence and interpersonal skills, so that he can improve his Intimate and personal development. Hall 5 Reference 1. Galante, J. M. , Ahmad, S. Albers. E. A. (n. d. ) Trauma and Substance Abuse: Deadly Consequences of Intravenous Percocet Tablets. Clinical Communication; Adults,() 2. Miller, N. S. , Stout, A. W. , Sheppard, L. M. (2012, September). Underage Drinking Among College Students. The journal of emergency Medicine, 43 (3), e167-e169.

Analysis of Supplier Development Strategies

Analysis of Supplier Development Strategies ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS Any activity undertaken by a buying firm to improve supplier performance, supplier capabilities, or both and to meet the buying firms short and/or long term supply needs can be termed as supplier development activity. A study by the Harvard Business School concluded that a primary reason for declining US competitiveness is that US companies invest less than foreign rivals in intangible investments such as supplier development. Half of the companies fail in this supplier development effort if executed. As supplier development help in increasing competitiveness and is not successful every time if implemented, it is essential to examine supplier development and factors which result towards the success of supplier development. This paper will examine aspects associated with the success of supplier development strategies within different set of industry. This research will put forward a specific set of aspects are significant contributors to supplier development; also this paper will show that some factors of supplier development have significant influence on other factors of supplier development. Data from the population of buyers and suppliers will be collected to test the extent of relationship between significant factors and success of supplier development process. Agreement was noted between dependencies of success of supplier development process on several factors. Recommendations to supply managers and purchasing manager will be provided regarding upper management involvement, enhanced communication with their suppliers, recognition of their suppliers and development of strategic processing instead of reactive processing will be offered. chapter 1 introduction This thesis is a report of ethnographic study of critical factors for supplier development strategies. The study was based primarily upon the survey with supplier development managers and professionals involved in this field. This first chapter of the thesis will discuss the context of the study, intention of the study, describe the importance and will present the overview of the methodology used. Background of Study A global economy is emerging and resources are concentrated on core business rather than the diversification which show the way towards outsourcing. Outsourcing is increased from $91 billion to $416 billion in 20 years (Tunstall, 2002), and it is expected to increase further. In 2009 the value of outsourcing deals in logistics area were projected to $ 80 billion (Hyatt, 2009) which shows the intensity of use of suppliers. Due to this voluminous use of suppliers buying companies have to rely on their suppliers to deliver defect free product in a timely and cost effective manner. To compete in their respective markets, buying firm must ensure that their supplier capability equals the expectations (Krause Ellram, Success factors in supplier development, 1997). When a supplier is incapable of meeting the buying firms need the buying firm has three alternatives: (1) Bring the outsourced item in house and produce it internally, (2) Resource with a more capable supplier, (3) Help improve t he existing suppliers capabilities. All the three strategies can work. (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000). Supplier development is defined as Any effort of a buying firm with its supplier to increase the performance and capabilities of the supplier and meet the buying firms supply needs. (Krause Ellram, Critical elements of supplier development, 1997) When the suppliers are innovative and exclusively supplying a product then the supplier development option comes into the picture. When a company is using a supplier, it is necessary to have a good relationship with them. The Harvard research suggested that supplier development started very late in USA but it was started very long ago in the Japan. Toyota, Honda and Nissan implemented these supplier development activities in their plants a long back. Although similar research has been done previously, the theme of research was same but this new research is capable to generate new knowledge , First the populations is different and for the variety of reasons they will be having different opinions and attitudes than the previous cohort . There might be a different type of interaction in between me and those to which will generate the new idea, the sample data is from different set of industry and places so the research context will be totally different from the previous researches. Even the subject might be same but the contextual issues are very different. The Problem Statement Supplier development requires both supplier and buyer to commit their maximum to get the maximum out of the program. Even though both the sides agree that the commitment is required it is not necessary that supplier development program in which they are involved will be successful. In early 90s companies start reducing the number of direct suppliers and began evolving from adversarial relationships to more cooperative ones with the remaining suppliers. (Hartley Choi, 1996), Approximate one-third projects are failed due to suppliers underperformance. So the success in the supplier development is not a foregone conclusion. Supplier development is considered as a long term business strategy and there are various factors which affects this long term strategy. These factors not only affect the end result of supplier development process but also influence each other. This research tried to establish the critical success factors for supplier development and their inter-relationship with ea ch other. Regression models approach helped to develop the interrelationship among critical success factors. Anyone especially supplier development manager and procurement professional can refer the model over the wide range of circumstances and structure. The main objective of the research paper is to create the model for critical success factors for supplier development strategies. Professional Significance Large number of companies does the supplier development and they fail as well at surprising rate. Not all supplier development initiatives are successful in fact, as many as 50% are not successful, due to poor implementation and follow-up. (Handfield R. , 2002) The failed efforts consume tremendous amount of resources over months or even years. As multiple studies have shown over half of the supplier initiatives fails. This failure takes a toll that is not only financial but also psychological. Failure demoralizes employees who have been labored diligently to complete their share of the work. As the supplier development success factors depends on both the parties so a dedicated study is required to find out what factors make the supplier development process a success. In 2000, according to the study 53% of the companies claimed that they are involved in the supplier development program but it was found that only 20% of the companies are contributing for the financial support for the suppliers and only 14% of the companies are putting their employees in the suppliers place for the development purpose. Eleven percentages of the companies are giving the chance to the suppliers to come at the buyers place and learn. Only 11% of the companies are having the formal program for supplier development, others are doing it without any of the formal program. (Anonymous, 2000). It shows that even though companies are involved in supplier development program but not fully implementing in an appropriate way. In General Motors, after implementation of supplier development program supplier productivity was improved 50%, lead time was reduced by 75%, and inventory reduction happened around 70% during their one week workshops. On one project alone, Honda of Americas Best Practices (BP) team reduced a suppliers costs by more than $200,000 per year by changing the layout of a welding process. Furthermore layout change might increase the efficiency of supplier and ultimately give advantage to buying company. (Hartley Choi, 1996). Also one of the purchasing pro for a power tool producer said that in three years of developing suppliers, his company has seen quality rejects fall from 38.4% down to 0.5% while supplier on-time delivery has risen from 76% to 97.5%. Likewise, another proponent of supplier development cites an average supplier quality metric of 98.5% and on-time supplier delivery at 97%. They claimed to have improved quality, response time, prices and cycle time improvements, The VP f or a major California-based computer maker talks about how assistance from his firm allowed one subassembly supplier to ramp up to 50,000 pieces per month in only six weeks. (Anonymous, 2000).Although it took only 6 weeks to ramp up the production but usually supplier development is very time consuming and long process which consumes plenty of resources, so it is very much required to do it correct first time. To get the results mentioned above -$200,000 saving /year it is essential to learn what are the success contributors and failure contributors of supplier development. Overview of Methodology A structured survey questionnaire with five-point Likert scale was developed. Web and email were used to circulate and gather information regarding what group of supplier development professionals thinks about supplier development activities. Survey was divided in 6 small sections and every section was having 3 questions. Total of 20 questions were mailed to random sample of 300 supplier development professionals. The survey solicited about a single instance of supplier development performed by them. Survey was face validated and content validated with the help of thesis chair and committee. Of 300 surveys circulated 50 usable responses were obtained, which provides the perception of large group of supplier development manger regarding the nature of their supplier development project. The responding population represents a wide range of industry types. Also before e-mail survey set of interviews with supplier development managers was conducted. The interview was designed to validate the success factors collected after reviewing literature review and to help focus on reliable, important success factors which have extremely high control on supplier development success. Delimitation The research study was conducted at San Diego State University during the end of the fall semester-2009. This research was limited to supplier development manager who updated their resume on resume bank. This research was limited to professionals in North America continent to reduce cultural differences within the population used in the study. Multiple Regression model was used to prove the interdependency in between critical factors instead structural equation modeling. Survey instrument was developed with the help of existing instruments. This will allow us to compare new results with the old results. This research was limited to 3 questions per factor to keep instrument short. chapter 2 literature review This chapter will review the past researches that serves as the foundation for the thesis report presented. The research papers are basically associated with critical factors associated with success of supplier development. The research paper will present purpose and rationale for writing research paper on supplier development strategies. Following will be the review of literature on Strategic process, Upper management involvement, Supplier recognition, Effective and enhanced communication and commitment of suppliers. The chapter will conclude with a summary of literature. Examples of the key word used while finding the scholar research papers were supplier development, supplier relationship, supplier evaluation, supplier management, supply chain management and buyer-supplier relationship. Combinations of keywords were used to get different research papers. Search engine used during literature search were SDSU library search engine and Google scholar. (Ekholm Pashei, 2009). Past Literature First document application of supplier development comes from Toyota in 1939. Toyota discussed the need of working together with suppliers to improve collective performance. Thereafter in 1963 Nissan implemented first supplier development project, Honda joined the club in 1973 (Monczka, Handfield, Glunipero, Patterson, 2009). It is essential to understand the significance of each factor and the role it plays in supplier development process. Past researches can be categorized in (a) Theoretical, (b) Conceptual, (c) Empirical, (d) Conceptual and Empirical. Table 1 gives the brief of past literature which were identified. Previous to mid 1990s, the supplier development literature consisted mainly of theoretical studies covering cases of several companies and surveys and the purpose was to learn the barriers which comes in the way of supplier development. In 1990s the research moved towards establishing relationship in between various supplier development constructs where in 2000 the re search moved towards influence of supplier development towards innovation and purchasing strategy (Easton, 2000). In todays business increased trend of reliance on supplier is observed. Most of the buying firms need to pursue aggressive strategies in order to increase the future rate of capabilities improvement. (Monnczka, Trent, Callahan, 1993) Having mentioned that supplier is becoming increasingly critical to the competitive success of US firms, there are several reasons behind that. First manufacturers are beginning to focus on their core competencies and areas of technical expertise. Second, developing effective supply base management strategies can help counter the competitive pressures brought about by intense worldwide competition. Third, Suppliers can support directly a firms ability to innovate in the critical areas of product and process technology. Study showed 95% of business unit sample indicated supplier contributions were increasing throughout in terms of importance. There was a 232% increase in people from 1989-1990 who agreed with the statement that suppliers are extremely imp ortant to the achievement of competitive market strategies. More and more people started to outsource and started rely on suppliers. There was a growth of 15% of people from 1991-1992. Furthermore for each sample period, respondent projected and increasing dependency on suppliers for future product technology. More and more companies started to use supplier development process. Some of them are HP, Epson, Apple Computer, 3M, and BMW etc. Strong belief is supplier warrants improvement. If improvement does not occur firms across many industries may lose market share to competitors who are able to maximize supplier performance input. Sample was non random so the result can be generalized. Thus the trend is towards increasing reliance on supplier to help achieve competitive market strategies. This reliance on suppliers and improving their performance was initially documented from Toyota in 1939. Toyota discussed the need of working together with suppliers to improve collective performan ce. Thereafter in 1963 Nissan implemented first supplier development project, Honda joined the club in 1973 (Monczka, Handfield, Glunipero, Patterson, 2009). Supplier development was ubiquitous in Japan and Korea for number of years but less evident in US firms due to perceived lack of instant return on investment allied with setting up resources required to make it successful. Interestingly this practice was recognized early in the 1900 in the US automotive industry when Ford required improving supplier capacity (Krause, Handfield, Tyler, The relationships between supplier development, commitment, social and capital accumulation and performance improvement, 2006). In 1970s other Japanese automakers implemented the system and made their own modification like Honda developed a program called BP (Best practices). Review of case studies by (Sako, 2004) allowed examining differences in between supplier development activity in Toyota, Nissan and Honda. In 1939, Toyota purchasing rules stated that- Toyota suppliers must be treated as a Toyota branches and Toyota must continue to do business with these suppliers without switching to others and also develop the suppliers if required. Toyota bifurcated supplier development activities into TPS (Toyota Production System) and TQC (Total Quality Control). TPS was having different existence from TQC which allowed suppliers to take advantage of continuous improvement. Hyundai also realized that their small suppliers cannot again and again recruit engineers thus they sent engineers from their own shops to improve suppliers productivity. Hyundai do not financially support their suppliers but offer personnel support (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000). Nissan also implemented supplier development program which were significantly different from Toyota in the terms of number of point of contacts for suppliers, approach towards sharing the ideas and one to one training strategy during program. Honda and Nissan unified the TPS and TQC offering a single point of contact (Sako, 2004). The common features of the supplier development programs at Honda, Nissan and Toyota are multipl e channels for supplier development to transfer both tacit and explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is more difficult to accumulate as it needs closer interactions especially face to face with suppliers and more time thus it is difficult to replicate tacit knowledge (Clarke, 2007). In contrast to these companies in Japan, the suppliers in US and Europe distrust the buyers intention and also buyers dont have identical level of authenticity as in Japan to act as trusted well wisher who can suggest their suppliers how they should invest their resources (Sako, 2004). A recent study from Harvard school concluded that primary reason for declining USA competitiveness is that US companies invest less in supplier relations and development thus considering these points from Japan the supplier development was adopted in Eastern countries like UK and USA (Monnczka, Trent, Callahan, 1993). Supplier development activities were transferred to USA as buying firms commissioned their own plants in USA due to government regulations. By 1996 General Motors had completed supplier development projects with over 2000 suppliers and claimed productivity improvements over 50%, lead time reduction of up to 75% and inventory reduction of 70% (Hartley Choi, Supplier development: Customers as a catalyst of process change, 1996), (Clarke, 2007). By 2001 John Deere was involved in 426 different projects with 92 different supplier development engineer and delivering annual saving of $700,000 along with improvements in quality, cost and delivery. By 1994, Allied-Signal expe cted to save up to $300,000 from supplier development activities and also expected for increase in shares price (Monnczka, Trent, Callahan, 1993). At Deere and Delphi, a $100,000 investment in supplier development yields at least three to ten times the original investment (Nelson, Moody, Stegner, 2005). This illustrates that large firms adopted supplier development and it became strategic tool for them to improve quality, reduce cost and improve the delivery. The basic development process started with reduction in supplier base and then developing the remaining suppliers. Also it was adopted in service based companies from product based companies. But more focus was on the product based companies. Service based relies on the competitive pressure of market forces instigate supplier performance to a greater extent than product based firms and that then to use. In UK most companies rationalized or optimized their supple base to include fewer total suppliers. Western countries were no t getting involved in direct supplier development; Japanese companies were successful because they were involved in direct supplier development. Toyota is purchasing product from the same supplier since 1937. GM adopted this strategic supplier development in Europe. Motorola and Ford also adopted similar kind of supplier development Countries and large firms started to realize the benefits of supplier development, they recognized that supplier development must be worth if its emerging everywhere in Japan. From the national perspective, benefits of supplier development were improvement in domestic suppliers, reduction in off shoring and increase in GDP (Krause Ellram, 1997). From the corporate and large firm perspective, supplier development helped in improving quality, reliability and manufacturability of new design. Besides that supplier development also helped in knowledge sharing and improved collaboration. Furthermore responsiveness to customer needs and market dynamics also increased with supplier development (Krause Ellram, 1997). The data gathered with 527 purchasing executives by (Krause D. R., Supplier development: Current practices and outcomes, 1997) revealed that supplier development attributed to timely delivery, completed orders, reduction in defects scrap and reduced order cycle time. Research by (Blonska, Rozemeijer, Wetzels) established that supplier development guide towards getting a preferential buyer status and supplier adaptability. Supplier adaptation is perceived as an attainment of a goal of supplier development aimed at supplier performance improvement (Blonska, Rozemeijer, Wetzels). With help of two in depth case studies (Reed Walsh, 2002) established that supplier development activities enhance technological capabilities in their suppliers. Also some of the firms expected technological improvement should follow from improved business processes. Supplier development also helped in developing mutual trust in between buyers and suppliers (Reed Walsh, 2002). As mentioned earlier this increase in reliance was due to improvement in performance after implementing supplier development program. BMW strives to be 20% above industry average in quality performance. Management believed supplier development made it possible to attain that quality standard and increase in revenue (Rhodes, Warren, Carter, 2006). Also in Honda dramatic improvement was seen in product quality since Honda began to develop suppliers in North America, In 1985 quality level was 7000 parts defective per million and In 1995 quality level was increased to 100 defective parts per million (Berlow, 1995). A team of purchasing professionals from Honda of America worked with 12 stamping suppliers to reduce cost by $4million in six months in 1995 with its supplier development efforts (Berlow, 1995). In the context of supplier development, suppliers and buyers state that they want to practice more supplier development methods to enjoy its benefits but there are myriads of barriers that hinder the effective supplier development strategies. Research by (Lascelles Dale, 1989) utilizing survey responses from UK based suppliers to 3 major customers in automotive industry illustrated that poor communication and feedback, unstructured quality improvement programs, credibility of buyers, misconception regarding purchasing power and supplier satisfaction are the foremost barriers in the supplier development programs. Also in an empirical study with 89 minority goods and service providers (Krause, Ragatz, Hughley, Supplier development from the minority suppliers perspective, 1999) demonstrated that the main barriers towards minority owned supplier development are poor communication, non-profit situation and racial biases. Results also indicated that small minority owned suppliers were le ss positive about supplier development activities as compared to large minority owned suppliers (Novak, 2008). Survey by (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000) on supplier development strategies with 84 companies established several other barriers apart from already mentioned that deter supplier development strategies. It includes Lack of supplier commitment, insufficient supplier resources, lack of trust, and poor alignment of organizational cultures, unsupportive upper management and insufficient inducement to suppliers. Research by (McDuffie Helper, 1997) established that supplier development might fail if suppliers are not having a strong identification or if suppliers are not dependent on buyers. It will show the way to break down in learning relationship. Another major barrier towards supplier development program found from research by (Forker, Ruch, Hershauer, 1999) is difference between perceptions of buyer and suppliers about supplier development practices. These di fferences in perception are due to disparity in understanding in preference, intention, and process of supplier development program (Forker, Ruch, Hershauer, 1999). Supplier might agree initially for the proposal but later fail to implement due to difference in understanding. This problem can be cured with the help of clarification of issues. Researchers came up with number of conceptual models for building solutions to overcome these barriers. A ten step generic process model was developed based on the examination of in-depth response to open ended survey questions. Such a model was a step towards strategic supplier development. It was ranging from identification of critical commodities for development to systematically instituting ongoing continuous improvement. The model also suggested proposition that firms competing in markets characterized by high rates of technological changes and high level of competition are more likely to be involved with this model (Krause, Handfield, Scannell, An empirical investigation of supplier development: reactive and strategic processes, 1998). This model was slightly changed by proposition of seven steps generic model (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000). Also it was found most organization deployed first three steps but was less successful in deploying later stages. Similar t o previous model a process oriented four step generic supplier development model was proposed. This model was designed to help suppliers sustain and continue the change process and effectively build the capability for improvement within the organization (Hartley Jones, Process oriented supplier development: Building the capability for change, 1997). This model also increases the suppliers capability to act on its own and the improvement effort will continue once the buying firm finishes its activities (Wagner S. M., 2006). Also supplier structure was developed on the basis of specific vendor development strategy. Conceptual link was generated in between generic business unit strategies based on framework proposed by Porter and generic supplier development strategies, in other words linkage between supplier development strategies and company strategies (Chakraborty Philip, 1996). Execution of case study of five firms by (Dunn Young, 2004) results in a process model that enables th e buyers to pinpoint specific areas where improvement is required. Highlighting these small areas can impact on long term strategic supplier development initiatives. A review of the conceptual model and context of supplier development resulted in the identification of several elements that appear to be critical to the success of the supplier development program. These comprise of effective and enhanced communication, supplier commitment, top management involvement, strategic processing and long term commitment and supplier recognition/rewards (Krause Ellram, 1997). Background What is supplier development, why is the supplier development critical, what made this required to study and how the factors might affect the supplier development? Big things happen when you do little things right (Don, 2000). In this case if small generic steps for supplier development are deployed correctly then it can contribute towards success in supplier development. (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000) Developed seven step generic process map for set up supplier development activities. These are recognized as (a) Identify critical commodities (b) Identify critical supplies (c) Form a cross functional team (d) Meet with supplier top management (e) Identify key project (f) Define details of agreement and (g) Monitor status and monitor strategies. A discussion of each as follows. Identify critical commodities and suppliers Upper management involvement is vital to assess the relative importance of commodities and services procured by business unit. A corporate level executive committee analyzes the purchasing portfolio developed during strategic process. This analysis is extension of company strategic planning (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000). As a result critical commodities are identified and warranted for supplier development activities. Steps adopted here are mainly observed in strategic approach supplier development where in reactive approach respondents skip this step in supplier development process (Krause, Handfield, Scannell, An empirical investigation of supplier development: reactive and strategic processes, 1998). Choosing which supplier to develop is a critical task again because supplier development involves resources such as money and time, thus the decision should be strategic not reactive (Gordon, 2008). (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000). Many situations exist which are not mutually exclusive but warrant supplier development. To decide which situation needs supplier development is calculated judgment. Companies have formal supplier measurement system with help of which they assess suppliers performance. If any gap is found in measured and expected results, these suppliers are identified for development process where in reactive approach respondent skip this step in supplier development activities (Krause, Handfield, Scannell, An empirical investigation of supplier development: reactive and strategic processes, 1998). Also buying firm carefully evaluates suppliers quality, volume, delivery cost performance, launch readiness and potential kaizen opportunities to identify a prosp ective supplier development program (Novak, 2008). Hence, Strategic processing and upper management involvement have significant influence on the outcome of this first step of supplier development-identifying critical commodities and suppliers. These two will be among the variable of interest in the research thesis. Form a cross functional team Each firm must develop their suppliers according to their requirement. For example, some firms need managerial assistance and some need technical assistance. Thus it is essential to evaluate each supplier individually to create a plan that benefits both supplier and buyer (Daghfous, Campa, Hamde, 2008). As a result to face this complex challenge of developing dissimilar suppliers, innovative ideas are required to break down knowledge barrier between buyers and suppliers and to facilitate a transition of knowledge transfer from buyers to suppliers, a cross functional team is necessary to form (Blindenbacj-Driessen, 2009). Before approaching suppliers and ask for enhanced performance, it is also important to build up cross functional consensus and build up their own house before expecting commitment from suppliers (Monczka, Handfield, Glunipero, Patterson, 2009). In particular commitment of buyers and strategic approach is essential for buildup of cross functional consensus. Also a b uyer must establish its supply chain strategies and roles of procurement so that the business objectives are clear. Hence, Commitment and strategic process have significant influence on the outcome on creation of cross functional team. Therefore, these two will be among the variable of interest in the research thesis. Meet with supplier top management Upper management involvement again prevails but this time it is of suppliers side. Cross functional team must meet upper management of supplier side and establishes stra Analysis of Supplier Development Strategies Analysis of Supplier Development Strategies ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS Any activity undertaken by a buying firm to improve supplier performance, supplier capabilities, or both and to meet the buying firms short and/or long term supply needs can be termed as supplier development activity. A study by the Harvard Business School concluded that a primary reason for declining US competitiveness is that US companies invest less than foreign rivals in intangible investments such as supplier development. Half of the companies fail in this supplier development effort if executed. As supplier development help in increasing competitiveness and is not successful every time if implemented, it is essential to examine supplier development and factors which result towards the success of supplier development. This paper will examine aspects associated with the success of supplier development strategies within different set of industry. This research will put forward a specific set of aspects are significant contributors to supplier development; also this paper will show that some factors of supplier development have significant influence on other factors of supplier development. Data from the population of buyers and suppliers will be collected to test the extent of relationship between significant factors and success of supplier development process. Agreement was noted between dependencies of success of supplier development process on several factors. Recommendations to supply managers and purchasing manager will be provided regarding upper management involvement, enhanced communication with their suppliers, recognition of their suppliers and development of strategic processing instead of reactive processing will be offered. chapter 1 introduction This thesis is a report of ethnographic study of critical factors for supplier development strategies. The study was based primarily upon the survey with supplier development managers and professionals involved in this field. This first chapter of the thesis will discuss the context of the study, intention of the study, describe the importance and will present the overview of the methodology used. Background of Study A global economy is emerging and resources are concentrated on core business rather than the diversification which show the way towards outsourcing. Outsourcing is increased from $91 billion to $416 billion in 20 years (Tunstall, 2002), and it is expected to increase further. In 2009 the value of outsourcing deals in logistics area were projected to $ 80 billion (Hyatt, 2009) which shows the intensity of use of suppliers. Due to this voluminous use of suppliers buying companies have to rely on their suppliers to deliver defect free product in a timely and cost effective manner. To compete in their respective markets, buying firm must ensure that their supplier capability equals the expectations (Krause Ellram, Success factors in supplier development, 1997). When a supplier is incapable of meeting the buying firms need the buying firm has three alternatives: (1) Bring the outsourced item in house and produce it internally, (2) Resource with a more capable supplier, (3) Help improve t he existing suppliers capabilities. All the three strategies can work. (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000). Supplier development is defined as Any effort of a buying firm with its supplier to increase the performance and capabilities of the supplier and meet the buying firms supply needs. (Krause Ellram, Critical elements of supplier development, 1997) When the suppliers are innovative and exclusively supplying a product then the supplier development option comes into the picture. When a company is using a supplier, it is necessary to have a good relationship with them. The Harvard research suggested that supplier development started very late in USA but it was started very long ago in the Japan. Toyota, Honda and Nissan implemented these supplier development activities in their plants a long back. Although similar research has been done previously, the theme of research was same but this new research is capable to generate new knowledge , First the populations is different and for the variety of reasons they will be having different opinions and attitudes than the previous cohort . There might be a different type of interaction in between me and those to which will generate the new idea, the sample data is from different set of industry and places so the research context will be totally different from the previous researches. Even the subject might be same but the contextual issues are very different. The Problem Statement Supplier development requires both supplier and buyer to commit their maximum to get the maximum out of the program. Even though both the sides agree that the commitment is required it is not necessary that supplier development program in which they are involved will be successful. In early 90s companies start reducing the number of direct suppliers and began evolving from adversarial relationships to more cooperative ones with the remaining suppliers. (Hartley Choi, 1996), Approximate one-third projects are failed due to suppliers underperformance. So the success in the supplier development is not a foregone conclusion. Supplier development is considered as a long term business strategy and there are various factors which affects this long term strategy. These factors not only affect the end result of supplier development process but also influence each other. This research tried to establish the critical success factors for supplier development and their inter-relationship with ea ch other. Regression models approach helped to develop the interrelationship among critical success factors. Anyone especially supplier development manager and procurement professional can refer the model over the wide range of circumstances and structure. The main objective of the research paper is to create the model for critical success factors for supplier development strategies. Professional Significance Large number of companies does the supplier development and they fail as well at surprising rate. Not all supplier development initiatives are successful in fact, as many as 50% are not successful, due to poor implementation and follow-up. (Handfield R. , 2002) The failed efforts consume tremendous amount of resources over months or even years. As multiple studies have shown over half of the supplier initiatives fails. This failure takes a toll that is not only financial but also psychological. Failure demoralizes employees who have been labored diligently to complete their share of the work. As the supplier development success factors depends on both the parties so a dedicated study is required to find out what factors make the supplier development process a success. In 2000, according to the study 53% of the companies claimed that they are involved in the supplier development program but it was found that only 20% of the companies are contributing for the financial support for the suppliers and only 14% of the companies are putting their employees in the suppliers place for the development purpose. Eleven percentages of the companies are giving the chance to the suppliers to come at the buyers place and learn. Only 11% of the companies are having the formal program for supplier development, others are doing it without any of the formal program. (Anonymous, 2000). It shows that even though companies are involved in supplier development program but not fully implementing in an appropriate way. In General Motors, after implementation of supplier development program supplier productivity was improved 50%, lead time was reduced by 75%, and inventory reduction happened around 70% during their one week workshops. On one project alone, Honda of Americas Best Practices (BP) team reduced a suppliers costs by more than $200,000 per year by changing the layout of a welding process. Furthermore layout change might increase the efficiency of supplier and ultimately give advantage to buying company. (Hartley Choi, 1996). Also one of the purchasing pro for a power tool producer said that in three years of developing suppliers, his company has seen quality rejects fall from 38.4% down to 0.5% while supplier on-time delivery has risen from 76% to 97.5%. Likewise, another proponent of supplier development cites an average supplier quality metric of 98.5% and on-time supplier delivery at 97%. They claimed to have improved quality, response time, prices and cycle time improvements, The VP f or a major California-based computer maker talks about how assistance from his firm allowed one subassembly supplier to ramp up to 50,000 pieces per month in only six weeks. (Anonymous, 2000).Although it took only 6 weeks to ramp up the production but usually supplier development is very time consuming and long process which consumes plenty of resources, so it is very much required to do it correct first time. To get the results mentioned above -$200,000 saving /year it is essential to learn what are the success contributors and failure contributors of supplier development. Overview of Methodology A structured survey questionnaire with five-point Likert scale was developed. Web and email were used to circulate and gather information regarding what group of supplier development professionals thinks about supplier development activities. Survey was divided in 6 small sections and every section was having 3 questions. Total of 20 questions were mailed to random sample of 300 supplier development professionals. The survey solicited about a single instance of supplier development performed by them. Survey was face validated and content validated with the help of thesis chair and committee. Of 300 surveys circulated 50 usable responses were obtained, which provides the perception of large group of supplier development manger regarding the nature of their supplier development project. The responding population represents a wide range of industry types. Also before e-mail survey set of interviews with supplier development managers was conducted. The interview was designed to validate the success factors collected after reviewing literature review and to help focus on reliable, important success factors which have extremely high control on supplier development success. Delimitation The research study was conducted at San Diego State University during the end of the fall semester-2009. This research was limited to supplier development manager who updated their resume on resume bank. This research was limited to professionals in North America continent to reduce cultural differences within the population used in the study. Multiple Regression model was used to prove the interdependency in between critical factors instead structural equation modeling. Survey instrument was developed with the help of existing instruments. This will allow us to compare new results with the old results. This research was limited to 3 questions per factor to keep instrument short. chapter 2 literature review This chapter will review the past researches that serves as the foundation for the thesis report presented. The research papers are basically associated with critical factors associated with success of supplier development. The research paper will present purpose and rationale for writing research paper on supplier development strategies. Following will be the review of literature on Strategic process, Upper management involvement, Supplier recognition, Effective and enhanced communication and commitment of suppliers. The chapter will conclude with a summary of literature. Examples of the key word used while finding the scholar research papers were supplier development, supplier relationship, supplier evaluation, supplier management, supply chain management and buyer-supplier relationship. Combinations of keywords were used to get different research papers. Search engine used during literature search were SDSU library search engine and Google scholar. (Ekholm Pashei, 2009). Past Literature First document application of supplier development comes from Toyota in 1939. Toyota discussed the need of working together with suppliers to improve collective performance. Thereafter in 1963 Nissan implemented first supplier development project, Honda joined the club in 1973 (Monczka, Handfield, Glunipero, Patterson, 2009). It is essential to understand the significance of each factor and the role it plays in supplier development process. Past researches can be categorized in (a) Theoretical, (b) Conceptual, (c) Empirical, (d) Conceptual and Empirical. Table 1 gives the brief of past literature which were identified. Previous to mid 1990s, the supplier development literature consisted mainly of theoretical studies covering cases of several companies and surveys and the purpose was to learn the barriers which comes in the way of supplier development. In 1990s the research moved towards establishing relationship in between various supplier development constructs where in 2000 the re search moved towards influence of supplier development towards innovation and purchasing strategy (Easton, 2000). In todays business increased trend of reliance on supplier is observed. Most of the buying firms need to pursue aggressive strategies in order to increase the future rate of capabilities improvement. (Monnczka, Trent, Callahan, 1993) Having mentioned that supplier is becoming increasingly critical to the competitive success of US firms, there are several reasons behind that. First manufacturers are beginning to focus on their core competencies and areas of technical expertise. Second, developing effective supply base management strategies can help counter the competitive pressures brought about by intense worldwide competition. Third, Suppliers can support directly a firms ability to innovate in the critical areas of product and process technology. Study showed 95% of business unit sample indicated supplier contributions were increasing throughout in terms of importance. There was a 232% increase in people from 1989-1990 who agreed with the statement that suppliers are extremely imp ortant to the achievement of competitive market strategies. More and more people started to outsource and started rely on suppliers. There was a growth of 15% of people from 1991-1992. Furthermore for each sample period, respondent projected and increasing dependency on suppliers for future product technology. More and more companies started to use supplier development process. Some of them are HP, Epson, Apple Computer, 3M, and BMW etc. Strong belief is supplier warrants improvement. If improvement does not occur firms across many industries may lose market share to competitors who are able to maximize supplier performance input. Sample was non random so the result can be generalized. Thus the trend is towards increasing reliance on supplier to help achieve competitive market strategies. This reliance on suppliers and improving their performance was initially documented from Toyota in 1939. Toyota discussed the need of working together with suppliers to improve collective performan ce. Thereafter in 1963 Nissan implemented first supplier development project, Honda joined the club in 1973 (Monczka, Handfield, Glunipero, Patterson, 2009). Supplier development was ubiquitous in Japan and Korea for number of years but less evident in US firms due to perceived lack of instant return on investment allied with setting up resources required to make it successful. Interestingly this practice was recognized early in the 1900 in the US automotive industry when Ford required improving supplier capacity (Krause, Handfield, Tyler, The relationships between supplier development, commitment, social and capital accumulation and performance improvement, 2006). In 1970s other Japanese automakers implemented the system and made their own modification like Honda developed a program called BP (Best practices). Review of case studies by (Sako, 2004) allowed examining differences in between supplier development activity in Toyota, Nissan and Honda. In 1939, Toyota purchasing rules stated that- Toyota suppliers must be treated as a Toyota branches and Toyota must continue to do business with these suppliers without switching to others and also develop the suppliers if required. Toyota bifurcated supplier development activities into TPS (Toyota Production System) and TQC (Total Quality Control). TPS was having different existence from TQC which allowed suppliers to take advantage of continuous improvement. Hyundai also realized that their small suppliers cannot again and again recruit engineers thus they sent engineers from their own shops to improve suppliers productivity. Hyundai do not financially support their suppliers but offer personnel support (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000). Nissan also implemented supplier development program which were significantly different from Toyota in the terms of number of point of contacts for suppliers, approach towards sharing the ideas and one to one training strategy during program. Honda and Nissan unified the TPS and TQC offering a single point of contact (Sako, 2004). The common features of the supplier development programs at Honda, Nissan and Toyota are multipl e channels for supplier development to transfer both tacit and explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is more difficult to accumulate as it needs closer interactions especially face to face with suppliers and more time thus it is difficult to replicate tacit knowledge (Clarke, 2007). In contrast to these companies in Japan, the suppliers in US and Europe distrust the buyers intention and also buyers dont have identical level of authenticity as in Japan to act as trusted well wisher who can suggest their suppliers how they should invest their resources (Sako, 2004). A recent study from Harvard school concluded that primary reason for declining USA competitiveness is that US companies invest less in supplier relations and development thus considering these points from Japan the supplier development was adopted in Eastern countries like UK and USA (Monnczka, Trent, Callahan, 1993). Supplier development activities were transferred to USA as buying firms commissioned their own plants in USA due to government regulations. By 1996 General Motors had completed supplier development projects with over 2000 suppliers and claimed productivity improvements over 50%, lead time reduction of up to 75% and inventory reduction of 70% (Hartley Choi, Supplier development: Customers as a catalyst of process change, 1996), (Clarke, 2007). By 2001 John Deere was involved in 426 different projects with 92 different supplier development engineer and delivering annual saving of $700,000 along with improvements in quality, cost and delivery. By 1994, Allied-Signal expe cted to save up to $300,000 from supplier development activities and also expected for increase in shares price (Monnczka, Trent, Callahan, 1993). At Deere and Delphi, a $100,000 investment in supplier development yields at least three to ten times the original investment (Nelson, Moody, Stegner, 2005). This illustrates that large firms adopted supplier development and it became strategic tool for them to improve quality, reduce cost and improve the delivery. The basic development process started with reduction in supplier base and then developing the remaining suppliers. Also it was adopted in service based companies from product based companies. But more focus was on the product based companies. Service based relies on the competitive pressure of market forces instigate supplier performance to a greater extent than product based firms and that then to use. In UK most companies rationalized or optimized their supple base to include fewer total suppliers. Western countries were no t getting involved in direct supplier development; Japanese companies were successful because they were involved in direct supplier development. Toyota is purchasing product from the same supplier since 1937. GM adopted this strategic supplier development in Europe. Motorola and Ford also adopted similar kind of supplier development Countries and large firms started to realize the benefits of supplier development, they recognized that supplier development must be worth if its emerging everywhere in Japan. From the national perspective, benefits of supplier development were improvement in domestic suppliers, reduction in off shoring and increase in GDP (Krause Ellram, 1997). From the corporate and large firm perspective, supplier development helped in improving quality, reliability and manufacturability of new design. Besides that supplier development also helped in knowledge sharing and improved collaboration. Furthermore responsiveness to customer needs and market dynamics also increased with supplier development (Krause Ellram, 1997). The data gathered with 527 purchasing executives by (Krause D. R., Supplier development: Current practices and outcomes, 1997) revealed that supplier development attributed to timely delivery, completed orders, reduction in defects scrap and reduced order cycle time. Research by (Blonska, Rozemeijer, Wetzels) established that supplier development guide towards getting a preferential buyer status and supplier adaptability. Supplier adaptation is perceived as an attainment of a goal of supplier development aimed at supplier performance improvement (Blonska, Rozemeijer, Wetzels). With help of two in depth case studies (Reed Walsh, 2002) established that supplier development activities enhance technological capabilities in their suppliers. Also some of the firms expected technological improvement should follow from improved business processes. Supplier development also helped in developing mutual trust in between buyers and suppliers (Reed Walsh, 2002). As mentioned earlier this increase in reliance was due to improvement in performance after implementing supplier development program. BMW strives to be 20% above industry average in quality performance. Management believed supplier development made it possible to attain that quality standard and increase in revenue (Rhodes, Warren, Carter, 2006). Also in Honda dramatic improvement was seen in product quality since Honda began to develop suppliers in North America, In 1985 quality level was 7000 parts defective per million and In 1995 quality level was increased to 100 defective parts per million (Berlow, 1995). A team of purchasing professionals from Honda of America worked with 12 stamping suppliers to reduce cost by $4million in six months in 1995 with its supplier development efforts (Berlow, 1995). In the context of supplier development, suppliers and buyers state that they want to practice more supplier development methods to enjoy its benefits but there are myriads of barriers that hinder the effective supplier development strategies. Research by (Lascelles Dale, 1989) utilizing survey responses from UK based suppliers to 3 major customers in automotive industry illustrated that poor communication and feedback, unstructured quality improvement programs, credibility of buyers, misconception regarding purchasing power and supplier satisfaction are the foremost barriers in the supplier development programs. Also in an empirical study with 89 minority goods and service providers (Krause, Ragatz, Hughley, Supplier development from the minority suppliers perspective, 1999) demonstrated that the main barriers towards minority owned supplier development are poor communication, non-profit situation and racial biases. Results also indicated that small minority owned suppliers were le ss positive about supplier development activities as compared to large minority owned suppliers (Novak, 2008). Survey by (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000) on supplier development strategies with 84 companies established several other barriers apart from already mentioned that deter supplier development strategies. It includes Lack of supplier commitment, insufficient supplier resources, lack of trust, and poor alignment of organizational cultures, unsupportive upper management and insufficient inducement to suppliers. Research by (McDuffie Helper, 1997) established that supplier development might fail if suppliers are not having a strong identification or if suppliers are not dependent on buyers. It will show the way to break down in learning relationship. Another major barrier towards supplier development program found from research by (Forker, Ruch, Hershauer, 1999) is difference between perceptions of buyer and suppliers about supplier development practices. These di fferences in perception are due to disparity in understanding in preference, intention, and process of supplier development program (Forker, Ruch, Hershauer, 1999). Supplier might agree initially for the proposal but later fail to implement due to difference in understanding. This problem can be cured with the help of clarification of issues. Researchers came up with number of conceptual models for building solutions to overcome these barriers. A ten step generic process model was developed based on the examination of in-depth response to open ended survey questions. Such a model was a step towards strategic supplier development. It was ranging from identification of critical commodities for development to systematically instituting ongoing continuous improvement. The model also suggested proposition that firms competing in markets characterized by high rates of technological changes and high level of competition are more likely to be involved with this model (Krause, Handfield, Scannell, An empirical investigation of supplier development: reactive and strategic processes, 1998). This model was slightly changed by proposition of seven steps generic model (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000). Also it was found most organization deployed first three steps but was less successful in deploying later stages. Similar t o previous model a process oriented four step generic supplier development model was proposed. This model was designed to help suppliers sustain and continue the change process and effectively build the capability for improvement within the organization (Hartley Jones, Process oriented supplier development: Building the capability for change, 1997). This model also increases the suppliers capability to act on its own and the improvement effort will continue once the buying firm finishes its activities (Wagner S. M., 2006). Also supplier structure was developed on the basis of specific vendor development strategy. Conceptual link was generated in between generic business unit strategies based on framework proposed by Porter and generic supplier development strategies, in other words linkage between supplier development strategies and company strategies (Chakraborty Philip, 1996). Execution of case study of five firms by (Dunn Young, 2004) results in a process model that enables th e buyers to pinpoint specific areas where improvement is required. Highlighting these small areas can impact on long term strategic supplier development initiatives. A review of the conceptual model and context of supplier development resulted in the identification of several elements that appear to be critical to the success of the supplier development program. These comprise of effective and enhanced communication, supplier commitment, top management involvement, strategic processing and long term commitment and supplier recognition/rewards (Krause Ellram, 1997). Background What is supplier development, why is the supplier development critical, what made this required to study and how the factors might affect the supplier development? Big things happen when you do little things right (Don, 2000). In this case if small generic steps for supplier development are deployed correctly then it can contribute towards success in supplier development. (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000) Developed seven step generic process map for set up supplier development activities. These are recognized as (a) Identify critical commodities (b) Identify critical supplies (c) Form a cross functional team (d) Meet with supplier top management (e) Identify key project (f) Define details of agreement and (g) Monitor status and monitor strategies. A discussion of each as follows. Identify critical commodities and suppliers Upper management involvement is vital to assess the relative importance of commodities and services procured by business unit. A corporate level executive committee analyzes the purchasing portfolio developed during strategic process. This analysis is extension of company strategic planning (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000). As a result critical commodities are identified and warranted for supplier development activities. Steps adopted here are mainly observed in strategic approach supplier development where in reactive approach respondents skip this step in supplier development process (Krause, Handfield, Scannell, An empirical investigation of supplier development: reactive and strategic processes, 1998). Choosing which supplier to develop is a critical task again because supplier development involves resources such as money and time, thus the decision should be strategic not reactive (Gordon, 2008). (Handfield, Krause, Scannel, Monczka, 2000). Many situations exist which are not mutually exclusive but warrant supplier development. To decide which situation needs supplier development is calculated judgment. Companies have formal supplier measurement system with help of which they assess suppliers performance. If any gap is found in measured and expected results, these suppliers are identified for development process where in reactive approach respondent skip this step in supplier development activities (Krause, Handfield, Scannell, An empirical investigation of supplier development: reactive and strategic processes, 1998). Also buying firm carefully evaluates suppliers quality, volume, delivery cost performance, launch readiness and potential kaizen opportunities to identify a prosp ective supplier development program (Novak, 2008). Hence, Strategic processing and upper management involvement have significant influence on the outcome of this first step of supplier development-identifying critical commodities and suppliers. These two will be among the variable of interest in the research thesis. Form a cross functional team Each firm must develop their suppliers according to their requirement. For example, some firms need managerial assistance and some need technical assistance. Thus it is essential to evaluate each supplier individually to create a plan that benefits both supplier and buyer (Daghfous, Campa, Hamde, 2008). As a result to face this complex challenge of developing dissimilar suppliers, innovative ideas are required to break down knowledge barrier between buyers and suppliers and to facilitate a transition of knowledge transfer from buyers to suppliers, a cross functional team is necessary to form (Blindenbacj-Driessen, 2009). Before approaching suppliers and ask for enhanced performance, it is also important to build up cross functional consensus and build up their own house before expecting commitment from suppliers (Monczka, Handfield, Glunipero, Patterson, 2009). In particular commitment of buyers and strategic approach is essential for buildup of cross functional consensus. Also a b uyer must establish its supply chain strategies and roles of procurement so that the business objectives are clear. Hence, Commitment and strategic process have significant influence on the outcome on creation of cross functional team. Therefore, these two will be among the variable of interest in the research thesis. Meet with supplier top management Upper management involvement again prevails but this time it is of suppliers side. Cross functional team must meet upper management of supplier side and establishes stra