Evaluation of Iraq war through group think Essay Example for Free

Evaluation of Iraq war through group think Essay The War on Iraq was decided by a small group of people that was headed by the President and comprised of the Vice-President, Defense Secretary, CIA Director and other senior administrative officials. The decision to go to war was a decision of a small think-tank rather than of an individual or a larger group of people. The decision of the think-tank pushing the case for the Iraq War seems to be an apt example of confirmation bias. This confirmation bias during the events leading to the Iraq War has led to a widening rift between policy makers and the intelligence community. It is widely believed that the war think-tank defied the pointers presented by the official intelligence. Instead, the intelligence available in a raw form was misused to publicly justify the war on Iraq and build a positive public perception that would endorse the war. As the Washington Post reports the discussion on the war; The case was thin, summarized the notes taken by a British national security aide at the meeting. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. However, the think-tank was convinced about going for a war with Iraq and it used the available intelligence to confirm its beliefs. Cognitive diversity was missing in the think-tank that drew up the plan for the Iraq War. All members involved in the decision process had same political leanings, were to a large extent a culturally homogenous group and formed a small team that worked closely with each other on various policy making issues. The team did not comprise of various political voices even though the decision to go to war impacted the entire country. It did also not take advice and heed to objections of World bodies like the United Nations when some of the member countries objected to the unilateral action of the United States and its ally Britain to go to war. The team did not invite any new members to its coterie of decision makers to infuse fresh or alternative thinking in its decision making process. As Senator Barbara Boxer said, â€Å"Iraq was a war of choice, not necessity†. The intelligence community was roped in only to substantiate claims made by the think-tank on the reason to go to war. The group behaved with a preset agenda ignoring the alternatives at hand and made biased decisions. The Iraq War is also an example of group comparison where the decisions of the individual members could have been different from the decisions of the group that they were part of. The study of group polarization began with an unpublished 1961 Master’s thesis by MIT student James Stoner, who observed the so-called risky shift, meaning that a group’s decisions are riskier than the average of the individual decisions of members before the group met. After the wide public criticism of the U. S. handling of the war, two prominent members of the Iraq think-tank put in their papers. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell resigned after almost 4 years of at the helm of affairs. He was seen as less supportive of the war even though he was the public face on international forums to drum up support amongst its traditional allies. Whereas Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld who took over the course of foreign policy after Powell’s exit was seen as a hardliner. It seems that the hardliners would have grown even more resolute in their decision to go to war after several rounds of deliberations that the think-tank might have had. They would have presented intelligence information and other reasons to hard sell their belief thereby subduing the reluctant supporters of the war.

Quality Management In Hospitality Organisation Mcdonalds Management Essay

Quality Management In Hospitality Organisation Mcdonalds Management Essay The aim of writing this report is to critically evaluate what is McDonalds approach to quality management from Customer, Franchise and Employees perspectives. Furthermore to explain how they manage service recovery, measure delivery and standards through CSO index and Crew development programme . Also to identify 3 gaps in service quality with recommendations on how they bridge it. The other aim of writing this report is to apply the Jurans theory of service quality to McDonalds. TASK1. Definition of Quality: Feigenbaum has defined Quality as: The total composite product and service characteristics of marketing, engineering, manufacture and maintenance through which the product and service in use will meet the expectation by the customer. (Oakland .J.S, 2005) According to Philip B Crosby: Quality is defined as conformance to requirements, not as goodness or elegance. (Oakland, J. S.) Three stake holders of McDonalds Franchise Employees Customer Franchise Franchise system is the back bone of McDonalds success. In other words many reasons that McDonalds has been able to expand so quickly and achieve its reputation brand recognition has been its effective franchising business model allow the company to expand quickly both domestically and internationally. Franchise systems having uniform operation has made the McDonalds restaurant one most standardized in the world. Not only do all McDonalds sick to offer the same products offering, they intend to offer same food experience for all of its customers. No matter what part of the world you are in. McDonalds franchise network is the worlds heading fast food chain with more than 30,000 restaurants serving 52 million people in 119 countries with 1020 restaurants in the U.K of those stores, More than 70% percent of restaurants are franchise. Franchise have live up the companies expectation and brand standards by providing good quality service, quality food, clean restaurants and happy customers are all very important to McDonalds. How franchise has to live up with brand standard in the following qualityareas: Hygiene Food safety policy Health and safety Policy. Hygiene-: McDonalds been king in fast industry it has take special care of food and hygiene. Management has to be very strict on hygiene because it has to serve millions of customers. McDonalds have highest obligation to our customers to ensure that they are not expose to any risk of infection or illness. It is must to very employees to wash their hands before you commence work, on return from a meal break, after using the toilet, after carrying out cleaning work, after touching face or hair, trash walk, taking delivery or other activities where they may become dirty ( remember you cannot always see dirt).As well as this, hand should be wash should be washed every hour or every half if working in the grill area. glove are available in restaurant for use whilst performing cleaning tasks. Sickness reporting policy:- All food handlers have a responsibility to our employees and customer not to work if they are suffering from food poisoning, or suffering from the symptom of food poising i.e. vomiting or diarrhoea. If you are suffering from these symptom employees will not be allow to work again until no symptom for 48hr period. Failure to report such conditional is an offence under the food safety regulations and may lead to prosecution as well as being classes as an example of gross misconduct. Hygiene and safety department is available in restaurant. Food safety policy:- McDonalds operating procedures are specifically to ensure high quality safe food. These procedures must be adhered to at all time, in particular: Food must not used if it is past its use by or best before date. Food must not be serving if the holding time has expired. The correct equipment and utensil must always be used for each task. Food equipment, utensils and preparation area must be kept clean using Clean As You go (CAYG) procedures. and finally, if something is not right e.g freezer is too warm or piece of equipment is faulty , it should be report the manger immediately. Food should be always look carefully while preparing to serve, if it is not right it should not be serve and should be reported to managers. Health Safety Policy The Franchisee is committed to minimising the risk of damage, ill-health and injury to employees, customer and visitor. This will be achieve by examining our operation and ensuring all necessary system are in place, and resource available , to provide a safe and health work system are in place, we must all work together to identify risky and take action to eliminate them .As with other aspect of our business we shall be seeking to continually improve our performance. This will involve measuring against standard and reviewing progress on regular basis. Customer expectations and perceptions McDonalds Im loving it. McDonalds Promises- Whenever you think of fast food, First thing in mind comes is McDonalds. People expect high standards from McDonalds. Every single product use to make a burger to full meal comes best quality standard. Whenever person order a meal in McDonalds he expect good and quick service with hot food. Food will be hygienic nicely dress and safe to eat. From burger, fries, salad, cold drinks to hot drink every product will be fresh. Employee taking order will always greet u and will be always friendly. Customers enjoy every bit meals in our restaurant. I m loving it will be on very customer mind when ever their think about McDonalds. Importantly, employees need to know exactly what customers, both internal and external, expect of them. Communication should be as detailed and specific as possible, since employees in each work group want feedback they can act upon to improve performance in each job. General feedback from customers (e.g. they want no faults or no errors) is less useful. McDonalds has recognised that complaints, enquiries or positive feedback from customers are important pieces of information. When used properly complaints can help us fine-tune our business and meet our customers requirement. It is these insights that help the Company to keep moving forward. Employees Barriers to quality for employees:- High labour turnover. Work pressure. Training and development. Labour turn over in McDonalds McDonalds is considered as very high labour turn over company. Main reason behind it is that it has about 70% of staff as part timers employees. Staffs are schedule according to busy time especially on Friday, Saturdays and Sundays. Employer takes full advantage of students who are working part time. Student does have any other chose rather work part time according to schedule. Most of students are not satisfied with job so their move on to another job if there gets one. Visa and end of student course is also big issue behind high labour turn over, because when ever international students finish with his course has to move on to their country. Work pressure:- Working in McDonalds is high pressure job especially peak time during breakfast and lunch time. It is busiest place to work in fast food industry. we receive all age customers, not only in restaurant but drive thur as well. Employees have focus on delivering great level of QSCV is the best way to achieve 100% customer satisfaction:- Quality, Service, Cleanness, Value. High labour turns over leads to work pressure because employers have deal with lots of new staff and on job training. This leads confusion between front and kitchen staff. Front staff doesnt receive food at right time from the kitchen which can leads to bad service. Management has to deal with less staff on floor which increases work pressure per staff. Staff also have work long shifts to fill up gap between staff. Training and development Once Crew Members have been recruited, they have to attend a welcome meeting at their chosen restaurant or recruitment centre. This meeting will last an hour and is designed to engage and inform new starters. It involves viewing a DVD which gives important information about the company, and also allows for manager/new starter interaction. The second part of the orientation is a compulsory online Health Safety and Food Safety test that the new starter completes in their own time. The first shift begins with a tour of the store highlighting key Health Safety and Food Safety procedures. It is recommended that this should last for the first two hours of the shift. Staffs recruited have to exam of station where there be working at for example Front, kitchen or back room person. There is also on job training to guide the new staff with floor manager. TASK 1 (II): Customer Satisfaction Opportunity Index (CSO) in McDonalds. What is customer satisfaction opportunity index (CSO) ? Whenever customers choose McDonalds they expect hot fresh food served accurately and quickly in clean restaurant by crew/ managers that are friendly and attentive to their needs. Our customers are telling us in loud and clear words that when they visit McDonalds they expect us to deliver on all of the element of Quality, Service and Cleanliness (QSC). Through analysis from both internal and external data it has been identified that there are five critical QSC drivers of customer satisfaction. There are things customers want to see us deliver on every visit. Quality- hot, fresh and safe to eat products Fast/quick- total experience time under 5minutes Accurate- receive everything ordered including condiments Friendly- friendly and attentive service with effective communication Clean- dining area well maintained, clean toilets and employees. To evaluate how McDonalds restaurant are meeting these critical drivers company had created the CSO index. The CSO is the percentage of visits that miss one or more of the critical drivers of customers satisfaction. This act as a barometer on how well restaurant is meeting the customers expectations when they visit restaurant. Understanding this gives balance into how rate our own performance on measures that are important to us as a company and how are rated directly from the customer. CSO is calculated based on the number of mystery shop visits that miss a critical driver question. If one or more critical drivers are missed , the mystery shop visit is only counted once. for example If 100 mystery shop visited are conducted and 40 of them have one or more crictical drivers missed the CSO will be 40%. The goal is to decrease the number the number of visit that are missing a critical driver. Lower CSO % better performance. Ref-: www.mcdoanld.ac.uk Mystery shopper Mystery guest visits mcdoanlds restaurant twice a month to check CSO point. Mystery guest results is not only is good for franchisee to gain advantage over other restaurant to achieve or to expand company by adding other restaurant. Good result can also result in into bonuses for managers. Key points Mystery guest looks into when visits the restaurant. Greeting/farewell He checks if employees or mangers he talk to were polite and friendly or not? Attentiveness he checks if employees/ mangers came in contact were attentive to customer or not. Effective communication- he checks communication with crew member was clear and easily understood. Service timing- food should be serving in within 5min of the order. Accurate food and drink- Correct order should be taken. Food and drink should be serve with correct sauces. Correct condiments- Have employees provide the customers the proper napkins and straws/ stirrers? Hot fresh sandwiches- Was mel serve hot and fresh and did it taste good. hot and salted fries- were the French fries serve hot ,salted and crisp or your potato product hot and crisp and did they taste good? Clean restaurant interior- was the inside of the restaurant clean? Crew Development Programme Initial Training- When crew is recruited he trained on following standards to achieve the first star. Crew has to clear the written test to order to achieve the first star. Cleanliness foundation. hygiene Food safety Health safety Cleanliness security hospitality 2nd stage . Quality training In quality training crew is trained on following food standards, which can be on job training as well training in class during the quality class. Crew have to clear this stage to clear to achieve 2nd star. Buns dressings grilled product fried product prepping products toasted Deli sandwiches stage 3rd Service classes Employees have to attend service class ones a month to improve standard of service quality regarding beverage serving, food serving and hospitality in order achieve the 3rd star. On passing the test crew is award with star which is display the badge, which show performance the crew. TASK1(III): Service quality gap Gap 1. When promises do not match actual delivery Day starts very early in McDonalds Denham. Been drive thur restaurant we start serving breakfast at 7 a.m, We receive lots of car in drive thur early morning as everyone is rushing to offices or work. Customer expect quick service with hot and hygiene food because McDonalds is famous for its good service. Problem starts when morning shift staff dont turn up on time. Management have to manage with less staff. Ones order is taken in front kitchen staff have to deliver food within 3min which is according to McDonalds service standard. If front staff are not able to serve order with in 3min, customer are advise to seated and have to the car the park if in drive thur and have wait for there food, It can happen at times that order can be missed out and customer will be waiting for more time which can lead to bad service. Change over problems-: Denham McDonald serves breakfast from 7am to 10:30 am but change over from breakfast to main menu start at 10:15 just 15min before main menu. Staff have 15min to organise the restaurant for main menu. kitchen staff have to work really quick to arrange the grills, 3 of out 4 grills are close for cleaning process. During the busy time restaurant have management from one grill. So some time it is not possible to provide food which is required. Customers have to suffer due to change over. Customer expects best service from McDonalds but some time it doesnt happen. McDonald cannot compromise with food safe and hygiene standard. Gap 2. The difference between customer perception and expectation McDonalds is well know not only for excellent service in restaurant but also for drive thur. Customer travelling in car dont have to get down park the car have their meal. McDonald have made it possible by drive thur. Now without taken long break one can have meal in car within 3min of order. And McDonalds have live up to customer expectation by quick service. People do take away food for home. McDonalds do serve fresh and hot food every time but by the time that food reach its destination it become cold. McDonald should provide containers in which food can be stay warm. We do receive complains of food not been warm after some time, we cannot spoil mood of customers so we have to provide fresh food when complained. Gap 3. Communication gap One can expect friendly and quick service from McDonalds. Its is important that employees have good communication within to provide quality service and requirement of customers. Customer are attracted to different kind McDonalds menu. To be different from its competitor McDonald try different food and make changes every 1.5 month for the promotions, but customers have their choices what there want we have made it within service time. For example:- Customer orders Big Mc without sauce or cheese we have to make the special order to make our customer happy. McDonalds understands problems of customer as some customer may problem with some of the ingredients so we have make specially them to make them happy. Communication between front staff and kitchen is necessary to full fill the requirement. Before it was difficult provide especial order at right time in drive thur we had to park the car for especial order. Providing order within service is only if there is good communication between drive thur staff and kitchen in busy times. McDonalds have come up with latest technology by providing micro fone or heads sit. Now kitchen staff have especial device in there ear so there can hear every orders and be ready before time. McDonalds is bridging gap between communications. Task 2. Quality Gurus Joseph M. Juran Joseph M. Juran made many contributions to the field of quality management in his 70+ active working years. His book, the  Quality Control Handbook, is a classic reference for quality engineers. He revolutionized the Japanese philosophy on quality management and in no small way worked to help shape their economy into the industrial leader it is today. Dr. Juran was the first to incorporate the human aspect of quality management which is referred to as Total Quality Management. The process of developing ideas was a gradual one for Dr. Juran. Top management involvement, the Pareto principle, the need for widespread training in quality, the definition of quality as fitness for use, the project-by-project approach to quality improvementthese are the ideas for which Juran is best known, and all emerged gradually. Ref:- http://www.skymark.com/resources/leaders/juran.asp Similar Dr W Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran is an international applauded quality guru, strongly influencing Japanese manufacturing practises. His belief that Quality does not happen by accident gave rise to the quality trilogy: Quality planning Quality Control Quality Improvement And the Key steps in implementing company-wide strategic goals are: Identify customers and their needs both internal and external and work to meet those needs Create measures of quality, establish optimal quality goals and organise to meet them Create processes capable of meeting quality goals in real operating conditions. In the 1980s Joseph Juran acknowledged that the common approach to total quality management quality awareness campaigns and slogans was not efficient as they did not have substance, and there is no short cut to quality. He believes quality must at the top, grating senior managers who believe training is for junior workers. Ref-: http://www.mftrou.com/joseph-juran.html Quality in McDonalds Our customers are our business. Without them we would have no reason to open our door. Therefore our goal every minute of every hour is to make our customers feel happy who visited McDonalds. We do this by focusing on: QUALITY- McDonalds is famous for quality and keep standard high by using the finest ingredients with the help of the biggest asset of the company the employees in preparing and serving the tastiest food by following the procedures which they are taught. SERVICE Service is best you think like a customer. A caring and respectful attitude and a sincere smile do as much to bring the customers back as the best food in the food. CLEANLINESS Our customers expect and deserve a spotless restaurant. But its not only to make a good impression. A clean restaurant is a safe restaurant. Its very employees job to keep the restaurant clean and hygienic. VALUE- What is a value? Its the total experience our customer have it our restaurants, from the food service, to the dinning area environment, to the price they pay. Its what weve always been know. Delivering great level of QSCV is the best way to achieve 100% customer satisfaction. ref- (McDonalds Franchisees Employee Handbook) McDonalds Identify customers and their needs. McDonalds big amount of regular customers in the market. To build long term business it is important to retain people once they have become customers. McDonalds receives different types of customers. Parents with kids Visit McDonalds to give the children a treat. Children Want to visit McDonalds as it a fun place eats. Business customers Visit McDonalds during the day as service is quick, the food tastes great and can be eaten in the without affecting a busy work schedule. Teenagers Are attracted by the saver menu which is affordable and the internet access available in restaurant. (www.mcdonals.co.uk) CONCLUSION Overall, I would say that a company needs a quality model in order eliminate the defects totally from the organisation. And to find out if the company has any defect either in staff performance, staff productivity, revenue of the organisation, the management needs to carry out different business performance check so that the areas where the improvements are needed can be work it out. In order to improve those areas the organisation has to build up some new plans and policies so that the target can be achieved.

Benjamin Franklin: An Inspirational Self-Made Man Essay -- American Hi

Benjamin Franklin is one of the most influential and famous figures of all time. Ben Franklin if often referred to as the "self-made man," and his philosophies and principles in the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Louis P. Masur, has served as a self-help book for millions around the world. Franklin's Autobiography is a prime example of the American dream, a rag to riches story that has inspired many people to think of themselves and the community in a different light. Franklin's moral and social philosophies are packed deeply into his Autobiography. Franklin believed that improving ones self was the key to success. Self-improvement, self-education, and self-discipline are the main factors of a self-made man. Improving yourself will ultimately improve the society as a whole. Franklin speaks of principality and inclination. His idea was to produce the principle man with the awareness of man's natural inclination. Throughout the text Franklin provides examples from his own life that contradicts his moral and social philosophies. These contradictions are mostly caused by natural inclinations. Franklin uses these contradictions to educate people to be aware of their natural inclinations and to try and overcome them. Franklin's realizes that improving oneself is a road with many imperfections. Not even the "self-made man" was completely perfect. A general theme in Franklin's writings is the differences between the private and public self and how the two interact. Parts One and Two of his Autobiography were written at different times and intended for different audiences. In Part One Franklin is speaking to his Son, (who was then the Governor of New Jersey) a public figure. It was started in 1771. Part Two was begun... ...ls. He says, ."..their Aim seeming to be rather to make us Presbyterian than good Citizens." (Pg. 94) Franklin felt as though individual study should be emphasized over dogma. Benjamin Franklin's moral and social philosophies inspired and continue to inspire millions around the globe. Becoming a "self-made man" is a long and arduous task. Improve yourself, which will in return improve the society. Contradiction is inevitable when trying to follow strict ideals. Franklin's purpose was to make people aware of their inclinations and to help them overcome the natural tendencies of man, which would limit our dependence on other people. Benjamin Franklin is an inspiration to us all. Works Cited Franklin, Benjamin, and Louis Masur, and Theda Perdue, and Frederick Douglass, and David Blight. Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin 2e. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007.

Hitler Essay -- essays research papers fc

Hitler’s Rise to Power Which Created New Germany Hitler’s first step of being chancellor was to call for elections to be held in the March of 1933. Before the elections were held, however, on the 27th of February a week before the election the Reichstag burnt down. A Dutch communist, Marinus van der Lubbe, was caught inside the burning building with lighters and matches on him. Hitler used this event to arrest many communists and to request Hindenburg to issue an emergency law, For the Protection of the People and State. (German Aircraft of WWII† by Kenneth Munson, 1978 pg45-75) The Nazis won 288 seats Hitler now persuaded the Reichstag to pass the Enabling Act, which would change the constitution and give him the ability to pass laws without the consent of the Reichstag. By a vote of 441 to 94, the Enabling Act was passed. He was now the legal dictator of Germany. Hitler’s plans for Germany were three points: *Rearmament *Employment *Expansion Almost as soon as the Nazis came to power, Germany began to change. In October 1934 Hitler authorized an increase in the size of the German Army, and in two months it had grown to 280, 000 soldiers. In March 1935 he announced the reintroduction of conscription, with plans to build up the army to thirty-six divisions or 500, 000 soldiers. The existence of the new German Air Force known as the Luftwaffe was made public. Hitler intended to ignore the military clauses of the Treaty of Versailles. The navy was not overlooked. The Kriegsmarine was given the task of making the construction of submarines, which had proven to be an effective weapon in World War I. Submarines construction began in 1934 and the number of Unterseeboots or U-Boats grew to fifty-seven. In 1935 the pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee was launched, followed by the Scharnhorst and the Gneisau. The new German Air Force, called the Luftwaffe, took the task of rebuilding Germany’s air power with enthusiasm. By 19 39 it boasted 4200 front-line aircraft. In September 1936 Hitler introduced the Four Year Plan that aimed to make Germany totally self-sufficient in essential commodities such as oil, iron ore, textiles and food. When the Nazis came to power there were six million Germans unemployed, which equated to one-third of the workforce. The Nazis regarded unemployment as an urgent and growing issue. Unemployment in Germany dropped due to ... ... The Bf109G or Gustav had very good high-altitude performance, so a new high pressure cabin had to be fitted. The aircraft was very heavy. It was fast but it did not handle well. Engineers then fitted a nitrous oxide injection system, which resulted in 406mph at 28 500ft. The Gustav, which had started to come off production lines in 1942, was perhaps the first aircraft to be designed as a platform for a variety of weapons systems. A well-flown Gustav presented the RAF’s Spitfire pilots with a formidable foe- they could out-turn the Spitfire, yet the Gustav was out-gunned. During 1942 a total of 2664 Messerschmitt Bf109s were produced. The Gustav was camouflaged by a three-tone grey color scheme proved effective over the low countries and the North Sea. The Bf109F and G as well as earlier variants served in the all of the major campaigns in Europe and Africa, but the most significant was the Battle of Britain. Messerschmitt Bf109 Bibliography *â€Å"German Aircraft of WWII† by Kenneth Munson, 1978 *â€Å"The Guide to Axis Fighters of WWII† by Bill Gunston, 1980 *â€Å"Take Off† by Chris Dorrington, 1993 *â€Å"Republic to Reich†by K.J Mason, 1996 *†www.Google>com†

Business Ethics Essay (grapes -- essays research papers

Business Ethics Essay   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Business ethics are a moral code that people conducting any sort of business should feel honorably obligated to follow. People are definitely morally responsible to follow a code of ethics and should never cheat each other. Parts of this code of ethics should be honesty, integrity, fidelity, charity, responsibility, and self-discipline. Those ethics should apply both to a person buying something, and a person selling something. I don’t believe that a person should be forced to follow the caveat emptor policy, on the basis that it is unfair and unjust both to the buyer and seller. If you are an ethical person, you should not have to warn people to beware.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A person selling something is morally obligated t...

Business Strategy

Victorians Secret, in both its' business and e-business components use a B to C business strategy that focuses on the same market segment and economics in both channels. Strategically the company focuses on individual business processes instead of its' business model so that it can improve upon some of them with technology as this avoids a primarily internet-driven business model which could affect the sales of their retail locations.Their business processes that support their verbal selling and purchasing activities for their physical locations can be utilized by the e-commerce channel of the business as well as the retail locations which is a strategy implemented in order to reduce transaction costs by improving the flow of information within the company and its' channels. This helps to coordinate the actions for both channels which is useful in maintaining the same brand standards regardless of where the consumer is buying the product.An example of this would be the technique libr ary database the company established which Is shared among all regions/suppliers and includes company standards of design and production. Victorians Secret implements a business strategy that makes use of multiple marketing channels such as their retail stores and e-commerce channel. They utilize a 360 degree approach for the website with channel cooperation regarding their already established physical locations.Victorians Secret strategically avoids channel conflict by differentiating certain products such as best sellers and only offering them for sale from Victorians Secret, In both Its' business and e-business components use a B to C business strategy that focuses on the same market segment and economics In both the e-commerce channel of the business as well as the retail locations which Is a be the technique library database the company established which is shared among. Business Strategy Victorians Secret, in both its' business and e-business components use a B to C business strategy that focuses on the same market segment and economics in both channels. Strategically the company focuses on individual business processes instead of its' business model so that it can improve upon some of them with technology as this avoids a primarily internet-driven business model which could affect the sales of their retail locations.Their business processes that support their verbal selling and purchasing activities for their physical locations can be utilized by the e-commerce channel of the business as well as the retail locations which is a strategy implemented in order to reduce transaction costs by improving the flow of information within the company and its' channels. This helps to coordinate the actions for both channels which is useful in maintaining the same brand standards regardless of where the consumer is buying the product.An example of this would be the technique libr ary database the company established which Is shared among all regions/suppliers and includes company standards of design and production. Victorians Secret implements a business strategy that makes use of multiple marketing channels such as their retail stores and e-commerce channel. They utilize a 360 degree approach for the website with channel cooperation regarding their already established physical locations.Victorians Secret strategically avoids channel conflict by differentiating certain products such as best sellers and only offering them for sale from Victorians Secret, In both Its' business and e-business components use a B to C business strategy that focuses on the same market segment and economics In both the e-commerce channel of the business as well as the retail locations which Is a be the technique library database the company established which is shared among. Business Strategy Application Exercise (Assignment to be submitted) (180 min. ) * Construct a value chain for your department/ division/ company and contrast it over time or vis a vis a competitor, to try and explain the business performance. | | Guidelines for the assignment * Brief introduction of your firm and division. * Draw a value chain of your division/company. (as next best choice generic chain will do) Enlist all the activities under the relevant primary and support functions. Show how each activity is being pursued now, and also differently over time, by your firm. (OR if comparison is not over time but with a competitor’s value chain, show how they perform it differently) * Indicate internal links within the activities, if any. Show how the activities of the value chain are linked to company strategy and structure and how these links enhance competitive advantage. (or show the lack of these links and divergence of activities-scope for improvement in value chain. ). Explore external links (eg. lignment of activities with vendors that enhances differentiation. ) * Conclude-Reflect on overall shift in value chain over time OR difference with competitor’s value chain and how that results in difference in business performance. * The assignment submission should not exceed 5 pages| | About VMware VMware is the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, delivers customer-proven solutions that accelerate IT by reducing complexity and enabling more flexible, agile service delivery.VMware enables enterprises to adopt a cloud model that addresses their unique business challenges. VMware’s approach accelerates the transition to cloud computing while preserving existing investments and improving security and control. With more than 350,000 customers and 50,000 partners, VMware solutions help organizations of all sizes lower costs, increase business agility and ensure freedom of choice I belong to the Consulting Services Division of VMware where we carry out the consulting implementation and management of customer projectsVmware’s Value chain is broadly covered as below . The Value Chain Analysis of VMware covers two categories of activities – primary and support activities. The primary activities are most familiar, as it deals with the steps and processes necessary to take the VMware product or service from R&D to final customer sale and support. * Suppy Chain Management – covers the identification, sourcing, procurement, and supplier management of the â€Å"raw materials† that comprise the final product or service. Operations – covers the engineering, inventory management, and manufacturing of the final product or service. Note:   any technologies incorporated into the product or service are also included here. * Distribution – covers the entire channel network and partnerships that VMware drives for distributing the key platform product solutions * Marketing and Sales – covers the marketing, merchandising, promotions, advertising, sales, and channel management to get the completed product and service to the end customer. Service – covers the support and maintenance of products and services after they are delivered to the customer. The secondary activities are less familiar, but equally important in supporting product and service scalability. * R&D – covers the testing of the product as per the customer specifications, development and roll out of new product updates * Technology Development – covers the supporting technologies, both information technologies as well as other technologies, important for keeping the lights on.Technologies integrated into the product would be covered in the Operations stage. * Human Resource Management – covers the recruiting, hiring, development,and firing of personnel. * General Administration – covers the general admin tasks of the company (buildings, offices, warehouses) I belong to the Services Department function which forms the primary form of activities in the value chain in terms of delivering the value of the virtualization and cloud benefits to customers as per VMware best practices.Compared to our competitor which is Microsoft our services are allinged to be more proactive to customers in the form of Technical Account Manager program. The product profolio that we drive in the Services and consulting space are truly key in giving VMware 84% of the global market share. VMware Professional Services offer end-to-end consulting services for Datacenter, Virtualization Management, Desktop Virtualization and Cloud Services.Our service offerings are based on in-depth virtualization expertise, proven best practices, and repeatable delivery methodologies to help customers realize the full value of virtualization for IT as a service computing models faster, and with less risk. Based on best practices from working with thousands of customers and using reliable, r epeatable methodologies, our services are designed to help Assess the current environments, Plan and design solutions that meet the desired business objectives, Build and implement the desired virtualization solutions, and Manage the environment with staff augmentation and performance tuningRegardless of the level of a customer’s virtualization maturity or business need, VMware Consulting Services accelerate the business value of IT transformation to IT as a Service computing models, through virtualization, with less risk compared to our competition which is the key differentiator in our engagement with customers compared to competition. We have provided key differentiators in our Services Value chain which has resulted huge business benefits to VMware the summary of which is as below – Year-over-Year Revenue Growth of 25% to $1. 6 Billion – Operating Margin of 20. 6%; Non-GAAP Operating Margin of 32. 6% – Trailing Twelve Months Operating Cash Flows Growt h of 64% to $2. 12 Billion; Free Cash Flows Growth of 53% to $2. 07 Billion Service revenues, which include software maintenance and professional services, were $573 million for 2012, an increase of 35% from 2011. The use of value chain analysis facilitates the strategic management of VMware as an organization. The three main types of competitive strategy are cost leadership, differentiation, and focus.Cost leadership is a strategy that relies on lowest-cost production and delivery, while differentiation relies on outstanding quality or product (program/course) features. The focus strategy relies on differentiation or cost leadership for a particular product or market niche. Value chain analysis is a framework that can provide a number of benefits to the VMware management of virtualiation and cloud computing organizations. This analysis help VMware managers of to identify linkages between value activities within the organization, and to think in terms of process rather than function or department.Through analysis of the value system, managers identify potentials for strategic alliances with various actors in the industry value system. Identification of cost drivers and linkage with value chain activities help managers focus on cost reduction and on finding ways to optimize returns throughout the value chain. As well, value chain analysis helps managers understand cost management problems. Failure to see the impact of a decision on the overall value chain will result in missed opportunities for VMware.The value chain framework allows VMware to break down the chain—from basic infrastructure and support, to software development, to customer support and service—into strategically relevant activities to understand the behavior of costs and the sources of differentiation. Profit Margin is typically only one part of the larger set of activities in the value delivery system. Gaining and sustaining a competitive advantage requires that VMware understands the entire value delivery system, not just the portion of the value chain in which it participates.Suppliers and distribution channels have profit margins that must be identified if one is to understand VMware’s cost or differentiation positioning, because the customers ultimately pay for all the profit margins throughout the value chain. Broadly the value chain framework is used as powerful analysis tool for the strategic planning and to build the organizational model ensuring an effective leadership model. The value chain concept is applied also in the individual business unit and is extended to the whole supply chain and distribution networks of VMware.To form a successful product for VMware it is important to add value in each activity that the product goes through during the life cycle. The best possible value can be achieved in the product development process by adding value in each stage. For that it needs all, or a combination of, value chain activities and a proper s ynchronization among all the related activities. A proper organization is required that contains all the required functional departments to perform these activities and a proper communication approach is required to synchronize the activities of these functional units efficiently. Business Strategy Application Exercise (Assignment to be submitted) (180 min. ) * Construct a value chain for your department/ division/ company and contrast it over time or vis a vis a competitor, to try and explain the business performance. | | Guidelines for the assignment * Brief introduction of your firm and division. * Draw a value chain of your division/company. (as next best choice generic chain will do) Enlist all the activities under the relevant primary and support functions. Show how each activity is being pursued now, and also differently over time, by your firm. (OR if comparison is not over time but with a competitor’s value chain, show how they perform it differently) * Indicate internal links within the activities, if any. Show how the activities of the value chain are linked to company strategy and structure and how these links enhance competitive advantage. (or show the lack of these links and divergence of activities-scope for improvement in value chain. ). Explore external links (eg. lignment of activities with vendors that enhances differentiation. ) * Conclude-Reflect on overall shift in value chain over time OR difference with competitor’s value chain and how that results in difference in business performance. * The assignment submission should not exceed 5 pages| | About VMware VMware is the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, delivers customer-proven solutions that accelerate IT by reducing complexity and enabling more flexible, agile service delivery.VMware enables enterprises to adopt a cloud model that addresses their unique business challenges. VMware’s approach accelerates the transition to cloud computing while preserving existing investments and improving security and control. With more than 350,000 customers and 50,000 partners, VMware solutions help organizations of all sizes lower costs, increase business agility and ensure freedom of choice I belong to the Consulting Services Division of VMware where we carry out the consulting implementation and management of customer projectsVmware’s Value chain is broadly covered as below . The Value Chain Analysis of VMware covers two categories of activities – primary and support activities. The primary activities are most familiar, as it deals with the steps and processes necessary to take the VMware product or service from R&D to final customer sale and support. * Suppy Chain Management – covers the identification, sourcing, procurement, and supplier management of the â€Å"raw materials† that comprise the final product or service. Operations – covers the engineering, inventory management, and manufacturing of the final product or service. Note:   any technologies incorporated into the product or service are also included here. * Distribution – covers the entire channel network and partnerships that VMware drives for distributing the key platform product solutions * Marketing and Sales – covers the marketing, merchandising, promotions, advertising, sales, and channel management to get the completed product and service to the end customer. Service – covers the support and maintenance of products and services after they are delivered to the customer. The secondary activities are less familiar, but equally important in supporting product and service scalability. * R&D – covers the testing of the product as per the customer specifications, development and roll out of new product updates * Technology Development – covers the supporting technologies, both information technologies as well as other technologies, important for keeping the lights on.Technologies integrated into the product would be covered in the Operations stage. * Human Resource Management – covers the recruiting, hiring, development,and firing of personnel. * General Administration – covers the general admin tasks of the company (buildings, offices, warehouses) I belong to the Services Department function which forms the primary form of activities in the value chain in terms of delivering the value of the virtualization and cloud benefits to customers as per VMware best practices.Compared to our competitor which is Microsoft our services are allinged to be more proactive to customers in the form of Technical Account Manager program. The product profolio that we drive in the Services and consulting space are truly key in giving VMware 84% of the global market share. VMware Professional Services offer end-to-end consulting services for Datacenter, Virtualization Management, Desktop Virtualization and Cloud Services.Our service offerings are based on in-depth virtualization expertise, proven best practices, and repeatable delivery methodologies to help customers realize the full value of virtualization for IT as a service computing models faster, and with less risk. Based on best practices from working with thousands of customers and using reliable, r epeatable methodologies, our services are designed to help Assess the current environments, Plan and design solutions that meet the desired business objectives, Build and implement the desired virtualization solutions, and Manage the environment with staff augmentation and performance tuningRegardless of the level of a customer’s virtualization maturity or business need, VMware Consulting Services accelerate the business value of IT transformation to IT as a Service computing models, through virtualization, with less risk compared to our competition which is the key differentiator in our engagement with customers compared to competition. We have provided key differentiators in our Services Value chain which has resulted huge business benefits to VMware the summary of which is as below – Year-over-Year Revenue Growth of 25% to $1. 6 Billion – Operating Margin of 20. 6%; Non-GAAP Operating Margin of 32. 6% – Trailing Twelve Months Operating Cash Flows Growt h of 64% to $2. 12 Billion; Free Cash Flows Growth of 53% to $2. 07 Billion Service revenues, which include software maintenance and professional services, were $573 million for 2012, an increase of 35% from 2011. The use of value chain analysis facilitates the strategic management of VMware as an organization. The three main types of competitive strategy are cost leadership, differentiation, and focus.Cost leadership is a strategy that relies on lowest-cost production and delivery, while differentiation relies on outstanding quality or product (program/course) features. The focus strategy relies on differentiation or cost leadership for a particular product or market niche. Value chain analysis is a framework that can provide a number of benefits to the VMware management of virtualiation and cloud computing organizations. This analysis help VMware managers of to identify linkages between value activities within the organization, and to think in terms of process rather than function or department.Through analysis of the value system, managers identify potentials for strategic alliances with various actors in the industry value system. Identification of cost drivers and linkage with value chain activities help managers focus on cost reduction and on finding ways to optimize returns throughout the value chain. As well, value chain analysis helps managers understand cost management problems. Failure to see the impact of a decision on the overall value chain will result in missed opportunities for VMware.The value chain framework allows VMware to break down the chain—from basic infrastructure and support, to software development, to customer support and service—into strategically relevant activities to understand the behavior of costs and the sources of differentiation. Profit Margin is typically only one part of the larger set of activities in the value delivery system. Gaining and sustaining a competitive advantage requires that VMware understands the entire value delivery system, not just the portion of the value chain in which it participates.Suppliers and distribution channels have profit margins that must be identified if one is to understand VMware’s cost or differentiation positioning, because the customers ultimately pay for all the profit margins throughout the value chain. Broadly the value chain framework is used as powerful analysis tool for the strategic planning and to build the organizational model ensuring an effective leadership model. The value chain concept is applied also in the individual business unit and is extended to the whole supply chain and distribution networks of VMware.To form a successful product for VMware it is important to add value in each activity that the product goes through during the life cycle. The best possible value can be achieved in the product development process by adding value in each stage. For that it needs all, or a combination of, value chain activities and a proper s ynchronization among all the related activities. A proper organization is required that contains all the required functional departments to perform these activities and a proper communication approach is required to synchronize the activities of these functional units efficiently. Business Strategy MPM703 Business Strategy and Analysis Trimester 1, 2013 Assignment: Business Strategy Report In this assignment you are acting either as a group of strategy consultants (group assignment), or as one strategy consultant (individual assignment). You have been asked to prepare a strategy report for a business. The first step is to select a business as the subject of your assignment. The business can be a publicly listed company in Australia or overseas which is of interest to you or other members of your group, or it may be a large private or family business located either in Australia or overseas.Do not use or refer to assignments completed by students for this unit in previous trimesters. (A record of past assignments is kept on a database). Note also that the requirements of the assignment change from trimester to trimester. The focus of this assignment is on the business level of analysis. Therefore if you select a diversified company then make sure you focus only on one of the comp any’s business units. The report must be specific and applied to the business. In other words you must apply the relevant concepts and tools of business strategy to the particular conditions and circumstances of the business you are studying.General statements and references to theories and models that are not applied to the business will not add value to your assignment. Similarly, data about the business that is not analysed and presented from a strategic perspective – using the relevant concepts and tools of strategy – is of little value. To help you in this exercise, consider the position of the CEO of the business who will be reading your report and looking for a strategic analysis and recommendation that is practical and specific to her or his business.The CEO does not want to read a broad analysis that could apply to any number of organisations and does not ‘speak’ to their business. Group or individual submission This assignment may be compl eted either as a group submission (up to 5 people) or as an individual assignment (one person only). Either way, you must sign up in one of the group assignment spaces online. Marking will be done without regard to whether the assignment was a group or individual submission. In other words an individual assignment should be of a similar standard and quality to that of a group assignment.For group assignments the mark will be shared by all in the group. Therefore: 1. Allocate the various tasks among your group members and agree on interim due dates for the stages of work. Make sure your interim due dates allow for drafts to be circulated and edited so that the final submission is of the highest standard. 2. Each group member must make a relatively fair and reasonable contribution to the report, in whatever form or shape that might take, in order to share equally in the mark. In the rare event that there are any issues you should contact me two weeks prior to the report due date so th at a resolution can be reached.Report format and requirements The presentation of your report is a critical aspect of this assignment. It is essential that your report is formatted appropriately, and carefully edited and re-edited to achieve a professional standard. Allow time to draft and re-draft your assignment prior to the due date in order to improve the quality of writing and presentation. You must follow carefully the report structure and requirements set out below. 1. Title Page In the title page, you should include: †¢ Title of the report, e. g. ‘Company X: A Business Strategy Report’. Cloud Deakin Group number (whether you are a group or individual). †¢ The names and student IDs of your group members. †¢ Off campus or on campus status. †¢ Date and Unit Code. †¢ Name and postal address for the return of your assignment. 2. Table of contents Include all of the section headings and subheadings used in your report, together with page numbe rs. 3. Executive summary (Less than 300 words) This is a one page only summary of the report, written as a series of short paragraphs, outlining your key findings and recommended strategic option. 4. Introduction (Approximately 400 words)This section provides some background and context to your report. Your introduction should include: †¢ A brief description of the reasons for undertaking the study, i. e. the value of undertaking a strategy review of the business. †¢ An introduction to the business and its macro environment and industry. 5. Strategic Analysis 5. 1 Methods (Approximately 200 words) Provide a brief description of the techniques of data collection and analysis used in this section, including an outline of the sources used to gather the data upon which the report is based.Data may be collected from sources within the business (business documents, questionnaires, interviews) and from industry reports, media sources, the World Wide Web and database searches. It is important to describe the types and quantity of your data sources so that the reader can evaluate the quality and validity of the data on which your analysis is based. 5. 2 Business strategy statement (Approximately 300 words) Describe the mission, vision, objectives, scope, and advantage of the business (see section 1. 2. 3 in the text). Summarise these descriptions into a clear and compelling strategy statement in 35 words or less. . 3 External analysis (Approximately 800 words) †¢ Conduct a PESTEL analysis of your business’s macro environment, evaluating whether each of the PESTEL factors are positive, neutral, or negative for the industry. †¢ Provide an overall evaluation of the impact of these factors on growth and consumer demand in the industry. Explain which of the influences in your analysis are likely to be the main drivers for change in the future. †¢ Using the five forces framework described in your text, evaluate and briefly describe the key for ces at work in your business’s industry environment. Draw a strategy canvas for your business and the two main rivals (see Figure 2. 9 in the text). Describe briefly the three most critical success factors for your business (see pp. 73-74 in the text). 5. 4 Strategic capability (Approximately 400 words) †¢ Describe your business’s strategic capability in the form of a value chain analysis. †¢ Present a SWOT analysis in table form. 5. 5 Strategy and culture (Approximately 400 words) Draw a cultural web of the business (see Chapter 5 of your text and Figure 5. 8). Briefly evaluate the relationship between the business’s culture and its strategy. . 6Strategic direction (Approximately 450 words) Identify and describe the one most viable strategic direction for the business. To undertake this task refer to Figure 7. 2 on p. 232 and the relevant commentary. Explain how your chosen strategic direction allows the business to: †¢ Respond appropriately to t he industry and macro environments described in your external analysis. †¢ Match the strengths of the business to the opportunities in the environment, described in your earlier analyses, to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. . Conclusion (Approximately 250 words) This section is written in paragraph form to provide a summary of one key finding from each of the report sections from 5. 2 to 5. 6. 7. References List all of the references referred to in the report. Please note that appendices are not allowed. Requirements Word limit:3500 (excluding the references only) Line spacing: 1. 5 Font size: 12 Contribution to your final mark: 40% Due date: 3. 00pm, Tuesday 7 May 2013 NB. Words in excess of 3500 will not be marked. Assignment submission rules All assignments are to be submitted online, in addition to a printed copy delivered to the Faculty office, or handed in at lecture. For off campus students the mailed hard copy of the assignment is deemed to be on time if sen t and post-marked by the due date of the assignment. Please note that the version of an assignment you submit electronically must be the same as any version you submit in any other form. Students enrolled through partnership agreements must submit as required by the unit chair at the partner institution on the due date. Assignments are on time if they are submitted online and in hard copy on the due date. On campus students must submit the printed version in lecture or at the Faculty office by the due date; off campus students must mail their submission on or before the due date to: Assignment Tracking AASD Deakin University Waurn Ponds, VIC, 3217 3Remote students: A student is classified as remote if they are living in a place where it takes more than 3 days for mail to reach Deakin University, Geelong, for example overseas in certain locations.If you are a remote student, you may submit your assignment by email to [email  protected] edu. au If you are a remote student and submit via email, please clearly state your name, student ID number, unit code and assignment number on the email. It is also recommended that you place this information on your assignment as a Footer or Header. The Assignment Tracking staff will print your assignment and place an Assignment Attachment Form onto your assignment. It will then be tracked and sent to your assessor for marking the same day.When returning the assignment, the assignment will be sent by normal postage and not via email. Please do not post another version in the mail if you email your assignment. 5 No extensions will be considered for assignment submission due dates unless a written request is submitted to and negotiated with the unit chair. 6 Assignments submitted late without an extension being granted will not be marked. Plagiarism and other academic offences Plagiarism is the copying of another person’s ideas or expressions without appropriate acknowledgment. Please read the notes on plagiarism in the Unit Guide. Business Strategy Victorians Secret, in both its' business and e-business components use a B to C business strategy that focuses on the same market segment and economics in both channels. Strategically the company focuses on individual business processes instead of its' business model so that it can improve upon some of them with technology as this avoids a primarily internet-driven business model which could affect the sales of their retail locations.Their business processes that support their verbal selling and purchasing activities for their physical locations can be utilized by the e-commerce channel of the business as well as the retail locations which is a strategy implemented in order to reduce transaction costs by improving the flow of information within the company and its' channels. This helps to coordinate the actions for both channels which is useful in maintaining the same brand standards regardless of where the consumer is buying the product.An example of this would be the technique libr ary database the company established which Is shared among all regions/suppliers and includes company standards of design and production. Victorians Secret implements a business strategy that makes use of multiple marketing channels such as their retail stores and e-commerce channel. They utilize a 360 degree approach for the website with channel cooperation regarding their already established physical locations.Victorians Secret strategically avoids channel conflict by differentiating certain products such as best sellers and only offering them for sale from Victorians Secret, In both Its' business and e-business components use a B to C business strategy that focuses on the same market segment and economics In both the e-commerce channel of the business as well as the retail locations which Is a be the technique library database the company established which is shared among.

Kudler Fine Foods Network Overview Essay

Introduction One of the considered â€Å"best fine food stores† around is the Kudler Fine Foods. However, Kudler is in serious need of a network infrastructure upgrade of their old one. To introduce the latest technologies in data collection; company communication; and information protection while providing the best data speeds and network access; are the main goals of the enterprise network. This huge step is significant as this will increase the revenue and will reduce the costs of operation throughout the Kudler Fine Foods stores. Kudler Fine Foods will go back up to technological speed as the network upgrade is completed, while at the same time improving the way they keep track of inventory and sales by using data mining techniques, which will be collected and analyzed in real time. Network Overview The review of the current network used at Kudler Fine Foods was able to determine that the network topology that is being used is the bus topology. The bus network is set-up in such a way that all the network components are connected via CAT5 to the bus or communication line. This configuration is true at sites in the corporation for their workstations, servers, and standalone UPS. A 56k modem is the device that is used by all of the networks communicating to the internet. Although the bus network is very reasonable when it comes to cost, the downfall is that when the backbone goes down, the entire network can encounter an outage that is very difficult to troubleshoot. Another disadvantage this network is the occurrence of signal collision. This happens when two systems are sending signals at the same time to one another, collides with each other and causes to drop both signals. To solve this problem, CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection) technology will be set-up in the network, which will put the network into a listen mode before sending, to prevent collisions from taking place. Network Response time The current network is experiencing lack of response time and latency due to the use of 56k modems installed at all of the sites. The major goal of the upgrade is to respond to the critical issue of speed performance and possible network outage when there are no other mean of communication exists in case the modems went down. The use of outdated system hardware and software, including the modem and operating system of computer, are seen as the main cause of the problem in terms of response times, latency, and jitter that in the entire network. Response time is being measured by the time that the network takes to respond to command of the users. The slow response time is happening because the host systems at all sites are running only with Window 98 and Pentium II processors, which are over 10 years old. The available bandwidth is related to the latency and jitter issues that are being seen over the network. â€Å"Jitter is defined as the amount of variation or randomness in latency or response time, measured in milliseconds† (What is jitter?, 2006). The 56k modem provides up to 56,000 bps of speed only, which is very slow response time, thereby causing low bandwidth. Another reason is that all of the servers on the Kudler network are running Windows NT with Pentium III processors only. By upgrading the hardware, updating the software, and installing a T1 line which can offer a speed up to 1.544 Mbps (27 times faster than the old modem), the major problems can be solved. By then, the network performance can cope up with all the real-time information coming from all the Kulder Fine Foods locations which will result to better sales and inventory tracking. This will give great improvements from the existing network and will provide an uptime of up to 97%. Traffic Analysis Traffic analysis is used for detecting network intrusions to be able to determine response time and latency that is taking place. Traffic analysis concerns more on the security of the network than the protocol being used. It will be able to detect about when and where a latency issue is taking place. Traffic analysis is being done through command line tools to provide the vital information about the network latency. Wire Shark will be used to allow deep packet level analysis of the network and to mitigate possible network latency problems. Ping is also used to provide the user the ability to check the network conductivity from the workstation to a specific node or internet site. Trace Route is still another utility that can show the full connection path between the user’s workstation and the desired destination  system being reached. The use of these tools can decrease the amount of time of an outage on a network by identifying which devices are not passing on the packets and where the packets drops are taking place. The ability to detect an outage before it results to a bigger issue would be the best case scenario for any network. Kudler’s network will be implementing Nagios. It â€Å"Nagios is a powerful IT management system that lets an organization to easily identify and resolve problems in IT infrastructure before it can greatly affect the critical business processes† (Nagios, 2012). Nagios provides a system that gives alerts whenever a network device is detected acting abnormally, thereby providing a fix immediately. One network can live without the help of traffic analysis tools but it would take a huge amount of man-hours to pin point where in the network the problem exists. Networking Standards It is very important that a network is following and applying the right standards in connecting and sharing information. Open standards allow connecting and sharing information possible because it allows everyone using different technology such as NIC (Network Interface Card) to connect to the internet via CAT5 (Category 5) cable. Using new technology standards can be beneficial but can also give a lot of disadvantages when not using the open standards because it can cause incompatibility with other existing devices. Kudler Fine Foods needs to follow the networking standards issued by the standard-giving bodies as follows: IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) WECA (Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance) IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is the organization that sets the standards for all networks. Wireless networking standards also fall under this organization. The IEEE has a wide library of information and standards which will be very valuable for the new network. WLAN is also incorporated into this network that is why WECA standards are also worth including. The WECA standards are applied â€Å"ensuring the cross-vendor compatibilities of 802.11b wireless-networking hardware and  software† (Kozierok, 2005). If these wireless standards were not applied properly to the network, then the individual wireless users would not be able to connect properly. The IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) plays a very important role in networking as they are the one who issues standards on how to communicate via TCP/IP. These standards and standards-giving bodies need to work together so that network can perform in its fullest potential. Protocol and Security overview Security plays a vital role in the network of any company. The advancement in the hardware and software being used by the network is useless, and costly acquisition and installation are non-sense, if these were no properly secured. To provide the security needed by the network, it is very important to choose the correct communication protocols and individual protocols (under the communication protocols) to be used. For example, TCP/IP (Transfer Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol) is a communication protocol, but within the TCP/IP are protocols that allow for network communication to take place such as port 80 or HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol). These protocols are properly chosen based on the characteristics and ability of the devices acquired for the network. The TCP/IP operates at layers 3 and 4 of the OSI model. The new enterprise network will be using WAN which will connect all the sites with their individual WLANs. Again, choosing the right protocols is essential to the security and performance of these networks. WPA2 Enterprise, which is the most recommended encryption used to secure a wireless network, will be used for the WLAN. WPA Enterprise utilizes 802.1x authentications by means of a RADIUS server. RADIUS server, â€Å"is a client/server protocol and also a software, which enables servers that access remotely to communicate with a central server to make authentication of dial-in users and authorization of their access to the requested system or service possible†(Thomas & Oosten, 2006). This will provide user account certificate-based authentication to take place and will form signal-based authentication on to the wireless network. The protocol that is applicable to this implementation is Port 443 or HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure), which uses SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) over HTTP, which will encrypt any communication going over this port. The use of this protocol will  prevent network sniffing from unwanted entities and will provide DLP (Data Loss Prevention). Another implementation is the ability to connect to one another via VPN (Virtual Private Network). This will allow a secure communication tunnel to all of the sites using the enterprise network. The VPN connection will have the ability to be accessed anywhere by just setting up an additional high speed internet. The VPN is also significant as it will allow the systems to have back-up system on a central server and provide redundancy of connection in case the main internet connection goes down. Almost everything that will be implemented in the new enterprise network is new technologies but the basic phone line should not be taken for granted. Either VoIP or Centrix can be used for the implementation of the phone line. VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) â€Å"is using RTP, UDP, and IP to/from a Skinny Client for audio† (RADCOM Academy, 2012). The Skinny protocol is used by Cisco devices. VoIP systems can cost a little more expensive due to the total ownership of the systems once purchased. This is an extra overhead for Kudler, so choosing Centrix system is a better option because the company will not be taking on the cost of the system, but only the cost of the service, thereby incurring less overhead and saves money. To conclude, Kudler Fine Foods’ new enterprise network will bring the best choice of hardware, software and service in terms of cost and quality of performance to perform the collection of data, communication, and protection of information vital to the company. This will also increase the revenue and will reduce the operational costs at all Kudler Fine Foods stores. This will then in turn allow Kudler to offer lower prices of their products and services while still providing the best quality of food in the state of California. References RADCOM Academy. (2012). Voice over ip reference page. Retrieved, 15 January 2012, from http://www.protocols.com/pbook/VoIP.htm What is jitter?. (2006, January 6). Retrieved, 21 January 2012, from http://www.nessoft.com/kb/article/what-is-jitter-57.html Nagios. (2012). Products. Retrieved, 21 January 2012, from http://www.nagios.com/products Thomas, O., & Oosten, C. V. (2006, August). Radius (remote authentication dial-in user service). . Retrieved, 21 January 2012, from http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/RADIUS Kozierok, C. (2005, September 20). Networking industry groups. Retrieved, 21 January 2012, from http://www.tcpipguide.com/free/t_NetworkingIndustryGroups.htm