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Write the Nonfiction Book Proposal Before Writing the Book

Write the Nonfiction Book Proposal Before Writing the Book I finished a manuscript, set it aside for a month, then read it again. But I never even tried to publish it. Why not? Because as brilliant as it was (well, I thought so and so did my mother), it was doomed because it had no point. The book, overflowing with insightful arguments and powerfully constructed sentences, was like a new pencil whose value lies not in what it is but in what it will do for a buyer. Without a point, neither pencils nor books have much reason to inspire their purchase. I should have considered that before I wrote even one chapter. The commercial value of what we write must not be an afterthought. That is why nonfiction publishers require a book proposal and why you should, too, even when youre the publisher. We write a book proposal to convince our publisher (and ourselves) that this book is a good idea and promises to be a good seller. The details, features, and benefits of the book discovered while writing the proposal will be the core components of your marketing campaign, so it accomplishes two things at one time. Looking at our idea through the lens of reality, the proposal asks and answers three compelling questions. Can this book find a market? Will it appeal to that market? Does it have what it takes to sell? Why a book proposal? 1.          Because we take our time and talent seriously. We cant afford to squander valuable time on a doomed project. We write to make money. Writing something for which there is no market, or for a market that is too small or that will not or cannot pay makes no sense. 2.         To find the angle. It defines how your book differs from other books in the genre. 3.         To establish why we are the best person to write it. We tend to exaggerate or underestimate ourselves. A book proposal establishes and clarifies our qualifications. 4.         To ensure there is a marketable point.   Nonfiction readers only buy solutions, answers, or fulfillment. What problem does my book solve? What question does it answer? What dream does it fulfill? 5.         To think in specific terms. WHAT will I write? WHO will read it? WHAT will it do for those readers? WHERE can they be found online and offline? HOW do I get to them? HOW do I help them find me? HOW do I convince them to buy my book? 6.         To create an action plan. All the data in the world does little good unless it forms into a plan. Publishers demand one, and if you are the publisher, you should demand one, too. Promotion and marketing reach buyers. The plan considers how to find them and how to persuade them. Whats in a book proposal?  ¦    Overview  ¦    Marketing Promotion Plan  ¦    Competing Books  ¦    Authors

Examining a Business Failure Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Examining a Business Failure - Research Paper Example The problem that could have been predicted was the lack of coordination among the different arms of the company and the expected results at a time when the company was under a lot of pressure to perform and match up to its main competitor, General Motors. With this in mind, then decision-making and leadership would have played a crucial role in ensuring that the company knew what was coming in terms of expectations of success or failure. In addition to decision-making and leadership, the company was also shifting from one tradition of centralization, where all the decisions were made in one place, and by one person, to a system that allowed each branch to make its own decisions. The decision-making and leadership theory would have allowed the leadership of the company to see that the former director micromanaged the whole company according to his wishes and expectations. As a result, decentralization of the company’s command led to loss of communication between central managem ent and the subsidiaries as their managers were expected to make their own decisions. The explanation for this is the breakdown in communication and lack of anticipation for future developments in terms of making changes in organizational behaviour without feasibility study, but based on the management structure of another competitor. The bureaucracy theory can also be applied in the failure of Chrysler LLC in relation to predicting its potential failure and explanation for its failure. This is evident in that micromanagement of the company stands for s a non-standard form of bureaucracy, where the manager decided everything to be done in Chrysler LLC. This is to mean that nothing could take place without his knowledge, and the director who followed the founder of Chrysler LLC made the decisions and issued them as directives, where there was no order to feasibility. The director became the final authority directing every step of the company to an extent of reverting to the centraliz ed management style that had been discarded for the decentralized style. Bureaucracy could have predicted the eminent failure by the director’s impulsive directives to match the needs of the market and carve a name for themselves to overthrow General Motors (Sheppard, 2001). The main cause of failure in Chrysler LLC can be attributed to the organizational structure and management, where the largest portion of the blame lies with management. This is because the management failed to consider most of the factors, especially the long term, which is in its mandate to ensure that the company’s long-term goals are taken care of to an extent that, predictions into the future of the company can be made. In addition, the management contributed the largest part in the back and forth struggles to change the organizational structure, where the organizational structure is sucked in as a contributor. Organizational structure caused the failure of Chrysler LLC by losing grip of the le adership structures such that leadership was concentrated on a few people

Economic Crisis in Greece and its Impact on the Euro Essay

Economic Crisis in Greece and its Impact on the Euro - Essay Example The levels of debt and shortfalls surpassed the limits that have been set by the euro zone (CNN). As per the Euro is concerned, since its introduction in the year 1999, its value had declined substantially against the US dollar, as well as certain other currencies. The flaw was to a degree credited to outflows of capital from Europe. However, by 2007, the euro was valued at 53 percent higher than its value that was in 2001. The high interest rates in Europe in comparison to US interest rates had triggered the rebound of the euro, and attracted inflow of capital into Europe (Madura, 167). The report conveys a detailed study on the economic crisis prevailing in Greece and its impacts on the Euro. Background to the Crisis: The euro zone was incepted in the year 1999, and several independent states forsaken their own national currencies in support of a universal currency, the euro. The euro was mainly adopted because a number of advantages were expected to get bestowed by the monetary un ion on the countries that participated. Countries like Greece, which generally have high inflation, the adoption of euro could benefit by lowering the inflation and the nominal interest rates as well. Lower inflation rates encourage greater borrowing and lending, decreases the possibility of competitive devaluations, introduces a common measure of value across countries thus bringing transparency in competition across countries, and also reduces risk by eliminating exchange rate fluctuations. These advantageous features of a common currency subsist till price stability is delivered by the central bank of the monetary union and is plausible. In the case of the euro zone, the European Central Bank had rapidly recognized its anti-inflation recommendations and became credible (Provopoulos, 1-2). In spite of the above mentioned advantages, there are certain costs relevant to the adoption of euro as the common currency. A country joining the euro zone becomes incapable of setting its own domestic economic policy. Also, it no more possesses the ability to alter the nominal exchange rate of its currency. Low financial discrepancies and resilient labor and product markets is particularly important in the euro zone. The euro zone does not have a fundamental economic power that can restructure economic properties from a low-unemployment area to a high-unemployment area to lessen the consequences of unbalanced distress. Also, owing to differences in language and culture among the different countries in Europe, labor is more mobile in the United States than in here. Hence, regulation systems are required for the euro zone at a national level. Lower economic inequity and elastic product and labor markets offer mechanisms to ease the modification to alarms (Provopoulos, 2). The Greek Economy 2001-2009: With the entry into the euro zone, the Greek economy seemed to enter a new period experiencing strong development and low price rises. The changes brought about in the economi c environment with the adoption of the euro provided crucial benefits for a country like Greece that had experienced constant budget deficits, and high inflation rates levels from the early-1980s till the mid-1990s. However, along with the advantages, long term

The Mid Valley Megamall Tourism Essay

The Mid Valley Megamall Tourism Essay In the previous chapter, secondary data such as books, journals and online journals are used to conduct the literature review. In this chapter, primary data is collected through the case study. This chapter will cover the research framework consists of research purpose, research method, sampling method, research instrument and information collected from the case study. The analysis of the data is discussed in the next chapter. This case study is conducted for the purpose of investigating the level of customer satisfaction of the local customers towards the performance of a shopping centre. Mid valley megamall is chosen as the subject in case study. The time frame for the whole research is 1 month. RESEARCH FRAMEWORK First of all, the measurement objectives must be specified in order to simplify the research process. Basically, there are four types of customer satisfaction survey which is based on the measurement objectives of the research (Vavra, 2002). Since this research is used to investigate the level of performance of a shopping centre from the customers satisfaction in general, thus, it is known as overall status survey. According to Vavra, overall status survey is emphasized more on the general issues, overall performance, and overall customers satisfaction. (2002) RESEARCH METHOD AND PURPOSE This research is conducted using quantitative research method. From the customer satisfaction survey, the research information collected from the sample is the primary data. The aim of this study is to investigate the level of customers satisfaction in a shopping centre, to identify the actual need of customers through the distribution of questionnaires to the sample and to clarify whether the performance meet the customers expectations. POPULATION AND SAMPLING METHOD Sampling method is a method of choosing a group of peoples from the entire target population in order to obtain the required information. Basically, there are two types of sampling designs: probability and non-probability. This research has adopted non probability sampling technique which is most suitable for a widely dispersed population such as the customers of Mid Valley Megamall. It is impossible to use the probability sampling method for this research due to the difficulty in identifies the target populations as it is too large for research. The sample is selected to estimate the gross results because less cost and time required and the sample is easily obtained while compared with the probability sampling technique. The target populations for this research are the Malaysian customers of Mid Valley Megamall and the sample is limited to adult from 18 to 50 years old. This sample is chosen because these groups of person visit the shopping mall more frequently than other demographic profile. The sample size of 100 customers ranged from 18 to 50 years old is considered as representative of Malaysian customers of Mid Valley Megamall. 3.4 DESIGN OF QUESTIONNAIRE Questionnaire is used as research instrument for this study. The questionnaires are prepared according to the objectives which set up at the beginning. In order to obtain better response from the sample, the questionnaires are designed to be simple and easy to be understood. If the length of the questionnaires is too long, it will affect the rate of response. According to Vavra, there are four types of question can be collected, namely facts, attitudes, prediction behavior and demographics. (2002). Diversified types of question are more interesting for the customers. The questionnaire consists of three sections. The first section is about the demographic profile of the respondent. The objective is to know the respondents background. The second section is about the general information regarding the relationship between the respondents and the shopping mall. Besides, it is used to identify the actual need of the customers. The third section is about the investigation on the level of satisfaction of the customers from the sample chosen towards the location, product performance, staff, building layout, infrastructure and facilities provided in the shopping mall. This section is important in determine whether the shopping mall meet the requirements of the customers. Furthermore, it includes the recommendations from the customers in order to help the shopping mall to enhance their performance in the future. 3.5 SCALE For the questionnaire, every question has its own response options such as open-ended response and close-ended response. Open-ended questions require the opinions of the customers regarding the overall performance of the shopping mall. Close-ended questions are more efficient and quantifiable because it consists of numeric scales which used by the customers to express their feelings in a simple way. The scale is known as Likert Scale. The 5-point numerical scale is adopted which ranging from 1 to 5, 1 represents not satisfied, 2 represents somewhat dissatisfied, 3 represents neither satisfied or dissatisfied, 4 represents somewhat satisfied and 5 represents strongly satisfied. The scale help the respondents to make a clear decision based on their level of satisfaction. 3.6 DISTRIBUTION METHOD Distribution method also known as field method and it defined as the way used by the interviewer to distribute the questionnaires to the sample. The questionnaires in research are distributed to the customers personally at the Mid Valley Megamall and at the same time they return the questionnaires. 3.7 CASE STUDY: MID VALLEY MEGAMALL 3.71 BACKGROUND Mid Valley Megamall is one of the Malaysias largest urban development projects in the world. It was one of the projects inside the Mid Valley City. Mid Valley City desires to be the most modern and integrated mixed-use developments in the world. The construction starts in year 1995. At present, it comprises Mid Valley Megamall, Cititel Hotel, Menara IGB, Boulevard Offices, Boulevard Hotel, Northpoint Mid Valley City, Centrepoint North and South Towers, The Gardens Retail Gallery, The Gardens Hotel, The Gardens Residences and two landmark office towers. IGB Corporation Berhad, a property and investment holding company listed on Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad is the developer of Mid Valley City while the Mid Valley Megamall is owned and operated by Kris Assets Holdings Berhad, a listed IGB subsidiary company. A two dimension master plan of Mid Valley City is enclosed in appendix. 3.72 DESCRIPTIONS OF MID VALLEY MEGAMALL Mid Valley Megamall is selected for the case study. Mid Valley Megamall is launched in year 1995 and it was opened in November 1999. Mid Valley Megamall is a complex consists of a shopping mall, an office tower block, 30 signature offices and two hotels. It is the first shopping mall comprises four successful anchor tenants, namely Jaya Jusco, Metrojaya, Carrefour and Golden Screen Cinemas. Besides, it comprises 13 junior and mini anchors and 403 specialty shops. Mid Valley Megamall has a gross floor area of 4.5 million square feet and net lettable area exceeds 1.7 million square feet. Mid Valley City is planned and developed as a City in a CityMid Valley Megamall is a key part of Mid Valley City. It was awarded the Best Shopping Complex Award 2000 by Tourism Malaysia and Best Retail Development Award 2001 by FIABCI Malaysia (International Real Estate Federation). Mid Valley Megamall is a good choice for the local residents and foreign tourists. Jusco is the Malaysias shopping retailing chain and supermarkets Carrefour is the largest hypermarket chain in the world in terms of size and the second largest retail group in the world in terms of revenue and third largest in terms of profit. It occupies one floor of Mid Valley Megamall. It provides a wide range of products, from fresh farm products, colourful seafood to household brands. Metrojaya occupied three floors of Mid Valley Megamall and offers wide range of local and international quality products which cater the need of medium and high income groups. Golden Screen Cinemas is the Malaysias largest chain of cinema which offers 18 screens and provides 2899 comfortable seats and spacious leg room. GSC not only brings you the best blockbuster, but also the international screening. Figure: Four Anchor Tenants of Mid Valley Megamall 3.73 MISSION AND VISION Mid Valley Megamall is aimed to fulfilling everyones needs. In order to achieve the mission, the highly energetic and talented professionals are appointed in departments. In fact, Mid Valley Megamall emphasizes on their service standard and it wishes to create a modern and stylish shopping paradise for their customers. As long as the customers are in the Mid Valley Megamall, they will make sure everyone enjoy the services and products provided. Besides, Mid Valley Megamall aims to maintain the growth of the shopping mall in the competitive retail industry. 3.74 FACTORS INFLUENCE THE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION LOCATION AND ACCESSIBILITY Mid Valley Megamall is strategically located between Kuala Lumpur Central Business District and Petaling Jaya. It is located in a convenient location that can be easily accessible from all corners on the Klang Valley. Besides it is surrounded by Petaling Jaya, Bangsar and Damansara. There is a KTM Komuter train-stop and a LRT Station nearby while taxis are available at the entrances of Centre, North and South Courts. The KTM commuter station can be accessed through a covered pedestrian bridge to the Megamall. Its believed to bring an average of 10,000 passengers each day. The station is disable-friendly, and facilities comprise toilets, lifts, covered platforms, ticket and information counters and ticket vending machines. Furthermore, Mid Valley has offers free complimentary shutter bus services (Trinton Bus) at an interval of 30 minutes to 1 hour that travel between Bangsar LRT Station and Mid Valley South Court. Other option of transportation is the public transport available, the detail information about public transport is shown in figure. Figure: The KTM Route (Source: Mid Valley Megamall official website) Monday-Thursday Friday-Sunday Services available at every 30* minutes intervals *Subject to traffic conditions Form Bangsar LRT Station First Departure: 8.05 am Last Departure: 10.40pm From Mid Valley Megamall First Departure: 8.10am Last Departure: 10.45pm Form Bangsar LRT Station First Departure: 8.05 am Last Departure: 10.40pm From Mid Valley Megamall First Departure: 8.10am Last Departure: 10.55pm No shuttle services between these time 10.55am 11.25am 3.10pm 4.10pm 7.30pm 8.00pm No shuttle bus services between there times 10.55am 11.25am 2.45pm 3.45pm 7.15pm 7.45pm Figure: Bus Schedule for Shutter Bus (Source: Mid Valley Megamall official website) Bus No Bus Route Frequency Bus Stop Location T631 University LRT Station Mid Valley Megamall University LRT Station 20 30 min North Court U66 Klang Bus Stand KL Sentral Brickfields Mid Valley Megamall Taman Medan 15 20 min North Court South Court U84 Klang Bus Stand KL Sentral Bangsar LRT Station Mid Valley Megamall Kelana Jaya 15 20 min North Court South Court U85 Klang Bus Stand KL Sentral Bangsar LRT Station Mid Valley Megamall SS2 Seapark 15 20 min North Court South Court U87 Klang Bus Stand KL Sentral Bangsar LRT Station Mid Valley Megamall Bangsar Park 15 20 min North Court South Court Figure: General Bus Services (Source: Mid Valley Megamall official website.) Mid Valley Megamall can be accessed through five major highways and two railway lines. In the future, the improvement of road and public transportation will be done. It includes a designated monorail station, a link bridge to the Putra LRT Station and the upgrading of internal traffic flow. Being located in between Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya, an amount of RM250 million was invested in constructing a flyover and enhance the network of road for the purpose to connect the Federal Highway and all the major catchment and residential suburbs or businesses premises within Klang Valley to Mid Valley Megamall. The location plan is enclosed in appendix X. Meanwhile, the location of the department stores is also very important for the convenient of the customers. INFRASTRUCTURES AND FACILITIES Mid Valley consists of four entrances located at the direction of east, south, north and west respectively. Information Counters are available in Centre, North and South Court at ground floor. They are willing to assist those customers by showing a helpful attitude. In terms of car parking, Mid Valley is provided 4000 car parks in order to cater the need of high crowd during peak hours. Effective from 5 May 2008, the basement car parks of Mid Valley Megamall The Gardens Mall were separated where the car parks for Mid Valley Megamall are zones A and C. The exact location of the parking area is shown in the plan enclosed in appendix. Figure: New Car Park Rates effective 26 March 2007 until the present. (Source: Mid Valley Megamall official website.) Besides, Mid Valley Megamall also provides washrooms and baby changing facilities. The washrooms provided for the benefit of all the customers while the baby changing facilities are provided for the benefit of a mother. In addition, Mid Valley Megamall is comprises five lifts which enable the customers to travel from floor to floor. Escalators also available at East, South and North Court and there are two travelators that connecting the lower ground floor with basement which is very convenient for the customers. A proper floor plan is enclosed in appendix for further clarification of the exact location for the facilities and infrastructures. PRODUCTS AND SERVICES Mid Valley consists of five floors where each floor is specifying for certain products and services. Lower ground floor is for daily essentials such as hypermarket, supermarket, pharmacies and money-changers. Besides, this floor is providing a numerous fast food outlet and local delights. Ground floor is mainly for the adults which include the apparel, footwear, accessories, beauty care, health care, bookstore and others essential items that fulfill the desires of an adult. First floor is the paradise for a kid, which include the fashion for kids, beauty and hair saloons for the adults. Second floor is specialized for those who wish to decorate their house. Besides, IT Centre is also available in this floor to cater the need of young generation in the ever changing technology of the world. Third floor is for entertainment such as Golden Screen Cinemas, Mid Valley Exhibition Centre, Pets Wonderland, Cosmic Bowl, Megakidz and a food court. Besides the products, the proper display area also being taken into consideration in order to be easily accessible by the customer. Mid valley is able to stimulate customers to spend more time and money in Mid Valley through the visual display merchandising. The store directory: Anchors Accessories Apparel Discounters Entertainment Exhibition/ Property Showroom Food and Beverage Health/ Personal Care Houseware and Furnishings Information Technology Jewellery Leisure Luggage Shoes and Bags Sporting Goods and Apparel Sundry and Services Tailoring Textile Watches and Pens Mid Valley Megamall also provides certain services for the convenience of the customers. The services provided: ATMs Banks Cobbler Laundrette Money Changers Post Office Alteration Shop Clinic Dentist Locksmith Newstands Print Shop STAFF In addition, Mid Valley Megamall is continually investing in a comprehensive staff training and skills development programme which aimed at improving both the soft and hard skills of the staff and enable them to perform their responsibilities in a right manner. The quality and attitude of the staffs will be indirectly affecting the level of customer satisfaction towards Mid Valley Megamall. The important qualities of the staffs are friendliness, helpfulness, communication skill and responsiveness. BUILDING LAYOUT Challenge of the management team of Mid Valley Megamall is to ensure the customers willing to visit Mid Valley Megamall repeatedly. Mid Valley Megamall is a customer-centric shopping centre which offers best and wide range of services. It is operated by an experienced team of industry experts to ensure the innovative marketing and leasing initiatives. Besides, Mid Valley Megamall was invested over millions in comprehensive store renovation and upgrading activities in order to improve and enhance the malls environment. In terms of marketing, Mid Valley Megamall has planned the promotion aggressively with the mission to provide the delightful shopping experience to the shoppers. In order to bring excitement and hour of enjoyment to the shoppers, visual merchandising are used in creating a unique atmosphere for the public and enhance the competitiveness of Mid Valley Megamall. The marketing and promotional activities are supported by themed and strong-concept in-house events throughout the mall such as Mid Valley Megamall Fashion Week 2009 which introduce the hottest spring or summer collections through the fabulous design and chic runway shows. This show is designated for the fashion lover. During different festivals such as Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Merry Christmas celebration, Mid Valley Megamall will decorate the centre court into atmosphere with unique and attractive theme. Mid Valley Megamall was the only shopping mall in Asia that achieved international recognition in MAXI Awards ceremony held in Hollywood last year. This award is organized by International Council of Shopping Centres. For the Hari Raya celebration 2008, Mid Valley Megamall themed as Cherish The Good Old Days in a Brand New Way that create a harmony atmosphere. This unique theme help Mid Valley Megamall won in the Visual Merchandising category of the MAXI Award. 3.5 SUMMARY This chapter has discussed about the research process which include the research framework, research method and purpose, population of questionnaire, the scale for the questions and distributing method. A case study in Mid Valley Megamall has been discussed in this chapter; it includes the background, description, mission and vision of Mid Valley Megamall. Furthermore, the factors that influences the customer satisfaction being discussed for the case study of Mid Valley Megamall. The factors are location and accessibility, infrastructure and facilities, product and services, staff and building layout.

My Personnel Narrative

Personal Narrative Marathon- Unforgettable Moment On my right my mom was holding my hand tightly and giving me an advice to stay with my elder brother and his friend, Rushi, she was saying â€Å"Don’t let him go anywhere without you† to both of them as she was supposed to run separately from ladies section. They paid no attention to her because she said that just a few minutes ago. We were in one of the most important and famous marathons in Vadodara, India (first ever event held in the city)!!It became so popular as the fund raised from the event was supposed to be donated to cancer curing organizations and organizers made lots of publicity of the event. It was half past six and thousands of people gathered on an area land of thirty square miles. Hundreds of runners around the country and world participated in the marathon. The Marathon was divided into 5 miles, 10 miles and 21 miles. I was one of them participating in 5 miles running!! I was proud, showing off to my b rother that I went to a marathon at the age of 10 and he didn’t.In just 15 minutes the runners were going to start the greatest marathon in history (at least for me). The moment was coming closer and closer. My heart was beating very hard. It was a chilly, windy and most brisky day in the month November. It was November 22, 2010. I will always remember that date. Children shouting like birds, men talking about cricket and girls’ giggling made me think about one thing- Do people usually wake up at six in the morning to chat like a debate? The smell of the washed shirts as well as the sweat of the people was sharply irritating.I was amazed that people sweating on such a chilly day and before even starting the marathon. The morning was freezing cold-I was sneezing with a running nose. â€Å"Achoo!! † came one from me â€Å"We should have brought Razornax or something. It’s so cold. † Despite my irritation and cold I was excited. In the excitement, we didn’t realize that the event was not very safely organized at least for a 10 years boy!!! The Chief Minister of Gujarat was going to inaugurate the event and hence the security arrangement was very tight. The ground was filled with lots of policemen on top of maddening crowd.The exist of the Marathon to the track was extremely narrow and people were pushing from all around to take glimpse of the Chief Minister. I was just 200 yards away from the START line. My brother was on the right side trying to go to the left of me because Rushi was there. The minute he went there I stopped to ask him and someone pushed me from behind- Boom!! The next moment I was on the ground shouting,â€Å" Help, Shikhar, Rushi, police, help. † My brother came calling â€Å"Help, help. My brother is in trouble. †My brother had to continue running otherwise he would have fallen down.My leg was twisted and I remember my grazing touching the ground. My chest was almost choking. The sand wa s going in my nose, which made me cough hard and throw up. I controlled myself and a few minutes later I was up. A policeman was holding my hand. After a while I met a volunteer in the marathon who called my mom. He called my mom and she was very disappointed by the incident. When she was looking around to find me so I shouted as much energy I had, â€Å"Mom. She pointed toward my direction, upset and disappointed â€Å"This is the last time we are here in the marathon. We are not coming anymore. ,† said my mom sternly.We had to finish the marathon because there were no exits. I managed to walk with my mom in the totally messed up event. Afterward we found my brother and his friend at the end point. We told the whole incident to my grandparents and neighbours. That was really the last time we went to a marathon. This is just an incident, which happened to me and can happen to anybody if the safety norms are not followed properly in organizing suck a large scale event. Beside s the enjoyment and maintaining health, do you think marathons are good? It’s up to you- after reading this, would you like to watch a marathon?

Barilla Case Study: The Underlying Factors In Operation Management

case analysis| MGSM890 Operations Management| | Thursday 9 AM class | Term 3, 2012 Deepika Choudhary | 42621186 | | | Question 1. What underlying factors are driving the distributors order patterns to look the way they do in Exhibit 12, and the DC sales, inventory and stock-out levels in Exhibit 13?The underlying factors that are driving the distributors order patterns to look the way they do are primarily due to extreme demand fluctuations where it was week to week variation in distributors order patterns due to which Barilla suffered increasing operational inefficiencies and cost penalties.The major reasons that speak for demand fluctuation are –excessive promotional activities, volume discount, transportation discounts, no limit in order quantities from distributors or worked out ordering strategies for retailers, product proliferations, poor customer service rates, poor communication and lack of sophisticated forecasting techniques or analytical tools at distributors end. The method adopted to curb this demand fluctuation was in two ways; one with excess FG inventory to meet distributors demand and second additional inventory at distributors warehouses. However this method adoption led to impact in – overburdened manufacturing and logistic operation, poor product delivery, thinning of retailers/distributors margin, increased inventory carrying cost, unanticipated demand, and bull whip effect in the entire supply chain.Whereas the causes for bullwhip effect was due to inaccuracies in demand forecasting, long lead times, inflated orders in high estimated demand scenarios, and, price fluctuation due to promotional activities and order batching (to reduce ordering costs, to take advantage of transportation economies such as full truck load, sales incentives and forward buying due to promotional activities to get benefit from lower price).Thus to counteract the bull-whip effect four strategic options became crucial, which are, to: reduce variabilit y (every day or year around low pricing), reduce lead times (information lead times: EDI and order lead times: Cross Docking), reduce uncertainty (POS, sharing and centralizing demand information) and strategic partnerships (quick response, continuous replenishments and vendor managed inventory (VMI)) The other factors are as follows: Orders placed once a week – most distributors (GDs and Dos) checked the inventory levels and placed orders with Barilla once per week which was not inlined with the pace of demand variation * Average lead time ten calendar days – order once placed would be shipped by Barilla to the distributor over the course of the week that started eight days after the order was placed and ended fourteen days after the order was placed; which was recognized as a bottleneck for distributors * Usage of simple periodic-review inventory systems – distributors placing orders on a weekly basis for those products whose levels fell below a specified reor der level, which made their ordering system obsolete * Computer-supported ordering systems – which all of the distributors possessed but lack of sophisticated forecasting systems or analytical tools for determining order quantities for future demand * Holding huge current inventory levels – distributors and retailers carrying huge current inventories followed by requests from Barilla (manufacturing and logistics personal) to carry additional inventory (to hold goods bought on any type of promotion, including quantity discounts, truckload discounts and canvas period discounts) to dampen the fluctuation in distribution orders; this incurred additional costs to their operating systems * Retail inventory pressure – retailers realizing space crunch in their stores and warehouses to carry very large inventories; limited shelf space in retail outlets; continuous launch of new products and attain best shelf display; which reinforced distributors attitude and felt simila r pressure to increase inventory of items they already stocked and to add items they currently did not carry to their product offerings * Lack of good service from distributors to its retailers – Exhibit 13 (in case study) depicts the huge stockouts that Dos experienced in 1989 despite holding a couple of weeks of inventory.This reflects lack of Dos efficient job servicing to its retailers * Plant has high product change over costs because Barilla has either inefficient production or excess finished goods inventory * Utilization of central distribution is low in terms of workers and equipment’s Question 2. How might they be addressed? Will the proposed JITD system solve the problem? The underlying factors in the traditional approach of order fulfillment had a direct impact on manufactures and retailers in the form of thinning margins. Thus, to address these factors an alternative approach of product delivery was crucial and also to take costs out of distribution channe l without compromising service.This was introduced by Brando Vitali’s JITD (Just-In-Time-Distribution) proposal, which focused solely on dry products to be sold through distributors. This approach was also expected to radically change the way in which Barilla’s logistics managed product delivery with JITD bringing in its two key concepts of: replacing sequential optimization with global optimization and eliminating some of the â€Å"false† economies that drive traditional ordering processes. The major challenges of the traditional and rhetoric logistics and distribution channel were: * Extreme demand fluctuations – Barillas dry products often swung wildly from week to week creating extreme demand variability in distributors’ order patterns and also for Barilla’s manufacturing and logistics operations (since 1980s). Distributors sales volumes variation – to manage demand and supply amongst small distributors order and large distributor s order by forecasting and keeping a check on what is required and where it is required and when it is required * Pressures to manufacturing in terms of production lead-time and perishability of product * High Inventory Carrying Cost & manufacturing cost due operational inefficiencies * Unacceptable Cycle Service Levels (CSL)–inadequate product availability * Distributors’ inability to carry large number of SKUs The proposed JITD system will help to, first, determine the quantities and delivery schedules and assist to improve the operations for Barilla and its customers. Second, ship products only when they are needed and what products are needed, rather than building enormous stocks in Barillas’ facilities. Third, Barilla will reap an indirect advantage by reducing its own distribution costs, inventory levels, and ultimately manufacturing costs, by not responding to the volatile demand patterns of the distributors.Fourth, Barilla will be able to manage the much -needed and important capability to achieve â€Å"flexibility† to respond to the demand from end-consumer, which manages the input filter to produce the orders. Fifth, Vendor Managed Inventory Concept. Sixth, using point-of-sale data from retailers (but this is a limitation of Barillas given distribution channel and lack of bar-code scanner and computer linkage at most grocers in Italy). Seventh, ultimate authority to determine shipments is Barilla SpA. Eight, distributors will provide POS data (current) stock level of all SKUs. Hence, expected benefits for Manufacturer are: * Reduced manufacturing cost * Reduced inventory cycle Increased supply chain visibility will lead to better relationships with distributors * High bargaining power over distributors * Increased distributors dependence on Barilla * A planned production planning is possible * Improvement in manufacturing planning using objective data Expected benefits for distributors are: * High service level–addit ional services to retailers without incurring extra cost * Improved fill rates to Retail store with a quick response * Reduced inventory carrying cost Question 3. What conflicts and barriers does implementation of the JITD system face? The implementation of the JITD system does experience some conflicts/resistance and barriers. The conflicts/resistance experienced are internal and external as follows: Internal Sales representative feared reduction in responsibilities and flattening of sales levels * Risk of failing to adjust shipments sufficiently quickly to changes in selling patterns or increased promotions * Firms distribution unit not prepared to handle such a sophisticated relationship * Free space in distributor’s warehouses will give competitors an advantage to acquire more shelf space * Inability to quick shipment or disruption in supply process may lead to stock-out of product * Inability to run trade promotion * Lack of sophisticated infrastructure to handle JITD * Skepticism about cost reduction External * Unconvinced distributors Distributors were not willing to share their warehouse data * Distributors got impression that they were not handling their inventories well * A strategic move by Barilla to justify their long delivery cycle * Perceived transfer of power to Barilla * Lack of faith in Barillas current inventory management * Distributors were skeptical about the effectiveness of the system Question 4. How would you address these? Barilla should focus in external context on implementing the JITD in a staged fashion where it starts to target one of its largest distributors with whom its relishes excellent and elongated relationship. The resistance could then be handled by running experiments at Dry Product Depots where top management is involved actively to reinforce Barillas strategic vision of the company to adopt JITD as a company wide effort and not just as logistics program.By doing so, the qualitative and quantitative implication of performance improvements can be made public (like, average inventory level drop down, increase in service level to retail stores, drop in stock out rate, existing warehouse to accommodate the increased requirement and thus saving on substantial investment on expansion) to share with other distributors. In doing so, such experiments will help establish the credibility of JITD system. Also, other benefits highlighted will add substance to the JITD implementation, such as: better demand forecasting using JITD that ensures robust supply chain; insulate from the excessive demand fluctuations that leads to increased average inventory level, poor USL and recurrent stock-outs; Centralized information to reduce bull-whip effects and enhance inventory management system; ease to make strategic decisions amongst â€Å"push† or â€Å"pull† based systems; customers to be convinced with the vision of win-win concept.Following which Barilla can showcase the real results of running such experiments with JITD to other distributors and approach them with confidence. This will buy-in vote of confidence from all of Barillas distributors to implement JITD by adapting to different distributors where Barillas team develops capacity to translate customer’s standards into internal standards. During the implementation process people from all levels (top management to implementation managers) from both parties to get involved along with a neutral party which is trusted by both groups. After implementation of the JITD, Barilla team could analyze daily shipment data of the distributors and create a database of its historical demand pattern. In addition, Barilla should stimulate shipments with JITD in place.Following which it can develop a protocol which could be used to communicate with all of Barillas customers. To ease the process of identification, each SKU can be identifies with three product codes – Barillas code, customers code and EAN (European article numbering system) barcode. This coding system will facilitate the information reception through any code and will significantly improve data sharing. This will significantly increase Barillas interactivity with all its customers where they are linked by electronically to Barillas headquarters and can exchange information on a daily basis for: * Customer code number to identify the customer Inventory for each SKU, carried by DC * Previous day’s â€Å"sell through†: all shipments of Barilla’s products out of DC to consumers on the previous day * Stock outs on previous day, for every Barilla SKU carried by DC * An advance order for any promotions that the customer plans to run in the future * Preferred carton size of the delivery Internal address Links https://www. google. com. au/search? q=Barilla+case+study&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org. mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb http://www. slideshare. net/himadrisingha/barilla-spa-a-case-on-supply-c hain-integration http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=PQgBY5wn0aE