Analyzing The Class System In Twelfth Night Duchess Of Malfi English Literature Essay

Analyzing The Class System In Twelfth Night Duchess Of Malfi English Literature Essay The feast of Twelfth Night where the play takes its name, was celebrated in a time when social hierarchies were turned upside down. That same spirit is alive in Illyria, and Shakespeare has created situations that create a comedic yet farcical tone to the play. I am going to compare and contrast the ways in which hierarchy class are used as plot devices, a means create comedic circumstance and for mistaken identity. Hierarchy is series of ordered groupings of people or things within a system, and in the case of twelfth night the constrains of time have to be taken into consideration, as the views of contemporary audiences would give the play a new interpretation and a loss of satire or comedic value. Feste as a means of a narrative feature if fairly incohesive in his role along the side of characters such as Sir Toby whose actions dictate the plays outcome (his manipulation of Sebastian) rather we know of his intellect although his career does not suggest that he is intelligent one who professionally Counterfeits folly for the entertainment of others, a jester, Clown or one who has little or no reason or intellect although we see Feste as a sharp and witty jester Better a witty fool than a foolish wit. And because of his class no love like Maria is shown for minor roles (although in some adaptations all characters are connected for an orthodox happy ending) O mistress mine, where are you roaming? O, stay and hear; your true loves coming. .he is intelligent one who professionally Counterfeits folly for the entertainment of others, a jester, Clown or one who has little or no reason or intellect although we see Feste as a sharp and witty jester Better a witty fool than a foolish wit. And because of his class no love like Maria is shown for minor roles (although in some adaptations all characters are connected for an orthodox happy ending) O mistress mine, where are you roaming? O, stay and hear; your true loves coming. The almost farcical relationship between Sebastian and Antonio is created by Shakespeare for a hinted comedic effect or just for structure If you will not murder me for my love, let me be your servant. Antonios language can be seen as simply the expression of a purely platonic passion. However, Antonios words can also be seen as carrying an obvious homoerotic charge. It seems safe to say here that if Antonio were a woman, we would read her speech and actions as an unambiguous expression of her love for Sebastian and hope that he would return this love. In a play so concerned with bending gender roles-a play in which Orsino can seem to be attracted to Viola Malovolio portrays a classic image of a Puritan. As Olivias servant, he dreams of power and his status within the inner ring, and wants nothing else than to marry his mistress. This would have seemed absurd and impossible as there are societal normalitys that would prevent such an unfortunate marriage. Although social mobility was beginning to take place, there was still a division among the classes. It would have been quite out of place for a woman of Olivias status to marry one so far beneath her. Although for Malovolio, the situation of how it would be between him and Olivias uncle, Sir Toby Belch, if he had gained the hand of his mistress, he said, I extend my hand to him thus, quenching my familiar smile with an austere regard of control You must amend your drunkenness Malovolios presence in this scene adds a new uncertainty to the play and we start to loose the empathy we once had for the idiotic Malovolio rather we see his pretentious pompous way of displaying his false hope and misguided love. We can see why Maria doesnt feel cathartic about the plot and its unfitting end. The manor in which Malovolio speaks shows that he truly believes he deserves to be above his class and talks almost condescending to Sir Toby whose reaction shows his disapproval. Malovolios desire to rise above his class sets a course for his own demise though the relationship with Olivia; this shows the audience that Sir Toby and the others find his delusions to preposterous. Malovolio is an unsuitable match for Olivia not only of his unappealing personality but also because he is not of noble blood. He is within his class a lower class citizen and to Sir Toby a commoner, while Olivia is a woman of noble blood with money and a high social status. The Duchess (within the duchess of malfi) is an independent and defiant woman who has a strong personality and I think was urged on to remarry by her brothers threats and warnings not to remarry down her social status. I believe that she wanted to defy her brothers, she wanted to rebel, because thats in her nature. Websters primary source for his story (mostly true to history), William Painters  Palace of Pleasure(1567), shows less sympathy for the Duchess, taking a strict, moralistic tone, condemning her for being too lustful and for breaking the accepted rules of her social status Hypocrisy is woven of a fine small thread, Subtler than Vulcans engine: yet, believet,Your darkest actions: nay, your privatst thoughts,Will come to light. . Webster created, in the Duchess what Shakespeare never did, a tragic female protagonist (Juliet doesnt act on her own, Cleopatra shares the world stage with Antony) who represents a challenge to social hierarchy and  natural  order, violas situation was resolved also. As a woman she refuses to be subservient to men: she ignores her brothers commands not to marry, and she takes the initiative to woo Antonio. A rich widow presented a special threat to male-dominated families, as she was now free to marry of her own choosing for love, and to give the family wealth to another man. The problem in a rigid society. Her crime is choosing a husband not from the ruling class but from the upwardly mobile middle class (using the term very slackly). The ruling class, in the shape of Duke Ferdinand and the Cardinal, resist the idea of a woman making a free choice, especially when that choice transgresses class strata. It is necessary for her to be eliminated in order to maintain the status quo . In the case of the Duke an obsession with blood, breeding and pedigree tips over into murkily incestuous desire, a rage to control his sisters sexuality and eventual madness. Jane Eyre  is critical in the exploration of neo-Victorian Englands social hierarchy. Brontes exploration of the complicated social position of governesses is perhaps the novels most important treatment of this theme. Like Heathcliff inWuthering Heights,  Jane is a figure of ambiguous class standing and, consequently, a source of extreme tension for the characters around her. Paradoxically for Malvolio his treatment creates a comedic effect of his outcome due to his class and personality and similarly to Sebastians effect of the propulsion of the play and festes catalytical effect to the narrative, In her novel  Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontà « explores the possibility that class relationships have no absolute boundaries that cannot be crossed. Her protagonist Jane is placed in between economic classes and drifts among the lower, middle, and upper classes of Victorian England. Janes flexible class status allows her to evaluate other characters on their actions and personalities r ather than on their economic status and physical appearance. She forms deep relationships with members of the other classes and holds animosity towards individuals that others might respect based on their achievements in life but who did not act appropriately to Jane. Other characters in the novel judge Jane in much the same way as she judges them; they note her class status and physical appearance at first but then learn to appreciate her for her behaviour and thoughts. Brontà « ends the novel on a dramatic turn of events that completely flip Janes class status. Yet, Jane still remains the same character that we have seen throughout the entire novel. Charlotte Brontà « uses Jane Eyre as an example that class boundaries are not finite and that individuals can transcend them. Jane tends not to evaluate other people based on their class status. Instead, she evaluates peoples superiority or inferiority based on their behavior and forms either deep friendship or animosity based on it. During her childhood at Gateshead, Jane is more emotionally attached to the servant Bessie than to any of her wealthy family members. She bases her adoration on Bessies personal characteristics rather than her economic status. Fraiman tells us that during Christmastime, instead of yearning toward the genteel company, [Jane] would rather spend a quiet evening with Bessie (617) because of the motherly characteristics that Bessie displays towards Jane. Jane longs for the affection of a motherly woman rather than the glamorous company of her rich family. Janes characters disposition manifests, sophistication, education and higher status this would have been expected of an aristocrat, because Victorian governesses, who tutored children in etiquette as well as academics, were expected to possess the culture of the aristocracy. Yet, as paid employees, they were more or less treated as servants; thus, Jane remains penniless and powerless while at Thornfield. Janes understanding of the double standard crystallizes when she becomes aware of her feelings for Rochester; she is his intellectual, but not his social, equal. Even before the crisis surrounding Bertha Mason, Jane is hesitant to marry Rochester because she senses that she would feel indebted to him for condescending to marry her. Janes distress. This situation corresponds to that of Malvolio Jane herself speaks out against class prejudice at certain moments in the book. For example, in Chapter  23  she chastises Rochester: Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!-I have as much soul as you-and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. However, it is also important to note that nowhere in  Jane Eyre  are societys boundaries bent. Ultimately, Jane is only able to marry Rochester as his equal because she has almost magically come into her own inheritance from her uncle. Bronte distils a perfect argument of love and its aforementioned dependency on class distinctions; she has used her characters in a way that there is her own symbolic meaning behind the novel. Brontes has created a direct contrast with the two other texts I am studying, within twelfth night Shakespeares use of class as a means for separation and forbidden love have been used for comedic effect, not to question or contrive against any social limitations, the duchesses situation was not to question but create dramatic effect using class as a division and boundary. Paradoxically to viola and the duchess janes class indifference and ambiguous history created a journey of self discovery and because of her unknown class, a way of finding true uncontrived love was found. The idea of social distinctions setting apart relationships now is considered archaic because of its absurdity and because of the transition within tolerance and rationality, it matters little about wealth and social hierar chy Love in Jane Eyre is a predominant theme and is projected and differed through the hindrance of the class system and its effect on love. I find a similarity within Janes character to Shakespeares viola because of their social difficulties leading to a positive conclusion in both cases. Whereas violas characters social misconception is used primarily for comedic and satiric effect Janes in used as a reflection of the constrains of the written content at the time and like a Christmas carol it has been written to inform and to create a fictional account of how class hindrance can cause suffering and a struggle to achieve and apprehend whats achievable. Brontes used of a first person narrative also gives the novel connotations of factual accounts and gives the whole novel a theme of realism and not directly implied intolerance. The duchess similarly to Janes character is portrayed trough a struggle, also in the duchess of malfi is through love though the class divide. Because of the time constrains within this novel, a different connotation was meant in the meaning of the theme of love though hierarchy. Websters use of class was distinctively a means of a plot device similarly although slightly contrived to twelfth night whereas the plot seems so farcical to his contemporary audience and shocking in the case of the duchess of malfi. Jane Eyre, The duchess of malfi twelfth night all share the confidence that all the characters whose social class is effect when looking fro love are all female. This is partly due to some of the constrains within the novels such as Jane Eyre where a womans ability to choose a partner was dictated their parents and this meant that a class hindrance (neglect from Mrs. Reed and her children I am glad you are no relation of mine. I will never call you aunt again as long as I live. I will never come to visit you when I am grown up; and if any one asks me how I liked you, and how you treated me, I will say the very thought of you makes me sick. Jane asserts her fiery spirit in her tirade, and she displays a keen sense of justice and a recognition of her need for love) made it harder than males to meet agreeable men. Whereas the duchess is of noble blood similarly to the situation of viola in that we know of her situation and the other characters are unaware of her noble blood and she fal ls in love below her class when in disguise as a man and a lower class than she is actually situated. the duchess is in love with a man from below her own class and because of the aforementioned time constrains this relation was seen as inappropriate and would have been contested by her family because of the effect on their families reputation and her future marital prospects.

Difficult Conversations Essay

Great concepts on how communication goes and misses our intended mark. I believe most people begin communicating with the best of intentions, then let their emotions get in the way to forget what the intended outcomes were. Understanding our own emotions, most of us are lost are lost but at the end we all want what’s best for ourselves and what’s best for ourselves is to get along with everyone. This is something that I have pondered and wondered for quite some time now. I often struggled with the reasons why people were confrontational. It made no sense to put any one down or say they are in the wrong. I always have been told treat people well with kindness and respect. But communication is defined as a process by which we assign and convey meaning in an attempt to create shared understanding. This process requires a vast repertoire of skills in an attempt to create shared understanding. This process requires a vast repertoire of skills in intrapersonal and interpersonal processing, listening, observing, speaking, questioning, analyzing, and evaluating. A difficult conversation is any conversation that you dread and perhaps seek to avoid, if possible. There are the situations that keep you up at night in anticipation that you put off or face up to like bad medicine. Our typical approach to the complexity of what happened, the reality of feeling and potential threat to our identity tend to make our conversations more difficult, rather than more productive, often escalating conflict, hurting feelings and damaging relationships indeed, it is our intuitive understanding of this danger that leads us to want to avoid such conversations given how we are likely to handle the conversations, our fears are justified. But unfortunately sometimes assumptions make avoiding a conversation just as problematic. We continue to feel upset. We may feel like such a wimp for not standing up for ourselves. The problem gets worse, since we have done nothing to change the other person’s view or give them the benefit of our view. And the relationship deteriorates anyway, as our lead us to distance and disconnect.

Motorola’s Global Strategy

? Short description of the case For years Motorola and was among the world’s most successful consumer electronics firms. The firm then controlled the emerging U. S. market for cellular telephones and pagers but, like many other firms at the time, was a bit complacent and not aggressively focused on competing with the Japanese. Motorola has remained the exception: Today it is one of the world leaders in mobile communication technology, including the manufacture of cellular telephones, paging devices, automotive semiconductors, and microchips used to operate devices other than computers. Japanese firms began to flood the U. S. market with low-priced, high-quality telephones and pagers. Motorola was shoved into the background. Motorola then decided to fight back and regain the firm’s lost market position. This fight involved a two-part strategy: First learn from the Japanese and then compete with them. To carry out these strategies, executives set a number of broad-based goals that essentially committed the firm to lowering costs, improving quality, and regaining lost market share. Managers were sent on missions worldwide, but especially to Japan, to learn how to compete better. Motorola also try to achieve Six Sigma quality – which is become main strategy of Motorola. By using this strategy, Motorola try to achieve a perfection rate of 99. 9997%. When Motorola actually achieved this level of quality, it received the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Motorola become success on its operations abroad, especially in Japan. It also generates over 56% of its revenues abroad. Problem identification of the case From the case, one of Motorola’s strategy in doing the business is expanse its business abroad. The firm then needs to concentrate on how to do its business abroad and what kind of strategies should be taken to achieve its goal. Motorola controlled the emerging U. S. market for cellular telephones and pagers. Motorola has also won many battles around the world in order to doing its business abroad. But, like many other firms at the time, was a bit complacent and not aggressively focused on competing with the Japanese. Motorola began to fall in its competition with Japanese. For that reason, Motorola have to find new strategies to win its battles, not only the competition with Japanese but also other countries that becomes Motorola’s target market. Formulation of problem solving In terms of finding the strategies to do the business, a company must first define its vision and mission. Economic success, indeed survival, is the result of identifying missions to satisfy a customer’s needs and wants. The organization’s mission defined as its purpose – what it will contribute to society. Mission statements provide boundaries and focus for organizations and the concept around which the firm can rally. The mission states the rationale for organization’s existence. Developing good strategy is difficult, but it is much easier if the mission has been well defined. Motorola also try to picture what their objectives to deal with the competition around Japanese and around the globe. Motorola’s fundamental objective is to attain total customer satisfaction. Others Motorola specific goals are to achieve competitive advantage by becoming the best in its class in terms of people, marketing, technology, product, manufacturing, and service, to increase global market share and to achieve superior financial results and improve shareholder value. Before arrived in the concept of strategies, a company should make an SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis consists of: Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Motorola also build its SWOT analysis based on the market experiences. Motorola’s SWOT analysis comprise of: 1. Strengths Motorola is one of the world's leading providers of wireless communications, semiconductors and advanced electronic systems, components and services. Motorola is an inventor of technology and has first-mover advantage. In the early 1980s, Motorola controlled the emerging U. S. arket for wireless communication devices such as cellular telephones, pagers and high-frequency radios. Motorola maintains sales, service and manufacturing facilities throughout the world, conducts business on six continents and employs more than 139,000 people worldwide. Motorola is strongly committed to delivering customer satisfaction, continuous improvement, and setting new standards of quality. 2. Weaknesses Motorola maintained old strategies in doing business, was conservative and unambitious. Motorola was complacent in its leadership position in the U. S. market, and failed to aggressively compete with the emerging Japanese firms. 3. Opportunities Motorola can compete and expand globally. Information and communications technology is fast-paced, with new discoveries happening every minute. Motorola can match this speed of discovery with new and innovative product and technology development. 4. Threats Japanese electronics firms are heavy competitors in terms of cost and quality leadership. Barriers to entry, supplier power, threats of substitutes, degree of rivalry, and buyer power. After defined its mission and made a SWOT analysis of the company, then the company can start to create its strategies to do the business. Strategy is an organization’s action plan to achieve the mission. Each functional area has a strategy for achieving its mission and for helping the organization reach the overall mission. These strategies exploit opportunities and strengths, neutralize threats, and avoid weaknesses. Firms achieve missions in three conceptual ways: (1) differentiation, (2) cost leadership, and (3) response. Each of the three strategies provides an opportunity for operations managers to achieve competitive advantage. Competitive advantage implies the creation of a system that has a unique advantage over competitors. The idea is to create customer value in an efficient and sustainable way. These conceptual ways then develop into competitive priorities. Competitive priorities consist of: Competing on Cost by lowering cost operation Competing on quality High-Performance Design Consistent Quality Competing on Speed (Time-bases Competition) Fast Delivery On-Time Delivery Development Speed for new product Competing on Flexibility Customization Volume flexibility Motorola’s global strategies The first thing that Motorola’s managers want to do to conquer the competition with Japan is involved a two-part strategy: First learn from the Japanese and then compete with them. Managers were sent on missions worldwide, but especially to Japan, to learn how to compete better. The sending of the managers was divided into three categories, first, plant visit and study of successful Japanese firms such as Toshiba and Hitachi, second, study Motorola’s own Japanese operations to learn more fully how it functioned, third, plant visit and study of U. S. est-practice companies such as General Electric. The lessons that the managers took from this investigation are first, Motorola should adopt and invest in employee education and training. Motorola should not only send employees to limited quality-enhancement training, but must recognize that employees need a broader form of education to ensure that they can initiate and implement effective quality planning and design, and th ereby meet company objectives. From a narrow emphasis on specific quality techniques, Motorola should focus on manufacturing-related education. Management should consider partnering with local schools and colleges in providing courses ranging from practical technical application, to business courses, to graduate work in computer-integrated manufacturing. Second, Motorola should implement a benchmarking program using American and Japanese best-practices. Motorola must know what levels of quality its products must achieve to top its competitors. Each of the firm's business units must implement benchmarking programs that analyze all aspects of a competitor's products to assess manufacturability, reliability, manufacturing cost, and performance. Motorola must also measure the products of other companies against its own standards to verify that whether its own products rank as best in their class. Third, Motorola should adopt the Defective-Parts-Per-Million (DPPM) approach to determine product reliability. From the lessons learned from the Japanese, Motorola should institute the Defective-Parts-Per-Million, or DPPM product reliability standard. DPPM can be defined as the average number of defects in an average production run multiplied by one million. From these lessons, Motorola take some key initiatives to achieve its objectives and to gain the competitive advantage. The key initiatives are: Six Sigma Quality Six sigma was pioneered by Bill Smith at Motorola in 1986; originally used as a metric for measuring defects for improving quality; a methodology to reduce defect levels ; 3. 4 Defects Per Million Opportunities (DPMO). Motorola divided six sigma into three levels, as a metric, as a methodology, and as a management system. Essentially, Six Sigma is all three at the same time. Total cycle time reduction Total cycle time is the time from when a Motorola customer places an order until it is delivered. In fact, in the case of new products, Motorola's cycle-time reduction is even more ambitious; the clock starts ticking the moment the product is conceived. This calls for an examination of the total system, including design, manufacturing, marketing, and administration. Product, Manufacturing and Environmental Leadership Motorola try to be the leader in all segments in order to win the battles of competing with its competitors and to emerge the market around the globe. Motorola try to achieve it by doing customization and put some innovation to its product. The flexibility in doing the business also applied in order to be the leader of the market. Profit Improvement The company has been implementing Six Sigma throughout the organization for over 15 years, extending the practice beyond manufacturing into transactional, support, and service functions. As a result, Motorola has documented over $16 billion in savings. Empowerment for all, in a Participative, Cooperative and Creative Workplace All levels of the company are involved in decision making process. Non-executive employees contribute directly through Motorola's Participative Management Program (PMP). Composed of employees who work in the same area or are assigned to achieve a specific aim, PMP teams meet often to assess progress toward meeting quality goals, to identify new initiatives, and to work on problems. To reward high-quality work, savings that stem from team recommendations are shared. Motorola also do the training as critical to increasing quality and productivity. Motorola’s strategy takes us to its competitive priorities. The primary business strategy of Motorola is six sigma. Motorola try to improve its product quality by reducing the defect levels of the product ; 3. Defects Per Million Opportunities (DPMO). The improvement of quality means that Motorola try to compete in quality among its competitors. Another strategy of Motorola is reducing its total cycle time. This strategy also supported by six sigma approach which is six sigma help to diminish unimportant variables in operations. By reducing its total cycle time, Motorola also try to compete on speed. R educing its total cycle time will affect its cost to operations. Furthermore, six sigma approach means try to achieve perfection of product quality. By eliminating the mistakes, it also reduces the costs to operations. By lowering its cost operation, Motorola also try to compete on cost. Motorola also try to compete on flexibility by customization and able to adapt with trends over the society. Motorola began customizing their Bandit pager in the early 1980s, to offer customers up to 29 million product combinations encompassing hardware and software configurations. Production was consolidated in one factory whereas before the project it had been divided among a number of facilities. Customers select their options and a salesperson enters the specification into a computer system. It is then transmitted to the company systems and on to the assembly process. The facility could accept orders for single pagers in any sequence. The finished product was then shipped to the customer. Conclusions In order to expanse its business, Motorola use its goal concept and SWOT analysis to define its business strategy to compete around the globe, especially Japanese. Motorola try to learn from the Japanese and then compete with them. From the lessons over the managers sending option, Motorola build its key initiatives in order to do its business. The primary key initiative which is its current strategy in competition around the globe is Six Sigma. Other key initiatives are total cycle time reduction, product, manufacturing and environmental leadership, profit improvement, empowerment for all, in a participative, cooperative and creative workplace. Answer the case problem 1. What are the components of Motorola’s international strategy? Answer: 1)Learning from the Japanese 2)Competing directly with them Six Sigma Quality Total Cycle Time Reduction Product, Manufacturing and Environmental Leadership Profit Improvement Empowerment for all, in a Participative, Cooperative and Creative Workplace The first thing that Motorola’s managers want to do to conquer the competition with Japan is involved a two-part strategy: First learn from the Japanese and then compete with them. Managers were sent on missions worldwide, but especially to Japan, to learn how to compete better. The sending of the managers was divided into three categories, first, plant visit and study of successful Japanese firms such as Toshiba and Hitachi, second, study Motorola’s own Japanese operations to learn more fully how it functioned, third, plant visit and study of U. S. best-practice companies such as General Electric. From these lessons, Motorola take some key initiatives to achieve its objectives and to gain the competitive advantage. The key initiatives are: Six Sigma Quality Six sigma was pioneered by Bill Smith at Motorola in 1986; originally used as a metric for measuring defects for improving quality; a methodology to reduce defect levels ; 3. 4 Defects Per Million Opportunities (DPMO). Motorola divided six sigma into three levels, as a metric, as a methodology, and as a management system. Essentially, Six Sigma is all three at the same time. Total cycle time reduction Total cycle time is the time from when a Motorola customer places an order until it is delivered. In fact, in the case of new products, Motorola's cycle-time reduction is even more ambitious; the clock starts ticking the moment the product is conceived. This calls for an examination of the total system, including design, manufacturing, marketing, and administration. Product, Manufacturing and Environmental Leadership Motorola try to be the leader in all segments in order to win the battles of competing with its competitors and to emerge the market around the globe. Motorola try to achieve it by doing customization and put some innovation to its product. The flexibility in doing the business also applied in order to be the leader of the market. Profit Improvement The company has been implementing Six Sigma throughout the organization for over 15 years, extending the practice beyond manufacturing into transactional, support, and service functions. As a result, Motorola has documented over $16 billion in savings. Empowerment for all, in a Participative, Cooperative and Creative Workplace All levels of the company are involved in decision making process. Non-executive employees contribute directly through Motorola's Participative Management Program (PMP). Composed of employees who work in the same area or are assigned to achieve a specific aim, PMP teams meet often to assess progress toward meeting quality goals, to identify new initiatives, and to work on problems. To reward high-quality work, savings that stem from team recommendations are shared. Motorola also do the training as critical to increasing quality and productivity. 2. Describe how Motorola might have arrived at its current strategy as a result of a SWOT analysis! Answer: Motorola controlled the emerging U. S. market for cellular telephones and pagers. Motorola has also won many battles around the world in order to doing its business abroad. But, like many other firms at the time, was a bit complacent and not aggressively focused on competing with the Japanese. Motorola began to fall in its competition with Japanese. Motorola first try to picture what their objectives to deal with the competition around Japanese and around the globe. Before arrived in the concept of strategies, a company made an SWOT analysis. From this SWOT analysis, Motorola tried to find a new way to regain the firm’s lost market position. The first thing that Motorola’s managers want to do to conquer the competition with Japan is involved a two-part strategy: First learn from the Japanese and then compete with them. Managers were sent on missions worldwide, but especially to Japan, to learn how to compete better. The sending of the managers was divided into three categories, first, plant visit and study of successful Japanese firms such as Toshiba and Hitachi, second, study Motorola’s own Japanese operations to learn more fully how it functioned, third, plant visit and study of U. S. best-practice companies such as General Electric. The lessons that the managers took from this investigation are Motorola should adopt and invest in employee education and training, Motorola should implement a benchmarking program using American and Japanese best-practices, and finally Motorola should adopt the Defective-Parts-Per-Million (DPPM) approach to determine product reliability. From these lessons, Motorola take some key initiatives to achieve its objectives and to gain the competitive advantage. The primary key initiative which is its current strategy in competition around the globe is Six Sigma. 3. Discuss Motorola’s primary business strategy! Answer: Motorola’s primary business strategy is Six Sigma. Six Sigma has evolved over the last two decades and so has its definition. Six Sigma has literal, conceptual, and practical definitions. Motorola think about Six Sigma at three different levels: As a metric The term â€Å"Sigma† is often used as a scale for levels of â€Å"goodness† or quality. Using this scale, â€Å"Six Sigma† equates to 3. 4 defects per one million opportunities (DPMO). Therefore, Six Sigma started as a defect reduction effort in manufacturing and was then applied to other business processes for the same purpose. To give such numbers meaning, the engineers at Motorola set up a scale to evaluate the quality of a process based on these defect calculations. At the top of the scale is Six Sigma, which equates to 3. 4 DPMO, or 99. 9997% defect-free. In other words, if a company have a process running at Six Sigma, the company almost eliminated all defects , it's nearly perfect. Of course, most processes don't run at Six Sigma. They run at Five Sigma, Four Sigma or worse. Here's the table that shows full scale to get an appreciation of the numbers involved: The process mean will vary each time a process is executed using different equipment, different personnel, different materials, etc. The observed variation in the process mean was  ± 1. 5 sigma. Motorola decided a design tolerance (specification width) of  ± 6 sigma was needed so that there will be only 3. 4 ppm defects — measurements outside the design tolerance. This was defined as Six Sigma quality. As a methodology As Six Sigma has evolved, there has been less emphasis on the literal definition of 3. 4 DPMO, or counting defects in products and processes. Six Sigma is a business improvement methodology that focuses an organization on: Understanding and managing customer requirements Aligning key business processes to achieve those requirements Utilizing rigorous data analysis to minimize variation in those processes Driving rapid and sustainable improvement to business processes At the heart of the methodology is the DMAIC model for process improvement. DMAIC is commonly used by Six Sigma project teams and is an acronym for: Define opportunity The purpose of this step is to obtain a precise definition of a problem or issue that requires attention. The key here is not to focus on the outcome (which is what most people generally do), but to concentrate company’s attention on the process that creates that outcome. This often requires detailed process mapping to be done so that all the stages in a process, how they link together and how they interrelate, are fully understood. Define opportunity consist of try to know he customer’s requirements, the team charter represents the business case for the project, define and build a process map that relates measurable internal processes to customer needs. Measure performance Once the problem and its potential causes are understood, the company can move on to detailed measurement of all the elements in the process and what influence they have on each other. During this step it is important to focus on the parts of the process that are critical to quality – the ones that can be shown to have the greatest impact on the process outcomes. This step may also require some benchmarking to find parts of your business, or perhaps other businesses these maybe competitors or organisations in other sectors) that manage this process better. Ideally the company will find the best there is to study and learn from. Analyze opportunity Having gathered all the necessary measurements the company can then analyze them to establish how well or poorly the process is working, it’s full detrimental impact on the organization, the opportunities for improvement and the benefits that would result if it were improved. This analysis will show the gap between what is being achieved and what could be achieved, where improvements might be made and whether the investment needed would be justified by the return. Improve performance The information gathered and analyzed in the previous steps will have pinpointed where the maximum returns are possible for the minimum investments. This is therefore where the efforts are focused to ensure that the process is improved in the precise areas and in the specific ways that will have the greatest impact on the outcomes. Control performance This step is needed to ensure that all gains made will remain as gains and will not be allowed to slip back. The purpose is to lock in your success through on-going monitoring and control processes that will guarantee no eversion to the previous, poor results. As a management system Through experience, Motorola has learned that disciplined use of metrics and application of the methodology is still not enough to drive desired breakthrough improvements and results that are sustainable over time. For greatest impact, Motorola ensures that process metrics and structured methodology are applied to improvement opportunities that are directly linked to the organizational strategy. When practiced as a management system, Six Sigma is a high performance system for executing business strategy. Six Sigma is a top-down solution to help organizations: Align their business strategy to critical improvement efforts Mobilize teams to attack high impact projects Accelerate improved business results Govern efforts to ensure improvements are sustained The Six Sigma Management System drives clarity around the business strategy and the metrics that most reflect success with that strategy. It provides the framework to prioritize resources for projects that will improve the metrics, and it leverages leaders who will manage the efforts for rapid, sustainable, and improved business results. References Heizer, Jay & Render, Barry, Operations Management, Eight Edition, The Prentice Hall, 2006. Pande, Peter S, Neuman, Robert P, & Cavanagh, Roland R, The Six Sigma Way: How GE, Motorola, and Other Top Companies are Honing Their Performance, McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc, 2000. Pyzdek, Thomas, The Six Sigma Project Planner: A Step-by-Step Guide to Leading a Six Sigma Project Through DMAIC, McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc, 2000. http://www. motorola. com/ http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Motorola http://www. trizsigma. com/six. html http://www. brecker. com/six_sigma. htm

Coffee Growing Regions

Every morning, millions of people around the world enjoy a cup of coffee to get a jump start on their day. In doing so, they may not be aware of the specific locations that produced the beans used in their latte or black coffee. Top Coffee Growing and Exporting Regions of the World Generally, there are three primary coffee growing and exporting areas throughout the world and all are in the equatorial region. The specific areas are Central and South America, Africa and the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. National Geographic calls this area between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn the Bean Belt as nearly all of the commercially grown coffee in the world comes out of these regions. These are the supreme growing areas because the best beans produced are those grown at high altitudes, in a moist, tropical climate, with rich soils and temperatures around 70 °F (21 °C) -- all of which the tropics have to offer. Similar to fine wine growing regions, however, there are variations on each of the three different coffee growing regions as well, which affects the overall flavor of the coffee. This makes each type of coffee distinct to its particular region and explains why Starbucks says, Geography is a flavor, when describing the different growing regions around the world. Central and South America Central and South America produce the most coffee out of the three growing locations, with Brazil and Colombia leading the way. Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Panama also play a role here. In terms of flavor, these coffees are considered mild, medium bodied, and aromatic. Colombia is the most well-known coffee producing country and is unique because of its exceptionally rugged landscape. However, this allows small family farms to produce the coffee and, as a result, it is consistently ranked well. Colombian Supremo is the highest grade. Africa and the Middle East The most famous coffees from Africa and the Middle East originate in Kenya and the Arabian Peninsula. Kenyan coffee is generally grown in the foothills of Mount Kenya and is full bodied and very fragrant, while the Arabian version tends to have a fruity flavor. Ethiopia is also a famous place for coffee in this region and is where coffee originated around 800 C.E. Even today, though, coffee is harvested there off of wild coffee trees. It mainly comes from Sidamo, Harer, or Kaffa --  the three growing regions within the country. Ethiopian coffee is both full flavored and full bodied. Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is particularly popular for coffees from Indonesia and Vietnam. The Indonesian islands of Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi are famous around the world for their rich, full-bodied coffees with earthy flavors, whereas Vietnamese coffee is known for its medium bodied light flavor. Additionally, Indonesia is known for its warehouse aged coffees that originated when farmers wanted to store the coffee and sell it at a later date for a higher profit. It has since become highly valued for its unique flavor. After being grown and harvested in each of these different locations, the coffee beans are then shipped to countries around the world where they are roasted and then distributed to consumers and cafes. Some of the top coffee importing countries are  the United States, Germany, Japan, France, and Italy. Each of the aforementioned coffee exporting areas produce  coffee that is distinctive of its climate, topography  and even its growing practices. All of them, however, grow coffees that are famous around the world for their individual tastes and millions of people enjoy them every day.