Strategic Decisions for Sustainable Competitive Advanatage

Strategic Decisions for Sustainable Competitive Advanatage Introduction Competitive Advantage According to Daft, strategy is the plan of action that allocates resources and activities and aims at dealing with the environment, achieving a competitive advantage and attaining the organisations goals. Competitive advantage refers to what sets the organisation apart from others and provides it with a distinctive edge for meeting customer needs in the marketplace (Daft 2006, p.274). The choice that will make the organisation different is the essence of formulating strategy (Porter 1996). In order to remain competitive, companies need to focus on core competencies, develop synergy and create value. According to Kotler, competitive advantage is a companys ability to perform in one or more ways that competitors cannot or will not match (Kotler 2006, p.150). A competitive advantage is said to be sustainable when it has the means to edge out rivals when competing for the favours of customers (Porter 1980). Although sustainability is the ideal case for advantages, the most common competitive advantages are leverageable, which means that a company can use them as a catalyst to new ones. The competitive advantages that companies develop will fail if the costumers do not value them as important. Therefore companies must focus on building customer advantages. Porter argues that competitive advantage results from a organisations ability to perform the required activities at a collectively lower cost than rivals, or perform some activities in unique ways that create buyer value and hence allow the organisations to command a premium price (Porter 1991, p.102). This report will try to investigate the strategic decisions to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Four different theories will be examined: The SCP paradigm, Porters generic strategies, the resource-based approach and the core competences model. These theories, along with the the compliance and choice paradox will be tested through application in practice at the industry of gaming consoles. The SCP framework In the structure conduct performance (SCP) framework (Anonymous 2007), the way in which the organisation acts is determined by external forces in the industry (market or industrial structure). This school of thought argues that the structure of an industry will determine the strategies (conduct) and that this in turn will determine performance. Market structure: the degree of market concentration, product differentiation, barriers to entry and exit, vertical integration and diversification. Conduct: goals of the organisations, strategies, anti-competitive practices, research and innovation, advertising etc. Performance: a number of performance indicators, output growth, sales revenue growth, profitability, technical progress, employment, efficiency, added shareholder value, added economic value. Therefore, the structure of the industry is the key parameter in the formation of strategy. Not all strategies are appropriate for all industries, Successful strategies may fail (not produce the intended outcome) if applied as-is in a different environment. However, this linear paradigm proves itself too deterministic. When strategic managers apply this approach, they take the industrial structure as a given. In this way, their job is to respond to the external forces and plan their strategies in an automated way by analysing the competitive environment. However in many industries the environment follows turbulence change. Strategists tend to change the environment by designing strategies that will shape it to their needs and their advantage, instead of being spectators to the change. In these cases, the industry structure is being shaped by the strategies, and not the other way round as the SCP paradigm argues. Five Forces and Generic Strategies Michael Porters (Porter 1980) work is organisationally rooted in the SCP paradigm. According to his approach, two factors underlie the choice of competitive strategy. Industry attractiveness and the factors that determine it. The determinants of relative competitive position within an industry. In order to analyse the industry attractiveness, Porter developed the Five Forces model. According to that, in any industry competition is mutually influenced by five forces: The entry of new competitors, the threat of substitutes, the bargaining power of buyers, the bargaining power of suppliers and the rivalry amongst the competitors. Although the Five forces model roots within the SCP approach, Porter differentiates in that he argues that an organisation is not a prisoner of its industry structure. Through their strategies, organisations can shape industry by influencing the competitive forces. For example, industry leaders can influence buyers, suppliers and other competitors, and subsequently shape the underlying industry structure. Competitive strategy is also influenced by the specific relative position within the industry. Through positioning, organisations can possess two basic types of competitive advantage: low cost and differentiation. These types of competitive advantage result from the ability to cope with the industrial forces better than the competitors. Porter introduces three generic competitive strategies for achieving above-average performance in an industry. Cost leadership, when the organisation tries to become the low-cost producer or operator of the industry. Risks associated with cost leadership include: Changes in technology allow new entrants to become themselves the cost leaders. This risk is minimised by constant research and development, but obviously such investments require rise of costs. Margins fall when costs rise (by internal or external factors). In such scenarios, the differentiation advantage may overcome the cost leadership one. Differentiation, when the organisation seeks to be unique within the industry along some dimensions that are valued by buyers (higher quality, more functions etc). If it succeeds, it is then rewarded for its uniqueness with a premium price. However, when choosing to differentiate, companies should seek appropriate ways that lead to a price premium greater than the cost of differentiating. Risks of this strategy include: Costumers may choose another differentiated product which they value more, or their needs change over time. Costumers may choose the low-cost products, especially when the price difference tends to be high. Other competitors may imitate the chosen differentiation. Focus, which rests on the choice of a narrow competitive scope within an industry and the optimisation of the strategy for the target segment. In cost focus an organisation seeks a cost advantage in the target segment. In differentiation focus, the organisation seeks differentiation in the narrow segment. Risks associated with focus are: The focus strategy is imitated. In order for this to be avoided, entry barriers are required (e.g. assets valued by the costumers such as customer care services, reputation, etc). The target segment becomes unattractive. Broadly targeted competitors dominate the segment. Again, entry barriers will sustain the competitive advantage experienced. Organisations that try to position on more than one generic strategy but fail to achieve any of them are stuck in the middle. Not only they do not possess a competitive advantage, but they are in a disadvantage situation, since the cost-leader, the differentiators or the focusers are already better positioned. Although Porters positioning framework is an industry standard for more than twenty years, Mintzberg (1998) argues that it constrains creative thought. Strategists do not think outside the box and the given options (cost leadership, differentiation and focus) tend to minimise the process of strategic thinking. Resource-based view According to Barney (1991), the environmental models of competitive advantage have assumed that organisations within an industry are identical in terms of the resources they control and the strategy they pursue. Further, they assume that if resource heterogeneity develops within an industry, it will not last long since strategic resources are highly mobile (they can be bought and sold). The proposed resource-based view substitutes these assumptions. The model assumes that strategic resources can be heterogeneous and that these resources may not be perfectly mobile. Organisations resources include all assets, capabilities, processes, attributes, information, knowledge, etc, controlled by an organisation that enable it to implement strategies that promote efficiency. In order for a resource to hold the potential of sustained competitive advantage, it must have four attributes. It must be valuable, exploiting opportunities and neutralising threats. It must be rare among existing and potential competitors. A valuable resource cannot be considered as a source of competitive advantage if it is shared amongst a large number of organisations, because all organisations will have the capability to exploit it and will be lead to a common strategy It must be imperfectly imitable. Valuable and rare resources can only be sources of sustained competitive advantage if competitors that do not possess them cannot obtain them. There cannot be strategically equivalent substitutes. Organisation resources are strategically equivalent when they can be exploited separately to implement the same strategy. That is, an organisation may be able to substitute a similar resource that enables it to conceive and implement the same strategy. Further, very different resources may also be strategic substitutes. The proposed framework reasons that resources heterogeneity and immobility within an industry allow organisation resources to be valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable and not easily substitutable. Such resources will then lead to exploiting opportunities and neutralising threats, in order for sustained competitive advantage to be achieved. It should be noted that a distinction is drawn in the literature between resources (tangible) and capabilities (less tangible) (Anonymous 2007). The framework of Barney unites both resources and capabilities under the umbrella of resources. Core competences There are some capabilities that are much less visible and they are more difficult to imitate and establish competitive advantage. These are referred to as core competences (Anonymous 2007). Phahalad and Hamel (1990) take the resource-based approach one step further, through the notion of core competencies. They argue that in the long run, competitive advantage depends on the ability to build core competencies at lower cost and more speedily. Management should consolidate corporate-wide technologies and production skills into competencies that empower individual businesses to adapt promptly to environmental changes. Three criteria are being used in order to categorise a capability as a core competence. A core competence should provide potential access to a wide variety of markets. It should make a significant contribution to the perceived customer benefits of the end-product. Finally, it should be difficult for competitors to imitate. Examples of core competencies include Apples ability to create from scratch and innovate and Sonys ability to miniature. According to this framework, the common mistake that companies do is to outsource and finally lose their core competences, led to this by the strict perception of competitiveness in terms of price/performance. Although a more competitive product may result, competitiveness cannot be sustained as core competences will be surrendered. Another common mistake is that companies often miss opportunities to establish competences that are evolving in existing business. At the Strategic Business Unit level, existing core competencies are often being sabotaged by underinvestment and improper allocation, which may result in atrophy and missing opportunities. Case study: Seventh Generation of video gaming consoles The seventh generation of video gaming consoles is a competition between Sonys Playstation 3, Microsofts Xbox 360 and Nintendos Wii and started on November 2005 with the release of Xbox 360. Although gaming is the main characteristic and attribute of these products, the war of High-Definition (HD) video formats between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, two incompatible formats that tried to improve and replace the DVD standard, affected the industry (ref: wikipedia HD war). Microsoft and Sony approached the market with cutting-edge graphics and expensive technology as well as HD video capabilities. Both consoles target hard-core and casual gamers. Microsoft, being a member of the HD-DVD alliance chose to offer the HD-DVD option as a peripheral for its device, while Sony, a founding member of the Bly-ray alliance chose to integrate the Blu-ray player within PS3. On the other hand, Nintendo chose to differentiate. Nintendo did not take any sides at the format war. Wii targets a broader demographic than that of Microsofts Xbox 360 and Sonys PlayStation 3, as Nintendo planned to attract current hard-core and casual gamers, non-gamers, and lapsed gamers by focusing on new gameplay experiences and new forms of interaction with games. The differentiating feature of the console is its wireless controller, the Wii Remote, which can be used as a handheld pointing device and can detect acceleration and orientation in three dimensions. Positioning of the rivals Competitive Scope: As analysed before, Microsoft and Sony both targeted the hard-core and the casual gamers. Nintendo on the other hand targeted broader demographic including non-gamers and lapsed gamers. According to Porters framework, the generic strategies can be divided into two categories in terms of the competitive scope: Broad Target and Narrow Target. Therefore, in the console industry Nintendo can be positioned within the Broad Target while Microsoft and Sony are positioned within the Narrow Target. Cost: The choices of the competitors regarding their hardware shaped their manufacturing costs to a great extent. Indeed, Sony chose to compete using a new cpu processor (Cell) with a high production cost as well as by integrating the newly arrived Blu-Ray technology. Thus, Sony became the high-cost producer of the industry, with each console costing around $800 to produce (ref:Joystiq). Microsoft utilised industry standard high-end CPUs and GPUs and although they strongly supported the success of the HD-DVD format, they decided to offer the HD-Dvd option as a peripheral component. This resulted in Microsoft being the low-cost producer of the Narrow Market (Cost Focus). Nintendo managed to keep the manufacturing costs very low by not following the path of high-end graphics. Wii (ref: Kotaku) is not only the console with the less production cost, but it is the only one that has an actual profit from every unit sold (Cost leadership). Differentiation: In the Narrow Target, Sony is the company that differentiates its products with the integration of the Blu-Ray drive, which enables the consumers to enter the High Definition video era (Differentiation Focus). In the Broad Target, Nintendo differentiates the whole idea of gaming experience and fun by installing the Wii Remote (Broad Differentiation). The success on the Nintendos case is that the company differentiated the attributes but the costs did not rise. What is clear from this table in combination with the actual sales numbers is that Nintendo managed well in positioning in more than one generic strategy. That of course was a risk, as Porter (1985) claims that achieving cost leadership and differentiation is usually inconsistent, and may lead to stuck in the middle situations. Also, it should be pointed out that the type of Differentiation that Sony chose (Blu-Ray integration) involved high risks. At the time of the launch the battle for the domination of a new HD format had just started. In the case of a possible win of the HD DVD format, it is obvious that Sony would lose that differentiation competitive advantage and would need to re-plan its strategy. On February 2008 Toshiba, HD DVDs creator, announced plans to cease development, manufacturing and marketing of HD DVD players and recorders, giving an end to this war and announcing Blu-Ray as the winner (ref:wikipedia HD war). Its obvious that Sonys differentiation policy will start to pay-off from now on, but until Toshibas announcement the differentiation policy was not valued highly by the consumers, thus not constituting a competitive advantage. Compliance and Choice: The Nintendo case A question is raised on whether or not an organisation should attempt to shape its industry. If an organisation can lead industry developments, the results will be attractive. If the industry norms that are being questioned prove themselves immutable, the attempt might prove suicidal. When the structure of the industry cannot be influenced, compliance to the industry norms is the strategic rule and managers should adapt the organisations to the industry context. On the other hand, when they have the ability to influence the industry structure they should break industry norms by exercising their freedom of choice. In this case managers efforts should be on the direction of changing the terms of competition on their own advantage (De Wit 2004). Up to the seventh generation of video gaming consoles, the industry rules dictated that the consoles should compete in a range of different characteristics such as graphics power, cpu power and exclusive game titles. If a company could top these characteristics, their console would dominate the industry. Sony dominated the sixth generation taking advantage of their ability to have a wide variety of anticipated exclusive game titles. At the seventh generation, Sony and Microsoft compete by following the industry recipe of cutting-edge graphics and exclusive titles. Nintendo tried to shape the rules, by choosing not to compete on the graphics war, but instead pushed the industry to another direction. The Wii Remote controller makes games more fun and gamers experience new forms of interaction (ref: wikipedia 7th generation). The reception of the console by the press was a great success. The console received many different awards, including an Emmy for Game Controller Innovation by The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, a Golden Joystick for Innovation of the Year 2007 at the Golden Joystick Awards and the award in breakthrough technology by Spike TVs Video Games. The reception by the market was even greater. Wii is the best selling 7th generation console worldwide. It even outsold Microsofts 360, which launched a year earlier (ref:wikipedia Wii). Nintendos choice of not following the industry recipe paid off. This move granted a competitive advantage because consumers valued the industry shift. If Nintendos estimations regarding the perception of the value were wrong, the company would have failed in this generation. But since they proved correct, they can claim that they are the 7th generation industry leaders. Microsofts Resources and Core Competences Microsoft decided to seek competitive advantage in the industry by utilising their capabilities and competences. One of the main capabilities of Microsoft is creating operating systems and software. Therefore, they developed the Xbox Live service (ref: wikipedia Xbox Live), a unified online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service which integrated many different features that added value to the console, including Friends list and Recent player list Windows Live messenger integration Voice and Video Chat Video Chat Multiplayer online gameplay Parental controls, limiting childrens exposure to other users (Family Settings) This capability of Microsoft is a core competence because it fits the description: It provides potential access to a wide variety of markets (software market, services market, gaming industry). It makes a significant contribution to the perceived customer benefits of the end-product. Finally, it is difficult for competitors to imitate, since neither Sony nor Nintendo have software expertise. They both developed online services through outsourcing but they still have not managed to make them as unified and full of features as the Xbox Live. Competing with Sony for the hard-core and casual gamers, Microsoft used its core competences and resources and finally managed to gain competitive advantage. The task was not so easy because the brand name of Playstation was almost a synonym for gaming console in the previous generations. However, the sales numbers indicate that Sony is far behind Microsoft in the 7th generation consoles war. Conclusion The search for competitive advantage is of great importance for every organisation. This report investigated the strategic decisions to achieve sustainable competitive advantage through the examination of four different theories. The SCP framework is a deterministic approach. It is argued that the structure of an industry will determine the strategies and that these in turn will determine performance. Porter, although routed in the SCP framework, recognises that an organisation is not imprisoned by the structure. He introduces the Five Forces framework to analyse the industry attractiveness which plays an important role, but also argues that an organisations competitive success depends on the competitive position within the industry through three generic strategies: Cost Leadership, Differentiation and Focus. However, Mintzberg criticises in that the given options of generic strategies minimise strategic thinking. The resource-based view and the core competences models argue that sustained competitive advantage resides on the development and usage of resources, capabilities and competences. In the 7th generation of video gaming consoles the three competitors tried to gain competitive advantage through different ways. Microsoft utilised its core competences (software development) and resources and established an online environment to support its Xbox 360 console. On the other hand, Nintendo achieved competitive advantage by positioning at both Cost Leadership and Differentiation. In addition to that, Nintendo risked by choosing not to comply with the industry norms of high-end graphics but to try to shape the industry towards innovative gameplay experience. As the numbers indicate the competitive strategies chosen by both Nintendo and Microsoft have paid-off. Sony risked by choosing to differentiate with the integration of the Blu-Ray optical drive. If the format war had ended in favour of HD DVD, Sonys differentiation would have been vanished. In addition, the differentiation introduced by Sony was not highly valued by the consumers while the war was in progress, and th e numbers indicate that Sony has already fallen behind. The application of the theories in practice revealed that differentiation strategies involve high risks. However, if successful, the rewards can be enormous. Not following the industry norms is again risky, but managing to finally shape the industry will show the way to the market leader position. References Anonymous (2007), Strategic Analysis and Choice Module Book Edition 12, Management Centre, University of Leicester Barney, J. B. (1991), Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage, Journal of Management, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 99-120. Daft, R. L. (2006), The new era of management, International Edition, South-Western, London De Wit, B. and Meyer, R. (2004), Strategy: Process, Content Context 3rd edition, Thomson Learning, London Joystiq, http://www.joystiq.com/2006/02/18/playstation-3-estimated-to-cost-900-per-unit/, [25 February 2008] Kotaku, http://kotaku.com/gaming/wii/wii-autopsy-discovers-manufacturing-cost-221736.php, [25 February 2008] Kotler, P. and Keller, K. L. (2006), Marketing Management 12e, Pearson Prentice Hall Mintzberg, H., Ahlstrand, B. and Lampel, J. (1998), Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour Through the Wilds of Strategic Management, Simon Schuster, New York, NY, 1998, p. 119. Phahalad, C. K. and Hamel, G. (1990), The core competence of the corporation, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 68, No. 3, May-June, pp. 79-91 Porter, M. E. (1980), Competitive Strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors, Free Press, New York Porter, M. E. (1985), Competitive Advantage: Creating and sustaining superior performance, Free Press, New York Porter, M. E. (1991), Towards a Dynamic Theory of Strategy, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 12, 1991, pp.95-117 Porter, M. E. (1996), What is Strategy?, Harvard Business Review, November December 1996, pp.61-78 Seekingalpha, http://seekingalpha.com/article/34357-game-console-wars-ii-nintendo-shaves-off-profits-leaving-competition-scruffy, [25 February 2008] Wikipedia 7th generation, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_game_consoles_%28seventh_generation%29, [25 February 2008] Wikipedia HD war, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_high_definition_optical_disc_formats [25 February 2008] Wikipedia Xbox Live, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_Live, [25 February 2008] Wikipedia Wii, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii, [25 February 2008]

Language and motor Development in Early Childhood Essay

Children experience different rates of language and motor development. There are many factors, which contribute to the deference that exist in the rates of both developments. There are the social, environment and genetic factors that play a part in childhood development. Children show various weaknesses both in their physical and social development. As a result of the differences, children there are various strategies that are used to enhance childhood development. Different strategies are used depending on a child because every child has unique needs. In the given case where Sara exposes loneliness character, various strategies can be used to enhance her social participation. One of the ways that Sara can be helped is by encouraging her to befriend more sociable child. This would make Sara be influenced by the sociable child to become social. This may take time but after sometimes but after sometimes Sara would start following her friends actions. By this, her confidence will also be build up gradually. The child who she is encouraged to be friends with should be younger than she is. This will help her to be the guide and senior, which will help her increase her self esteem. She will be in a position to feel the responsibility and she will learn a lot because her mind will analyze some situations. This will also help her improve her communication skills. (Cassidy & Asher, 1992). Sara should also be encouraged to join group activities. This will assist her to, as she will require communication and socializing. She will be able to lean to express herself in front of the group members and share her abilities. Her participation will also make her feel proud of her achievements, which will act as one way of boosting her confidence. This process may not be easy at the start because she may be hesitant but by being shown that this is a safe activity, she will get attracted. She should be guided to start participating in small groups, which will not scare her because she cannot be ignored easily. This will also enhance her chances of leading the group because there will be fewer choices. When she is comfortable in the small group, then the group can be increased in size gradually. This will make her adapt to social life in the school and she will finally be able to socialize fully with other children. Sara can also be helped to stop her loneliness by being given specific tasks. This should be applied at home and in school. (Cassidy,   & Asher, 1992).This will help her learn some strategies and techniques, which she can apply when she is undertaking group activities. She should be allowed to undertake the specific tasks alone so that she can realize that she can be trusted. The only thing that is d eeded in this case is monitoring so that she does the right thing. A teacher can also assist Sara by looking at how the school curriculum may be helpful to her in developing her social skills. This is because there are children who may benefit by being allowed to have opportunities to express their feelings of loneliness or sadness by use of manipulation, music, drawing or use of other creative activities. The strategies will allow Sara to have more positive experiences, which will assist her build her confidence and assertiveness. These two qualities are necessary for a child to be able to develop better social skills (Kontos & Wilcox-Herzog, 1997). References Cassidy, J., & Asher, S. R. (1992). Loneliness and peer relations in young children. Child Development, 63(2), 350-365. EJ 443 494. Kontos, S., & Wilcox-Herzog, A. (1997). Teachers’ interactions with children: Why are they so important? Young Children, 52(2), 4-13. EJ 538 100.

Nursing Dilemmas Essay

There is a set of regulations or guidelines that guide the behavior of nurses in a clinical set up. These are responsibilities towards the patients and other workers in the organization. One of the clinical dilemmas encountered when genetic test made on a case reveal a high risk of development of a medical challenge such as breast cancer. The indecisiveness comes in when as a nurse is deciding on how to handle the situation and how to break the news the patient. Some nurses and physicians will recommend regular screening and, on the other hand, others will propose surgical interventions. There will be a set of uncertainties but using the Ustaal’s nine steps of coming to a moral decision will help solve the situation. Identifying the dilemma is the first step toward realization of the best decision. It involves determining the type of a dilemma whether clinical or legal (Davis, 2010). Identifying the potential outcomes of a decision made will enable one to know the best option that will have least effects on the patient. The nurse should be able to guide the patient on the implication of either having regular checks or taking a breast surgery. By reviewing the ethical codes guiding that kind of a situation, will be helpful in following the clearest moral code. A nurse is also supposed to consider various actions that can be taken towards the situation and decide the most appropriate way to communicate them to the client. It is vital to list the possible consequences of choosing a particular course of direction towards solving the experienced dilemma and as a registered nurse one will have the best knowledge on what path to follow. Finally, a nurse will chose the best course of action, involve the patient in the decision through soliciting clients inputs in the decision and eventually, the implementation of the strategy will take place. Works Cited Davis, A. (2010). Ethical Dilemmas & Nursing Practice. USA: Julie Alexander Publishers.

Recycling Composite Materials

Recycling Composite Materials Composite materials, known for their durability, high strength, excellent quality, low maintenance, and low weight, are widely being used in automotive, construction, transport, aerospace and renewable energy industries. Their use in  numerous  engineering applications is a result of the edge composites provides over traditional materials. Recycling and disposal of composite materials is an issue that is being increasingly addressed, as it should with any widely used material. Previously, there were very limited commercial recycling operations for mainstream composite materials due to technological and economic constraints but RD activities are on the rise. Recycling Fiberglass Fiberglass is a versatile material that provides  tangible  potential over conventional materials such as wood, aluminum, and steel. Fiberglass is produced by using less energy and is used in products which result in fewer carbon emissions. Fiberglass offers advantages of being light weight yet has high mechanical strength, impact resistant, is chemical, fire and corrosion resistant, and a good thermal and electrical insulator. Even though fiberglass is extremely useful for the reasons previously listed, an end of life solution is needed. Current FRP composites with thermoset resins do not biodegrade. For many applications where fiberglass is used, this is a good thing. However, in landfills, this is not.   Research has lead to methods such as grinding, incineration, and pyrolysis being used for recycling fiberglass. The recycled fiberglass finds its way in various industries and can be used in various end products. For instance, recycled fibers have been effective in reducing shrinkage in concrete thereby increasing its durability. This concrete can be used best in freezing temperate zones for concrete floors, pavements, sidewalks, and curbs. Other uses for recycled fiberglass include being used as a filler in resin, which can increase  mechanical  properties in certain applications. Recycled fiberglass has also found its use together with other products such as recycled tire products, plastic wood products, asphalt, roofing tar and cast polymer  countertops. Recycling Carbon Fiber Carbon fiber composite materials are ten times stronger than steel and eight times that of aluminum, along with being much lighter than both materials. Carbon fiber composites have found their way into the manufacturing of aircraft and spacecraft parts, automobile springs, golf club shafts, racing car bodies, fishing rods, and more. With the current annual worldwide carbon fiber consumption being at 30,000 tons, most waste goes to the landfill. Research has been conducted to extract the high-value carbon fiber from end-of-life components and from manufacturing scrap, with the goal to use them for creating other carbon fiber composites. Recycled carbon fibers are used in bulk molding compounds for smaller, nonload-bearing components, as a sheet-molding compound and as recycled materials in load-bearing shell structures. The recycled carbon fiber is also finding uses in phone cases, laptop shells and even water bottle cages for bicycles. Future of Recycling Composite Materials Composite materials are preferred for many engineering applications because of its durability and superior strength. Proper waste disposal and recycling at the end of the useful life of composite materials is necessary.  Many current and future waste management and environmental legislation will mandate engineering materials to be properly recovered and recycled, from products such as automobiles, wind turbines, and aircraft that have lived their useful life. Although many technologies have been developed such as mechanical recycling, thermal recycling, and chemical recycling; they are on the brink of being fully commercialized. Extensive research and development are being done to develop better recyclable composites and recycling technologies for composite materials. This will contribute to the sustainable development of composites industry.

41 Words That Are Better Than Good

41 Words That Are Better Than Good 41 Words That Are Better Than Good 41 Words That Are Better Than Good By Michael The soul of writing is specificity, yet all too often, we lean on general-purpose words instead of choosing the most precise ones. Most of our daily communication probably depends on less than 1,000 words. Of course, that includes words such as you, I, is, are, of, and for, which are already the best words for the job. I admit that sometimes in conversation, I deliberately limit my vocabulary because I dont want others to look at me quizzically: Who does he think he is, anyway: one of the authors of a writing tips blog? The result is vague, even boring, conversation, using words so general, they could fit almost everything in the world. How was your trip? Fine. How do you feel? Good. Choosing other words is no improvement, if we always choose the same words. A world where everything is cool or awesome is not much more interesting than a world where everything is fine or good. So lets buck the trend. Here are 41 alternatives to good that cant be used to describe everything in the world because they each have specific meanings, or at least, different connotations. breathtaking amazing, surprising, astonishing, enough to make you gasp with pleasure, and almost enough to make you forget to breathe. choice preferred, prized, specially selected. In New Zealand, the exclamation Choice! is used similarly to Great! in the United States. dazzling amazing, splendid, brilliant, shining so bright that its hard to see it. delectable highly delicious, usually describing food, from the Latin for delight. delightful causing joy, delight or pleasure, producing positive emotion, with the same Latin root as delectable. deluxe high quality, related to luxury, from the Latin for excess. enjoyable pleasant, bringing pleasure and satisfaction bringing joy. excellent superior, best in its class, of the highest quality, making a person shout Excelsior! exceptional uncommon, rare, and better for being so. exemplary an example of high quality, a model for others. fine delicate, exquisite, almost as good as it gets. Related to the French and Latin words for finished and exact. Overused until often it merely means acceptable. exquisite exceptionally fine or rare, with the sense of extreme favorable helpful, encouraging, positive, convenient, such as getting hoped-for results. first-rate exceptionally good, in the highest class. Describing a British naval vessel with more than 100 guns. first-string the starting players on a sports team; that is, the best of them. Many other expressions begin with the word first. five-star from the hotel rating system in which a five-star hotel is among the worlds best. formidable causing awe, respect, wonder or even fear, perhaps because its so large or strong. gilt-edged high quality, from the practice of putting a thin layer of gold on the edges of a book. gratifying pleasing, satisfying, making someone content. incredible amazing, beyond belief, almost too good to be true. luxurious fine or comfortable, such as an expensive hotel room. I use it to show gratitude for a gift that is too fancy for my tastes. magnificent splendid, elegant, noble. From the Latin word for great deeds. opulent showy, extravagant, magnificent, sumptuous more than luxurious, with the sense of more than you really need pleasing giving cheer, pleasure, or enjoyment something that pleases you positive certain, good, favorable. Currently used in expressions such as positive energy or positive vibes. precious beloved, valuable, worthy, of high price. Precious writing is euphuistic: overly cute and takes itself too seriously. prime first, as in first quality. rare uncommon, scarce, and therefore valuable. The gravestone of an influential English playwright is inscribed with the (misspelled) tribute O rare Ben Johnson. satisfying sufficient, pleasing, more than adequate. select privileged, specially chosen, high-quality. shipshape well-organized, fully prepared, meticulous, tidy. Before you embark on an ocean voyage, you want your ship to be in shape. sound healthy, solid, secure, complete. If a floor is sound, you wont fall through. sterling of high, verifiable value, as in sterling silver, which is 92.5% pure silver. Originally referring to British coins, which had a star or a starling on them in the Middle Ages. striking impressive, memorable, calling to mind the striking of a coin. sumptuous costly, expensive, as in a meal with many courses of great variety. Weve got a whole article about sumptuous. top-notch belonging to the highest level, possibly from some 19th century game that used notches to keep score. subtle clever and crafty, though thats an older meaning. A subtle flavor is not overbearing, and the chef will be pleased if you tell him so. up to snuff meeting the standard, adequate, sharp. Snuff is a more expensive powdered tobacco, which was sniffed by higher-class gentlemen as a stimulant in the 19th century. valuable worthy of esteem, having high worth or value. welcome anticipated, a pleasure to see, received with gladness, as in welcome news. From the Old English for â€Å"a wished-for guest. well-made built right, properly constructed, sound. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Types of RhymeOne Sheep, Two Sheep, One Fish, Two Fish . . .48 Writing Prompts for Middle School Kids

Corporate Governance frameworks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Corporate Governance frameworks - Essay Example Summary and conclusions Page 10 7. References 1. Introduction Corporate governance is vitally important to the economic well being of a modern capitalist economy. In complex organisations with variety of interested parties and many potential conflicts of interest, corporate governance can inform these parties about the organisation’s activities and also protects stakeholder’s rights through monitoring and control. This report aims to critically compare the UK and US systems of corporate governance, where this term is more narrowly defined as relating to the accountability of decision makers, and excludes from consideration the role of corporate governance in increasing organisational efficiency. The report is structured in to six sections. The first section, this introduction, explains the purpose of the report and gives a broad outline of the way the argument will be constructed, as well as what bases of evidence it will draw from. The second section gives an overview of the generic role of corporate governance, its history and development, as well as explaining why it is necessary. The third section will describe the different approaches to corporate governance in the United Kingdom and the United States respectively. ... The UK and US responses to such scandals will be contrasted and the relative advantages and disadvantages of their systems of corporate governance will be discussed.the The sixth and final section will summarise the arguments made and outline the major conclusions resulting from the analysis. 2. The aims of corporate governance Although, various definitions of corporate governance exist, this report will take the following as its working definition (Sir Adrian Cadbury (2000) in 'Global Corporate Governance Forum', World Bank), because it effectively highlights the key issues that the following analysis will address: "Corporate Governance is concerned with holding the balance between economic and social goals and between individual and communal goals. The corporate governance framework is there to encourage the efficient use of resources and equally to require accountability for the stewardship of those resources." This neatly summarises the reason for the institution of corporate gov ernance. Modern businesses have a variety of stakeholders whose interests may conflict; however, it is the case thatthe control of the organisation is skewed heavily towards a single subset of this group, the managers. Therefore, a system of checks and balances is required to safeguard the rights of all stakeholders. Corporate governance can be viewed either through the ‘lens’ of Principal-Agent Theory, or Stakeholder Theory. Principal-Agent Theory is in the tradition of economic studies of asymmetric information (Mirrlees, 1975) and theories of the firm (Gibbons, 2005) and provides a focused analysis by distilling the problem down to the basic separation of ownership and control – that shareholders own the

Management Managerial Process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Management Managerial Process - Essay Example In fact, there is no technique or method that could ensure that a risk would not occur during the project. In this scenario, every project manager is well aware of the fact that they have to deal with a variety of risk all the way through the project life cycle. In the context of a project, a risk can be an action or event that can have an effect on the project. However, the nature of this effect can be either positive or negative. Additionally, a risk can have a cause and it takes place in the result of an event. For example, a cause can be related to changes in scheduling which can affect other activities of the project. In addition, the majority of the project risks can affect project duration, budget, schedule, and quality. Moreover, project risks are managed through project risk management approach. In this scenario, risk management is the process of identifying and managing project risks. Figure 1Risk Management Process, Image Source: (Gray, Larson and Desai 209) (Gray, Larson and Desai 207) presented a risk management model to deal with project risks. Figure1 presents a graphical representation of this model. This model is divided into different phases and each phase performs specific tasks. The first phase is risk identification where a detailed analysis is carried out on the project in order to determine the sources of risks. At this phase, the project management team determines the holes that can cause any risk during the project. Once this phase is completed this process moves to the next phase that is known as risk assessment. At this stage, the project management team further analyzes the identified risks. In this scenario, they analyze these risks on the basis of their severity level, probability and so on. For instance, if a risk occurs then what impact it will have on the project. After the completion of this phase, this process moves to the next phase that is known as the risk response and development phase. At this stage, a project management team develops the strategy or plan to deal with identified risks. At this stage, the project team finds the solutions to minimize the impact of these risks on the overall project. The last stage of this process is known as risk response control. This phase involves monitoring and controlling the project risk strategy (Gray, Larson and Desai 209). A risk is anything that may potentially hinder with successful completion of the project or business task (CIO Archive; Kerzner). A project can involve a wide variety of risks. Some of the well-known kinds of risk can include: Time Risk This kind of risks is very common in projects. In this scenario, the time duration for the completion of a project can increase, which can create various problems for the project management team such as the need for additional resources and budget. Cost Risk The majority of projects has fixed budget and the project team needs to complete a project within this budget limitation. However, in some cases, the pr oject budget can increase which cause various problems for the project. Legal Risk International projects involve the execution of project tasks in various countries so it can require compliance with laws and regulations of these countries. In case of not following these rules and regulations can cause serious problems for the project and organization. Technological Risks Some projects involve the implementation of latest tools and technologies.