Literature Review On Material Management Construction Essay

Literature Review On Material Management Construction Essay Nowadays, many contractors are doing investment to construction project to earn their profits. Unfortunately, there are not all contractors able to earn the profit of the investment in construction projects. This is because some of the contractor does not proper management the materials. For examples, a contractor over order the material such as cements, bricks and reinforcement, the cost will increase and the profits will become low or deficit of the money. Therefore, a systematic material management is very importance in construction site to avoid over ordering and receive low quality materials at the same time can minimizing the cost and maximum the profits Construction materials can be consisting as a major cost for any construction project. This is because 50% or more of the total cost of the project is for purchasing the materials or even storage the materials costs. Thus, efficiently material management is very importance because it will cost a lot of money. Therefore, the contractor should consider the time to order the material when they needs and the time delivery to the site. This is because if the material does not come at the schedule time will cause delay of the projects. In additions, a proper site plan to put the material is very importance for construction site. For example, if the materials such as concrete batch plant putting too far from the build places, it will cause a lot of time for labours to bring the concrete to sites. This will delay the time to complete. Therefore, difference material should locate at the suitable location. This will help to increase the productivity of the construction projects. Now, Almatad Sdn. Bhd is carrying out a housing project which is semi-detached houses and double storey terrace in Johor. The construction site layout has been prepared which illustrates the layout equipment, building materials and access roads for the erection of the building. As a new site manager of the project, I noticed that many problems are carrying out by the plans and those problems will cause the projects to be delay or increase the cost of the projects. Thus, I need to re-organize the layout of the site and improve the site accordingly. 2.0 Literature review on material management According to Arnold, J. R. and Chapman (2004), materials management can define as an organizing function responsible for planning and controlling the materials flow. This means that the materials management is a planned procedure that involves from the initial purchasing, delivery, handling and minimisation of waste of the material with the purpose to ensuring the quality, quantity and time of the requirement should meet accordingly. Material management are the activities involved to plan, control, purchase, expedite, transport, store, and issue in order to achieve an efficient flow of materials and that the required materials are bought in the required quantities, time, quality and at an acceptable price. (Stukhart ,1995) 2.1 Importance of material for a project. Most of the organization are having the same problem which is related to the managing the flow of the materials. Therefore, the efficient management of materials is the main keys issue to determine the success of a completion of a project. In addition, the control to the materials is subject to the difference company and should be handled effectively to complete the project. Building materials cost is the major cost for the project. The cost represented by materials changed and may include between 20 % and above of the total of the project. According to the Stukhart (1995) and Bernold and Treseler(1991) studies, the materials cost can be around of 50% to 60% of the total of project cost. Materials are very important in the operations of the construction site since unavailability of materials can stop the construction work. In addition, unavailability of materials will affect the productivity and cause to the completion of the project. Other that unavailability of materials, the excessive quantities of materials could also create the serious problems to managers in the construction site. This is because storage of materials can increase the costs of the project. In addition, when there are limited spaces in the construction site, the managers have to find other storage from other people to store the materials until they are needed. So it will require the re-handling of materials and the costs of the project. Some of the requirements must take to handle and store the materials properly when they are received. Thus, special attention should be given to materials after they purchased from the supplier. According to Damodara (1999), there is obvious that materials can provide saving when it obtained at the lowest price to the company. In early construction industry, many construction companies experienced that the increase in costs and a decrease in productivity which due to inflation and economic problems. From the research of Stukhart(1995) we can concluded that early construction industry were not using their resources efficiently and that the decrease in productivity is due to poor management in the construction site and materials.(Stukhart, 1995). Material management has been the main issue of concern in the construction industry. By the research of Baldwin t. al (1994) that is more that 40% of the time lost due to bad management in construction site, poor documentation of materials, lack of materials on site when needed and inadequate storage. Therefore, the need for a proper material management system becomes mandatory. Many companies increased their efficiency of materials management to remain the competitive and protected for their future project. They try to reduced their overheads cost and improved their productivity strategies. The saving cost and improvement can run accordingly by materials management. The material available on site and management system is the main point to success a construction project. Better materials management will help to increase the efficiency in the operation in construction site and reduce the overall cost from the total cost of the project. Top management such as project manager, site manager or architect should pay more effort to materials management. This is because available of the materials will affect the successful from their project. When the material is shortages, the high interest rates should pay, rising prices of the materials and competition with other companies. There is a developing attentiveness in the construction industry that material management needs to be solved as an overall integrated administration activity. 2.2 Benefit of material management An effective material management system can bring many benefits for a company in construction industry. From the study of Construction Industry Institute (CII) we can concluded that labor productivity could be improved more than 6% and can produce 4-6% additional savings from the total cost (Bernold and Treseler, 1991). Among these benefits are: Reducing the overall costs of materials Better handling of materials Reduction in duplicated orders Materials will be on site when needed and in the quantities required Improvements in labor productivity Improvements in project schedule Quality control Better field material control Better relations with suppliers Reduce of materials surplus Reduce storage of materials on site Labor savings Stock reduction Purchase savings Better cash flow management 2.3 On-site Material Management Functions Chandler (1987) stated that, the function of site control of materials is to control their transports to the site in order to control the waste and ensure the material available on site in the right time. He also added that, materials control responsibilities can be separated into two areas of actions which is: Action Prior to Site Delivery This may include the following actions: Continuous check on order pending delivery or call for division dates Managing the change in the rate of work movement and evaluate its impact or materials Deliveries schedule to adjust delivery dates accordingly. Inform the supplier about delivery adjustments Discuss and settle with the supplier to adapt to the agreed schedule. Follow up the quantities and specification changes of the materials Chasing a major project in a reasonable period of time before supply assurance. Action after Site Delivery Concerned for materials receiving, checking and payment. These activities and actions provide an important means for controlling the waste of material, and make the right supplier to eliminating the addition cost paid. However, whatever the actions of materials management is running, they need a cooperative involvement of both parties such as head office and the site functions that are primary controlled under the action of site management: Materials Planning and expediting Materials receiving and inspection. Materials handling and distribution. Inventory and inventory control Materials handling and distribution Quality Assurance and Quality control Material Surplus disposal 2.4 Process of the material management There are few steps which can implement the material management to construction site which is planning, purchasing, logistics, handling, stock and waste control. Each process was state out its characteristic as important role for an effective materials management. Planning Materials planning include measuring, ordering and scheduling. It is emphasized that planning is a very important process to increase the productivity, profit, and assisting the time to complete the construction projects. The productivity of the construction project will be hanged if the material planning process is not implemented properly. Purchasing Purchase the materials and have the services from supplier to get the support of operations as the construction project from production to marketing, sales and logistics. For examples, a detailed material list and co-ordination of the purchasing and order of material are significant to assuring the material will available on construction site. Logistics Logistics is a concept that stresses movement of the materials and it involve planning, implementing, and controlling the movement and storage of all things from raw materials to the finished of the product to meet client requirements. During construction project, routing of the materials will affect the cost and time to complete the construction projects. Handling Handling of materials is the flow of the materials to the component that provides for their movement and location. Due to the rate of handling materials, there are some quality needs to be in considerations when designing a materials handling system. The selection of the materials handling equipment is important to enhance the production process, provide the effective operation of manpower, increase production and advance the system to be more flexible. Stock and Waste Control Stock control can categorize as a technique planned to be the cover and to ensure all materials or equipment are available when needed. Stock control include raw materials, processed materials, assembly components, consumable stores, general stores, maintenance materials and spares, work in progress and finished products. It is very important as the construction materials were delivery as requested and with the progression by the proper management of stock control. At the same time, construction activities will generate big amount of the waste and it will cause difficulty to the construction industry. However, with the planning of the material management which is effective will help to reduce the waste of material and increase the profit of the companies. 2.5 Challenging of Materials Management There are few categories that selected in Materials management: The specification and measurement of the materials; Where to locate and thus procurements progression when the instruction of stock is done dealings by the supplier; Transaction to site and inspection of the order as off-loading, and storing onsite; The executive and monetary process of payment; The usage of materials in production on the job site and waste remove production. Process of purchasing and supply of materials, the challenges often occurs when the materials is not equivalent as the ordering purchase, the skipped list out ordering materials, timing of materials arriving, quantities of materials, lack of training and adequate management, lack of Just In Time strategy, lack of communication and relation between contractor and supply chain companies are the main impediments. In construction site the challenging are obvious which are specifically as: Miscarriage to order stock on time which postponements the projects; Mistaken time delivering which interrupts the work schedule; The amount ordering more than the needs; Wrong materials or fault in track of materials leads double work; Scamp on materials from delivery into production; Double handling of materials because of inadequate material. The key to success of a construction management process is to be effective in construction. The main problems lead to ineffective are fault timing of materials received by the site or inadequate quality, improper information for materials arrival to the site stock, missing materials, unavailability of storage space, and waste of labour for materials searching on site. 3.0 Comment and evaluate the existing site layout relation to the positioning of the material on the construction site Timber Concrete batching plant Access Double Storey Terrace Semi-detached houses Temporary Road Materials Scaffold store Temporary building Waste materials Store Reinforcement Materials Store Figure 1: Existing Site Layout 3.1 Evaluation of Existing Site Layout (Figure 1) From the existing site layout plan, many material or place are located wrongly as below. Concrete batching plant is putting too far with the material which is cement and aggregate. It normally must put near to the build place because concrete batching plant is for mix the cement and aggregate to form the concrete. Therefore, if store it at a distance from site, it will take time to transfer the mix concrete to the building places. Waste material should not located at behind of the temporary building. This is because the temporary building used for project manager and others consultant to have meeting or discussion session and to make decision. If the waste materials located behind of it, the sound or odour will disturb the individual which is inside the temporary building. Store should have a check point to have record through the transferable of the materials and instrument of the store. Without the check point, the instrument will easy to be lost and hard to search for the needed. With the check point, it will be easier for the employee to have checking record of the material or instrument. Therefore, the contractor could save up some portable cost as when the needs to rebuy the new instrument or materials which are lost founded through the record in the statement. Entrance to the site or offices was too long as when the truck originates during working hours it will disturbs the labour performance as in their works. Security of the site does not be consider in the site plan, this mean the stolen easy to be happen without any security at the site Each store does not name it accordingly. So when the worker need find some instrument will take times. 4.0 Identify possible problem that may face by site manager relating the materials management on the site There are many problem faces by site manager relating to the materials management on the site which is: Limited space and cost There are limited spaces allowed on construction site for the location of the materials or store. In addition, budget for build the store and materials places is limited. Therefore, Site manager need to solve the problem according their experiences. Late or early delivery the material on site Materials does not delivery in right time will cause problem to site manager. If the materials delivery early, site manager need to arrange a place for put the materials. In another way, if late delivery materials to site, it will cause delay of the work as plan by site manager. Delivery wrong materials, wrong quality and wrong quantity If the materials delivery on site without any checked by site manager, when the materials is needs to be used only satisfy that the materials in the situation of wrong materials wrong quality and also wrong quantity, it will cause delay of the work and increase the cost of the projects. Theft or spoil when the material is needed. When the materials does not put or keep accordingly, it will cause theft or materials spoils happen. Therefore, the site manager needs to take extra cost to purchase the new materials or instruments. Waste material increase When the materials does not keeping in the safety place, the materials will be spoils then increase the waste materials. As example when the cement just located at site without any cover, when rain the cement will spoils. Poor site layout When the site layout does not plan accordingly, it will cause many trouble to the site manager and workers. For examples, the concrete batching plant located far from the site, it will take time for worker transfer the concrete to the site so it may cause delay of work as time table. 5.0 Proposed new site layout to improve the existing site layout Waste materials Reinforcement Timber Joint shop Temporary Road Aggregate Store Concrete batching plant Double Storey Terrace Semi-detached houses Security Check Access Car Park Temporary building Check Point Materials Materials Scaffold store Instrument Store Safety Equipment Store Figure 2: New Site Layout 5.1 Suggested Improved Layout (Figure 2) As a site manager, I will suggest the new site layout as shows in Figure 2 which is have some changes of the position from existing site layout plan and addition new locations, which is Concrete batching plant moves to the site and will have a temporary aggregate storage to put cement and aggregate. This will help to increase the work daily because the labour no need to move the concrete from far to the site. At the same time, when have the rain, the cement can just located at the aggregate stored without scared the cement will be damage. All storage should name according to the type of thing they put, therefore it wonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t be mixed up with other materials and easy to find out the equipment or instrument when needs. The storage from new site layout all already named accordingly such as aggregate storage, instrument storage and safety equipment storage. Aggregate storage is just for temporary for putting the cement, piles and aggregate. Instrument storage is for putting machine and instrument. Safety equipment storage is for putting some safety equipment such as signboard, helmet, safe boots and others. Reinforcement and timber can be located together besides of the joint shop. Therefore, the labour can easy take out timber and reinforcement to do the joint without carry from far places. It helps to save time and increase the daily work. Addition a car park for parking. Therefore, the labour can park their car in safety places without any extra fee and will perform will when work because no need scare the summons when parking outside. Addition a security check in the main entrance. It is necessary to have a proper guard in the entrance to keep track of all visitors to the project. Therefore, the safety of the internal site and the materials will be protected. Addition a check point as the guard for material, instrument, safety equipment and scaffold. The main duty of the check point is received and checks the materials according to quality and quantity which order by the site managers. In addition, it also helps to record and distribute the materials or instrument according to the needs of the site. 6.0 Suggestion/recommendation that will give strong impact on the material management process in the future based on the case study The suggestion that will give strong impact on the material management process is the top management of contracting companies should encourage their development using materials management systems in their construction project. They can make some reward for their employee to attend training courses of construction materials management. So they can save more effort and time to achieve more exact results. Besides, the site manager should arrange the waste materials accordingly by recycles and without recycles. For examples, some waste materials from reinforcement can recycle. Therefore the site manager should correct it at a place and sell the recycle factory. This method can help site manager to cover back some cost even is less but at the same time will decrease the waste materials from construction. In additions, concept of Just In Time (JIT) should apply in materials management. The JIT idea originates from the manufacturing sector. It helps to smoother the manufacture process through the efficient management of materials such as providing the right materials with right quantities and quality, just in time for production in manufacturing sector. By applying the concept of JIT, it can help to improve the movement of materials from the suppliers to the construction site. With the JIT management system, the materials maybe delivered to site according schedule or just the day before. Health and safety should be provides according to the health and safety handbook. Even it is costly to provide that safety equipment but it is very importance to the worker determined their safety. So that when they are working, the accident can be secured accordingly. In addition a successful construction project is having the zero accident in construction site. So the health and safety is very important in construction site. The temporary facilities should provide accordingly to the project. The project manager should select the temporary facilities some as offices, canteen, and rest room for worker and other. It should estimate the size according to the site space and the needed of the people. In addition, a proper management of temporary facilities will increase the productivity in construction site. 7.0 Conclusion In conclusion, material management is the main key for success a construction project. This is because the cost of materials is represented more than 60% or above cost from the total cost of project. Therefore, with the effective management of the materials, the company can save more than 6% or above of the cost from a project. Therefore, the materials management method must apply in construction site to guide the materials. With the proper arrangement of the materials will help contractor minimum the cost and maximum their profits. Besides, the proper site plan is very important to the construction site. The location of the materials, storage and other temporary facilities should located according the efficient of the construction work. This will help the employee complete their work as schedule by the site manager without any addition of unnecessary work. When the productivity is high, the project cans completion of the time given by the client or early from the completion date. In addition, the top management should give their employee attending the course regarding materials management. This will helps them arrange the materials accordingly to increase their future project and arrange the site layout according to the needs of construction project. Health and safety also is a part of importance in construction site to provide zero accident. It should follow according to hand book of health and safety. This is because the construction site is the risky site, when the health and safety can be determined on site; the worker will feel secured and confident to perform their work as well as possible. Successful management of construction resources has to be based on updated information and processed utilizing a well-designed construction resources management system.

Environmental Ethics Essay -- Ethics Philosophy Global Warming Climate

Our modern industrial society provides us with great physical and psychological comfort. We live not with a fear for our lives, we are politically stable and dominant; even the terrorist attacks against us cannot strip us of our safety bubble. We live with the luxury of convenience provided by our technologies, such as household appliances, personal computers, indoor heating and plumbing, personal automobiles with â€Å"endless fuel† the list is infinite. We live in a disposable society, where it is not commonplace to have material goods fixed, but rather replaced. We have disposable everything, diapers, water bottles, contacts, paintbrushes†¦ again, our convenience is never-ending. This convenient lifestyle coupled with our massive desire for material goods has created immense devastation to the Earth. As time progresses we learn of more tragic outcomes of our lifestyles. I will discuss the major environmental tragedies that are facing our planet and possible solut ions to the disasters. I will also give comparative thoughts by a handful of philosophers and dispute our moral obligations to the environment and for those whom occupy it. I feel that we need to do something soon to stop the destruction before it is too late. First off, the biggest argument for preserving the environment would be; we have an obligation to future generations. Singer discusses these thoughts in his chapter on environmental ethics in his book, Practical Ethics. He begins with the assumption that people are self-interested, and while current philosophy and economics fail to present answers to the problem of obligations to future generations, we still have them. He recognizes that we do not know exactly what future people will cherish; will they cho... ...e need to come together and work towards a common goal: a cleaner America. Don’t think with tunnel vision, think long term, and consider how quickly humans have made an impact on the environment. Earth has been surviving with out us for millions of years and it took us a couple hundred to wreck havoc. There are small things that we can do everyday to help right here in Alma; recycle, walk to 7-11, bike to the baseball games, and etc. All great things start with an idea and starting is the hardest part. Sources * Flavin, Christopher. The Heat is On: The Greenhouse Effect. * Gross, Rita. Toward a Buddhist Environmental Ethic. * Pajman, Louis. Environmental Ethics: Reading in Theory and Application. Wadsworth Publishing Co. March 2002. * Singer, Peter. Practical Ethics. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

An Evaluation of Amazon.Com

Many companies which embarked in e-commerce had failed especially during the period of the â€Å"dot. Com bubble†. The failure of these dot-comes were due to the fact that many of these companies do not have a viable business model and they were focus mainly on increasing their market share at the expense of their bottoming. Amazon. Com is one of those companies which had survived and grown to become the world's biggest online store. Several critical success factors have been identified which had played an Important role In Amazon's achievement. These can be summarized under Turban et. L's major SF, of which developing a good technical infrastructure and user friendly web interface, cultivating customer acceptance and Improving the level of trust between buyers and sellers through constant focus to satisfy customers' needs and expectations, understanding the market situation and competition and finding ways to overcome these external threats stands out amongst others as being practiced by Amazon. Amazon's success story can also be attributed to their adopting of Eisenhower and Gull's (2001) second strategy of nurturing and leveraging on unique resources and competencies.There is also an element of the first strategy recommended by Eisenhower and Soul lee to establish a position (build a fortress) and defend it. Amazon has managed to create a global brand name within the e-community, to the extent that whenever anyone wants to purchase any goods through the web, they will seek out Amazon's website without any hesitation. The burst of the dot. Com bubble that started on March 10, 2000 to October 2002 had wiped out $5 trillion in market value of technology companies and caused the failure of many e-commerce companies.Amazon. Com had managed to survive due to the strategies adopted, especially their strategy to nurture and leverage unique resources and competencies as recommended by Eisenhower and Soul. Other critical success factors of Amazon. Com are as li sted by Turban et al (2000), which states that for e-commerce to succeed, companies should provide user-friendly web interface, ensuring customer acceptance and high level of trust between buyers and toys sellers, creating new partners Ana alliance, mass customization.Amazon Ana always placed priority on ensuring customer satisfaction, and due to this are constantly reengineering their processes in marketing, sales and order management, customer service and procurement in order to provide the best value to customers. The fall of internet-based companies during the era of the dot. Com bubble can be attributed to the fact that many of these companies were not guided by proper strategies to succeed in e-commerce. Many do not have viable business models in place but were focused mainly on increasing their market share at the expense of their bottoming (Wisteria's article on â€Å"Dot. Mom bubble†). While Amazon had remained frugal, many of these failed dot-comes had spent lavishl y and used up most of their investor's funds for advertising and promotion purposes. Too much emphasis was placed on increasing stock-valuations and going public, instead of building a sound business that focus on strong customer relations (Gleaners, 2000). When the returns on their investments were low or not attractive enough, the investors started to pull out causing the collapse of these companies. I would like to take the example of Boo. Mom as one of the famous dot. Com failures. Boo. Com was launched in the Autumn of 1999, to sell branded fashion wear online. Within a short span of 18 months, the company had been placed into receivership after spending $188 million of venture capitalists' funds. The fundamental problem was that the company had been too ambitious and embarked on an extremely aggressive growth plan which is not sustainable. The company targeted itself to become a global company and simultaneously launched in multiple European countries.Its founders had relied o n the ready availability of venture capital money to see the company through the first few years of trading until sales caught up with operating expenses. From the 2nd quarter of 2000, such capital ceased to be available after dramatic falls in the NASDAQ and this affected the company very badly Boo. Com failed to follow the most important critical success factors recommended by Turban et. L ii to provide a user-friendly web interface and technical infrastructure. According to Wisped, the boo. Mom website was â€Å"widely criticized as poorly designed for its target audience, going against many usability conventions†. The article went on to elaborate that â€Å"The site relied heavily on JavaScript and Flash technology to display pseudo-AD views of wares as well as Miss Boo, a sales- assistant-style avatar. † Its interface was also very non user friendly, and required the user to answer four or five different questions before revealing that there were no products in st ock in a particular sub-section. The same basic questions then had to be answered again until results were found.During that time, dial up internet connections was the norm and when the web pages take too long to load, or too cumbersome to navigate on the site, visitors will be discouraged from visiting the site. Another critical success Doctor Is tenure must De a level AT trust Detente Dryers Ana sellers. Rejection and return rate of products sold was high. Although delivery for return of goods was free, confidence level of customers became low and affected the sales for the company. Due to the lack of confidence, customer acceptance is badly effected.Severe competition is another factor faced by many BBC companies and affected their chances to survive. Competition for market share is stiff amongst these dot- comes, and they also had to compete with existing brick-and-mortar companies which already had a dedicated and loyal customer base and trusted store names (Duncan, 2000). Thin gs worsened when the brick-and-mortars started going online. Robbing (2001) added that the dot-comes then had to spend more on advertising in order to gain brand recognition and this further strained their financial resources and caused their downfall.From its inception, Amazon. Com had in place various strategies which have helped it survive the dot. Com bust. In many ways, we can relate the strategies adopted by Amazon to the three distinct ways to compete in the marketplace as recommended by Eisenhower & Soul. In fact, Amazon has adopted a good mix of all the three approaches. Its first strategy was to establish a clear vision, ‘e to be the world's most customer-centric company and to establish a place where customers could buy anything.They have managed to build a fortress and positioned itself as the world's biggest online bookstore, and eve now become the world's most popular online store for almost any type of goods. Another strategy was to leverage on available resourc es especially from their technology standpoint. As the company had already incurred high fixed costs to develop the software for their online storefronts, it makes sense to expand into other product categories in order to reach out to a wider market, and share out the costs amongst the various product segments.By offering a bigger variety of products, the company can tap into a bigger market, while spreading out its risks as well as their axed costs amongst a large category of products, in order to generate more profits. In this instance, it has an advantage over specialty stores like Pets. Com, an online pet supplies store. It may not be practical to order products like pet food or other needs and have to wait several days for the goods to arrive, or in the case of Furniture. Com which sells basically furniture items, it does not make sense when the shipping costs may be more than the cost of the item itself.Amazon. Com was also mindful of the critical success factors expounded by Turban et. L by forming powerful alliances with other companies in order to increase their market share. Examples are their collaboration with rival Borders, the introduction of the Amazon's Associates and Affiliates Program, and partnerships with many other companies. I Nell alma to tall inelegance In e-commerce as tenet performance goal (Eisenhower and Soul) was evident from the numerous partnerships and strategic alliances formed with other BBC enterprises.In order to attract customers, the website must be user-friendly and easy to navigate, which Amazon had taken action to ensure. This is another critical success factor commended by Turban et. Al which Amazon had taken heed of, which makes them succeed where Boo. Com had failed. Amazon also offer personalized shopping recommendations, which add value to customers' shopping experience. On the other hand, Boo. Com operated a complicated Web site which relied heavily on JavaScript and Flash, and their web page was very slow to load . This became a distinct disadvantage especially during the time when Internet connection was usually dial-up.For many of the failed companies, the focus was not on creating value for customers but more to establish the company's worth. Amazon on the other hand placed priority on enhancing customer experience and trust which ultimately will translate to customer loyalty and repeat purchases. This strategy has always been in place since its early days and is articulated in their annual reports. According to their tradition, the annual reports will always carry a reprint of their 1997 Letter to Shareholders, in which they had stated their commitment to this mission.As Jeff Bozos stated in their 2008 Annual Report, their pricing objective is to earn customer's trust (Appendix – Message from Jeff Bozos to shareholders of Amazon. Com). Amazon. Mom has already established its dominance in the BBC sector and is now one of the biggest and most popular online store in the world. Their success can be attributed to the fact that they have strong strategies in place. In order to maintain their position as the leader in e-commerce, Amazon must ensure that all these strategies continue to be adopted and further enhanced.Amazon will have to constantly upgrade their website to keep abreast of technology development. Amazon has one of the most easy-to-use e-commerce platform in the world. They are constantly improving on their technology base with the aim to enhance customer experience and meet customers' expectations. They are able to provide personalized recommendations for customers, based on feedback provided by the customers on their likes and dislikes, tracks customer's browsing history and viewing records.They even track a visitor's recently viewed items even though the person was not a member at that point in time, or signed on to the account earlier. That is how customer-centric the company is, and how they make use of technology to enhance customer experience. Another example of the use of technology to meet customer needs is their launch of Kindle 2†³, which is an improved version of Kindle, a wireless reading device that is capable of holding 1,500 books and weighs a mere 10. 2 ounce.Digital books purchased are delivered within 60 seconds, and customers can enjoy their reading anywhere, anytime wilt ten mainly module evolve. Having learnt from the experience of those failed dot-comes which did not possess viable business models unlike Amazon, new players in e-commerce must now ensure that they draw up an effective marketing strategy so that they can attract customers to their site to generate sales. To become successful, companies embarking in the BBC business must reengineering their business process to suit the needs of the changing environment and business rules.While a viable business model is important, its successful implementation can only be possible through process re-engineering that covers various aspects of the value c hain. The fundamental area that needs to be targeted for process reengineering is in Sales and order management. In Amazon's case, customers can track the delivery of their orders, and this creates a sense of trust in the customers when they know the exact location in the shipment of the goods ordered. Amazon has always placed priority and strong values on developing top class customer service so that customers remain loyal to them, as this will generate repeat orders.Customer satisfaction can be achieved when the company is able provide a variety of products and services that meets their expectation. While the company expands its coverage and market reach, it must be able to develop a good distribution channel so that customers can expect to receive their goods in the shortest possible time. This will be possible through leveraging on the network of suppliers, business customers, partners and even their competitors. Amazon. Com has now become an icon of the e-commerce community.

Symptoms And Treatment Of Breast Cancer Essay - 1473 Words

INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer is an unfortunate reality that plagues nearly 12 percent of women in the United States. 1 After being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, the 5 year survival rate diminishes to 22% according the Cancer Treatment Centers of America.2 All types of cancer treatments are associated with certain problematic side effects. In many cases the side effects from the treatments are the main cause for decrease in the overall quality of life and function for the patient. The three most common treatments for breast cancer are surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Common side effects from chemotherapy include; cancer related fatigue (CRF), pain, mouth and throat sores, and nervous system effects such as peripheral neuropathy.3 Many of the side effects associated with radiation therapy are similar to that of chemotherapy, but also include skin irritation and burns.4 Upper extremity range of motion and strength deficits are common impairments that follow surgical interventions for br east cancer. Physical therapy can be used to decrease a variety of these side effects during and after any cancer treatment. Moreover, studies have shown that patients who have an exercise regimen will have decreased instances of CRF.5 Creating effective and safe exercise regimens, that increase overall function and prevent musculoskeletal degradation, fall under the domain of physical therapist. In order to diminish the effects of CRF, patients are asked to increase theirShow MoreRelatedSymptoms And Treatment Of Breast Cancer1575 Words   |  7 Pages Cancer is among one of the most deadly diseases along with diabetes to set foot on this planet. Breast cancer is the most common for women and has accounted for more than 190,000 diagnoses in the year of 2009 alone (Susan, 2009). Treatment advances have been taking into action and further research has been done to minimize the total amount of patients in treatment. Even then, Cost of treatment has been a factor to some patients because those seeking medical attention are not aware of the expensesRead MoreSymptoms And Treatment Of Breast Cancer Essay1361 Words   |  6 Pagesnot take medication for it; rather, she controls it through her diet. My mom had breast cancer six years ago and underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy. The cancer is in now in remission and she made a full recovery. 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