The Art and Science of Creating a Monster

Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientists in the world, believes that there is one question human beings must answer in order to truly understand the implications of existence itself: Is the Universe friendly?   In the vast body of thought both ancient and modern, the answers to this question are numerous and mostly contradictory.   In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the narrators uniformly answer this question in the negative.   In spite of their disparate stations in life, each storyteller feels separated from his fellows in some way, physically, intellectually, and geographically.   Society does not ease the condition of such lost souls because it is so quick to ostracize and dismiss anyone that departs from its grand ideals of what is acceptable (Williams, 1).Most artists, scientists, philosophers, and explorers are not celebrated until several centuries after death, if then.   Human beings are extremely social creatures.   In order to function well, people need to feel as though they are a part of something bigger than themselves, that they share a similar path to those around them.   Though he was denied the decency of others, the creature had only one wish; to have a companion made for him.   If he never encountered another living being except for her, he would have been contented in the spirit that there was someone in existence that could relate to him.   Victor Frankenstein, brilliant scientist extraordinaire literally sold his soul for godhood.At the end of his story, he shares the same fate of his creature: friendless and alone with only strangers to ease his passage into death.   In a sense, one could conceivably argue that Victor suffered just as much as the creature because he had his whole world taken from him—his little brother, best friend and his wife.   In the end, he becomes as wretched as the creature without soul or companionship and perished among strangers.   For one who has known genuine happine ss, life’s tragic moments become even more painful.Robert Walton, the sailor that tells the story of Frankinstein and his creature is equally marginalized.   He is without friends because his aspirations were lofty and his education limited.  Ã‚   When one leaves the path of the establishment to explore new and sometimes frightening realms, or departs from the norms expected for one’s gender, race, or intellectual achievements:   society exacts punishment by banishing him to the fringes.The creature is the most obviously reviled being in the story.   On a dark and stormy November night, he awakes to Victor’s horrified screeches.   His physical appearance produces instant disgust in everyone he meets, including his â€Å"father† and creator.   During the Romantic Era and in Gothic literature, physiognomy was a way to determine a person’s character and inclinations (McLaren, 40).   Elizabeth was thought to be an angel because of her bea utiful golden hair and fair countenance, while people assumed the creature was morally degenerate because of his ugly appearance.The creature had the sallow skin of a dead thing, he was extremely tall, strong, and bright, yet he was very malformed.   In the eighteenth century, ugliness and deviance were heavily correlated.   In many of the stories of the time, the hero and heroine were extremely good looking, virtuous, and talented in some special way.   In contrast, the villain was ugly, amoral, violent, and without conscience.   Even if there were a great degree of credence to this, it would seem that the violence toward others is simply a villain’s expression of loathing both self and society.â€Å"This violent response to his own oppression shares the same elements of many of the post-WWII protest novels.   Protest novels often delineate a relationship between the mainstream dominant society and the â€Å"Other,† a character designated for his/her margin alization and oppression within that society†(Scott).   Before departing to the wastelands of the North to end his miserable existence, the monster gives an accounting to himself to Walton, even though he believes that it would not move the sailor to sympathize with his plight.Little does the creature know that his confessor had lived without a friend or companion.   Had things turned out differently, maybe Walton and the creature might have become friends because both were alone in the world.   The creature’s story is very reminiscent of the tragic poor, malformed vagabonds living on the fringes of society, exposed to only the worst traits and abuses of   other human beings.   As a living creature, the monster wanted to be shown decency, compassion, gentleness and even love and he was denied at every turn.   He hated himself and the world and turned his grief and rage into a force of darkness that would avenge itself on everything and everyone his creator h olds dear.â€Å"I desired love and fellowship, and I was still spurned. Was there no injustice in this? Am I thought to be only the criminal, when all humankind sinned against me?†(Shelley, 210).  Ã‚   While some literary critics believe that the monster represents the depravity that lies dormant in all human beings until pushed to the breaking point (Scott), others have determined that he is instead, a voice of social justice.   When external conditions become so unbearable that it takes every ounce of effort to simply survive, this experience justifies any act of rebellion against the social order (Knoepflmacher & Lewis, 165).  Ã‚   To the creature, Victor Frankenstein represented the malignancy and callous disregard for life he encountered in his life experience.   When his last chance for a companion was destroyed in his creator’s ultimate breach of trust, he made it his life’s mission to destroy everything his creator loved without assuming personal responsibility for his death.Victor Frankenstein, not content with pursuing a normal career in medicine, aspires to godhood.   Because of his hubris, he loses everything he holds dear in his life and dies alone in an arctic desert.   Unlike his unfortunate creation, he represents the very establishment from which his ambitions set him apart.   His childhood was normal in an idealized sort of way.   His parents lavished tons of attention on him and he never had a moment of feeling unloved, neglected, or spurned by other people.   Growing up in Geneva, his life was extremely sheltered, and the people in his life were good and beautiful.   His aversion to ugliness is one of his most pronounced character traits.When he enrolls in University, he immediately judges the character of his professors based on their physical appearances, â€Å"I found even in M. Krempe a great deal of sound and sense and real information, combined, it is true, with a repulsive physiognomy and man ners.  Ã‚  Ã‚   In M. Waldman I found a true friend.   His gentleness was never tinged by dogmatism and his instructions were given with an air of frankness and good nature that banished every idea pedantry†(Shelley, 49).This passage makes Frankenstein appear shocked that M. Krempe would have anything of value to offer him because of his unattractive appearance.   Another despicable character trait is Victor’s inability to take responsibility for his actions.   Once the creature wakes up, he rushes from the room (Shelley, 57).   Later, he allows an innocent woman—the family maid he grew up with no less—to be executed for a crime she never committed to hide the existence of his creature (Shelley, 84).Robert Walton, not content to explore the vast inhabited regions of earth, braves the cold and ice to look for a northern route to the Pacific Ocean.   He wants to â€Å"boldly go where no man had gone before† to paraphrase Star Trek.   How ever, all he found was an endless wasteland that did not deliver the passage he had sought.   Though he merely serves as the recipient of Frankenstein’s story, he has no one in the world except his sister.   In this sense, he identifies with the creature’s feelings of loneliness.   In his second letter he tells his sister, â€Å"But I have one want which I have never yet been able to satisfy, and the absence of the object of which I now feel as a most severe evil.I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate in my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavour to sustain me in dejection†(Shelley, 18).   While he is normal physically, his educational background sets him apart from others.   He is self-taught, and his curriculum included books of voyages and fantastic adventures, and the poets he had become familiar with were British.   Later, he laments that he is  "more illiterate than many schoolboys of fifteen†(Shelley, 19).  Ã‚  Ã‚   Still, he could not help feeling a little pity for the creature’s ordeal since part of it resembled his own, â€Å"Once my fancy was soothed with dreams of virtue, of fame, and of enjoyment.Once I falsely hoped to meet with beings who, pardoning my outward form, would love me for the excellent qualities which I was capable of unfolding.   I was nourished with high thoughts of honor and devotion.   But now crime has degraded me beneath the meanest animal†(Shelley, 209).   In that last desperate section following Frankenstein’s death, we realize that had Frankenstein not treated his creature so ill, he could have become a reliable companion, loyal friend, and confidant†¦the very thing Walton had become to Frankenstein when he was cold, alone, and starving.   Even as two wealthy white European men, Walton and Frankenstein failed to flourish in a society that was uniquely designed for them.While the two men and the monster keenly felt their separation from others, the women are practically non-characters.   Even though a woman that inhabited the extremely liberal artistic scene of the Enlightenment Era wrote the story, all the female characters assumed no importance of their own in a truly strong and heroic sense outside of their impact on Victor’s life.   They were objects, not subjects.   Even the monster was able to express himself as a subject, while the women served as props. Still, there was much about them that would potentially interest a reader if the characters were explored in greater depth.   Frankenstein’s mother was a philanthropist who visited poor families and attempted to ease their lot in life.Elizabeth was very passionate in the defense of Justine when she was falsely accused of murder (Shelley, 81).   As an orphan raised by peasants and adopted into a wealthy family, her character’s death would have been much more dramatic and poignant had she been flushed out more.   While Shelley achieved much as a writer, she did not want to encourage women to become more assertive, and none of the female characters (other than Walton’s sister) survived until the end of the book.One account states that Shelley believes women must behave differently from men (Schoene-Harwood, 42).  Ã‚   During the Romantic Era, men were the heroes, the creators, the actors in public life and the centerpiece of home life.   Women were the passive observers, and sometimes creators of brilliant artistic works.   Otherwise, the rest of the world belonged to men.Times have certainly changed, but not as much as people think.   Global travel exposes people to different cultures, ideals, and mores.   In the field of social psychology, the most successful societies assimilate outsiders rather than marginalize them.   To maximize the likelihood of maintaining a peaceful civilization, the newcomers must adapt the mores, values, and language of the dominant culture and the institutions must be able to accommodate the tansition.   When a population is exiled to the fringes, it would possibly create a volatile situation of accelerating tensions between the marginalized group and the dominant group to the point where the people on the fringe begin to attack the establishment in ways both subtle and explosive (Simon, 141-146).In American history, immigrants were looked down upon and many laws were passed to keep them out.   Eventually, groups of immigrants had begun forming their own communities, keeping the spirit of their home culture alive in a country that neither wanted nor welcomed them.   With the growth of these communities, people no longer have the need nor desire to learn the dominant language.   On a whole, people in the West are gradually becoming more tolerant toward alternative lifestyles, minority groups, and religious preferences, but the bias and prejudice against people not gifted with physical beauty is the final socially acceptable prejudice to hold. Women in the Western World had finally been granted the right to vote; even so, a woman’s value is still vested in her looks and ability to become a wife and mother.Until a woman’s choice to attain worldly power is respected, they will never achieve the same level of equality that men assume.   Shelley’s women were faithful in their duties of domestics, artists, and lovers, but like many women of the time; were not allowed to express the hidden passion they were forced to repress.   Even in our own society, marginalizing others is still par for the course.   In the US, a strict racial hierarchy is still perpetuated even though the apartheid was legally dissolved in the 1960’s.   There is a great disparity between the races when looking at factors such as life expectancy, disease profiles, and income.Progress toward a better world is often slow and a lways painful.   In order to maintain social stability, people did not evolve the ability to accept sweeping changes on all levels.   Appearance in the twenty-first century will become an even greater obsession than it was in the past.   With superior technology to alter, enlarge, or diminish undesirable characteristics, beauty will quickly become associated with social class and personal value.   When Elizabeth was adopted, Frankenstein’s mother believed that she was a higher order of being by virtue of her physical appearance, â€Å"a being heaven-sent, and bearing a celestial stamp in all her features† (Shelley, 34).Victor Frankenstein’s monster was a different order of being himself, he was purely logical, empathetic, and selfless, but he was hideously ugly.   Eventually, through repeated rejection, brutal treatment, and several attempts on his life, he was trained to mold his character to match his looks.   To those living on the fringes, the un iverse is an extremely unfriendly place indeed.Works CitedCaldwell, Janis McLaren. Literature and Medicine in Nineteenth-Century Britain: From Mary Shelley to George Elliot. Cambridge University Press, 2004Knoepflmacher, Ulrich Camillus & George Lewis. The Endurance of Frankenstein.   University of California Press: 1979Schoene-Harwood, Berthold. Frankenstein: Essays, Articles, Reviews. Columbia University Press: 2000Scott, Cynthia C. â€Å"The Other: Race, Rage, Violence and the Protest Novel in M. Shelley's Frankenstein†. The People’s Media Company. 3 Mar. 2007 ;http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/28245/the_other_race_rage_violence_and_the.html;Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Signet Classic, 1965Simon, Bernd. Identity in Modern Society: A Social Psychological Perspective.   Boston: Blackwell Publishing, 2004Williams, Kipling D. The Social Outcast: Ostracism, Social Exclusion, Rejection, ; Bullying. New York: Psychology Press, 2005

Lorenzo’s Oil

In the Movie Lorenzo’s oil the disease Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) or also known as Schilder's Disease, a rare inherited disorder that leads to progressive brain damage, failure of the adrenal gland and eventually death, is institutionalized by Augusto and Michaela Odone’s struggle to find a cure for their son who has ALD. Their independent efforts to find a cure for this dreaded disease leads them to clashes with the established medical institutions. Scientists, doctors and other support groups to not believe they can succeed. However, their efforts soon gain media attention and people from the mainstream are drawn into assisting them in their ‘mad’ crusade. Their labors are epitomized in the international symposium the definitely catches peoples attention. Eventually, enough mainstream interest is gained in ALD research and actual scientists back them up in finding a cure. It is an example, of institutionalization because by their labors ALD is brought into the mainstream as a disease that should be studied and fought and not just an isolated illness that the occasional luckless person suffers. Advocacy refers to efforts on the part of an individual to gain attention for something in the hopes of positive reaction from the public. In this movie the couple advocated the search for a cure to their son’s affliction and in the end has some success. Interference, is quite the opposite, is when people try to get media mileage from an event in an effort to gain popularity. Politicians who get involved in social issues are often disparaged as simply trying to gain media mileage. I learned from the movie that we must never give up hope. Science, with enough persistence, can help us conquer many problems that appear unconquerable. Also, we must discern between those who truly want to help us and those who are merely trying to use us for their own personal gains.

The End of the Road

â€Å"Hell, And How I Got Here† by Brenda Medina and â€Å"Puzzle Pieces† by Barbara Parsons Lane are two short stories from the book Couldn’t Keep It To Myself by Wally Lamb. Medina and Lane are two women who are serving time in a maximum security prison. Brenda Lane is serving time for homicide and Barbara Parsons Lane is serving time for manslaughter. Brenda was involved in a gang-related killing while Barbara was convicted of killing her abusive husband. Each of these women lived their lives being subjected to abuse, yet each woman portrayed themselves differently.Brenda was determined to gain power and not feel like an outsider in her own life. She was determined to take control and she was longer going to be the â€Å"odd girl out† (148). Barbara was living life as a victim and saw only one way to end the abuse. She was victimized in a way that made her feel as if she had no way of escaping her nightmare. Brenda found ways to empower herself in order to find a place in the world as Barbara was belittled to the point where she felt she was too weak to be able to walk away . In â€Å"Hell, And How I Got Here,† Brenda went through life finding ways to gain power.Brenda felt like an outsider for much of her childhood. She spent many unhappy years at a private school, feeling that she didn’t belong. It was not until her high school years, that she finally felt liberated. It was at this time of her life when Brenda started trying to find ways to empower herself and gain the status she was dreaming of. During high school, Brenda started dating Manny, a member of a local gang, The Unidad. Brenda recalled that from the age of fourteen until she went to prison at the age of seventeen, â€Å"Manny ran through my veins† (152).Even though her mother disapproved of Manny, Brenda dated Manny, the boy with the â€Å"outlaw aura. † Going against her mother’s wishes made Brenda feel powerful. She was going to r un her own life from now on. As a child, Barbara was a lost little girl, just like Brenda. Her life was full of disappointments. At the age of four, Barbara was molested by a man she trusted, her grandfather. Looking for support and comfort, Barbara was finally able to find the strength to confide in her mother about what her grandfather had done to her.Instead of comfort, Barbara was told by her mother to never mention the molestation to anyone. â€Å"Don’t you ever say a word† (218). So she didn’t. Barbara became a quiet but a very angry little girl. Barbara’s mother was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and later hospitalized. Barbara was left to tend to the house she still shared with her alcoholic father and her two siblings. She had no one to go to and no one to talk to. Barbara resented her mother’s illness. She said the â€Å"illness had freed her brother and sister and made me a slave† (220).Barbara was the one left after her brother and sister moved out. Many years later, Barbara’s mother committed suicide. While dealing with her mother’s death, Barbara confided in her Aunt Ruth about her grandfather molesting her at a young age. Aunt Ruth told Barbara was molested by the same man, her father. Barbara did not understand why her mother just stood and watched while Barbara walked away, hand in hand, with the man she knew all too well. Two years before her mother took her own life, Barbara got married for the second time. She married a younger man named Mark.The disease she resented earlier in life was about to resurface and, once again, make her feel trapped. During their relationship, Manny grew to become controlling and abusive towards Brenda. He began to dictate the people she was allowed to see and what she could wear. Screaming at her after he ripped the skirt off of her, Manny yelled, â€Å"No girl of mine’s gonna strut herself like a little slut! † (161) Manny also b ecame physically and started cheating on Brenda as well. Anytime Brenda threatened to break up with Manny, he begged and cried for her to stay.Brenda always stayed and she always forgave him. She loved to hear Manny tell her how much her loved and that he only wanted him for herself. Brenda loved the feeling she had by hearing Manny beg for to stay. She felt powerful. Feeling anything but powerful, Barbara was beginning to live a life of being controlled by an abusive husband. Mark became abusive emotionally and physically towards Barbara. The things he said to her were intended to make her feel insignificant and make her feel that she had no choice but to stay. â€Å"Some days he drinks from noon until late at night.If I challenge him or question him, I’m told I’m an ‘inconvenience’—his code for: watch out† (225). Being told she was an inconvenience by her husband happened on a regular basis. Mark was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, j ust like her mother. He drank alcohol in order to medicate himself and began having an affair with a fifteen year old girl. Mark openly talked about it to Barbara, adding to her feelings of inadequacy. She ended up having to quit her job because of the abuse and the unpredictability of her home life.Barbara was once again feeling imprisoned, just as she did as a hild. Brenda’s relationship with Manny was everything she was looking for. She had found her place in the world. However, Brenda was still feeling left out when it came to Manny, the gang, and their secrets. Brenda had never thought about joining a gang until she talked a â€Å"sister† of the gang. Erika persuaded Brenda to join because of the feeling of â€Å"family† the Unidad gave Erika. Brenda liked the idea and also knew she would no longer feel like an outsider. Brenda longed for the feeling of belonging and knew that her being a member of the gang would bring her and Manny closer.There would no lo nger be secrets between them. Barbara was living the life in which she was subjected to verbal and physical abuse from her husband. She had to listen to him talk about the affair he was having, being completely humiliated by it. Barbara even contemplated suicide at one point. Barbara lived her life feeling as if there was no way out. Mark’s belittling words were etched in her mind. Those words had the power of making Barbara believe she was destined to stay. If she chose to leave, he would kill her. Barbara felt as if she did not have any options at all.She felt completely powerless. Brenda was feeling anything but powerless. Manny, being a member of a gang, had power. Brenda felt that by being his girlfriend gave her power. Despite the fact that Manny was abusive, Brenda felt empowered knowing that she had found her place in this world with Manny. She believed that without her boyfriend, she would not have a place. The one thing Brenda always wanted was to belong. She longer felt like an outsider when she was with Manny. At the beginning of their relationship, Manny told her â€Å"I’m safe with you.And you are safe here† (156). That was precisely what Brenda was looking for. She was no longer the â€Å"odd girl out† (148). She was Manny’s girl. She was a member of the Unidad. She had power. What Brenda decided to do with the power she had obtained with the joining gang would be a life changing decision. The only way Barbara had the power to remove herself from the abuse was to file for divorce. Taking the step to file was a huge and terrifying decision for Barbara to make. It was so worrisome in fact that she tried to stop the process.After Mark was served the papers, he took Barbara to a secluded cabin in the woods, making sure she was fully aware that he had brought guns along on the trip. The trip that Mark planned had one purpose: he wanted to remind Barbara that her only option was to remain a devoted wife. If she tried leaving him, he would â€Å"terminate† her. Mark made it clear many times how easy it would be for him to do. During the trip to the cabin, after Barbara asked him if he went to cabin just to target shoot, Mark replied with, â€Å"No, I came all this way to show you how easy it would be to make you disappear† (230).Barbara knew divorce was out of the question. He would kill her before he granted her one. Although the trip put a divorce out of the question, it made Barbara realize there was only one option left. In order for her to free herself and to escape the trap of an abusive marriage, she would have to kill Mark before he killed her. Brenda and Barbara were both victims of abuse. That is where the similarities end. All Brenda wanted was to become someone other than the â€Å"outsider. † She was abused by her gang member boyfriend. She used that to threaten her boyfriend of leaving him.Brenda felt powerful when would hear Manny beg for her to stay. She fina lly felt like she was somebody. She was no longer an outsider of the â€Å"odd girl out† (148). Barbara was abused and belittled to the point where it made her think of herself as a weakling. She felt it was impossible to free herself from her nightmare. Brenda tried to escape but she always backed down because of how her husband made her think she was weak. Feeling empowered and feeling victimized are at the opposite end of the spectrum, yet they sometimes end up meeting at the end of the same road.

Theory-to-Practice Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Theory-to-Practice Paper - Essay Example The project is very successful, because the staffs continuously strive towards achieving goals. The organization effectively applies the motivation techniques and also the motivation theories. The motivation techniques that enhance the performance of the workers include; job design, rewards, employee participation, and good quality of work life. The motivation theory that is effectively applied at the project’s work environment is the Herzberg’s motivation theories. One of the key internship objective involved understanding how the motivational techniques and theories is applicable at the work place. Art Shanty Project has adopted appropriate measures to improve performance, career advancement, and loyalty of the employees. One key technique is job design. The organization has adequately embraced job simplification, through the adoption of modern and superior technology at during production processes. The technical staffs are only required to key in instructions in the computerized system, and the production process will proceed automatically. The organization also gives appropriate rewards to the employees who succeed at the workplace. The intrinsic and extrinsic rewards increased staff morale and loyalty. The extrinsic rewards offered to high achieving staffs of the organization include compliments and financial bonus depending on profitability levels. Intrinsic rewards applicable at the project involve autonomy. The key staffs in management, marketing and innovation are given the opportunity to formulate their decisions and implement them (Hackman 451). The project values staff participation at the work place. Participation is effective due to the adoption of the quality control circles. The circles involve a team of employees who work together to address work related challenges like minimizing costs, improving production processes, and improve quality. The quality control circles also involve the students on internship and thus they are able to

Hydraulic Fracturing For Natural Gas - Gasland Essay - 7

Hydraulic Fracturing For Natural Gas - Gasland - Essay Example One of the rhetorical strategies used in the documentary was the manner by which the narrator gathered pieces of evidence from people through verbal communication or speech. Through the journey, Josh Fox had interviewed an estimated number of about 20 individuals who were directly affected by the gas wells; and about 5 experts in the fields of environmental protection, public service, quality specialists, medical practitioner, and representative of the Environmental Protection Agency. The manner by which these individuals and experts provided testimonies to their verbal disclosures viably supported their arguments that since the oil and gas wells were drilled in their respective properties, their drinking water had been seriously contaminated. Aside from relaying the information verbally, most of the testimonies provided pieces of evidence in terms of showing the kind of water collected from their faucets; and even proving that when lit, water from the faucet ignites into flame. Like wise, some of the people who were interviewed explicitly indicated the negative impact of these wells; such as Debbie May who relayed that the drinking water initially tasted like metal and turned into murky brown. In addition, she also showed that her cat and horse exhibited shedding of their hair, as a result of being exposed to these gas wells. Thus, the people who provided verbal discourse were effective in appealing both through logic (through visual support) and emotions (by indicating health hazards and conditions which were experienced); as such, were effective in providing the needed proof to substantiate their allegations that the gas well was detrimental to their lives. Another rhetorical strategy used by Fox was the selection and choice of sound. It was evident that Fox was able to creatively incorporate background music, the sounds of machines, the sounds of the wind or water from the streams, the sound of children playing, and even an intermittent sound of silence. For instance, the documentary started with Fox playing the banjo and the end of the documentary also showed a man playing a musical instrument, which effectively integrates the whole creative work. Also, the sounds of the telephone ringing, the busy tone, and the background music of the answering machine were very effective in relaying the message that the narrator had been trying to collect different people and organizations to set the needed interviews for the documentary. These sounds and background music were all effective in appealing to the emotions of viewers. Sound and music provide an enhancing ability to emphasize an argument or a point being asserted. Likewise, background music, for instance, was instrumental in bridging one completed scene and used to transcend into a new issue or concern. The sounds actually enhanced and emphasized the arguments, as needed. Finally, the narrator also used the rhetorical strategy of visuals. Aside from the scenery and the people who were in terviewed, visuals also included graphics through stating relevant quotes, such as â€Å"water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink† (Moldovan) written in bold, white face and in all capital letters against a totally black background. In addition, graphics assisted in identifying the people who Fox interviewed, some with appropriate designations; such as Dr. Al Armerdariz, the Air Quality Specialist and Researcher at Southern Methodist University; Calvin Tillman, the Mayor of Dish, Texas; Wilma Subra, Chemist, First Responder, and MacArthur â€Å"Genius Award† Recipient; to name a few.        

Business planning --Bakery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Business planning --Bakery - Essay Example Marketing strategies and financial plans are also a part of this report. Forecast of profit and loss account, cash flows and balance sheet for three years is also provided in this report. Johnson Bakers is planning to start new business in London. There are two partners named Michael Johnson and Peter Johnson. Michael Johnson is expert in marketing the products and Peter has expertise in operational activities. They both decided to start new business with equal investment and with a profit sharing ratio of 1:1. The aim of the business is to provide bakery products and services overall London. It is the priority of the company to provide fresh and high quality to its customers. New business needs to promote its product in market as it is planning to manufacture bakery products that are available to all. Initially, the company is planning to introduce some of its key products like cakes, biscuits, coffee and bread. As this is a private partnership of two individuals, it is difficult to control the operations of the business. Peter is allowed to control the accounts and other operational activities of business. Mr. Michael will start its work from the beginning and will continue to work till the achievements of the objectives. Following are the objectives of the company: UK market is effective for providing hot beverages to the customers. The weather of the country remains cold over the year so the products are widely used in the country. London is a metropolitan city and the lovers of coffee are mostly available there. There are many bakery products available in the market that attracts the public of London. Variety of products is available in the market but Brand recognition proves to be vital for this type of business. It is necessary o analyse the market of UK so that strategies could be made to survive in the competitive market where there are large number of suppliers of the products. Marketing and

Graduate Accounting Capstone - Accounting and Audit Enforcement Research Paper

Graduate Accounting Capstone - Accounting and Audit Enforcement - Research Paper Example It provides high level of care to the patients for recovery from conditions like stroke, orthopaedic and neurological disorders, brain injury, spinal cord injury, cardiac and pulmonary conditions. HealthSouth Corporation was found to be involved in corporate accounting scandal. The Founder, who was also the Chairman and CEO of the company, was accused of influencing the employees to manipulate the figures in the financial statement and exaggerate the earnings for meeting the expectations of the stockholders. He was the first executive to be caught in the Sarbanes Oxley Act for manipulating the financial returns of the company (Will, Handelman, & Brotherton, 2012). Richard M. Scrushy was accused of conspiracy, money laundering charges, securities fraud and charges of overstating the company’s earnings by approximately $ 3 billion (Forbes, 2013). The federal investigators stated that the company intentionally overstated the earnings in the financial statement for meeting the est imates of the analysts. At the same time the company had to make efforts to hide the accounting fraud attempt from auditors. Now, the question that was raised was whether the auditors failed in finding the fraud activity or they overlooked the company’s fraud. SOX Regulations in Public Healthcare Organizations There are strict regulations imposed by the SOX Act on the public companies (Greene, 2009). It includes: Creation of Public Company Accounting Oversight Board for overseeing the entire process of accounting of the organizations. Limitation in the types of services that will be provided by the accounting firms to the public companies (clients). Increase in the disclosure requirements for the public companies. Requirement of top executives in the public companies who will take the responsibility of all the contents in the financial statements. Requirement of excellent analysts for disclosing the probable conflicts of interest. Added rigorous punishments for various misdee ds and frauds. These provisions have been imposed to public companies for controlling the regulations of corporate governance and business ethics. This will prohibit them from violating the GAAP rules and manipulating the financial statements of the companies for their own benefit. SOX Regulations in For-Profit and Not-For-Profit Healthcare Organizations There has been increase in the scrutiny for both for-profit as well as not-for-profit organizations by the regulators, donors, bondholders and the rest of the external stakeholders. It is because there have been an increased suspicion among the investors and other external stakeholders about the proper maintenance of corporate governance and business ethics in the healthcare organizations. It has been found that for Not-For-Profit companies including the hospitals as well as other different healthcare organizations, there have not been very strict disclosure requirements as mandated in case of the public For-Profit organizations. Th is is a problem faced by the bondholders, investors and other stakeholders who want to judge the quality of corporate governance and management in these Not-For-Profit organiz

Export Strategy for an Organisation Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Export Strategy for an Organisation - Coursework Example Certain recommendations have been provided to AEC so that it can export avocados in the business markets of Netherlands successfully. Moreover, certain challenges have also been depicted that the company might face while exporting the fruit especially in the Dutch business market. It can be affirmed that the proper execution of the stated recommendations would eventually aid AEC in exporting avocados in the business markets of Netherlands with utmost profitability and productivity. Recommendations After having a potential and a broad capture of Middle and South-East Asia business market, AEC can desire to expand its operations in other regions of the world. In this similar concern, an export strategy would be developed for the company for its intention towards exporting avocado in a particular European nation i.e. Netherlands. Netherlands is often viewed to be one of the richest nations in the world and possesses greater per capita income. These facets eventually make Netherlands to be an idle place as export destination, especially in relation to the case of health benefit products like avocado. Avocado is duly considered as one of the nutritious fruits as compared to others. Considering from a general standpoint, most of the countries often seek for obtaining nutritious food products and thus, Netherlands can be the suitable place for the export of the fresh avocados. Also the people of Netherlands are recognised to be quite health conscious, resulting in supporting AEC towa rds exporting this product in the targeted European nation of Netherlands. It can be apparently observed both the nations possess better international trade relation, which would eventually aid in exporting the product to the targeted nation (CBI Market Information Database, n.d.). Background Auspak Avocados, established in the year 2009 is regarded as an Australian based company holding the mission of becoming a foremost leader especially in exporting fresh avocados from Australia. The company is trading as Avocados Export Company (AEC), situated in Brisbane, Queensland and is owned by a group belonging to the growers, packers along with the marketers of avocado across Australia. The company has been viewed to employ technology driven producers and utilise modern packaging facilities in order to ensure better customer satisfaction. The company tends to build as well as develop effective business affiliation based upon the aspects of mutual trust and respect. The company accounts ne arly about 60 % of the production of Australian avocado with emphasising exporting fresh avocados to the international business markets. AEC has become a key player in both South and Middle-East regions of Asia. Moreover, the company has positioned itself as a global leader in the export industry in terms of volume, quality and supply of avocados to the international consumers. The excellent quality of Australian avocados signifies huge demand of this particular fruit in all regions of the globe. With all credentials, AEC is already exporting Avocados in Singapore, Thailand, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Malaysia and Hong Kong. The logistics system of the company has supported it to become a reliable source of year round supply of high quality avocados. The company follows effective strategies in order to en

Fords Control Mechanisms Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Fords Control Mechanisms - Essay Example About one hundred years ago, demand could be easily matched to supply particularly in the rural agricultural areas, and the existence of production and consumption was in a closed loop supply chain, therefore, goods were predominantly manufactured and used as required. The just-in-time approach to manufacturing adopted by Ford presents a return to this form of relationship between the production and consumption phase that was present before the industrial revolution where consumers gave specifications of what they wanted before the process of production could begin. Henry Ford, who came up with the assembly line JIT approach used in the manufacture of Ford cars, had an awareness of this form of a rural tradeoff as he hailed from a small community whose main activities involved agriculture. The beginning of the economic business philosophy adopted by Ford and the main aim for JIT manufacturing was mainly informed by the recognition that increasing the wages of factory employees leads to increased rates of productivity. Initially, Ford was simply assembling the cars and not manufacturing them, as the parts were produced by external shops, however, they were not made to be highly tolerant necessitating that the company shapes and fits them before they could come together appropriately. The company lacked control in terms of the quality of parts in the supply stream as well as the incoming flow of materials that came from external sources. There were no control mechanisms in place to arbitrate the inconsistencies in the manufacturing and assembly processes.

Information Systems Auditing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Information Systems Auditing - Assignment Example ing management controls in computer systems within an IT infrastructure to determine the adequacy of the system controls and ensure compliance (Puja, 2004, p. 5). It is done through collecting and evaluating evidence to determine whether data integrity is maintained and assets are safeguarded. The use computer based information systems has been incorporated into many companies and the ability of these companies to survive entirely depends on well-structured information system audit process that points out shortcomings in the information systems usage. The human resource department of any organization or company contains more sensitive data. Human resource workers specifically the payroll employees should be able to establish the employment status of an active employee, without altering the status, while the personnel employees have the clearance from human resource administration or higher authority to activate new employees and alter their status from active to terminated service. The personnel employees have no permission in handling of timecards for employees. This clearly defined separation of tasks prevents any occurrence of fraudulent incident. In most common cases it has been reported that the payroll employees or the personnel employees process illegal paychecks to terminated employees or ghost workers either as a result of ignorance or fraud motives. Human resource management systems house databases that contain other linked company information that the payroll employees have no reason of seeing. Such information may include; data from performance evaluation, health records, and retirement benefit plan balances, and insurance cover. The central location of human resource data is subject to access monitoring enabling the capture of identity of the person logging or exiting as well as the timestamp. This ensures that company data is accessed by authorized personnel and that entry codes are changed periodically where locking mechanisms with keypads are

Case Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 11

Case Analysis - Essay Example   This is due to low costs, and a new  division  is rapidly taking root. This paper will focus on a SWOT analysis of ISHR firm (Anja 1). Strengths of ISHR lie in the fact that they are a highly profitable firm. The company records excellent profit results from its business undertakings. The company also enjoys the benefit of having large companies such as Coca Cola and General Electric as their clients. The company lacks a chief financial officer to control and manage its finances. The company’s website is also not well built. The company has a poor marketing strategy that relies on word of mouth and no face to face marketing. Poor marketing strategy ensures that the company has a poor relationship with its clients. ISHR firm recorded double digit growth in 2008, and this signifies that the company can improve and continue its growth financially to enable its sustainability. The company can also strengthen its business acumen by enabling a proper and robust website for prospective clients. ISHR  firm’s total sales, nearly eighty percent, come from two large  corporations. The company over relies on these two clients for its financial success. This provides an extensive threat towards the company since if the two clients pull out; they face a significant financial collapse. ISHR firm should focus on improving its website to allow for a more user friendly interface that enables for easier navigation. The company should focus on networking for clients using its two prominent clients. This will ensure that they are able to spread the source for their sales. They should not rely entirely on the two corporations for the majority of their sales. The company can also use social sites, facebook and twitter, to reach out to prospective clients as a marketing tool. The company should develop a business plan which will detail on their business activity, goals, objectives, vision and mission. A business plan

Together Movie Review Essay Example for Free

Together Movie Review Essay Like some Chinese movies Ive seen, I was expecting to see the uglier side of China in this film.   I was prepared for coarseness and bad cinematography.   I was expecting a movie that is like a badly-made independent film.   But Im glad to be wrong about my preconceived notions.   I was impressed by the charming sites shown, the beautiful music, and the good acting.   I was impressed by the symmetry, the colors, and the overall picture. Together is a movie that is difficult to resist.    The plot about a young, struggling artist, who goes to the city to find fame and fortune, is nothing new.   To add more spice, it turned out that Liu Xiaochun is not after all the true son of Liu Cheng.   Many movies made before Together had more or less the same plot, and some of them turned out to be cheesy.   Although Togethers plot was simple and quite common, there was a disarming quality in the way the events unfolded and portrayed.   Many of us could relate to the young boys need to develop as an artist and become known for his craft.   As a student, I am in a way similar to the boy.   I study because I want to be somebody in the future.   But unlike the boy, my way is straighter, but not necessarily easier.   The father, like most parents, only wanted the best for his child.   He gave up the familiarity of his town and embarked on a journey whose outcome is uncertain.   Most Asian families are like that.   The parents would often make a lot of sacrifices, even if it meant giving up their own dreams, in order to see their children enjoy better fortunes.   I felt the disappointment of father and son after Xiaochun failed to get a scholarship. The movie remained true to the title.   The boy and his father, through thick and thin, remained on each others side.   Xiaochun could have the fame he wanted by joining an international competition, yet he let it go.   He let go of a dream because in the end his ties with his foster parent were stronger than any ambition.   The boy let go of the promise of a beautiful world in order to be with his father in their old, backward town.

The goals of the marketing department

The goals of the marketing department THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT was the department where I did my internship. I spent six weeks in this department. In these six weeks I came to know that what are the practical consequences of marketing n how to make it more impressive. In Gondal Group of Industries the Marketing department was established in Nov 1999. I worked under Marketing and sales officer Mr. Khalid Rohail. There are mainly three departments in Gondal Group Industries Fiber Glass Steel Concrete These three departments are working at their best .I did my internship in fiber glass department n as far as I concerned to only this department so I got a little look of others.. In this department I worked with every designation member and analyzed, observed and learned about the responsibilities and activities associated with them. Lets talk about them one by one. 2.2- Hierarchy of Marketing Department Marketing Marketing  is the process by which companies create customer interest in goods or services. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business development.throug marketing the relationship between customer and company and it makes the customer satisfied by the products. Gondal industry offers that in order to satisfy its organizational objectives, Gondal industry should anticipate the needs and wants of consumers and satisfy these more efficiently than competitors. In the consumer-driven approach, consumer wants are the drivers of all strategic marketing decisions. No strategy is pursued until it passes the test of consumer Objectives of Marketing Department The objectives of marketing department in gondal group of industry are the identification, anticipation and satisfaction of customer or consumer. so marketing department is responsible for the analysis of needs and demands of the consumer and then fulfill their requirement process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements by the products the company is offering and also take feedback of the product to ensure that the main objective is achieved or not. To understand and work in the marketing department, it is very important that one should know about the marketing research process. After learning all the steps of the Marketing Research Process, marketing can be possible. Marketing strategy It is a process by which a firm or an organization concentrates on its resources available and its limitations and the opportunities available for them so that the sale can be increased and the advantage of it can be taken according to needs and according to desire. A marketing strategy should be centered on the key concept that  customer satisfaction  is the main goal. Key part of the general corporate strategy Marketing strategy is a method of focusing an organizations energies and resources on a course of action which can lead to increased sales and dominance of a targeted market niche. A marketing strategy combines product development, promotion, distribution, pricing, relationship management and other elements; identifies the firms marketing goals, and explains how they will be achieved, ideally within a stated timeframe. Marketing strategy determines the choice of target market segments, positioning,  marketing mix, and allocation of resources. It is most effective when it is an integral component of overall firm strategy, defining how the organization will successfully engage customers, prospects, and competitors in the market arena, corporate strategies, corporate missions, and corporate goals. As the customer constitutes the source of a companys revenue, marketing strategy is closely linked with  sales. A key component of marketing strategy is often to keep marketing in line wit h a companys overarching  mission statement. Basic theory: Target Audience Proposition/Key Element Implementation Tactics and actions A marketing strategy can serve as the foundation of a  marketing plan. A marketing plan contains a set of specific actions required to successfully implement a marketing strategy. For example: Use a low cost product to attract consumers. Once our organization, via our low cost product, has established a relationship with consumers, our organization will sell additional, higher-margin products and services that enhance the consumers interaction with the low-cost product or service. A strategy consists of a well thought out series of tactics to make a marketing plan more effective. Marketing strategies serve as the fundamental underpinning of marketing plans designed to fill market needs and reach  marketing  objectives. Plans and objectives are generally tested for measurable results. A marketing strategy often integrates an organizations marketing goals, policies, and action sequences (tactics) into a cohesive whole. Similarly, the various strands of the strategy, which might include  advertising,  channel marketing,  promotion  and  public relations  can be orchestrated. Many companies cascade a strategy throughout an organization, by creating strategy tactics that then become strategy goals for the next level or group. Each one group is expected to take that strategy goal and develop a set of tactics to achieve that goal. This is why it is important to make each strategy goal measurable. Marketing strategies are dynamic and interactive. They are partially planned and partially unplanned. Types of strategies Marketing strategies may differ depending on the unique situation of the individual business. However there are a number of ways of categorizing some generic strategies. A brief description of the most common categorizing schemes is presented below: Strategies based on  market dominance   In this scheme, firms are classified based on their market share or dominance of an industry. Typically there are four types of market dominance strategies: Leader Challenger Follower Nicher Organizational Structure:   strategy on the dimensions of strategic scope and strategic strength. Strategic scope refers to the market penetration while strategic strength refers to the firms sustainable competitive advantage. The generic strategy framework (porter 1984) comprises two alternatives each with two alternative scopes. These are  Differentiation  and  low-cost leadership  each with a dimension of  Focus-broad or narrow. Product differentiation (broad) Cost leadership (broad) Market segmentation (narrow) Organizational Structure- This deals with the firms rate of the new product development and  business model innovation. It asks whether the company is on the cutting edge of technology and business innovation. There are three types: Pioneers Close followers Late followers Organizational Structure- In this scheme we ask the question, How should the firm grow? There are a number of different ways of answering that question, but the most common gives four answers: Horizontal integration Vertical integration Diversification Intensification A more detailed scheme uses the categories Prospector Analyzer Defender Reactor Marketing warfare strategies   This scheme draws parallels between marketing strategies and military strategies. Strategic models Marketing participants often employ strategic models and tools to analyze marketing decisions. When beginning a strategic analysis, the  3Cs  can be employed to get a broad understanding of the strategic environment. An  Ansoff Matrix  is also often used to convey an organizations strategic positioning of their  marketing mix. The  4Ps  can then be utilized to form a marketing plan to pursue a defined strategy. There are many companies especially those in the Consumer Package Goods (CPG) market that adopt the theory of running their business centred on Consumer, Shopper Retailer needs. Their Marketing departments spend quality time looking for Growth Opportunities in their categories by identifying relevant insights (both mindsets and behaviours) on their target Consumers, Shoppers and retail partners. These Growth Opportunities emerge from changes in market trends, segment dynamics changing and also internal brand or operational business challenges. The Marketing team can then prioritize these Growth Opportunities and begin to develop strategies to exploit the opportunities that could include new or adapted products, services as well as changes to the 7Ps. Real-life marketing Real-life marketing primarily revolves around the application of a great deal of common-sense; dealing with a limited number of factors, in an environment of imperfect information and limited resources complicated by uncertainty and tight timescales. Use of classical marketing techniques, in these circumstances, is inevitably partial and uneven. Thus, for example, many new products will emerge from irrational processes and the rational development process may be used (if at all) to screen out the worst non-runners. The design of the advertising, and the packaging, will be the output of the creative minds employed; which management will then screen, often by gut-reaction, to ensure that it is reasonable. For most of their time, marketing managers use intuition and experience to analyze and handle the complex, and unique, situations being faced; without easy reference to theory. This will often be flying by the seat of the pants, or gut-reaction; where the overall strategy, coupled with the knowledge of the customer which has been absorbed almost by a process of osmosis, will determine the quality of the marketing employed. This, almost instinctive management, is what is sometimes called coarse marketing; to distinguish it from the refined, aesthetically pleasing, form favoured by the theorists. SECTION # 3 3.0- SWOT Analysis of Marketing Department Strengths  in the SWOT Analysis are attributes or characteristics within the organization that are considered to be important to the execution and ultimate success of the project. Examples of strengths that are often cited are factors such as experienced management, state of the art manufacturing facilities, and a solid profit line already in place. Weaknesses  in the SWOT Analysis formula have to do with internal factors that could prevent the achievement of a successful result to the project. Factors such as a weak internal communication system, unhealthy levels of rivalry between departments, lack of raw materials, and inadequate funding for the project are often cited as weaknesses that can threaten to derail a project before it even begins. The third classification of factors in the SWOT analysis is  Opportunities. This classification has to do with external elements that will prove helpful in achieving the goals set for the project. Factors of this type could be the positive perception of the company by the general public, a network of vendors who are willing to work with the company to achieve success with the project, and market conditions that will help to make the project desirable to the market at large, or at least a significant segment. Last, the final essential component for the SWOT Analysis is  Threats. Here, external factors that could threaten the success of the  business venture  or project are listed and addressed. Among the possible threats that will be critical to any SWOT analysis is a negative public image, the lack of vendors who can supply raw materials for the project, and no readymade market for the final product of the project. Strengths The company has a very well balanced and realistic incentive program. It also focuses on giving additional benefits to its employees apart from the basic remuneration. This results in employees giving their Heart and Soul in working for their employer. The Marketing practices greatly enhance its image as a company that wants to contribute towards the society in every possible way. As the main focus is on developing better image not just to sale its products. Description of every product is written in its manual whereas the competitors dont do so this thing results in increase of customer loyalty and also profits. Weaknesses Marketing department lacks staff and it is very difficult for the Marketing Manager to do the right things for their organization and it takes much time for normal working of the organization. The Marketing Department is not up to the mark for the proper marketing system and implementation of that system. Gondal Group of Industries uses old methods of marketing practices. Gondal Group of Industries dont properly advertise their products on popular TV channels. Due to lack of advertisement activities most of the consumers dont know what to buy from Gondal and how to buy and also where to buy. These all things should be told in the advertisement and the advertisement should be played on popular TV channels and on radio F.M. the latest technology of media should be used to advertising the products of Gondal Group of Industries. Marketing Department has not functioning products packing program. All the products are delivered to the customers without proper packaging. There should be a proper packaging for all the products and that should be attractive so that it could increase attractiveness and also the customers. The employees are working along with their concise and conservative knowledge. There are no refresher courses for their training. Due to this employees feel difficult to set their working environment. Employees have developed a psychology that promotion criteria procedures of the Marketing Department of the company are not justified. Here is a lack of reward and proper incentives for the manual workers. The employees working more efficiently and effectively are receiving the same rewards as the others. These efficient employees are also not obliged with some appreciation. Employees are leaving the jobs, so that is why there is a lack of experienced employees in the organization, which leads to a shortfall in production. The working hours for the labor are not right and accurate. The working hours are so much awkward that the labor force feels so much exertion, after continuously working. There are frequent conflicts among the laborers which causes stoppage of work and which ultimately lead to shortfall in production. The authorities assigned to the workers are being misused by them. Perhaps the employees are using the companys resources for their own interest and misusing the authority assigned to them. There is a lack of co-ordination among employees. Employees are not in well exchanging their ideas, methods of production and their skill among each other so that their ideas are reserved to only a single person and the whole system is not enjoying it. There is an incorrect assignment of work in the organization. The jobs assigned to the workers do not match with their skills, mental as well as physical capabilities , which ultimately leads to short fall in production. The employees have adopted the satisfying behavior due to which they are not working as planning, and are just deceiving the management. Opportunities There are a number of opportunities that are available in areas of Marketing for Gondal Group of Industries during the course of their future activities. These are: The company can discover great potential through the future graduates as every generation is being taught in more effective manner that leads to better growth. Being a growing company in the employment rankings of Pakistan Gondal Group of Industries can recruit the cream of graduates every year and utilize their improved knowledge and abilities. There is an opportunity to create the best image of the company in the mind of customers by adding the value added services. The company should also use billboards for their advertising which is a very popular and common way of advertising now a days and the company should use it. With the expansion in the company business in Pakistan, the Marketing department can be expended in order to manage diversity of workforce. Threats There are also many threats that can b faces to Gondal Group of Industries Marketing department. Which are given below? Due to entering of new companies in industry the competition has been enhanced. Like other areas marketing departments is facing the threat of customers switching from Gondal Group of Industries to other companies. The big and regular customers are being attracted by the other companies multinational companies. This is all due to proper marketing, the company with proper marketing department practicing all the marketing rules and regulations not only attracts the customer but also creates loyal customers for itself which is a very good sign for that company. The company is currently acting upon the policy of downsizing which threaten the environment of the bank Employees feel insecurity in doing their jobs and work, hence affecting the overall performance of employees negatively. SECTION # 4 RECCOMENDATIONS Following are some recommendations for Gondal Group of Industries, which I personally feel can be useful for the organization, its employees and the customers. And which helps the organization to improve its effectiveness and efficiency in highly competitive world. The Marketing department should be vast. There should be training centers for employees and workers. In training refreshing courses should be adequate and more frequent. Advanced training should b given to employees which enhance their skills. Marketing Department may advice and train employees for one window operation in order to reduce the time and conserve the resources. Executives and employees should be trained on continuous basis to give them knowledge about the current market trends and new marketing concepts. The promotional criteria by the Marketing Department should be defined and be as per rules. The proper and competitive evaluation of the methods and procedures adopted by other competitors will enhance the performance of Marketing Department. Gondal Group of Industries should use all the techniques and methods that are required by a big firm like that to handle all its Marketing activities in an efficient manner. This is the era of Information Technology. The functions and procedures of the Company should be converted from manual to the automatic. It will enhance the performance of the Marketing Department and ultimately of the company Marketing Department should allocate resources for this purpose. Pay packages may be revised in the light of profit earned by the organization. Gondal Group of Industries has a formal environment which can be changed to more relax and friendly environment. To establish core competence and to bring competitiveness, Gondal Group of Industries should implement numerous effective marketing plans to improve the performance of its various departments. Supervisors must manage employee performance well in order for Gondal Group of Industries to accomplish its mission and achieve its goals. There should be effective communication system .Establishing and maintaining effective communications with each Employee not only requires good oral and written communications Skills, but it also includes the ability to establish good working Relationships. To communicate effectively with employees, Supervisors must establish an environment that promotes an open Door atmosphere, the sharing of ideas, and employee involvement in decision making processes. When the Marketing manager is going to prepare the Marketing Plan he must get information about work to employees that will it be easy for employees to do work effectively. Employees should be known that what is expected to them and how it will be measured. So KPAs and performance measures should be well communicated to employees. Credible measures of performance that employees understand and accept are critical for achieving high level performance. Measuring employee accomplishments, using both qualitative and quantitative measures, provides the information that supervisors and employees need in order to monitor performance. Feedback should inform, enlighten, and suggest improvements to employees regarding their performance. Supervisors should describe specific work related behavior or results they observe as close to the event as possible. Using their coaching skills, supervisors evaluate and address the developmental needs of their employees and help them select diverse experiences to gain necessary skills. Supervisors and employees create development plans that might include training, new assignment, job enrichment, self study or work details Competencies should be observable, measurable Patterns of skills, knowledge, abilities, behaviors and other Characteristics that an individual needs to perform work roles or Occupational functions successfully. Gondal Group of Industries must allocate high budget for marketing activities. For online Resume submission time to time to have excellent application pool not only at the time of Job position Give detail for every advertisement of job opportunities along with detail about job description and career path, status of advertised job opportunities along with compensation packages to manifest potential candidates because this all not possible through newspaper advertisement and we have competitive edge of offering excellent compensation package to Mgt. Trainees so we should get benefit of this strength. There should be complete pre-defined program along with orientations modules and contents supposed to be highlighted and discussed by every department. Marketing department require to develop Orientation program and specific course contents for every department along with department managers, discussed and highlighted during orientation training and upgraded with the passage of time as for as changes takes place. And should be handover to every department and its one copy will remain to Marketing department orientation program file CONCLUSIONS The six weeks spent in Gondal Group of Industries, (By-pass) Gujrat were, no doubt a source of great learning for me. Its my quite first experience to do work practically in some organization. This practical training program did not only help me to acquire loads of knowledge about the predominant functions performed by company, but also imparted a lot of training as regards the set of behavioral traits which distinguish a particular person from the rest of the lot in a professional environment. All from the above discussion I conclude that Gondal Group of Industries Company is facing direct competition with many brands assembled by different companies. No doubt Gondal Group of Industries is a hi tech company but the working substances are the human being .It goes without saying that Marketing are the most important in the organization and so does the Marketing Department .It integrate all the activities and functions of the company like product manufacturing, packaging, advertising, customer feedback, designing attractive packing of the product, continuous improvement in the product according to the needs and wants of customers. Marketing Department plays the key role in the product, place, innovation, price of the product and promotion of the employees actually it assign the specified duties to the specified persons in this age of specialization. Marketing manager should be well versed and confident in his field. He should be humanize, well natured and have go face reading capabilities .All this ensures his success .He should be of the notion victory is not everything but the way of fighting is. Another famous marketing quotation is Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read. All departments are working together and they want to create a work environment in which employees can improve their minds, continuously learn, gain professional growth and feel inspired by similarly motivated individuals. Gondal Group of Industries takes pride in providing the best possible working environment. Especially the marketing department is being improved at a very fast speed and soon it will be best in business. The company is hiring more professional and hardworking marketing experts to improve their marketing department and their marketing plan, so that the company could get some more fame and popularity among customers and become a solid treat for its competitors. They take a constant interest in ones progress by conducting evaluations and offering the support and resources one needs.

Concepts in Disaster Management

Concepts in Disaster Management CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Broader Views on Disaster Management 2.1.1 Definition of Disaster Disaster has been defined in some different ways. Indeed, there is no precise definition for a disaster (Eshghi Larson, 2008). In complete form, Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) defines disasters as â€Å"A situation or event which overwhelms local capacity, necessitating a request to the national or international level for external assistance, or is recognized as such by a multilateral agency or by at least two sources, such as national, regional or international assistance groups and the media† (Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), 2004). Below et al. (2007) propose â€Å"an accumulation of widespread losses over multiple economic sectors, associated with a natural hazard event, that overwhelms the ability of the affected population to cope† as a definition of a disaster. International Federation on Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) defines a disaster as â€Å"a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community or society and causes human, material, and economic or environmental losses that exceed the communitys or societys ability to c ope using its own resources†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (IFRC, 2008). van Wassenhove (2006) proposes â€Å"a disruption that physically affects a system as a whole and threatens its priorities and goals† as a definition of disaster, while Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC, 2008) defines disaster as â€Å"a serious disruption of the functioning of society, causing widespread human, material or environmental losses which exceed the ability of affected society to cope using only its own resources†, which is similar with Reliefwebs (2008) definition. Emergency Management Australia (EMA, 2008) defines disaster as â€Å"a serious disruption to community life which threatens or causes death or injury in that community and/or damage to property which is beyond the day-today capacity of the prescribed statutory authorities and which requires special mobilization and organization of resources other than those normally available to those authorities†, while emergency is defined as à ¢â‚¬ËœAn event, actual or imminent, which endangers or threatens to endanger life, property or the environment, and which requires a significant and coordinated response. (EMA, 2008). 2.1.2 Disaster Types With a wide variability of disaster definition, it is understandable to have different initial classifications for disasters (Eshghi Larson, 2008; Shaluf 2007a, b). Canadian Disaster Database (2008) categorises disasters into five different types as summarized in Table 1. Table 1. Disaster types (Source: Canadian Disaster Database, 2008) Disaster types Encompasses Biological Epidemic, infestation Geological Earthquake, landslide, tsunami Meteorological and hydrological Cold wave, drought, flood, hail/ thunderstorm, heat wave, hurricane/ typhoon, snow avalanche, storm surges, storm-freezing rain, storm-unspecified/ other, storm-winter, tornado, wildfire Conflict Terrorism, civil unrest Technological Accident-industrial, accident-other, accident-transport, fire, hazardous chemicals van Wassenhove (2006) proposes a metrics (see Table 2) to understand disasters. Table 2. Categorization of disasters based on van Wassenhove (2006) Natural Man-made Sudden-onset Earthquake, hurricane, tornado Terrorist attack, coup detat, chemical leak Slow-onset Famine, drought, poverty Political crisis, refugee crisis In general, Shaluf (2007a, b) categorises disasters into three types: Natural disasters, which are catastrophic events resulting from natural causes such as volcanic eruptions, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc. Man made disasters, which are those catastrophic events that result from human decisions. Hybrid disasters are those disasters that result from both human error and natural forces. In further detail, Shaluf (2007b) breaks down each type of disasters and gives examples and characteristics, as can be seen in Table 3. Table 3. Disaster types, taken from Shaluf (2007b) Disaster type Characteristics Sub-disaster Name of disasters Natural A natural disaster is a natural phenomenon; A natural disaster is an unplanned and socially disruptive event with a sudden and severe disruptive effect; A natural disaster is single event over which no human has control; The impact of natural disaster is localized to a geographical region and specific time period; The consequences of a natural disaster are felt at the place and time of its occurrence; The disaster can be a high-impact disaster (e.g. a flood) that has a greater direct effect on the community over a longer period; Rapid onset disasters include earthquakes, flash floods, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, tsunamis, slow onset disasters, droughts, floods, and epidemics Natural phenomena beneath the earths surface Earthquakes Tsunamis Volcanic eruptions Topographical phenomena Landslides Avalanches Meteorological/ hydrological phenomena Windstorms (Cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes) Tornadoes Hailstorms and snowstorms Sea surges Floods Droughts Heat waves/ could waves Biological phenomena Infestations (locust swarms, mealy bug) Epidemics (cholera, dengue, ebola, malaria, measles, meningitis, yellow fever, HIV/ AIDS, tuberculosis) Man-made Characteristics of socio-technical disasters: A socio-technical disaster is a man-made event; A socio-technical disaster occurs in an organisation due to the interaction between internal factors and external factors; It arises suddenly: when the disaster occurs it does so as a shock; A socio-technical disaster is a complex system of interdependence; The impact of a socio-technical disaster sometimes transcends geographical boundaries and can even have trans-generational effects (e.g. Three Mile Island, Bhopal, Chernobyl); Socio-technical disasters do not always have their worst consequences at the point of occurrence; the worst effects can occur long after the event; Socio-technical disasters are characterized by a low probability/ high consequences event; Sudden-impact disasters (e.g. air/road/rail accident) are usually of short duration and have a limited direct effect on the local community; Socio-technical disasters arise not because of a single factor but of accumulated unnoticed events; Disaster involves management procedures which must be maintained, and management problems must be coped with under the conditions of a major technical emergency involving threats of injury and loss of life; Rapid onset disasters include fires, technological disasters, industrial accidents, and transportation accidents; An inquiry report is required Socio-technical Technological disasters Fire Explotions (munitions explosions, chemical explosions, nuclear explosions, mine explosions) Leakage Toxic release Pollutions (pollution, acid rain, chemical pollution, atmospheric pollution) Structural collapse of physical assets Transportation disasters Air disasters Land disasters Sea disasters Stadia or other public places failures Fire Structural collapse Crowd stampede Production failure Computer system breakdown Distribution of defective products Warfare National Civil war between armed groups in the same country Civil strikes Civil disorder Bomb threats/ terrorist attack Inter-national Conventional war War between two armies from different countries Sieges Blockades Non-conventional war Nuclear Chemical Biological Hybrid The characteristics of a hybrid disaster can be the characteristics of both man-made and natural disasters Natural and man-made events Floods ravage community built on known floodplain Location of residential premises, factories, etc., at the foot of an active volcano, or in an avalanche area Landslides Slightly different from those, EM-DAT (2008a) classifies disasters into three groups: Natural disasters Technological disasters Complex emergencies Regarding its scope in terms of sufferer number and/ or geographic areas affected, Gad-el-Hak (2008) distinguishes disasters into five categories as can be seen in Table 4. Table 4. Disaster scope in terms of number of victims and/ or geographic area affected (Source: Gad-el-Hak, 2008) Scope Category No. of sufferers Geographic areas affected Scope I Small disaster Or Scope II Medium disaster 10-100 persons or 1-10 km2 Scope III Large disaster 100-1,000 persons Or 10-100 km2 Scope IV Enormous disaster 1,000-104 persons Or 100-1,000 km2 Scope V Gargantuan disaster > 104 persons Or > 1,000 km2 While the definition of natural disasters and technological disasters are principally the same as those proposed by Shaluf (2007a, b), complex emergencies need a further exploration. Alballa-Bertrand (see Alballa-Bertrand, 2000) proposes the following definition for a complex humanitarian emergency or, in short, complex emergency: ‘A purposeful and unlikely neutral response, intended mostly to counteract the worse effects of the massive human destitution that derive from an overt political phenomenon, which takes the form of a violent, entrenched and long-lasting factionalist conflict or imposition with ultimate institutional aims. On the other hand, ReliefWeb (2008) defines a complex emergency as â€Å"A multifaceted humanitarian crisis in a country, region or society where there is a total or considerable breakdown of authority resulting from internal or external conflict and which requires a multi-sectoral, international response that goes beyond the mandate or capacity of any single agency and/or the ongoing UN country program. Such emergencies have, in particular, a devastating effect on children and women, and call for a complex range of responses.† While Complex Emergency Database (CE-DAT) (2008) defines complex emergency as all crises characterized by extreme vulnerability that display the following features: There exist the unwillingness or incapability of the government to give effective response, leading call for external assistance; Political oppression or armed conflict; Displacement; Increased mortality. 2.1.3 The Increasing Trend of Disaster Occurrences Lichterman (1999) predicts that the frequency of disasters and their effects seem to be increasing. By reviewing various related published sources from 1900-2005, Eshghi and Larson (2008) confirm Lichtermans prediction. A disaster leads to a severe trouble of society, including extensive human misery and physical loss or damage (Davis Lambert, 2002). Both natural and man-made disasters are likely to raise another five-fold over the next fifty years (from the year 2005) due to environmental degradation, rapid urbanization and the spread of HIV/AIDS in less developed world (Thomas Kopczak, 2005). More than 250 million people in the world are affected by disasters every year (IFRC, 2008). In the sense of natural disasters which are then divided into biological, geophysical, climatological, hydrological, and meteorological disasters -, CRED (see Scheuren et al., 2008) reports that there were 414 natural disaster occurrences (excluding biological disasters) in year 2007 which killed 16 847 persons, affected more than 211 million others and caused over 74.9 US$ billion in economic damages. Until year 2004, over 90 percent of natural disasters occurred in developing countries (United Nations ISDR, 2004). By including biological disasters and regrouping natural disasters into three different categories, as follows: Hydro-meteorological disasters: comprising floods and wave surges, storms, droughts and related disasters (extreme temperatures and forest/scrub fires), and landslides avalanches; Geophysical disasters: earthquakes tsunamis and volcanic eruptions fall into this category; Biological disasters: consisting of epidemics and insect infestations; International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) (2008) provides data which shows that there is an increasing trend on the occurrences of natural disasters from 1900 to 2005, as can be seen in Table 5. Table 5. Distribution of natural disasters: by origin (1900-2005, by decades*) *) 2000-2005, six year period The increasing trends of the occurrences of natural disasters between 1900-June 2008 is also documented in EM-DAT (2008b). Regarding the victims, there were 3,470,162,961 people affected by natural disasters for the period of 1991-2005 with a total of 960,502 deaths. Most of the victims (98.1% of people affected and 92.1% of people killed) were located in developing countries and least-developed countries (IFRC, 2008). 2.1.4 Disaster Management Disaster management also known as emergency management (Reliefweb, 2008) is defined as comprehensive approach and activities to reduce the adverse impacts of disasters (Reliefweb, 2008), while disaster operations could be considered as the set of activities that are performed before, during, and after a disaster which are aimed at preventing loss of human life, reducing its impact on the economy, and returning to a normal situation (Altay Green III, 2006). Using the terminology of disaster relief operations (DRO) as substitute to disaster operations, Pujawan et al. (2009) state that DRO consists of a variety of activities such as assessing demands, acquiring commodities, finding out priorities as well as receiving, classifying, storing, tracing and tracking deliveries. Regarding its phases, disaster management could be divided into four phases (Altay Green III, 2006): disaster mitigation, disaster preparedness, disaster response, and disaster recovery. 2.1.5 The Importance of Logistics in Disaster Management Logistics could be defined as follows (see Sheu, 2007a: 655): â€Å"Logistics is the process of planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption for the purpose of conforming to customers[] requirements at the lowest total cost.† Its system operation consists of network design, information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging (see Wu Huang, 2007: 429). There are several Operational Research (OR) techniques utilised in logistics context, including the use of transportation model to determine the location of warehouses and the use of assignment/ allocation model to locate production facilities (Slats et al., 1995: 12), to name a few. In particular, humanitarian logistics could be defined as â€Å"the process of planning, implementing and control ­ling the efficient, cost-effective flow and storage of goods and materials, as well as related information, from point of origin to point of consump ­tion for the purpose of meeting the end beneficiarys requirements† (Thomas Mizushima, January 2005). Similarly, Thomas and Kopczak (2005) define it as â€Å"the process of planning, implementing and controlling the efficient, cost-effective flow and storage of goods and materials, as well as related information, from the point of origin to the point of consumption for the purpose of alleviating the suffering of vulnerable people†. Whereas Sheu (2007a) proposes ‘‘a process of planning, managing and controlling the efficient flows of relief, information, and services from the points of origin to the points of destination to meet the urgent needs of the affected people under emergency conditions as a definition of emergency logistics. Moreover, disaster relief is usually put aside for sudden upheavals such as natural disasters (earthquakes, avalanches, hurricanes, floods, fires, volcano eruptions, etc.) and very few man-made disasters such as terrorist acts or nuclear disasters (Kovà ¡cs Spens, 2007). Relief itself could be understood as â€Å"assistance and/or intervention during or after disaster to meet the life preservation and basic subsistence needs. It can be of emergency or protracted duration† (Reliefweb, 2008). It has been already generally well-known that logistics play a vital role in emergency management. Sheu (2007a) declares that, due to the possibility of disasters occurrences anytime around the world with huge effects, emergency logistics management had appeared as a worldwide-noticeable subject matter. People which are affected by disasters and are uprooted from their rights for food, housing, livelihood and other means of supporting themselves need the delivery of food, medicine, tents, sanitation equipment, tools and other necessities (Whybark, 2007). The science of logistics and supply chain management is becoming more vital for humanitarians (van Wassenhove, 2006), and â€Å"the subject of disaster management is an absolutely fascinating one that is growing in importance† (van Wassenhove, 2003: 19). Oloruntoba (2005) states that, regarding the Indian Ocean tsunami context, the scale of damage and subsequent response lead to problems of coordination, transportation and dis tribution among responding groups. In other affected areas of the Indian Ocean tsunami, Thomas (summer/fall 2006) reports that, at the 60-day point, regardless of the enormous relief efforts, only 60% of the families reported receiving well-timed and sufficient aid. It is therefore acceptable to conclude that good logistics planning plays an important role to the success of an emergency program (Davis Lambert, 2002: 109). Humanitarian logistics is essential to disaster relief for some reasons (Thomas Kopczak, 2005): It is crucial to the effectiveness and speed of response for main humanitarian programs, such as health, food, shelter, water, and sanitation; It can be one of the most expensive elements of a relief effort as it includes procurement and transportation; Since the logistics department handles tracking of commodities through the supply chain, it is often the repository of data that can be analyzed to offer post-event knowledge. In his paper, McEntire (1999) states that the disaster studies must discover ways to improve the provision of relief after certain catastrophe hits. This statement is in line with Perrys (2007) finding which accentuates the availability of logistician cadres as a key element of disaster response, as part of needs assessment and for procuring, transporting, and distributing the relief provisions. Regarding the relief of the Indian Ocean tsunami, the humanitarian organizations providing those relieves acknowledged that relief can and needs to be faster and more efficient (Thomas, 2005). Together with hurricane â€Å"Katrina† disaster, the Indian Ocean tsunami lead to the gap of â€Å"the inability to connect the aid provided with the aid received† (Thomas, 2005) in spite of the unprecedented giving during those two misfortunes. It is also pointed out by Tolentino Jr. (2007) that the Indian Ocean tsunami has provided the will to radically improve disaster management and pl anning, an issue Trims (2004: 224) research agrees with, in a broader disaster relief context. Furthermore, the development of new technology for track/trace and disaster relief supply chains is proposed as one of ways to improve the delivery of humanitarian relief (Baluch, 2007). In the context of the participation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in worldwide emergencies (e.g. volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods, war), Beamon and Kotleba (2006) point out that the capability of an NGOs supply chain and logistics operations directly influences the success of a relief effort. Whereas Pujawan et al. (2009) propose information visibility, coordination, accountability, and professionalism as successful requirements of logistics for DRO. 2.2 Some Previous Works in Logistics Management The following paragraphs will give a short overview on several aspects in logistics management, especially those which are perceived as having relevance with the current research. They include distribution network design problem, location-allocation problem (LAP), vehicle routing problem (VRP), and location-routing problem (LRP), respectively. 2.2.1 Distribution Network Design Problem Citing Chopra (2003), distribution can be seen as â€Å"the steps taken to move and store a product from the supplier stage to a customer stage in the supply chain†. While distribution networks can be defined as â€Å"networks that carry the flow of some commodity or entity, using a routing rule that is intended to be effective and even optimal† (Whittle, 2007), and distribution network itself could be viewed as similar with the terminology producer network (Ambrosino Scutellà  , 2005: 611). Distribution network design problem tackles the issues of optimizing the flows of commodities through an existing distribution network as well as improving the performance of the existing network by selecting the most appropriate setting of the facilities in the network aimed at satisfying the companys goal at one hand and minimising the overall costs at the other hand (Ambrosino Scutellà  , 2005: 611). It involves facility location, transportation and inventory decisions (Ambrosino Scutellà  , 2005: 611). In other words, the aim of distribution network design problem is on deciding the best way of moving goods or products from resource/ supply points to destination/ demand points which is performed by determining the structure of the network, in a such a way that the customer demands are satisfied and the total distribution costs are minimized (Ambrosino et al., 2009: 442). In Amiris (2006: 567-568) paper, distribution network design is stated as involving the simultaneous decis ions on the best settings of both plants and warehouses and on the best strategy in the sense of product distribution from the plants to the warehouses and from the warehouses to the customers, respectively. Meanwhile, the term â€Å"distribution system design† refers to â€Å"the strategic design of the logistics infrastructure and logistics strategy to deliver products from one or more sources to the customers† (Goetschalckx, 2008: 13-1) and similar to Ambrosino et al.s (2009) statement on distribution network design problem focuses on five phases of interconnected decisions, as follows (Goetschalckx, 2008: 13-2): Establishing the appropriate quantity of distribution centers (DCs); Setting up the location of each DC; Allocating customers to each DC; Allocating appropriate commodities to each DC; and Determining the throughput and storage capacity of each DC. Various models and approaches that have been built for designing distribution system or distribution network, to name a few, are (Goetschalckx, 2008: 13-8-13-15; Lapierre et al., 2004): K-median model, location-allocation model, warehouse location model, Geoffrion and Graves distribution system design model, models that focus on mathematical description of cost functions on each route in order to incorporate returns to scale, models of which concentration are in shipments on hub-to-hub routes regarding discounts, and models that aim at solving the freight transportation problem precisely. 2.2.2 Location-Allocation Problem (LAP) As previously stated in Goetschalckx (2008), LAP could be seen as part of distribution network design problems. Given the place of a set of customers with different demands, LAP is concerned with the selection of supply centres positions dedicated for serving the customers as well as the decision of the allocation of the customers to supply centres, with both of them are aimed at optimizing a given criterion (Hsieh Tien, 2004: 1017). It is also assumed that there is no interaction among supply centres. The criterion could be single such as transportation costs (see, for example, Goetschalckx, 2008; Zhou Liu, 2003; Manzini Gebennini, 2008) or it may comprises several aspects (see, for example, Mitropoulos et al., 2006). The following paragraphs provide some previous researches on LAP. The un-capacitated-type LAP with rectilinear distances could be found in Hsieh and Tien (2004). In this paper, the authors propose a heuristic method which is based on Kohonen self-organising feature maps (SOFMs). Sometimes distribution networks are built in hierarchies, where high-level distribution channels are constructed in straight lines from which low-level channels stem. Furthermore, destinations are allocated to branching facilities in high-level channels through low-level channels. Due to cost considerations, the number and locations of branching facilities as well as the allocation of the destinations to the aforementioned branching facilities need to be determined correctly. Eben-Chaime et al.s (2002) paper addresses this type of problem by formulating appropriate mathematical optimisation models and subsequently proposing heuristic solution methods. Capacitated LAP with stochastic demands is addressed by Zhou and Liu (2003). More specifically, they propose three types of stochastic programming models: (1) expected value model (EVM), (2) chance-constrained programming (CCP), and (3) dependent-chance programming (DCP). To solve these models efficiently, the authors develop a hybrid intelligent algorithm within which three type stochastic simulations are used. The proposed algorithm integrates the network simplex algorithm, stochastic simulation and genetic algorithm. In more recent paper, Zhou and Liu (2007) address the LAP with fuzzy demands by developing three types of fuzzy programming models fuzzy expected cost minimisation model, fuzzy -cost minimisation model, and credibility maximisation model with respect to different decision criterion. To solve these models, the authors apply a hybrid intelligent algorithm developed previously (see Zhou and Liu, 2003). Nonetheless, instead of using stochastic simulations, they are developing and employing fuzzy simulations. Similar with the abovementioned paper, Wen and Imamura (2008) also address LAP with fuzzy demands. For this type of problem, they build a fuzzy -cost model under the Hurwicz criterion. The problem is subsequently solved using the same algorithm as in Zhou and Liu (2007). The establishment of mixed integer programming optimisation models for multi-period, multi-stage LAPs could be found in Manzini and Gebennini (2008). In their paper, the authors develop optimisation models each for the following classes of multi-period, multi-stage LAPs: (1) single-commodity, multi-period, two-stage LAPs, (2) multi-commodity, multi-period, two-stage LAPs, (3) single-commodity, multi-period, two-stage open/ closed LAPs, and single-commodity, multi-period, three-stage LAPs. The application of various search methods to a generalised class of LAPs known as multi-facility location problem with generalised objects (MFLPO) is presented by Bischoff and Dà ¤chert (2009). The end of the paper gives comparison of the involved search methods for various sizes of test problem. Research on LAP in health service context could be found in Harper et al. (2005) and Mitropoulos et al. (2006). The former addresses the need to plan health services which takes geographical aspects into consideration. The problem is formulated as a stochastic LAP. The latter paper, on the other hand, develops a bi-objective model to solve the LAP arise in determining the location of hospitals and health centres and the allocation of the patients to those facilities. 2.2.3 Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) In its most basic form (e.g. Bulbul et al., 2008; Laporte, 2007), VRP is concerned with the optimal delivery or collection routes for a limited number of identical vehicles with limited capacities from a central depot/ warehouse to a set of geographically scattered customers. It assumes that the vehicles are at the central depot/ warehouse initially. It also requires the existence of the routes that connect the central depot/ warehouse to customers and customers to customers as well. In this type of VRP, a route must start and finish at the depot and a customer is visited by exactly one vehicle. The total demand of customers served by one vehicle could not exceed the vehicles capacity, and the ultimate goal is to minimise the total routing costs. Since its introduction by Dantzig and Ramser in 1959 (Bulbul et al., 2008), it has given rise to a rich body of works (Laporte, 2007). In 2008, searching the words vehicle routing problem by using Google scholar search results more than 21,700 entries (Golden et al. (eds), 2008). Laportes (1992) paper provides various exact methods and heuristics developed to solve the VRP. Several meta-heuristics intended to solve the classical VRP could be traced from his more recent paper (2007), while Toth and Vigos (2002) paper presents various existing exact algorithms for the solution of classical VRP. The comparison of descent heuristics, simulated annealing, and tabu search in solving VRP is addressed by Van Breedam (2001). Jozefowiez et al. (2008), on the other hand, give a survey on works that have been carried out on multi-objective VRP. A range of VRP variants can be seen in Crainic and Laporte (eds., 1998), Bulbul et al. (2008), and Golden et al. (eds., 2008). Other variants also exist: VRP with stochastic demands and VRP with backhaul. Different classification of VRP could be found in Pisinger and Ropkes (2007) paper. The following sub-sections mention examples of works on some of them, while new directions in modelling and algorithms for various types of LRP could be found in Part II of Golden et al.s (eds., 2008) edited book. 2.2.3.1 VRP with Time Windows In this type of VRP, customer i may only be visited within a time window [ai, bi] (see, e.g., Kontoravdis Bard, 1995; Badeau et al., 1997; Bouthillier Crainic, 2005; Fà ¼genschuh, 2006; Hsu et al., 2007; Kim, et al., 2006; Dondo Cerdà ¡, 2007; Kallehauge et al., 2007). 2.2.3.2 VRP with Pickup and Delivery When the vehicles need to deliver commodities to customers and collect items for example, defective products from them as well, then this is called a VRP with pickup and deliveries. Research papers by Nagy Salhi (2005), Wassan et al. (2008), Wassan et al. (2008), Gribkovskaia et al. (2008), Hoff et al. (2009), and Ai Kachitvichyanukul (2009) are several examples on it. 2.2.3.3 VRP with Backhaul In this type of VRP, the customers are separated into two mutually exclusive subsets so that the first subset of customers receives commodities whereas the second one sends back the products. Additionally, the second subset of customers are only served after the first one. The first subset is called line-haul customers and the second one is named backhaul customers. The f