Designing A Online Book Shop System Information Technology Essay

Designing A Online Book Shop System Information Technology Essay Introduction The Best Book Shop order to provide online services to improve profit and extend their marketing, they invite us to design one online bookshop system. Internet shopping is a process to allow consumers to purchase goods or services directly from a seller in real time, without intermediary services on the Internet. If there is an intermediary service is called e-commerce. An online shop, eshop, e-store, internet shop, webshop, webstore, online store, or Virtual store evokes the physical simulation to purchase products or services in a brick and cement retailer or shopping mall. This process is known as business to consumer (B2C) online shopping. When companies buy other companies, is known as the Business to Business (B2B) online shopping. B2C and B2B both in the form of e-commerce online shopping. In order to design bookshop system, we will visit simple online bookshop for feasibily study. Create project planning to control work flow, design the program and related database system, we will provide installation guide and user guide as the same time. We will present our work with several documents, each document is dependent showing their individual information. There are feasibily report, project planning, program design, installation guide and user guide. Open those documents you can find what details we are working. Feasibility study Feasibility study is one important studying that to consider the project we go do or not. Feasibility study was to evaluate a proposal to determine the specific difficulties of the task. In general, the first feasibility studies and technology development projects. In other words, the feasibility study, evaluation or analysis of the potential impact of the proposed project. In case of our feasibility studying, first we will visit one popular online bookshop to get more information about this bookshop system, and then we use the information we collected to analysis the feasibility to implement new online bookshop. Amazon.com, Inc. is a US-based multinational e-commerce company. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, which is the largest online retailer, has nearly three times the runner-up Internet sales, Staples Company, as of January 2010. Amazon.com, founded in 1994 and 1995 the company launched on the web. The company was originally called Cadabra company, but the name has changed, people found that people sometimes hear the name of body. Amazon.com also chose this name because the Amazon is the worlds largest river, so the name implies large size, but also in part because it a, so the letter will appear near the beginning of the list. Amazon.com started as an online bookstore but soon diversified, selling the DVD, CD, MP3 download, computer software, video games, electronics, clothing, furniture, food, toys and so on. Amazon has established separate websites in Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Japan and China. It also provides international shipping of some products in certain countries. 2009 survey found that Amazon is the UKs favorite music and video retailers, retailers and third overall. The company began as an online bookstore, and the largest brick and cement bookstores and mail order catalog of books may provide 20 million titles, one can provide more online bookstore. Bezos company named Amazon, the worlds largest river. Since 2000, Amazons identity is an arrow leading from A to Z, on behalf of customer satisfaction (because it forms a smile), one goal is to make each product in the alphabet. Amazon was founded in 1994, in Washington State. July 1995, the company began to sell its services, and the first book in amazon.com Douglas Hofstadters Fluid concepts and creative analogies: computer models of the basic mechanisms of Thinking. In 1996, it was reincorporated in Delaware. Amazon launched its IPO on May 15, 1997, trading companies Nasidake NYSE AMZN, in the initial public offering price of $ 18.00 per share, USD ($ 1.50 after stock split three in the late 90s). Amazons initial business plan was unusual: the company does not expect profit of 4 to 5 years. Its slow growth caused complaints from shareholders, the company has not reached profitability fast enough. When the Internet bubble burst, many e-companies went out of business, Amazon persevered and finally turned its first profit in the fourth quarter of 2001: 500 million, or 1 cent per share, on revenues over one billion U.S. dollars, but modest It is important to the profits of the business model can prove to be profitable. In 1999, Time magazine named Bezos Person of the Year, recognizing the companys successful promotion of online shopping. Amazons product line includes books, music CD, video and DVD, software, consumer electronics, kitchen supplies, tools, lawn and garden supplies, toys and games, baby supplies, clothing, Tiyuyongpin, food, jewelry, clocks and watches, health and personal care products, beauty products, musical instruments, clothing, industrial, scientific supplies and groceries. The company launched amazon.com auction, the auction Web service, in March 1999. However, it did not take the chip in the industry pioneer eBays large market share. amazon.com auction followed by the introduction of a fixed-price market operations, zShops, 1999 à ¥Ã‚ ¹Ã‚ ´ 9 months, and the now defunct Sothebys / Amazon Cooperation as amazon.com November. Amazon Auctions and zShops evolved into the market in 2001, launched a service to allow customers to sell used books, CD, DVD and other products with new projects. Today, the markets main rival Amazon, eBays Half.com service. August 2005, Amazon began selling its products in its own brand , flat cases, said the trademark application, the label will be used for textiles, kitchen utensils, household goods. In March 2007 the company expanded to cover more trademark applications for diverse list of goods and register a new design consisting of letters to form words Hiramatsu letter O and space gaps appear in the one oclock position.. Reported by the trademark grew to include items such as paint, carpet, wallpaper, hair accessories, clothing, footwear, headgear, cleaning products and jewelry. September 2008, Amazon filed under famous. United States Patent and Trademark Office has completed the review of the application, but Amazon has not yet received official registered name. Amazon MP3, its own online music store, launched in the United States September 25, 2007, sales of MP3 format, download no digital rights management. This is the first available online DRM free music of all four major record companies. The domain amazon.com attracts tourists, at least 615 million U.S. dollars, double the 2008 number of walmart.com. Amazon attracts approximately 65 million customers to its site each month in the United States. Amazon allows users to submit comments to the page of each product. Reviewers rate the products, must be in a rating scale from one to five stars. Amazon provides an optional comment badge options that the real name of the reviewer (based on confirmed credit card account) or that Reviewer is a review by popularity. Amazon.com customer reviews are monitored obscene, but allow negative comments. Specter, the book on amazon.com, describes how when publishers and authors asked Bezos why the negative comments will be published amazon.com, defended his approach, claiming that amazon.com is taking a different way We hope to enable each book good, bad, ugly truth let loose (Sipeikete 132). Allegations have been made, Amazon has a negative evaluation of the selective deletion of related projects, despite the views of Scientology compliance with the guidelines. Book Search is a feature that allows customers to search for keywords in the text in many books directory. The function started with 120,000 titles (or 33 million pages of text) October 23, 2003. Currently about 25 million books in the program. Amazon has about 130 publishers and allows the user to perform these searches. In order to avoid copyright infringement, amazon.com does not return a machine-readable text book. Instead, it returns pages that match a picture to prohibit printing, and proposed to limit the number of pages in a single user can access. In addition, customers can purchase online access to some of the same book through the Amazon Upgrade program. About forty percent from sales of the Amazon Amazon associate and affiliate marketing so-called third-party sellers who sell their products in Amazon [citation needed]. Customers associate commission referred to the Amazon Amazon link placed on its Web site, the results of the sale if the referral. In Shijiefanwei, the Amazon has over 900,000 members in its affiliate program. Amazon reported over 1.3 million sellers sold products through Amazons Web site in 2007. Unlike eBay, Amazon sellers do not have to maintain separate payment accounts, payment processing of all the Amazon. Employees can directly access the catalog on its Web site using Amazon Amazon Web Services (AWS) of the XML service. A new subsidiary products, aStore, the association is embedded in a subset of Amazon products, or link to another site. June 2010, Amazon launched product recommendations seller (said to be internally referred to as Genesis Project) to provide more transparency, vendor-specific products recommended for sale to a third party Amazon seller. Product recommendations are based on customers browsing history. January 2010 survey found that third-party vendors Auctionbytes.com, Amazon fourth. amazon.com second profit. The lowest rating, but still above average, in the ease of use. Amazon seller that clearly defined rules, provides a steady stream of traffic list, with a focus on reducing part of the community. amazon.com came in second place in the sales recommendation category. Focus on amazon.com bookshop system, there has several important features that we need to know, first is clearly item catalog system, Amazon have many items are selling on their web site, such as books, digital devices, shoes, clothes, Toys, etc. although there are too much items on bookshop system, it is very clearly and easy to find, as the same time, Amazon provide a powerful item search engine for user to search their favorite products. It is one feature that Amazon to attract users visits them and purchase items. Another important point is shopping cart system and member system. Amazon provides are powerful member system that every customer need create one member account on Amazon.com for purchase items and transfer payment. Looking for Amazons member system, it must have enterprise level database server to support large size transfer and member record. Shopping cart is one system on Amazon that we need to pay attention to. When user browsing and shopping on Amazon.com, if they have some favor item they want to buy, they can put it into shopping cart. Finally, they may go to shopping cart page to check what they had bought, if user accept to buy all items, they may direct transfer payment. If users order has any change, they can remove any item from shopping cart, that will not to pay extra charge and the total amount will real time change. After studding Amazon.com, we are summary that online bookshop system is one good idea to develop. We are focus on marketing and technical. In recent years, online shopping has become popular, but it still caters to upper middle class. For online shopping, must be able to have access to a computer, bank accounts and debit cards. Shopping has evolved with the growth of technology. It is found that e-commerce in the diary, if we focus on the demographic characteristics of shoppers in the family, in general, the higher the education level, income, occupation of head of household, a more favorable perception of non-store shopping. An influential factor in consumer attitudes of non-store shopping is exposure to technology, because it has been demonstrated to increase the probability of exposure to technology development to increase the favorable attitude of the new shopping channel. Expanded the target audience online shopping men and women of the middle class. Initially, the main users of online shopping is young men, high income level and university education. This profile is changing. For example, the early years of the Internet in the United States there are very few women users, but to women in 2001 were 52.8% of the online population. Focus on technical of bookshop system, nowadays, hardware and software develop maturity for use to design powerful web programming and database system, we have a lot of choice to implement bookshop system, such as Windows server, Linux, Solaris, UNIX and AIX system for operating system. Database systems have MYSQL, MSSQL and Oracle. CGI Programming had PHP, Perl, C++ and Framework .Net. We are most likely to choice open source resources. They are Linux, Apache, MYSQL and PHP. The advantage of open source resources are low cost for develop. It is very suitable for us that we without too much develop capital. Context diagram of the online book shop system A context diagram is a data flow diagram, with only one massive central process that subsumes everything inside the scope of the system. It shows how the system will receive and send data flows to the external entities involved. The online book shop system including three functions: customer, Supplier, and The best book shop. Clients apply for membership and can buy book online. The member function is mainly for purchasing book online. When guest be a member of online book shop, they can purchase view the book detail and purchase it online though credit card. The supplier will provide books information to the best book shop, after that, their book will be a product of online book shop; they will return profit and book selling status. The best book shop mainly provides the online platform and maintain for it. Aim The aim of the research program is to develop an online book shop .The intention is to understanding of the modeling and installation of a data-driven system, information systems planning, project management, rapid application development and end-user systems development. Objectives To develop a user-friendly e-commerce website. To provide different books for customer to choose To develop a web interface for administrator access to update book store To provide information of book To setup the book price and purchase online Dataflow of customer The first step in the process of buying the product is to apply for membership. After registered, users data will store in database and only registered member can see book detail and purchase. Then, customer will choose their wish list and add in the cart, after that, the data will store in database. While client click go to payment, it will redirect to payment gateway to process it. Whatever the payment is success or not, the payment gateway will return. If payment success, book shop will prepare the delivery. Dataflow of supplier The online book shop will provide login and password to supplier. When supplier login into the system, they can update their book information and add some new book into the system. While submitted the data, the online book shop will approve or reject the product. If approved the product, the book will display on the book store. Dataflow of the best book shop The best book shop is the administrator of the website; they provide maintain and update product information. After administrator login into system, they will update the website data, approve the product provide from supplier or download sales report, purchase report else. A picture below show an Entity Life History for a member: The Figure shows the entity life history for a member. A member begins its life by a New member, and ends it by a Close. When a member join the membership and confirmed, it will start the member lift cycle ( purchase book the website). Introduction Kent (1978) explained that database is a model of some aspect of the reality of and organization. A data model allows us to treat a database as an abstract machine. In other words, we can concentrate on the principles of design divorced from an immediate concern with implementation. There have three database packages suitable for their website, relational database, object -oriented database and Object-relational database. The basic data structure of the relational model is the table, thus all relations (tables) in a relational database have to adhere to some basic rules to qualify as relations. An object- oriented database can be said to provide a middle ground between relational database and object-oriented database, which means it included with a programming API for storing and retrieving objects, and little or no specific support for querying. An Object-relational database is a database management system (DBMS) similar to a relational database, but with an object-oriented database model: objects, classes and inheritance are directly supported in database schemas and in the query language. Three database packages would be suitable for the setup business directory. Relational Database Edgar F. Codd (1970) invented the relational database in 1970, relational database are based on relational set theory which is the structure of a database. A database is simply a collection of one or more relations or tables with columns and rows. Because of serials relations of tables, Normalization is a vital component of relational model of database. Normalization was an integral part of the relational model which increases complexity and processing. Benefits of relational database are that the system is simple, flexible, and productive. Because  the tables are simple, data is easier to understand and communicate with others. Relational database are flexible because users do not have to use predefined keys to input information. Also,  relational database are more productive because SQL is an easy and human-readable language. SQL instructions are in the form of plain instructions, which can be put to the database for implementation. This allows users to spend more time  inputting instead of learning. The other important advantages of relational database include their performance, power, and support to new hardware technologies as also flexibility and a capacity to meet all types of data needs. More importantly, relational database biggest  advantage is the ease with which users can  create and access data and extend it if needed But there are limitations to the relational database management system. First, relational database do not have enough storage area to handle data such as images, digital and audio/video. The system was originally created to handle the integration of media, traditional fielded data, and templates. Another limitation of the relational database is its inadequacy to operate with languages outside of SQL. After its original development, languages such as C++ and JavaScript were formed. However, relational database do not work efficiently with these languages. A third limitation is the requirement that information must be in tables where relationships between entities are defined by values. The three fundamentals of a relational database are that all information must be held in the form of a table, where all data are described using data values. The second fundamental is that each value found in the table columns does not repeat. The final fundamental is the use of Standard Query Language (SQL), such as MYSQL or Microsofts Access. MYSQL Available from: http://www.mysql.com/ [Accessed 23 January, 2009] Microsofts Access Available from: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access/default.aspx [Accessed 23 January, 2009] Object- oriented database To combat the limitations of relational database and meet the challenge of the increasing rise of the Internet and the Web, object-oriented database developed in the 1980s. The most important characteristic for object-oriented database is the joining of object-oriented programming with database technology, which provides an integrated application development system. The object-oriented database has many advantages and benefits. First, object-oriented is a more natural way of thinking. Second, the defined operations of these types of systems are not dependent on the particular database application running at a given moment. Third, users are allowed to define their own methods of access to data and how it will be represented. It can store more types of data, and access this data, and much faster than relational database. Another benefit of object-oriented database is that relationships are represented explicitly, it support large number of relationships between the objects. However, object-oriented database also has disadvantages or limitations. One disadvantage of relational database is that it lacks a common data model. There is also no current standard, since it is still considered to be in the development stages. Also there are unavailability of object-oriented CASE tools and confusion with too many different object-oriented development methods. Object-oriented database use a query language called object query language (OQL) to manipulate and retrieve data. object query language supports object referencing within tables. Objects can be nested within objects. Python is an example of Object-oriented database. Python Available from: http://python.org/ [Accessed 23 January, 2009] Object- relational database Object-relational database management systems grew out of research that occurred in the early 1990s. It can handle new types of data such as audio, video, and image files that relational database were not equipped to handle. In addition, its development was the result of increased usage of object-oriented and a large mismatch between these and the DBMS software. Object-relational database are systems that attempt to extend relational database systems with the functionality necessary to support a broader class of applications and, in many ways, provide a bridge between the relational and object-oriented paradigms. One advantage of ORDBMS is that it allows organizations to continue using their existing systems, without having to make major changes. This can be referred to as reuse. It gives rise to increased productivity both for developer and end-user A second advantage is that it allows users and programmers to start using object-oriented systems in parallel. Also, it able to handle and query large and complex applications. Though Object- relational database have some advantages by the way of using object oriented features, it is also not fully solving the problems. Object-oriented database have some disadvantages like Complexity and SQL is now extremely complex thus query is hard to optimization. Many SQL object- relational database are extensible with user-defined types and custom-written functions, such as Oracle. Deploy a database on the Internet To deploy a database on the internet, we need serial process to do it. The client side can use browser as tool to access the database. The server side has to setup a web server. Client sent the request to the server though browser. When database saved the record and it send back response though browser. Browser process all the database action. We can build/design the web site by using dreamweaver. Window platform We can install IIS as our web server in window platform.IIS support Active Server Pages (ASP) which is a technology that enables you to make dynamic and interactive web pages. ASP pages have the extension .asp instead of .htm, when a page with the extension .asp is requested by a browser the web server knows to interpret any ASP contained within the web page before sending the HTML produced to the browser. This way all the ASP is run on the web server and no ASP will ever be passed to the web browser. Access or SQL server can be use for database. Linux platform Linux is a perfect platform for setup web server. We can install Fedora as our OS package. Apache would be the best web server. The program side we can use PHP which is a freeware for build up web page. The database can use MYSQL as database server, its a relational database. An Entity Relationship Diagram of the online book shop Entity Description Entity Name: publisher Descriptions: The storage of the publisher details. Data Element Content: id name username password date Entity Name: book Descriptions: The storage of publishers book. Data Element Content: Id publisher_id code name author year price discount stock Entity Name: book_price Descriptions: The storage of books price. Data Element Content: id book_id picture sort Entity Name: member Descriptions: The storage of member data Data Element Content: id username password email firstname lastname address phone Entity Name: member_order Descriptions: The storage of members order on website. Data Element Content: id member_id price date Entity Name: member_order_detail Descriptions: The storage of orders detail Data Element Content: id member_order_id book_id quantity The following tables are in 1NF: The following tables are in 2NF: The following tables are in 3NF: Relationship Description between Entities member member_order member_order_detail The relationship between three databases are one to many, that means one member will have more than one member_order record, but one member_order record will have one member record only. Also, one member_order will have more than one member_order_detail, but one member_order_detail relate to one member_order only. Publisher book book picture The relationship between three databases are one to many, that means one publish will have one or many book records, but one book will have only one publisher. And each book may have more than one picture. Member_order_detail book The relationship between two databases are one to many, one and only one book record will in each member_orde_detail, but only one book will have more than one member_order_detail records. Screen shot: Home page Book detail Add to cart: A Login Page: Member registration: Search book: Training Plan: Step/Content Time/Training Materials I. Review (all together) A. [Training goal] Describe the online book system. 10 minutes Whiteboard (as needed) II. Overview (all together) A. [Overview] Go through the system step-by-step. B. [Training objectives] Describe the function of the system. C. [Importance] Review the interface of the system. 30 minutes Handout III. Presentation (all together) A. [Concepts] Plan using by using mnemonic acronym B. [Steps] Review each function and the emphasis it covers C. [Demonstrate] Q A about what each step means D. [Examples] Outline for Presenting Class 2-3 hours Handout IV. Exercise (small group) A. [Applications] Practice in group 1-2 hours Group discussion V. Summarize A. [Q A] Ask for any improvement. 30 minutes Whiteboard (as needed) Installation Guide Install MYSQL Database Server Once implement bookshop system, we need create related database for record information that create by bookshop system or input from users. Bookshop system is using MYSQL for backend database system, please visit http://www.mysql.com for more information and download MYSQL DBMS software. Fist visit http://www.mysql.com , you will see download (GA) on the top of the web page, click this button and the page of body will change to download information, scroll down the web page, you can find MYSQL Community Server, it will show a short description and version no of this DBMS. Click download button (with red circle remark on figure) to enter download MYSQL DBMS. After enter download page, you will see different package of database system, you need to choice which operating system for your database server. For example, if you are using windows server, please choice Microsoft Windows, and there have 32bits and 64bits version for user install. We recommend download package that with installation execute. Directly double click the file you download from mysql.com for MYSQL server installation, setup program will ask you question step by step to help you install MYSQL DBMS in to windows system, such as where you want to install MYSQL DBMS, and which component you want to install. We recommend you setup MYSQL on the root of the server that such as C:MYSQL on windows system. It is because it let user easier to operate and manage data on database system. And we recommend user use complete method to setup MYSQL, it make setup program install all of MYSQL DBMS component into the windows server, it reduce the problem that we may need reinstall some components when MYSQL system report something missing when system running. Please follow below pictures to setup MYSQL DBMS. Double click mysql-essential-ver-win32.msi that you downloaded from mysql.com Straight forward to DBMS Click Next We recommend choice Complete to let setup program to install all MYSQL components into windows system. Click Install to start installation. Waiting setup software copy file. Install procedure competed, and program will ask you to configure MYSQL server, we recommend configure it as the same time. After setup procedure, now we are going to MYSQL database server configure wizard, it is one important procedure that it may affect database server performance. The method of database setting is as same as installation procedure that setting database step by step. Please follow below step to configure database server for bookshop. The first question asking by configuration wizard is detailed configuration or standard configuration, standard configuration is one simply configuration way that configuration wizard will set all setting with default setting, but this setting cannot satisfy heave work loading of bookshop system, so, please choice detailed configuration, detailed configuration requires users to configure database server step by step, there are server type, database usage, data file location, users connection number, service port, character set, services install and root account setup. Follow below step to modify setting for suitable with bookshop system. Server type have three options, they are developer machine, server machine, dedicated MYSQL server machine. Developer machine is one setting environment that provides for programmer to develop program and database, under this setting, MYSQL server will not use all o

Research objectives Essay

Because of the success of balance scorecard, there are enormous volumes of information on the practice of BSC, but this study will examine the phenomenon of balance scorecard with Saudi Pepsi as the reference agency. The study will review the book (Translating strategy into action) by Kaplan and Norton as well as many relevant literature on the subject. It is the position of this study that BSC is a genuine business elevator, so this project will make the necessary efforts to present authentic evidence in support of that position. research objectives: The objectives of this study are to outline and analyze the fundamental principles of the Balanced Scorecard system. The paper will trace the formulation of the system and review some of the available data on its effectiveness. Also the paper will make an objective judgement on the advantages and disadvantages of its application. Since this is designed to ascertain the adaptability of BSC to Pepsi of Saudi Arabia, the paper will conclude with a critical insight on how Pepsi could benefit from BSC, based largely on data from  the performance review of other corporations that have implemented the BSC management system. QUESTIONS EXPECTED TO BE ADDRESSED BY THIS STUDY: Though questions abound on this study, but this discourse will focus greatly on the matters that address the application, and the structure of Balance Scorecard. The major perspectives as advanced by Kaplan and Norton will be presented and analyzed in depth . It must be emphasized that the system is an objective, responsive system. It could be followed with appropriate data analysis, and adjustments could be made when  desirable. The paper will provide the necessary steps that could be followed in order to attain a desired result. Because this dialogue has taken sides in favor of the BSC, it will clearly present the known benefits of implementing the system. But it must be emphasized that there are some drawbacks in the BSC system. Those drawbacks would equally be outlined. All the important steps in the implementation of the BSC will be discussed, and the different roles that different levels of a corporate entity would need to play will be enumerated as well. All of the team members must not only make a commitment, they must participate in the process. Every department must know its participating role in the implementation of BSC, and this work will detail what those roles ought to be, and how to ensure that they are diligently executed. It should also be recognized that it is not enough to design and construct a BSC, the question is would it be used? No benefits would accrue if the built BSC is not used. Of course the most important question is that of the applicability of the system by Pepsi Saudi, that question  will be adequately addressed in this process. CHAPTER TWO: BOOK AND LITERATURE ANALYSIS. PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT: Before the advent of BSC, a questionnaire by the national association of accountants indicated that about 60% of accountants were â€Å"not satisfied by their performance measurement system†, primarily because of its reliance on purely financial metrics. But since the implementation of BSC that dire view is turning around. (Nevin 2003). Performance measurement technique is used to compile data on many subjects, high  school academicians use performance measurement to keep record of behaviors of students whose behaviors required to improvement. The significant point here is that the actual behavior improvement could be measured empirically, scientifically and with discerning accuracy. So it is not surprising that corporations would also adopt performance management system. Corporations use performance measurement to keep record of its effectiveness, and its efficiency. It is used to tabulate quality and productivity. It is also used to keep records of timeliness and safety. (Nevin, Paul 2003). With an effective performance measurement system, companies can a develop a sustainable structure for its strategic planning, and its goals. It helps companies assemble a clear mission, with appropriate resources, on long term intervals. With it companies can maintain accountability for its performance or lack of performance. By using performance measurement companies are better able to analyze and validate its results. It can also use it to acquire timely feedbacks, which could be used to change the direction of a given project or to move a project forward. So in total, performance measurement could help and organization to make informed decisions, to appraise its performance and to initiate an improvement as needed. (Nevin, Paul 2003). I suppose we can say that performance measurement is a close â€Å"cousin† of BSC. However a performance measurement system could limit its benefits if it loses sight of key performance drivers. And it could be quite expensive to set-up a performance measuring unit, but most companies seem to agree that the cost is worth it at the long run. (Kaplan & Norton 1996).

Core Business Skills

1. 0 INTRODUCTION This particular assignment's aim is to discuss the application of the strategic management process in a retail industry. I have chosen Starbucks Coffee as my food and beverage industry to research on, and to thoroughly explain the strategic management process implied by them. Starbucks Coffee Company was founded by English teacher Jerry Baldwin, history teacher Zev Siegl, and writer Gordon Bowker back in year 1971 Seattle, Washington. Starbucks Coffee Company is known as the world's leading coffee retailer, roaster and last but not least brand of specialty coffee.Apart from providing only coffee, Starbucks Coffee also cater light snacks like sandwiches, delicious pastries, healthy salads and etc. Since Starbucks Coffee is the world's leading brand in coffee, they serve up to 35 million customers from all over the world weekly. Because of their great reputation, they have successfully opened up to 17,000 stores worldwide. The company's mission statement is to ‘ inspire and nurture human spirit'. Firstly, Starbucks Coffee focus to provide a ‘great work environment' to their members so that they are treated with ‘respect and dignity'.Secondly, Starbucks Coffee also believes that conducting business ethically is the main key to be successful in a business. As a worldwide and leading-brand company, Starbucks Coffee insists strongly on upholding a culture where diversities are well valued and respected. These diversities include ‘inclusion: human connection and engagement', ‘equity: fairness and justice', ‘accessibility: ease of use and barrier free' so that employees with diverse background are fairly treated and respected to ensure a comfortable and enjoyable workplace (www. starbucks. com 2011). . 0 Strategic Analysis 2. 1 Internal Analysis 2. 1. 1 Strength: One of the main strength possesses by Starbucks Coffee is the strong brand image they have. In terms of the coffee industry, they are considered to be most reputable compared to Coffee Beans, Gloria Jeans, and other competitors among the industry. Starbucks Coffee manage to prove themselves as a highly resorted brand by getting rated as the top 100 most seeked after brand. Apart from having a high brand value, Starbucks Coffee has managed to globalise their target market in to all parts of the world.This opens up the opportunity for Starbucks themselves to monopolise the foreign market as well. 2. 1. 2 Weaknesses: No matter what industry a firm is in, they will face certain weaknesses that they have to always try to improve on. As for Starbucks Coffee, one of their main weaknesses is the product price. In many countries, Starbucks Coffee is considered as a premium product where the prices of their products are higher compared to other coffee shops (Lee S, 2007). Another weakness that Starbucks Coffee has is that they are too focused in their domestic market which is the United Stated of America.This will lead Starbucks Coffee into a vu lnerable position where it is hard for them to predict unforeseen changes in the industry's market at other countries. 2. 2 Stakeholders in Starbucks Coffee: Stakeholders in Starbucks Coffee includes all the workers which are known as partners. This is because Starbucks Coffee wants to create an environment where all their employees would feel comfortable and relaxed (Kembell B, 2002). The second stakeholders for Starbucks Coffee Company would be their highly valued customers. These customers play an important role in Starbucks Coffee because they are the ones who visit the coffeehouse almost everyday.In order to feel connected to Starbucks Coffee, customers can easily hear and engaged with the employees and products of Starbucks anytime, anywhere (Hanft A, 2005). The other crucial stakeholder in Starbucks Coffee will be their coffee farmers. These coffee farmers are actually the backbone to Starbucks Coffee because Starbucks rely mainly on coffee products. In order to uphold the so cial and economic well-being of their coffee farmers, they have decided to pay a premium price for high quality coffee beans from them (Robertson H, 2006). 2. 3 Core Competencies:As we all know, core competencies in any industry is actually their comparative advantage. As for Starbucks Coffee, one of their core competency is human resource. Firstly, Starbucks Coffee is a company that values their employees greatly. Starbucks shows their appreciation to their employees by giving them the opportunity to receive full healthcare benefits, stock options/discounted stock purchase plans (Weber G, 2005). Starbucks Coffee's tangible resources will be their high-quality coffee beans called the Narino Supremo Beans. The Narino Supremo Beans have the highest quality and is the largest bean in Columbia (www. melita. om, 2011). In a recent report, it is said that the president of the Columbia;s National Federation of Coffee Growers have confirmed the purchase of 6 to 7 percent of Starbucks shares (Castaneda S, 2009). This shows that Starbucks Coffee has sole ownership over the high quality beans which is an advantage for them. Starbucks Coffee has a good reputation and is well accepted throughout the world. This reflects on their intangible resources to attract customers. Having a good brand name, friendly employees and high quality coffee beans are the main traits possessed by Starbucks Coffee. 2. 4. 0 External Analysis 2. 4. 1 OpportunitiesStarbucks has always use their opportunities to expand their business in to a whole new level. Firstly, Starbucks has created an opportunity for themselves to expand their brand name to foreign countries. It is reported that Starbucks are planning to open up to 15,000 new stores across the world in the years to come (Datamonitor, 2005). Apart from that, Starbuck's technological advancements has given them a good opportunity to conveniently distribute products to customers through the internet. Starbucks has also equipped all their loung es with WiFi services to accommodate their valued-customers to boot (Elgan M, 2008). . 4. 2 Threats One of the threats that will be faced by Starbucks coffee is the price fluctuation of diary and coffee products. The price of theese products can also be affected by the income levels of customers in upcoming or developing country as goods over there are highly inflated (Pinkasovitch A, 2011). In every industry that we are in, there will always be competitors trying to penetrate the market . Competitors for Starbucks Coffee would be other coffehouses that sells coffee. Coffeebean, San Francisco Coffee, and Gloria Jeans are direct competitors for Starbucks. 2. 5 PEST Analysis 2. 5. 1 Political Factor:One of the political factors that posses as a major issue for Starbucks is the unstability of political issues that would directly affect the growth rate of Starbucks Coffee. From a recent report, it says that up to five Arab states have decided to boycott American goods with their primary target being Starbucks Coffee shops (Antievil, 2008) 2. 5. 2 Economic Factor: Apart from that, Economic factor is also a very important matter to look into when executing a strategic analysis. One of the economical problems that affected Starbucks was the recession in Switzerland, Japan and Germany in the early 2000s.In a more recent report, the Company had revealed a 70% drop in their quarterly profits to only $64. 3m. Apart from that, they are also planning to close down up to 300 stores (Clark A, 2009). 2. 5. 3 Social Factor: Starbucks has always prioritise on their social issues and responsibilities. Starbucks always participated in upholding the importance of the environment. A move by Starbucks to create a partnership with the Conservation International, mainly to put their attention on environmental protection such as waste reduction and energy and water saving programs (David, 2009).A move like this proves that Starbucks are cautious about the social responsibilities. 2. 5. 4 Technology: In terms of technology, Starbucks has always been up to date. All of Starbuck's outlets are fitted with Wi-Fi services. Another move to be technologically involved will be the creation of music CDs that will suit the specific moods of customers. They are available for purchase at any Starbucks outlet (Lodi K, 2006). 2. 5 Porter's Five Forces Framework: The Porter's Five Forces framework is applied to go in to a more in depth analysis of an industry.The five forces usually includes industry competitors, new entrants, suppliers, customers, and substitutes. In all industries, companies will have to face strong competitors in order to dominate the markets. For Starbucks, their main rivalries would be Coffee Bean, San Francisco Coffee, and other coffee lounges that falls into Starbuck's category. They do not only compete domestically, but also internationally. Sometimes, rivalry from other industries can also be a threat. For example, McDonalds could pose as a threat to St arbucks because they are a fast-food chain yet they still provide coffee in their menu.They could be one of the strongest competitors for Starbucks to face (Gregory S, 2009). Another forces that Starbucks faces is the emergence of substitute products. Because Starbucks is a premium product, therefore their prouct prices are usually very high. During a recession, there is a high possibility that customers from Starbucks look for a substition to lower down their expenditure. Products like Coca-cola or Pepsi-cola could be one of the substitues for high quality coffee beans. However there is a big difference in the taste and smell when it is being consumed. Therefore the main substitute for Starbucks will be basic coffee.This will be a threat to Starbucks because they are an organisation that caters to high-income earners. One other factor that might affect an industry will be the customer's buying power. However, this depends on the organisation itself. If they are an attractive organi sation then the bargaining power of buyers will be low and poses no threat to the company. For Starbucks, the bargaining power of its buyers are low. Althought prices of Starbucks are high, customers still buy it because of its differentiated and outstanding products. The other forces that will directly affect an industry is the supplier's bargaining power.The supplier's bargaining power will rise when there is a rise in demand of the product that they supply. Starbucks could be facing this threat because they rely on central american to produce the coffee traded. Since there are more demand in high-quality beans, main suppliers will naturally have a stronger bargaining power. â€Å"An over-crowded market will give the coffee suppliers bargaining power. There are no substitute products for the coffee beans Starbucks must buy. This is a potential threat to the company,† (Hanft A, 2005). 3. 0 Strategy Formulation 3. 1 BusinessLevel StrategyFor all the industries, they have to c hose a business strategy that can successfully dominate the market. The formulation of this strategy is very crucial in a busines because it helps to find customers. One of the tools that can be used to formulate an industry's business level strategies is the porter's generic strategies. Starbucks uses the focused differentiated strategy derived by Michael Porter to run their business. As we all know, Starbucks is known as a food and beverage company. But to be specific, Starbucks is a food and beverage company that focuses on coffee brewing.They are well known for their high-quality beans and comfortable lounges. Starbucks chooses a segment to market their products to. This includes coffee fanatics and people who are looking for a place to relax. However, Starbucks caters their products to mostly high-income earners because their products are expensive. This shows that the focused differentiation strategy is used to seek their competitive advantage in the market through uniqueness of their products (Campling J, 2007). The advantage of Starbucks' focus on a single market can give them the chance to handle all managerial, financial, technological, and capabilities in one business.Starbucks has always been trying to come out with more creative and innovative products to be differentiated among their competitors. This has certainly made them the biggest winner in the coffee based industry (Guarriello T, 2008). Although the prices are high in Starbucks, they are very differentiated in terms of the coffee beans they use and they way the serve. This shows that the focus differentiation startegy that Starbucks uses is an effective way to attract customers since they are the world leading brand in its industry. Another way to formulate a business-level strategy in an industry is to apply the product life cycle method.The first stage of a product life cycle is introduction, followed by growth, maturity, and decline (Campling J, 2007). 3. 2 Corporate-level Strategy The corporate strategies are used by industries to direct their organisations towards a sustainable competitive advantage (Campling J, 2007). The main purpose for the use of this strategy is to set a target and control resources allocation for an enterprise. The first approach to formulate a corporate strategy is the portfolio planning approach. The portfolio planning approach are designed to help managers to decide on investing scare organisational resources among competing business opportunity.This straregy is very useful for multibusiness enterprises like Starbucks. Growth strategy can be used as one of the corporate level strategy to effectively expand and increase the size of a company's operations, through store expansion and global market penetration. In order for Starbucks to successfully expand their stores, it is required for them to have full concentration on their products (Campling J, 2007). Starbucks has been very aggressive in store expansion, this includes them opening u p to a dozen of stores in China in year 2007 (Yan Z, 2008).In addition to that, Starbucks has also put their main focus on diversifying their growth to other products. 4. 0 Strategy Implementation 4. 1 Organisation Structure: An enterprise's organisation structure is the mixture of task and reporting relationships that allows the company to control its lines of authority and communication at the same time allocating rights and duties. There are three types of organisational structures, the divisional structure, matrix organisation and hybrid structure. Starbucks has adopted the matrix organisation structure to focus on.All the employees in this firm would report to both a functional and divisional manager and lastly to a project manager. Failures of strategic planning happens most of the time. The most common strategic planning failures are failures of substance and failures of process. Failure of substance happens because there is inadequate attention being paid to major strategic planning elements. Failures of process will be caused by poor handling of strategy implentation like lack of participation error and goal displacement error. Therefore, the organisational structure in a company is very important to avoid unwanted uprising problems. . 2 Corporate Governance: The corporate governace is the system of control and performance monitoring of top management (Campling J, 2007). This task is usually done by the boards of directors, and other major stakeholder in the company. For Starbucks Coffee, they currently have 9 directors including the CEO of Starbucks Howard Schultz. These directors of Starbucks are responsible for ensuring goals and objectives in the company are met. The directors are well aware of their responsibility to provide a stable managing process so that the company's goalds are met (www. starbucks. com). 4. Strategic Leadership Strategic management is a leadership responsibility. Whereas strategic leadership is the capability to prepare othe rs with the ever-changing strategies in the market. Michael Porter says that the strategic leader of an enterprise has to be the CEO of an organisation (Campling J, 2007). One of the most crucial task for a strategic leader is to be a guardian of trade-offs. Countless commitment and disipline has to be put in by a strategic leader in order for the business the be successful. Another trait that a strategic leader must posses is the ability to create a sense of urgency.By having a sense of urgency, the strategic leader is able to give out a strong message to its organisation and their members that the need for consistent improvementwill always persist. A strategic-chief will also have to ensure that everyone related to the organistion understands the strategy that they are using. Leaders in an organisations will have to keep their members updated with their latest business strategy. Furthermore, the task of a strategic leader also includes being a teacher and a good communicator. 5. 0 Conclusion 5. 1 Importance of Strategic Management In conclusion, strategic management involves many processes.This includes identifying the mision, objectives and strategies of an industry. Strategic management is very important for a business as it is used to derive the main strategy for your business. With good strategic manangement skills, leaders are able to adopt to the sudden change in the market and they can also prepare themselves to the different needs and wants of their customers. An industry with a good strategy will always be succesful. Strategic management can also be applied to analyse the internal and external environment of an industry which can give leaders of an industry a better understanding of the market.

Organic Compound Names and Formulas Starting with E

This is a list of organic compound names and formulas with names starting with the letter E. Eburnamenine - C19H22N2Ecstasy (MDMA or Methylenedioxymethamphetamine) - C11H15NO2EDTA (Ethylenediamine-N,N,N,N-tetraacetic acid) - C10H16N2O8Eicosane - C20H42Emetan- C25H32N2Encainide - C22H28N2O2Endosulfan - C9H6Cl6O3SEndrin - C12H8Cl6OEosin B - C20H8Br2N2O9Eosin Y - C20H8Br4O5Ephedrine - C10H15NOEpibromohydrin - C3H5BrOEpinephrine (Adrenaline) - C9H13NO3Ergoline - C14H16NErgotaman - C25H33N5OErgotamine - C33H35N5O5Erucic acid - C22H42OErythrinan - C16H21NErythritol - C4H10O4Esarine - C15H21N3O2Estradiol (estrogen) - C18H24O2Estriol (estrogen) - C18H24O3Estrone (estrogen) - C18H22O2Ethacridine lactate - C18H21N3O4Ethanal (Acetaldehyde) - C2H4OEthane - C2H6Ethane (ball and stick) - C2H6ethane (space-filling model) - C2H6Ethanedioic acid (oxalic acid) - C2H2O41,2-Ethanedithiol - C2H6S2Ethaneperoxoic acid - C2H4O3Ethanoic Acid (Acetic Acid) - C2H4O2Ethanol - C2H6OEthanol (space filling model) - C2H6OEthene - C2H4Ethene (ball and stick model) - C2H4Ethenone - C2H2OEthidium bromide - C2 1H20BrN3Ethyl acetate - C4H8O2Ethyl alcohol - C2H6OEthyl aldehyde - C2H4OEthenyl functional group - C2H3-Ethylamine - C2H7NEthyl 4-aminobenzoate (Benzocaine) - C9H11NO2Ethylbenzene - C8H10Ethyl carbamate - C3H7O2Ethyl chloride - C2H5ClEthylene - C2H4Ethylene dichloride (EDC) - C2H4Cl2Ethylene oxide - C2H4OEthyl formate - C3H6O2Ethyl functional group - C2H5Ethylene glycol — C2H6O2Ethyl glyoxylate - C4H6O32-Ethyl-1-hexanol - C8H18OEthyl hydride - C2H6Ethyl hydride (space-filling model) - C2H6ethyl mandelateEthyl 3-oxohexanoate - C8H14O3Ethyl propiolate - C5H6O2ethyne - C2H2Ethynol - C2H2OEtorphine - C25H33NO4Eugenol - C10H12O2