Sunday, May 24, 2020

The Atlantic Revolution - 988 Words

In the late 1700’s, the main conflict throughout the Atlantic was freedom to all. This period showed many views from different people in ways in which they tried to express the word. People in the America’s and eastern nations such as France were trying to rebuild their nations with an idea that all men are created equal, that they are given the right not from authority, but by birth. From the â€Å"Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen† in France which was their laws to give men freedom, to a wealthy man in Venezuela named Simon Bolivar who helped free his country from Spanish rule only to struggle with making his country a federation after the destruction, you see that freedom is hard to concur. Independence cannot only be observed†¦show more content†¦In her book she challenges the government of France and their ideas that women should not be exposed to the same education as men. She gives warning that women will not forever be satisfied wi th only domestic concerns, and she demands justice for the female race. Similar to women in this time period, another group was also challenging the â€Å"rights of man†. The ideas of the French Revolution also motivated slaves to stand up for their rights. Frederick Douglass, a former slave, addressed an antislavery meeting on the 4th of July. Like the women of France, Douglass pointed out the hypocrisy of the French government in saying that all men are equal. In being asked to speak on the 4th of July, Douglass felt as if he was being ridiculed because the day meant nothing to slaves. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen meant nothing to them. There was no more justice for slaves during this time than there was for women. Both oppressed groups were challenging France for the first time, in hopes to gain their collective rights. Outside of France, the struggle for freedom was troubling colonial subjects as well. Simon Bolivar was a political leader in Latin Ame rica at this time and after helping his people escape from Spanish rule, Bolivar still could not form the stable colony he had planned. His people had gotten so accustomed to living under Spanish rule, that when that tieShow MoreRelatedCharacteristics Of The Atlantic Revolutions1050 Words   |  5 PagesThe Atlantic Revolutions form 1750-1914 created widespread movements and connected the globe by sharing common ideas. Since 1914, the ideals of human society from the Atlantic Revolutions, such as independence, political changes, and freedoms for all, are confirmed by society’s constant attempt to attain such values. Those ideals set the foundation of modern society and maintain to be an essential characteristic of society’s evolvement. Prominently, the fight for independence shaped the AtlanticRead MoreGlobal Echoes Of Atlantic Enlightenment And Revolution921 Words   |  4 PagesGlobal Echoes of Atlantic Enlightenment and Revolution There are many different crucial sources that demonstrate the global influences of Atlantic revolutionary movements and Enlightenment views on human rights. Enlightenment philosophies of government and human rights ignited the revolutionary transformation in all of the Atlantic world. Political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic wanted to incorporate European Enlightenment concepts into their societies. Revolutions began to build on one anotherRead MoreSimilarities Between The Spanish American And Atlantic Revolutions1230 Words   |  5 PagesHaitian, and Spanish American Revolutions. If broken down, the revolutions have very few things in common and the list of differences seem to go on forever. However, the similarities are what tie all of the revolutions together. Their similar political vocabulary and a large democratic nature are a couple of examples that make them alike. If looking at the picture as a whole, the revolutions can be compared because they all had one goal to meet. Some of the revolutions are considered victories, whileRead MoreAssess the Impact of the Industrial Revolution in England on the Atlantic World1110 Words   |  5 PagesThe industrial revolution according to Neil Tonge in his historical account ‘challenging history- industrialization and society 1700 – 1914,’ can be classified as a change in industrial technology, organization of labourers, transport, and finance and business operation. In ‘A history of the western society, fourth edition,’ referred to it as the total change from agrarian society to a mechanized or complex society. The impact of the revolution on England and the entire Atlantic world was immenseRead MoreThe Haitian Revolution And The American Revolution1365 Words   |  6 Pagesturbulence across the Atlantic World. In a time that can be called an era of revolution, the Atlantic World faced a multitude of uprisings. The American Revolution in 1765 would be the start of the ag e of revolutions, and would later inspire the revolutions of other countries across the Atlantic, such as the French Revolution in 1789, the Haitian Revolution in 1791, and later the Latin American Revolutions during the early nineteenth century. The events of these revolutions created shockwaves acrossRead MoreThe Revolutionary War : Wim Klooster s Book Revolutions1114 Words   |  5 Pages Wim Klooster’s book Revolutions in the Atlantic World expresses the deep roots of the revolutionary war period throughout various locations and circumstances. He strives to express the causes, effects, and the political civil war which caused the great uproar in the once colonial lands. This shift in history is noted in Klooster’s book and expanded upon in his chapter entitled â€Å"The Revolution’s Compared.† He notes the various commonalities between the American, French, Haitian, and Spanish AmericanRead MoreThe American Revolution And The War Of Independence964 Words   |  4 PagesMany people are aware of the different aspects of the American Revolution and the war of Independence, especially consisting of the people directly involved within the Americas. Of course the people of the colonies were involved because they were the main participant in the war and the British were involved because that is who the colonies were fighting to gain independe nce from. The Indians were involved in a minor way, mainly on the British side. The African Americans also played a part in helpingRead MoreThe Early Modern Atlantic Economy Edited by J. McCusker and K. Morgan1368 Words   |  6 Pagesthat Brazil and the Caribbean experienced a sugar revolution while on the other hand another group argues that there was no such thing as a sugar revolution, what Brazil and Caribbean experienced was simply a sugar boom. In order to assess which group of historians is more accurate, one must first understand the concept of a sugar revolution and what factors must be present in order for a sugar revolution to occur. The concept of a sugar revolution is one that states there was a drastic change fromRead MoreEuropean Exploration : The Age Of Discovery1128 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction). Europeans had a hard time believing there was life outside of Europe before they explored. European nations reached out and influenced the entire world from the 1500s to the 1750s. Along with the global exploration, the Scientific Revolution and the Atlantic Slave Trade were also two of the most influential happenings during this time period. With the means and motives, Europe advanced rapidly and influenced other nations like the Americas and Africa. Europeans had ships, navigation, andRead MoreAtlantic History : Concept And Contours854 Words   |  4 PagesThe study of the Atlantic as an interwoven community is a relatively new theory. Historians are beginning to see Atlantic History as â€Å"a sudden and harsh encounter between two old worlds that transformed both and integrated them into a single New World† , and not just separate entities with detached pasts. Atlantic History: Concept and Contours by Bernard Bailyn lays the framework for what Atlantic History is and how it should be studied. Bailyn states that the reasoning behind writing the book is

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Hindu Temple of Southwest Florida - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 786 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2019/07/29 Category Religion Essay Level High school Tags: Hinduism Essay Did you like this example? For this field experience I decided to vist a Hindu temple called the Hindu Temple of Southwest Florida. I visited the temple on Tuesday October 23, 2018 from 9 in the morning to 12 in the afternoon. While visiting I was greeted by the priest Panditji Jinit Rajendrakumar Bhatt and was asked if I was visiting for a school assignment because it is the temple that most people visit for this assignment. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Hindu Temple of Southwest Florida" essay for you Create order When entering the temple I was told to remove my shoes so I did. The first thing I noticed when visitng the temple was that before entering the main temple there was 9 stone figures that later on the priest explained to me where moons. He stated that those 9 figures signified 9 moons that somewhat represented zodiac signs that people went and prayed to when going through rough times. The floor tile is black and white and is set up sort of like a checker borad. In the temple they have a table setup with fruits. There is also a variety of colors in the building and the priest was also wearing colors that are not quite common to use like maroon, yellow and white. After taking pictures we walked outside to a porch and the priest handed me a calendar that included what certain months meant to them and the celebrations that took place within those months. The name of the days like Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday are not the same as the days on our calendar. They name their days by the different types of moons. One practice that I noticed that was talked about in the text book is the offering of things like food, flowers and incense. In the text it states Puja devotional rituals commonly performed at an alter, involves the offering of flowers, food, fire, and incense to images of a god or gods, as well as the occasional singing of hymns (94). In the temple there was incense and there was a table set up with fruits also. The textbook also states that Hinduism is distinctive among world religions for its kindness to animals. A devout Hindu does not kill or eat animals(102). The priest explained that animals just like humans have feelings and explained to us their belief that we become what we eat. What he mentioned came into play when he said that they are vegetarian because eating meat goes against their beliefs and also goes against what they teach. The priest talked to me about the law of karma which I remember reading about, he stated that there was good karma and bad karma. I was given a very simple example that helped me understand this, he said that both doctors and criminals killed and that they both used knives but it all depended on the purpose of their action which led them to either good karma or bad karma. Hindus do not belive in converting into another religion because they feel that by doing this you it would not be religious. They have really different perspectives about certain things. Even though I dont agree with their rules and thoughts I do find them quite interesting. I wasnt surprised with what the priest told me about the animals and how they were also kind of like humans to them because I had already read that in the textbook. What did surprise me was that there was a variety of colors around the building and I expected it to look different. The priest talked to me about being able to tell what kind of person I was and what my life looked like in the past and what it would look like in the future, he did this by asking what my name was, at what time I was born and where. By looking at the figures he said resembled the 9 moons he gave me this information. This topic really caught me off guard and surprised me because I didnt expect the priest to be able to figure things like that out. I would tell someone who is visiting for their first time to definitley be prepared to learn a lot because in the visit that I made I was introduced to new information. I would totally encourage someone to go and visit because it is a learning experience and its definitley worth visiting.There is a very different atmosphere in the temple, one I would describe as peaceful and relaxed. I felt really welcomed as soon as I arrived to the temple and the Priest was very helpful and attentive. This field experience allowed me to go out and try new things and I am pretty sure that if I didnt have this class I would have never visited this temple.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Successful Development Of Technology At Microsoft Free Essays

string(101) " has shown that the feature set in a specification document may sometime change by 30% or even more\." The success of Microsoft can be viewed from a number of perspectives. This ranges from its managerial and organizational position to the development and processing of its products and services for its customers. This implies looking at how Microsoft invents new products with substantial utility to the customers, strategies implemented by the company to make different groups and divisions to work together in harmony to achieve mega success. We will write a custom essay sample on Successful Development Of Technology At Microsoft or any similar topic only for you Order Now Having the best brains in the organization is not just enough to bring out the best software and the best products for the market. There must be effective managerial skills; these would harness the potentials the best brains in technology improvement, retain their autonomy just like any other highly qualified person would do, yet still work together to give the company the best. This paper evaluates the secrets of Microsoft’s success in developing superb technology and remaining on top of the market. Since it is very difficult to maintain the best brains within an organization without having them move out to practice their skills on the private basis, the paper tries to evaluate how the company maintains these best software developers and their work in harmony to bring out the best for the company. Microsoft currently is the world’s largest manufacturer of PC software, and having annual revenue of $8. 7 billion. It is probably the only PC Company that has handled more PC software projects than any other company in the world. This task is Herculean as there is a lot of complexity involved in the process, for example the development of Windows 95 that has more than 11 million lines of code and required an expansion team of more than 200 programmers as well as testers. This is one of the greatest challenge that most of the rivals to Microsoft are unable to do and thus the difficult in competing [Reimer, 2008] Their philosophy on product development and improvement for the last few years has been to develop its roots as a highly flexible, entrepreneurial company that does not to take up too many of the structured software-engineering practices that are commonly practiced and promoted by organizations such as the International Standards Organization and Software Engineering Institute. Microsoft strategy is developing a loosely structured small-team that some people might refer to as hacker style of product development. Their objective is to get many small as well as parallel teams that are composed of three to eight developers each, or individual programmers who eventually work together as one team in order to build large pile of products relatively fast while still allowing individual programmers and the team members their freedom to evolve their designs and even operate nearly autonomously [Hardmeier, 2008]. The small parallel teams develop features and whole products freely while at the same time frequently introducing new technologies concepts. However, since the developers are free to innovate while working with Microsoft, they are required to synchronize their changes frequently so that the product components work in harmony. In this regard, there are several lessons to be learned from how Microsoft develops its software products; some apply to other organizations, and some may not. Software developers as well as their managers from other organizations can discover useful ideas after careful consideration of such factors as their company’s goals, strategies, marketing resource constraints, and development culture and software reliability requirements [Reimer, 2008]. They can also learn to frequently synchronize and carry out periodic stabilizations of their products. Without this approach implemented by Microsoft, it would probably never have been able to design, develop, and ship the products it offers now and is planning to offer in the future [Reimer, 2008]. Teams of programmers at Microsoft and testers usually synchronize and periodically stabilize the changes they make to their products in progress, thus yielding products such as Publisher, Excel, Office, Windows 95, Word, Works, and Windows NT etc. Since the mid-1980s, Microsoft as well as other PC software companies has recognized that they build software products in response to quality. Many of them have also found it important to have larger teams in order to come up with PC software products that consist of hundreds of thousands or even millions of lines of source code hence requiring hundreds of people to build and then test them over a certain period [Hardmeier, 2008]. The technology development approach must have a mechanism that allows developers to test their product with their customers and also refine their designs during the development process. In most industries, many of the companies are now using prototyping and multiple cycles of concurrent design, build, and testing activities aimed at controlling interactions and also make fundamental changes in their product development. In the software industry, researchers and their managers have talked about â€Å"interactive enhancement,† a â€Å"spiral model† for iteration in the phases of the project development, and the â€Å"concurrent development† of multiple phases and the activities for the past 20 years. Unfortunately most companies are reluctant to formally adopt these recommendations. Since users’ needs for most software are very difficult to understand and the changes in hardware and software technologies are very frequent, it is not wise to design a software system completely in advance [Lemo, 2008]. Microsoft teams start the process of product development at the point of creating a â€Å"vision statement†, and then define the goals for the new product and the user activities that need to be supported by the new product features. Then, the product managers or the marketing specialists take charge while the consulting program managers who specialize in writing functional specifications of the product are also incorporated. In consultation with developers, program managers, then write a functional specification that outlines the product features with organized schedules and the staffing allocations; the initial specification document rarely covers all the details of each feature. During product development, team members revise the features set and details, and learn about the new product. Experience at Microsoft has shown that the feature set in a specification document may sometime change by 30% or even more. You read "Successful Development Of Technology At Microsoft" in category "Papers" Project managers are obliged to divide the product and the entire project into different parts; they also divide the project schedule into three or four milestone junctures called sequential sub projects meant to represent the completion points for major portions of the new product in each of the milestone subproject, all the feature teams are expected to go through a complete cycle of development, feature integration, testing, as well as fixing problems. Throughout an entire project, they (feature teams) are required to synchronize their work in the process of building the product as well as finding and fixing errors on a daily, weekly basis. The program developer is expected to fix detectable errors at the end of a milestone subproject. These error correction is a way of stabilizing the product and thus enable the product developing team to have a clear understanding of the parts of the product that have been successfully completed. After this achievement, the development team usually proceeds to the next milestone, [Hardmeier, 2008]. One of the most important things in high-tech companies is employing creative people, but directing their creativity is supreme. This is the task of the managers. Microsoft has a strategy for tackling this problem; it structures projects into subprojects that contain priority-ordered features; and the buffer time that is within each subproject gives the developers adequate time to respond to the changes, unexpected delays and difficulties. Microsoft projects usually use the vision statements as well as outline specifications rather than a detailed design and the complete product specifications before coding. This is done because the teams have realized that they cannot determine, in advance, what the developers need to build a good product. This approach gives the developers and program managers enough room to adapt to change, the unforeseen competitive opportunities and even threats. This is particularly related to the applications products, since development teams try in many instances to devise features that copy directly to the activities that typical customers perform. Thus the teams need to have continual observation and testing with the users during development [Lemos, 2008]. Most of the product designs have modular architectures that allow team members to add or combine features in a predictable straightforward manner. In addition, the presence of managers allows team members to have their own schedules, but this is only after the developers have critically analyzed tasks in detail. Managers are then mandated to â€Å"fix† project resources by limiting the number of experts they allocate to each of the project; they also limit the time spent on projects, especially for the applications like Office and multimedia products, so that team members can delete features if they are far from reaching deadlines. But it should be noted that cutting features in order to save schedule, time has not always been possible with the operating systems projects. In these kinds of projects, reliability is of more importance than the features. Most of the features in the operating system are closely coupled and thus cannot be easily deleted individually. The daily building of processes at Microsoft has several steps. First, to develop a feature for a product, developers check out private copies of source code files which are located at a centralized master version of the source code. They then implement their individual features by making necessary changes to their private copies of the source code files. The developers are then mandated to create a private build of the product that contains the new features and test it. Changes from the developers’ private copies are then checked from the source code files to the main master version of the source code. This check-in process has an automated regression test to ensure that changes to the source code files do not create errors in other parts of the product. This check-in by the developers back to the master copy is done at least twice a week but in some instances they may check it daily [Lemos, 2008]. Irrespective of the way the individual developers check in their changes to the main source code, a designated developer, often called the project build master, generates a complete build of the product on a daily basis by using the master version of the source code. Product teams at Microsoft also test features as they continuously build them from various perspectives. This may include bringing in customers from the street to try prototype in a Microsoft usability lab. Also most of the Microsoft teams work from a single physical site with common development languages (primarily C and C++), standardized common coding styles and development tools. This common language and common site and tools help team members, debate, communicate, resolve problems face to face and design ideas. A small set of quantitative metrics is used in the project teams to help guide decisions in order to complete a project and also when to ship a new or upgraded product to market [Lemos, 2008]. Conclusion There are important lessons to be learnt from Microsoft especially for organizations and managers in various industries. The synch-and-stabilize approach that is used at Microsoft is particularly suited to fast-evolving markets that have complex systems products, competition around fast-evolving product features as well as defacto high technical standards and the short life cycles. Of particular interest and important lesson is how Microsoft coordinates the work of a large team of professionals thus successfully building many interdependent parts although continually changing and requiring a constant high level of communication, coordination is still maintained. Indeed, one should appreciate that it is difficult to ensure such communication and the effective coordination there, and at the same time still allow engineers, designers and marketing people enjoy the freedom to be creative. Achieving this sought of balance is inevitably the central dilemma that the managers of product development usually face—in PC software and in many other industries. REFERENCE: Jeremy Reimer. Microsoft set to launch new marketing campaign. Ars Technica. Retrieved on 28th March 2008. Sandi Hardmeier. Microsoft – The History of Internet Explorer. Microsoft. Retrieved on 28th March 2008 Robert Lemos. Trust or treachery? Security technologies could backfire against consumers. CNet news.com. Retrieved on 28th March 2008    How to cite Successful Development Of Technology At Microsoft, Essays

Monday, May 4, 2020

Case Study free essay sample

The corporation is teaching many of its employees—especially those in marketing and sales—to make decisions on the basis of non-verbal communication cues. For Malini Varma, Vice President of CC, focusing on non-verbal communication has become an important part of her inter-personal dealings. Several years ago, Varma became interested in how body movements and mannerisms truly reflect what an individual is saying. Continually reading in this area of study, Varma has been able to make decisions about potential employees and potential customers by â€Å"reading† them. For example, Varma believes that body language can give a person a competitive advantage. It can make the difference when closing the sale, or in CC’s case, hiring new employees. For example, during interviews, Malini pays constant attention to the job candidate’s eye movements and mannerisms. She believes that she can correctly predict of if the candidate will be an aggressive salesperson while simultaneously being personable and friendly. The largest and most feasible benefit of adopting TSCC is the increased information this pricing system provides. TSCC derives and monitors cost drivers that contribute to different expenses including but not limited to occupancy, manufacturing, delivery and administrative expenses. OM then derives a monthly fee for VM based on the expenses it incurs. OM and VM are both encouraged to streamline supply processes as a result of the in-depth understanding of the costs associated with these cost drivers. This is done through different monetary incentives. The first and most obvious one is the lower fees that lower expenses will bring. Because OM derives the fee charged to VM based on these derived cost-drivers, VM knows exactly how to lower its fee. They are able to concentrate their efforts on creating efficiencies in areas where expenses (and thus fees) are highest (refer to Exhibit 1 for a breakdown of some of the different cost drivers and their associated expenses that are exposed and tracked through TSCC). For example, VM knows that if it orders less Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) it can lower its fee substantially. Therefore, VM knows to order more products from fewer manufacturers. Second, OM is encouraged to help VM in this process because its expenses are directly lowered and because of the companies’ â€Å"gain-share† agreement where OM shares in savings generated through TSCC. As a result, a large degree of translucency on both sides is beneficial. For example, OM will give VM detailed information on which SKUs are best to order so that VM may lower its fee because OM knows that if VM’s supplier costs are lowered as a result of a lower fee it will share in VM’s savings. The final direct monetary incentive established in TSCC involves the shared-cost of eliminating errors. Because the companies share (50-50) the costs of eliminating errors in the supply chain, the TSCC program can benefit and become more efficient without hostility’s about who caused or fixed what error. All of these monetary incentives are augmented by the fact that the TSCC agreement has no punitive legal measures. Therefore the companies do not have to fear one another if either make a mistake; teamwork and clarity is encouraged. The primary difficulty with TSCC is that these cost benefits are not immediately evident right away. As shown in Exhibit 2, the current fee of the cost-plus fee structure is better for VM. But overtime, as efficiency increases, the fees of TSCC will decrease. The cost-plus fee program will not have these same returns (in fact the fees will grow as VM orders more) and as a result the TSCC program will generate lower fees in perpetuity. Increased information has cost benefits as noted above but it also has managerial decision-making benefits. For example, understanding the underlying costs in the supply chain with certain products – i. e. for all the different products used in ex-rays while also understanding the revenue generated from those products may influence management decisions. In this way lower-cost, higher-profit products are emphasized. Furthermore, management decisions surrounding expansions, process structuring and goal-setting, among others, also benefit from the increased information TSCC provides. Overall, the increased information TSCC provides in regards to cost drivers allow VM and OM to understand their costs better, incentivize each other to lower costs in the long run, and gives them the ability to set long-term targets and goals in regards to increasing efficiency. Another aspect that TSCC draws value from is the synergic benefits as a result of its institution alongside that of the Alpha-Vendor program. The Alpha-Vendor program allows VM to order many of its supplies with OM and through these large volume orders generate discounts. Through TSCC, VM will generate even more cost savings and multiply the effects of the Alpha-Vendor program because it will direct its large volume orders to more cost efficient manufacturers and SKUs. Furthermore, the Alpha-Vendor program sets a precedent of collaboration and mutual assistance that the TSCC will now build upon. TSCC would be much more expensive and difficult to implement if Alpha-Vendor program was not already in place. For example, the Alpha-Vendor program has created cross-organization positions in the form of dock managers and business integration directors who understand both VM and OM. These cross organization personnel will have a shorter learning curve and will be able to help institute TSCC more quickly and effectively. It is clear that the TSCC program and the Alpha-Vendor program merge well and will produce synergic benefits including lower costs and easier implementation. Finally, the TSCC program has a range of other â€Å"side† benefits that add to its value. First and foremost is the industry power that TSCC will help generate for both OM and VM. If you refer to Exhibit 3, it is clear that both OM and VM rely ultimately on the manufacturers. Furthermore, OM and VM rely on middlemen like GMX (their data processor). But through TSCC these companies combine their strength, data and goals and gain more power over both the manufacturers and the middle-men (the VANs). For example OM may know which manufacturer is better and which is worse but it has no control over purchases because it receives order from providers like VM. But through TSCC it acts as an adviser to VM and as a result VM can make the most efficient purchase choices. This will ultimately force manufacturers to compete more aggressively with each other and drive down their margins. Furthermore, companies like GMX generally deal with providers and distributors separately. But the combined data and translucency that OM and VM share force middle-men like GMX to deal with them as one unit. This allows OM and VM to control GMX and prevent it from taking advantage of its middle position between the two companies. Ultimately, this gained power from the -manufacturers and middle-men that activity based pricing programs like TSCC allow will result in higher margins and better control of the industry and the direction its heading for both distributors and providers. Another side benefit that TSCC produces (especially for VM) is the reinforcement it provides to the companies’ values. Both VM and OM seek to cut costs and increase margins. VM has specifically instituted â€Å"lean† programs and focused on teamwork and quality in the past. The concentration on these values will be amplified by TSCC’s similar concentration on cost cutting and leanness in the supply chain. Therefore, this program will support the vision of both companies and help them encourage the members of their organization to act according to that vision. Finally, the last side benefit the TSCC program will produce is the new knowledge created as a result of instituting the TSCC program. Both companies can do several things with this knowledge including use it to improve their own operations independently (i. e. lower errors in supply chain), share this program with other distributors/providers and more effectively manage their long term goals (i. e. set efficiency targets using cost drivers). In sum, the side benefits of TSCC include increased industry power, reinforcement of company values and increased cross applicable knowledge for both OM and VM. These side benefits add additional value to the TSCC program. Before concluding, a few drawbacks of the TSCC program should be noted. First, the TSCC program decreases the amount of product choice available to VM. OM will hold less SKUs if VM and other providers order less SKUs. Although this will reduce costs and fees, it will also result in fewer products to choose from when providers are ordering. But if TSCC is instituted effectively this decrease in choice should not have an effect on the final product (i. e. he care delivered to the patients) because often many products satisfy needs that just one product/SKU could with the same effect. Another drawback is the other side of the coin of increased industry power; increased reliance. Because both OM and VM will increase their industry power by working together in a more encompassing way (explained above) they will also increase their reliance on one another. Just because the TSCC program’s data is actually kept by GMX does not mean that another distributor/provider could use that data to the same effect (it is tailored data for OM and VM). If the relationship between VM and OM goes awry it could cause the loss of lots of hard-work and money spent on both sides. Therefore, increased reliance is definitely a cost of TSCC. In conclusion, TSCC provides lots of value for both VM and OM and is a very effective alternative to the current cost-plus program. TSCC provides value in a multitude of ways including increased information resulting in lower costs and better decision-making, synergic benefits with the already existing alpha vendor program and side benefits including increased industry power, vision support and knowledge. These benefits are long-run in nature – in fact it is even stated in the case by Daniel Borunda (the main person working in this project on VM’s side) that â€Å"the cost savings from TSCC are an annuity; they just keep on giving. † The TSCC program makes continuous, ongoing improvements to the supply chain (as explained above) while the cost-plus program is short-run by nature and looks for discounts now. This is the key difference between the two programs. This will become clear through the explanation of alternative two. Furthermore, the two main drawbacks of the TSCC program, reduced product choice and increased reliance, are not significant and can be avoided with effective management of the system. It should also be noted that the TSCC is a flexible mechanism and can be manipulated and instituted in other ways; this point will be touched on in the alternative three section of the report.