Relationship between consumption saving and investment according to keynes

Relationship between consumption saving and investment according to keynes 1. Explain the consumption function according to Keynes! What is the relationship between consumption, saving and investment according to Keynes? The main hypothesis of Keynes is that the real consumption depends on disposable income. This hypothesis you can express like this: C = C(Y). In that case consumption (C) and disposable income (Y) are measured in units.  [1]   Kenynes also said that people enhance consumption when their disposable income increases. But the increase of consumption is smaller than the increase of disposable income. This hypothesis you can describe with the marginal propensity to consume. It describes the increase of consumption when disposable income rises.  [2]   The marginal propensity to consume is defined as C = = Because of the fundamental-psychological law the marginal propensity to consume is between 0 and 1.  [3]   0 When the marginal propensity to consume is 0.8, consumption increases 0.8 units. At once disposable income increases one unit. The fundamental-psychological law is fullfilled because increase of consumption is smaller than increase of disposable income. When 0.8 units are used for consumption the remaining 0.2 units are obviously used for savings. The proof is expressed by following formula: Y = C + S 1 = 0.8 + S I 0.8 S = 0.2 . Therefore we define the marginal propensity to save money as differential quotient dS /dY. The marginal propensity to save shows how much the savings grow due to increasing disposable income. Through differentiation of the budget restriction after Y you can see that after adding the marginal propensity to consume and the marginal propensity to save the result always amounts 1. = 1 I = . That shows you that every additional income has to be used either way.  [4]   The formula below is the consumption function: C = Caut + C  · Y . Caut is autonomous consumption. You can interpret the consumption function like a normal formula which you know from mathematics. Therefore Caut is the intersection point with the ordinate and C ·Y the gradient. The last formula which is important to know concerning the consumption function according to Keynes is the consumption rate. It serves to find out which quantity of disposable income is used for consumption. The formula is c:= .  [5]   So far almost always mathematical background has been mentioned. But it is also necessary and maybe easier to summarize consumption in my own words. This will help to explain the relationship between consumption, savings and investments according to Keynes. Basically Keynes had three suppositions which result the consumption function is.  [6]  The first was mentioned above. He expected that consumption increases when disposable income increases one unit. This mentioned process is the so called marginal propensity to consume. The value of it is between 0 and 1. You see that consumption can not increase just as money. But the main fact is that people lean towards consuming when they have more disposable income. Furthermore the average propensity to consume decline when dispoable income increases and consumption depends on current disposable income. Keynes thought that the rich spend more of their disposable income than the poor and that interest rates are not important.  [7]  Therefore a short example should make this facts more familiar. We expect, that the average consumption and disposable income was 1700à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ and 2000à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬. In a formular you find following average propensity to consum: c0 = = 0.85. The result says that 85% of disposable income is used for consumption. One year later the disposable income increases more than the consumption expenditures: c1 = = 0.84. The result says that now 84% of disposable income is used for consumption. Now it is possible to calculate the marginal propensity to consum. C = = = . Now you see that consumption increases 0.75 units when disposable income increases about 1 unit. While explaining the consumption function different facts were metioned. Also consumptions and savings. One word is still missing investments. In the consumption function according to Keynes investements have not been borne in mind. There is only a relationship between consumption and savings. It was mentioned that you have an disposable income which you use for your consumption expenditures. When consumption does not exceed the disposable income you have a specified amount which you can save. This is expressed by this formular: Y = C + S 1 = 0.6 + S I 0.6 S = 0.4 . Consumption is 0.6 units. Therefore you are able to spend 0.4 units. But when you take a look at the incomne-expenditure model or the equilibrium for good markets  [8]  you find other different relations between consumption, savings and investments.  [9]   The first important formular is Y = C + I + G. This formular describes the equation for equilibrium in the goods market.  [10]  Immediately you find consumption, investments and government spending. You see that there is an existing relationship. Now there is the possibility to play with the formular what could be interesting to identify the different relationships. Therefore taxes (T) and consumption (C) have to be subtracted from Income (Y). It is also necessary to subtract taxes from government spending. The new formular looks like this: Y T C = I + G T. We know that S = Y T -C takes effect. Therefore the term reads S = I + G T . The term on the left side is private saving. On the right side you find investment (I) and public savings (G T). The government is able to run a budget surplus. This happens when taxes exceed government spending. But when government spending is higher than taxes there is a budget deficit. That means that the country consumed too much.  [11]   2. Which monetary policy instruments does a Central Bank have to control the money supply? Which of these instruments is the most effective and why? A Central Bank has three different instruments to control the money supply. It is able to choose between standing facilities, minimum required reserves and open market operations.  [12]   Deposit facilities comply with deposits of merchant banks. Business partners of the european system of central banks (ESCB) are able to invest redundant central bank money until the next business day. There are no restrictions for using this facility and no corresponding amount limits for deposits. The interest rate is the bottom line for overnight money.  [13]  Business partner of the ESCB are able to use marginal lending facilities to provide overnight liquidities by national banks. There is a fixed interest rate for these liquidities. But the business partnes will not get the liquidities if they are not able to deposit refinancable securities. There are also no existing credit lines or restrictions which could make barriers. The interest rate for marginal lending facilities is the maximum limit for overnight money.  [14]   The second monetary instrument of the ECB to control the money supply are reserve requirements. Due to competition international financial centers to decrease the reserve debt. It was introduced in the beginning of the 20th century. The idea was to secure the banks solvency. Nowadays this task is done by banking supervisory standards.  [15]  Banks always hold reserves. The reason is very simple. They want to satisfy the depositors. But that money reserves which are required are much bigger. Therefore the aim to satisfy the depositors is not the only one. To prohibit disadvantages in competition between different currency areas where banks do not have to hold reserves interests are payed on reserves of European banks by the ECB.  [16]  The bank has to have reservers which are equal to 10% of their checkable deposits.  [17]  But it is to mention that the monthly average percentage has to be 10%. If there are liquidity bottlenecks the bank is able to go back to their reserve s. When all banks average reserves at the beginning of the month are below 10% they can feel certain that the ECB provides liquidities at the end of the month. Otherwise banks would not be able to fullfil their reserve requirements.  [18]   The most important instrument are the open market operations. When a central bank buys bonds they pay for them with creating money. This activity is used to increase the amount of money. Vice versa the central bank is able to sell bonds. It has to remove the money which is in circulation because the central bank get it for the selling of the bonds. The amount of money will decline. In modern economies these procedures are the most popular to increase or decline the money stock. Open markt operations are distinguishable into expansionary and contractionary open market operation. To understand that operation an example with a short balance sheet would be helpful.  [19]  Below you find the situation before buying bonds (a) and after buying bonds (b): (b) Assets Liabilities Assets Liabilities 1 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 1 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 1 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 1 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ + 1 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ + 1 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 1 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 1 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 2 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 2 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ This is an example for an expansionary open market operation. In (b) the amount of bonds is 2 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ that means 1 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ higher than before. But therefore the amount of money in the economy is also 1 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ higher. Assets Liabilities Assets Liabilities 1 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 1 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 1 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 1 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 1 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 1 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 1 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 1 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 0 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 0 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ In the example above you see an example for contractionary open market operation. You see that the central bank decided to decline the supply of money. The procedure is the same like for the open market operation only vice versa. The amount of bonds decline and the money in the economy, too. Both decline about 1 Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬. Now it is interesting to know what kind of effects are resulting by open market operations. Therefore it is necessary to take a look at Treasury bills which are one-year bonds. The main fact of Treasury bills is that you get a fixed amount of dollars after one year. An example will explain to you the interest rate which you get after one year. At first we fix that you get 200 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ after one year. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬PB is the price of the bond after one year. In our example we take 150 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ . Below you will find the formular for the interest rate: i This example shows that in that case the interest rate is 33% per year. When you the interest rate for the bond you can play with the formula and change it so that you are able to find the future price of the bond after one year. For that operation the formula below is an example: . Because of this mathematical facts you can say that the price for bonds is less than the final price when the interest rate is positive. Sometimes you read in newspapers that bonds went up. This means that the interest rates for bonds decrease and the prices for bonds increase.  [20]   3. Which monetary policy strategies are the most widely practised? Which monetary policy strategy is currently used by the European Central Bank? The most widley practised monetary policies strategies are the nominal exchange rate peg, inflation targeting and monetary targeting. 1974 the Deutsche Bundesbank was the first one which used monetary targeting. Monetary targeting is based on the quantity theory of money. Therefore it is necessary to take a look at the quantity formula: (1). P are prices, V is velocity, Y is real GNP and M money supply. If you change the formula you are able to see which amount of money has to be choosen to achieve a certain price level: (2). For practical use the stability of velocity is very important. If you take a look at formula (1) you are able to see that an increase of V increases P. That means that less money is needed to achieve an intended price level. V is determined by demand for money. If the demand for money decrease money supply (M) is converted faster.  [21]  A country has to do some tests which proof if monetary targeting can be practiced.  [22]   A further monetary policy strategy is inflation targeting. The short-term or middle-term aim of a central bank which is using inflation targeting is to achieve low inflation rates or their inflation targets. The expected inflation rate play an important role. Central banks are able to influence the inflation target by using interest rates. It is a very simple example which should explain this instrument: If inflation is higher than the target, the bank can raise interest rates. The effect is that the inflation will decrease. If inflation is lower than the target, the bank can decrease interest rates. The result is that inflation will increase.  [23]   Concerning inflation targeting it is necessary to take a look at Taylors Rule which determines the interest rates. The central banks may follow the rule. Therefore you have to take a look a the following formula: . is the inflation rate, is the inflation target, is the nominal interest rate, is the target interest rate, is the unemployment rate and is the natural unemployment rate. and are positive coefficients. If and the nominal interest rate should be equal to , the inflation target. This procedure has to be done by the central bank. When >, the inflation rate is higher than the inflation target. In that case the central bank has to intervene. It has to increase above . The effect is that umeployment will increase because of the higher interest rate and the inflation will decrease. The coefficient has to be larger than one. The higher it is the better the inflation target will be achieved.  [24]   2. The more central bank increase interest rate 3. The more economy slow down 4. The more unemploy-ment increase 5. Inflation target achieved faster 1. The higher The central bank has to increase the real interest rate when inflation increases. But therefore the aim of the central bank should be decreasing spending and ouput. When > the nominal interest rate should be decreased by the central bank. The result is that the output will increase and the unemployment will decrease. has the the same aim like . It shows the care about unemployment in relation to inflation by the central bank. If ÃŽÂ ² is higher, the c.bank is more concerned to bring the unemployment close to natural level (to increase employment) and to increase output than to keep the inflation close to its target.  [25]   2. Central bank bring unemployment close to natural level 3. Central bank increase output 1.The higher 4. Central bank achieve inflation target The nominal exchange rate is also a monetary policy strategy. Through pegging the domestic currency to a very stable currency it is possible to control the exchange rate and the inflation.  [26]  But there are some requirements which have to be fulfilled. At first there has to be a country which has a currency that is powerful enough to be an anchor currency. The issue bank of the anchor currency country needs a huge reliability because of well developed stability in the past. Furthermore a large part of the foreign trade has to be done with the anchor currency country or in its currency. That means that for example Poland has to trade with Germany or in à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬. It is also possible to trade in US-$ but therefore the anchor currency country has to be the USA.  [27]  Furthermore an aim is to attract capital flows and to stabilize the movement of interest rates. When there is a danger that the domestic currency will decrease the central bank will increase central banks. If there is an danger that the domestic currency will increase the central bank will decrease interest rates.  [28]   The European Central Bank (ECB) is using the two-pillar strategy. The first pillar is a wide economic analysis to identify short- and middle-term risks for keeping price stability. For the analysis the ECB has a lot of indicators which are used to identify these risks. For example the economic growth, wage development, exchange rate development and the balance of payment situation, consumer price and producer price index development, asset price and real-estate price development and the inflation forecast.  [29]  The content of the second pillar is based on the quantity theory of money and is similar to the strategy of the Deutsche Bundesbank. The formular below expresses the annual increase of M3: M3  · V = P  · Y V is velocity and it is between 0,5% to 1% per year. P is price increase and it is up to 2%. Y is the growth of the production potential and it is between 2% to 2,5%. Because of these factors the annual increase of M3 is 4,5%. With the help of these two-strategies the ECB is able to achieve their main aim, price stability.  [30]   4. List of sources Felderer, B. / Homburg,S., Makroà ¶konomik und neue Makroà ¶konomik, 9.Auflage, Berlin 2005 Borchert, M., Geld und Kredit, 7.Auflage, Mà ¼nchen 2001 Gischer, H. /Herz, B. /Menkhoff, L., Geld, Kredit und Banken, 2.Auflage, Berlin-Heidelberg 2005 Kazandziska, M., Macroeconomics I, Session 13 Bofinger, P. / Reischle, J. / Schà ¤chter, A., Geldpolitik, 1.Auflage, Mà ¼nchen 1996 Blanchard, O., Macroeconomics, 3.Auflage, Upper Saddle River 2003 Heine, M. / Herr, H., Volkswirtschaftslehrer, 3.Auflage, Mà ¼nchen 2003 Mankiw, N. Gregory, Mikroà ¶konomik, 5.Auflage, Stuttgart 2003 Burda, M. / Wyplosz, C., Macroeconomics, 3.Auflage, New York 2001

Tinkering With Destiny :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Community is a group of people living or working together. The people who share the community should be united as one and work together to make their surroundings a better place. In reality, most communities strive for unity and try to have a commonground of understanding, but that rarely happens. To me it seems that a lot of communities have conflicts and do not try to do what is best for the community, because everyone wants to be in control. A lot of people are only thinking about themselves and don't want to help others. People also feel that they can not make a difference because they are only one person.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  So, what is best for a community? In my opinion a community should uphold their responsibilities to one another. A community should make the best of any situation and try to complete their goals. A community should reflect on what hasn't worked for them in the past and try to work on the ideal solution for the future. A community must have respect for one another and appreciate one another for their differences. It is important to notice that there are differences between people, but it's also important to accept those differences. A community should be aware of everyone's talents and creativities, and each of these aspects should be used to its fullest abilities. A community must be a strong and structured source that everyone can rely on in the time of need. A community should allow you to feel like family and friends surround you, and know that you can depend on them at any time. A community can give people the sense of belonging, that they are apart of somethi ng. It allows people to feel that they are needed, and their services will be useful. A community should enhance the feeling of security, unity, and peace.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When you are servicing to others, it makes you feel that you are needed and wanted. You have feel like someone is depending on you. Which makes you want to strive harder and do your best. When you are doing your best and putting your all into it, then that is what makes you feel that you are doing the duties of a community. If you are able to make a difference in just one person's life you have touched the community in a different way. When you work your hardest and giving it your all, then I feel that you are a member of a community.

Strategies to Implement Sustainability Programs

Strategic Supply Chain Management: Individual Assignment Table of Contents Content Introduction What is Supply Chain Sustainability? Why is Supply Chain Sustainability important?Traditional supply chain vs sustainable supply chain Advantages of Supply Chain Sustainability Strategies to implement sustainability in supply chain process Step1: Access the current supply chain Step 2 Access Environment: Current, Potential, and Future Impact Factors Step 3: Evaluation: Identifying Potential Risks and Opportunities Step 4: Extend or Re-design the Supply Chain Strategy Step 5 & step 6: Implementation with the Sustainable Supply Chain Scorecard Conclusion References Page No 2 2 2 2 3 3 5 6 6 6 7 8 9 AHMG Kibria Page 1 Strategic Supply Chain Management:Individual Assignment Topic: Strategies to implement sustainability programs in the supply chain firms Introduction: Environmental issues are becoming the main concerns of many global supply chain practitioners in today’s world. In order to address these emerging environmental issues, businesses around the globe are looking for a total solution on the reduction of the waste generated from the current supply chain process. Meanwhile, implementation cost that is needed to implement these environmental issues plays a major part in their considerations in selecting an implementation strategy.Recent studies by Carter and Rogers (2008) emphasised that sustainable supply chain development in terms of social, economic, and environmental benefits should be taken into consideration in a supply chain practice. More specifically, supply chain management can be defined as the integration of the social, economic, and environmental practices within a global supply chain that provide green products, excellent services and accurate information sharing that beneficial to all employees, shareholders, business partners and the wider community.The intent of this research is to propose strategies to implement sustainability in supply cha in firms. There are many different strategies have been used by the supply chain firms. This report analysed six step process approaches to implement sustainability in the supply chain process. What is Supply Chain Sustainability? Supply chain sustainability is the management of environmental, social and economic impacts, and the encouragement of good governance practices, throughout the lifecycles of goods and services.The objective of supply chain sustainability is to create, protect and grow long-term environmental, social and economic value for all stakeholders (consumers, community, government, society, employees etc). Why is Supply Chain Sustainability important? There are many reasons why companies start a supply chain sustainability journey. Primary among them is to ensure compliance with laws and regulations and to support international principles for sustainable business conduct.In addition, companies are increasingly taking actions that result in better social, economic a nd environmental impacts because society expects this and because there are business benefits to doing so. By managing and seeking to improve environmental, social and economic performance and good governance throughout supply chains, companies act in their own interests, the interests of their stakeholders and the interests of society at large.According to Penfield (2009) Supply chain operations are fundamental to sustainability performance and supplying for sustainability is being touted in management circles as the future of competitive supply chains. Traditional supply chain vs sustainable supply chain Conventional supply chains are more interested in serving the purpose of logistics than optimization. On the other hand a focus on sustainability aims at creating and protecting value with reference to long-term social, environmental and economic components in bringing goods AHMG Kibria Page 2 Strategic Supply Chain Management:Individual Assignment and services to the market. The primacy of operations is to adequately meet current demands while making reserves for future generations. Linton et al (2007), indicates the focus of sustainable logistics is on optimization of resources along the entire production so that final production is of the highest value at the lowest cost. There is strategic optimization of resources, reduction of wastages, as well as utilization of supply by-products. In addition, it entails a focus beyond delivery to consumers, to other areas beyond the traditional scope of supply chain management.According to IBM report (2009) supply chain management in contemporary business practice faces five key challenges: cost containment, supply chain visibility, risk management, growing market demand and globalization impacts. Conventional chains only focused on delivering the end-products and, as such, suffered diminished returns owing to the growth in market and volatile consumers. On the other hand, supply chain sustainability seeks to not onl y deliver the utility, but also seeks to improve social, economic and environmental performance.As such, companies and supply chain managers deliver their own interests and those of the stakeholders and the society (Misra, et al. 2010). Advantages of Supply Chain Sustainability Social Advantage – Primary benefits are derived from positive environmental and social externalities that are enjoyed by both customers and companies’ stakeholders alike. For example Wal-Mart has implemented a program that successfully minimises the waste allocated to landfill within the USA (19. 1%), and increasingly China and Brazil (52%), which has the potential to prevent 11. million metric tons of CO2 emissions annually (Wal-Mart, 2012). Financial Advantage- Companies are realizing competitive benefits from investing in supply chain efficiency, Wal-Mart generated in excess of $231million in 2011 through a combination of increased recycling revenue and decreased expenses (Wal-Mart, 2012). En hanced supply chain security – Improvements in labour conditions has the compounded benefit of reducing employee induced work stoppages and can positively impact a company’s ability to continuously manufacture goods and services, increasing customer satisfaction and revenue.Increased competitiveness of suppliers – Buyers increasingly interprets suppliers’ good CSR performance as a sign of strong overall management, which affects other elements of supplier development, such as quality and on-time deliveries. In the long run, suppliers that work to continuously improve their environmental and social performance will gain better access to markets and clients (BSR Survey). Strategies to implement sustainability in supply chain process In order to develop strategies supply chain managers need to consider what a supply chain strategy is, link the strategy to the competitive strategy and sustainability.The following figure shows the three important elements in o rder to develop a successful sustainable supply chain. AHMG Kibria Page 3 Strategic Supply Chain Management: Individual Assignment Figure: Three areas to integrate sustainable supply chain Cetinkaya (2011) This report analyses an iterative six step process approach to implement sustainability in Supply chain firms. A systematic approach to strategy design and integration can help companies developing a sustainable supply chain to create a value proposition.This iterative six-step approach has to be seen as a cycle which should be executed regularly in your supply chain, since relevant conditions may change quite quickly and sometimes radically for example, the oil price spike of 2008. AHMG Kibria Page 4 Strategic Supply Chain Management: Individual Assignment Figure: Steps of a sustainable supply chain strategy Cetinkaya (2011) Step1: Access the current supply chain: Step 1 aims to take stock of the current state of company- and supply chain specific characteristics regarding strate gy, resources, and current and planned practices.It is mainly concerned with internal factors and considers elements which are usually within the control of a company. It seeks to discover whether there is a common strategic alignment, and whether the goals of each strategy element are integrated, aligned, and complementary. A company’s own supply chain strategy which is not aligned to the corporate and cross-company supply chain strategy cannot be sustainable. Potential short- and long-term goal conflicts can rapidly become serious barriers to implementing a sustainable supply chain along its members; especially if the supply chain is required to adapt quickly to change.The analysis also shows if top management commitment is given within the individual companies and the supply chain. In summary the findings from this step are: ? ? ? ? The existing corporate and competitive strategies The sustainability strategies (if sustainability is not already part of the corporate strate gy) The company-specific supply chain strategies, and finally The cross-company supply chain and collaboration strategy Cetinkaya (2011). AHMG Kibria Page 5 Strategic Supply Chain Management: Individual AssignmentStep 2 Access Environment: Current, Potential, and Future Impact Factors The second step of this process deals primarily with what is changing in the business environment, what kind of scenarios your company will face in the medium and long term, and finally, what the main driver of change may be. This will lead, together with the analysis from step 1, to the definition of potential risks and opportunities for your supply chain strategy in step 3. Supply chain input resources such as fuel, energy, and natural resources nowadays deserve close attention in supply chain management logistics.The trend of rising prices and increasing scarcity make input resources major risk management factors in an economic perspective, especially when a company runs cost- and energy-sensitive s upply chains. Understanding and forecasting input resource-related information helps in developing a sustainable supply chain strategy Cetinkaya (2011). Step 3: Evaluation: Identifying Potential Risks and Opportunities: After analysing first two steps of this process it is easier to identify potential risks and opportunities to implements sustainability in supply chain process.Supply chain firms can use framework to access supply chain capabilities in the context of the scenarios identified in the step2. The assessment then serves to determine supply chain specific Threat-OpportunityProfile. Companies need to understand the cause-and-effect relationships between potential success factors to undertake evaluation. For example, companies should be able to estimate that the regionalization of procurement structures in response to an oil price increase would be likely to reduce transport costs Cetinkaya (2011).Step 4: Extend or Re-design the Supply Chain Strategy Based on the Threat-Oppo rtunity-Profile, now it is possible to define strategic gaps on the route to a sustainable supply chain; gaps between current supply chain strategy and the changing business environment. The greater and more relevant the potential risks and opportunities, the larger will be the gaps, and the greater the need to act and make strategy changes. At this stage the following strategic programs can be distinguished: 1. Compliance- to obtain the benefit and competitive value of reducing and managing risk. 2.Process-Re-engineering- to obtain the benefit and competitive value of improving productivity and efficiency and in consequence, of reduced supply chain costs, increased resource productivity, and reduced environmental impacts. 3. Restructuring- to obtain the benefit and competitive value of the long term and fundamental improvement of effectiveness and early prevention of risk. 4. Innovation- to obtain the benefit and competitive value of differentiation. 5. Progression- to obtain the b enefit of first mover advantage, and establishing market entry barriers Cetinkaya (2011).AHMG Kibria Page 6 Strategic Supply Chain Management: Individual Assignment Step 5 & step 6: Implementation with the Sustainable Supply Chain Scorecard: After completing step1 to step4 companies must be able to develop appropriate scope of strategic vision and determine the right actions to align supply chain strategy to the changing business environment. These findings have been incorporated into the reformulation or redesign of existing supply chain strategy and the associated objectives. Now, the following step will show how to implement them.This research analyses â€Å"Balanced Scorecard† developed by Kaplan and Norton from 1990 in order to show implementation of findings from stage1 to stage4. Figure: The Kaplan/Norton Balanced Scorecard Cetinkaya (2011) The Balanced Scorecard is a (performance) management system providing a framework to translate a strategy into balanced operationa l terms via objectives and measures, organised into four different perspectives: financial, customer, internal business process, and learning and growth. The measures represent a balance ?Between external measures for shareholders and customers, and internal measures of critical business processes, innovation , and learning and growth. ? Between the outcome measures – the result from past efforts- and the measures that drive future performance, and ? Between objectives, easily quantified outcome measures and subjective, somewhat judgmental, performance drivers of the outcome measures. Scorecard: the financial perspective: Assess social and ecologic activities accurately from the economic point of view.Scorecard: the sustainability perspective: Link financial figures with customer needs. Extend this link by the environmental and social perspective. AHMG Kibria Page 7 Strategic Supply Chain Management: Individual Assignment Scorecard: the supply chain perspective: Incorporate t actical and strategic decisions along the end-to-end supply chain. Collaborate with your sales and product development departments and partners Cetinkaya (2011). Scorecard: The learning and growth perspective: Drive supply chain wide learning.So, after analysing Balance Scorecard it has seen that supply chain companies will be able to implement their strategy and also evaluate their strategy. Conclusion This research paper described the importance of sustainability in supply chain process. It also showed the differences between traditional supply chain and sustainable supply chain, the advantages of having sustainability in supply chain process. Most importantly this research analysed the strategy to implement sustainability.In order to do that it showed a six step process which is: step1: access the current supply chain, step2: access environment: current, potential, and future impact factors, step3: evaluation: identifying potential risks and opportunities, step4: extend or re-des ign the supply chain Strategy, step 5 & step 6: how to implement strategies with the sustainable supply chain scorecard which shows the financial, sustainable, supply chain and learning & growth perspective. Supply chain companies will be able to implement sustainability in their process by following these six step-by-step processes. AHMG Kibria Page 8Strategic Supply Chain Management: Individual Assignment References: ? BSR20, Maximizing Benefits From a Sustainable Supply Chain, BSR, March, 2011, viewed 28 September 2012, http://www. bsr. org/reports/BSR_Maximizing_Benefits_From_A_Sustainable_Supply_Chain. p df Carter, C. R. and Rogers, D. S. â€Å"A framework of sustainable supply chain management: moving towards new theory,† International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, vol. 38, pp. 360-387, 2008. Cetinkaya, B. , 2011, 1st edn, Developing a Sustainable Supply Chain Strategy’, Sustainable Supply Chain Management, viewed at 13/11/12. http:// www. pringer. com/business+%26+management/production/book/978-3-642-12022-0 IBM, 2009. The smarter supply chain of the future: Global chief supply chain officer study, New York: IBM Global Services. Linton, J. , Klassen, R. & Jayaraman, V. , 2006. ‘Sustainable supply chains: An introduction’, Journal of operations management, Kaplan RS, Norton DP (1996): The balanced scorecard: translating strategy into action. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press Misra, V. , Khan, M. & Singh, U. , 2010, ‘Supply chain management systems: Architecture, design and vision’, Journal of strategic innovation and sustainability, vol. , no. 4, pp. 102108. Penfield, P. 2009, Seven Steps to Implementing a Sustainable Supply Chain, Syracuse University, Charlotte. Sisco, C. , Chorn, B. , Jorgensen, P. , 2010, Supply Chain Sustainability- A Practical Guide for Continuous Improvement, UN Global Compact Office and Business for Social Responsibility, viewed at 12/11/12 http://www. u nglobalcompact. org/docs/issues_doc/supply_chain/SupplyChainRep_spread. pdf Walmart Boyend 50 years: Building a sustainable future, Walmart, viewed 27/09/12 http://www. walmartstores. com/sites/responsibility-report/2012/ ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? AHMG Kibria Page 9

Of Mice and Men Research Paper - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1672 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2019/06/24 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: Of Mice And Men Essay Did you like this example? There is only one event in the 20th century that occurred in the United States that has a major influence on our world today: The Great Depression. This, along with the simultaneous Dust Bowl phenomenon, had both a catastrophic impact on life at the time, and the economic policies of the U.S. today. Countless people in cities and towns went homeless or without jobs, and farmers impacted by both disasters moved to places like California for a better life. There is still countless people who can tell you about the times, and the horrible conditions of life then. The Great Depression was no coincidence or event of fate and nature. Princeton economist Paul Krugman blamed it on -a collapse of effective demand (Jacobson Schwartz and Milton). Effective demand is when people move to one good or service from another because the other is unaffordable or out of reach (Colander 379), so the crash that sparked the 1930s depression was the lack thereof. In the 1930s people would blame it wholly on stock market speculation, reckless banking practices, and a concentration of wealth in too few hands (Powell 48). These came into play, but again, the underlying ineffective demand was to blame. The 1930rs had the highest sustained unemployment in U.S. history, with at least 14% of the population jobless in the decade, along with most of those employed still being impoverished (Powell 48). The Great Depression was not properly addressed until the Banking Laws of 1935, the Glass-Steagall Act, and the overarching New Deal, which all existed so the government cou ld aid in returning the market to normal (Powell 48-09). Despite these attempts to correct the market, the depression endured from 1929 to 1937, worst in 1933. Not just people in urban areas were affected though, as farmers were hit hard by the chain of demand. When buyers of produce spent what money they had on farm goods, farmers still couldnt afford anything with that same money and went totally broke. When these times were the toughest, -some farm families were forced to eat their seed corn(Morton 52). This is how desperate, and knowingly desperate farmers were, that they would eat their only source of the next yearrs harvest for sustenance. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Of Mice and Men Research Paper" essay for you Create order Countless farmers migrated to cities for some sort of work, partially also driven by the Dust Bowl (UC Davis 1). Another group heavily impacted by the Great Depression was minorities and women. First of all, women were highly disadvantaged at the time, with scarce opportunities to work. With many men cut off from work, there was almost no income in many households, and single women were even worse off (Marx 1). Minorities, especially African Americans, were the most hurt overall, by a racist environment all over the south and worsened poverty. For example, the New Deal contained no anti-lynching legislation (Marx 1), and public lynching/beating was prevalent and somewhat common at the time. Government employment programs were even made discriminatory, as their local supervisors would reduce the pay of minority workers to increase the pay of white workers. Eventually, this got to the high office, but the changes enacted didnt do much for the workers, as they still lived in discriminat ion (Marx 1). The Dust Bowl was a climatic event that occurred during the 1930rs. There is no stated year where it was at itrs worst, but it generally took worst effect in growing seasons with ?anomalous drought and heat (Donat et al. 415). As noted in an Climate Dynamics article, The climate over much of the US during the 1930s was characterized by exceptionally hot and dry conditions (Peterson et al. 2013), often referred to as the ?Dust Bowl(Donat et al. 413). The Dust Bowl is called such because it was characterized by frequent and severe dust storms during the decade. These storms were spawned by the droughts sweeping the nation, especially the southern Great Plains, which were in turn caused by the record high temperatures (Cook et al. 1). According to the Columbia University Earth Institute, There had never been dust storms like these in prior droughts. In the worst years of the 1930s on as many as a quarter of the days, dust reduced visibility to less than a mile. More soil was lost by win d erosion than the Mississippi carried to the sea(Cook et al. 1). Hence, the name is derived from the dust blowing on the prairies which was the ruin of any farmland, comprised of the land itself. Naturally, those most affected from the devastation of farmland are going to be the resident farmers. Many farmers were completely out of work, as the earth they had been planting on was blown away by high winds, dried by the arid conditions. Countless farmers had the choice between moving away or starving, with little to no money left from the annual yield (Worster 29). The landscape, in the words of Donald Worster, was as follows: The fences, piled high with tumbleweeds and drifted over with dirt, looked like giant backbones of ancient reptiles (Worster 29). This is an illustration of the dirt piles, but even more devastating is the description of the farmlands- -the underlying hardpan was laid bare, as sterile and unyielding as a city pavement (Worster 29). Clearly, the formal fertile l and was unusable and the soil was elsewhere, so farmers were left with no place for what crops they had to sow. Any topsoil gave way to hard undersoil, which could not grow anything. These farmers still had to make a living, though. So they traveled, mostly to the west, as migrant workers (UC Davis 1). These migrant workers were farmers and assorted people from the midwest who traveled the country looking for any kind of work. They emerged because of economic decline of the Great Depression and/or because their farms had been blown dry in the Dust Bowl. There numbers were large but spread out in the plains, but nearing California, their numbers were startlingly high and concentrated, some even creating immigrant camps outside cities (UC Davis 1). In fact, a study by Anne Loftis states that In Fall 1931, migrants were arriving in the state at the rate of 1,200 to 1,500 a day, an annual rate of almost 500,000 (UC Davis 1). This huge number meant municipalities would try to make laws and regulations lowering the number of migrants allowed to enter. Life for a typical migrant worker was going from farm to farm, planting, irrigating, and harvesting, often never stayin g at a single farm for long. Many lived in semi-legal camps in California, where they were harassed by officers to get them to leave. States like California, where many moved in, were not welcoming to the influx, and so they passed laws and labor acts that would prevent the migrants from entering at all. Work was hard, industrial labor on farms and sometimes at factories (UC Davis 1). Again referring to the barring acts of municipalities, migrants were mistreated in various ways. One of these ways was outlined in the Vagrancy Laws of 1933 and 1937, under which many migrants were arrested and sometimes lent to farmers to work off their fines (UC Davis 1). This practice is similar to debtors prison which was banned centuries earlier in England. This is also somewhat akin to temporary slavery, as migrants would often have no choice in the matter of their work and no ability to legally leave or disobey the employer. Migrants very rarely gained much wealth and many stayed dirt poor all t hrough the 30s (UC Davis 1). Migrants, as mentioned, often traveled to California for work specifically the Salinas Valley. The Salinas Valley is home to the capital of the state, Sacramento. However, it wasnt the big city most of the travelers were looking for, but farm labor. There is no shortage of farmland in that valley. The Salinas Valley is a long valley surrounded by the Sierra de Salinas, Gabilan, and Diablo mountain ranges. The valley has a wide watershed, and the floor is fertile from that distribution (Saavedra). There are underground deposits of water, such as the Pressure 180-foot and 400-foot, increasing the flow of water into the valleyrs irrigation and drinking water. Mountainous silt makes up the topsoil next to the Salinas River itself, adding to the fertility of the land and ability to mass farm (Saavedra). Primarily, the Salinas Valley has an output of crops like corn, wheat, and all sorts of ground level leaves (cabbage, lettuce, etc.). The valleyrs large output brings in billions per year , contributing to Californiars country-like economy. Not the river, but rather groundwater from the greater watershed, is what supplies the watering needs of Salinas crops. In fact, 95% of irrigation is just from underground deposit sources, and that same percentage goes for local uses and greater industry in urban areas (Saavedra). The great benefit of such land is the fertility of soil and overall availability of water. The two large drawbacks are the surrounding mountains, which can slow travel time and trade, and the possibility of over-farming and contaminating water. Over-farming can make contaminated water in two ways. Taking too much from underground reserves before it can be replenished leaves natural toxins in higher concentration, so if a certain location was extracted the toxins would come with it in high density. The other way is that reduced aquifer pressure allows seawater to flood into reserves and ruin them for further use in any way (Saavedra). In a data paper by M anuel Saavedra, The high chloride levels have rendered the seawater intruded ground waters too salty for municipal and agricultural use(Saavedra 1). This, however, is only for the coastline valley, so inland places where migrants traveled were safe from seawater intrusion. The four topics covered clearly share a chronological connection and timeline. The Great Depression and Dust Bowl occured at the same time, each worsening the effect of the other to some degree. The people displaced in the Dust Bowl became traveling, dirt-poor migrant workers, and many of them moved to the Salinas Valley in California for prospect. These all come together to influence our current day ideas about climate, natural phenomena, banking powers, and immigration.