Supply Chain of Oil Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Supply Chain of Oil Industry - Essay Example This paper illustrates that the strongest supply chain has been in the past been denoted as indispensable in determining the success of a business or any other undertaking. The defeat of the British army by the American counterparts was linked to the power supplies of weapons and troops to the American side. In the oil industry, a supply chain is considered critical in that it determines the effectiveness of the industry right from transportation to consumption of the oil-related products. Cox argued that supply chain is a wider concept that should be viewed as a complex management that determines competitive advantage of any given organization. Supply chain creates a single plan that denotes the flow of products in a business. The coordination of different actors uses a defined framework designed to achieve the specific goal of linking suppliers to customers and the organization involved in the supply chain management. A well-managed supply chain helps in reducing costs and adding v alue to customers. Stadtler & Kilger pointed out that effective supply chain is used as a major source of competitive advantage. To remain at the top of the competition, customer preferences have to be put into consideration as well as articulate on what the competitors offer so that a better supply chain can be devised. The ability of organizations to differentiate themselves from others is dependent on the competence of their managers to focus on customers and competitors and manage to operate at a lower cost. In fact, Cox argued that successful companies have either cost advantage or have value advantage or even a combination of the two. In this regard, it is indispensable to argue that a well-managed supply chain should be able to have either of the two concepts or a combination of the two. In the oil industry, the prices of crude oil and natural gas are perhaps the closely watched product prices across the global market. The supply chain involved in the oil industry is, however , controlled by the main actor, who in this case is the government. Although many landlords and communities might be the owners of the land where oil is located, the government is the custodian of the oil. This changes the whole supply chain management since the government controls the oil prices.

LL Bean Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

LL Bean - Case Study Example Beyond that maximum physical number, there is no way for the physical store to find out what the real demand is if all customers potential customers were provided with the amount that they want. If the inventory runs out, then the store can re-order, but there is really no way of knowing whether while the good is out of stock more people want that particular good or not, because there is no catalog or mechanism for the store to demonstrate what an out of stock good looks like, unless there is a physical sample and the physical stores have an supply on demand option. Moreover, in a physical store, the audience for a particular good is limited to those who physically go to the stores to view the merchandise, limiting the potential demand to the shop frequenters. In contrast, LL Bean, by making the catalogs available for the duration of a season, and allowing for orders, is able to capture the demand for a larger subset of potential customers. In this case this demand is more real or co mprehensive than the more limited demand subset that the physical store is able to address/cover. On the other hand, one can also say that the audience for the good is limited to those who receive the catalogs. In this sense this demand is arguably not universal enough. Moreover, from the point of view of being able to satisfy all demand, the statement needs to be qualified. Demand forecasting is part art in LL Bean, as has been demonstrated in the study, and even with the use of A/F and probability distributions for probable demand there are many opportunities to overshoot targets. This is especially true when the costs associated with overstocking on an item are larger than the costs of understocking, or being conservative on demand projections. In the case where stocks on hand turn out to be larger than the actual demand, then one can say that LL Bean is indeed able to capture the true demand, with the caveats on the limits of catalog marketing being able to capture all possible demand as discussed above (Schleifer, 1992, pp. 1-5). Question 2 Recording demand for an item that is out of stock may not have much of a bearing in that current season, given that for many of the items there is a long lag time for deliveries that replenishing out of stock items during the current season is often not feasible. First if it were feasible to restock within the season, obviously not being able to capture demand for an item that is out of stock means that the company misses out on any additional sales tied to that non-captured demand. The company is unable to know how many of that out of stock item to reorder. Second, for most items that cannot be replenished during the season, the implications for LL Bean are with regard to being able to record future demand and factor them into the forecasts. This is so because from the case itself, LL Bean uses historical actual demand and forecast demand figures as a weighting factor to determine how many to order of individual items for the coming seasons. If LL Bean is unable to record demand for items that are out of stock, then they are no different from operations that are purely based on physical stores, and their future demand forecasts then become continuously flawed and inaccurate Such inability to record out of stock demand translates to perpetual misses in future forecasts for the demand for that out of stock item. This has consequences for the company’s profits obviously (Schleifer, 1992, pp. 1-5). Question 3 The marginal unit profit for a sale of the shirt is $ 25. This is selling price minus cost. The marginal unit loss for a non-sale is $15. This is cost minus liquidation price per shirt. The most

Innovation and Technology Strategies of Mcdonalds

Innovation and Technology Strategies of Mcdonalds McDonalds is the largest fast food restaurant chain that serves approximately 47 million customers daily. The fast food restaurant is operated by many types of business venture like franchisee, affiliate or the corporation itself. Through continual innovation technology research and upgrade, McDonalds have transformed itself from a small bar-b-que restaurant to a fast food restaurant chain serving mainly burgers, chicken products, fries, beverages, desserts, salads, wraps and fruits for breakfast, lunch, dinner and even supper 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In this report, we will discuss on how McDonalds manages its innovation technology and the strategies employed by McDonalds in gaining its competitive advantage. We will be using SWOT analysis to analyze the internal strength and weakness and external opportunities and threats of McDonalds innovation technology process and also discuss the innovation technology concept adopted by McDonalds. Some concepts that are discussed are stated below. Innovation Concept:- Kids gadget (eg. Happy Meal that comes with toy) Food safety and quality standards (Nutrition facts on the food they serve) Being Green (eg. Unbleached paper napkins used from recycle material, One Meal, One Napkin, McRecycle) Events (eg. FIFA 2010, Singapore Youth Olympic Games 2010) Mc Cafà © Technology Concept:- Drive-Thru, where customers can order McDonalds meals on the go, Online/Phone ordering delivery 24/7 EZlink payment over counter and credit card payment for online and phone ordering Free Wi-fi connection at all McDonalds branches Online Networking (Facebook) The report will also recommend some approaches McDonalds can adopt to enhance the business. Introduction 1.1 Company Profile McDonalds is the leading restaurant brand with more than 30,000 local restaurants serving nearly 50 million customers in more than 119 countries each day. Approximately 70 percent of McDonalds restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent, local businessmen and women. Their rich history began with their founder, Ray Kroc. The strong foundation that he built continues today with McDonalds vision and the commitment of our talented executives to keep the shine on McDonalds Arches for years to come. McDonalds serves hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken products, French fries, breakfast items, soft drinks, shakes, and desserts. McDonalds also modified its menu to healthier alternatives like salads, wraps and fruit due to obesity trends in western nations and criticism over healthiness of its products. 1.2 History of Company McDonalds started as a humble Bar-B-Que restaurant in the year 1940. Below states McDonalds achievements through the years. (McDonalds, 2010) 1940 Dick and Mac McDonalds open McDonalds Bar-B-Que restaurant in San Francisco. It is a typical drive-in with featuring a typical menu with car-hop service 1948 Dick and Mac McDonalds closed their restaurant for 3 months and reopens as a self-service drive-in restaurant with reduced menu serving hamburgers, cheeseburger, soft drinks, milk, coffee, potatoes chips and a slice of pie with the 15 cents hamburger as the staple of the menu 1949 Potato chips are replaced by French fries on the McDonalds menu 1954 Multimixer salesman, Ray Kroc(52), visit McDonalds in San Bernardino intending to sell more multimixer to the brothers but is fascinated by the operation and learns from the brothers that they are looking for nationwide franchising agent. Kroc has an epiphany and determined that his future is in the hamburgers. 1955 Kroc opens his first McDonalds restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois on April 15. The restaurant is designed by architect Stanley Menston in 1953 with red and white tile and Golden Arches 1959 The 100th restaurant opens in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin 1962 McDonalds in Denver, Colorado becomes the first indoor seating restaurant 1963 The 500th McDonalds restaurant in Toledo, Ohio 1965 McDonalds first public offering in celebration of its 10th year anniversary 1966 First National Television Commercial of Ronald McDonald who appeared on his flying hamburger in 35 one minute color spots on the NBC and CBS networks 1967 McDonalds first international restaurant in Canada and Puerto Rico 1969 Remodeling of McDonalds logo which emphasis more on the ever-more-famous Golden Arches 1978 The 5000th McDonalds restaurant in Kanagawa, Japan 1979 Happy Meals are introduced to the national menu featuring a circus wagon theme 1984 McDonalds founder and Senior Chairman, Ray Kroc, dies on Jan 14 1985 April 15, McDonalds celebrates 30th years of operation 1988 The 10,000th McDonalds restaurant in Dale City, Virginia 1996 McDonalds Corporate Internet site launched 2003 McDonalds launched its first global advertisement campaign, Im lovin it, in Munich, Germany 2006 McDonalds added nutritional info on its packaging at the Torino 2006 Olympic 2007 McDonalds Packaging updates that features 24 faces from first-ever global casting call 2009 McDonalds being awarded for Being Green 2010 McDonalds offers visitors with free Wi-Fi in over 11,000 restaurants 1.3 Vision Statement and Values Vision McDonalds envision a supply chain that profitably yields high-quality and safe products without supply interruption while leveraging their leadership position to create a net benefit by improving ethical, environmental and economic outcomes. Ethical McDonalds envision purchasing from suppliers who follow practices that ensure the health and safety of their employees and the welfare and humane treatment of animals in their supply chain. Environmental McDonalds envision influencing the sourcing of their materials and ensuring the design of their products, their manufacture, distribution and use minimize lifecycle impacts on the environment. Economic McDonalds envision delivering affordable food, engaging in equitable trade practices, limiting the spread of agricultural diseases, and positively impacting the communities where their suppliers operate. McDonalds view this vision and its responsibilities holistically. As sourcing decisions are made, they consider their priorities for food safety, quality and costs, as well as ethical, environmental and economic responsibilities. Values McDonalds place the customer experience at the core Customers are the reason for their existence. They demonstrate appreciation by providing them with high-quality food and superior service, in a clean, welcoming environment, at a great value. Their goal is Quality, Service, Cleanliness Value for each and every customer, each and every time. McDonalds are committed to the people They provide opportunity, nurture talent, develop leaders and reward achievement. They believe that a team of well-trained individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences, working together in an environment that fosters respect and drives high levels of engagement, is essential to their continued success. McDonalds believe in the their system McDonalds business model, depicted by the three-legged stool of owner/operators, suppliers and company employees, is their foundation, and the balance of interests among the three groups is key. McDonalds operate the business ethically Sound ethics is good business. At McDonalds, they hold themselves and conduct their business to high standards of fairness, honesty and integrity. They are individually accountable and collectively responsible. McDonalds give back to the communities They take the responsibilities seriously. They help their customers build better communities, support Ronald McDonald House Charities, and leverage their size, scope and resources to help make the world a better place. McDonalds grow their business profitably McDonalds is a publicly traded company. As such, they work to provide sustained profitable growth for the shareholders. This requires a continuing focus on our customers and the health of their System. McDonalds strive continually to improve Being a learning organization that aims to anticipate and respond to changing customer, employee and System needs through constant evolution and innovation. 2 SWOT Analysis Let us look at some of the strengths that McDonalds hold for it to be so successful and what opportunities did they took advantage of. Strength With billions of investment spent on training annually, McDonalds have succeeded in motivating its staff to provide better customer service. The brand reputation of McDonalds increased when the Fortune Magazine 2008 listed McDonalds as one of the most admired food service companies. The Golden Arches and spokes character, Ronald McDonald the clown is one of the worlds most recognizable logos. Source: Images obtained from flickr.com and Palm Beach County Library System McDonalds is a global company operating in 109 countries. By spreading out in different regions, they can withstand economic fluctuations and operate effectively during an economic downturn. McDonalds restaurants are able to adapt to each countrys cultural differences. For example, lamb burgers are served in India instead of beef and pork. As most of the McDonalds restaurant businesses are owned and operated by franchisees which are independent they are able to reach out to global locations like major airports, and cities, tourist locations and theme parks. McDonalds developed an efficient, assembly line style of food preparation. In addition, they maintained a systemization and duplication of all their food preparation processes in every restaurant. McDonalds uses 100% pure inspected beef with no fillers or additives added. The produce is farm fresh. McDonalds serves 100% farm raised chicken, no fillers or additives and only Grade-A eggs. To ensure only safe and tastiest food are produced, McDonalds purchased their ingredients only from certified suppliers. The frequent food inspections conducted also ensured food quality and freshness. McDonalds only serves name brand processed items such as Kraft Cheese, Nestle Chocolate, Heinz Ketchup and Minute Maid Juice. McDonalds treats food safety very seriously. Checks are performed at every stage of the food processing to ensure that the food is produced from a clean, contamination free environment. McDonalds have printed their food nutritional information on the serving mat that was placed on the serving trays. It enables the consumers to understand what the nutritional levels of individual food they are consuming are, at the same time, enjoying their meal. This information was published on McDonalds Internet site. For consumers who were health conscious, McDonalds have gone the extra miles to offer salads, bottled water and other low fat / calorie food as alternatives. To build publicity, McDonalds sponsored various main events. The recent sponsorship is the Singapore Youth Olympic Games 2010. McDonalds have incorporated free Wi-Fi in the restaurants to encourage consumers to come for their meal. 2.2 Weakness McDonalds tried to market into the pizza line but failed thus leaving them not able to compete with fast food pizza chains yet. The employment of temporary staffs and part-timer lead to high employee turnover in their restaurants. This will increased the amount of money being spent on training new staffs. While promoting health living, McDonalds had yet to explore the trend towards organic foods. 2.3 Opportunities McDonalds can create a healthier version of the hamburger to cater for the health conscious society today. They can do it by replacing the ingredient with those that are organic. They will be the first in the fast food industry to have an organic hamburger. McDonalds can provide optional allergen free food items, such as gluten free and peanut free. McDonalds can look into introducing new food items, like sandwich wrap to cater for new taste buds. 2.4 Threats McDonalds uses subliminal perception to attract children as young as one year old into their restaurants with special kids meals, toys, playgrounds and popular movie character tie-ins. Children end up enjoying McDonalds through childhood to adulthood. Hence, many parents criticized their marketing practices towards children which are seen as not ethical. McDonalds is considered as unhealthy food, allegedly with addictive additives that contributed to the obesity in consumers. Competitors are a threat. Major competitors include Burger King, Starbucks, Subway and KFC and any mid-range sit-down restaurants. 3. Innovation Concept Kids Gadgets Source: Happy Meal http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/parents/happy_meal_choice.html McDonalds Happy Meal toys for kids have undergone an evolution. The toys were first design with mechanical moving parts that simulate the movement of the toy character. Over the years, McDonalds have incorporated digital games with the toys. Example is the Rocking Horse. The LCD displayed the movement of the horse when the child put a rocking action on the toy. Quality Food Source: http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/food_quality/trends_innovation/barbara_booth.html Culinary Innovation Meet Chef Dan Coudreaut, McDonalds Director of Culinary Innovation Chef Dan as he is known to millions has been the Director of Culinary Innovation at McDonalds headquarters for over four years. His background and training is in fine dining, and he gets huge job satisfaction being a part of McDonalds. Coudreaut began working as a dishwasher when he was 14 years old. He earned an associates degree in business administration and management. To pursed his dream as a Chef, Coudreaut worked in New York City at Quatorze Bis, a French bistro, as the PM Sous Chef. Later, he enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America, where he graduated at the top of his class in 1995. Coudreaut with his team created up to 1,800 new recipes annually but only a few selected recipes that are wholesome, tasty and easy for McDonalds crew members to prepare to launch. The most recent innovation was to produce the famous Fruit and Walnut Salad as well as the Premium Chicken Sandwich line. Customers increasingly want higher-quality items, which is a reality that allows me to take more risks and make flavors bolder, says Coudreaut. My fine-dining background and McDonalds desire not to stifle creativity helps me develop products customers can really enjoy. The Birth of the Egg McMuffin A legacy of  innovation from within It was 1970. Legendary McDonalds franchisee Jim Delligatti, still fresh from his historic success in developing the Big Mac sandwich, began experimenting with simple breakfast items. Exploring new business opportunity for his restaurant during the morning hours, the usual Opening at 11:00 A.M. was changed to 07:00 A.M. instead. Delligatti started selling coffee and other simple items like doughnuts, and sweet rolls. Pancakes and sausage were added to the menu a year later. Even with limited selection, Delligatti was by that time was able to obtain 5 percent of his business during breakfast. But a significant dilemma remained: while Delligattis innovation had increased business at his store, other McDonalds operators balked at the prospect of extending their already-backbreaking 11:00 P.M.-midnight shifts. Unless a new breakfast item was found that could deliver double-digit sales gains, the McDonalds breakfast line would have to wait. That product, which was to completely transform the McDonalds experience, came in late 1971 on the vision of a man named Herb Peterson. After managing the McDonalds account for Santa Barbara, California-based DArcy Advertising, Peterson decided to join the increasing ranks of McDonalds franchisees. Having identified the same breakfast opportunity that Delligatti had seen, Peterson focused his creative energy on launching an entirely new product that could be eaten like the rest of the McDonalds line: by hand. A solution arrived when he began to modify an Eggs Benedict sandwich that was being marketed by Jack-in-the-Box, a West Coast chain. Experimenting with prepackaged Hollandaise, which he rejected as too runny, Peterson combined a slice of cheese with a hot egg, producing the exact consistency he had been aiming for. Since poaching eggs didnt fit into the McDonalds assembly line production process, Peterson invented a creative new cooking utensil a cluster of six rings that was placed on the grill to form the eggs in the shape of an English muffin.  When he complimented the egg and muffin with grilled Canadian bacon, Peterson had a finished breakfast item that was perfect for a sandwich-oriented fast-food chain. Convincing McDonalds founder Ray Kroc of the new creations brilliance turned out to be easier than expected: Peterson invited Kroc to stop by a store over the Christmas holiday, and even though Kroc had just eaten lunch, he ate two of the egg sandwiches anyway. Petersons organized demonstration of the new product, complete with a flip-chart to explain its economics, wasnt what sold Kroc. It was the sandwich itself. Weeks later, Herb Peterson was in Chicago showing the new product to McDonalds senior management, who received it with excitement. Not long after, the final challenge naming the sandwich was tackled during a dinner conversation between the Krocs and the Turners (Fred Turner is now Honorary Chairman of McDonalds Corporation), when Patty Turner suggested it be called the Egg McMuffin. The name stuck, and roll out began. By 1976, McDonalds had perfected the breakfast menu, elevating its brand above the competitors, which didnt introduce commercial breakfast items until the mid-1980s. Thanks to the relentless creativity and innovation of its own visionary franchisees, McDonalds by then held a monopoly on breakfast. To this day, breakfast represents 15 percent of McDonalds sales. Thru SMS on 15 July 2010 All new Spicy Nuggets tangy Honey Chipotle Shaker fries. Being Green Recycle, Renew We start with a 3-pronged approach: reduce, reuse, and recycle; and were committed to diverting as much waste as possible from the solid waste stream. McDonalds has come up with countless small ways to make a big impact: Switching to unbleached paper napkins made from recycled materials. Examining how our suppliers package raw materials and cleaning supplies. Weve even created litter patrols to ensure were good neighbors in our communities. Less is More Currently, 82% of McDonalds consumer packaging is made from renewable materials, and were aiming for higher percentages in the future. In several countries, our restaurants are recycling their used cooking oil for re-use in a variety of products, including the creation of environmentally-friendly biodiesel. In some markets, McDonalds delivery trucks use our own re-purposed cooking oil as fuel. We call this a closed-loop solution, and were very proud of it. Our customers are also helping make a difference. McDonalds restaurants inside WalMart stores saved an estimated 170 million napkins (equivalent to 497 tons of wood) in just one year through the One Meal, One Napkin campaign. McDonalds Global Environmental Commitment Effectively managing solid waste We are committed to taking a total life cycle approach to solid waste, examining ways of reducing materials used in production and packaging, as well as diverting as much waste as possible from the solid waste stream. In doing so, we will follow three courses of action: reduce, reuse and recycle. Reduce. We will take steps to reduce the weight and/or volume of the packaging we use. This may mean eliminating packaging, adopting thinner and lighter packaging, changing manufacturing and distribution systems, adopting new technologies or using alternative materials. We will continually search for materials that are environmentally preferable. Reuse. We will implement reusable materials whenever feasible within our operations and distribution systems as long as they do not compromise our safety and sanitation standards, customer service and expectations and are not offset by other environmental or safety concerns. Recycle. We are committed to maximum use of recycled materials in the construction, equipping and operations of our restaurants. We are already the largest user of recycled paper in our industry, applying it to such items as tray liners, Happy Meal boxes, carryout bags, carryout trays and napkins. Through our McRecycle program, we maintain the industrys largest repository of information on recycling suppliers and will spend a minimum of $100 million a year buying recycled materials of all kinds. We are also committed to recycling and/or composting as much of our solid waste as possible, including such materials as corrugated paper, polyethylene film and paper. We will change the composition of our packaging, where feasible, to enhance recyclability or compostability. Conserving and protecting natural resources We will continue to take aggressive measures to minimize energy and other resource consumption through increased efficiency and conservation. We will not permit the destruction of rain forests for our beef supply. Encouraging environmental values and practices Given our close relationship with local communities around the world, we believe we have an obligation to promote sound environmental practices by providing educational materials in our restaurants and working with teachers in the schools. We intend to continue to work in partnership with our suppliers in the pursuit of these policies. Our suppliers will be held accountable for achieving mutually established waste reduction goals, as well as continuously pursuing sound production practices which minimize environmental impact. Compliance with these policies will receive consideration with other business criteria in evaluating both current and potential McDonalds suppliers. Ensuring accountability procedures We understand that a commitment to a strong environmental policy begins with leadership at the top of an organization. Therefore, our environmental affairs officer will be given broad-based responsibility to ensure adherence to these environmental principles throughout our system. This officer will report to the board of directors on a regular basis regarding progress made toward specific environmental initiatives. On all of the above, we are committed to timely, honest and forthright communications with our customers, shareholders, suppliers and employees. And we will continue to seek the counsel of experts in the environmental field. By maintaining a productive, ongoing dialogue with all of these stakeholders, we will learn from them and move ever closer to doing all we can, the best we can, to preserve and protect the environment. We value sustainable food and packaging McDonalds is committed to minimizing the environmental impacts of our food and other products in the supply chain. We are working with our direct suppliers to: measure and reduce water, energy, air, and waste impacts through our Environmental Scorecard, design our packaging with resource conservation in mind improve fishing practices through our Sustainable Fisheries program. green our distribution system through efforts such as using recycled frying oil as fuel   better understand the carbon footprint of our entire supply chain, based on work by McDonalds Europe We are also trying other things to make a difference upstream in the supply chain by working with other companies and NGOs.  Our sustainable land use efforts, such as protection of high-value conservation lands like the Amazon Rainforest, are ongoing.  We also support multi-stakeholder sustainable agriculture initiatives such as the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform in Europe.  It was created by the food industry to actively support the development of sustainable agriculture worldwide.   You can read more about our efforts to green our supply chain as well as some specific leadership steps taken by our suppliers in our catalogue of global environmental  best practices, the 2009 McDonalds Global  Best of Green. Tracking our performance the Environmental Scorecard and EcoFilter McDonalds Environmental Scorecard for suppliers was created to help make our food suppliers aware of the resources they are using and to help drive continuous improvements related to their impacts in the categories of energy, water, air, and waste.   In 2005, we began rolling out the current version of the Scorecard with a goal of reaching all of our bakery, beef, poultry, pork, and potato suppliers in our nine largest markets.  Last year, we decided to set a deadline of 2009 to reach that goal and are currently on track to achieve this before the end of the year. Many suppliers that have been using the Scorecard for multiple years have reduced their use of water and energy and their production of waste.   In Canada, for example: All direct suppliers of beef, poultry, potatoes, and bakery products located in Canada completed the 2008 Environmental Scorecard 45% showed a decrease in water used per unit of finished product between 2007 and 2008 64% showed a decrease in energy used per unit of finished product between 2007 and 2008 100% showed zero air emissions violations in 2008 64% showed a decrease in waste production per unit of finished product between 2007 and 2008 In 2010, some markets will continue to expand the use of the Scorecard.  Globally, we will focus our efforts on making the Scorecard easier to use and more impactful, through enhancements like online training and data collection.  We also continue to encourage our direct suppliers to help our indirect suppliers become more aware of their resource use and to explore options for reductions. Oil Opportunity McDonalds is finding ways to incorporate used cooking oil into their operations. The answer is biodiesel. In several countries across the McDonalds System, our restaurants are recycling their used cooking oil for re-use in a variety of products, including the creation of biodiesel an environmentally friendly diesel fuel made from recycling vegetable oils. We have a resource that can be put to good use, and weve been taking steps, to varying degrees across the System, to utilize it in the best interests of the business, says Brian Kramer, Senior Manager Corporate Social Responsibility. This is an exciting and relevant area for all of us and one where McDonalds is looking to make a greater impact. From Fryer to Fuel The oil-into-fuel effort is just one aspect of our larger environmental platform. With consumers ranking environmental protection as a top expectation of socially responsible businesses, McDonalds is continuously working on a variety of ways to go green from reducing energy use at our restaurants to creating a more sustainable supply chain. With regard to biodiesel, the way it normally works is that restaurants team up with a contractor who picks up the used oil in bulk and sells it to companies that specialize in refining the product into clean burning diesel for consumer use. McDonalds stepped into this arena about six years ago with a test run in Austria and the effort has gradually gained momentum. Today, biodiesel initiatives are occurring in major markets across Europe, APMEA, Latin America and the U.S. The leader in this effort is McDonalds Europe, which recycles all of its used oil and sends approximately 80% to the production of biodiesel. Meanwhile, a growing number of U.S. restaurants are also directing their oil from fries to fuel. The bulk cooking oil delivery and retrieval program that McDonalds USA has been implementing with our supplier, RTI, over the past decade has achieved significant results as well. Currently, there more than 7,500 U.S. restaurants enrolled in the program, which includes delivery of the cooking oil to the restaurants in bulk via a portal on the exterior of the restaurant to a tank in the store. At the same time, waste oil is sucked out a separate tank and then sold to biofuel companies and other purchasers such as pet food companies. There are a range of environmental benefits to the bulk oil program. For example, every year it eliminates a significant amount of packaging that would normally be used if the cooking oil was delivered in smaller plastic jugs in corrugated boxes, or Jibs. This, in turn, reduces the amount of waste that goes to landfill. Fueling McDonalds Trucks Some markets, like Austria and the U.K., have taken things one step further and now use some of their reformulated oil to fuel their McDonalds delivery trucks. Its known in the environmental world as closing the loop taking your used products and putting them to good use back into your system. This really is a great story, says Sebastian Csaki, Manager Environment and Corporate Social Responsibility McDonalds Europe. The fact that were able to recycle so much of our used oil into biodiesel and use it in our own trucks truly shows our commitment to lessening our environmental impact in innovative ways. Greener Than Ever McDonalds strives to provide eco-friendly workplaces and restaurants that reflect our sustainability goals and demonstrate environmental stewardship in the workplace. In August 2008, McDonalds USA opened its first corporate-owned pilot green restaurant and received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification in April 2009. Some of the green attributes of the Chicago restaurant include energy-efficiency equipment and lighting, high efficiency plumbing fixtures, and permeable pavement and rainwater collection for irrigation. Were using this green building lab to help refine our green building strategy. Our second green restaurant was completed in North Carolina in early 2010. Green building strategies arent limited to McDonalds restaurants. Using the LEED rating system developed for Existing Buildings (LEED EB), we recently tackled our Global Headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois. Our 20-year-old Campus Office Building (affectionately known as the COB) was granted Platinum Certification, the highest level possible. The COB is one of the oldest buildings to receive this certification. The sustainable building enhancements made during the certification process have resulted in clear financial and environmental benefits. Energy use is at its lowest level in five years, helping to offset rising utility costs

The Use of Numbers in The Queen of Spades Essay -- The Queen of Spades

The Use of Numbers in The Queen of Spades  Ã‚     Ã‚   The use of numbers, especially the three and to a lesser extent the seven, is of major importance in Alexander Pushkin's The Queen of Spades. The use of three permeates the text in several ways, these being major, minor, and in reference to time. According to Alexandr Slonimsky in an essay written in 1922, "A notion of the grouping of three is dominant..." (429). In the major details of the story, we find "three fantastic moments" (Slonimsky 429), three cards, three major catastrophes, three main characters, and the use of six chapters, six being a multiple of three. The three fantastic moments are: "the story of Tomsky (Chapter 1), the vision of Hermann (Chapter 5), and the miraculous win (Chapter 6)" (429). These three moments form the backbone of the story. In Tomsky's story, one first reads of the three cards guaranteed to produce a winner at the game of faro. What makes this incident fantastic in relation to the story is the importance of the story to the events that follow when contrasted to the nonchalant attitude attributed to those in attendance. The second fantastic incident is that of the appearance of the dead Countess to Hermann. This incident is fantastic in that the three cards named by the Countess are actually the winning cards, meaning the Countess is an apparition and not simply a dream. The final fantastic incident occurs when Hermann miraculously wins at the faro table the first time. The reader now knows, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the three are magic cards. "The particular significance of the three cards is shown in the rhythmic quality of Hermann's thoughts" (Slonimsky 429). In looking at the original text, the rhythmic quality is much more appa... ...the greatest of the classical literary tradition and is also considered to be one of the triumvirate of great Russian literature. As concerns The Queen of Spades, D.S. Mirsky has this to say, "The Queen of Spades is beyond a doubt Pushkin's masterpiece in prose" (436). Works Cited Mirsky, D.S.  Ã‚   Title unknown.  Ã‚   1926.  Ã‚   Nineteenth Century Literature Criticism Volume 3.  Ã‚   Ed. Laurie Lanzen Harris.  Ã‚   Detroit:  Ã‚   Gale Research Company,  Ã‚   1983. Pushkin, Alexander.  Ã‚   The Queen of Spades.  Ã‚   1834.  Ã‚   Trans.  Ã‚   Ivy and Tatiana Litvinov.  Ã‚   Literature of the Western World, Third Edition, Volume Two.  Ã‚   Ed. Brian Wilkie and James Hurt.  Ã‚   New York:  Ã‚   Macmillin,  Ã‚   1992.  Ã‚   870-890. Slonimsky, Alexandr.  Ã‚   Title Unknown.  Ã‚   1922.  Ã‚   Nineteenth Century Literature Criticism Volume Three.  Ã‚   Ed. Laurie Lanzen Harris.  Ã‚   Detroit:  Ã‚   Gale Research Company,  Ã‚   1983.         

Racial self loathing in The Bluest Eye Essay

In â€Å"The Bluest Eye†, author Toni Morrison builds a story around the concept of racial self-hatred and how it comes to exist in the mind of a young child. â€Å"The Bluest Eye† deals directly with the individual psychology of the main character, Pecola Breedlove. So intense are Pecola’s feelings of self-loathing and inferiority that she would do anything to soothe them. In her young mind, she needs a miracle; she needs the bluest eyes. All of the tragedies in this novel can be directed back to one main issue, whiteness as a standard of beauty. This belief that white sets the standards for beauty is a major factor to the racial self-loathing, which occurred in America in the past as well as today. The show of racism through white beauty, and the desires of the black society to acquire this beauty, led to the destruction of many characters in this book. ‘The Bluest Eye† provides a description of the ways in which internalized white beauty standards disfigure the lives of black girls and women. Obvious messages that whiteness is superior are everywhere, for example the white baby doll given to Claudia, the praising of Shirley Temple, the fact that the light-skinned Maureen is cuter than the other black girls, the idealization of white beauty in the movies, and Pauline Breedlove’s preference for the little white girl she works for over her daughter. Adult women, having learned to hate the blackness of their own bodies, take this hatred out on their children Mrs. Breedlove shares the conviction that Pecola is ugly. The lighter-skinned Geraldine also curses Pecola’s blackness. Claudia remains free from this worship of whiteness, but she does realize that society does, imagining Pecola’s unborn baby as beautiful in its blackness. Morrison describes Claudia’s rage against this belief, while at the same time, shows the other characters being enveloped by this nonsense. This standard of beauty can be seen throughout the novel. But the book hints that once Claudia becomes older, she too will learn to hate herself, as if racial self-loathing was a necessity to be mature. Through the dark-skinned Pecola, Morrison constructs her as hiding her true feelings form everyone in the novel. Yet although Pecola hardly meets the  physical qualifications of light skin and â€Å"good† hair, she does possess the key emotional characteristics, which is a desire for white privilege and an increasing breakup from the black community but not from her family. Ensuring that we do not miss her point Morrison introduces â€Å"a high-yellow dream child† named Maureen Peal (Morrison 52). It’s the light-skinned Maureen who reveals Pecola’s connection with the traditional self-hating black. The person who suffers most from white beauty standards is, of course, Pecola. She connects beauty with being loved and believes that if she possesses blue eyes, the cruelty in her life will be replaced by affection and respect. To Pecola, blue eyes symbolize the beauty and happiness that she associates with the white, middle-class world. They also come to sym bolize her own blindness, for she gains blue eyes only at the cost of her sanity. Beauty and ugliness form the basis of black self-loathing. In simplest terms, blackness is linked to ugliness and therefore inferiority, while beauty is seen as a characteristic found only in whites. Also, white beauty becomes parallel with purity, and Pecola’s father Cholly imagines God as â€Å"a nice old white man, with long white hair, flowing white beard, and little blue eyes† (Morrison 134). Of the few whites that appear in The Bluest Eye, none can even approach this idealized white beauty. White beauty, therefore, exists as an ideal and not a reality, a goal to which even white people can only hope. Morrison portrays this impossibility by adding the Dick and Jane passages showing what white people as well as black people should aspire to. They should live and act how the characters of â€Å"Dick and Jane† do, but it is evidential that it is impossible. The men in the story react to the racial self-hatred in different ways. Cholly believes what all blacks think of race; the whiter you are the more beautiful you are. By all rights, we should hate him, given that he rapes his daughter. But Morrison explains in her afterword that she did not want to destroy her characters, even those who destroy one another, and she succeeds in making Cholly a sympathetic figure. He has experienced much suffering, having been abandoned as a baby and having suffered humiliation at the hands of white men. He is also capable of pleasure and even joy, in  the experience of eating a watermelon or touching a girl for the first time. He is capable of violence but is also vulnerable, as when two white men violate him by forcing him to perform sexually for their amusement and when he defecates in his pants after encountering his father. Cholly represents a negative form of freedom. He is not free to love and be loved, but he is free to have sex and fight and even kill. He falls apart when this freedom becomes a complete lack of interest in life, and he reaches for his daughter to remind himself that he is alive. Soaphead Church’s family is proud of its white heritage and light skin and thinks of itself as superior to darker skinned and less educated blacks. He is a religious hypocrite light skinned Indian who hates all kind of human touch but the one of touching little girls. Being a pedophile he gives little girls money and candy for him to touch them. He believes that he is religiously higher than everyone and compared himself to god once he helps Pecola â€Å"get her blue eyes†. He is a very malignant character that will go through anything to prove to himself and others that he is better then them because of race and because of his actions. In conclusion racial self-loathing corrodes the lives of the characters from â€Å"The Bluest Eye†. Characters such as Cholly, Maureen, and Soaphead church abused Pecola. To recognize themselves in Pecola is to show their own degradation. Desperate to avoid this painful truth, blacks put as much distance between themselves and Pecola by humiliating her. Yet in the process of victimizing Pecola, they also victimize themselves and their race by contributing to the use of racial self-hatred.

Report on Intelligence and link to Gender

In my study I am traveling to speak about intelligence: specifying the word intelligence, IQ proving and theoreticians work on intelligence, if there is any grounds linked with gender differences in intelligence. I will include possible factors that may impact gender differences in intelligence for case environmental and biological factors. The methods I will utilize to acquire grounds for this study are as follows ; I will utilize books on what theoreticians findings are on this topic, use the cyberspace and diaries. The intent of this survey is to happen out, if there are any possible differences between gender, and associating this to intelligence. Encarta dictionary definition of intelligence ‘is the ability to larn facts and accomplishments and use them ‘ . Deary ‘s ( 2001, p.17 ) definition of intelligence ‘is a really general mental capableness that, among other things, involves the ability to ground, program, work out jobs, think abstractly, comprehend complex thoughts, learn rapidly and larn from experience ‘ . Galton ‘s familial mastermind is to make with the different degrees of intelligence measured by familial factors. Galton thought that higher intelligence was being passed down to kids. Day, Macaskill, & A ; Maltby ( 2007 p.258 ) province that ‘intelligent people show the ability to react to the big scope of information gained through their senses ‘ . So the 5 senses of the human organic structure are critical such as odor, gustatory sensation, hearing, sight and touch because this will find how intelligent a individual may be, if they do non utilize their senses right, the individual will hold less intelligence than those who can for case, a individual does non cognize the difference between Sweet and salty. A babe ‘s gustatory sensation and odor buds are really good because, the babe will cognize when it is clip for dinner by utilizing their odor sense. Babies use gustatory sensation buds go od because when my brother was younger he would prefer to eat the sweet nutrient instead than the salt nutrient, it would take him longer to eat the salty nutrient, on the other manus when eating the sweet nutrient it wo n't take every bit long as the salt nutrient. Cattell ‘s mental trial is to make with mensurating a individual ‘s intelligence through hearing and weight these experiments were carried out utilizing the psychometric theoretical account. Problems with this experiment Chamorro – premuzic ( 2007, p. 67 ) examined this and suggested that ‘ therefore, most of the variables he measured were more â€Å" elemental † than â€Å" mental † , and referred to really basic cognitive procedures that are now known to be related to intelligence ‘ . From this remark you can see that the experiment he did was more on the indispensable side of things such as how good child can hear and non based on mental accomplishments such as numeracy, jo bs work outing or literacy. The IQ trial was developed by two Gallic scientists, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon, the intent of the trial was to measure kids at school so that stupid kids or kids with behavioral troubles could have equal and appropriate instruction. IQ proving is to make with mensurating your intelligence for illustration comprehension, job resolution and concluding accomplishments. Criticisms of IQ proving are as follows they do non accurately step intelligence, and everyone has different strengths and failings in different countries of intelligence, such as person could be good at job resolution, but have a failing in concluding accomplishments and another individual could be good at concluding accomplishments and non really good on job resolution. Howard Gardner ( multiple intelligence theory ) he put together eight different intelligence trials which were Linguistic, Logical-mathematical, Spatial, Bodily-kinesthetic, Musical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal and Nat uralist. Criticism of the Theory like many theories environing intelligence, Gardner ‘s theory of multiple intelligences is controversial and widely criticised. In peculiar, there is uncertainty over his deficiency observed informations – many feel that the 8 ‘intelligences ‘ are merely alternate names for specific endowments or even personality types. Methodology I have used books, the cyberspace and diaries to roll up my informations. This method of researching is called secondary research. Secondary research is the usage of stuff, which has been researched by person else. The different research methods for secondary research are as follows: engineering based and instance surveies. Technology based research is to make with researching from the computing machine to acquire your information, which has a batch of benefits such as the cyberspace provides on-line libraries ; e-books, diaries and encyclopedia. The chief electronic databases I have used for my research were as follows Psycinfo, Psychology & A ; Behavioural Sciences Collection and British ED index. The cardinal read was based on, intelligence and gender differences and how the hunt found a figure of diaries, but some were irrelevant, to what I was looking for. You can download information off the Internet but make certain it is copyright free. Search engines aid you through the mass of information on the Internet two most popular hunt engines are yahoo and google etc ; besides on the cyberspace you can seek for newspaper articles. Case surveies published by other research workers can be used as secondary footing of informations. There is a batch of ways you can utilize them such as identify differences and discuss comparings. I did non utilize primary research because this is to make with transporting out your ain research. The different research methods for primary research are interviews, experiments, questionnaires and observations etc. I did n't utilize this method because I did n't hold adequate clip to make this if I did I would hold done questionnaires to acquire my findings. Literature reappraisal There has been a batch of work done on intelligence and how this is linked to gender differences. Alan Feingold ( 1988 ) examined sex differences for spelling, verbal logical thinking, numerical ability, spacial relationship and linguistic communication and many more. Another individual who studied this was Larry Hedges and Amy Nowell ( 1995 ) , who looked at reading comprehension, vocabulary, mathematics, scientific discipline and spacial ability ( which is to make with the ability to retrieve things by looking at objects and retrieving them ) . Maccoby and Jacklin ( 1974 ) suggested that work forces on norm do better on trials of spacial ability than adult females do. Supporting this ( Feingold, 1988 ; Hedges & A ; Nowell, 1995 ) who have done surveies on spacial trials have proven this hypothesis. In contrast ( Feingold, 1988 ; Hedges & A ; Nowell, 1995 ) have similarities in their experiments for illustration they both tested numeracy accomplishments and literacy accomplishments. On the other manus adult females do better on reading comprehension and vocabulary than work forces do. APA study province that ‘some verbal undertakings show significant average differences favoring females. These include synonym coevals and verbal eloquence ( e.g. calling words that start with a given missive ) , with consequence size runing from d= 0.5 to 1.2 ( Gordon & A ; Lee, 1986 ; Hines 1990 ) ‘ . Males have larger encephalons than females and encephalon size is positively correlated with intelligence. Among kids up to the age of around 14 yr the sex differences are smaller because misss mature earlier than male childs. Work done by Lubinski and Humphreys ( 1990 ) found that the criterion of divergence for males to be 7 per centum larger than for females. It has besides been hypothesised that work forces ‘s higher IQ mark may be direct effect of their larger encephalon sizes, a claim that has been backed up by consistent grounds of correlativities in the p art of.30 between encephalon size and IQ tonss ( Rushton & A ; Ackney 1996 ) . Macintosh ( 2007, p. 184 ) provinces that ‘ the critics would hold been better advised to oppugn whether one can do reasonable illations about differences in IQ between groups from grounds of their differences in the encephalon plus grounds of a within-group correlativity between encephalon size and IQ ‘ . Environmental factor impacting intelligence environmental factors play a big function in finding IQ in certain state of affairss. Malnutrition correlates with lower IQ, proposing that proper nutrition in childhood is critical for cognitive development. ( Cole, 2000:26 ) Even before kids go to school their parents will handle a male child and girl really different. Even in society throughout history this has occurred. A batch of research has gone into this ; your gender is an issue from the minute you are born. Automatically society will state how a miss will act and how a male child will act . If it is a male child, oh he ‘s like that because he ‘s a male child and boys ever take longer to hold on it. The thought that intelligence and personality are mostly inherited has of import educational deductions. Environmental factors, e.g. household experiences, upbringing and schooling play a major function. ( Chamorro-Premuzic, 2008:99 ) . Biological factor impacting intelligence are as follows encephalon size, encephalon operation and testosterone. Testosterone is to make with males endocrines these are substances that travel around the human organic structure to consequence physiological activity, such as growing and metamorphosis Maltby et Al ( 2007, p.360 ) . Consequences or findings The figure below is from Hines ( 2003 ) and shows the magnitudes of some well-known sex differences in human behavior compared to the magnitude of the sex difference in tallness. hypertext transfer protocol: //sexes.martinsewell.com/Hines2003-1-1.png This graph shows that work forces do good in 3-D rotary motion 0.8 divergence units, maths job 0.3 divergence units, maths concept 0.1 divergence units which non much because the consequence size is little. On the other manus this graph shows that verbal eloquence is low in male childs than misss because vitamin D is a negative figure, which shows -0.3 on the graph. This tabular array shows the spread in 1989 was merely 6 % but 10yrs later it had increased to 10 % . It is suggested by S. Ball ( 2008 ) that this spread is an overall statistic and non capable particular he suggests that in 2004 the divergences of this spread was merely 1 % and that in some topics boys achieve better consequences than misss therefore it is non valid to state that all male childs or all misss achieve less in Gcse degrees Discussion The of import issues that I have found are that male childs have bigger encephalon sizes than misss, which is linked to better IQ trial tonss for male childs than misss. Another issue that I found is that male childs tend to make better on spacial accomplishments ; they find mathematics and scientific discipline more interesting to larn about. But on the other manus misss to break on verbal, comprehension and vocabulary accomplishments than male childs do. The importance of this survey was to happen out ; if there were any differences between genders in intelligence besides I was interested in happening this out so I undertook my research study on this topic. During the procedure of garnering the information, it was really interesting to happen out that work forces have bigger encephalons than adult females, which gives them better IQ mark than adult females. Decisions and recommendations The intent of this survey is to happen out, if there are any possible differences between gender, and associating this to intelligence. From making my research in this field, I have found that there is non much difference between male and females and theoreticians have backed this statement up for many old ages. Neisser 1996 province that ‘most standard trials of intelligence have been constructed so that there are no overall mark differences between females and males ‘ . The chief issues that affect intelligence in gender: Boys do better on spacial trials than misss ; in contrast to this misss do better in verbal, comprehension and vocabulary accomplishments. Brain size of males is bigger than females encephalon size which consequences in work forces acquiring better IQ tonss than adult females. If I carry out this survey once more, I would do betterments to the research I have done, by making my ain research in this field to see what consequences I get from making this, I can make this by transporting out questionnaires on IQ. Another manner I could better my research is inquiring people to take the IQ trial. With these consequences I can compare them to one another, to happen out if there are any possible differences.