Economic Shock - Japan (2)

Government actions taken to prevent this in the future-

ìPublic education programs and evacuation strategies

ìBuildings can be constructed to survive the wave with repairable damage

ìWarning systems mean impending tsunamis can be picked up by sensors. Countries can use radio and television broadcasts as well as loudspeaker networks to alert the public

ìSensitive buildings like nuclear power plants will be sited as far away from the coast as is possible and designed to shut down into "safe mode" as soon as an earthquake is detected.

ìSea barriers are sometime put up around strategic areas like harbors and ports - but their effectiveness is not particularly well-established.

Economic Shock - Japan (1)

EXPLANATION
ìEarthquake (9) and tsunami in Japan on March 11, 2011.

ìAn estimated 28,000 were dead or missing, and at least 500,000 were displaced.

ìDisrupted transportation routes made rescue efforts difficult.

ìEarthquake and Tsunami were bad enough caused a radioactive leak at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

ìRadiation showed up in local milk and vegetables, and briefly appeared in Tokyo's drinking water.

ANALYSIS

ìJapanese economy is the third largest in the world, with GDP of US$5.5 trillion (2010).

ìThe quake hit Japan's north-east section, responsible for 6-8% of the world's third largest economy.

ìCountries that export energy and raw materials saw a surge in demand from Japan.

ìBut others that rely on Japan for manufacturing components braced themselves for shortages in supply.

ìSouth Korea:

ì"In terms of semiconductors, auto and steel companies, South Korean and Japanese companies are competitors” - Huh Jae-hwan

ìBut the benefits only continued as long as the situation in Japan does not start to affect the components that Japan supplies to Korean companies.

ìTaiwan

ìTourism industry has been affected, with many Japanese visitors cancelling trips to Taiwan.

ìTaiwan gets the second-most tourists from Japan, about one million people a year.

ìChina

ìJapan is China's biggest source of imports accounting for roughly 13% of its purchases from abroad.

ìAffected by the disruption in supply.

Business Takeovers (2) - Google

GOOGLE TAKES OVER YOUTUBE

A $1.65bn takeover from Google.

YouTube founders were were attracted by the prospect of adding Google's cutting-edge search technology to enable users to pinpoint clips more accurately.

YouTube accounts for 60% of all videos viewed on the net.

SUCCESS OR FAILURE?

Not everybody was convinced of the logic of the takeover.

Critics of YouTube maintain that the site is full of unauthorised clips from music videos, films and television programs.

Some analysts have suggested that the only reason it has not attracted many lawsuits to date is that everybody knows it has little money to pay out.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

When Google took over YouTube there were a lot of job losses.

But, sometimes these takeovers could lead to disappointing results. 

This however produces lower unit costs, higher profit levels and increased market share.

Business Takeovers (1) - Google

INTRODUCTION 


-GOOGLE
Founded in 1996.Stanford University graduate students built a search engine, which we now know as ‘Google’.Since then, Google has grown enormously.From offering search in a single language, they now offer dozens of products and services—including different forms of advertising and web applications for all kinds of tasks.

-YOUTUBE YouTube allows billions of people to discover, watch and share originally created videos.Founded in February 2005 YouTube provides a forum for people to connect, inform and inspire others across the globe.Acts as a distribution platform for original-content creators and advertisers, large and small.

Operations Management (3)

Customer service:

Customer service: Providing services to customers before, during & after purchase, to standards that meet their expectations.

How to offer good customer service:

·      Reliability (keep promises & offer reliable service).

·      Pre-sales service (advice, advantages & disadvantages of products & key terms)

·      Service at time of purchase (products meet customers’ need, different purchasing methods, ensure customer knows how product works).

·      After-sales service (helpline or web service – important concept of ‘customer relationship marketing’, which focuses on keeping repeating customers for profit).

Benefits of good customer service:

·      Customers will return time after time

·      Loyal customers will recommend the business, which will lead to further sales.

·      There will be fewer customer complaints, which can be time consuming & expensive to deal with.

·      Staff will be more motivated, as they are not being complained at all the time.

Consumer protection:

Consumer protection: Laws that protect the interests of consumers when buying goods/ services.

Disadvantages to business if law is broken:

·      Bad publicity

·      Loss of customers

·      Legal action & the possibility of very heavy fines to pay

- These laws are out so business owners can’t take advantage of consumers just to gain fast profit and not worry about their long-term reputation.

Law	Main conditions
Sale of Goods Act 1979 & Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982	·      Goods & services sold to consumers must be as described by business. ·      They must be ‘fit for purpose’. ·      Goods & services must be of satisfactory quality.
Consumer Protection Act 1987	·      Compensation must be paid to a consumer who suffers injury or damage to property when correctly using the good.
Competition Act 1998	·      Businesses must not agree to fix prices at a high level with other similar businesses.
Consumer Protection 2000(distance selling – internet, TV, telephone & mail)	·      Firms must give clear information about the good/service. ·      This information must be provided in writing. ·      Firms must offer a cooling-off period of seven days for customers to change their minds.
Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008	·      Advertisements must not mislead or deceive. ·      It must be possible for consumers to check price comparisons made in advertisements with other business (e.g. by accessing a website).

Advantages to business of consumer protection laws:

·      Consumers have confidence to purchase.

·      Reduces risk of losing customers due to bad products/misleading adverts.

·      Prevents unfair competition from low-price businesses that save on costs by selling low quality goods.

Disadvantages to business of consumer protection laws:

·      Meeting conditions of laws can be expensive.

·      Any slight error by business can lead to legal action& heavy fines.

·      Very time-consuming to keep up to date with new laws on consumer protection.

Impact of ICT on customer service:

Customers		Businesses
Benefits	Limitations	Benefits	Limitations
- Easy to access website. -Contains details.	- Not everyone has access to a computer.	- Cheap to setup.	-Frequent cost as need to be updated.
- Easy to compare prices.	- Website might not be updated.	-Larger customer base & promotion for business cheap.	- Communication & transportation problems around the world.
-Can order & pay from home.	-Goods cannot be tested before purchase.	Cheap way to sell products, than shop.	- Need to prepared to reply to emails/orders quickly.
-Easy to contact business.	-Staff may not respond quickly to email; no personal contact.

E-commerce: The buying & selling of goods/services over the Internet.

Advantages	Disadvantages
- Open all the time.	- Long delivery time.
-Users not charge by distance.	Customers unsure if businesses exist.
- Electronic orders for information are instantaneous - improves cs.	- Limitations on sale of certain goods.
- Cheaper supplies.	- Too small or too large transactions may not worth it.
- Improve cs & loyalty, as system knows the user.	- Selling abroad, may need language skills, adds to cost. Or change of product as different laws.

Operations Management (2)

Production and technology:

ICT: The use of electronic technology to gather, store, process & communicate information.

Robot: A computer-controlled machine able to perform a physical task.

·      Advantages:  

            - Manufacturing robots are known for speed, accuracy & efficiency.

            - Are exact & through, achieve high quality, without breaks.

            - Used for repetitive, hazardous & boring task.

            - More accurate than workers, thus increase efficiency & reduce waste.

Computerized stock-control programs: The use of computers to keep records of all stocks & reorders necessary stock automatically.

·      Advantages:

            - Automatic stock control, triggering orders when the reorder stock level        is reached.

            -Bar coding systems, which speed up processing, recording of stock &             customer checkouts.

            -Less labor required & fewer errors made, both improve efficiency.

Communication technology – advantages of access to Internet & email:

            - Intranet system gives rapid & cheap internal communication within             organization.

            - Can improve accuracy & speed of passing information between         operations management department & other departments.

            - Allows supplies to be bough quickly from cheapest online supplier on          the Internet.

Design technology

Computer-aided design (CAD): Using computer-based tools to design products, such as buildings, cars & clothes.

- Advantages:

·      CAD enables designers to lay their work out on screen, print it out as a 3-D image & edit it.

·      New products can be designed & developed more quickly.

·      On screen simulated designs mean there is no need for physical prototypes, which reduces costs.

·      Design data is passed directly to computer controlled machines for production, reducing risk of errors  & wastage & improving firm’s environmental image

·      Large numbers of different designs of a standard product can be made which improves the firm’s ability to focus on different target markets.

Benefits of new technology	Drawbacks of new technology
Lower unit costs of production as technology replaces labor-intensive methods.	Cost of purchase can be expensive & beyond resources of new small firms. However, almost every business can now afford at least one computer as their prices have fallen.
Better communications.	Training of staff is an extra cost, which small firms might find difficult to support.
Quicker & more flexible operations.	Workers can be reluctant to change & accept new ways, as they fear they will lose their jobs.
Better customer service, such as making stocks available as & when needed.

Production and quality:

Quality product: A good/service that meets customers’ expectations & thus is ‘fit for purpose’.

Customer expectations:  The minimum quality standards for a product/service that is acceptable to consumers.

Quality assurance: A system of agreeing & meeting quality standards at each stage of production.

·      A quality product does not necessarily have to be the best possible product available.

·      Customer expectations will be very different for products sold at different prices.

·      Setting standards to high for a product consumer do not expect to last for many years can make the product very expensive & uncompetitive.

·      A cheap good can be considered good quality if it performs as expected.

·      Quality is relative as it depends on the product’s price & the expectations of consumers.

-Advantages of producing a quality good/service include:

·      More satisfied customers

·      A better reputation

·      Lower cost as wastage is reduced

Quality assurance is a method of improving quality standards – works by setting quality standards at each stage for worker.

-Large advantage over traditional method of checking quality for final product –

·      It achieves high-quality products the first time round, not just inspecting for poor quality.

·      Workers should get it right first time, reducing the chances of faulty products.

·      Consumers should be more satisfied & will complain less.

·      Workers are involved in reaching good-quality standards, which is motivating.

·      Components, materials & services bought into the business are checked at the point of arrival.