Puerto Rico Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Puerto Rico - Essay Example Through my research, I gained information on some places around the world which tourists categorize to be the most breathtaking amazing sites. My academic course incorporates the subject of tourism; the event enriched my understanding of Puerto Rico as a tourist location. The event is also related to my academic course in the sense that, it has served as a learning resource to me. This event, relates to the holidays we are currently having, in that, it will be a destination site during the holiday. Watching the event is more like watching Puerto Rico being advertised as a tourist destination site. This program relates to both international and global issue since people all around the world are interested with phenomenal tourist site such as Puerto Rico. Since the program acts like an advertisement tool, it influences global tourism (Dietz 87). Watching the event, made me remember, the first experience I had when I was touring the Caribbean Islands. I reminisced over the thrilling feelings I had some years back when I walked on white sandy beaches for the first time. In particular, I appreciate the fact that I got first hand and detailed information on Puerto Rico. The program, showed spectacular features on the landscape, such as different kinds of coral reefs, which I had never come through when researching on tourist sites. Through the program, I gained more knowledge on Puerto Rico’s history. The information on the landscape made me appreciate and understand some geography, because it talked of how the various physical features on the island came to be formed. (Dietz

Tess of the Duber’villes Essay Example for Free

Tess of the Duber’villes Essay Tess of the Duber’villes is a novel written by Thomas Hardy. The main contrast between the character of Angel and Alec is that in the novel the character of Angel is presented as a protagonist while the character of Alec is shown as an antagonist. Both the characters have many contrasting features and different personalities. The difference of the personalities is visible from the appearance as well. hen Thomas hardy gives an account of physical appearance of Alec he is shown as a man with swarthy complexion, full lips, curled moustaches and a look of barbarism in his contours while Angel is shown as a man who seems like a gentleman, handsome and soft spoken, fixed abstracted eyes, from his appearance he is shown as a man who has no care for material wealth. Besides the appearance Alec is a man with no morals or values which is apparent from the fact that he was impersonating, he wasn’t a d’Urbervilles by blood he had taken up Tess’s family name for the reason of nobility. In contrast to this Angel was a true gentleman he belonged to religious family his father was a parson at a church and they were respectable people. The obsessions of both the men for Tess was also very contrasting the emotions of Alec were based on lust while Angel truly loved Tess. Alec was the reason of Tess’s misery and despair he was the responsible for all her problems and sorrows while Angel was the sole reason of joy and happiness in her life, his mere presence was enough to comfort her and provide her a sense of security. Another star contrast between the two characters is Alec was the reason of Tess’s exploitation and depriving her off social status and respect while Angel married her and gave her respect and social status. Angel was a man of principles and kept his words while Alec was a man who like a rolling stone kept changing his position and his views which was evident in the novel when we see him as a convert preaching people and soon after finding Tess he gets off track and leaves all the preaching and all his religious claims. The behavior and treatment of both the men with Tess is also very contrasting Angel treats and talks to Tess with an element of love by calling her Tessy and dearest and shows concern, while Alec is often found taunting her and troubling her by flirting.

General Motors Human Resources and Management

General Motors Human Resources and Management This report presents an analysis of the mission statement of General Motors as well as its key business processes. It also illustrates how the key business processes integrate with the information systems and our suggestions and recommendations to those processes that would better suit General Motors. The report also identifies the environmental factors which affect the company in terms of political, economic, social, ecological and technological factors and the impact that these factors have had on General Motors and the strategic diversity the company has had to adopt to accommodate these changes. Finally the report explores ways on how new information systems can help General Motors create great efficiency by automating and streamlining parts of its business processes. The report concludes by incorporating our recommendations of appropriate information systems for each department within the company. Introduction General Motors is the worlds largest automaker with 386,000 employees in over 50 years. Despite this sheer size, its auto sales have declined from about 60 percent of the U.S. vehicle market in the 1970s to only 28.3 percent today. This decline is attributed to stiff competition from Ford, DaimlerChrysler and the Japanese all of whom enjoy lower production costs, have a reputation for cars with better styling and quality than General Motors. General Motors adoption of a vertically integrated corporation which at one time manufactured up to 70 percent of its parts, as a power source of competitive advantage, enabled the company to build cars at lower costs than its rivals. However, over time, these policies worked in favour of General Motors competitors who were then able to make motor vehicles at much lower costs because they could purchase their vehicle parts from outside vendors and also bargain on pricing. For the past 15 years, General Motors has struggled to overcome the above legacy, inefficient product processes and thousands of outdated information systems that could not communicate with each other. Although the company has now become much leaner and more efficient by shedding off tens of thousands of workers, closing dozens of plants and squeezing costs of motor vehicle parts by scouring the globe for the lowest prices much still needs to be done. It is our recommendation that General Motors use Internet and other leading-edge information systems technology to reconstruct its entire value chain, transforming itself into a customer-focused business that provides many different electronic services to consumers as well as motor vehicles. Mission Statement General Motors mission statement states that GM is a multinational corporation engaged in socially responsible operations, worldwide. It is dedicated to provide products and services of such quality that our customers will receive superior value while our employees and business partners will share in our success and our stock-holders will receive a sustained superior return on their investment. We analysed the above mission statement using Druckers five questions namely:- What is our business? Who is the customer? What is the value to the customer? What will our business be? What should our business be? We arrived at the conclusion that there was a need to modify General Motors mission statement since the above questions were not fully exhausted. The current mission statement does not indicate that GM is a producer of motor vehicle; neither does it take into consideration the Global Sullivan Principle. As a marketing tool, it does not mention that it is dedicated towards providing products and services to customers who are targeted in 200 different countries. Our recommended General Motors mission statement should read as follows: GM is a multinational producer of motor vehicles engaged in socially responsible operations worldwide and committed to achieve the best in every facet of our business. Under the aspects of Global Sullivan Principles, GM is dedicated to provide products and services of such quality that our customers who are targeted in 200 different countries will receive superior value while our employees and business partners will share in our success and our stock-holders will receive a sustained superior return on their investment. Key Business Processes Key business process is defined as the execution of a series of activities that work together to produce a well defined set of products and services which leads to the achievement of a measurable business result. They also represent unique ways in which organisations coordinate work, information, and knowledge, and the ways in which management chooses to coordinate work. Integration between Business Process and Information Systems Although each organisation has its own set of business processes, many other business processes are cross functional, transcending the boundaries between sales, marketing, manufacturing, research and development. These cross functional processes cut across the traditional organisation structure, grouping employees from different functional specialities to complete a piece of work. Information systems can help organisations achieve great efficiencies by automating parts of these processes or by helping organisations rethink and streamline these processes. By integrating these processes, organisations can become more focussed on efficient management of resources and customer services. Suggestions and recommendations of key business processes Functional Area Business Process Manufacturing and Production Assembling the product, checking for quality, producing bills of materials Sales and Marketing Identifying customers, making customers aware of the product, selling the product Finance and Accounting Paying creditors, creating financial statements, managing cash accounts Human Resources Hiring employees, evaluating employees job performance, enrolling employees in benefits plan External Environment There are three factors which had made General Motors in this situation. Firstly, the United States economy is not progressing cost their U.S. sales projections for 2008 have been too rosy. GM had been expecting more than 16 million vehicles, including trucks and buses, to be sold this year (Taylor III 2008). Secondly, intense competition from their global competitors such as Honda, Nissan, and Hyundai which had produce better fuel efficient engines, stylish at a much lower price compared to any GM brands. Thirdly, the worlds fuel price had increased to USD 120 per barrel in the market had made consumers not to purchase vehicle and using public transport or smaller vehicle. In the United States, consumers want to abandon their less-fuel-efficient vehicles for smaller cars, and thats illustrated by all sorts of trends, said David Tompkins, executive director of industry solutions for Edmunds.com, parent of Auto Observer (Buss 2008) (refer appendix 2). 1.0 Strategic Human Resource Management Theory 1.1 Balance Score Card Balance Score Card is a performance measurement indicator that can be used to measure the financial and non financial situation in General Motors. There are four parts; financial perspective, internal business perspective, customers perspective, learning and growth perspective. Balance Score Card is like your cars dash board where there is indicator on as you drive, you can look at the dashboard to obtain real-time information such as how fuel, speed and the distance youve traveled or even any faulty system etc. Its known to help companies and implement the changes required to meet their business goals (Pangakar Kirkwood, 2007). The balance score card enables the companies to develop a more comprehensive view of their operations and to better match all operating and investment activities to long- and short-term strategic objectives (Punniyamoorthy Murali, 2008). The loss of USD38.7 billion is a huge financial loss which in fact will affect the internal business process, the customer, and growth of GM. The huge loss was largely contributed from deferred tax charges and drop in sales. Currently, the organization financial perspective appears to the share holder is in a decline where GM shares fell nearly 5 percent, or USD1.67, to USD34.48 (Bunkley N. 2008). Thus to manage this losses, thousands of workers are laid off from duty. This will affect their internal business process and may lead to dissatisfied customers. For example, usually General Motors takes 1 week to deliver a car to a customer. When they decided to retrench workers they will lose their competitive advantage where now it takes 2 weeks to deliver a car. This will cause dissatisfaction to consumers because they have to wait an extra week to obtain their vehicle. In the end, the learning and growth perspective cant be achieved because the lack of resources will disable them to co mpete in the turbulent environment result to decline in sales. To ensure that General Motors can effectively achieve its balance score card in the future, they must handle their external environment issue concisely. They have to improve thru their internal process and learning and growth to overcome their competition issue. General Motors have to come out with new design and technology to increase the product line. Research and Development expenditure have to be spent so that they could create better vehicle then their competitors. How to create better vehicle than the competitors? This can be accomplished by purchasing the technology from their competitors or similar industry. For example Proton had acquire Lotus in the year 1996 had made them competitive at that point of time. When this happen, employees will have to be train thus it can increase the knowledge of the workers. In certain cases, workers will be sent oversea for such training to acquire technology. Workers will be more effective and consequently increase productivity in General M otors. Like a well oiled machine, every part in the organization performs best when all of them work towards a common goal. All of the four perspectives in the balances score card works hand in hand thru their substantial objectives, measures and initiatives. As mentioned above, to make sure that General Motors can make profit to cover the huge amount of losses they must increase productivity, more expenditure on research and development etc. In General Motors case, financial perspective is the key strategy for the other three perspectives. For General Motors, the learning perspective can work together with the sales department to train and coach the sales staff or even developing new efficient production, training equipment. To improve on the customer scorecard they could do research by surveys from their existing customers on how to improve customer relationships. Customer retention is important factor ignite buyers to increase sales. It ensures repeat purchase, increase positive word of mouth and reduce cost to find new customers. Balance Score Card will ensure human capital development, improving employee satisfaction and increasing employee motivation (Kaplan Norton, 1992) in General Motors. Link of each perspective in the Balance Score Card (BCS) High Performance Work System High performance work system (HPWS) is also another method to explain the situation in General Motors. Autonomous work teams, open systems and performance-based pay are known collectively as high-performance work systems (Rouse, 2000). HPWS have also come to be known as high involvement work systems, flexible work systems and high commitment work systems (Aghazadeh Seyedian, 2004) In other words, they are simply work practice that can be deliberately introduced in order to improved organizational performance The main focus of HPWS is organizing work so that the employees participate in decisions that affect the everyday operations of an organization. There are three potential factors that can affect high performance work system in General Motors; retrenchment of workers, technology used and layout design. A worker is the key success to any organization. Retrenchment will cause General Motors to lose talented workers subsequently lose competitive edge. To survive in the changing environment, a company must rely on their workers creativity, ingenuity problem solving ability and strong team work. Workers are able to make their own decision on the best way to accomplish their work. The knowledge and skill shared will create a high performance work system. For example, an engineer in General Motors is developing a fuel efficient engine. Engineer A may need assistants from Engineer B, however when GM decided to retrench workers, Engineer A will face difficulty in developing the engine. Performance of employee can be boost thru team works. A study by Thompson, Baughan and Motwani indicates that company such as General Electricity, Proctor Gamble, Xerox Corporation had huge increase productivity as high as 250 percent and double their profit (1998). The use of technology is another feature in High Performance Work System. All managers in every department of General Motors must be able to identify the technology they use in their organization. The application of Human Resource Information System that can store information on workers that can assist managers in deciding which employee is performing and which is not. The use of technology without human operating it is also meaningless. Managers in General Motor must identify whether the qualified workers are able to operate the tools or not. Layout of General Motors production plants and office be required to properly design in order for them to increase workers performance and productivity. This involves careful job designing by HR managers. According to Aghazadeh and Seyedian, layout plays a role to ensure success by using space, people and equipment effectively, increasing the flow of information and materials, boost employees morale and utterly encourage flexibility (2004). Managers in General Motors may have to come out with proposals to change the existing layout to a improved, sustainable working layout. If all of the three factors are taken into account, General Motors can recover from their huge financial losses just and can avoid retrenchment of employees. Although to implement HPWS is costly, uncertain success and time consuming but in the long run this can benefit General Motors. Recommendation for Human Resource Activities Training and development programs should be given to employee to ensure increase in productivity. Offshore training in Japan car manufacturers to learn various methods to make better cars. Mangers are required to make research and human resource planning on the best methods to do a particular task. General Motors would have to find a partner to form a strategic alliance to recover from the huge financial loss. From this alliance, both companies are potential to learn from each other on the technology and trade secrets. Develop a module which to help retrench workers to find a new job. This will avoid them from paying more money for their compensation of retrenchments Outsource to countries like China or India. Cheap labors will benefit companies to recover them from financial loss. Create a reward programme where employees are rewarded by their managers based on their ability to work in a group Create a talk to all employees at least once in 3 months to explain the companys vision, strategy and objective. This will make employees feel a sense of belonging and may be able to work extra for the company. Competitor Analysis Sheer size and market share make new entrants an unlikely to be a threat Vertical integration of GM does not encourage purchases from suppliers hence they lose out on price bargaining Ford, DaimlerChrysler and Japanese manufacturers have better styling and quality; an approach which GM should consider adopting to sustain its competitive edge Cost of GM motor vehicles is perceived as being too high Buyers are nowadays inclined to buy sport utility and pickups which are not manufactured by General Motors GM enjoys a healthy product line and segmentation in pricing and functions Information Systems Using information systems at each part of the organization creates great efficiencies by automating and streamlining parts of the business. We recommend the following information systems at each department within General Motors: Human Resource Information Systems These are systems that maintain employee records, track employee skills, job performance and support planning for employee compensation and career development. LEVEL RECOMMENDED I.S. PURPOSE Operational Employee Records Track employee training, skills and performance appraisal Knowledge Career Path Designs career paths for employees Management Compensation Analysis Monitors the range and distribution of employees wages, salaries benefits Strategic Human Resources Planning Plans the long-term labour force needs of the organization 2. Finance and Accounting Systems These are systems that keep track of the firms financial assets and fund flows. LEVEL RECOMMENDED I.S. PURPOSE Operational Accounts Receivable Track outstanding debts Knowledge Portfolio Analyses Designs portfolios investments Management Budgeting Prepares short-term budgets Strategic Profit Planning Plans long-term profits 3. Sales and Marketing Systems These are systems that help the firm identify customers for its product or services. They also assist to develop product or services that meet customer needs, promote and sell them as well as providing ongoing customer support. LEVEL RECOMMENDED I.S. PURPOSE Operational Order processing Enters, processes and tracks orders Knowledge Market Analyses Identifies customers and markets using data on demographics, markets, consumer behaviour and trends Management Pricing Analyses Determines prices for products and services Strategic Sales and Forecasting Prepares 3-5 year sales forecast 4. Manufacturing and Production Systems These are systems that deal with planning, development, production of products and services and controlling the flow of production. LEVEL RECOMMENDED I.S. PURPOSE Operational Machine Control Controls the actions of machines and equipment Knowledge Computer-Aided Design Designs new products using the computer Management Production Planning Decides when and how many products should be produced Strategic Facilities Location Prepares and decides where to locate new production facilities In addition to the information systems mentioned here above, we also recommend the following office automation systems: E-mail System: Improve GMs internal and external communication, creating an effective and efficient service Word Processing System: Office system technology that facilitates the creation of documents through computerized text editing, formatting, storing and printing Document Imaging System: System that converts documents and images into digital form so that they can be stored and accessed easily by the computer Timesheet System: Enables employees to fill in the timesheet forms online so that management can approve and track the timesheet online. Conclusion Whilst it would be make a lot of business sense for a company like Ford to close down more plants and accept a smaller portion of the U.S. market this strategy would not work in favour of GM because then the company would produce and sell fewer vehicles, meaning less income for those big pension and health-care costs. GM has to maintain its cash flow to cover these costs until a future date when it is hoped that the elderly retirees diminish in number whilst also making improvements in quality, efficiency, design and brand appeal. Although GM has cut the time to assemble a vehicle from an average of 32 hours in 1998 to 24 hours in 2003, Japanese competitors are still faster in getting new models into the market. Hondas new vehicle development cycle is only 14 months and the company is working towards compressing development time down to 12 months. GM should look at this as a challenge to embrace and strategise with a view to improve its development cycle to match its competitors if not exceed them. Whilst these recommendations provided are meant to help GM sustain its market share, they cannot be fully appreciated until they have been put to test and the results obtained critically analysed to create room for adjustments where necessary and where applicable.

Benito Mussiolini :: essays research papers

Benito Mussolini, the Fascist dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1943. He centralized all power in himself as the leader of the Fascist party and attempted to create an Italian empire, ultimately in alliance with Germany. The defeat of Italian arms in World War 2 brought an end to his imperial dream and led to his downfall.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Benito had a miserable young life who then made his future adult life positive. He had hoped that WWI would lead to a collapse of society that would bring him to power. He knew that he needed to gain the Italians support and he introduced fascism. To the Italians it was a symbol of order and strength. It was a great number of people together, which was stronger then what it was in the previous years. He was also, to the Italians, the leader who would get them out of the Depression. Mussolini knew how to make the voting class forget about the strength they had. He also threatened to make Italy ungovernable through violence unless he was promoted the Prime Minister. Mussolini made Italy a strong fascist state that stood behind him. He knew how to use propaganda, he knew how to use the media to promote fascism and himself. Like Hitler, he used propaganda to gradually build himself up as a legend who was always right and could solve all of Italy’s problems. He took control of everything from who wrote in newspapers to what children learned in school. Mussolini made Italy dependent on him, like Hitler did with Germany. Anyone who didn't feel this way about him was killed. He had strong aggressive nationalism and made it a must have to be a good fascist.

Which season is your favorite

Which season is your favorite? Why? Would have to say that summer is my favorite season of all. First off, it means that school is out and can do whatever I want. Next, it means that there are more daylight hours to enjoy. And thirdly, summer is a time to enjoy being outside in the warm sunshine. Summer is my favorite season of all because of these reasons. First of all, summer is when school is out and can spend all my time playing both outside and in. My parents encourage me to get out in the sunlight as much as possible and this is fine since my friends ND through the woods outside our neighborhood.Of course, it rains quite frequently in the summer as well, so we usually try to hang out in one another's houses. We always have a great time together in the summer, because we have all the time we need to have fun. Another thing that makes summer my favorite season Of all is that there's more daylight hours to enjoy. The sun stays out longer, usually sometime after eight in the evenin g. This means that there's a lot more lay and get a suntan, so long as I don't do it for too long, don't want to get burned.The sun is the reason why we go out and it just means we can be out longer during the summer. The last reason is that it's the warmest time of year for us and we don't get very much warm weather where we come from. For most of the year, its usually cool and wet or cold and icy. We only have three months of reprieve from the chill and wet and that is summer. When my neighbors and want to celebrate the summer, we go out, have barbecues, or just sit and talk outside. This is a good thing to do at night, when the heat of the day lingers in the night air.So the warmth of he summer air is a rare treat for us and we relish It when it comes around each year. So summer is my favorite season of all because it's the time of year that really puts together everything I like to do and experience. There's no school in the summer so we can really have all the fun we want durin g the day. There's more daylight during the day so there's more day to enjoy. And the warmth of summer is something we only have a limited time to enjoy throughout the rest of the wetter, colder parts of the year for us. That's why summer is my favorite season.

Komatsu vs Catterpilar – Comparative Essay

These key success factors can be categorized in three different roofs namely, manufacturing or production, distribution and brand image. First, manufacturing higher quality products was crucial since machine dependability and reliability was important for contractors. Many construction companies all over the globe operated under severe cost and time constraints and companies' main target was to schedule machine use efficiently and minimize downtime.High capital and energy costs made some construction companies to use their machines longer. Consequently, providing the replacement and spare parts on short notice and continuous Improvement of the parts were essential. Also, profit margins for parts ND attachments were significantly higher than for whole machines which encouraged most suppliers to pay more focus on providing these parts to their customers on a timely manner. Moreover, the ability to manufacture product capacity ahead of demand was Important.For Instance, Caterpillar's ex cess capacity policy served not only as deterrence to competitors but also as a mechanism enabling company to respond to the industry' wide swings in demand. This also helped companies to successfully maintain their low cost manufacturing position through higher scale of volume. In addition, a full and diversified product line was necessary or companies to gain completive advantage over others. Also, the ability to be a shock absorber provided some companies flexibility and ability to adapt to cyclical downturns more easily than others.Spare parts were much less prone to cyclical downturns and the vast variety of machines In the field provided a baseline of business. Next, heavy Investment In product quality and upgrading programs Like Total Quality Control (ETC) led to higher quality and efficient equipments where research and development programs provided the ability to produce great quality products with the use of new technology to meet customer needs and new trends. Second, dis tribution of high quality products and worldwide service through dealers was another vital factor.Internationally, the MME manufacturers sold through dealers, who provided direct and after-sales service. Although the sales were made direct, it was often the dealers who provided marvelous service to customers. The worldwide network of dealers was very crucial because these dealers were capable of providing service and spare parts backups to customers in no time. Being able to service and repair equipment and supply spare parts anywhere around the globe on a timely manner was a powerful strategy for the construction companies to be nominative.For Instance, 100 Independent dealers handled Comates products and were backed by the company's computerized parts supply system, which guaranteed a replacement part within 48 hours anywhere in the world. Also, the typical overseas 1 OFF were a major marketing asset and a valuable entry barrier in this industry. Third, brand image was another ess ential factor to attract loyal customers and respected dealers. Reputable name for high quality products and services in the construction industry provided the companies a competitive advantage over others. For instance,Caterpillar had built an unmatched reputation for its quality and services in the construction equipments where its loyal network of dealers in North America, Europe and Latin America were the important source of its strength. A survey conducted in the late asses showed that the reputation of a manufacturer and capability of its loyal dealers were the most critical factors that customers would take into consideration when selecting a supplier. With a great reputation and highly loyal network of dealers a manufacturer had a better opportunity to dominate the MME construction industry successfully.As for Caterpillar & Kumquat's nominative position in 1985, Caterpillar was the largest player in the MME industry with a market share of 43% worldwide, while Comates was the second largest player with a market share of 25% worldwide and 60% in their home country Japan. They both face competition from other established players like Clark Equipment, J. J. Case, International Harvester, Fiat-Allis, and John Deere, as well as specialized local players in North America and Europe. Generally, profit margins were substantially higher for parts and attachments than for whole machines.With the benefit of a labor cost advantage relative to U. S. ND European competitors, and of the postwar Japanese construction boom, Comates has managed to focus on extensive advertising, lower price and higher quality of their products to maintain their competitive position. Their products were priced 30% to 40% below the equivalent Cat products, allowing them to increase their market share very promptly; their cost reduction plans consisted in reducing the cost by 10% while still maintaining and improving product quality. Simplification was about reducing the number of parts. Va lue Engineering† re-designed the products to save cost and to increase added value, maintain low-cost ND high productivity. Moreover, Comates noticed that the Japanese domestic construction industry was leveling off in the sass's, and elected to aggressively expand abroad, developing several exclusive dealer networks where it saw potential future growth like in markets like USSR, China, Western Europe, North American, Asia, and Latin America. In Europe, as part of their geocentric strategy, their marketing subsidiary handled distribution and provision of field service.Comates used internal yen/dollar exchange rate to make them more profitable at the worst-scenario rate. In order to better compete against Cat's product line made of more than 120 products, Comates increased their product line as well, always applying total quality control to ensure the highest quality in every aspect of operations, and always making sure to incorporate the latest technology thanks to its own R&D laboratory – since these are some of the key successes factors in the industry – and launched customized lines with focus on markets with needs that were different from the Japanese market.Consumers' confidence was increased by the product's longer durability and double Engel of warranty period compared to Cat's, and by their efficient assistance service networks, another key industry key success. Caterpillar's competitive position in 1985 relied on their huge reputation due to high quality products backed by effective operating 605 branches worldwide, low dependence on debt and excellence at servicing/repairing equipment and supply parts anywhere around the globe and especially locations where these dealers were a major marketing asset and important entry barrier to its competitors.Hence, Caterpillar was able to charge a price premium of up to 20% over competitive products, while maintaining the low cost manufacturing position. Heavy investments were constantly made in R&D to assure product leadership, as well as widespread advertising in specialized magazines like the prominent Engineering News Record, since these are industry key success factors. Manufacturing wise, Cat was highly integrated backward – nearly 90% of its products were substantially the same and parts were made in-house, which facilitated flexibility and quality control.Therefore, their products were sophisticated, durable, reliable, and constantly adapted – they boasted 120 different machines serving almost as many market segments. Enabling all this depended on hiring high quality human capital, who was receiving higher wages than Comates, and who were trained continuously such as having to read newsletters emphasizing the importance of increasing productivity to meet foreign competition. Dealers were regularly taken care of as well: Cat helped them maintain inventory, and conducted regular training programs for them and product demonstrations for their customers .Based on the current state of Caterpillar, specific actions are needed to be taken immediately to help regain some of the sales and profits lost in the last three years. After extensive research, our group's initial recommendation is to not overreact. It is important to realize that this company has had an outstanding amount of success based on its classic strategic position instilled throughout the company of high- quality products and effective service. The company still has a 43% share in the industry and although this figure has dropped in recent years, it is still very respectable.Throughout Caterpillar's entire history, it now has four years where it incurred losses, which would be considered very successful by many companies worldwide. With that said, three of those four years of losses have happened these past three years so some changes are necessary to bring the company back to acceptable amounts of sales and profitability. The first order of business it to eliminate the recent communication issues with our customers. For years our differentiation strategy has led to our products being known for their exceptionally high-quality and reliability.Over the last half of the decade, the disconnection between Caterpillar and their consumers has become alarming. When our major competitor is sending out personnel to specific countries, specifically Australia, in an attempt to better understand their individual needs and create a product to cater to those needs. We have been charging a premium on all of our products and without any real value-added features. A bulldozer in America is the same bulldozer in India and in Australia. To maintain our differentiation strategy, we need to create individual products that cater more to the needs of specific customers.A Comates dealer is quoted as saying â€Å"When you are selling against number one, you need some price advantage. But we tell contractors we can give them 10% more machine for 10% less money. That's not selling price in my book†. That is a clear indication that we to send our employees to the construction sites to find out specifically what they need to succeed. The biggest task for construction companies are managing time. They are forced to meet deadlines and use their resources correctly.We have to take the same mentality, and create products that not only allow them to meet their deadlines in a more efficient way, but for us to utilize our resources in the most appropriate way. One final point to this topic comes from the current global economy we are in. Distressed economies and weak currencies are not likely to buy products eased on reputation alone. Our price premium can be a hindrance to these developing economies and unless we differentiate ourselves with product lines that appeal to their countries needs, it is unlikely they will choose us.Local differentiated products are the key to the future success of our company. The second order of business is to take a good h ard look at our company financial. The most alarming statistic we found was that Caterpillar has to sell $6. 8 Billion dollars a year in products Just to break-even. In 1983, we would have had to command 63% of the market Just to break-even ($6. /$10. 95 – Ex. 1 Comates). Our recommendation would be to reduce the production levels in the U. S. And spread it out across the globe. Although we have reduced the number of facilities in the U.S. In recent years, our current production levels are still too high resulting in high labor costs and foreign exchange issues and ultimately lower profits. The consistency of the company has been great, â€Å"All CAT products were the same, no matter where they were made†. This leads us to believe that the company can see the same type of success it has seen in the past while saving on costs. We have been hurt badly over the last couple of years because 68% of our non-U. S. Sales were manufactured in the U. S. And the U. S. Dollar has appreciated around 40%.This has resulted in our company receiving fewer profit margins in overseas sales, which is a major concern because our margins were much higher in the U. S. Before the recession (20% to 7%). Based on our recommendation, we would utilize the assembly plants we created in years past in countries around the globe and enhance their capabilities. This would allow for Caterpillar to maximize their production levels in certain areas of the world, as well s utilize the first recommendation and customize machinery as it pertains to a certain area of the world.This would not only lower export costs and mitigate foreign exchange risk, but it would also lower our exceptionally high labor rates to a more respectable level. When our labor costs are two-thirds of overall costs of the product, something needs to change. By increasing production in countries such as China, Japan, Indonesia, or India our company could lower the overall cost and gain a much higher margin based on our current differentiation strategy. Lastly, this would help eliminate some of the excess capacity issue the industry is currently experiencing.When the industry was experiencing great times, our capacity levels were less than 75% which could mean two things: either we have the capability to produce more if demand increases or we have too much capacity for the current industry environment. Clearly, we have seen that we had too much extra capacity which has resulted in our closing of ten U. S. Plants. By implementing this recommendation, we can gain more respectable levels of around 95% capacity as we enter the maturity stage of the industry. A third recommendation we would make involves the use of