Balanced Scorecard for Banagas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Balanced Scorecard for Banagas - Essay Example From this report it is clear that  Balanced Scorecard was created in 1992 by Robert S. Kaplan and David Norton. It is a method for measuring a company's activities in terms of its vision and strategies giving managers a comprehensive view of the performance of a business. Generally, Balanced Scorecard can be characterized as a strategic management system that forces managers to focus on the important performance metrics that drive success. It balances a financial perspective with customer, internal process, and learning & growth perspective.As the report highlights Balanced Scorecard from a financial perspective measures reflecting financial performance, for example number of debtors, cash flow or return on investment. The financial performance of an organization is fundamental to its success. It should be noticed that the financial perspective of Balanced Scorecard usually refers to the estimation and evaluation of the figures revealed in the company’s accounts (trying to l ocate the firm’s current performance) as they can analyzed and presented using the common financial analysis practices.  From a Business Process Perspective, Balanced Scorecard measures the reflection of the performance of key business processes, for example the time spent prospecting, number of units that required rework or process cost.  The evaluation of the firm’s strategy and aims – as part of the specific area of Balanced Scorecard analysis and implementation – has to be regarded as a challenging task.

Effects of Alcohol Essay Example for Free

Effects of Alcohol Essay Alcohol can have some good benefits and then some bad ones, for example when you drink you can encounter yourself having a good time laughing and joking around with your friends, or you can find yourself angry wanting to argue and start fights with everybody. If you’re a â€Å"happy drunk† you probably don’t have bad alcoholism in your family, and you can control your drinking with the attitudes it may drag along. While on the other hand if you’re an â€Å"angry drunk† you may not be able to control what you do when you drink such as the amount of alcohol you consume or the attitudes that may come along with drinking. Alcoholic content in most alcoholic drinks is measured in proof, which is about half of the actual content of alcohol in the drink. An example is a 90 proof whiskey actually only contains 45 percent alcohol. Beer is one of the beverages containing the lowest proof. They range from 2 to 6 percent. Wines have anywhere from 14 percent or less. Fortified wines which have other alcoholic beverages included will be in a higher range. While drinking each of these different alcoholic beverages, each one of them has different serving sizes like with whiskey 1 serving is about half a shot glass, one serving of beer is a 12oz can of beer and the smaller amount of whiskey will get you drunk way faster than beer. When drinking you need to keep track of what you are drinking and at how fast of a pace because if you drink fast you will reach your state of being drunk a lot faster and the buzz be a lot more intense than you may want. But if you are drinking at a slow pace and not drinking those hard alcohol drinks your buzz will come a lot slower and easier to contain. In some of the first steps of alcoholism the image of drinking is no longer to socialize and have a good time it becomes a necessity to cope with life to escape from stress, inhibitions and anxiety. Early in the disease of alcoholism the person with the drinking problem starts to depend on the mood changing aspects of alcohol. Another aspect of the first stage of alcoholism is that a gradual increase in tolerance develops, meaning that increasing amounts of alcohol are needed in order to feel a high or a buzz. When your tolerance goes up you need to consume more alcohol, so might change to stronger drinks which may have different effects on yourself and change your personality severely making people that you once held close in your life to drift away and leave your all alone with only yourself and your drink. The person with the drinking problem starts to avoid family and friends and experiences a loss of interest in activities that used to be fun or important causing them to lose their job and other fun activities forcing them to fall into a deep depression then they may not have anywhere to turn besides the bottle of alcohol so they can deal with life the only way they know how to now. Soon an alcoholic will need to have a drink as soon as possible like when they just wake up in the morning so they don’t have to deal with the true reality of their life, calming there nerves or to lessen the hangover so soon being drunk all day everyday becomes a regular routine in daily life. Coming alone with being drunk that much has some very bad effects like, an increase in failed promises and resolutions to ones self and to others, Frequent violent or destructive behavior, The start of physical deterioration and all this will lead to major problems with the law such as DUIs and jail time which could also bring along thoughts of suicide. Now at this point of alcoholism it is more than likely the person will not be able to hold a full time job like they could have in the earlier stage of becoming an alcoholic because drinking starts earlier in the day and usually continues all day long. Then once the person has come all this way the body is not going to be able to deal with this frequent drinking because alcoholism causes a number of medical conditions and cancers. The noncancerous medical problems with this horrible addiction/disease can include, Harm to the fetus while the mother is pregnant, cardiovascular problems such as high blood pressure, heart failure, and strokes, impaired learning ability, kidney and liver failure, diabetes, alcohol poisoning and sexual problems such as erectile dysfunction and impotence in men are just some of the few side effects with alcoholism. Some of the cancerous problems that may come along are Stomach, Liver, Esophagus, Kidney and Colon cancer. When or if an alcoholic comes to reality and wants to quit drinking if forced by family and friends or medical conditions and can be too late for them because if a person has been addicted to alcohol for a long period of time their body is more than likely dependent on the daily consumption of alcohol and cannot function without. They could have been diagnosed with a cancerous symptom from drinking and need to quit or they will die, but on the other hand they can die from the sudden stop of drinking. Alcoholism is one of the most dangerous addictions’/ diseases’ out there because there is no cure and causes more deaths than a good deal of other drugs and addictive’s. Many studies have concluded that alcoholism is as addictive as or more addictive than heroin or cocaine, therefore before getting stuck going down the dead end road of alcoholism think twice.

Strategies for Diversification

Strategies for Diversification INTRODUCTION The Fine idea also known as Fine stationery is a Pvt ltd. Company which was started in the year 1995 by Mr. Kalpesh.S.Patel with the capital of Rs.50,000/- and he is the CEO and chairperson of the firm. They provide printing services and are Manufacturers License of Disney products. Fine Ideas is manufacturer of stationary, print promotion, table mats, mouse pads, packaging, brochures and pamphlet, design items. It is a company along with acting as supplier from Mumbai. The company also gives ideas and concepts for promotional activities. The company runs smoothly and hardly faces any problems. Recently they faced a problem of decrease in sales. They are willing for diversification of their products, to increase their sales. Should they go for diversification of their products to increase their sales or would it be too risky? This led me to come up with a research question Should FINE IDEAS consider diversification of their products to increase their sales? With the help of primary research and secondary information collected, I used Ansoff Matrix to find the solution to the problem. The main reason for the decrease in sale is an increase in competition. The company is not strong enough to face challenges laid down by competitors. The research will suggest an alternate path of diversification which if company chooses will be worth its survival in the market. If the company does not come up with quick and appropriate decision then it will have to suffer heavy loss. The research will analyze the position of the company in the market. The result found after analysing the prevailing market conditions and the companys problems is that the firm should consider diversification of their products to come out of this problem of decrease in sales and to re-attain its forecasted sales. FINDINGS Diversification is part of the four main marketing strategies defined by the Product/Market Ansoff matrix: http://www.easilyinteractive.com/blog/uploaded_images/ansoff-779433.jpg Fine ideas pointed out that a diversification strategy stands apart from the other three strategies. The first three strategies are usually pursued with the same technical, financial, and merchandising resources used for the original product line, whereas diversification usually requires a company to acquire new skills, new techniques and new facilities which can be provided by Fine Ideas. The notion of diversification depends on the subjective interpretation of new market and new product, which should reflect the perceptions of their customers. The strategies of diversification can include internal development of Fine Ideas, acquisition of a firm, alliance with a complementary company, licensing of new technologies, and distributing or importing few products manufactured by another firm. Generally, the final strategy involves a combination of these options. This combination is determined in function of available opportunities and consistency with the objectives and the resources of the Fine Ideas. Rationale of diversification There are two dimensions of rationale for diversification. The first one relates to the nature of the strategic objective: diversification may be defensive or offensive. Defensive reasons may be spreading the risk of market contraction, or being forced to diversify when current product or current market orientation seems to provide no further opportunities for growth. Offensive reasons may be conquering new positions, taking opportunities that promise greater profitability than expansion opportunities, or using retained cash that exceeds total expansion needs. The second dimension involves the expected outcomes of diversification: management may expect great economic value or first and foremost great coherence and complementary to their current activities. In addition, companies may also explore diversification just to get a valuable comparison between this strategy and expansion. Factors of Risk involved for Fine Ideas to Diversify. Diversification is the riskiest of the four strategies presented in the Ansoff matrix and requires the most careful investigation for Fine Ideas. Going into an unknown market with an unfamiliar product offering means a lack of experience in the new skills and techniques required. Therefore, they will put themselves in a great uncertainty. Moreover, diversification might necessitate significant expanding of human and financial resources, which may distracts focus, commitment and sustained investments for the Fine Ideas. Therefore they should choose this option only when the current product or current market orientation does not offer further opportunities for growth. In order to measure the chances of success, Fine Ideas can also perform different tests like the attractiveness test, the cost-of-entry test and the better-off test. Because of the high risks Fine Ideas, may led to failure while attempting to diversify. However, there are a few good examples of successful diversification like Walt Disney moved from producing animated movies to theme parks. Companies like Fine Ideas diversify for a host of reasons. In some cases, its a survival strategy. For instance, if the company makes the bulk of its sales at a particular time of year, it makes sense to consider diversification. However, there are plenty of other good reasons for diversification, not least by extending your range of goods or services you can either sell more products to your existing customers or reach out to new markets. This can supercharge the growth prospects of Fine Ideas. And perhaps the biggest reason for doing it is to extend a brand reputation into other markets, with the knowledge that making your business bigger than ever imagined. ANALYSIS OF THE FINDINGS The analysis was done by discussing with the owner of the firm about the fall in demand of sales over the time. It was not possible to find the accurate decrease in sales because their firm was only the supplier and the goods then go in the godown of the marketing firm from where the goods were supplied to the retailers and wholesalers. Due to decrease in demand for the existing goods by the people, the goods were logged into the godown of the marketing sector and so they were not accepting the goods coming from the Fine Ideas as they already have stock with them. Henceforth with this analysis of the situation it is clearly pictured that is a decrease in sales for the company. The discussions took place in a positive manner as the current status proved that it was favourable and appropriate for the company to go for diversification as that was the easiest way out the problem faced by them. Following topic goes out of my assessment but I would like to mention that they have already put their thought and efforts in diversifying their products in some or the other way by starting their new business names as Facetoons which is a similar kind of printing firm but they provide print on mugs, plates, shirts and many more and therefore the business is growing rapidly because of the increasing demand of their new idea. This instance itself proves that it is very essential for them to start to diversify their products but they should not completely close down Fine Ideas because that is their image and reputation in market so they should work under the shade of Fine Ideas. Fine ideas had been discussing that business strategies expand the scope of reaching goal through diversification into their businesses But, under strict assumptions of risky markets, there is no obvious rational for the company to acquire another. Diversification is a promotion strategy and a form of corporate strategy which is advised for fine ideas. It seeks to increase profitability through greater sales volume obtained from new products and new markets. Fine Ideas can diversify at the business unit level or at the corporate level. At the business unit level they are most likely to expand into a new segment and at the corporate level and it is also very interesting entering a promising business outside of the scope of their business unit. CONCLUSIONS Concluding by answering to my research question, FINE IDEAS should consider diversification of their products to increase their sales. When to diversify for Fine Ideas History tells us its not advisable to consider diversification until the core business is stable and profitable. If Fine Ideas are still struggling to win orders and build a sales time for the core product, there is a real danger that diversification will take your eye of the ball. The catalyst is often the realization that growth in the core business is either slowing or set to slow, often because the market for a particular product is becoming saturated. Diversification strategy for Fine Ideas Fine Ideas can diversify by natural progression. More radically, they extend the brand by offering a much wider range of products that will nonetheless appeal to the same customers. Alternatively, they can use the strength of brand to move into new markets. Another popular business diversification strategy is to look backwards and forwards along the supply chain for opportunities to tighten your grip on the market. For instance, in the recent past people had seen building societies buying estate agents and computer manufacturers buying resellers. In the US Google has busily acquired the leading web data analysis tools, online advertising companies and the social networks and sites that deliver what they unerringly know their users want. The cons for Fine Ideas The company can get a hope for the extended product life cycle. Diversification can put you on the fast track to growth but if the strategy fails it can also burn up money. Expanding the product range and even if turnover increases, the increase in costs could result in a slump in profits. Extend the brand into new markets and there is a danger that it will have no resonance with the newly targeted customers. Thus its vital to research new markets before diversifying. Fine ideas should also look carefully at their existing business. Do they have the right managers to cope with a divaricating strategy? Should they integrate the diversified business into one company or ring fence the new operation as a business in its own right? And is your organization strong enough to be an umbrella brand where your core values resonate across the group? They should think hard before Fine Ideas commit their finances and precious time. BIBLIOGRAPHY http://www.fineideas.in/ http://www.hotfrog.in/Companies/Fine-Ideas Hoang, Paul, Business and management, IBID Press, 2007 http://www.easilyinteractive.com/blog/uploaded_images/ansoff-779433.jpg

The Progressive Movement Essay example -- American History Essays

The Progressive Movement The progressive movement of the early 20th century has proved to be an intricately confounded conundrum for American historians. Who participated in this movement? What did it accomplish, or fail to accomplish? Was it a movement at all? These are all significant questions that historians have been grappling with for the last 60 years, thus creating a historical dialogue where in their different interpretations interact with each other. The most commonly known, and consequently most watered down, version of the progressive movement argues that this era was simply an effort by the middle class to cure many of the social and political ills of American society that had developed during the rapid industrial growth in the last quarter of the 19th century. This explanation has proven to be a woefully inadequate in the face of the complexities that characterize these times. In Richard Hofstadter’s The Age of Reform, Peter Filene’s â€Å"An Obituary for the Progressive Movement,† Richard McCormick’s â€Å"The Discovery that Business Corrupts Politics,† and Paula Baker’s â€Å"The Domestication of Politics† each author asserts their own unique interpretations of the progressive movement. These distinct examinations each chart and thus manifest the fluidity of knowledge about this particular time period and how it has been shaped reshaped by new analysis. Richard Hofstadter, the leftward leaning author of Age of Reform, in his appraisal of the progressive movement makes the central argument that the progressive movement was not catalyzed by economics or moral principal but instead by psychology. Hofstadter describes the progressives as primarily â€Å"urban, middle class, and nation wide.† He makes the case that t... ... an impact on the system as a whole. An interesting comparison can be made between Hofstadter’s â€Å"status revolution† and Baker’s suffrage movement. Both can be seen as psychologically driven movements that interacted during the progressive era. Baker and Hofstadter also both cite a vast and complex struggle to improve the status of a particular social group. Baker on one hand describes women’s fight for the right to be seen as equal to men, most definitely in a political sense if not in a social sense as well, while Hofstadter makes the case that the progressives were driven to action by the need to reclaim their former status of superiority over the emerging newly rich industrialists. Although Baker does not seem to give the amount of attention to psychology that Hofstadter does an undeniable correlation can still be made between the arguments of both authors.

Study Abroad England

ENGL 378H/ IS 305H and ENGL 378/ IS 305 The Celts: Leprechauns, Braveheart, and Harry Potter Professor: Janet Morgan Haavisto, Ph. D. Course Description: This course is designed to encourage a clearer understanding of the influence the Celts (particularly the Irish and Scots) have exerted on the world and on themselves through their attempts to define their culture. We will examine the characteristics that the Celts have traditionally prized and validated. These characteristics have led the Irish from pre-St. Patrick, into their difficult relationship with the English, into Home Rule, and finally into the European Union.These characteristics have led the Scots from the Roman built Hadrian’s Wall to William Wallace (Braveheart) to a still resented union with England as part of Great Britain. Through literature and cultural studies, we will examine efforts to redefine â€Å"Celtishness† for the twenty-first century, along with the issues that must be addressed by all of t he constituents in the enterprise in this still divided cultural entity comprised of the British-ruled six counties of Northern Ireland and the free Republic of Ireland, as well as the nationalistic Scots with their justice and educational systems independent of England’s.Beginning with Joyce, Yeats, Synge, Swift, Harry Potter (J. K. Rowling), Stevenson, Scott, and Burns, we will examine the characteristics that have led the Scots through centuries of uneasy interaction with England and into the devastation of the clans and the diaspora resulting from the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden and the Highland Clearances. Likewise, we will examine the centuries of distress the Irish have endured in their relationship with the English.Contemporary Scots, however, live in a very different world—one in which they have moved from a position of perceived superiority in a time in which Hadrian built a wall to contain the â€Å"savage to the north† to a world in which the ir economy is still linked to England’s and their cultural makeup includes the many groups (Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Indians, Asians, Africans, and yet more) who have entered the UK and who see themselves as â€Å"British. † The same situation presents a challenge for the Irish. This diversity is a far cry from the Celtic prototype of earlier centuries.Through literature and cultural studies, we will examine efforts to redefine â€Å"Scottishness† and Scotland as well as â€Å"Irishness† and Ireland. At the end of the course students will be able to: 1. discuss the issues involved in the effort to define â€Å"Irishness,† â€Å"Scottishness,† and â€Å"Celtishness†; 2. define â€Å"devolution† and discuss the impetus for it as well as the ramifications of it for the parties involved and engage in the debate about the efficacy of it; 3. discuss the likely impacts on the Irish and Scots of their definitions of themselves as a re sult of the Republic of Ireland’s and the United Kingdom’s entry into the European Union; 4. istinguish among terms, such as, â€Å"Ireland,† â€Å"Scotch Irish,† â€Å"United Kingdom,† â€Å"Great Britain,† â€Å"England,† â€Å"Briton,† â€Å"British,† â€Å"Celtic,† â€Å"Anglo-Saxon,† â€Å"Irish Gaelic,† â€Å"Scots language,† â€Å"Scots Gaelic,† and â€Å"Erse†; 5. explain how early legends helped define the characteristics commonly attributed to the Irish and the Scots; 6. discuss the impact of cultural diversity on the inhabitants of the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland and how such cultural diversity complicates effort to define themselves and their cultures; 7. iscuss the issues of racism plaguing Ireland and Scotland and the difficulties racism causes in the effort to define themselves and their cultures; 8. distinguish among such terms as â€Å"Br itishness,† â€Å"Englishness,† â€Å"Welshness,† â€Å"Scottishness,† â€Å"Irishness† and discuss why distinctions are made among such terms; 9. discuss the significance of â€Å"orange† and â€Å"green† and tartans, harps, and bagpipes; 10. discuss some writers and their literature and the perspectives they shed on the issues of â€Å"Irishness† and â€Å"Scotchness† on attempts to accommodate Irish and Scots of many national and ethnic backgrounds; 11. iscuss the history and extent of Irish and Scots immigration and its effects on the development of the U. S. A. ; 12. explore why in the effort to redefine themselves both strong identification with the United States and anti-Americanism figure into the Irish and Scot effort to position their cultures in the world of the twenty-first century. Texts: Required for students taking this course for Honors credit (strongly recommended for all others): Cahill, Thomas. How the Irish Saved Civilization. ISBN-10: 0385418493 ISBN-13: 978-0385418492 Herman, Arthur. How the Scots Invented the Modern World.ISBN-10: 0609809997 ISBN-13: 978-0609809990 Webb, Jim. Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America. ISBN-10: 0767916891 ISBN-13: 978-0767916899 Required readings for all students: †¢ The Harry Potter series of 7 novels (You do not need to bring them all on the trip. Just read them before you come. ) †¢ Robert Lewis Stevenson's Kidnapped http://www. online-literature. com/stevenson/kidnapped/ †¢ Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe (any edition) http://www. online-literature. com/walter_scott/ivanhoe/ †¢ Robert Burns’ poetry http://www. poetry-archive. com/b/burns_robert. html  ¬ â€Å"Auld Lang Syne†  ¬ â€Å"Bannockburn† â€Å"O My Luve’s Like a Red, Red Rose†  ¬ Tam O’Shanter (Burns original side-by-side with a standard English translation: http://www. worldburnsclub. com/poems/translati ons/446. htm) Online Selections Selections from The CAIN Project. University of Ulster Quote from the website: â€Å"This site contains information and source material on ‘the Troubles' and politics in Northern Ireland from 1968 to the present. There is also information on Northern Ireland society. New material is added regularly and there are also frequent updates, so information on particular pages may change. † http://cain. ulst. ac. uk/ The

Implications of Information Technology in Developing Countries Essay

The survival and growth of organizations in an increasingly turbulent environment would depend upon effective utilization of information technology for aligning the organizational structure with environmental preferences and for creating symbiotic interorganizational structures. How can IT help the organizations in responding to the challenges of an increasingly complex and uncertain environment? How can IT help the organizations achieve the flexible organization structure? These are the topics that remains to be a matter of question for many developing countries. Although Information technology is still a .black box . technology for developing countries, it is largely applied in industrialised countries to the disadvantage of the majority of developing countries. This paper will try to illuminate the aspects and the impact of Information Technology in managing organizational change and its implications for developing countries. 1. Introduction The rate and magnitude of change are rapidly outpacing the complex of theories. economic, social, and philosophical on which public and private decisions are based. To the extent that we continue to view the world from the perspective of an earlier, vanishing age, we will continue to misunderstand the developments surrounding the transition to an information society, be unable to realize the full economic and social potential of this revolutionary technology, and risk making some very serious mistakes as reality and the theories we use to interpret it continue to diverge..-Arthur Cordell(1987). We have modified our environment so radically that we must modify ourselves in order to exist in this new environment..Norbert Wiener(1957) The survival and growth of organizations in an increasingly turbulent environment would depend upon effective utilization of information technology for aligning the organizational structure with environmental preferences and for creating symbiotic interorganizational structures. How can IT help the organizations in responding to the challenges of an increasingly complex and uncertain environment? How can IT help the organizations achieve the .flexible. organization structure? These are the topics that remains to be a matter of question for many developing countries. This study will try to illuminate the aspects and the impact of Information Technology in managing organizational change and its implications for developing countries. 2. Aspects of Information Technology Information technology (IT) may be defined as the convergence of electronics, computing, and telecommunications. It has unleashed a tidal wave of technological innovation in the collecting, storing, processing, transmission, and presentation of information that has not only transformed the information technology sector itself into a highly dynamic and expanding field of activity – creating new markets and generating new investment, income, and jobs- but also provided other sectors with more rapid and efficient mechanisms for responding to shifts in demand patterns and changes in international comparative advantages, through more efficient production processes and new and improved products and services (e.g. replacing mechanical and electromechanical components, upgrading traditional products by creating new product functions, incorporating skills and functions into equipment, automating routine work, making technical, professional, or finan cial services more transportable). The development of IT is intimately associated with the overwhelming advances recently accomplished in microelectronics. Based on scientific and technological breakthroughs in transistors, semiconductors, and integrated circuits (â€Å"chips†), micro-electronics is affecting every other branch of the economy, in terms of both its present and future employment and skill requirements and its future market prospects. Its introduction has resulted in a drastic fall in costs as well as dramatically improved technical performance both within the electronics industry and outside it (Malone and Rockart, 1993). The continuous rise in the number of features on a single micro-electronic chip has permitted lower assembly costs for electronic equipment (each chip replacing many discrete components), faster switching speeds (thus faster and more powerful computers), and more reliable, smaller, and lighter equipment (fewer interconnections, less power and material). Similar dramatic falls in costs occurred in the transport and steel industries in the nineteenth century and in energy in the twentieth, associated with the emergence of the third and fourth Kondratiev cycles, respectively. The potential effects of microelectronics are thus very far-reaching, for its use in production saves on virtually all inputs, ranging from skilled and unskilled labor to energy, materials, andcapital. All sectors of the economy have been influenced by the development of IT applications: information technology opens up greater opportunities for the exploitation of economies of scale and scope, allows the more flexible production and use of labor and equipment, promotes the internationalization of production and markets, offers greater mobility and flexibility in capital and financial flows and services, and is frequently the precondition for the creation of innovative financial instruments. Information system developments are constantly being applied to increase the productivity, quality, and efficiency of finance, banking, business management, and public administration. In manufacturing, and to some extent in agriculture, many processes have been automated, some requiring highly flexible, self-regulating machines, or robots. The engineering industry has been transformed by computer-aided design and three-dimensional computerized screen displays. The pace of technological change in IT will most likely accelerate the already observable growth in the interdependence of international relations not just economic or financial, but also political and cultural. National economies have become more susceptible to the effects of policy decisions taken at the international level, and domestic economic measures are having increased impacts on economic policies of other countries. World markets for the consumption of similar goods are growing, and so are common lifestyles across national borders. The advance of telecommunications and computerization has recently enabled large companies to use information systems to transmit technical and economic information among numerous computer systems at different geographical locations, subjecting widely dispersed industrial plants to direct managerial control from a central location; this affects the international division of labor and production and international trade, changing the patterns of industrial ownership and control, altering the competitive standing of individual countries, and creating new trading partners. It is the integration of functions that confers on information technology its real economic and social significance. More than just a gradual and incremental technological evolution leading to improved ways of carrying out traditional manufacturing processes (i.e. simply the substitution of new technologies for existing systems and the rationalization of standard activities), IT offers the opportunity for completely new ways of working through systems integration. Rather than applying one item of new technology to each of the production functions now performed at distinct stages of the production process, i.e. design, production, marketing, and distribution (in what could be called â€Å"stand-alone† improvements or â€Å"island automation†), having evolved in to new technologies, i.e. Enterprise Resource Planning systems, IT offers the possibility of linking design to production (e.g. through programmable manufacturing, measuring, and testing equipment responding to the codification of design), planning and design to marketing and distribution (e.g. through a variety of computer aids and databases that sense and collect changing market trends), production to distribution (e.g. by automatically incorporating orders and commissions by customers and suppliers into the production process), etc. The complete integration of all these production subsystems in a synergistic ensemble is still more a long-term trend than a reality, but use of automated equipment to link together individual items of equipment belonging to hitherto discrete manufacturing operations has already made IT a strategic issue for industry. More technical advances are expected soon in the automation of telecommunications and the linkage of computers by data transmission that will enhance the possibilities of systems integration. Such â€Å"programmable automation,† or computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM), has the capability of integrating information processing with physical tasks performed by programmable machine tools or robots. CIM offers radical improvements in traditional problem areas confronting manufacturers, such as: – reduced lead time for existing and new products; – reduced inventories; – more accurate control over production and better quality production management information; – increased utilization of expensive equipment; – reduced overhead costs; – improved and consistent quality; – more accurate forecasting; – improved delivery performance (Miles et al., 1988). These features characterize information technology as a new technological system, in which far-reaching changes in the trajectories of electronic, computer, and telecommunication technologies converge and offer a range of new technological options to virtually all branches of the economy. Moreover, IT forms the basis for a reorganization of industrial society and the core of the emerging techno-economic paradigm. The reason for the pre-eminence of the new technological system clustered around information technology over the equally new technological systems clustered around new materials and biotechnology is the fact that information activities of one kind or another are a part of every activity within an industrial or commercial sector, as well as in our working and domestic lives. Almost all productive activities have high information intensity (some involve little else, such as banking or education). Further more, along with the premier of internet technology and e-business architectures; powerful concepts like inventory control, supply chain management, customer relationship/service management, and management resource planning through the internet under the name of Enterprise Resource Planning have enabled IT to be capable of offering â€Å"strategic† improvements in the productivity and competitiveness of virtually any socio-economic activity. Other than industrial or commercial sectors, information technology is also applicable in education sector and in public institutions. Thus, Information Technology is universally applicable. Probably only a fraction of the benefits derived from information technology-based innovations have so far been reaped and the rest remain to be acquired in the next decades. The shift towards systems integration to capitalize the full potential benefits of IT requires considerable adaptations, learning processes, and structural changes in exis ting socioeconomic institutions and organizational systems. The tradition in most current organizations is still to operate in a largely â€Å"disintegrated† fashion, reminiscent of the Ford-Taylorist management approaches that dominated the fourth Kondratiev cycle: high division of labor, increasing functional specialization/differentiation and de-skilling of many tasks, rigid manufacturing procedures and controls, long management hierarchies with bureaucratic decision-making procedures and a â€Å"mechanistic† approach to performance. Under these conditions, use of IT is restricted to piecemeal technology improvements. By contrast, information technology-based systems offer organizations the opportunity of functional integration, multi-skilled staff, rapid and flexible decision-making structures with greater delegation of responsibilities and greater autonomy of operating units, a more flexible and â€Å"organic† approach enabling a quick adjustment to changing environmental conditions. (Piore and Sabel, 1984.) But this means that information management skills require the ability to make choices about the optimal arrangements for particular situations: unlike earlier generations of technology, IT offers not a single â€Å"best† way of organization but a set of more or less appropriate alternative organizing, staffing, and managing options that may be adopted in different organizational contexts. There is no â€Å"determinism† in the way information technology influences the socioinstitutional framework. Therefore, organizational innovation is a crucial part of the requirement for firms to adapt to survive (Miles, 1988). Unfortunately, this is true for all the institutions as well. Further, it is even more dramatic for the organizations in developing countries because of not being able to properly adapt to this so-called .black-box. technology. No matter how frustrating it is interpreted for these countries, IT still has significant impact on their development. Although socio-economic structure of these countries resists organizational or institutional changes, the complex interrelations between these changes and information technologies have significant implications for the way IT does and will affect the societies and economies of developing countries. As a matter of fact, the negative and positive potential impacts of IT on these countries are a matter of great controversy among economists and politicians. The main short term issues usually discussed are the potential erosion of the comparative advantages of low labor costs, particularly in relation to assembly facilities, and the effects of automation, particularly on internal markets and international competitiveness. Implications of information technology for those countries hold great importance. 3. Implications for Developing Countries The first direct effect of the â€Å"micro-electronics revolution† was the location of production for export in third world countries. While production of mainframe computers continued to be located largely in industrialized countries, production of smaller computers and of microelectronic devices, more subject to price competition, was shifted to low-wage locations, mainly in East Asia, where countries presented low wage costs as well as political stability, a docile labor force, and government incentives. Location of production for local and regional consumption followed, but the countries concerned were mainly middle income: three quarters of US investment in third world micro-electronic industries was concentrated in 11 countries, namely the four Asian â€Å"dragons,† India, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia (Steward, 1991). Export-oriented investments in these countries were associated more with direct foreign investment from larger firms in industrialized countries than with firms producing for the local market; on the other hand, licensing was more associated with smaller firms (Tigre, 1995). The automation of production decreases the relative importance of labor-intensive manufacturing and cost of labor, thereby eroding the competitiveness of low labor costs. For instance, automation led to a sharp decrease in the difference between manufacturing costs of electronic devices between the United States and Hong Kong: in manual processes, manufacturing costs were three times higher in the United States, and the introduction of semi-automatic processes made the difference practically disappear (Sagasti, 1994). Equally, the expansion of automation in Japan has contributed to a reduction of Japanese investments in the Asia/Pacific region involving firms in electronics, assembly parts, and textiles (Sagasti, 1994). The trend to increasing systems optimization and integration is most likely to induce large producers in industrialized countries to bring back a significant share of their production located in developing countries (offshore production). This movement has been called â€Å"comparative advantage reversal.† As integration increases, with functions previously obtained by assembling pieces being incorporated in the electronic components, value-added is pushed out of assembly processes into the components themselves and upwards towards servicing. In addition, the growing technological complexity of electronic devices increases the value of the parts manufactured by firms located in industrialized countries The amount of value-added obtained in offshore assembly has thus been constantly decreasing (Sagasti,1994). Global factories constructed in locations of least cost, often at a considerable distance from final markets, were economically worthwhile because labor was one of the major determinants of costs. Technology and rapid responsiveness to volatile local markets are becoming more important components of competitiveness. The reduction of product cycles due to the growing resistance to obsolescence of programmable machines and equipment has led to a concentration of manufacturing investment in capital-intensive flexible manufacturing, further adding to the erosion of the comparative advantages of developing countries. The assembly of systems will probably continue in some developing countries that have adopted protective legislation for local production targeted at particular market segments (e.g. Brazil), although this is changing very rapidly (Steward, 1991). The types of equipment produced under these circumstances are used largely in internal markets and are hardly competitive on the international level; they tend to be far more expensive than comparable equipment available abroad, and often their installation and use are also more costly because of expensive auxiliary installations, under-use, and lack of management skills. Nevertheless, they may at least provide the country with the capacity to follow the development of information technologies more closely. In other countries, assembly of equipment is taking place from components bought practically off the shelf, but as the level of hardware integration and the amount of software incorporated into the chips (firmware) grow, valueadded will be taken away from the assembly process, reducing or eliminating its economic advantages. The introduction of microelectronics requires certain new skills of design, maintenance, and management, as well as complementary infrastructural facilities such as reliable telephone systems and power supplies. Deficiencies in these factors prevent the widespread adoption of information technology in developing countries (Munasinghe et al., 1985). The more advanced developing countries, with a wider basis of skills and infrastructure and a more flexible labor force, may be in a better position to adopt IT and to increase their productivity and their international competitiveness. But the less developed countries, with inadequate skills and infrastructure, low labor productivity, and lack of capital resources, will find it difficult to adopt the new technologies; they are likely to suffer a deterioration in international competitiveness vis-à  -vis both industrialized and the more advanced developing countries (Stewart et al., 1991). Quality, too, requires an adequate level of skills, infrastructure, and managerial know-how that is generally lacking in developing countries. This greatly reduces the synergies, number of options, faster responses, and more informed decisions that can be implemented in the firm by the optimization of the systems performance. In turn, the composition of the labor force existing within firms located in industrialized countries will further improve their systems performance and further reinforce the advantages derived from automation. The proportion of the labor force employed in production is constantly decreasing in the industrialized countries, implying that performances at the systems level and innovation, not manufacturing, are becoming the key to profit, growth, and survival (Sagasti, 1994). Like biotechnology, information technology is a proprietary technology, vital technical information regarding design engineering specification, process know-how, testing procedures, etc., being covered by patents or copyrights or closely held as trade secrets within various electronic firms from industrialized countries. Many companies in the software area do not patent or copyright their products because it entails disclosing valuable information, and firms are generally reluctant to license the more recent and advanced technologies. Therefore, technology transfer takes place mainly among established or important producers, hindering the access to developing countries. Moreover, the main issue facing developing countries is not so much the access to a particular technology but to the process of technological change, because of the dynamism of this process. Sagasti implies this issue in the book The Uncertain Guest: science, technology and development (1994) that recent trends in int er-firm relationships seem to indicate that this access takes place essentially through the participation in the equity of the company holding the technology.