LEADERSHIP ASSESSMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

LEADERSHIP ASSESSMENT - Essay Example The company’s CEO did not appear to be excessively ambitious; and never used harsh words when addressing employees. He believed in demonstrating the attributes he expected to see in his employees. Organizational Structure and Culture and Team Development in the Company The organization in which I worked was more oriented toward individual tasks than group activities. It was based on a hierarchical model where orders came from above and were sometimes vague because the workers had limited guidance on how to implement them. The hierarchical model sometimes caused other problems when the company’s executives gave orders that had adverse implications in the lower ranks of the organization. When such impractical orders were given to groups of workers that had been formed by executives, the workers always had different concepts about what the leaders meant to be done or how to implement their ideas. Some workers were irritated by the fact that they were not allowed to choose their own team partners. Usually, the only workers who were happy to be ordered into specific teams were the partially skilled workers who escaped total responsibility for projects when they shared them with other workers. Workers can be commanded to form teams; but cannot be forced to work harmoniously. This is why it is important to allow workers to form their own teams when necessary. Even though the skilled workers in the company distrusted the claims of the managers about their dedication to teamwork, the semi-skilled workers believed the CEO’s rhetoric. Faced with sporadic accusations from their skilled workers of being too autocratic, the company’s managers sometimes went to the extreme by giving no instructions about projects. This caused further confusion among the workers and left the responsibility of realizing successful team projects to the skilled workers. Communication and Motivational Skills of the Leader Using autocratic leadership might have been more practical for the organization’s leaders because the company had many workers and participatory leadership would cost too much in terms of time and amenities (Schein, 2010). The size of the company also made considering the views of all employees before making decisions on even the simplest tasks counterproductive. The CEO of the company was quite dedicated to ensuring that the company achieved its objectives. As a person he was compassionate, dedicated, courageous and extremely self disciplined. He might have imagined that all workers knew they could develop his work ethic if they pushed themselves to achieve their best, and were striving to do so. Moreover, he was aware that it was important to keep demonstrating what he wanted to see in his employees. The CEO had fought his way from a subordinate position of the company to his present position. Even though he told of this story with pride in the few general meetings that were held during the year, I believe that he was qu ite hardened by his journey to the top most position over two decades. Even though the CEO constantly spoke of the importance of cooperation among workers and the management, this principle was hardly ever realized. CEOs can fall into patterns of merely talking of the importance of certain principles without following their words with any action (Kouzes and Posner, 2008). Three Practices that Leaders Use to

Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 14

Philosophy - Essay Example Consequences of an action should be important criteria for the people. Velasquez has maintained that various philosophers like Bantham had pursued the philosophy that actions, which result in maximum happiness for maximum number of people, are invariable good and therefore, the end justifies the means if it generates happiness for people. Popularised as act utilitarian theory, the actions, that are designed to benefit or have beneficial cascading effects on others, are morally and ethically right. Morality can only be defined by rationalizing about ‘whether one is inflicting evil on others’. Emmanuel Kant has been emphatic that moral obligations are imperatives and his two Rules define the categorical imperatives: Rules of Universality; and Rules of Respect. The first one makes says that people at all time must act appropriately and the second rules promotes the value of respect and says that well being al all individuals is important and therefore, one should not use others for their own vested interests. Velasquez has preferred the moderated version of Kantian philosophy and believes that people must act in the manner that minimizes harm and promotes happiness amongst maximum number of people. No, ethics are not based on virtues. Virtues can be broadly defined as highly recommending characteristics of moral principles that people aspire for but they are not mandatory code of conduct. Ethics, on the other hand are value based conduct that are needed to lead a worthy life which serves the benefit of the people at large. Therefore, a person may aspire to be generous and honest in his working, but even if he is not generous or honest but he does not harm others by his actions, he will not be considered unethical. The philosophy is part and parcel of every human being and he or she exhibit it through the wisdom and individual perspectives

Which tiotropium device to use and why Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Which tiotropium device to use and why - Essay Example Health practionaers have noted that COPD belong to large group of disease that badly injursed the lungs and airways such as chronic bronchitis, in such condition air passage that lead to the lungs gets swells and in a condition like emphysema air sacs of the lungs are badly damaged (2). Tiotropium device is green-colored small inaler and it is useful for controilling COPD, but it is not meant for curing this disease, also it does not provide any benefit instantly, but it takes few weeks to make a patient remain for 24 hours and help relief symptoms for one day (3). There are two types of Tiotropium devices, on with capsulesm which contain medicated powder termed as Tiotropium bromide, medically named as Spiriva. It is a white or yellowish powder and it has specifically for muscarinic receptors (4). Another type of Tiotropium device is a cartridge type with liquid used in therapeutic dose (1). Advantages of Tiotropium Device Asthmatic patients are benefitted from tiotropium device as it is handy and easy to carry everywhere along. Tiotropium device containing Spirivia is much effective to increase the functioning of the lungs in COPD sufferers. Another advantage of its use over other competitive devices and similar methods is that it is used only once in a day unlike other drugs those are needed to be taken at least three times in a day. The content of one capsule is 18 micrograms. Its use also decreases exacerbation that ultimately reduces hospitalization procedures for the patient (4). Disadvantages of Tiotropium Device Some of the predicted disadvantages of the tiotropium device use are that some patients can experience appearance of white patches on their mouth or throat. Sometimes, patients suffer swallowing or bitter taste problems while eating as tiotropium increases the likelihood of a sore throat. Additionally, users of tiotropium can also be subjected to problems like blurred vision

American Gridiron Football Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

American Gridiron Football - Essay Example Hence, the total distance between the end zones is 100 yards. (Football Rules and Gameplay) Usually, each team has distinct offensive and defensive units. A team is said to be on offense when it has the ball in its possession, whereas, it is said to be on defense when the ball is with the opposite team. (Football Rules and Gameplay) Before discussing the anatomy of the play from either offensive or defensive point, it would be helpful to detail the different positions that players in each team can play on and the nature of the field. As already stated above, the total length of the football field is 120 yards while in width it is 53.3 yards long. The boundary lines along the length of the field are called sidelines while those along its width are called endlines. Near each end of the field is a goal line. The end zone, mentioned above, extends 10yards beyond this goal line on each side of the field. (American Football) Each team has 11 players on the field at a time, with substitutions allowed during the break between plays. A team can be divided into three units based on the nature of roles performed. These are: the offense, the defense and the special teams. A game begins with a coin toss. The team winning the toss makes one of three choices: 1) Kick off itself, or to receive the kickoff from the other team. 2) Choose which goal to defend. 3) Defer the first choice option to the second game. If the team that wins the toss decides to kick first or to receive the kick, the other team chooses its goal to defend or vice versa. Offense Anatomy of a Play Once the toss has been won and the teams have made their choices, the team that decides to kick first takes up the offensive role as it is in possession of the ball. Typically, all the players of a team round up to communicate or discuss a play i.e. coordinated movements and actions, to be followed; this rounding up of team players is called a huddle. Each half begins with a kickoff. Apart from the start of the half, the play begins at the line of scrimmage with a snap; the line of scrimmage is the position on the field where the play begins and where the offensive and defensive players line up against each other. Snap is the name given to the act of passing the ball between the legs to a teammate, usually the quarterback standing ready somewhere behind the Center. With this snap, performed by the offensive player, playing at the Center position, the game formally begins. Once the game begins, the offense has four attempts to advance the ball 10 yards towards the end zone of the defense team, or in other words, towards its goalpost. These attempts are called downs. When the offense has advanced the ball by the first 10 yards, it gets a first down. After gaining the first down, the team has another set of four downs to gain yet another 10 yards or to score. If however, the offense fails to advance the ball by 10 yards even after 4 downs, the other team gets possession of the ball at the spot of the football, hence beginning with their first down. (American Football) In order to get the downs, the ball can be advanced in one of two ways: By rushing, that means running with the ball, or by a forward pass. While rushing, one ball-carrier can hand the ball to another player, this act is known as a handoff, or throw backwards to another player. This throwing the ball backward is known as a backward pass or a lateral. "A down ends, and the ball

Dreaming has been there since the existence of man Essay Example for Free

Dreaming has been there since the existence of man Essay Dreaming is a communication between the body, mind and the spirit in a symbolic communicative environmental state of being. Our brains being active way all the time, but at different states of consciousness example, being alert, awake, asleep, bored, day dreaming cause different waves in brain as far as the activity is concerned. The brain mind and spirit, while at rest (when a person is sleeping) will review and analyses many things. This goes around emotions, ideas, thoughts, actions of a short terms memory. This has a background of someone’s past life, and philosophy to influence it. The mind is also processing spiritual data, beliefs, and any communication from the higher power (God). All this information together with subconscious of what people ever told you, is then processed but without supervision by any person. All this information is put together by the mind in a form of Visual Screen play, as a mixture of many things such as sight, sound, emotion and imagined interactivity. This will definitely yield that which is referred to as dreams. Dreaming is easily influenced by factors in a person’s life and spirit, these influences bring about divisions that almost same as God’s. They are usually categorized as standard, prophetic, nightmares and physical dreams. Standard dreams have a tendency of precognition happening randomly. Prophetic ones are those dreams carrying a message of what is going to happen in the future. It could be calling for repentance, change of behavior or getting prepared for an on coming disaster. Nightmares are sort of dreams that will frighten or upset the dream and it may take some time before someone gets back to sleep after having a nightmare. This is why dreaming is such a important thing because sometimes it may bring wealth, health, escape, spiritual gain etc. if dreaming is taken seriously, that is if people could get to concentrate and remember their dreams, there could be very important messages hidden in the dreams. Dreaming may be important to remember and I will discuss a few ways that would help a person interested in recalling their dreams do so. It is believed that if you get to bed a well relaxed person, pay attention to the main issues on the mind, give yourself a suggestion/idea to remember your dreams, plan to wake up slowly and peacefully such that you don’t lost track of the dream you may have had by rocketing out of the bed; then most likely you will manage to recall the dreams you had in the night. It is also suggested that each a well balanced diet will help recall your dreams this is for the reason that all parts of the body including the brain is well nourished with a healthy diet. Once the person recalls the dream, it is important to analyze it. This can be done by identifying the main concept of the dream. This will involve taking away all details and looking at the dream as a whole. Concepts are for helping someone find the bigger picture and since they are too vague to use as a clear picture it is important then to take away details that appear vague and be left with the very central picture. Once this is done then it is important to match the concept to a certain area of your life. Try to see if there any element of your life that seems very precious to you, and then look if there is any possibility of it being damaged in any way as far as the dreams is concerned. If the answer is that there could be damage to your life, then re-examine the situation and the solution might just present itself to you. Dreaming and its meaning are somehow related to animals and other universal symbols. Animals are sometimes symbolizing our traits, good or bad. Vehicles are to symbolize the direction we are headed. Children may symbolize something new and joyous while clothing may symbolize moods which are also related to attitudes we usually have. While dreaming about death may be common and scaring it is believed to bring changes and very dramatic and major ones. It may symbolize confronting fear of change or fear of death. It could also signify threat. Another common dream is that involving people. This may be a symbol of a personal trait as long as the dream is not prophetic.

The Walt Disney Company and Pixar Inc. Essay Example for Free

The Walt Disney Company and Pixar Inc. Essay To Acquire or Not to Acquire? In November 2005, Robert Iger, the newly appointed CEO of the Walt Disney Company, eagerly awaited the box office results of Chicken Little, the company’s second computer-generated (CG) feature film. He knew that, for Disney as a whole to be successful, he had to get the animation business right, particularly the new CG technology that was rapidly supplanting hand-drawn animation.1 Yet the company had been reliant on a contract with animation studio Pixar, which had produced hits such as Toy Story and Finding Nemo, for most of its recent animated film revenue. And the co-production agreement, brokered during the tenure of his predecessor, Michael Eisner, was set to expire in 2006 after the release of Cars, the fifth movie in the five-picture deal. Unfortunately, contract renewal negotiations between Steve Jobs, CEO of Pixar, and Eisner had broken down in 2004 amid reports of personal conflict. When he assumed his new role, Iger reopened the lines of communication between the companies. In fact, he had just struck a deal with Jobs to sell Disneyowned, ABC-produced television shows—such as â€Å"Desperate Housewives†Ã¢â‚¬â€through Apple’s iTunes Music Store.2 Iger knew that a deal with Pixar was possible; it was just a question of what that deal would look like. Did it make the most sense for Disney to simply buy Pixar? Walt Disney Feature Animation Walt Disney Feature Animation began with the production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1934. Toys and memorabilia based on the movie’s characters were stocked in stores such as Woolworth’s around the film’s release, a move that became a trademark of Disney’s strategy. After many early successes, the animation division struggled for decades after Walt Disney’s death but  was rejuvenated with the arrival of Michael Eisner, as well as Jeffrey Katzenberg as chairman of Walt Disney Studios, in 1984. Under them, the studio produced a string of hit films that included The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, up to the enormous success of 1994’s The Lion King, which alone generated over $1 billion in net income for the company. The Walt Disney Company and Pixar Inc.: To Acquire or Not to Acquire? Eisner believed in making clear who was good at their job, and who was not so good, and wanted to give control to leaders who had a sense of judgment about creativity and business. Seventy-five percent of the time, he was able to find a director who had these skills and wanted to work on a particular movie; the rest of the time directors would be told to â€Å"just do it.†6 Katzenberg, who was known for his grueling work ethic and passion for animation, made it his personal mission to bring the studio back to its former glory. He supervised every aspect of the studio’s films. According to one former Disney executive, â€Å"Jeffrey is the sheep dog and the wolf. He’s the sheep dog guarding us, and the wolf hunting us.†7 Katzenberg was credited with hammering out the storytelling of each film and ensuring that each film had a moral resonance. He also brought on external talent to each movie, such as Elton John, who contributed songs for The Lion King. Recent Box Office Performance After The Lion King in 1994, every Disney-produced animated film fell below expectations (see Exhibit 1). When asked in 1997 about the division’s disappointing performance, Eisner replied, â€Å"I don’t think people quite understand our company. We have many avenues to make money from one of our animated films. The video revenues from one of our films are large, the consumer products huge.† Some of the same features that observers credited for Disney Animations’ success—large staff, large budgets, and lots of time—were also blamed for its demise. Disney Animation had just 275 employees in 1988; about 950 in 1994 for the release of The Lion King; and 2,200 at its peak in 1999.9 Competition for animators in the 1990s also caused salaries, which accounted for 80% of each film’s cost, to balloon, with top animators’ pay rising from $125,000 in 1994 to $550,000 in 1999.10 And these pay increases affected employees across the board. In 1994, Eisner refused to promote Katzenberg to president of the company, prompting his swift departure. The absence of Katzenberg, who was generally considered to be the studio’s creative force, struck many as the cause of the decline. As one commentator noted, â€Å"the company’s once-invincible animation studio has fallen on hard times since studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg left.†11 In 1997, Katzenberg, along with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, started rival animation studio DreamWorks. According to reports, in the years that followed, DreamWorks attempted to lure away some of Disney’s best animators. Joe Roth, former chairman of 20th Century Fox, became chairman of Walt Disney Studios after Katzenberg’s departure. In charge for six years, he focused the studio’s energy on live action films.13 Peter Schneider, former head of Disney Animation, took over in 2000 after Roth left. Schneider’s goal was to deliver â€Å"emotional, thematic stories.†14 He worked solely with established Disney directors and producers and relied on his younger development staff to broker deals with up-and-coming filmmakers, in contrast to the hands-on deal-making style of his predecessors, Katzenberg and Roth.15 The product development group assigned directors for each animated movie. In the late 1990s, Disney set up a â€Å"Secret Lab† in an old Lockheed plant near Burbank Airport as a response to the growing popularity of three-dimensional (3D) CG films. The group’s first CG project was the costly Dinosaur, which was released in 2000 to a strong opening weekend, but which ultimately disappointed at the box office. The Lab was shuttered in 2001 after Roy Disney viewed and rejected the second project underway, Wildlife, which he thought was packed with adult themes and strayed too far from Disney’s family-friendly brand offering. Disney then focused its animation efforts on traditional two-dimensional (2D) projects  such as 2001’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire.16 In 2002, under new feature-animation chief Thomas Schumacher, Disney embarked on an aggressive cost-cutting mission. Lilo Stitch, the first movie made in the new environment, cost about $80 million to make, versus $150 million for the 1999 Tarzan. Instead of 573 animators crafting 170,000 individual drawings, a crew of 208 rendered 130,000 drawings.17 Cost-cutting efforts took Disney’s animation department from its high to around 1,100 in 2003. At that point, as rival studios, such as News Corp.’s 20th Century Fox, exited the market, salaries slid precipitously. The market rate for the animator who brought home $550,000 in 1994 was half as much by the early 2000s.18 Apart from omitting redundancies, Disney Animation kept costs down by cutting corners where it could, in ways that were imperceptible to audiences. For example, the group eliminated things such as the number of characters seen in each frame or the amount of motion in the background.19 The televisionanimation unit also produced very low-cost films, like The Tigger Movie, which could make money with only $45 million in box office receipts, since the production cost was kept down to $15 million.20 In 2003, Disney Studios finally set up its own CG animation department. However, many staff members needed to be retrained in the new technology, which cost Disney money, heightened tension, and depressed morale within the studio. Disney decided to slow production on its animated films to give the staff more time to work on them and hammer out the story lines. American Dog and Rapunzel Unbraided, the second and third releases after Chicken Little, were both pushed back.21 Throughout this period, Disney came to rely on revenue and characters produced by its partner, Pixar. Between 1998 and 2004, Pixar CG movies contributed a total of more than $3.5 billion to Disney Studio revenues, and more than $1.2 billion to Disney’s operating income (Exhibits 2 and 2a). Pixar’s contribution represented 10% of revenue and over 60% of total operating income over the period. In 2005, Disney even set up a group known as Circle 7 to produce sequels to Pixar movies. The 40-person staff working on Toy Story 3 in March 2005 grew to 160 people during the followi ng year. Movie Economics While box office revenues from the theatrical release were the typical  measure of a movie’s success, financial success actually came from other revenue streams generated by the movie. By 2005, such sources included home video sales (originally on cassette tapes, but increasingly on DVD); payper-view and video-on-demand on cable channels; television showings, whether on free channels, such as NBC and CBS, or on cable channels; merchandise sales including toys, apparel, books, etc.; and video games and other electronic uses of the characters (see Exhibit 3). By 2005, the largest of these revenue sources was not theatrical box office but home video. Because character-related sales had such a long tail, revenue for a hit animated movie would come in over many years—up to decades for classic movies that were re-released theatrically and in home video form. Given the longevity of a great movie, film libraries were valuable assets. DreamWorks’ film library, for example, was about to be sold to Paramount for $900 million.23 Sequels to successful movies were another important source of revenue. The sequels to Toy Story, Shrek, and Ice Age, for example, generated between 30% and 90% more box office revenue than the originals. Once a character had been established, the existence of a built-in audience for subsequent  movies reduced marketing costs. Successful sequels would also extend the life of the original movie, particularly for animated features that appealed to successive generations of young children. Pixar Inc. Pixar was unusual among movie studios in generating a succession of box office hits. Its first five full-length films each grossed over $350 million.24 Steve Jobs said, â€Å"Everybody has tried to break into the animation market since Snow White was released in 1937. So far, only two companies  have ever produced a blockbuster production grossing more than $100 million, Disney and Pixar.†25 Pixar’s animation broke from the traditional model because the company did not use hand drawings but rather 3D computer-generated models. In 2D traditional animation, frames comprised hand-drawn cels, which required the skills of hundreds of people working for two to three years. Traditional animation constricted artists’ flexibility, too—if a change needed to be made to a character or scene, all subsequent frames had to be changed. Three-dimensional CG, on the other hand, used mathematical models to redraw each cel and mimic camera angles in ways that traditional an imation could not. Pixar used its own proprietary computer animation technology to generate incredibly lifelike 3D images and backgrounds, although CG still could not quite make human characters look perfectly realistic. Said Jobs, â€Å"We have 10 years of proprietary software systems that you cannot buy anything close to in the marketplace. You have to build them yourself.†26 Pixar’s technology allowed animators to manipulate hundreds of motion control points within a single character, to reuse animated images, and to edit easily.27 These technologies enabled Pixar to make animated films faster than its competitors and at a fraction of their cost. For example, the company made Toy Story with just 110 staff members, who spent the time saved on animation to focus on story and character development, as well as fine-tuning visual details. History Pixar traced its origins to the University of Utah in the 1970s, where a young Edwin Catmull studied computer science in a program renowned for creating the new field of computer graphics. Around the same time, Alexander Schure, president of New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), hired a team of animators to make a film version of â€Å"Tubby the Tuba,† a children’s record. Frustrated by the limitations of hand-drawn animation, Schure flew to the University of Utah, where he met and recruited Catmull to work at the Institute. Catmull and his hand-picked team spent four years at NYIT, where they made inroads into the field despite never producing the Tubby the Tuba movie. In 1979, George Lucas approached Catmull’s team with an offer to work on special effects for Lucasfilm, producer of the wildly successful Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. While working there in the early 1980s, Catmull met John Lasseter at a computer graphics conference and the two became friends. Lasseter, a young animator from Disney, had studied at California Institute of the Arts with the likes of Tim Burton. Skilled in art as a young boy, Lasseter read a book on the art of animation and Disney during his freshman year of high school and realized what he wanted to do with his life. After graduation, he joined the ranks at Disney and worked on Mickey’s Christmas Carol. He commented, â€Å"I felt that Disney was, at the time, doing the same old thing. They had reached a certain plateau technically and artistically with, I think, 101 Dalmatians, and then everything had been kind of the same ever since then, with a glimmer of characters or sequences that were special.†30 In 1984, Lasseter went to Lucasfilm’s computer division under Catmull. In 1986, Steve Jobs—who had left Apple Computer the year before—bought the Lucasfilm computer business, then called Pixar, for $10 million.31 Initially, Jobs intended Pixar to be a computer hardware and software company. He spent the next several years subsidizing the company to the tune of nearly $50 million from his personal funds. When the graphics computers did not sell, Jobs cut a third of Pixar’s staff in 1991 and left only the animation division.32 Jobs said, â€Å"If I knew in 1986 how much it was going to cost to keep Pixar going, I doubt if I would have bought the company. The problem was, for many years the cost of the computers required to make animation we could sell was tremendously high. Only in the past few years has the price come down to the point that it makes business sense† (see Exhibits 4 and 4a).33 Software Pixar initially developed three proprietary technologies: RenderMan, Marionette, and Ringmaster. In 1989, the company released RenderMan, a software system that applied texture and color to 3-D objects and was used for visual effects. Pixar used RenderMan itself and sold it to Disney, Lucasfilm, Sony, and DreamWorks, which used it to create effects like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. The program served as Pixar’s main source of revenue during the company’s early years. As of 2005, it had developed special effects for 100 films, and 44 of the last 47 movies that won the Oscar in visual effects had used RenderMan. In 2001, Catmull, along with two other Pixar scientists, won an Oscar for RenderMan and its advancements to the field of motion picture rendering. Marionette, the primary software tool for Pixar animators, was designed specifically for character animation and articulation, compared with other animation software that was designed to address product design and special effects. Ringmaster was a production management system used to track internal projects and served as the overarching system to coordinate and sequence the animation, tracking the vast amount of data employed in a three-dimensional animated film.

Amazon Supply Chain Management and Logistics Management

Amazon Supply Chain Management and Logistics Management The case study I have chosen for my topic is on AMAZON.COM, the area where I would be focusing is on the core concept of e-business and the benefits it provide effectively in adopting e-supply chain strategies. The main focus here in on the word e-as it has change the way of doing business in a global environment. Therefore, technology here plays a vital role in expanding new areas for businesses and enabling organizations to minimize their costs and work more precisely and effectively. Internet has made the world a small village for customers as now customers from across the world can assess any product of their choice by one click of mouse. Internet is world of opportunities as I come across a statement given by Tony Blair (UKs X Prime Minister), If you dont see the Internet as an opportunity, it will be a threat. (Financial Times, 1999) (Barnes 2001) Furthermore, this paper would be focusing on Amazons history and background, and then the focus would be on the product and services Amazon is offering to its customers, the practice of supply chain within the company and its customers. The paper also comprises of the benefits of e-business Amazon is providing to the customers effectively as well as importance of logistics in fulfillment of supply chain strategy throughout the supply chain. Background of Amazon.Com Amazon.Com was launched on 16th July 1995 by Jeff Bezos known as pioneer in e-commerce (R. Spector 2000) with a tag line under the alphabet A Earths Biggest Bookstore and is based in Seattle. At the beginning the web page was designed for selling books with a message at the top of the website Welcome to Amazon.com Books Search one million titles. Enjoy consistently low prices. (R.Spector, 2000). At Present the company is providing three primary customer sets; consumers, Sellers, and developers. The general idea behind Amazon was to serve as many customers as possible with variety of products that the volume of business would generate profits for Amazon.com. (R.Saunders 2001). In the early phase of business the company agreed upon having a very little or no inventory due to costs involved in keeping inventory. In the early nineties many traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers worked with their suppliers in accordance with the concept just-in-time delivery in order to keep the cost of inventory low but Amazon followed almost-in-time delivery introduced by Barton Davis who was the second employee of the firm when Amazon started. (R.Spector,2000). This strategy meant that the books will be delivered to the customers after they order it as they are not kept in the stock until a customer asks for it. At present Amazon have six warehouses where it stocks its inventory. As per the companys annual report of 2009 it indicates that company is experiencing continuous improvement in customer services which is result of 15 years of previous service like speeding delivery, reducing their cost structure in order to offer customers with ever lower cost prices. (J.P. Bezos 2010). Products and Services at Amazon Amazon started with selling of books by filling all orders of books by purchasing from a distributor in accordance with the orders given by customers. At Amazon they have a stock of bestselling books. Amazons main strategy is to keep on expanding the set of products and sell them online. In June 2002 Amazon became an authorized dealer of Sony Corp., selling sony products online (E. Turban, 2006). Apart from books Amazon has added many new product categories such as music, toys, electronics, jewelry, shoes and apparel (S.Chopra 2007). According to the annual report of Amazon.Com (2009), it has added 21 new categories around the world which includes Automotive in Japan, Shoes and Apparel in China. Amazon web services as also launched new services and features which includes the Amazon Relational Database Service, Virtual Private Cloud, Elastic MapReduce, High-Memory EC2 Instances and Versioning for Amazon S3. (J.P. Bezos.2010). Supply Chain Practices of Amazon.Com Before we come to the supply chain practice of Amazon.Com its necessary to define Supply Chain Management, therefore supply chain management refers Supply chain management is a set of approaches utilized to efficiently integrate suppliers. Manufacturers, warehouses, and stores, so that merchandise is produced and distributed at the right quantities, to the right locations, and at the right time, in order to minimize systemwide costs while satisfying service level requirement.. (D.S.Levi 2008, Pg.1). Now, after looking at the definition we come across the real meaning of supply chain management, therefore, if we look at supply chain of Amazon.Com it start from the customer and ends up to the customer meaning its a continuous process which starts when the customer for the first time makes a request for any product at Amazon, it directly goes into his virtual basket and after pressing the buy button and mode of payment he selects a mode of delivery services which includes overnight and various international shipping options (R. Spector 2000). Amazon have a system where orders are recorded, registered and processed and simultaneously, customer on the other hand is immediately apprised of the status of his order and how long will it take to ship the product with the amount of shipping costs involved in it (R. Saunders 2001). Inventory Management at Amazon.Com Amazon stocks best-selling books at its warehouses and get the other titles from other distributors or publishers. To deliver the products Amazon uses U.S. Postal Services, UPS and FedEx to deliver the goods to the customers (S.Chopra 2007). Here we can see the importance of e-commerce in supply chain that how effectively organizations are trying to invest and find new opportunities through e-commerce especially in field of supply chain management. The supply chain of Amazon is very strong just because of responding quickly and accordingly to the customers specification on delivering the goods at the right time, at the right place and at the right price during the time specified According to the annual report 2009 of Amazon.Com, the inventories rose over 200,000 titles at the end of the year which enabled Amazon to improve the availability of products for their customers. Customer Relationship Management by Amazon.Com Every business revolves around satisfying customers and enhancing their relationship for long term, the same implies with providing services on Internet or e-commerce, the general idea is to create a positive relationship with customers. The Internet has played an important role in making it possible for organizations to focus on building relationships with customers and having a direct contact with each customer (S. Barnes 2001). Therefore, businesses on internet can improve synchronization, both within and across companies while providing a direct contact with end users. If we look at Amazon, it has build a strong relationship with all of its customers by meeting up their expectations and trying to be more effective in going beyond their expectations. From the companys more than 80 million customers across the world, more than half are repeat buyers (R.Saunders 2001). The focus of Amazon was to offer customers compelling value from the beginning and to meet customers requirement 365 days a year. According to the annual report 2009 of Amazon.Com, Amazon has relied on Word of Mouth advertisement and to date it remains the most powerful tool in customer acquisition because repeat purchasing and word of mouth has made Amazon to be a market leader in online bookselling. Therefore, it is important for retailers to emphasize on satisfying customers because this can enable them to move first time buyers to loyal customers. Bezos, the chairman of Amazon once said, A pool of evangelists will use the Internet as a megaphone to help attract new customers with word of mouth. (R.Saunders 2001, pg.102) Importance of Logistics in Supply Chain Management Logistics plays an important role in supply chain because it acts as a bridge or link between the entire processes of supply chain as it is the main source of delivering the products to the end consumers in a timely manner as and when required. There is a big challenge in logistics in managing the whole logistics system in order to meet the customer requirements, perhaps, exceeding customer expectations. In todays competitive world and speed of ordering via Internet intensify the need of effective logistics system in order to deploy appropriate levels of inventory, delivering the products within the promised time and also managing the returns if required. The role of Logistics in Supply chain implies in creating a place utility and in managing the time effectively, as place utility is provided through moving the goods from the point of production to the point where demand exists, thus adding a economic value to the goods. Time utility is of greater essence as it is not necessary that the goods and services should only be available where customers need them but also that they are delivered when they actually demand them. These both activities are clearly seen in the case of Amazon.Com as both the services are effectively and efficiently performed by the organisation. Role of Logistics in Amazons Supply Chain There has been a deep research done by different authors in order to find the secrets behind the success of a retail company, and that is offering the right products in the right location at the right time having the right packaging in the right quantity at a reasonable price to the right customer (R. Saunders 2001, pg. 119). This is one of the most core elements of any organisation and seems to be the most important objective in Amazons shipping as well because the strategy is to deliver the product safely to the customer at the time specified. In the year 2000, Amazon developed a Delight-o-meter in order to track the total number of items ordered worldwide. Amazon got high marks in terms of delivering the products in time on holidays from all e-business and e-commerce magazines than other e-tailors companies of the world (R. Saunders 2001). Benefits of e-business in Supply Chain The success of every retail and e-retail depends on providing quality products at good prices having in mind quality excellent services. One of the most important benefit that e-business is providing organizations is to reach hundreds of millions of people open 365/24/7 in just a click of mouse omitting all the barriers which used to exists before. Companies with just a minimal capital requirement can easily and quickly reach to the best suppliers, unlimited customers and even most suitable business partners across the globe. This activity enables organizations to buy at cheaper rates and sell more in number of quantity. E-commerce plays a vital role in overcoming the inefficiencies in supply chain such as delivery delays and excessive inventories can be minimized. Furthermore EB also benefits in cost reduction like decreasing the cost of processing, distributing and storage activities (E. Turban 2006). Companies are now investing heavily in order to get the word E. Customers are getting the benefit due to intensive competition and number of products available to them online, like with just a click of mouse a customer with saving a lot of time can easily gather information of the features and prices of a product and can easily arrange direct shopping sitting at home (S. Korper 2001). Amazon is a classical example of B2C, which means it remains between the seller and the buyer. The objective of B2C is to optimize the business relationships with customers, increasing service levels effectively and efficiently and lastly increasing the sales (E. Turban 2006). Conclusion To sum up I would like to say that e-commerce and e-business play is a life blood of organizations, especially when I talk about Amazon.Com. A comprehensive research has been carried out through my research that how Amazon.Com has evolved its virtual door opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995. Furthermore, I would like to state that e-business plays an important role in managing the supply chain of Amazon.Com effectively and efficiently by offering customers what they are looking for and providing them their products within the time specified. Amazon.Com has become very successful in reducing its costs as well as increasing profitability effectively. The Amazon.Com leaves an example on how to do effective marketing on the Internet and satisfying customers. The role of e-business in expansion of businesses also play an important role as we see now every organisation whether big or small goes on the Web and offer their products or services on the web as well in order to grab millions of customer on the internet. E-commerce plays an important role in minimizing the costs throughout the supply chain and improves the level of service by meeting or exceeding customers expectations. At last but not the least, EC enables companies build a positive relationship with customers by providing direct services to the customers which in turn promotes better customer relationship management and increases customer loyalty.