Westward Hilton Hotel Competitive Advantages Case Study

Westward Hilton Hotel Competitive Advantages - Case Study Example It is evident when Enz (472) says that hotel revenue per available room rose from a rate of $66.65 to $123.10 within a period of seven years. In addition, customers could quickly locate the hotel from afar due to its strategic position made it easy to access. The competitive advantages enjoyed by Westward hotel were sustainable. The hotel had the ability to accommodate many transient travelers. Enz (456) says that the hotel was located in a 13-story building with 300 guest rooms. It is evident the hotel was spacious enough to hold a large number of businessmen and visitors at a go. The hotel management had also employed enough staff to cater for the large visitor turn out. Additionally, though transient travelers do not have a demographic preference, the hotel was strategically located for the tourists acting as an added advantage. The human practices and culture at Westward hotel were not easy to imitate for competitors. For the most competitor, time was an essential and significant component in the production. Efficient utilization of time was the primary cause of success in most hotels. Few if none could allow their members of staff to sleep while on duty. Westward was different as they tolerated some of their elderly workers to take a nap. According to Enz (471), the Westward Company was tolerant and trusted their workers. They allowed an older woman, who worked at the laundry, thirty minutes nap daily while on duty. In addition, Westward had a family environment where managers interacted closely with employees. The hotel management took good care of their employees motivating them and their families. They showered their employees with a seasonal gift during festive holidays like Christmas. Enz (471) further states that Westward gave their employees a chance to be and express themselves. In most business e nvironments, employees are expected to stick to the company rules and regulations.

Dual-career families Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Dual-career families - Essay Example , couples in a dual-career relationship have jobs that require a high degree of commitment and effectively the developmental nature of the professions these couples engage in is high. In effect, such couples pursue careers while still performing their main roles in parenting. These relationships have certain characteristics such as economic rewards for the couples and ultimately to the family. In addition, the family derives an added social prestige when both parents are working. Furthermore, a personal investment on the part of both partners is evident when they commit their time and energy to their careers. However, the commitment of time and energy can influence the relationship of the couples within the family setup. Hamner & Turner (2000) noted that, many working couples with children experienced conflicts in their work and family relationships effectively influencing their performance and creating stress at both work and in the family. Such conflicts influenced greatly on the children’s behavior. In this regard, one big issue in dual-career families concerns absentee parents. As such, house helps, who at most instances lack the basic knowledge in parentage, have the biggest responsibility on children. On the other hand, commitment to work drains the energy out of the parents once they reach home and eventually fail to spend quality time with their children. Effectively, children will pick behavior, at times undesirable, from other people since the parents are not monitoring their children progress closely as should be the case. Faced with such challenges, there are various ways that dual-career families can overcome them. According to Hester & Dickerson (1984), different programs devised by extension personnel are essential in training couples on ways of improving their relationship. Such programs establish unique responsibilities in each relationship advising each couple on the best way to parent their children while both juggle with their careers,

Audience Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Audience Analysis - Essay Example This in turn puts most of them in a comparable social-economic status. Majority are students and either unemployed or doing part-time jobs. In terms of interests, there is the aspect of politics and religion. My audience is comprised of young people who have opinions on virtually everything. They do appreciate politics, maybe not in a similar way though. As for religion, it is all diverse; they belong to varied religious groups from Christians, to Muslims to atheists. I would say that personally, I am quite similar to my audience in all aspects; the ultimate reason for the connection. Altogether, I expect that my audience will be appreciative of my document and me. This is because I voice the concerns of many of them. They are merely youth who seek to be heard by the authorities. They do have needs and expectations; desire for better education, better jobs, and better lifestyles. Perhaps there is a chance that they might dispute my opinion of exercising patience with the authorities as they are all out of it. I do hope though that they will find hope and motivation in the fact that I am willing to speak for them. My readers are well aware of details concerning my topic as it affects them directly. Therefore, they won’t have a problem with comprehension. We all do speak the same language as we belong to a similar affiliation. I will try and use simple enough language for everyone’s comfort. I realize that they may have issues about how I will exercise practicality with my document. I plan to work on this before writing

Summary of Chua Essay Example for Free

Summary of Chua Essay To change the emphasis of mainstream accounting research from hypothetico-deductivism and technical control assumptions to alternative views and obtain a fundamentally different and potentially rich research insights. Aim 1. To enable accounting researchers to self-reflect on the dominant assumptions that they share and, more importantly, the consequence of adopting this position. a. Limited the types of problems studied b. The use of research methods c. The possible research insights that could be obtained Author believes that such limitations can only become clear when they are exposed to the challenge of alternative world-views 2. To introduce such alternative set of assumptions, illustrate how they change both problem definition and solution, and offer research which is fundamentally different from that currently prevailing. 3. To argue that, not only are these alternative world-views different, they can potentially enrich and extend our understanding of accounting. Authors intended audience Positivist researchers, Public, Professionals, academics, All researchers Arguments presented to support main point Recent classifications of accounting perspectives Cooper (19830 ad Hopper ad Powel (1985) rely on the sociological work of Burrell and Morgan (1979) * Classification of accounting literature: 1. social sciences – includes assumptions about: * ontology of the social world (realism v. nominalism) * epistemology (positivism v. anti-positivism) * human nature (determinism v. voluntarism) * methodology (nomothetic v. ideographic) 2. society – characterizes it as orderly or subject to fundamental conflict Burell and Morgan (1979) Four paradigms used to classify accounting theories * Functionalist * Interpretive * Radical humanist Radical structuralist Problems persisted so accounting perspectives are differentiated with reference to underlying assumptions about knowledge, the empirical phenomena under study, and the relationship between theory and the practical world of human affairs. A classification of assumptions â€Å"knowledge is produced by people, for people, and is about people and their social and physical environm ent† Beliefs about knowledge Epistemological assumptions * Decide what to count about acceptable truth by specifying the criteria and process of assessing truth claims * E. . an epistemological assumption might state that a theory is considered true if it is repeatedly not falsifiable by empirical events Methodological assumptions * Indicate that research methods deemed appropriate for the gathering of valid evidence. * E. g. large-scale sample surveys or laboratory experiments that are â€Å"statistically sound† may be considered acceptable research methods. Both sets of assumptions are closely related. What is a â€Å"correct† research method will depend on how truth is defined. Belief about physical and social reality Ontology Object of Study * People may be viewed as identical to physical objects and be studied in the same manner * Criticism: people cannot be treated as natural scientific objects because they are self-interpretive beings who create the structures around them (Habermas, (1978) and winch (1958)) How people relate to one another and society as a whole * Every social theory makes assumptions about the nature of human society-is it, for example full of conflict or essentially stable and orderly Relationship between theory and practice Questions Purpose of knowledge in the world of practice, How may it be employed to better people’s welfare * Theory may be related to practice in several ways, each representing a particular value position on the part of the scientist (Fay (1975)). Unlike Burell and Morgan, this set of assumptions is used to assess the strengths and weaknesses of alternative perspectives in accounting. This is not an attempt to describe world-views in a value-free, non-evaluatory language

Signaling and Screening Approaches in Car Manufacturing

Signaling and Screening Approaches in Car Manufacturing Signaling and screening are key approaches to minimize judgmental errors in situations where there is asymmetric information. One such situation occurs when a firm wishes to assess individuals for consideration as a prospective employee. This report reviews and applies the different concepts studied to a car manufacturing company, Audi. The structure of the paper will be as follows: elaboration on various signaling approaches, an evaluation of the firm’s effectiveness and relative costs with respect to Audi, followed by showing the business outcomes subsequent to the use of different approaches. Finally, recommendations are made to allow Audi to boost its effectiveness in identifying the most suitable applicants. The Audi Group (AG) has been named one of the most successful car manufacturers in the premium and supercar segment. A total of 1,751,007 cars have been delivered by the company to clients compared to the 1,634,312 cars in the past fiscal year. Conversely, a new record was constructed when the main brand ‘Audi’ amplified its total number of units delivered by 8.3% to 1,575,480 vehicles. The AG manufactures in ten sites worldwide and these production sites consist of two plants in Germany while another eight other facilities are in Belgium, China, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Russia, Slovakia and Spain. Moreover, its front-line logistical practices; synchronised Audi assembly system and an extremely competent workforce of approximately 73,751 assure uniform standards globally. Since each Audi production site attains high standards of excellence, productivity and conservational suitability, this could be the reason for the many awards received by the AG in 2014 which includes the ‘Best Employer Award ’and ‘World Car of the Year’. While some theories hold common views, others have conflicting ones. For instance, the human capital theory identifies that an increase in level of education has critical impacts on profitability and productivity. On the other hand, pure signaling theory states that education does not result in productivity towards the society and questions the investments which individuals made when seeking them. Under human resource management, signalling often occurs during the recruitment process. This is illustrated by Spence (1973), where it shows that signaling theory is concerned with reducing information asymmetry between two parties. Spence (1973) developed the labour market to showcase education as a signal. As employers have limited information regarding on the quality of job applicants, these applicants thus obtain education to signal their quality and reduce information asymmetries. Hence, Spence’s model emphasises on education as a way in transmitting characteristics that are unobservable of job applicants. The next signaling theory utilises two variables- high and low quality firms. In this model, imperfect information exists, where firms know its own worth, while external sources such as investors and customers do not. A choice is then made by each firm on whether to signal its true qualities to outsiders, based on the different payoffs that are presented to them. For each of the different quality firms, two payoffs will result for the various decisions made. The high-quality firm will receive payoff A if it chooses to signal and B if it chooses not to. As for the low-quality firm, it will receive payoff C and D for the respective decisions. Since both firms are assumed to make rational decisions, they would choose whichever option which gives them a higher payoff so as to be better off. With this assumption, there would be a separating equilibrium where high-quality firms are motivated to signal and low-quality firms are not (i.e. when payoff A is greater than payoff B and payoff D is larger than payoff C). It also effectively enables external sources to identify high-quality firms from low-quality firms. However, a pooling equilibrium occurs when both types of firms benefit from signaling (i.e., A > B and C > D) and outsiders can no longer differentiate between the two firms. From the financial economists perspectives, firm debt and dividends are used as representation of signals on firm quality. These signals will influence the external environment of its opinions on the quality of firms. Ross refers to this quality as ‘‘an unobservable skill of the business to earn positive cash flows in the future using financial structure and/or managerial incentives as signals’’. By doing so, only firms of high-quality are able to make interest and dividend payments over a long period of time as low-quality firms cannot bear such payments. Understanding the concept of quality is important since it is a distinctive factor in most signaling models. Quality refers to the fundamental, unnoticeable capability of a signaller to satisfy the demands or needs of an outsider observing the signal. This idea of quality may be similar to reputation and prestige, but are essentially derived from the signaler’s unnoticed feature. Based on the understanding of concepts from various approaches, three elements of the signaling process are identified: the signaller, the signal and the receiver are looked upon. Moreover, each of these elements below will be illustrated using Audi, the selected manufacturing company. Firstly, signallers are known as insiders that can acquire information concerning an individual, product or organisation that external parties are not entitled to. The insiders include directors or executives of the Audi Group. Information obtained can either be positive or negative and usually consists of confidential and high level details on Audi’s products or facilities. As the information is confidential to the insiders, it allows for some aspects of privileged perception on the primary quality of the individual, product or organization. The next element is the signal itself. This is the point when insiders make a decision on whether to share the information to external parties. In a signalling theory, the focus is on relaying positive information to achieve positive organisational attributes. For example, distribution of shares is a form of negative signal which displays that executives believe the company’s stock price is overvalued. The insiders’ main aims are to reduce information asymmetry while the negative signals sent are often an unplanned consequence of the insider’s action. An efficacious signal comes in two forms signal observability and signal cost. ‘Signal observability’ refers to the extent to which external parties are able to notice signals. When the steps taken by insiders are not easily detected by outsiders, communication with receivers will become unlikely. ‘Signal cost’ under the signaling framework will contain the fact that a number of signallers can absorb the associated costs better than others. For instance, the costs related with gaining ISO9000 certification (a certification which considers different aspects of quality management) are high due to the process of accreditation being relatively time consuming as well as preventing false signaling. Nevertheless, a high-quality manufacturer would find ISO9000 certification less costly unlike a low-quality manufacturer as a manufacturer that is of lower quality would need to implement more changes in order to be presented the accreditation. False signaling occurs when a signaller does not have the basic qualities connected with the signal but trusts that the benefits of signaling outweigh the costs of producing the signal. Therefore, in order for signaling to remain effective, signaling costs have to be planned so that false signals do not pay. The final element is the receiver. Based on the signalling models, receivers are the exact opposite of signallers whereby receivers do not have access to information regarding Audi but wants to have it. Hence, there is a conflict of interest such that any deceit would allow the signaller to have an advantage over the receiver. Signaling ought to have a strategic outcome which typically comprises selection of the signaller in favour of other possibilities. The approach on this signaling is that outsiders will benefit directly or collectively with the signaller from the decision made based on the data attained. To illustrate, the receiver can choose between hiring, purchasing, or investing. By reading the signals carefully, interested applicants will be able to identify if the skills and capabilities that the individual have are the right fit for respective firms and thereby do a self-selection for the firm to consider the applicant on hiring prospects. Audi engages using various aspects, besides putting in place attractive monetary benefits, to send out indirect but positive signals to show that Audi cares about the employees’ well-being. These aspects include the provision of job security, professional development, and healthy working environment between coworkers and supervisors along with other attractive non-monetary incentives. Audi is dependent on the skills and commitment of employees of excellent traits. Thus, feedbacks are often performed amongst employees to measure the extent of satisfaction levels. Due to its prominent existence and continuous international growth, Audi is capable of using its national and international ratings to signal themselves as an attractive employer worldwide. For example, it is known that Audi has the biggest manufacturing facility in Germany and has even invested in an institution that provides training and learning opportunities to employees. This effectively allowed Audi to become the few top employers in the region with over 33,729 employees. Employers need to find ways to motivate employees in order for signaling to be effective as dedicated and well-trained staff is vital for Audi to progress and succeed. One way is through personnel development where employees are led, challenged and cheered on in the beginning so that their fortes and ideas can be applied. Thus, an organized, intensive and reliable model for the ideal improvement of all workers is being executed. The organizational structure of Audi is another signal that attracts many job applicants. What the company looks for is neither the rank nor the period of service of an employee, but rather the loyalty, performance and capabilities that makes them an asset to the firm. This shows that Audi has a decentralized hierarchy where specific knowledge is required and responsibility is at all levels. Hence, being a recruit may not necessarily be a disadvantage. Moreover, supervisors evaluate an employee’s performance by making the decision on his/her wages increment and future prospective of the individual by communicating with each other. This method is also closely linked to promotions where Audi uses the concept of ‘‘good performance – good opportunities’’. It gives an employee the opportunity to learn as much as possible from various divisions through a manner of ‘on- and off-the-job’ selection. Most companies use salaries to signal applicants and/or employees. Audi has effectively put the signal to right use when the rewards received by employees are considerably greater than the initial negotiated amount. With profit-sharing distribution, satisfaction levels are likely to increase, in turn driving motivation. Each individual employee’s credentials, proficiency and former experiences determine the amount of remuneration he/she receives. Audi ensures that new entrants are assured a healthy work life environment where a range of benefits are available and entitlement to ‘‘open-ended contracts’’. These benefits cater to families where childcares are taken into account for employees; and to individuals where health insurance is of utmost importance to maintain as a strong health-focused workplace. More importantly, Audi takes care of its employees even after retirement through the ‘old-age pension scheme’. This may be the reason for Audi’s recent achievement of the ‘‘Best Employer 2014’’ title as employees are never hesitant about praising the company to others. The above section desribed many effective signals which Audi uses to attract potential employees. However, due to the outcome of demographic change and overall value formation processes, Audi still faces the risk of a shortage of professionals and/or skilled workers. As such, the human resource division are found to be focusing heavily on individual development, supporting the employees with extensive training programs to help them develop multiple skills. However, Audi failed to realise that these signalling approaches are very costly to the firm and needs to be reviewed through the following recommendations which could reduce cost significantly and at the same time achieve efficiency. In this model, there are two periods considered: the probation period and the non-probation period. Audi can adopt the probation model by first assessing employees during the probationary period with a relatively lower pay. If the worker is able to pass this probationary period, then a high wage is given subsequently. This effectively ensures productivity and constant monitoring of employees so that the right type of applicants is attracted to the company. By having an ‘old-age pension scheme’ for its retiring employees, it shows Audi’s valuation and treatment of its employees. A suggestion to allow senior employees of various specialties to join the senior management or board of directors for recruitment assessment of new applicants could be a relatively more cost-effective measure and the risks of selecting the wrong applicants would definitely be lowered as senior employees have the knowledge and experience to screen for potential employees. Self-selection, in the context of recruitment refers to a process whereby the right employees for the business decides to apply while the wrong employees does not. Hence, it is crucial for organisations to send signals to attract applicants and it would be an added bonus if signals are presented such that individuals perform self-selection for consideration. Bearing this in mind, Audi may consider a ‘‘piece-rate contract’’ which indicates the pay levels received by the individual when he/she attains a certain level of productivity. Thus, Audi will be able to deter less skilled workers from applying and only skilled workers are being screened. Besides conducting satisfaction surveys, Audi should instead implement a suggestion scheme where employees can provide valuable inputs to improve productivity and ensure the safe operation of manufacturing. To encourage participation, a reward in the form of extended off-day leaves or sponsored specialized education can be provided to the employee whose suggestion is acted upon by Audi. Audi can consider including other forms of incentives which consists of individual incentive plans and/or team incentive plans. Individual incentive plans can be ‘‘straight piece-work’’ system where work is less challenging and more acceptable by employees since it can be easily understood. This ensures that employees are more comfortable with the task given and will be motivated to produce efficient work. While it has been noted that Audi uses profit-sharing distribution on top of bonuses, it would probably be a better incentive for the firm to use stock ownership or options as awards instead since the effect on financial statements would be minimum and the additional profits earned by the firm could be used for further enhancement in research and development. Overall, the signaling theory is a useful indictor to describe the conduct of individuals or organizations when information is available. Normally, the sender will decide on the method and audience to send its signals to while the receiver learns to interpret those signals. However, the use of signalling approaches needs to be an appropriate fit to the business so that additional cost would not be incurred at the extent of the organisation’s and employer to employee relationship growth. Taking Audi as an example, if Audi is able to improve on its signalling approaches, the business will continue to be an attractive employer worldwide in the long run.

Avons Marketing Strategy Essay -- essays research papers

Avon’s mission statement is to be the company that best understands and satisfies the product service and self-fulfillment needs of women globally. They state on their web site that their dedication to supporting women touches not only beauty-but health, fitness, self-empowerment and financial independence. This is a good mission statement for a company selling beauty products to women all over the world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Avon started selling beauty products door to door in 1886. For generations women have been purchasing Avon products from small catalogues through a representative calling on consumers in their homes. During the days when most women were at home rather than building their own careers this method of direct selling was appropriate. In 1979 Avon purchased Tiffany & Co Jewelers as well as a chemical maker and health-product company. By the year 1988 Avon was removing themselves from the health care industry. Their debt had reached $1.2 billion and stock prices had bottomed out. During 1989 Avon was the target of two take over attempts. The company was successful in warding off both bids. Avon launched their new web site in 1997. This was a turning point for the company as they were offering products directly to the customers thus cutting out the need for the representatives that they had spent decades relying on. Avon estimated that they had 500,000 sales representativ es in the United States alone. The sales results from this Internet site have not produced the gain the company had hoped for. In 1998 Avon set up mall kiosks around the United States. This was their first attempt at operating retail stores. This was a major departure in the way the company has done business in the past. The intention of the kiosks was to aim sales at younger consumers not already aware of the Avon brand. To help the relationships between Avon and its sales representatives these kiosks are now franchised to the representatives. Andrea Jung was named CEO of Avon in 1999. During the year 2000 Avon relaunched its web site emphasizing the availability of Avon representatives on line to help potential customers with their needs. At the same time Avon created a new product line to be carried by major retailers and sold only in stores.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Avon’s sales have increased but at a rate of only 5% per year during the past ten years ... ... telephone number that commission is earned and this is not a way to gather information for other purposes. Avon will want to make customers aware that they now have the opportunity to shop in the convenience of their own home, and one of the most inexpensive forms of advertising will surely be word-of-mouth. This will certainly be used if sales reps are confident that they will receive the amount of commissions they deserve. As a result, Avon will also want to implement a â€Å"first time user profile† that will allow customer’s who are registering for online purchases to indicate who has referred them to their sites, and provide an incentive such as commission if this person is a sales representative.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Avon will be able to measure its success by monitoring its sales and profit growth. The company will also want to evaluate the market share it owns in the online business in comparison to competitors. Should this online business fail to be profitable in the long run, the company may want to reevaluate its current target market and determine if the most users of their products do have access to computers and feel comfortable using this new method of shopping

Case Study Analysis: Erp Implementation for Nibco

Unit 6 – Case Study NIBCO’s â€Å"Big Bang†: An SAP Implementation Professor: Richard Yellen Student: Vo Ngo Lan Phuong Course: Ham 23 ID: 217496 Professor: Richard Yellen Student: Vo Ngo Lan Phuong Course: Ham 23 ID: 217496 Hanoi, 11/2012 CASE STUDY Table of Contents I. Overview3 II. NIBCO’s implementation of ERP solution3 III. Pros and Cons of â€Å"BIG-BANG† approach for ERP4 IV. ERP project implementation: lessons and recommendations6 List of Reference9 Case Study – NIBCO’s SAP Application Implementation I. OverviewThe case shows the implementation of SAP ERP solution in NIBCO, a manufacturer of pipe and fittings, a mid-size manufacturer with about 3,000 employees and revenue over 460 million USD. The company has implemented successfully the full package of ERP solution, provided by SAP, the leading solution provider under the consultancy of Boston Consulting Group. NIBCO has gained the success by good management and project team u nderstanding, determination and experiences. The method of implementation of NIBCO for this ERP solution is running all in one day, this brings the company to a quite risky situation if something wrong happens.But the company has run the system successfully, with positive results. The implementation succeeds because of all the planning, personnel, management and the cooperation with application providers and consultants. NIBCO has over 3,000 employees and operates 10 plants, and 17 centers for distribution over US. The databases and information systems are not integrated therefore cannot communicate and collaborate effectively, which causes time and efforts wasting. Also, over the years of development, the business processes change, the information data increase, the old system cannot meet the demands of cross functional operations.With the consultants from BCG, NIBCO has developed a plan for implementation of new ERP system, using professional solution from a leading provider, SAP. The aim of NIBCO is to set up a new, large, integrated information system to replace the old system, connecting and integrating all the IS from factories, plants and distribution centers all over the country. With the initial project duration estimated as over 3-5 years, the management and project team has implemented the whole system in only 18 months, and successfully. II. NIBCO’s implementation of ERP solutionUsing the consultancy services from BCG, the information system of NIBCO was very weak and poor. The system do not support the provision of information for manager timely, did not support process of decision making, especially for functional departments as accounting, purchasing, selling, marketing and customer supports. Due to the lack of real time data sharing the management and manufacturing meets difficulties to improve quality and efficiencies. Over the years of operation, factories and departments have implemented their own modules or application such as order entry, manufacturing, distribution and accounting.Because of the non-systematic application and implementation, in separate factory and department, each user may have their own software, different version, and separate database. Therefore it is difficult to integrate and cooperate among factories and distribution centers. To implement the new system, NIBCO has used professional consultancy services, purchase leading software application from top vendor, and assigned top managers to manage project team, system development, and IS staff for planning, and integrating, designing, installing the new system.Although the BCG determined that there is a need for a change in information system of NIBCO, the current system is â€Å"poor† and needed â€Å"cut loose† to grow the company and become more global. The BCG’s suggestion for three to five years implementation should be too long, somehow, this can cause more cost and efforts for NIBCO than actual need (Brown, 2012, p. 491). III. Pros and Cons of â€Å"BIG-BANG† approach for ERP NIBCO used the approach called â€Å"BIG-BANG† for ERP implementation, or cutover aiming to put the whole information system to run in the same day, at all the factories and distribution centers, especially for common and key modules.All the business units, most of employees will be affected by the new systems at the same time. In fact, the other approach can be doing a pilot implementation at a factory or distribution centers, or only implement for only a few popular units. But this way can cost more time, efforts and cannot test the capability of the whole system. Also, with the investment in consultancy and purchasing the leading solutions from top ERP vendors, the NIBCO aim to get the new system run for all the business unit, and the real time running can also test the performance of the new system, also save cost and time for implementation.Running all at the same time can also help the testing of int egration and cooperation among factories and distribution centers. The big-bang or cut over approach requires the good skilled personnel, and also training for the new systems, working processes and running, maintenance the new system. The productivity was reported a reduction in the first month after the new system running, but improves gradually in the later months. The accounting reports can be done in two or three day, rather than two to three weeks when using the old systems.Also, with the new system, sharing and collaboration helps reduce inventory, as much as 25%, and also increase the fulfillment ratio from 80% to 95%, service quality has improved to 98%. Source: http://www. nibco. com/ The BCG consultants noticed that the legacy environment and databases are out of control, which cause IS and IT staff too busy with fixing the issues more than focusing on developing supporting system for functional activities.The company used professional consultancy services from BCG but do es not follow the suggestion from BGC, the cutover or big-bang approach was implemented because the management leaders do not support multi years plan; also the fund for the project was 17 million USD, and will take one fourth of the company’s members to involve in implementation for the project. The shorter time the project takes, the better and more effective it will be. IV. ERP project implementation: lessons and recommendations 4. 1. Human resource for ERP projectProject was leaded by the CEO, as the project Champion, Rex Martin, who acted as the project leader and project champion. The top manager plays the key role to the ERP project, because this type of project will involve and affect all people and departments and units of company. With CEO in charge, the project will be supported by all the Vice Presidents in decision making and raising the resources for the project. The CEO set up the Executive Leadership Team to act as the screening and monitoring committee, this team plays a key role in managing the project because it help to make sure that all decisions are made at the highest level.The CIO, and also the Vice President, Scott Beutler was responsible for the ERP package, it means that the VP of IT and IS will be responsible for the functionalities of the software application, during process of project. The Information system managers, Gary Wilson, together with all the IS staff (about 30 people), will be involved in project, support the operations and implementation, development, maintenance. The CIO, IS leaders and IT staff will the support of top leaders will play key roles in assessment of ERP packages, testing, demonstration and operating the systems.The key modules of ERP package for NIBCO, SAP R/3, includes: finance, supply chain, material, warehouse management, production planning and management, sales and distribution. Also, the HR module was purchased but will be implemented later. The leaders have played key roles in running the p roject, for example, Beutler manage the business process; Wilson for technology and software packages, and Davis for managing project activities. Because of the scale of project, and it potential effects, one fourth of the company directors have been appointed to the project management board.This shows the commitment of the managers and also provide enough human resource for project to make sure that it can cut time from 3-5 years to 18 months. The participant of leaders and managers will make the project decisions faster and it may be the key reason for shortening the duration of project. 4. 2. Working with solution vendor ERP project requires both software, hardware, networking partners to involve in implementation. NIBCO has selected IBM as third party provider for the system’s infrastructure, SAP as the software solution provider.For the experts and engineer support, NIBCO and partners appoint six consultants for functional and business processes, who work regularly with the project team. Also, the maximum personnel can be raised to as many as 50 consultants at high time. The other personnel are also provided for training, reporting, programming, technical assistance, knowledge management †¦ All the supports are officially stated in the contract with solution providers and partners. In fact, Wilson has an IS department and personnel number up to 30, also he had mainframe application, HP and IBM platforms.The NIBCO has four legacy systems for order entry, manufacturing, distribution and accounting, but the problem is they are bought separately, with separate databases, which make integration difficult or very hard to implement. NIBCO has considered and evaluated seven ERP packages in depth and in details. With the experts and business from functional departments involving in assessment process by testing the modules, from several vendors. They are also sent to visit the previous or typical customers to get the feedbacks from real users.The key c oncern was the finance and supply chain management modules, using the shared database, and should be able to connecting and integrating all the modules together. 4. 3. Project management team The scope of the project is decided for all the factories and distribution centers, the operation was stared on the same day for ten plants and all distribution center. This decision for scope was quite risky but saving time and cost for NIBCO. The project team was released sooner than planned, the productivity was down a little bit but improve gradually, the project cost was a little under budget.All these factors are because of good experience and collaboration in project management. The key to success may be the Tiger triad, which was led by Wilson and Beutler, who was working full time with ERP project. The Martin was added by CEO appointment to joint Beutler and Wilson as a third co-lead project. David with experience in total quality management could help project focus on change managemen t and maintaining quality. 4. 4. Training inside specialist For ERP project, training and technology transfer is key to success.Core knowledge and skills need to be transferred to IS department and all the functional departments for operation and maintenance. Source: http://www. sap. com/solutions/bp/enterprise-resource-planning/solutions-overview. epx Four director leaders and two business system analysis were selected for review roles, working with other leaders from sales and distributions. One fourth or seven out of twenty eight directors of NIBCO have been selected for project as full time. These people must have good business knowledge to see the potential issues and settle conflicts. 4. 5. Project team assignmentThe project managers are assigned for specialized teams, including: sales and distribution, financial, material management, and production management. Each team work together with experts from solution vendor. Business member will consider process, business functions, power users, business process analysis. IS and IT engineers will be responsible for technical sides, including infrastructure, programming, testing, installation and running. Each team has their supporting IBM consultants, with their technical knowledge to that they could make joint decisions, and also transfer the knowledge to NIBCO core team at the same time.Consultants from solution vendor, SAP, also work together with the team. The final project cost was 17 million USD, and one third for infrastructure cost, including the solution software. One anther third for education, team work and the last one third for consulting (Brown, 2012, p. 501). 4. 6. Experience in change management The cutover approach or big-bang implementation of ERP package as NIBCO used requires a good change management in all business functions and department. Because business processes are changed, much or little depends on the nature of business, therefore all the related staff will be affected.Also, the ap plication in wide range, all ten first factories and distribution centers will be affected same day, same time. The key to success of NIBCO implementation can be the careful planning and actions. The analysis and design, communication and management effectively, as well as the good coordination with consultants and vendors’ experts. The support and direction from top management to departments’ heads involving the implementation of ERP can also contribute to the success. Big bang implementation requires change management that was not key strength of IBM.Training was used widely to increase skills and knowledge of users, with 450 different business activities in 15 locations. Open communication by provision of information to project teams, over 1,200 hours of training, over four months before going online or Go Live. The grace period was used for more scenario training, with more focus on business processes. After intensive, effective and serious training, the company co uld be ready to operate R/3 on its own without solution or partners expert working on site. List of Reference 1. Brown, 2012, Information Technology Management – 7th Edition, Prentice Hall