Geology Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Geology - Assignment Example Religious divide on the other hand seem to disagree with idea of millions of years and squeeze it to before six days of creation (Dawkins. 2012). Having gone through all this for years I tend to agree with the scientist. â€Å"Young Earthers,† are ignoring the overwhelming â€Å"scientific† evidence for an old Earth. It is certain that both the scientist and men of religion do agree on the story of Noah and the arc (Dawkins. 2012). The scientist then went ahead to study the consequence that such a catastrophe might have left on the surface of the earth. Because the flood did take place it must have left some effects on the surface of the earth. This argument is so compelling because looking at millions of years of erosion at Colorado River the Grand Canyon was formed and such activity must have took place during Noah’s flood (Dawkins. 2012). Many geologists, who are Christian and non-Christian, have looked at the hundreds of thousands of feet of rock layers and fossils worldwide have simply assumed that the Flood didn’t produce them (Dawkins. 2012). They went ahead and invented theories that those rock layers and fossils formed long ago before we came into existence. We can’t ignore the fact that global, year-long, catastrophic Flood did happen at the time of Noah. We can say this with without doubt because of the authority of the historical record in the book Genesis. Such a catastrophe must have therefore left a massive amount of geological evidence (Dawkins. 2012). Since the flood took place it must have buried both vegetation and creatures and as water recede back they must have eroded many of the sediments laid down in the first half of the Flood and redeposit them elsewhere (Dawkins. 2012). As we look at the thousands of feet of rock layers and fossils worldwide surely Flood could have produced them. If such an event was to take place today, it will be naà ¯ve for us to think that no geological features will result from it. To

Outline the main features of the current legal regime for the Essay

Outline the main features of the current legal regime for the exploitation of the International Seabed - Essay Example The United Nations’ resolve was timely to intervene in terms of internationally acceptable legal framework, to assist states to achieve an equitable access to the resources bestowed to these uncertain areas. This study attempts to analyse the features of the current legal regime that touches on the international sea exploitation. It explores internationally set regulations and conventions attempting to introduce control and order over the resources. In the first section, origin of conventions and bodies associated with the control of international seabed exploitation is visited. Perhaps it is appropriate to lay the foundation to the current regulatory framework, by briefly mentioning some of the earliest conventions aimed at introducing order at the international seabed. In line with this, the discourse adopts a chronological order for the conventions, it terms of the date of formulation. The second section explores features of some of the regulations thereon. Current legal regime concerning international seabed could have obtained inspirations from a few international regulations formed several decades before. Perhaps a major development in the 17th century towards the same spirit was the Freedom of the Sea Concept which was generated in the context of orderliness in high seas.1 Later, it was common for such regulations such as the Copenhagen Convention of 1857, whose limited scope of intentions was to introduce order in the handling of access of the Baltic Sea. There was territorial uncertainty in the preceding year, compromising shipping routes, which was resolved by a financial undertaking for Sound and Belt dues handing it over to Denmark.2 The Hague Conference of 1930 was convened with an intention of defining regulations to govern international waters control.3 However, the initial ambition by the LON for creation of an international seabed

AN310 Cultural Anthropology Assignment 5 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

AN310 Cultural Anthropology 5 - Assignment Example There is no denial in the fact that every aspect of living has faced a change due to the evolution that includes transportation, ways of banking, communication techniques and many others. In every home, there is an accumulation of technological elements that are essential for the home life and for the workplace and at times combine both. Due to the evolution of technology, it has become easy to approach anyone that has its own benefits and pitfalls. Through the mobile phones, one can simply access the other family member. Although, it has resulted into lack of security and space and due to this, family rules are formed related to the technology punishments. The task of workplace can be assigned through mobile phone at any time thus, dividing the family time into the work time. I personally believe that technology has changed the structure of family and family life. With the advent of technology people have started giving less time to their family and more time to people who live far away from them. Even when family members sit together they tend to ignore those who are with them and rather communicate with those who are far away. Molitor, Graham. "Communication technologies that will change our lives. - USA Today Magazine - Nbr. 1312692 - Author: Molitor, Graham T.T. - Id 54521417 - vLex." News and Business - United States - vLex. N.p., 1 Jan. 2003. Web. 26 Jan. 2013.

Ethnic minorities Essay Example for Free

Ethnic minorities Essay The ethnic minorities in Britain are composed of many different people of different ethnic origins. Stereotypically, most people consider the ethnic minorities to either be Black or Asian and alienating these two groups from the rest of the society that makes up the ethnic minorities. The many other people, who could fall into this category, are people such as the Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Jewish, Gypsies, Asylum Seekers and also those who are part of the European Union Enlargement and are legally entitled to work in the UK. In the Asian Community, there are many sub-divisions as there are with the Black community. For example the Asian community is made up of Muslims, Hindus, Bengalis etc, yet on the table shown in the question paper there seems to be no notification of this. In the 1950s, there was a mass of ethnic minorities, mainly the Irish (due to the famine) who entered Britain due to the mere fact that there was better housing and more jobs, and to this day, the ethnic minorities are still increasing. Ethnic minorities make up about 7 per cent of the population of Great Britain, but generally their representation in politics and government is lower than this. This note sets out the latest figures for the Government and elected bodies. In 1997, the former president of the UK, John Major was overthrown by the new candidate Tony Blair. His success was easily gained as he had persuaded the population that he would serve them well, and that the public could trust him. Also, during this year, there was evidence of high volatility. The official party in power pre-1997 where the Conservatives, and they were not in the good books of the public as they had introduced the Poll Tax, which was found to be very unpopular. Due to this reason and many others, Blair managed to secure two terms for himself. However, in the recent by election in Hodge Hill, which took place on July 15th showed that 36. 5% of the voters voted for Labour which was extremely close to the Liberal Democrats who managed to secure 34. 2% of the votes. These results compared to the results in 2001 are extremely unexpected because in 2001 Labour won 63. 9% of the votes, and the Liberal Democrats managed only 8. 1% of the votes. Also, in Leicester South, the by election results for Labour were 29. 3% and the Liberal Democrats were ahead by 34. 9%. This was more of an unpredictable result because in 2004 Labour won 54. 5% of the votes and the Liberal Democrats managed 17. 2%.

Business Model Of Zara In The Fashion Industry Commerce Essay

Business Model Of Zara In The Fashion Industry Commerce Essay Established in 1975, Zara is one of the most successful retailers of todays world. Their clear focus and vision has made them to tap the power of the fashion. Operating in 62 different countries it has nearly around 2500 stores all over the world. Zara under the flagship of Inditex, (a holding company located in Northwest Spain) is a fashion imitator, it comprehends what its customers desire and then designs and manufactures according to their expectations. Zaras business working model is quite diverse from the other retailers; this makes them set out in the market. It has promoted the message of high fashion at a lesser cost across all countries through its unique and different selling techniques. The Sustainability of Zara Understanding and comparing the Business strategy and the financial differences of Inditex and its major competitor will help in understanding the sustainability of Zara in the international apparel market. Gap which is one of Zaras major competitors sells the same range of merchandise with a less trendy style. HM (Hennes and Mauritz) a threatening competitor too has been quick to internationalize, which allows them to gain sales in countries outside their native Sweden. HM also is more attentive when entering new markets and tends to enter one country at a time, as opposed to Zara who multitasks globally. Furthermore its been known that HM has 85% current assets in its business where as Zara has only 50% of current assets. This shows that Zara has more of fixed assets and its current assets are quite fast moving as seen in its business model. Spains well-liked brand Zara, aims to offer the latest catwalk style at the most affordable price. Zaras women and mens collection is divided into three categories. With a unique product strategy Zara comes up with 14,000 designs per year, with new designs appearing in the stores globally, twice a week.  It generally focuses on performing key activities differently in its supply chain which is 2-2.5 months that makes it sustainable and sets challenges for its competitors. The key factor that makes Zaras design sustainable is the wide assortments of whisking budget interpretations of catwalk products as customers these days prefer spending on education, healthcare, electronics and travel, then on clothing due to recession. Another factor that makes Zara prolonged is its store location and layout. Although products are at inexpensive rates, their aristocratic stores layout makes it feel exclusive as they are large, swish and centrally located. The company doesnt spend much on advertising as it believes to give the added value to their customers rather than spending on brand promotion. While its rivals start planning their lines on average nine months before they hit the shelves, Zara has a reputation for instant reaction to fashion trends and rapid restocking of stores. Zara can make on new line, from the initial concept to when it arrives in the shop, in just three weeks. In addition the  Zara technology makes the designers in daily contact with store managers, discussing which items are most in demand and which are not. (Bmelie, 2006). Zara recruits talented young designers and trains them to take swift decision. This way it has re-thought the fashion business and developed into a concept of its own and its efforts are therefore focused on reducing the time between design and sale which means that its production cycle is entirely different from fashion sector norms. The focus on market changes means that 85 percent of products are manufactured in the season they are sold. The Retail Environment In the retail environment, the cycles of products, sales volume and analysis and direction of locations are conveyed to the designers by store manager and sals associates so that Zara designers in Spain can quickly respond to customers preferences during seasons. Moreover, no stock holding concept has seen to be the most outstanding idea of Zaras retailing strategy while rest of fashion retailer keep conducting traditional function of buying and holding stock. This strategy indicates that Zara requires a speedy interaction with current fashion trend. All new items are introduced twice a week and presented in store shelves in only two weeks. Reducing the cost by controlling stock improved Zaras earnings and retailing efficiency. In terms of manufacturing, Zara sources grey fabric to get the most flexible in-season updating, and to turn it into various kinds of garments very easily. In addition, the best benefit is that grey fabric suits for its basic black collection. Additionally, Zara buys fabric: un-coloured and semi-processed one based on the immediate their designers need which colours up close to the selling season, couple with making the clothes itself. These help Zaras manufacturing fast, no more than few days, while other competitors companies take up to months (Dutta, 2002). Thus, Zara is competent to develop a new product line within three weeks. (Michael A. Hitt, 2008)(Ghemawat, 2003). Zara has excellent international strategies both in manufacturing and retailing which been organized and conducted well leads Zara become one of most successful case in fashion industry.   Customer orientation and the paramount suppleness form the bases of Zaras business model. Its 480,000 square meter centralized distribution system is capable of handling 60,000 garments per hour. The market clothing is always in development and movement. The distribution channel is the network which links producers with users yet international distribution strategies are difficult to manage since distribution structures differ from one country to the next (Keegan Green, 2003). Below is the model depicting the factors on which one can determine the sustainability of Zara. The Win- Win Strategy Discussed below are the ways in which Zara has shown its influence on the retails brands and the fashion market. These impacts can be seen as affirmative as well as negative. In the high-speed racing with fashion industry, there is no one that is better than ZARA. So what makes Zara a true winner amongst others? The answer is: Zara has highly affected the fashion industry in a short span of time. It has fashioned a position for itself in the middle of the crammed full retail market. There are a number of key positive influences of Zaras model in fashion industry. Firstly, Zaras highly effective supply chain can get product to store in a week, whereas traditional clothing retails spend more time, usually one or three months. This provides customers with latest collections each time they visit the store and also more options to pick from. Secondly, Well-developed IT syste has certain benefits: it increases productivity, which accelerates to improve quality, increases the work intensity and the complete IT system provides the software support for the successful operation in the fashion industry. Zaras successful business model not only maximizes the profit and saves time but also they provide an excellent business example for the whole fashion industry. Finally; Zaras successful business strategy provides as a study example for the other fashion companies around the world. For example, Chinas famous fashion brand -Metersbonwe, follows Zaras model. In 2009, Metersbonwe costumes opened Terminal Direct-oriented work, which was a huge adjustment to their retail network and for which they spent nearly one billion Yuan in a nationwide purchase. As the proverb goesevery coin has its two sides, there are some unconstructive impacts of Zara in fashion industry. First of all, confronted with such a thorny issue, Zara has been accused of flagrant pricy, which it denies. And theres perhaps a certain amount of snobby in the implication that a company from an obscure corner of northern Spain has no right to ape catwalk styles (Mark Tungate, 2005). In addition, Zaras design, they directly collect and copy the new fashion information all over the world through the network. Zara might require paying a large compensation due to Plagiarism problem. This has seriously affected the integrity of the fashion industry. US market poses as a big unique challenge for Zara, as its not able to have the same impact over America as it has on the rest of the world. In the present highly fragmented nature of fashion retailing it has become necessary for Zara to differentiate itself from its competitors in the North American market. All these difficul ties oppose Zara to establish themselves in the culturally diverse background and to have an impact on the US market. Conclusion Giving a tuff competition to the luxury brands such as Dior, Channel, Armani and many others Zara is entering into the luxury brand market through its branding and marketing strategy. It dresses women, men and kids in a sexy retail environment which might appear to look quite expensive and exclusive than what it actually is. A well-known U.S publishing institution; in one of their releases referred to a very remarkable concept: fast fashion, and predicted that Zara will be the consumer trend for the next decade. Nevertheless, under the economic crunch, Zara is facing unprecedented competition and challenges in global fashion market. It truly is a global fashion brand and the day is no far when it will be considered as a fashion icon in the fashion industry. Journal Articles from electronic source Expansià ³n-Empresas. 2003. Spains Best Brands. Available at http://www.brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=197 [Accessed on 9th January 2010] Baiidu. 2010. Available at: http://baike.baidu.com/view/ [Access on 7 January 2010] Virki, T., 2009. World teens cutting spending on clothes, games. Available at http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE58E6CQ20090915 [Accessed on 10th January 2010] Books Jackson, T. and Shaw, D. (2001) FASHION BUYING AND MERCHANDISING MANAGEMENT. PLGRAVE Publish. Pp: 114-115 120 -127 134 174-176 Hines, T. and Bruce, M. (2007) Fashion Marketing Contemporary issues. Elsevier Ltd. pp 28-33 40-50 55-61 Keegan, W.J. Green M.C. (2003) Global Marketing 3rd edition, New Jersey, Prentice Hall. Journal Articles Ying,F., Carmen, L. 2009. Internationalization of Spanish brand Zara. Emerald Journal article, Vol.13 No. 2 Mazaira, A., E. Gonzalez, Avendano. R. The role of marketing communication on company performance. Emerald Journal Article, Vol 10 No.3 Online Newspaper Articles James.H. 2008, Zara is now bigger than Gap, Telegraph [Internet] 17th August. Available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/2794912/Zara-is-now-bigger-than-Gap.html [Accessed on 10th January] [emailprotected] 2002 The Speed of Fashion [online]. Available from: http://www.3isite.com/articles/ImagesFashion_Zara_Part_I.pdf [Accessed 13 January 2010] CNN. 2001 a Spanish success story [online]. Available from: http://edition.cnn.com/BUSINESS/programs/yourbusiness/stories2001/zara/ [Accessed 14 January 2010] ICMrinda organization. 2006. Available at http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Operations/OPER055.htm. [Accessed on 8th January 2010] Images http://alwaysnewmistakes.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/zara.jpg http://lh5.ggpht.com/vincent.vanwylick/SBb7__KLLnI/AAAAAAAAAlo/40-BFhhw2U8/Zara%20versus%20HM.jpg publications Inditex. 2008. Annual report 2008 Zara. Available at http://www.inditex.com/en/shareholders_and_investors/investor_relations/annual_reports [Accessed on 11th January 2010] Marketing good businesss even better. 2008. The story of Zara. Published by Sister Pblications. Available at http://www.uniquebusinessstrategies.co.uk/pdfs/case%20studies/zarathespeedingbullet.pdf [accessed on 5th January 2010] http://www.shoppingnsales.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/20090624-zara-sale.jpg http://vuesociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/zara.jpg http://www.techo.com/media/gallery/original/Zara_CZ_04_001.jpg

The Escalation of Piracy :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The Escalation of Piracy    Copyright laws were created in the late 1700s to protect authors from having their work reproduced without their consent. These laws have been in effect ever since in most parts of the world and have done little changing to keep up with the times. Piracy is the unauthorized use or reproduction of copyrighted or patented material. Piracy has been an issue for many years, but is gaining more and more press recently because it is getting out of control. Everything from books to video games are being pirated and it is costing their respective industries billions of dollars. There are varying degrees of piracy, and can be considered anything form downloading an artist’s song form KaZaA or mass distributing illegal copies of expensive business software.I will first discuss the casual pirate. This can be defined as anyone who violates copyright laws and steals intellectual property for their own use. This includes downloading music, movies, or software, or burning copies of these. The second form of piracy is the pirate that distributes this material for a profit. These pirates will buy or steal a copy of a program, and sell it on the internet for a fraction of the actual selling cost. The thing with digital reproduction is that a copy is exactly the same as the original, no quality loss. On top of that it costs the pirate nothing to produce, max 40 cents. That way he can sell the pirated software for whatever he wants. A 6000 dollar program can sell for anywhere between 100-500 dollars. The latter of the two of these forms of pirates have historically been the target the industries and government have been trying to stop. But recently most of the press has been going to the causal pirate. Peer to peer networks and the increasing popularity of faster broadband connections have led to a dramatic increase in illegal downloads. Anyone with an internet connection has instant access to music, movies, software, even video games to download for free. The most popular of these downloads however is by far music downloads. According to a February 2004 article form Wired Magazine’s website on a Monday morning at 10:00 there were about 3.1 million people sharing on KaZaA. And that is not peak time. This number far surpasses Napster’s numbers in its hay day. The fact is that peer to peer sharing is here to stay and there is vary little the RIAA can do to stop it.

Oriet Gadish – Ceo of Bain & Co

I ended up working for the number two person in he military after the chief of staff. It was a pretty exciting place to be because all of the Information-?everything actually-?was coordinated through there. I learned to deal with an awful lot of Information, to be very responsible, and to work long hours. But also, when there were events going on, I was in the war room, which is a pretty confined space, and I learned to have respect for other people but also not to be intimidated by them, because they're people. I think that really helped me later on throughout my career.I also saw people making really important decisions, life and death decisions, and I realized that you can always afford to have perfect Information, 100 percent of what you need, In order to make a decision. Later on, when I think about the way we do business at Pain, where we emphasize providing clients with solutions that are practical rather than perfect and where we often have to make decisions based on imperfec t information, I think back to those days. And it just reinforces the idea that you can always have perfect information in order to make a decision.I think I was tongue to understand that fully at the time but it has certainly Influenced me. The army also exposed me to all different kinds of people. The Israeli army brings together people from many different cultures because Israel Is very much an Immigrant country; it still Is. The Israeli is a little bit European, a little bit Middle Eastern, a little bit American, and within those broad groups there are so many different cultures as well. From Europe, for example, the Israeli is a little bit German, a little bit Polish, a little bit French, a little bit-?you name it.And so I learned to be aware of different cultures and to tolerate deferent opinions. And somehow I hind all of that influenced me as well, although again I was probably too young to register It at the time. After the army, I got my undergraduate degree In psychology at the Hebrew University. I then started my doctorate, decided that's not what I wanted to do and, long story, I ended up in the United States at Harvard Business School. The HUBS Experience My MBA has played an incredibly important role in my career.I wouldn't be where I am today without it. Saddles -1- Initially, I set out to earn a Doctorate in Business Administration (DAB) and planned to get an MBA along the way. I had imagined I was going to teach. So I started with the combined program that four or five of us got into, which meant you could do the MBA and the DAB in four years. Just to be on the safe side, I decided to finish the MBA first. After that, when I started my DAB, I decided that business was not something I wanted to teach. It was something I wanted to practice. O walkout an MBA, I probably wouldn't be doing what I'm doing at all and I might not even be in this country. HUBS was, in effect, the only school I applied to, mostly because it didn't require a background in economics or other subjects as most business schools did. I also had a friend who had studied at HUBS, and when he talked about the experience it seemed very interesting. So I decided to submit an application. I actually wrote it in Hebrew and had somebody translate it for me. Then, Just to be on the safe side, I also took that application to Wharton and they accepted me, literally, on the spot.They were also going to give me a scholarship, but I would have had to study statistics during the summer and I decided I didn't want to do that. So I came to Harvard, which didn't give scholarships for the MBA program. Also, inflation was really high at the time so it was expensive to take out a loan. But because I was also in the DAB program, I got a scholarship for my doctoral work, which, when I didn't finish the DAB, became a standing loan. That was the only way I could afford HUBS and get through the program. HUBS was my introduction to the United States.I would read cases with my di ctionary. I still remember the first case. It was eleven pages including the exhibits and it took me six hours to read. I was pretty desperate because literally every second word I had to look up in the dictionary. And the dictionary didn't give any business meaning to most of the words. For example, the dictionary described he word â€Å"contribution† as being something about giving to nonprofit organizations. So reading the cases was extremely time consuming and hard. And then I would take my dictionary to the classes or to exams. Exams were the worst.It would take me three times as long to read an exam. I'd always sit in the first row and if it was a really long exam, I'd write at the end, â€Å"This took me three hours and twenty-five minutes to write, but here's what I would have done had I had time to actually run the calculator. † In class, I forced myself to speak even though that was difficult too because of the language. If I couldn't find a word, I'd use six words to express the idea. I Just had to force myself to do things like that and that's how I learned English. I also had never seen television, but I'd heard about advertisements.We didn't have TV advertisements in Israel; there were none. So I went to a classmate's dorm room and I would turn on the TV to see what the ads looked like. I also had never been to a large supermarket. So I went to a supermarket to see what it looked like and how products were set up and so on and so forth. One time, we had a final exam on cereal, something that I had never tasted. I still don't like it, but at the time, I didn't know what it was and I couldn't imagine there were sixteen varieties and why would you want more? I also had no idea who Johnny Carson was.So I was learning quickly about the United States and its culture, and I was learning the language. I had no problem when there was a case in Turkey or almost anywhere international. But I had a problem when Johnny Carson or cereal was part of the case. Gaudies -2- In school, I paid almost no attention to the fact that I was a woman. I had enough challenges: learning English, figuring out business issues, figuring out how to study even though I couldn't read English as quickly as my peers. In fact, I had one course where the cases were forty or fifty pages long.I went to the professor and I said, â€Å"Are there any particular cases that I should read? Because I can read each one of those every day Witt my Angels n. † Ana en salad , â€Å"Well, winy don't you Just all T ten class I thought to myself, â€Å"Well, I don't intend to. † And I did, actually, get an excellent grade in that class. I studied all different areas of business as well. I think it was important for me to not get too focused on any one area at that early stage. Had I completed my doctoral program, I would have focused on marketing because I was interested in that.But instead I took a broad mix of courses in my second year. I benefited from that and, actually, that absolutely has helped me throughout my career. I learned that you should be able to focus on one or two things and be extremely good at them but if you lose your curiosity about other things you're not going to be good even in the few things you focus on. You'll be much too narrow minded or much too narrowly focused. The other interesting thing about HUBS was the case method. The first class I as in, I thought, â€Å"This is nuts. † Then I realized that it was a great teaching method because it forces you to be involved.It forces you to be a part of the discussion. It forces you to listen to the way other people think about a problem. You're active as opposed to Just passively listening to a lecture. And it allows you to draw on things that are not in the case but that maybe you learned that morning in marketing. I am on the HUBS Visiting Committee and every now and then they teach a case. I Just love it. I really enjoy it. And again, almost alw ays in real life you make decisions based on imperfect information† to some degree, and the case method is a good exercise to prepare you for that.Early Career It's very hard when you are Just coming out of an MBA program to figure out what life is really going to be like and bid for a Job. But I was drawn to consulting because of the problem-solving part of it, which has always been my interest. And what I loved about Pain and Company was how practical it was. It was not about reports; it was about results. It's still not about reports. It's still about results. I have still never looked at a report. I don't think there is any other consultant who can say that.And it was very clear, when Bill Pain talked about the company, that he and the other people at Pain were passionate about results. Focusing on results calls for a different way of doing consulting. Now, mind you, I could barely write good English so the idea of not writing reports was a big plus for me. But I liked the idea that you really were thinking about results and implementation and not Just a report. That causes you to think about how you're going to communicate with clients, what you're going to communicate, and how perfect the information has to be to find a workable solution.That's different from happily consulting, where the focus is to convince clients that the solution is theirs and that it's the right solution for them so they Gaudies -3- will implement it. At Pain, it was all about solutions and implementation, and that appealed to me. Bill Pain had been the number two guy at Boston Consulting Group (BCC) and, by all accounts, was going to be running BCC eventually. But his idea of focusing on results was at the time a fundamentally different way of approaching consulting.BCC focuses on ideas and on developing tools that we all still use today and I give them credit because they're fantastic tools. But Bill wanted to take it a step further and not Just leave clients with ideas. He wanted to focus on results, not reports. That was revolutionary at the time. Changing course for a boat that was working very well-?and BCC was doing extremely well and was very highly regarded -?would not nave Eden easy. So 3111 tarter Nils own consulting Tall. I Nat was ten Pain I Joined and that's how we differentiate ourselves from our competitors.Being anchored in this idea of results not reports keeps us focused. So we're constantly asking ourselves, when I call Monday morning at 8:00, what is the client actually owing to have to do in order to make our recommendations happen? The case is not finished unless we know what steps he's going to take to implement the solution. And there's something I call the 80-100 rule, which means you don't want a 100 percent perfect solution if an organization at this time in its history cannot implement it. It's better to have an 80 percent solution if the organization can implement it.Eighty times one is eighty; 100 times zero is zero. This practical approach, focusing on strategy and results, is what we call our â€Å"True North. † And with that you have meeting you can evolve around and build on. Everybody in the organization knows that that is the core of what we do. You can build new practices, you can experiment with new ideas, you can also move very quickly and change, as long as you know that this is the focus that you're all working toward. And I think it has served us very well. First Client My first major client was a company in the steel industry, which was, at the time, an uncommon place for a woman.I worked in the steel industry for about five years. We worked on all different aspects of the industry, but at the end of the ay one of the things we figured out was how they could save an awful lot of money by continuously casting almost 100 percent of the steel. At that time, there was some continuous casting going on, mainly in Japan, but it was more common to reset the production processes for every different type of steel needed. We discovered, however, that if the company could move to continuous casting, they would be able to save between $80 and $100 per ton.The issue was that in order to continuously cast steel, you could use only one mix. But there are many different varieties of steel, requiring different mixes, that different customers need. There are different alloys you add to steel to make it higher quality, lower quality, stronger, softer-?whatever. But we thought if we could reduce the number of steel varieties and the number of mixes used, we could introduce continuous casting and save a lot in the production process. That was unheard of in the United States. Gaudies -4- Everybody said, â€Å"No, customers won't want it. So I went and talked to customers and found that they actually would be happy to do that. We found that there were a lot of customers who were perfectly happy to take a higher-quality steel as long as they didn't have to pay much more for it. The n I was stuck with a metallurgist who said that it could not be done. He explained to me why there are 300 different kinds of steel. I didn't know anything about metallurgy but I went through all of the varieties of steel and had him explain to me what each one of those steels was meant for and then I asked questions and triggered him to think. If we added aluminum to this, would this still satisfy this kind of customer? † He said, â€Å"Oh, yes, that would be much higher quality than they need. † We were able to bring the number of varieties down room 300-and-some to thirty. By the end of the discussion, the guy absolutely believed I knew metallurgy, which I did not. It was Just this practical way of working. The company did indeed build a continuous caster, and they did indeed save a lot of money, and they did indeed turn around from being number I don't know what to Deluge under one In proactively In ten country.I gnat's an example AT ten work we 00 at Pain. It's inv igorating to have real impact like that. Being a Woman in Business The first time we met with both the CEO and the SCOFF of the steel company, I had two presentations to give. I was with one of the founders of Pain. My manager was there too. In fact, I was the most Junior person there. At one point, the SCOFF was talking about how he was going to arrange a tour for us of the other steel companies. In the steel industry, companies shared a lot of information with each other. They still do in order to prevent accidents and so on, for safety reasons.Anyway;ay, the SCOFF was talking quite enthusiastically about arranging a tour for us and then he stopped and froze. He was looking at me and then he said, â€Å"Well, I don't know about Root. † Nobody had any clue what he was talking about. Then he said, â€Å"Well, you see, women are considered bad luck in our industry,† and everybody froze, the CEO and all the people in our group from Pain and Company. I Just turned around and said, â€Å"Well, in that case, I think that you should make sure that I go to every single one of your competitors. † That broke the ice and that was it.I went on to work in the steel industry for five years. I loved it. They even made a special hat for me. It said, Root Gaudies and then it said, â€Å"The Little Light Will Lead Us,† because my name Root comes from the Hebrew word for light. I was definitely one of the guys and I enjoyed it. Actually, there was one other funny story. In the steel industry, people used to use a lot of four-letter words. At the beginning, people would realize I was there and it would make them uncomfortable. They say, â€Å"Oops! I'm sorry. There's a lady in the room. † I remember once sitting in a room with the guy who later became the CEO.And he said something that had a four-letter word in it, and suddenly he said, â€Å"Oh, there's a lady in Gaudies -5- the room. † And he turned to me and he said, miss, and as I wa s saying to you yesterday, Root,† and he repeated it again so he actually made a point, which is kind f fun. Another time, there was a big meeting and this was clearly holding everybody up. So I looked for the right time and I used one of those four-letter words in a sentence the way they did, and that was it. They were comfortable talking again. And then we were Just working and moving forward together.I thought, if that's the language here, then that's fine. The lesson I learned was never to take it personally when somebody thought that a woman couldn't do something, whether it was a client or even a colleague at Pain. For example, once at Pain, very early on, one of the menders, one of the managers, and I were visiting a client. At one point, the founder said, â€Å"Dan, why don't you go and talk to X? Root, why don't you go and talk to-?oh! Actually, I'm not sure how he'd react to a woman. † I didn't say anything then but the next day, I knocked on his door and said , â€Å"Did you realize what you did yesterday? And he said, â€Å"No. What did I do? † I told him and then I said, â€Å"l completely understand. But if I don't get a chance, then none of us, not Pain, not you, and not l, will ever know if I can actually talk to people like that and if we can have a productive conversation. He was very thoughtful. And the next time we went together to a meeting, he gave me a chance to have an important conversation. The conversation went well and that was that. I had taken some responsibility for managing the situation. I hadn't gotten upset. And I knew that this was not personal. It was the same with clients.I'd walk in Ana teen would always assume Tanat I was ten most Junior person. I learned to use either a sense of humor or other little tricks to force them to forget that I was a woman and to Just focus on what we were doing. One time, for example, I was with he CEO of a company in the Midwest. I'd actually been on the case for a while . I was a manager. I had a brand new consultant with me, a young guy named Paul. We were sitting talking with the CEO. I would ask a question and the CEO would listen to me and then he would direct his response to Paul. It made it difficult for us to really engage in a discussion.So when the CEO went out to say something to his secretary, I told Paul, â€Å"Every time I ask a question, when I'm done, Just look at me, so the guy will get tired of looking at your ear. He'll have to look at me as well. † And, honest to God, Alfa an hour later, the guy was Just looking at me and we had a good discussion, and we continued to have good discussions after that. I never had to say a word. You can have a sense of humor. You can know that it's not personal. And you can Just find creative ways to solve the problem. But at the end of the day, the most important thing is that you deliver. That's not unlike what guys have to do.And frankly, in most cases, once people get over the fact that you're a woman and start focusing on what you're saying and what you're doing and the results that you provide, the fact that o'er a woman is completely forgotten. It's like in the steel business. After a certain point, I don't think they could even remember that at one point in time that they even thought about me being a woman versus a man. The Automotive Industry Later, I worked in the automotive industry with a major car company. We started with two little projects but quickly discovered something not related to either one of those Gaudies -6- projects.We realized there was too much complexity in the number of options for cars being offered. Basically, you could have any combination of options you wanted. So the car manufacturers were producing cars with all kinds of options, and not necessarily based on market studies of the combinations customers preferred. So there were either too many cars that people were not particularly interested in or it would take a year to get your ca r with the options you wanted. We calculated that there were about ten billion combinations of Just about every car line they had and that was, of course, absurd.That didn't make sense for suppliers, for dealers, or for manufacturers. So we came up with a program to reduce the number of combinations of cars made in the plant from ten billion to Just fourteen. If somebody wanted a special car, they could still order it but it would take longer. To reduce the number of combinations so dramatically, we went back and looked at all the cars that were purchased. From all of that data, we figured out which combinations people preferred. Our findings were pretty intuitive actually. The salespeople said the dealers would hate it.In fact, the dealers were ecstatic because too often they had cars sitting on the lot that nobody wanted. The customers liked it because we had figured out the options they tended to prefer so they weren't walking away with options they didn't really want. And of cou rse the manufacturing team loved it because you could save a hell of a lot of money by streamlining production and limiting the number of combinations you had to manufacture. Initially, neither the salespeople nor the marketing people liked it, because they really believed that customers wanted all Kolas AT pitons.From ten time AT Hoar, when you could n â€Å"any color you wanted as long as it was black,† to Sloane, where you could have absolutely anything you wanted, the industry had gone from one extreme to the other. To make a long story short, we were able to convince the marketing and sales people that this would work. And eventually we were able to come up with this program, which reduced the time to delivery from months and months to days. And throughout the entire system, from the suppliers to the manufacturers to the dealers, we ended up saving this company on the order of $9. Billion a year. This was in the late sass. I'd say the company was proud of our work and we were proud of our work. We learned some of this from Toyota and Ionians. But you learn from wherever you can. If you're really good at what you do, you learn in one industry from what somebody doing in another industry. That's one of the benefits of working on a broad set of issues in diverse industries and always bringing them into whatever you're doing. Hard Times at Pain After all of these years, I think dwelling on precisely what happened is kind of irrelevant.The fact is that the founders of Pain started to take some money out. They had some bad advice from an investment banker and they took too much money out of the company. That meant the company was burdened with a lot of debt relative to its size, with a very high interest payment going forward. The model they had used was based on the company growing at a refit of 50 percent a year. Although the company had grown at Gaudies -7- that rate in the past, it was, of course, not practical. To make a long story short, that was a n unsustainable model.The first inkling the rest of us had of the situation was when the founder fired people, which was a complete break in the unwritten social agreement that existed at Pain and Company. Because we're a consulting firm and this was an SOP, the labor department eventually made the whole transaction public. That's how the rest of us learned what, exactly, was happening. After that, we had to turn around the company without the founder. But I'll give Bill Pain credit; he was the first one to realize that he had made a mistake. He asked Mitt Rooney to come and help and then Bill Pain worked hard to try and help turn the situation around.The founders had to give back some money. We had to negotiate with banks, and so on and so forth. But it's a situation that very few service firms have ever survived. In fact, we were told by an investment bank that we were not going to survive. But we asked Mitt Rooney, who was then head of Pain Capital and had been Vice president of Pain and Company, to come back. He really helped us negotiate tit the banks and handled other issues related to the situation so that the rest of us could focus on our clients and on our people, since those were the only assets we had left.Reputation is the third asset a company like ours has, and that was shaky given the fact that the story was in the news. So the rest of us focused on clients and on our people. We worked hard too to make sure that our most important people didn't defect. Headhunters were calling every single person in the company. We also focused on our clients. Our existing clients knew what we were doing to resolve the rises so we were okay there. It was more difficult when we went to beauty contests Tort prospective new clients Ana our competitors would leave ten latest Fortune or Forbes or whatever saying what was going on at Pain.It was getting those new clients that mattered most to us. And that's what we focused on. Internally, we had a few defections. But when I think back, there was only one major defection, in terms of the key people, that I really felt bad about. So we managed to avoid mass defections. I remember one day somebody came into my office and said, â€Å"l want to talk to you about a Job offer. I was vice president, and I was a real open door, so these people felt comfortable talking to me. And I thought, in this particular case, this guy is so much better at consulting than he would be at what he was going to do, and I said that to him.He said, â€Å"Well, but I don't want to be the last one here. Everybody's talking to headhunters. Isn't that right? † I realized he was right. So I called every headhunter I was talking to and said, â€Å"Don't call me,† which was actually taking a risk. I decided to stay with Pain and Company unless things fell apart. So the next time somebody name into my office and said, â€Å"Everybody's talking to headhunters,† I was able to say in all honesty, â€Å"Well, I' m not. I'm absolutely committed to staying here. † Soon after, the first guy came back to me to tell me that he too had decided to stay at Pain after I told him I wasn't going anywhere.And I asked him to do something that was very counterintuitive. I asked him to go out and tell people that he had received a Job offer, that he had seriously considered taking it, that he had in fact said yes to the offer Gaudies -8- and that he had decided instead to stay with Pain. He said, â€Å"I can do that. You don't do those things. You don't want people to know. † I said, â€Å"What? You told me that everybody's talking about leaving, or at least talking to headhunters, but nobody talking about the fact that they have decided to stay.I think it's a pretty powerful story. † So he hesitated, and then he agreed to spread the word about his decision. That was the beginning of a reversal of what could have been a mass defection. I then became chairman, but I perceive the leaders hip of this firm as a partnership. The partnership really is what comes first when we think about our governance. I was chosen through a selection process by all of the partners. The key criteria centered on people who are very good at what we do in our business.Throughout the history of Pain and Company, our selection of leaders centers on the people here who have the most impact with clients. We wanted a chairman who would serve as a role model in that. So in our company, people in senior positions continue to work with clients and not Just to sell but also to do the real consulting work. I still have clients I work with, and it's the only way to (a) keep me interested, (b) keep me up to date on what's really going on with clients, with our company, with our team, etc. And (c) keep the consulting we do strong.If you take senior people away from the consulting, which they are good at, and shift them to doing only administrative work or selling or public speaking-?all of which we do too of course-?then their experience is not available to the clients and it's not available as mentoring to your own team. So I agreed to become chairman on the condition that I would be able to continue to work with clients. I think that sets us apart from other professional service firms. Today, all of our senior people, the ones who are the most highly regarded, continue to work tit clients and, most importantly, they want to continue to work with clients.The clients are always canalling. I en problems are always canalling. So Its Important to keep learning. This is a pretty exciting business because of that. And, in my case, I play an international role as well. I work with international Coos. And I mean I really work with them, I do not Just interact with them. It's very exciting to see how Coos think, how government and business interact in different countries, how culture affects business, etc. It's fascinating. I love the international aspect of my work. I Just sis I didn't have to travel so much for it. I don't like to travel, but I love what I do when I get there.In terms of time management, I used to say that I spend 70 percent of my time with clients. That's probably true but I probably work more than 100 percent of my time. But really you don't break it up that way. When I'm abroad, for example, I might do client work in the morning. Then I might talk to U. S. Clients in the evening or talk with my secretary about administrative issues. I meet with our people in our various offices to talk about their clients or internal issues. I might be giving a beech in Germany, for example, and then work with people from the office on the way over there.If you have a lot of energy, you can put a lot of things together. It's not a precise science. It is not even a precise art, but it is an art. You Just have to have a lot of energy and to really love what you're doing. Gaudies -9- Critical Success Factors I don't tend to think about myself much. I'm very goal oriented when I go forward. But I think a big part of what consulting does has to do with psychology and learning to really listen to what people are saying both verbally and nonverbally. Having a â€Å"True North† has also been key. It has kept us focused on strategy and results as inseparable.Strategy combined with results is very powerful. Strategy without results is meaningless, and results without strategic thinking may not be very productive or useful. So combining almost everything we do with strategic thinking and results is critical. There were times when we actually had to fight to keep that. We had a lot of discussions about it. We ended up calling it our â€Å"True North,† and today it is Just part of the language here and part of how we think about critical decisions. We'll say, â€Å"This is a real true-north question,† when we have a really difficult decision to make.We have even â€Å"resigned† from some pretty lucrative projects when we didn't believe that results were going to happen. We do it with dignity, after a lot of discussion, but those are hard things to do. For example, a large Fortune 50 company got into trouble. We were asked to come in and help them. We helped them turn around financially but we also saw they had to turn around strategically. This was one of our major clients. We were involved in almost every aspect of their business. Anyway;ay, the papers were writing about what a great turnaround they were doing, and so on and so forth.The CEO was on the cover of all kinds of magazines. But strategically, we believed that they could not be involved in the four businesses they were in-?that, eventually, they would not be able to sustain that business model. There was one business they clearly should have gotten out of, but it was part of the legacy of the CEO, and he didn't want to get out of it. We did all of the analysis and all of the people in the organization agreed with us. But we couldn't convi nce the CEO. For six months, I had discussions with him. We had data. We Ana eve n Eng. Ana teen we Salad, â€Å"Well, In Tanat case, we Delve Tanat you can't thrive.You may not even survive long-term. † We suggested that they might want to sell themselves to somebody at that point, and we identified who might be the best buyer for them. Instead of going that route, they continued on with the four businesses. We decided to tell the CEO what we thought, that not moving in a more forceful strategic way could cost him the company. Since he didn't budge, we said we would resign, although I asked him for permission to go to the board, which, to his reedit, he let us do. One of my colleagues and I went and presented our views to the board.The board was split but eventually decided to side with him, and that was that. We resigned. Less than a year later, they came back to us and said, Mimi were right, and could you please help us now. † At that point, they had no option but to sell. They would not have been prepared to sell had we not pushed for that earlier. And we might not have suggested that had we not been following our true north. We really told them what we believed and even though there were lots of other things we old have continued to work with them on-?for tens of millions of dollars-?we really decided that was not the right thing to do.When they came back to us, we helped them sell. The social issues had Gaudies -II- been resolved by then. There was less money than they could have gotten the year before, but the shareholders still did pretty well. As the CEO and SCOFF said later on, â€Å"If it weren't for your guys and your willingness to stick to what you believed, we probably would be bankrupt. † If you have a true north and a set of core values that you stick to, you will end up making decisions that have short-term costs. But I believe, at the end of the day, they will have a long-term value.It's not something you do easily. And i t feels horrendous-?first because you feel like you failed to convince a client to do something, which is what consulting is all about, and second because of the short-term costs. It's a hit to the collective pocketbook and to your own. But when you have a true north like we do, it's really what allows you to deal with internal divisions and external adversity at the end of the day, and I think we're very lucky that we have that. I think it can create a distinctiveness from your peers or your mediators, and I think that's invaluable.Changes in the Industry I think the world has come back to where it was before the e-craze. There used to be consultants who were mostly focused on IT. There are companies that are focused mostly on informational stuff. And there are companies that are focused, as a headline, on strategy. That's where we are except that we have always focused on the operations side as well as the strategy side of a business. We believe you can't do one without the other. And then there was a period during the e-craze when everybody tried to do everything. We didn't and I think it has served us well.