Group Assignment: Post # 5

(1) Business may violate privacy or ethical rights without realizing it in many ways such as Spamming and Cookies.

Spam
Spam can be refers to unsolicited commercial email (UCE) and unsolicited bulk email (UBE). Spammers collect email addresses in many ways. For example, they regularly use some search engines to harvest email addresses automatically from web pages, newsgroups, bulletin boards, directory services ... on the Internet. They send spam to advertise products/services and recruit victims for scams.

Cookies
Cookies are small text files used on most commercial web sites. The files are sent from a web server to a web site user's computer and are stored on the hard drive, so that when the user visits the web site again, the site will remember him. It is less privacy and not safety since stranger can get your personal data to do some illegal activities.

(2) In order to avoid spamming and cookies, user are advised to safeguard their email address. For example, they should not disclose your email address when filling questionnaires from unknown organizations. Also, user can setup their server-side mail filters or installed with anti-relaying control to prevent their data.

Also, people was suggested to use the opt-out model in some serach engine such as yahoo acoount. When user create an yahoo account, they need to opt-out of those offers and marketing communication by unchecking the boxes.

Group Assignment 3

1. According to the information given,
Fixed cost : $140000
Variable unit cost: $14,550 ( $0.97 x 150,000)
Expected unit sales: 15,000 unit
Unit Price :$ 1.99 (best estimate)

Observably, under the break –even analysis system, it shows that company only need to sell about 137254 units at the price of $1.99 to make break even or make back total cost. As they forecast expected unit sales of 150,000 burgers in 18 months. Then they can earn the profit about $13,000 and wouldn't be facing bankruptcy.

It is a very good tool / system for company to consider the relationship of fixed cost variable cost and profit. The graph shows the data clearly and comparison in order to help the middle and senior management level to make some of the decision as below:

(1) What is the break-even unit (Middle Management)
(2) How do we set the product's unit price. (Senior Management)

Base on the OpenBravo ERP demo, here is the module can be used to handle each step within the Order-to -Cash business process below:

Accept/ Enter Order- Sales Management

Order Acknowledgement- Sales Management

Purchase Materials -Procurement Mangement

Receive Materials-Procurement Mangement

Production-Production Management

Packing-Sales Management

Shipping-Sales Management

Invoicing and Collection -Sales Managemnet

Account and Finance, Sales & Marketing need to coordinate from start to finish of the Order-to- Cash business process.

ERP software integrated different processes, it able to easily share a program or data, customer can check the status accurately and directly, it is more satisfied customers and saving time.

Also, it has analysis tools help the manager to assess needs and resources, designed the strategic planning.

Group Assignment: Post # 4

(a) Supply Chain is a network of organization and process for producing raw materials, transforming them into products and distributing the products. Under UPS Supply Chain process, it offers transportation and freight services (Air, Ocean, Rail / Intermodal, Road), logistics and distribution, consulting, and international trade services. They are not only move goods reliably and cost-efficiently, they also provide accurate and timely shipment tracking and communications to their clients in a user-friendly manner. Here are more details of how their supply chain support to the client:

Transportation and Freight Support

- Air freight
- Ocean Freight
- Rail intermodal
- Road Greight
- UPS Critical
- UPS Trade Direct
- Specialized Services

They manage local and international transportation so that products are delivered at the right time, to the right place, in the right way.

Logistic Support (warehouse management, order process, distribution)

- Design and Planning
- Distribution
- Order to Cash
- Post – Sales support
- Supplier Management

Their portfolio of services includes consolidation, pick and pack, pre-distribution, warehousing, distribution center by-pass, customs clearance and even integrated solutions for end-to-end handling. They manage supplier, item, order and shipment details to ensure what you order is what you receive. Also, they track events and milestones, report progress and exceptions, and alert you when action is required.

International Trade Support
- Customs Brokerage
- Import / Export Technologies
- International Trade Consulting
- Managed Services
- International Trade Resouces

They manage and monitor documents to ensure accuracy in comparison with the purchase order, and to track customs clearance progress. They have the latest customs programs - such as remote filing services and entry reconciliation , it help client to keep their business on the leading edge.

Consulting Support
- Demand Responsive Model
- Supply chain Strategy
- Customer Management
- Product Design
- Planning
- Procurement
- Production Fulfilment
- Cash Management

They work closely with government agencies to keep up-to-date on any changes or amendments to trade regulations, so they can keep their clients in the know.

According to the above support, UPS Supply Chains helps client meet their service and time commitments, anywhere they do business around the world. With the flexibility, scalability and coverage they need to meet the changing demands of client's supply chain, UPS can optimize their network to include transportation and freight, distribution, customs brokerage, and final delivery. Their Supplier Management service can proactively manage international vendors and suppliers, logistics, orders, and shipment details from purchase order through delivery. They can help company to overcome differences in languages, cultures, time zones and distance. With UPS Supply Chain supporting the international business, company can be faster, more efficient, and better able to serve their customers around the globe. For example, UPS Trade DirectSM can bypass distribution centers and remove days from your supply chain, thereby simplifying logistics management, reducing costs and minimizing risks.

Answer (b)

For the new customer, they can search the whole supply chain system process in supply chain solution www. ups-scs.com, from transportation management to logistics and distribution to custom brokerage and international trade services. No matter how complex transaction, UPS provide integrated solution tools to help the customer solve their problems, nevertheless, they also provide the video, real case study.. etc Furthermore, the old customer can easily choose the right way to ship their product. They can track their product status 24hrs online by enter any shipment day, account number or e-mail in the ups tracking process. This is a professional online system to make the customer knows that the shipment has been delivered at the right time!!!! It is critical for any company!!! I love this web site very much, it is an intelligent system to guide me to all the information about UPS. If I am a boss, I will definitely choose this company as my shipment company, they are reliable and trustworthy.

Group Assignment: Post # 2

A

B

C

As the Grid shows, report A can help the company to find out the average price which people are easily to accept.

Also, we can see the price trend is moving downward. This may due to vigorous competition in the internet industry.

Report B shows the growth rate in different products in different country. The marketing department can base on this report to do different marketing strategic.

In report C, the company will know the most popular product in different country. This is the easiest way for buyer to merchandise the product in the next year.

Answer 3.
A growing business of a company brings lots of effects with it and huge amount of data that needs to be stored and tracked is one of them. So, in order to deal with this data, new and sophisticated methods of data processing are required and OLAP or as others say, "On Line Analytical Processing", is one of them.

OLAP stands for “On Line Analytical Processing is a class of software technology that allows managers, executives and analysts to gain insight into information that has been transmuted from raw data through different ways. For example, trend analysis, planning, simulating, and budgeting. What makes OLAP stand out is its ability to perform multi-dimensional calculations, thus allowing wide variety of reports.

As we all know, the number of marketing reports increase as the size of the business grows and this is where multi-dimensional calculations helps. OLAP services online demo is a configured database which exerts a multi-dimensional model. This model can intricate analytical queries with a rapid execution time. The main component of OLAP is the OLAP server which is a high capacity, multi-user manipulation engine designed to operate multi-dimensional data and it sits between a client and database management systems or DBMS. An OLAP server is designed to support fast extemporized information in any alignment and also designed for rapid calculations.
Following are some of the benefits of OLAP -

1. The main benefit of the OLAP is its steadiness in calculations. OLAP can handle large quantity and fast speed data transmission through its own server and supportive software.

2.Another benefit of OLAP is its consistency of calculations. Reports are always presented in a coherent prensentation through the OLAP server or software. All data and graphs can be easily followed through by company's executives adn analysts. This is especially helpful when comparing information from previous reports to information contained in new ones and projected future ones. "What if" scenarios are some of the most popular uses of OLAP software and are made eminently more possible by multidimensional processing.

3. Another benefit of multidimensional data presentation is that it allows a manager to pull down data from an OLAP database in broad or specific terms. In other words, reporting can be as simple as comparing a few lines of data in one column of a spreadsheet or as complex as viewing all aspects of a mountain of data. Also, multidimensional presentation can create an understanding of relationships not previously realized. All of this, of course, can be done in the blink of an eye. (Reference from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-olap.htm, http://www.tech-faq.com/olap.shtml)

Group Assignment: Post # 1

(1) Blog : http://blog.mingpao.com/cfm/index.cfm

This is a blog of Ming Po, reader can share their topics, comments and experience regarding to any hot article in the blogs. It's more convenience and efficient mehtod for company to build up the communication channel with the public. Also Ming Po can capture different class of people through online market in order to increase their sale volume.

(2) Interactive Advertisment : http://travel.hk.msn.com/

The colume of Msn travel is a place that introducing the update travelling news to people.
we can find that it provide a platform to some airline, hotel, or travel agent such as dragon airline to introduce their package through this interactive advertisment.

(3) Search Engine :http://search.sina.com.hk/


Sina is a popular search engine in mainland china and Hong Kong. Through this engine,
company can put ads on it and receive a share of the revenue generated by each qualified click on the ads. According to the above pic, company such as some wedding photographer (Simon the Photo) and restaurant (彩福 ) most likely do that. Once customers type the keywords of "wedding", their ads will be showed at the top or at the left hand side of the first page.
This easy attracts people attention to click their link for further informations. As a result there is a respectable feeback return because of it's world wide network.

(4) Online partnerships or affiliate marketing: http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/index.htm

Affliate marketing is a business relationship or an affiliation with a merchant or other service provider who allows you to link to that business. When a visitor clicks on the link usually containing your personal code/id from your site or advert and subsequently makes a purchase from the merchant, you receive a commission based on the amount of the sale. Openrice wedsite is a good example. It's provide a platform for restaurant to introduce their shop or promotion. Also, when people join the memebership of openrice, they can enjoy the discount and
Cupon. It would be a good marketing strategy for both of them and company can see the results by taking ads in openrice.
(Ref from http://hk.knowledge.yahoo.com/question/?qid=7007050704983)

(5) RRS: http://news.yahoo.com/rss

Web publishers use RSS to easily create and distribute news feeds that include links, headlines, and summaries. The Christian Science Monitor, CNN, and CNET News are among the many sites that now deliver updated online content via RSS. Yahoo! News is offering many feeds in the RSS format. The feeds are free of charge to use for individuals and non-profit organizations for non-commercial use.

(6) Social Network: http://www.facebook.com/

Facebook is a social networking website launched on February 4, 2004.The free-access website is privately owned and operated by Facebook, Inc. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. People can also add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profile to notify friends about themselves. Also Facebook included Flickr which asks photo submitters to organize images using tags (a form of metadata), which allow searchers to find images related to particular topics, such as place names or subject matter. Nowadays, many companies started to develope a new media channel by posting ads in facebook. KLM Airline is one of the example, their flights routing are expanded all over the world, through posting ads in facebook, they can serve and capture different country, different culture people in order to reduce the advertising cost.

(7) Gadget: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/features/sidebar-gadgets.aspx

Gadgets are easy-to-use mini programs that give you information at a glance and provide easy access to frequently used tools. Windows Sidebar helps you to organize your gadgets such as clock , weather, calculator, calender, dictionary...it's more convenient and user friendly.