Baker and McKenzie Law Firm in Worldwide Markets Research Paper - 1

Baker and McKenzie Law Firm in Worldwide Markets - Research Paper Example Baker and McKenzie is an American law firm based in Chicago city. The firm has a total of 3774 attorneys, 1349 partners, and 2425 associates (Baker and McKenzie 1). Baker and McKenzie law firm tops the list of the most successful law firms in the United States. The firm is renowned to have redefined the worldwide law firm of the 20th century in order to meet the global economic challenges of the 21st century. The 3774 lawyers are located in over 70 offices worldwide. The firm has a unique way of working, thinking and behaving. The function across borders and they deal with a wide variety of issues as well as practices (Baker and McKenzie 1). Baker and McKenzie law firm understands the economic challenges facing the globe, and for that reason, it has been of the forefront of matters since the firm’s opening in 1949. Laws that work in Baker and McKenzie law firm include financial litigation, product liability, aviation law, capital markets, bankruptcy, business and industry, com mercial law, insolvency, intellectual property, international law, international trade, and investment law. The firm also deals with consumer law, contracts, copyright, corporate governance, and corporate law among others (Baker and McKenzie 1). The firm has advised leading companies on matters of today’s incorporated world market. Baker and McKenzie law firm has cultivated the tradition, commercial simplicity, and technical, as well as interpersonal skills, vital to offer world-class service tailored to the needs of world-class customers globally.

Tess Being a Victim of Fate in Tess of the DUrbervilles Essay

Tess Being a Victim of Fate in Tess of the D'Urbervilles â€Å"The president of the Immortals had done his sport with Tess† In his novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles Thomas Hardy expresses his dissatisfaction, weariness, and an overwhelming sense of injustice at the cruelty of ‘our’ universal fate disappointment and disillusionment. Hardy puts out an argument that the hopes and desires of Men are cruelly saddened by a strong combination of fate, unwanted accidents, mistakes and many sad flaws. Although Tess is strong willed and is clearly educated emotionally and mentally she soon becomes a victim of ‘fate’. Many people would say that Tess was just unlucky, â€Å"Had a stroke of bad luck,† others would prefer to differ and argue that she has fallen into fates hands. In order to decide whether her story is one of bad luck or bad judgement we need to look into closer detail at her account. Tess is introduced to the readers as a pure and innocent young lady dressed all in white, which symbolizes virginity and purity, whilst her physical appearance suggests a form of innocence and naivety. Hardy proposes that maybe her innocence and purity comes from her lack of experience with people, love and danger. This can be seen when she is exposed to new and different environments and forces. Hardy also introduces class and status very early on, Tess comes from a lower class yet she can make herself seem in a higher status due to her education. Tess’s first encounter of bad luck is when she kills the family horse, Prince. Tess is with her brother Abraham in their wagon whilst discussing about the stars and how they are worlds just like Earth. Tess continues with saying that, â€Å"Most of them splendid and sound-a few bligh... ...e may feel that the choice has been taken away from her and it is a case of survival. Hardy has a strong sense of accidental, coincidental, fate and bad luck. However it is trying to decipher which events are what. For example there are hints that Tess preordained to be murderess, and early in the story, when Prince dies, â€Å"Her face was dry and pale, as though she regarded herself in the light of a murderess.† I believe that many actions that took place in her life were not always bad luck were not always fate but just the path that she led. However her constant bad luck caused her to make bad judgements which then caused us the readers to believe it is fate. To conclude Tess’s innocent and beauty proved to do her no good and she was also unaware of her sexuality. Her lack of common knowledge and wanting from her also made her susceptible to other men.

Custom Mold Inc

Case Study Background Custom Molds Inc produces custom made molds for plastic parts and manufactures connectors for the electronics industry. The father founders of Custom Molds Inc are father and son, Tom and Mason Miller, in 1987 which is located in Tucson, Arizona. Tom Miller who is a mechanical engineer, had vast experience in the connector industry with AMP. Mason Miller is a double degree holder in chemistry and chemical engineering, a graduate from Arizona State University.Originally, the company manufactured electronic connectors with source of high quality, custom made molds for producing plastic parts. They worked closely with their customers so that they can meet the customers’ requirements and their mold have to meet the exact standards and have to be unique. Once the customers have moved from the design and pilot-run stage of development to large-scale production, they will place orders for multiple molds. Custom Mold’s reputation grew with the years as a d esigner and fabricator of precision molds.With the reputation, the Millers decided to expand into the limited manufactures of plastic parts and new equipments were added such as ingredient mixing facilities and injection molding equipment. In the mid-1990s Custom Mold’s reputation grew to include being a supplier of high quality plastic parts. Due to limited capacity, the company decided to concentrate its sales efforts on supplying parts that were used in limited quantity for research and development efforts and in preproduction pilot runs. Production ProcessesBy 2000, Custom Molds operations involved two distinct processes which are fabricating molds and producing plastic parts. Both the processes are inter-connected for an instance, when a customer places an order, Custom Molds both fabricate a mold and produce the necessary parts to support the customer’s research and design efforts. All fabrication and production operation were housed in a single facility. Fabrica tion molds requires a skill-oriented, craftsman-driven process. When an order is received, a design team, consisting of a design engineer and one of 13 master machinists, reviews the design specification.Working with the customer, the team comes up with the final specification for the mold and passes it to the master machinist for fabrication. At the same time, the specification is given to the purchasing department, who orders the required raw materials. It usually takes about three to four weeks for the raw material to arrive. Once the materials have been received, the plant master scheduler reviews the workload of the assigned master machinist and schedules the mold for fabrication. Fabricating a mold usually takes up to two to four weeks, depending in the amount of work the machinist already has scheduled.The fabrication process takes only three to five days. Once completed, the mold is tested and inspected, where it is used to produce a small number of parts on one of the injec tion molding machines. If the mold passed the required specification, it is then sent for cleaning and polishing, and then packed and sent to customers. If at all the mold fails, it is sent to the maser machinist for retooling and the process starts all over. Currently, Custom Molds holds a lead time of nine weeks for delivery of the molds. The manufacturing of the plastic parts is different from mold fabrication.An order for parts may be received in conjunction with an order for a mold to be fabricated. For instances, if the Custom Molds already have made the molds, an order may be jus for parts. If the mold is already available, the order is reviewed by the design engineer, who verifies the part and material specifications. If the is any doubts, the design engineer will contact the customer and clarifies the doubts. Once the parts and raw materials are accepted, orders are placed for the raw materials and production in scheduled for the order. Chemicals and compounds used for the manufacturing are ordered and received within a week.When received, the compound is dry-mixed and blended to achieve the correct composition. Then the mixture is wet-mixed to the desired consistency, called slurry, for injection into molding machine. When ready, the slurry is transferred to the injection molding area by an overhead pipeline and deposited in holding tanks adjacent to the injection machines. The whole process takes only one day. When the slurry is staged and ready, the proper molds are secured from the inventory or from the clean and polish operation if new molds were fabricated for the order and the parts are manufactured.Although different parts require different temperature and pressure settings, the time to produce a part is relatively constant. Custom Molds has the capacity to produce 5000 parts per day in the injection molding department; historically however, the lead time for handling orders in the department has averaged one week. Once molding is completed, t he parts are taken to the cut and trim operation, where they are disconnected and leftover flashing is removed. Once inspection is completed, the parts are either taken for assembling or transferred to packing and shipping area for shipment to customer.If assembly of the final parts is not required, the parts will be sent to customer within two days after being molded. Sometimes the final product needs assembling. Typically, this entails attaching metal leads to plastic connectors. If assembling is need, additional three days are required before they can be sent to customer. Customs Molds currently have a lead time of three weeks for parts not requiring fabricated molds. The Changing Environment In the early 2009, Tom and Mason Miller realized that the electronic industry they supplied and their own business was changing.Electronic manufacturers have decided to make their own components to reduce cost and ensure timely supply of parts. By the 1990s, this trend has changed. Manufactu ring were developing strategic partnerships with the parts suppliers to ensure the timely delivery of high quality, cost effective parts. This has allowed for other funds to be used on other uses with larger return on investment. During the same period, Custom Molds started to have issues with delivery. Customers were complaining to delay in the delivery of the parts instead of the promised dateline.When asked about the situation, the master scheduler stated that it is difficult in determining when a particular order will be delivered. Bottlenecks were occurring during the production process, but where and when it will occur cannot be predicted. The bottleneck started to move to other operations. Tom Miller thought that that he had excess labor capacity in the mold fabrication area. He came up with a solution to push through the schedule by assigning one of the master machinist to identify the expediting those late orders. However, the tactic wasn’t effective. Complaints abou t late delivery were still coming in. o add on to the problem, two defective parts were returned. Tom Miller knows something has to be done. 1. What are the major issues facing Tom and Mason Miller? The Electronics industry to which they supplied was changing very rapidly The millers are facing the shrinking size of their core market; traditionally fabrication. These changes impact both the fabrication and the manufacturing sides of the business. For fabrication, although the number of orders remained around the same, the market for multiple molds was shrinking, so the absolute number of fabricated was reducing.The Demand for multiple molds is declining Earlier Custom Molds used to produce custom designed molds in majority but through the data provided we can analyze that in the last 3 years, the company has been getting more and more orders in the production of plastic parts consistently and the orders for custom molds have been decreasing. This calls for a mass production of plast ic parts. Inefficient Testing and Inspection Process It has been mentioned in the case that two orders were returned recently because of number of defective parts in those batches.This can be attributed to the inefficiency of the testing and inspection team. The transportation, packing, shipping etc. costs have to be incurred by the company and could have been avoided if the testing and inspection been rigorous. Increase in order sizes for plastic parts There has been a shift in demand from custom molds to plastic parts. Therefore there is a need to change the layout of the plant to something more suitable for mass production. Difficulties Meeting Quality Objectives As demand characteristics increased for manufacturing parts, there was consequent increase in lead time on parts.Customers are complaining about the late delivery of the products. This will lead to loss of credibility in front of their customers. Bottlenecks were occurring throughout the manufacturing process and quality issues were increasing. There was unplanned growth beyond the available capacity given the process issues. There were numerous non-value-adding processes throughout the workflow including delays, many inspection steps, storage and transport. Parts were not being manufactured at optimum speeds and as pressures of late deliveries and mounting backlogs built up. Thus, the quality of finished goods suffered. . What are the competitive priorities for Custom Mold’s Processes and the changing nature of the industry? Previously a. High quality product Custom Mold previously strive for top quality product for their customers and grew reputation of one of the most consistent company that strive for quality products b. Flexibility in customer orders Customization was their priorities. They fully concentrate on customers orders requirements and needs and try their best to meet those requirements. c. On time delivery Custom Mold managed to deliver all of their products to the customers w ithin the required timeEarly 2009 Due to changing nature of the industry, more customers are making strategic partnership with supplier to ensure the timely delivery of high quality and cost effective parts. As we can see, the competitive of the industry, the demand is changing and Custom Mold also must be aware of this. They must change their competitive priorities to continue compete in the industry. They might have to change their layout for molds from job shop to small batch process in this changing process. Below are the suggested competitive priorities: a. Consistent quality productsThey should maintain the quality of their products b. Cost effective They might achieve this by changing the layout from job shop to small batch process. Small batch process allows products to be made in larger volume and low variety from the job shop process. High volume tends to reduce cost per unit and can directly lowered the operation cost. c. On time delivery With customers focus on on time s hipment for their products, Custom Mold cannot simply overlook to this competitive priority. On time delivery ensure the customer trust to them and they have to be excellent on that. 3.What alternatives might the Millers pursue? What key factors should they consider as they evaluate these alternatives? Short term alternatives a. Layout of the plant should be changed Custom Molds need to change the plant layout from job shop to assembly line. This is because the company is getting more orders for manufacture of plastic parts consistently over the last three years. The demand form from the customers changed from highly customized and high quality to cost effective and timely delivery of high quality products are the strongest proof why they need to change their argument. . Identify bottlenecks in production process This is important in order for Custom Molds to retain their clients. The bottlenecks might be due the process layout in the company. Two different process for a different p roduct might overlap each others and create confusion to the process. c. Improve the efficiency of Testing and Inspection Team As has been mentioned in the case, two orders have been rejected by the customer. For this not to happen again, the efficiency of Testing and Inspection team needs to be improved. Long Term Alternatives a. Investment in Research and DevelopmentCompany would be better off to invest in R&D in order to stay ahead of its competition. R&D can often show ways to reduce costs by maintaining the same quality. b. Expansion Plans As the orders increase, company should plan for some expansion plans or some new plants to cater to increasing demand. c. Phase-out the production of Custom Molds As the numbers of orders for Custom Molds are decreasing consistently over the last 3 years, the company should look out for phasing out the production of custom molds as the company may start losing out money.Recommendations 1. Shift to Assembly Line As the number of orders for big order sizes are increasing for plastic parts, the plant layout should be changed from job-shop to an assembly line production. 2. Operational Excellence The company should focus on overall efficiency in terms of process, movement and inter-department communication. 3. Market Research The company should do extensive market research to ascertain customer’s needs and use it to determine the needs of facility and human resources.

Internet Privacy A Growing Concern - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1521 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2019/07/01 Category Law Essay Level High school Tags: Internet Privacy Essay Did you like this example? The expanding issue which I believe people all around the globe should be more aware of is internet privacy. A user’s convenience of being able to use the internet comes with a critical responsibility of concealing their personal information online as best as possible. Online privacy is a primary human right and without it, all activities on the web are liable to be handled and scrutinized by committed corporations. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Internet Privacy: A Growing Concern" essay for you Create order Advertisers are tracking all of a users movements as they browse through several platforms on the web. Techniques such as cookie profiling are used to trace and formulate specific biographies on internet habits. Even though these unethical practices dont deter some, there are still many who keep matters of internet privacy at the top of their priority list as I suppose they should. Internet privacy, also known as online privacy, is a growing concern in the world we dwell today. Users of the internet are entitled to personal privacy when it comes to the information they store on various web software of their devices, yet it’s becoming increasingly challenging to manage private assets online. With such a considerable amount of people using the internet for their needs, users should be educated on the basic rules of safety regarding their digital footprint. According to Javelin Strategy, 17 million Americans have been affected by identity theft in 2017. Criminals on the web use malware and phishing procedures to hack into a multitude of online accounts to steal whatever information they can, and this is something that violates a crucial right of a user’s privacy on the internet. Even though the online universe provides people with a great selection of panels in which they are allowed to roam across the web in the comfort of their privacy, there are b oth positive and negative sides to this debate. The world has evolved in more ways than one, and the same goes for the internet. As the times change day by day, it’s best to always be updated, especially regarding something as sensitive as the nature of internet privacy. It isn’t touched upon as much as it should be in schools throughout the nation and the lack of knowledge upon this topic within the children of this generation makes for quite a large amount of future predicaments simply waiting to unfold. If people aren’t instructed about internet privacy and topics of the sort, they won’t be fully prepared to take on all the hazards on online platforms they utilize most. Only with proper knowledge can situations such as identity theft be avoided. The internet privacy which users are provided with certainly helps in various ways. One method is how it may present protection to younger users. Cybercriminals lose the ability to take advantage of easy targets online with strengthened levels of internet privacy. Being warned by browsers of the credibility status regarding particular web pages or false advertisements which begin dragging users down into misleading depths let people have a quick glimpse into just how dangerous the online world can turn out to be. Severe measures may be taken if anything gets out of hand over the internet, which is why online privacy allows web users to make their own decisions of personal information while assisting in the removal of viruses and fraudulent declarations along the way. Another possible positive aspect that online privacy offers may be how the internet keeps data safe enough for people to gain self-confidence through the actions they take and the statements they make online. Users of the web feel safer sharing comments behind an anonymous icon and username than they are in their own skin in the real world. This does help in building esteem in one way, but this also has a negative impact on many. Instead of using internet privacy as a positive outlet, many also hide behind anonymity just to post abusive and hateful commentary wherever they see public remarks are allowed. This creates the ability to harm others which is unjust. On the other hand, internet privacy also promotes innovation as it’s a blank and equal canvas for all. Without the privacy given to users online, ideas would be stolen far too often from each other and projects with potential would almost be nothing more than a waste of time when found in the wrong hands. Internet privacy also lets everyone have a chance to seek their own voices instead of letting them be waltzed around like marionettes. With top companies running the news sources in America, those businesses have the power to inform citizens of only snippets of a story instead of parts they choose to cut out to benefit themselves or corporate partners. Int ernet privacy can change this and, with the help of given anonymity, it encourages the freedom of the press so independent presses can cover events in alternative ways for users to get full details instead of lacking the knowledge they desire. Although people don’t seem to acknowledge the fact that their business online is being traced and stored throughout every day, it appears that their concern regarding this delicate issue only grows once they become a victim. The freedom that has been given to users online should be dealt with responsibly and maturely before they make a mistake concerning their privacy online and it comes back to mess up their entire lives. This is why even if internet privacy doesn’t get touched upon much in the educational system, it should be explored very widely once lessons regarding the topic are taught to children. If they start losing interest in these matters, their online lives may just take sharp turns straight down to paths of online w reckage and havoc. It’s true that companies online may take advantage of weak consumers with faulty connections that aren’t entirely secure, but some steps can be taken to have online privacy be protected. For example, if someone is wary of what companies use their data to their benefit, they can merely use safe browser extensions to give control over whether or not the sites they visit collect information about them and send them to other related companies or not. The information of users is precious, and they should understand that once they post something on the internet, the options they have to get that post deleted are minimal. Safety is a top priority when it comes to internet privacy, and not only should children start being educated on this, but people of all ages as well. People should learn how to protect themselves online, especially when almost everything and everyone can be found on the internet with just a few clicks and keywords. It may be argued that internet privacy is harmful because not only does it give everyone the freedom to post whatever they’d like about another being, whether the post is positive or negative, but having such privacy online also allows m any to slip into roles that are not, by any means, theirs. It’s too easy to assume the identity of someone else on the web due to how private profiles may be, which makes identity theft strikingly easy as well. However, there are always measures to be taken for whenever hate comments get uploaded or someone strange attempts to start a conversation. There are always risks to activities online, but protection is available from making sure to use only reputable websites to using strong and complicated passwords. Other steps that can be taken to protect personal information is clearing browser history and cache regularly to make sure that the browser is clear, avoiding shopping on unsafe sites, and avoiding to expose personal data on sites with low levels of security. Overall, although internet privacy appears to be a tricky subject with many different topics ranging from security hazards to identity thefts, I firmly believe that whatever privacy we are given on the web should rightfully be treated with respect, and companies should be stopped from making money off the information and data of users that visit their site, links, and advertisements. Even though privacy online is almost rare to find due to how transparent the government is with the personal information of internet users, steps should still be taken to protect whatever is left to be guarded. Anonymity is almost non-exist in the online world, but internet users may protect their privacy through very measured exposure of information. To keep themselves safe on the web, people must be careful with what they submit and view. When acquiring merchandise or filling out forms, bits of data start being tracked and, because the person may not have protected their information, companies begin se nding those users spam and advertising on products similar to their purchases. Overall, internet privacy is an integral part of web users’ everyday lives. Safety and personal security must remain a priority, especially with all the new hacking techniques starting to be used by cybercriminals. If people don’t begin taking care of what they post online, they might just find themselves in situations they never even thought they’d be in