Nucor Essay Example for Free

Nucor Essay 1. What are Nucor’s resources and capabilities Nucor resources are considered to be the same as any other steel company (equipment, plants, employees, etc.). But to be considered the most cost efficient steel maker in the United States is a different conversation. Nucor manages their resources extremely well from control system, to the company’s culture that promotes efficiency. Management relations are described as â€Å"informal, trusting, and non bureaucratic†, that is a winning combo for a company. Another source of success was Nucor’s ability to stop equalizing freight, giving customers price plus shipping. 2. How would you assess Nucor’s resources in terms of heterogeneity and immobility? Nucor utilized two lines of business; the first line was composed of six steel plants that made steel joist frames. The second line was composed of four steel mills that used a industry leading mini-mill technology to supply the joist plants at first then included customers. Each division operated on its own (selling, manufacturing, accounting, personnel). Nucor’s immobility was exceptional as well, using around 150 trucks to ensure on-time delivery. They strategically placed plants in rural areas near their target markets, I feel that Nucor has a great position when it comes to resources and intern that makes them extremely competitive. 3. Using the VRIO model, how would you evaluate Nucor’s resources. In terms of value I would place Nucor as high. The resources they utilize gives them a good competitive advantage, and when you look at their culture internally they promote efficiency. Comprise that will strong outside relationships described as trusting, that is a high value. Rarity I would say low, there are tons of steel firms competing in the marketplace. When it comes to limitability Nucor has well developed a plan that is hard to duplicate (Job security, efficiency, ect.)so I would rate that a high as well. Organization is high also, no other steel company is organized to win as Nucor and that itself differentiates them from the competition. 4. What strategic recommendations would you offer to Nucor? Adding more plants is always a benefit, results in an increased market share. Also entering global market would be something I would pitch, countries like India pay top dollar for steel since the country doesn’t produce a lot of it. Keeping up with relationships of current clients to turn them into long term customers would help as well, this also avoids the cyclical demand that excess capacity causes.

Comparing Judgment Day in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and O’Conno

Judgment Day in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and O’Connor’s Revelation Mankind is plagued by pride. Humans constantly compare themselves to one another and adjust their pride according to their observation of themselves in the world around them. Those who believe in an afterlife often incorporate their view of themselves and their morality into their perception of how they will be judged in the afterlife. Fyodor Dostoevsky and Flannery O’Connor, as writers and believers in the Christian religion, portray two characters that envision how they will be judged on judgment day. In â€Å"Dostoevskian Vision in Flannery O’Connor’s ‘Revelation,’† Norman McMillan effectively argues that O’Connor’s â€Å"Revelation† and the chapter about Marmeladov’s vision in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment share striking similarities in their themes and the experiences of their characters. In order to effectively draw the similarities of the two themes, McMillan supports his interpretation of the theme by accurately characterizing Marmeladov and setting the scene for Marmeladov’s vision in Part I, Chapter 2 of Crime and Punishment. As a responsible critic, McMillan must present the details of this chapter and name the theme in order to compare it with the theme of â€Å"Revelation.† A list of adjectives and actions that characterize Marmeladov and a description of Marmeladov’s circumstances help the reader understand the theme apparent in his vision of â€Å"that day ‘when God will call forth the blessed to be with him in Paradise’† (McMillan 17). Marmeladov is identified as a low-life in an utterly destitute position who acknowledges his own degradation. McMillan includes the actual text about Marmeladov’s vision to support his interpretation of t... ...truly is through an act of violence. Gradually, like Marmeladov, she realizes that on judgment day, the first shall be last and the last shall be first. O’Connor and Dostoevsky developed two pieces of literature that inevitably awaken their readers. All their readers must face their own pride and prejudice both in relating with the characters’ feelings and admitting their own feeling of superiority over these flawed characters. Both of these brilliant writers effectively strike their readers with their shared idea that it is only by the grace of God that anyone can be saved. Works Cited McMillan, Norman. Flannery O’Connor Bulletin: Department of English and Speech. Milledgeville, GA: Georgia College, 1987. O’Connor, Flannery. The Complete Stories. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1971. PID 8047 4 Marlow Engl. 12. Sect. 37

Milkshake Factory Case Study

The story of George Stein exposes the dynamics that drive the night shift at Eastern Dairy’s milkshake factory. George was excited to join the dairy’s unionized workforce because its contributions-to-inducements balance was so favorable. As soon as he crossed the functional boundary into the organization, more specific features of George’s work group became apparent. First, there was no manager to speak of supervising the night shift. Second, horseplay was the workgroup norm, considered a natural and necessary complement to the hard work the team did every night.Although the management likely excused this as peripheral role behavior, it was relevant and desirable to the members of the night shift itself because it allowed them to cultivate camaraderie and maintain morale, giving them motivation to perform as well as participate. Management’s only expressed expectations were that the night shift complete the set of production orders they were given each nig ht and that the equipment was spotlessly clean by 7 a. m. As long as these tasks were accomplished, the night shift was left to self-regulate.The night shift constitutes its own subculture within Eastern Dairy, and the special conditions that govern that workgroup make it discernibly different from the mainstream organizational culture. The absence of a formal manager to indoctrinate employees into organizational values such as quality management has allowed a different set of values and basic assumptions to emerge among the members of the night shift than might be held by the organization as a whole. For example, they share an implicit assumption that, where there is a conflict between workers’ best interests and quality control, the workers should win out.From a differentiation perspective, we can predict that the night shift’s internal consensus on this point is likely to be at odds with that of the managerial subculture. [1] If the company has the goal of total qua lity control, it has not taken the steps necessary to spread that philosophy throughout its ranks. Rather than sharing management’s presumed focus on the customer, the night shift is focused on doing their job quickly enough to get out of work on time.Since they have not received explicit training or communication about quality control issues, it is reasonable that they retain the view that some level of defects in the manufacturing process is normal and acceptable. If we are willing to dismiss the quality control aspects of the production line blockage issue, there remains the ethical question of what is the right way to deal with the problem. If George removes the filters as instructed, the 500 gallons of milkshake destined for public consumption will be contaminated with maggots.If he doesn’t, attempting instead to clear the filters every time one clogs, the production run will take forever, meaning everyone will have to stay late, and the equipment will not be clea n in time for the start of the day shift. If the crew discards the entire contaminated batch and restarts the production run from scratch, clean-up will still be delayed to some extent, plus the company will have to waste 500 gallons of milkshake mix. The instructions management (to our knowledge) has provided to Paul indicate that it prioritizes timely completion of the production orders and subsequent clean-up over things like purity of the product.Additionally, Paul knows that, due to pasteurization, the milkshakes will not hurt anyone, and due to homogenization, the extraneous matter probably won’t even be noticed. After weighing all of these points, Paul decides to remove the filters in order to process the milkshake mix, maggots and all. Whether this is an ethical solution to the blockage depends on the system of ethics used to judge it. Paul appears to be following utilitarian ethics in his decision, by which milkshake contamination is an undesired but acceptable outco me of the action of greatest net benefit to all involved.He is not ignoring the effect of this action on the prospective drinkers of the milkshakes; he just feels that they are not affected adversely enough (due to homogenization and pasteurization) to change the assessment of greatest net benefit. According to act utilitarianism (and potentially rule utilitarianism, if the rule agrees), Paul’s decision is perfectly ethical. According to right-based ethics, however, he is acting unethically because allowing the contaminated milkshake to go to market interferes with the consumers’ rights to make an informed decision about the products they purchase.Finally,[2] an ethical egoist would be split on the issue: If George were a individual egoist, he would remove the filters without hesitation because doing so will make his life easier, but if he were a universal egoist, he would refrain from sending the contaminated batch to market because he wouldn’t like to be on th e receiving end of that action. [3] George’s focus on others is apparent from the guilt he feels about the children who could find themselves drinking maggot-filled milkshakes because of his actions. Paul’s order to emove the filters falls on the cusp of George’s zone of indifference, and he considers disobeying out of concern with the morality of the request. One reason for George’s ambiguity is that he lacks the leadership defined by Mary Parker Follett. Paul may be the workgroup’s informal leader, but he has no real authority over his colleagues. He may know the technical aspects of the job, but he does not see the â€Å"big picture,† which includes the trust relationship between the dairy and its customers. He does his best to solve problems, but he hasn’t been given the resources to head them off before they occur.The solution he chooses for the blockage problem does not display the forethought of the ideal leader because it leav es the team open to potential repercussions from management and/or the public if the contamination is discovered. Nonetheless, Paul is George’s most obvious role-sender because he has the most impact on George’s daily work experience. Under the circumstances, Parker-Follett would like to see George try to influence Paul by suggesting a content innovation that miraculously solves their problem in an unforeseen way.In the end, it is not George’s responsibility – or ultimately even Paul’s – to solve the dilemma that confronts them. The management has not provided the night shift enough guidance to establish unequivocally what the organization considers the right way to proceed. The uncertainty the employees face in this situation is a good argument for formalized codes of ethics and quality control training. In the meantime, ethical relativism will prevail on the night shift: they will have to decide what is â€Å"right† based on what is best for everyone present. ———————- [1] This assumes two things about the managerial subculture: a) it espouses a commitment to quality management, and b) its in-use values do not conflict with the espoused values. [2] Justice theories of ethics can be construed to agree with rights-based theory, but they deal to a greater degree with more over-arching questions of how society should be run. As such, justice ethics are the least applicable to this situation. [3] Of course, a person who sees the contamination as harmless could allow it to happen without violating the â€Å"golden rule. †

The Dissolution of a Dream in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The...

The Dissolution of a Dream in The Great Gatsby A dream is defined in the Websters New World Dictionary as: a fanciful vision of the conscious mind; a fond hope or aspiration; anything so lovely, transitory, etc. as to seem dreamlike. In the beginning pages of F. Scott Fitzgeralds novel The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway, the narrator of the story gives us a glimpse into Gatsbys idealistic dream which is later disintegrated. No- Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men. Gatsby is revealed to us slowly and†¦show more content†¦What he wants is his dream, and that dream is embodied in Daisy. Ironically, Daisy Buchanan, is a much more realistic, hard- headed character. She understands money and what it means in American society, because it his her nature; she was born into it. Gatsby intuitively recognizes this, although he cannot fully accept it, when he remarks to Nick that Daisys voice is full of money. Gatsby will not admit this essential fact because it would destroy his understanding of Daisy. In the end, this willful blindness helps lead to his ultimate tragedy. Gatsby is a romantic, a man who began with a high and exalted vision of himself and his destiny. He aspires to greatness, which he associates with Daisy. If he can win her, then he will have somehow achieved his goal. Gatsbys wealth, his mansion, his parties, his possessions, even his heroism in battle are but means to achieve his ultimate goal. Gatsby is mistaken, however, in his belief that money can buy happiness or that he can recapture his past if he only becomes rich. One of these examples is when the epigraph becomes clear: the four-line poem of Thomas Park dInvilliers that Fitzgerald quotes on the title page describes exactly what Gatsby has done. He has symbolically worn the gold hat; he has bounced high, accumulating possessions forShow MoreRelatedPsychology and Author’s Purpose in the Great Gatsby2923 Words   |  12 PagesPsychology and Author’s Purpose in The Great Gatsby It was 1931, six years after the publication of The Great Gatsby, when historian James Truslow Adams coined the term The American Dream (â€Å"The Epic of America†, 415). Yet, his was a new take on an old concept. F. Scott Fitzgerald did not have to wait for Adams to brilliantly propose that the ideal of social equality and the pursuit of Happiness is a dream like enterprise, which has little to do with reality (US 1776). In the 1920’sRead More Nick Carraways Epiphany in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby2859 Words   |  12 PagesEpiphany in The Great Gatsby A soft breeze lifts off the Sound and brushes Nick Carraway’s face as he emerges from the shadows into the moonlight. His eyes first gaze across the bay to the house of Tom and Daisy where Nick sees past the walls to people who â€Å"...smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back to their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together...† (Fitzgerald: 187- 188). Nick’s head then turns to his side where he views Gatsby’ s mansion. HisRead MoreEssay on The Legacy of Romanticism in The Great Gatsby3369 Words   |  14 PagesThe Legacy of Romanticism in The Great Gatsby The development of American Literature, much like the development of the nation, began in earnest, springing from a Romantic ideology that honored individualism and visionary idealism. As the nation broke away from the traditions of European Romanticism, America forged its own unique romantic style that would resonate through future generations of literary works. Through periods of momentous change, the fundamentally Romantic nature