World Supply Chain Management - Essay Example

Supply Chain Management Introduction: For this study, it is proposed to take up a premier Health Care Center, in order to conduct a demographic assessment of how location could impact upon choice and demand analysis of health care units in this area. 1. Type of retail outlet : Health Care Unit 2. Identification of target customers and market that the outlet is aimed at: Rising, affluent, urbanites, large towns and city areas, prosperous high class enclaves, metro areas with population with large disposable incomes. Normal location would be in the vicinity of affluent city centre areas, tenements, condominiums and flats. 3. It is seen that health care units are normally used by upper class people of high income groups (HIG) who are health conscious and wish to remain fit and trim. It could be used by children, adolescents, men and women and also elderly people. The main statistics that have to be considered are in terms of: 1. Old Age 2.Children 3.Cronic illness 4.Current competitors’charges 5.Average income of householders 6.Lifestyle 7. Power of spending. In the case of prospective location, Newcastle in UK, it is seen that percentage population above age of 60 years is 18.7%. Again, children within 18 years constitute 18.3% of the population. (Newcastle upon tyne central 2007). It is seen that in the context of current competitors’ charges, in most cases the prices are more or less equal for fitness services rendered, through use of machines or physical training, swimming pools, etc. It is seen that the average income of the householder needs to be more than adequate to meet the heath centre expenses, and in most cases they would be high income groups. Again, lifestyle would also be outgoing, health conscious and extroverts for people to join fitness centres. They would also be having high power of spending or disposable incomes that could facilitate seeking memberships in health care centres. Geographical Information System (GIS): Coming now to the second part of the question, it could be said that the main duty of a Geographical Information System (GIS) is to store, analyze, manage and present data which is connected with location. “Geography plays a role in nearly every decision we make. Choosing sites, targeting market segments, planning distribution networks, responding to emergencies, or redrawing country boundaries—all of these problems involve questions of geography.” (What is GIS). It is necessary that information needs to be associated with locations. Thus the latter plays a very determinant part in business strategy for bonding with customers or setting new plants. Again it is seen that Choosing a site, targeting a market segment, planning a distribution network, zoning a neighbourhood, allocating resources, and responding to emergencies—all these problems involve questions of geography. (Geography matters 2008). It is believed that retail business of the kind carried out by Tesco could greatly benefit by GIS. “Businesses maintain information about sales, customers, inventory, demographic profiles, and mailing lists, all of which have geographic locations. Therefore, business managers, marketing strategists, financial analysts, and professional planners increasingly rely on GIS to organize, analyze, and present their business data. (Business). The main areas where GIS technology could be sustained are: 1. Scientific examination 2. Resource Management 3. Asset Management 4. Archaeology 5. Impact of events on environment 6. Urban planning 7. Marketing and logistics 8.Mapmaking It is seen that mere implementation of GIS is not enough to derive benefits. It needs to be in sync with organisational needs and demands. Moreover, the fact that certain data obtained from earlier projects cannot be taken blindly, since the needs may have changed dramatically since those times. Moreover, specific needs have to met using new models and thus the use of earlier data may not be always advisable or appropriate. Thus specific need analysis needs to be made for each project involving GIS and data gathered accordingly. However, following may be said to be main requirements of GIS resources: 1. Personnel 2.GIS software systems 3. Hardware 4.CAD Data 5.Hard copy of maps/atlas 6. Current tabular and non-GIS data base. (Bowman 2005). Personnel: It is seen that the personnel who handle the data are very important. It is essentially that they not only be trained, but also suitable experienced in handling such sensitive and critical data. Also the personnel need to ensure that archived data are well organized, relevant and could be retrieved immediately upon demand. It is also necessary that personnel take good care of resources under their responsibly and do not cause detriment to it in any way. GIS software systems: These systems are the backbone of GIS and are a repository of data that concerns Geographical Information Systems. These software systems need to be cleaned regularly, and made free of virus, etc. The main aspects that govern GIS are in terms of data layers.” Data layers are commonly defined based on the needs of the user and the availability of data. They are completely user definable.” (The GIS primer). Hardware: Hardware is a major criticality is the maintenance of hardware without which data inputs would be at risk and retrieval of data may not be gained. All primary and secondary hardware systems are required to conform to GIS standards and also bear the risk of being seconded for better performing hardware. Security of hardware is also a major concern. It is therefore, necessary that proper systems audits be installed and performed to maintain integrity of hardware. CAD Data: The preservation of CAD data is of paramount importance since such design works form the backbone of GIS. “At their core, CAD and GIS are complementary technologies that have evolved largely independently but in parallel over the past 30 years. ESRIs longtime best of breed approach provides value to our customers by building better linkages between CAD and GIS systems.” (Technology trends in GIS). Hard copies of Maps/Atlas: It is necessary that hard original copies of Maps/Atlases need to be preserved in good condition for posterity needs. In the context of GIS, this is important since they form the core of GIS needs. Current tabular and non-GIS data base: All GIS databases include links between graphic (map) features and tabular data that provides descriptive information for graphic objects. If it were not for this link, a GIS would not exist but would be similar to CAD or computer mapping systems. (Tabular databases). Coming to the next aspect, it is seen that urban planning is an intricate and complex process which entails the use of population, resources, settings and development. (Chakraborty 2000). Through the use of GIS, it is possible to integrate build up of spatial and other data into a cohesive, coherent and comprehensive whole that could offer entrepreneurial tools for understanding the mechanism of market developments. Another aspect is digitalization, which could possibly correct, amend, contour and update GIS models quite accurately and satisfactorily. “A sensor model describes the properties and characteristics associated with the camera or sensor used to capture an image at the time of capture.” (Chakraborty 2000). The next aspect would be in terms of using sources like COGO data entry, through the use of Co-ordinate Geometry which is also in wide usage. It represents land records and is acquiescent with precise and accurate measurements. Having obtained source, it is now necessary to embed it into the GIS Database. Here again, the question of compatibility also arises, in that the system should need to support COGO, and in the event it does not, it needs to make changes in existing system to make it compatible. (Longley 2005, p.216). It is also necessary to conduct Cost-Benefit analysis in terms of the proposed GIS implementation o the organization. This could be seen in terms of the investments made, and the perceived benefits that accrue to the investor. GIS needs time to become fully operational and investor need to bid their time in such cases. It is necessary to “work out the best way to implement the system you have designed. This is where you plan how the system will be taken from the planning stage to actual implementation. You may also need to conduct a benefit-cost analysis to make your business case for the system.” (Implementing GIS ). The cost of implementing GIS would however, depend upon a case-to-case basis and as such fixed cost cannot be assigned to it. A lot would depend upon the kind of GIS that would be necessary in the given context and the benefits that would be needed. As such the cost aspects could only be derived after the programme has been fully chalked out and perhaps implemented. However, it is necessary to state that cost benefits must accrue to Tesco in the event it become necessary to implement GIS programmes. It is therefore necessary to seek a “need to conduct a benefit-cost analysis to make your business case for the system.” (Implementing GIS ). Accuracy of the data: Accuracy needs to be seen in terms of observations being congruent with true values. There are basically two types of accuracies – positional and attributable accuracies. (Buckey). Under positional accuracy it is seen that the deviance of the geographical location from the true ground position is tested and verified. The deviance is also recorded, to measure the level of accuracy. This again has two sub-divisions, absolute and relative. “Absolute accuracy concerns the accuracy of data elements with respect to a coordinate scheme, e.g. UTM. Relative accuracy concerns the positioning of map features relative to one another.” (Buckey). Again it is seen that the positional and precision concepts may be slightly different in as far as the GIS may be concerned. “Accuracy is how close to reality an observation is; while precision refers to the ability to reproduce a process or measurement. A feature on a map may be constructed with precision, but is inaccurate in its location.“ (Data quality 2004) Limitations: Now, it becomes necessary to consider the limitations of Geographical Information Systems, in the scope of its implementations in empirical situations. It could be said that modern technology have evolved into computer based geographical information systems (GIS) which integrate conventional maps along with more data. Therefore, it is possible that errors or loss of accuracies may proffer not only in terms of mistakes historically made in the original data, but also from loss of consistencies emanating from layers of date inherent in quantization and samples taken earlier on which the GIS is based. (Graeff & Loui 2008). The main types of limitations that may occur in a GIS projection could be in terms of the following: 1. Relevant details may have been missed out 2. Positioning errors may be observed 3. Pre-exiting, technical or emergent bias may occur. (Graeff & Loui 2008). 4. In an attempt to ensure minimal disk storage space, quality and accuracy of the map may be compromised. 5. Again, it is also possible that technical errors during digitization and layer producing could create inconsistencies in GIS at a later stage. Thus it is seen that major limitations may occur which, if not diagnosed or remedied may render the entire GIS as an exercise in futility and inaccuracy resulting in negative or dangerous precedents. Therefore, it is in the interests of all concerned to ensure that such situations do not persist and the planning, designing and implantation of GIS schemes are very much in sync with accepted parameters and standards, Conclusions: 6. From the above it is seen that while the deployment of GIS needs technical excellence and perfect execution, otherwise there would be cause for frequent disruptions of work processes, leading to high losses and wasted time and efforts. GIS, as an effective and favourite system could hardly be held liable for this, since it is the deployment failure and not a systems failure. Therefore it is necessary that “designers and users should adopt professionally responsible practices and technical standards that minimize the effects of erroneous data.” (Graeff & Loui 2008). It also needs to be said that the choice of implement the right kind of GIS needs to be undertaken after considering the full aspects of their current scenario, including areas where its deployment could bring benefits to the company. An indiscriminate and hastily devised GIS contraption, would not only serve any purpose, but, on the other hand, is also capable of causing a lot of detriment that may be doing more harm than good. The whole of the organisation is engaged in training, even training is not given only on a particular level, but given in all levels of the firm. The customer tells that Tesco produces products that customer is in need of. They are also of opinion that retail stores like Tesco has great success, the only reason is that all the product that they provide to the customers are of great worth to the customers. 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