Extra Credit -The March of Robots Into Chinese Factories

One of the growing industries in China is the manufacturing of robots. Countries like Japan and South are the leading countries after USA and Germany which import robots. Robot sale has been quadrupling from 2006 to 2011.

These robots are replacing human labor in the factory to carry out the jobs. Each robot only cost $50 thousand before installation. The payoff period for each robot is only 3 years in China, according to the survey. With the high rise of labor costs and inflation, robot is considered to be the perfect substitute for human labor. Factories do not need to employ as many workers as before the robotic automation. In addition, robot can run for twenty four hours and without any downtime unlike human who feel exhausted after twelve hours of working shift in the factory. Another factor that accelerates the switch to robotic automation is compliance with legislation maintaining the minimum wage rate. With the use of robots, company does not have to deal with the required minimum wages.

Industry like textile industry face narrower margins which force the industry facing shutting down. The only way to resolve the critical issue is to cut down cost by moving towards automation. It is even a convenient way to relocate the factory location to low wage country such as Cambodia and Vietnam. The company could save the relocation cost. General Motors, Honda and Volkswagen have been using robotic engineering for some period of times already.

From this article, implication for the manager is to weigh the cost and benefit from robotic automation. The benefits are being the cost saving and reliving the manager from dealing with the tedious issue of human resource policy. The cost to imply the automation is further cutting down the job in the markets which will lead to higher employment rates and worsen the social problem due from unemployment.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-29/the-march-of-robots-into-chinese-factories

http://singularityhub.com/2012/11/12/1-million-robots-to-replace-1-million-human-jobs-at-foxconn-   first-robots-have-arrived/

http://www.dailytech.com/Foxconn+Receives+10000+Robots+to+Replace+Human+Factory+Workers+/article29194.htm

http://io9.com/5939931/noodle+shaving-robots-are-replacing-human-cooks-and-look-evil-doing-it

Extra Credit - 3D Printing

Extra Credit Blog – How to Make Almost Anything

What is 3-D printing? It’s an abstract thing to think about given our 2 dimensional views of a “printer”. A 3D printer is essentially a machine that can fabricate “things”. Just as a Xerox copier in your office can print images, text, pictures, etc, a 3D printer can actually create the objects you are viewing in two dimensions into a real life object…an object with shape, texture, height, width and depth…something you can feel with your hand.

The possible uses for this are endless. Can you imagine going to an auto body shop to get some small machined piece of steel replaced and instead of the dealer ordering the part, it is created right then and there? An auto part on-demand…sounds cool doesn’t it? In Japan, you can get an anatomically correct figurine/statue of yourself just by hanging out for 15 minutes while somebody waves a few beams of light over your body to determine your body’s proportions.

The most impressive piece of this article is the analogy of the ribosome to the 3D assembler. A ribosome carries messenger RNA that not only creates the blueprint for additional proteins, but is the additional protein itself.

I got the idea to write this blog after a lecture by my professor, Dr. Troy Voelker. To be honest, I’d never even heard of 3-D printing prior to his mentioning it during his closing lecture for the day. This intrigued me and thus, I wrote this blog.

What implications does this have for the business world? Many. “Digital fabrication will allow individuals to design and produce tangible objects on demand, wherever and whenever they need them. Widespread access to these technologies will challenge traditional models of business, aid, and education.”

I’ll leave you with my favorite passage from the article “After all, the real strength of a fab lab is not technical; it is social. The innovative people that drive a knowledge economy share a common trait: by definition, they are not good at following rules. To be able to invent, people need to question assumptions. They need to study and work in environments where it is safe to do that. Advanced educational and research institutions have room for only a few thousand of those people each. By bringing welcoming environments to innovators wherever they are, this digital revolution will make it possible to harness a larger fraction of the planet's brainpower.”

LINUX on steroids.

 Gershenfeld, Neil, Foreign Affairs, 00157120, Nov/Dec2012, Vol. 91, Issue 6, December 2012

Berman, Bary, Business Horizons; Mar2012, Vol. 55 Issue 2, p155-162, 8p

Reade, Lou. Chemistry & Industry. 4/25/2011, Issue 8, p14-15. 2p.

Cloud Computing and Adoption in Community Colleges

The purpose of this article is to examine “Cloud Computing” in Community Colleges. The “Cloud” refers to storing electronic data remotely; that is, on another entity’s servers. For example, UHCL has servers that store data for its student population. The Cloud would allow UHCL to absolve itself of data handling responsibilities to a third party. All data would still be available to students, staff and faculty…it would just be hosted remotely. This is important because it may be cost advantageous in the long-run for Community Colleges. If it is financially advantageous, the cost savings would trickle down to not only the student, but to taxpayers as well.

This article is proposition advancing as it offers recommendations to community college administrators and others who seek to incorporate cloud-based recommendations into their higher education curriculum.

Hypothesis 1: Usefulness perceptions and ease-of-use perceptions will affect the student

usage of the cloud computing tool.

Hypothesis 2: Usefulness perceptions and ease-of-use perceptions will affect student

beliefs about future utility of the cloud computing tool.

Hypothesis 3: Usefulness perceptions and ease-of-use perceptions will affect student

intentions for future use of cloud computing tools.

Hypothesis 4: Student attitudes about technology will affect usefulness and ease of use.

Hypothesis 5: Situational factors will affect usefulness and ease of use.

Hypothesis 6: Student experiences with the cloud computing tool will affect usefulness and ease

of use.

One important finding is the discrepancy between the actual usage during a given semester and the intention to use the tools at some point in the future. It appears that students in this setting form impressions about the technology based on their immediate needs, rather than the anticipated future needs. The study found that the ease-of-use perception was a much stronger predictor of adoption than the usefulness perception. This indicates that students may acknowledge the utility of a tool, but lack the motivation to use it if it is not user friendly.

What this means for administrators that an extensive cost benefit analysis must be considered before adopting such technologies. Within the costs, administrators must take into account user perception of Cloud adoption as much as the cost savings associated with it.

Tara S. Behrend*, Eric N. Wiebe, Jennifer E. London and Emily C. Johnson

Department of Organizational Sciences & Communication, The George Washington University, Washington DC 20052, USA;

 Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Federal

Management Partners, Inc., Alexandria, Virginia, USA

(Received 15 September 2009; final version received 21 April 2010)

Behaviour & Information Technology

Vol. 30, No. 2, March–April 2011, 231–240

Analytics and the Cloud — the Future is Here

Analytics and the Cloud — the Future is Here

I recently purchased an iPhone 5, and I needed to transfer the data that I have from my iPhone 4 to the new phone. In order to do that I have two options, and one of the option is the store my current data to the cloud and transfer them to the new phone from the cloud anytime and anywhere. We did not have this kind of option a few years ago, and I was amazed by that because I did not have to have the computer equipment with me. Imagine how the cloud computing can be helpful to the business world. So, no wonder that I have heard so many adverting about cloud computing nowadays.

Having the cloud in my mind, I found this article that give me an answer to my question on how cloud computing can help businesses. “Analytics and the Cloud — the Future is Here” by Jane Griffin and Forrest Danson gives us an idea on what the cloud can be used for. Basically, the article explains that cloud computing has been around for a long time (Jane Griffin and Forrest Danson, p.97), and today technological advances helped the cloud to become more efficient and more affordable. Therefore, it is available to anyone who is looking for a remote storage and access of their data. Today, global business requires mobility, and the cloud helps businesses to access the information anywhere in the world without any heavy and cumbersome equipments. Therefore, the cloud will help to reduce computing equipment cost and help to access data very fast globally. Having easy access to data will improve businesses’ decision making in many sectors such financial, customer services, and supply chains. Due to the real time access to data, cloud computing will rapidly “improve productivity” (Jane Griffin and Forrest Danson, p.98). It seems like the cloud is the future for businesses, but the authors warn that the new technologies “can be truly disruptive to business as usual” (Jane Griffin and Forrest Danson, p.97). Indeed, new technologies can be hard to learn for the older generation, but if managers can find a way to incorporate them to their companies without affecting considerably the normal business flow, there will extremely beneficial to their companies. The cloud computing will be a great tool for any managers in need to fast remote access to data for daily business applications.

According to the authors, cloud computing is certainly improving businesses by providing fast information and remote capability for business applications. As a practicing manager, he will need to start to get ready to implement those new technologies, because sooner or later the cloud computing will catch on every aspect of businesses. Cloud computing is becoming more and more efficient and cheap. Therefore, managers should start training the old generation to be familiar with it, and help that generation to embrace the new technologies, so one day their implementation will not affect the normal business flow of the company due to a lack of knowledge for the older generation.  Also, practicing managers should start looking on how to implement the cloud computing in their companies, and they need to start departing from the old point of view of data storage and access. They need to be open minded about new technologies in order to be competitive in today global business environment.

References

Jane Griffin, and Forrest Danson. Analytics and the Cloud — the Future is Here. Financial Executive. November 2012.

Menswear E-Tailers Peddle Salvation In a Box

E-commerce has seemed to be an important marketing channel in the fashion industry. Shoppers have been buying their clothing online at home with the internet access instead of going to retail stores and shopping malls.

There has been a growth in online fashion shopping over the past few years. The annual growth rate for the online clothing market is 13% while for woman is only 10%. Age ranges for the male customers are 35 to 45 years old and mainly are single men. Their incomes are around $100,000 mostly living at the coastal cities. (Bloomberg, November 4, 2012). These groups represent strong groups with high purchasing power in the fashion industry.

There are different ways for suppliers to market the menswear online. Companies provide free membership to those who subscript to the websites offering a variety of selection in fashion designs. Some even offer free representatives to buyers’ home for measurement and tailor made their outfits. A few companies ship trunkful of clothes to their customers, letting the shoppers handpick their choices and return the remaining clothes to the sellers.

Male shoppers feel that online shopping provides a way out to avoid hassles of going into physical malls. They prefer to save their times from shopping for other leisure activities. For women, it is different; they could use this physical shopping as recreation strolling in the malls. Online shopping in the fashion industry is expected to accelerate in the future.

For E-Marketers, they could use various ways to promote and induce better growth in sales. They should be more aware of the fashion trends offering most up-to-date fashion.  They could launch more products than retailers as the risks of e-commerce bear less risk than physical retailers. With more products, shoppers have better choices of selection.   Marketers could also provide free shipping to the shoppers who want to return the products. With all these measures, online shopping would be heaven for this group of consumers.

Author : Sarah Frier

Source document : Bloomberg Business, October 29-November 4, 2012, page 55-56

http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Menswear-leads-fashion-e-commerce-3985526.php

http://blog.21webmerce.com/2012/10/19/ecommerce-fashion-market-mans-world/

Revolution in Sales: The Impact of Social Media and Related Technology on the Selling Environment

Revolution in Sales: The Impact of Social Media and Related

Technology on the Selling Environment

One of the main events in 2012 was the initial public offering of Facebook. Like Groupon with its IPO in 2011, Facebook is now a publicly traded company. Due to those events, Greg W. Marshall, William C. Moncrief, John M. Rudd, and Nick Lee came out with this article about the effect of social media and new technologies on sales in various industries.

This article is very important in today context, because it gives an explanation on the effectiveness of new technologies and social media on today sales and business environment. Indeed, many people are still not sure about whether or not companies like Facebook and Groupon can play a crucial role in the in development and increase of sales. Due to the limited data that we have about the success of social media on sales, this article will be necessary to further our knowledge of the new age of sales.

The authors predict that social media and new technologies will be beneficial for sales. Therefore, in order to perform a realistic research, the authors use “four groups of focus representing diverse industries from the United States and the United Kingdom, because by 2011 sales truly had become a global enterprise” (Journal of Personal Selling & Management p.349). According to the authors, the results will be classified under “six major themes: connectivity, relationships, selling tools, generational, global, and sales/ marketing interface” (Journal of Personal Selling & Management p.349).

Basically, after reviewing the result of the study, the authors showed that social media technologies play a crucial part in the new era of sales. Nowadays, most people have access to the internet through computers, and it is even easier with the creation of powerful smart phones and tablets such the iPhones and iPads. Most smart phones have apps that will let the customers interact with the vendors. Apps and other internet applications will allow the customer to have more information about the product and services that they are looking for. Also, everything is running in “real time” (Journal of Personal Selling & Management p.358). With all the information floating around, sales people have to be in working mode all the time, which will “have a high likelihood of leading to stress, burnout, increased turnover, and ultimately a significant drop in productivity. Then, customers will be negatively affected and lost” (Journal of Personal Selling & Management p.358). Even though, social media and new technologies favor the increase in sales, it is most of the time not fully implemented but the older generation of salesmen due to their lack of new technology knowledge and utilization. However, the younger generations, which grew up with computers and internet, are embracing the blooming of the social media and new technologies in the sales environment.

This article has very important implications for managers. Indeed, it tells managers that the future of sales is in the booming new technologies. Managers must adapt themselves to the new era, and must learn those new tools as part of their sales strategies. The article also clearly defines that new technologies have negative side effects that managers need know about, and they must find a way to alleviate the negative effects in order to be successful.

References:

Greg W. Marshall, William C. Moncrief, John M. Rudd, and Nick Lee

Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, vol. XXXII, no. 3 (summer 2012), pp. 349–363.

© 2012 PSE National Educational Foundation. All rights reserved. Permissions: www.copyright.com

ISSN 0885–3134 (print) / ISSN 1557–7813 (online)

DOI: 10.2753/PSS0885-3134320305

Current Events - Social Media & the Workplace

Due to the explosion of social media in global culture, there are many questions that arise as it relates to the worker-employer dynamic:

·         How much information should people reveal about themselves on social media sites and what are their legal rights?

·         Do employers have the legal right to request login information from current and prospective employees? If granted access, can employers use this information to make judgment calls on the character of current and prospective employees?

·         At what lengths should employers go to make sure that private information is not illegally disseminated?

This issue is important from a legal standpoint because both sides should know their rights…there should be no “grey area”. The purpose of this blog is to investigate the questions posed above and more as it relates to the worker-employer dynamic, specifically within the United States.

From the employer standpoint, the primary issue is the illegal dissemination of proprietary information. Companies must make sure that controls are in place to safeguard against information leaking out through improper channels.  The risks are huge…knowledge of financial transactions unintended for the public could have negatively affect the market. Disgruntled employees could share data not meant for the outside world. Worker productivity is affected…time spent on Facebook and Twiiter is that much less time spent working. So far, the courts have sided with the employer on these matters. Electronic communications by the worker are considered voluntary. The employer expectation of legally protecting themselves takes precedence in the courts mind. That said, earlier this year, the state of Maryland passed legislation (effective October 1, 2012) that essentially states employers are not allowed to ask for login information to social media sites from current or prospective employees for purposes of hiring decisions. In that same legislation, it stated that employers can request login information for purposes of investigating unlawful activity. Similar laws are pending in ten states.

For workers, the way the law pans out remains to be seen. At the forefront for employees is whether criticizing an employer in blog posts is protected free speech. We have seen numerous cases of workers being fired for posting negative comments about an employer or the workplace on sites such as Facebook and blog sites.

In my opinion, it’s simple. If you are a worker, don’t post anything online that you wouldn’t want your boss to know. If you’re an employer, only investigate an employee if you have reason to believe that something improper has occurred.

Social Media, Employee Privacy and Concerted Activity: Brave New World or Big Brother? Jeffrey A. Melo – 2012

Social Media Accounts in the Workplace: Employers Need to Proceed Smartly in the Workplace in the Face of the New Law – Poerio & Johnson – 2012

Avoiding Social Media Catch 22s – T. McCollum - 2012