Farm Management - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2057 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Management Essay Type Critical essay Level High school Did you like this example? Farm Management Assess the current capacity of ‘Holly Farm and critically evaluate the optional ways of achieving the intended growth in the number of visitors, bearing in mind that capital investment is not available, although self-financing revenue earning ventures can be considered. 1. Introduction This piece examines the case of Holly Farm, and the plan proposed by Gillian Giles to attempt to boost the number of visitors attending the farm. Holly Farm is currently quite a successful example of a farm that has diversified into visitor activities to boost its overall revenue levels. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Farm Management" essay for you Create order However, the farm has now reached a point at which visitor levels are relatively steady, and hence the farm is failing to grow its revenue significantly. This piece will thus investigate the current situation at the farm, including the current visitor numbers and the projected capacity for the farm. This data will then be used to determine the extent to which the farm can try to attract more visitors and the strategies that could be used to achieve this. This analysis will take place assuming that the farm is unable to raise further capital investment, other than through additional services that will also generate revenue. 2. Analysis and current situation Car park capacity Coach spaces 6 Car spaces 40 Average visitors per coach 35 Average visitors per car 3 Daily coach visitor capacity 210 Daily car visitor capacity 120 Total daily capacity 330 Current visitor numbers April May June July August September October Total Visitors 1,200 1800 2800 3200 3400 1800 600 14,800 Days open 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 112 Weekend days open 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 56 Week days open 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 56 Average weekend day visitors 100 150 233 267 283 150 50 176 Average weekday day visitors 50 75 117 133 142 75 25 88 Daily car park capacity 330 330 330 330 330 330 330 330 Weekend utilisation 30.3% 45.5% 70.7% 80.8% 85.9% 45.5% 15.2% 53.4% Weekday utilisation 15.2% 22.7% 35.4% 40.4% 42.9% 22.7% 7.6% 26.7% Daily milking parlour capacity 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 Weekend milking parlour visitors 80 120 187 213 227 120 40 141 Weekday milking parlour visitors 40 60 93 107 113 60 20 70 Weekend utilisation 40.0% 60.0% 93.3% 106.7% 113.3% 60.0% 20.0% 70.5% Weekday utilisation 20.0% 30.0% 46.7% 53.3% 56.7% 30.0% 10.0% 35.2% The analysis of the current situation is based on the following assumptions: On average, each coach visiting the farm will contain 35 visitors, and each car will contain 3 visitors. This is to account for the number of single parent families and families with only one child that may visit the farm. The proportion of visitors by coach and by car are roughly proportional to the respective visitor capacity for coach and car visitors The car and coach spaces cannot be used flexibly, i.e. coaches cannot park in the car spaces and vice versa The milking sheds can support 80 people per hour for a period of two and a half hours, thus they have a daily capacity of 200 The visitors are spread roughly evenly throughout each month 90% of visitors arrive after 12:30pm, and the visitors that arrived before 12:30pm at still there at this time. As such, around 1pm all visitors to the farm are at the farm and hence all need a car park space The analysis indicates that the farm is currently very close to its maximum visitor capacity in July and August, with 80.8% and 85.9% capacity utilisation in the car park on these days. With 80% of visitors going to the milking parlour, the parlour itself is already over capacity on these days, with capacity utilisation levels of 106.7% and 113.3% respectively. It must be assumed therefore that some visitors that would have liked to have visited the milking sheds were unable to do so due to the capacity constraints. 3. Different scenarios Two primary scenarios have been considered. The first is where the farm engages in widespread promotional activity designed to boost overall levels of attendance by 50%. The second is where the farm engages in targeted promotional activity designed to encourage school visits during the week, thus boosting weekday attendance levels by 50%. The analysis for these two scenarios is shown below: 3.1 Boost visitor demand by 50% on all days Projected visitor numbers April May June July August September October Total Visitors 1,800 2,700 4,200 4,800 5,100 2,700 900 22,200 Days open 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 112 Weekend days open 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 56 Week days open 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 56 Average weekend day visitors 150 225 350 400 425 225 75 264 Average weekday day visitors 75 113 175 200 213 113 38 132 Daily car park capacity 330 330 330 330 330 330 330 330 Weekend utilisation 45.5% 68.2% 106.1% 121.2% 128.8% 68.2% 22.7% 80.1% Weekday utilisation 22.7% 34.1% 53.0% 60.6% 64.4% 34.1% 11.4% 40.0% Actual average weekend day visitors 150 225 330 330 330 225 75 238 Actual average weekday day visitors 75 113 175 200 213 113 38 132 Total weekend day visitors 1200 1800 2640 2640 2640 1800 600 13320 Total weekday day visitors 600 900 1400 1600 1700 900 300 7400 Total visitors 1800 2700 4040 4240 4340 2700 900 20720 Daily milking parlour capacity 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 Weekend milking parlour visitors 120 180 264 264 264 180 60 190 Weekday milking parlour visitors 60 90 140 160 170 90 30 106 Weekend utilisation 60.0% 90.0% 132.0% 132.0% 132.0% 90.0% 30.0% 95.1% Weekday utilisation 30.0% 45.0% 70.0% 80.0% 85.0% 45.0% 15.0% 52.9% It should be noted that, for this scenario, as the capacity of the car park is limited to around 330 people per day, some visitors who wish to visit the farm on weekends in July and August will be unable to do so. The farm will thus have maximum average daily weekend visitor numbers during these months of 330. A plan should thus be put in place to manage capacity on these days, and ensure that visitors do not travel a long way only to find there is no space in the car park. 3.2 Boost visitor demand by 50% for weekdays only Projected visitor numbers April May June July August September October Total Average weekend day visitors 100 150 233 267 283 150 50 264 Average weekend day visitors 75 112.5 175 200 212.5 112.5 37.5 132 Weekend days open 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 56 Week days open 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 56 Total weekend day visitors 800 1200 1867 2133 2267 1200 400 9867 Total weekday day visitors 600 900 1400 1600 1700 900 300 7400 Total visitors 1400 2100 3267 3733 3967 2100 700 17267 Daily milking parlour capacity 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 Weekend milking parlour visitors 80 120 187 213 227 120 40 211 Weekday milking parlour visitors 60 90 140 160 170 90 30 106 Weekend utilisation 40.0% 60.0% 93.3% 106.7% 113.3% 60.0% 20.0% 105.7% Weekday utilisation 30.0% 45.0% 70.0% 80.0% 85.0% 45.0% 15.0% 52.9% In this scenario, the capacity of the car park does not represent a critical factor, as the farm will never attract more than 330 visitors per day on average. This will thus help relieve the problems associated with an across the board increase in visitor numbers. 4. Suggestions and validation The results from the first scenario show two main issues with Gillians desire to boost visitor numbers. The first is that boosting levels of demand will cause capacity issues in the car park in the busy months of June, July and August. This will create issues for the farm as it may result in visitors arriving and having to be turned away, which could create a negative image for the farm. In addition to this, boosting the number of visitors during these peak periods will result in the milking sheds becoming very congested with long queues, and potentially large numbers of people unable to visit the sheds. As the carousel appears to be a very important attraction, if people are unable to visit it they may again become unhappy and this could damage the reputation of the farm as well as causing problems for the employees running the attraction (Waters, 1999, p. 85). In terms of the actual impact on visitor numbers, the 50% increase in demand across the board would be expected to boo st visitor numbers by around 40%, from 14,800 to 20,720 per annum. In contrast, the 50% increase during weekdays would boost visitor numbers by around 17%, from 14,800 to 17,267 per annum. As such, the 50% increase across the board would be more beneficial in terms of total numbers, but would also likely cost more to implement, and would not provide a full 50% increase in visitor numbers. In order to achieve this 50% increase, the best option would be to implement both the general marketing scheme to increase overall numbers, and the targeted partnership scheme with schools to boost visitor numbers during the weekdays. This would help achieve the 50% target within the existing capacity constraints. At the same time, the farm will need to carry out targeted analysis of the current levels of car park usage, in order to determine whether it should target more coach groups or more family groups depending on the capacity utilisation of the coach and the car spaces. However, the best way to achieve the goal of a 50% expansion in visitor numbers whilst avoiding the potential issues with capacity and overcrowding the in the milk sheds as discussed above would be to address the constraints the company faces. According to Huefner (2011, p. 40), â€Å"companies of all sizes are limited by any number of constraints: capacity of their plants and other physical structures, distribution channels, rules and regulations, size and education of the workforce, and access to raw materials, to name a few†. As such, addressing and overcoming these constraints is a vital aspect of operations management, and enables companies to improve their profitability without having to invest additional capital. One of the main ways this could be achieved for the farm would be to improve capacity management through car park flexibility. Specifically, the farm should look to arrange the spaces in the car park so that coaches can park across two or three car parking spaces in order to bo ost capacity. This is because two or three cars will bring an average of around nine visitors, but a coach can contain 35 visitors. As such, by allowing some car spaces to be used for coaches, the farm could focus on attracting more coach groups at the weekends, and thus boost the effective capacity of the car park. This will play a vital role in boosting overall capacity, as parking is a critical factor in determining travel destinations (Nurul Habib et al, 2012, p. 154). This would also help the farm profit more by offering discounted entry fees to coach tours, as well as potentially running coaches from larger nearby car parks where other visitors could park and then ride to the farm. Another important tool that could be used to boost revenues and visitor numbers is to engage in superior demand management, through pricing structures. According to Hwang et al (2010, p. 465) the use of pricing for demand management plays a key role in the effective management of demand levels, a nd thus maximises potential revenue levels. In this case, the farm could offer half day visitor structures, whereby people who arrive later, after 4pm, when around 20% of visitors have left, will be offered discounted prices. There could also be discounted prices offered to people who arrive at 11am and stay only for a couple of hours, thus leaving before the large groups arrive. This would help ensure that more visitors can attend during quieter periods. Similarly, setting higher prices at the weekend and lower prices during the week could help ensure that more people came on Friday and Monday, when the farm is quiet, instead of at the weekends when it is busy. These efforts could be combined with revenue management techniques which use differential pricing strategies and capacity allocation tactics to maximise overall revenue levels for the farm, as well as visitor numbers (Deng et al, 2008, p. 737). In addition to this, the farm could boost capacity by opening new attraction n earby such as a go kart course. This would create funds to expand the car park and encourage people to visit both attractions at once. Different tickets could be sold for people who want to go on the go kart in the morning and visit the farm in the afternoon and vice versa, in order to smooth out demand levels across the two attractions. These efforts would improve capacity utilisation in the car park and boost the overall visitor numbers, but efforts will still be needed to address the issue of queuing for the milking shed, and ensuring capacity is smoothed in this area. One of the main ways to achieve this would be for each visitor to the milking shed to come to the shed when they first arrive and book a time slot for their viewing. This would help customers avoid having to queue and reduce customer discontent due to the length of the queue (Xu et al, 2007, p. 971). It would also ensure that customers were not left waiting until the end of the day and then frustrated that the m ilking shed was not open for them to see the milking. This approach would thus help reduce the queues in the milking shed and hence support the increase in visitor numbers for the farm as a whole. References and Bibliography Deng, H. Wang, Q. Leong, G. and Sun, S. (2008) The Usage of Opportunity Cost to Maximize Performance in Revenue Management. Decision Sciences; Nov2008, Vol. 39 Issue 4, p737-758 Huefner, R. (2011) A Guide to Integrating Revenue Management and Capacity Analysis. Management Accounting Quarterly; Autumn2011, Vol. 13 Issue 1, p40-46 Hwang, J. Gao, L. and Jang, W. (2010) Joint demand and capacity management in a restaurant system. European Journal of Operational Research; Nov2010, Vol. 207 Issue 1, p465-472 Nurul Habib, K. Morency, C. and Trà ©panier, M. (2012) Integrating parking behaviour in activity-based travel demand modelling: Investigation of the relationship between parking type choice and activity scheduling process. Transportation Research Part A: Policy Practice; Jan2012, Vol. 46 Issue 1, p154-166 Shim, J. and Siegel, J. (1999) Operations Management. Barrons Educational Series. Waters, D. (1999) Operations Management. Kogan Page Publishers. Xu, S. Long, G. and Jihong, O. (2007) Service Performance Analysis and Improvement for a Ticket Queue with Balking Customers. Management Science; Jun2007, Vol. 53 Issue 6, p971-990

The Role of the Community Reinvestment Act on the 2007...

The Role of the Community Reinvestment Act on the 2007 Housing Bubble Collapse The reality of the worst financial crisis in the last 80 years has led to wide speculation of its causes. While a plethora of theories have been offered, none have been as persistent and as patently false as the assertion that the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 played a significant role in the housing bubble collapse. Critics of the Community Investment Act (CRA) argue that by pushing banks to meet the credit needs of low-income borrowers, the law forced lending institutions to take on riskier loans that proved to be fiscally irresponsible. The securitization and speculation of these low quality loans led to the housing bubble collapse and the wider†¦show more content†¦The Act dictated that relevant supervisory agencies ensure depository banks fulfill the credit and lending needs in the areas in which they were chartered. 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Level 2 Essay - 1516 Words

UNIT 4222-264 THE PRINCIPLES OF INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL (ICO1/201) Outcome 1 understand roles and responsibilities in the prevention and control of infections 1.1 Explain employees’ roles and responsibilities in relation to the prevention and control of infection * To ensure that their own health and hygiene does not pose a risk to service users and colleagues. * To ensure effective hand washing is carried out when working with service users, giving personal care, handling/preparing food. * To ensure they use protective clothing provided when needed and appropriate. * Attend relevant courses * Report any hazards that could lead to infection 1.2 Explain employers†¦show more content†¦Employers are ethically bound to do all they can to ensure that employees do not suffer illness, serious injury or death. They are by law required to carry out risk assessments as any accidents and injuries occurred which have not been risk assessed could inflict significant costs on the company. Outcome 5 Understand the importance of using PPE in the prevention and control of infections 5.1 Demonstrate correct use of PPE * Have the responsibility to wear PPE appropriately to avoid contamination as far as possible 5.2 Describe different types of PPE * Gloves - protect hands * Aprons- protect skin and/or clothing * Goggles- protect eyes * Masks and respirators- protect mouth and respiratory tract from airborne infectious agents * Face shields- protect face, mouth, nose and eyes 5.3 explain the reasons for use of PPE * Personal Protective Equipment reduces, but does not completely eliminate the risk of acquiring or spreading an infection. It is important that it is used effectively and correctly. 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Hacking Marketing Practices Free samples †Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss about the Hacking Marketing for Agile Practices. Answer: Introduction The performance of a brand is very critical in the short term and long term growth of an organization. There are many factors that affect the success of a particular brand in the market. Among these factors include the quality of goods and services offered by the organization, it marketing and advertising activities, innovation through research and development. This report seeks to establish reasons why the Lenovo brand is under-performing and make recommendations on how the situation can be reversed. Background of the company Lenovo Group Ltd is a Chinese multinational company that designs and manufactures technological products. The company is headquartered in Beijing and Morrisville in the United States. The company was formed in the year 1984 by a man named Liu Chuanzhi. The products that the company produces include: Smartphone, desktops, servers, notebooks, tablets, printers, TV sets, peripherals, storage devices, scanners among many others. By the end o f the year 2016, the company had approximately 59,700 workers (Weinberg, 2016). The company has been performing well financially and its market share has been increasing rapidly throughout the years. The companys performance in China is also very admirable with the company having a diverse distribution network that helps the company to distribute and market its products effectively. The company has however struggled to establish its brand internationally with low sales volumes reported in countries such as the United States. The level of competition in this industry has also been a major contributor to under-performance of Lenovo as brand Industry and competitor analysis The global technology industry especially the personal computer manufacturing is very competitive. The intense competition in this market is due to the large number of competitors among many other factors. The global PC industry has five main industry players; Apple, Hewlett Packard, Dell, Lenovo and Samsung (Ling, 2006). There are also many other companies in the industry who hold a smaller market share. The industry is innovation driven. Companies operating in this industry put a lot of emphasis on the value of innovation. The companies have heavily invested in research and development to help the companies keeps on introducing new products and improving the existing ones. There is increasing need for more efficient and more sophisticated electronic gadgets and thesis what has driven the industry towards competing more on the basis of innovation. The industry is very large in size. There are many opportunities for growth and expansion in this industry. The global personal computer market has been experiencing continuous growth for the last five years. This trend is expected to continue for the next couple of years. The market is expected to reach approximately US$252.6 billion in 2017 due to increasing innovations. For instance, introduction of new ultra-portable thin laptop is expected to increase growth in this market (Brinker, 2016). The market growth is driven by various environmental factors which are external to the organization. The largest growth is expected in the Asian market where the personal computer and the use of Smartphone is getting very popular. Research and secondary data on the subject The Lenovo brand has been able to live up to its billing after initially hitting the market with a storm. The company has experienced continuous growth in terms of revenues and it has been able to expand into many more markets across the world. Lenovo is the largest supplier of personal computers globally. Its market share for Smartphone business has been low compared to the market leader position held by Samsung and that of Apple. By the year 2014, Lenovo was the second most Smartphone brand, by the year 2017; the companies brand had gone down to No 11. The Lenovo brand dropped when the company bought Motorola Smartphone Company. The Company was owned by Google and was worth $2.90 billion (Brinker, 2016). The intention of acquiring this company was to help expand the market share In the Smartphone market. This was encouraged by Motorola`s technologies which were leading as well as intellectual property rights which it sold to Lenovo. There were high expectations with the new acquisition considering the great success of IBM acquisition in the year 2005, Integration of Motorola into Lenovo although failed to happen as fast and effectively as expected. One of the mistakes that Lenovo made in the regard to sales and distribution channels it used. The market experienced a shift from carrier-led Smartphone sales and to direct and open market sales. Lenovo competitors have taken advantage of other sales methods. The use of these sales methods has affected the sales of the company. For instance, Huawei uses online sales for its major brands in order to deliver a low cost distribution process which helps in reducing costs hence lower prices for their commodities. Another common example is the 200,000 retail stores in China owned by mobile phone manufacturer OPPO. The strategy might be a bit costly but it gives the company an opportunity to interact with its customers and therefore it can establish long term relationships with its clients. This results to customer loyalty. By reduction of Smartphone carriers subsidies in China affected the company so much since Lenovo entirely depended on this technique (Kachru, 2006). Another mistake that resulted in the weakening of the Lenovo brand in China is lack of proper marketing. The company had always depended on the carriers to help in reducing their marketing costs. When the government ordered government run carriers to reduce their, marketing expenses by over 20% within 3 years, the company found itself in a complicated situation (Arun, 2011). The company resulted to other means of marketing which were much more expensive. The cost of marketing was shifted to the consumers and this resulted to increase in prices of the companies` products. Consumers therefore had no option but to substitute to other more affordable Smartphone brands. The brand of the company continues to become weaker because of the lack of product differentiation. The company has not been able to keep up with the pace of growth and innovation in the industry because it has not been able to put in place proper strategies that will encourage innovation and product development in the com pany. Most of its competitors in the Smartphone market have been keen in improving and adding key features in its products. An example is Samsung which has been very consistent in its product differentiation and improvement strategy. Samsung introduced the curved screen displays which was a market first while Apple introduced larger screened Smartphone. The lack of innovation in the company has therefore been its undoing for the company. Another factor that has led to the decline of the Lenovo brand is due to the changing economic environment of the countries it is operating in. Many countries in the world in which Lenovo enjoys a substantial market share have been experiencing tough economic moments (Kachru, 2006.) This has been driven by factors such as increase in factors of production. Economic growth drives industrial growth and economic recession results to decline of factories in a country. Increase in labor cost in many countries in Asia has affected the performance of many countries and the companies in these countries have not been spared. The increases in costs have therefore resulted to increase in prices of products which lead to low sales volumes by the company. Conclusion Lenovo has to act very fast in order to save its declining brand from falling. The company has to implement the following strategies in order to improve its financial performance and improve its brand both in China and globally. The first step that Lenovo should take to salvage its brand and improve its market share in the Smartphone business is that it should focus more on the research and development function of the business. This is due to the fact that the technology industry is driven by innovation and invention. Lenovo should encourage its engineers and other staff working in the product development section to help the company come up with more products on a regular business. Increased levels of innovation will mean that the company will generate more sales from its products. Consumers of technology products are driven by uniqueness of products of a company in order to buy the companys products (Ferrell, 2011). This has been the secret of Apples and Samsung continued market growth and expansion. Therefore, through product differentiation and innovation, Lenovo will be able to make its brand more appealing to customers globally. The company should also make adjustments it sales and distribution channels. This will help reduce the cost of distribution and improve sale of the companys products. Lenovo should be employ distribution techniques that are cheap and easy to reach the customers. The distribution channels used by the company should be able to establish direct contact with customers in order to help create customer and brand loyalty. Recommendation Improve and focus more on research and development to develop new products and improve existing ones Change the product distribution channels and adopt a cheaper method which is less costly More aggressive marketing and advertising to increase the customer base for the company Adoptions of product differentiation strategies that will help the company increase its product line. References Ferrell, O. C., Hartline, M. D. (2011). Marketing strategy. Australia, South-Western Cengage Learning. Kachru, U. (2005). Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases. New Delhi, Excel Books. Lamb, C. W., Hair, J. F., Mcdaniel, C. D. (2009). Essentials of marketing. Mason, Ohio, South-Western. Arun Kumar, Meenakshi, N. (2011). Marketing management. Noida, Vikas Publishing House. Brinker, S. (2016). Hacking marketing: agile practices to make marketing smarter, faster, and more innovative. Weinberg, T. (2009). The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web. 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